So I have just returned from a camping adventure! I have not been camping for at least 10 years. I am sure the last time was in my early years of teaching at Christ Church when we took the year 10 students on Venture. This was a 10 day camping experience down south in Western Australia. Camping has come a long way since then!
I drove myself on Friday after and met up with Erin and the girls at the campsite and Jeff arrived later after work.
Saturday morning was the McCall mountain triathlon held in the most gorgeous area of the Upper Payette Lake. It was going to be my first intense outing since the Olympic Distance race I competed in at home in Perth in March. Yes, I was only racing in a team but it was so exciting! I was going to swim and bike, get the adrenalin and race feeling back again and Jeff was going to run.
It was a late start at 10am which was a challenge for me, getting the nutrition right and deciding what to do in the morning. But what I found was the logistics of the race didn't really allow that much waiting time. Getting there, setting up, it all happened so quickly!
The swim was in the lake and although I wore a long sleeve wetsuit it was very comfortable and clear. I thought swimming at 5500 feet would be a challenge but I didn't notice it at all and was happy to be able to push myself the entire way from start to finish. I completed the swim in a PB which was encouraging although I am also positive the course was a little short!
Exiting the water it was time to get the wetsuit off but I was having a little trouble. Now, if Jeff and I had been a true team I would only have had to tag the cyclist and they would be on there way. Thankfully Jeff was near by and I had my own personal "wetsuit stripper" to help with the process. A short run up a hill with my bike, then 100m of gravel road cycling, which I love, NOT! and I was on my way! Straight up to 6500 feet. The legs were feeling it from the start but I kept reminding myself, Kate, you are not running, you must finish this with nothing left! So I went as hard as I could. I passed a few cyclists then one guy passed me and I decided I was not going to let him go. I was going to work, work and work even harder to keep sight of him. I did just that and found the legs actually came good about the 30km mark of the bike. Typical endurance athlete!! Back along the gravel road and I only had to stick my leg out for Jeff to remove the timing chip and he was on his way for the 10km run.
39minutes later he returned with the fastest run split of the day on a challenging gravel, hilly run and we had completed the event with the fastest overall time of the day. Yah!
It was so great to be racing again, to be in that environment doing what I love. I am hoping this is all a step in the right direction. The running is slowly progressing (obviously not as fast as I would like!) but every day is a new day and a chance for some of the pain to go away!
It was an easy recovery spin this morning along the Lake and now I have returned to Boise for another week of swimming, cycling and hopefully a little bit more running!
I am sure there would have been some celebrations in Perth last weekend as I see the Eagles had a victory over Essendon! I hope everyone at the game was waving their jackets!!
It is time to catch up on some sleep, ice the leg, stretch and try and rinse all the mud off my wetsuit, bike and cycling shoes. I think it has dried hard!
