The 10 hour Triathlon

This weekend I participated in a 10-hour triathlon with co-worker Cathy and Amanda (sis-in law Jody's sister). The object of the 10 hour triathlon is to complete as many triathlons in a 10 hour period of time as possible. We entered as a three person team, so we each had to do one event out of the 3 legs during each triathlon. For instance in the first one I swam, Cathy biked and Amanda ran.

This was an interesting experience! It was held in Pattison State Park, just south of Superior, WI. it is a really beautiful park with waterfalls and trails on Wisconsin Highway 35. The swim was in the dam created lake that had a consistent depth of about 5-6 feet, the bike was a route on highway 35, in which the biker headed out 7 mi, made a u-turn and headed back, and the run was a 5 K on a trail that went around the lake and out to some of the waterfalls.

Overall I am really proud of how we all did as we completed 6 triathlons and we came in 4th place! In total I swam a mile, biked 28 miles and ran 5 K. But let me just give a few reasons why didn't quite squeeze in 7, although we were close....

1. The water was a balmy 63 degrees!!
2. The weather was 60 degrees with rain every once in awhile
3. At mile 14 in the bike ride was the biggest dang hill!!
4. The trail run was truly a trail run...there were branches hanging down, roots to trip on, wooden steps to climb, and oh, yeah it all seemed to go uphill!!
5. By the end of the sixth race, we had been poured on, cold, and none of us wanted to swim, bike or run anymore!

But even with my complaints, this was a great end to my first ever triathlon season, and I certainly plan on doing it again next year. Thanks Cathy and Amanda for making a great team!

Saturday and Sunday

On Saturday we packed up and left the American Suzuki Institute and started heading up to Duluth with a quick stop in Hudson, WI to pick up my friend and colleague Cathy. The boys were not super happy to be up bright and early on Saturday after playing with their new friend Michael, but I snuck in a picture anyways, as well as one of Matt (since he is usually the one taking pics).

Then we headed up to Duluth. Cathy and I were competing in the Brewhouse Triathlon in Duluth on Sunday and we needed to pick up our packets and drive the bike course so we would know where we were going.

On Sunday morning we made our way up to the Pike Lake area for the triathlon. It was really perfect weather, around 65-70 degrees. The sun made it hard to see the beach on the swim but we managed. Both Cathy and I finished (always our goal) and we even each managed to pass at least one person on the bike (another good goal). Cathy had trouble with an old stress fracture but managed to hobble her way into the finish line- yay! And for Cathy who will read this blog, when you spend enough time with us, you end up on our blog"

Waiting in the water to start

Cathy in the lead on her bike! (I am right behind her, for a short while)

Gigi crosses the finish line

Cathy crosses the finish line!

We did a short presentation about EdVisions Off Campus High School (the school we work "at") at a hotel on Canal Park and then we packed up the boys, the dogs and headed back to Hudson to drop off Cathy. Then we swung over to Chaska to drop of the boys at Grammy and Grampy's house to visit for a few days while I have some school meetings and Matt tries to get caught up on work from having last week off.

Bike rides

We have gotten into taking Bike Rides as a family, which is great. Partially it started as me trying to find good routes for my triathlon training. In effect, at least once a week I take the rest of the family on one of my longer rides. Last Sunday we went 10.5 miles as a family. (Granted it takes a but longer than when I go out by myself).

In preparation for riding as a family, we first had to convince Garek to ride the "tag along." The tag along is a little bike with one wheel that we attach to one of our bigger bikes so Garek can ride along without having to ride his own bike (as shown in the picture). I figure his extra weight gives me some extra drag for working out since he does not help a lot with pedaling. In fact the first time I tried to get him on the tag along, we were going to ride to Gavin's soccer game across town (about 4-5 miles of riding). Garek had been begging us to try out the "three wheel bike," which is what Garek calls it. Matt and Gavin left for soccer in the van, Garek and Gavin and I were going to ride to the game, and Gavin was going to ride back with me. I thought it would be no big deal to get Garek on the three wheel bike since he was so excited about it...WRONG! Garek got on, and then when I went to get on he claimed it was wiggly and scary and he wanted off right now! So I left him off (we are still in the driveway). I then spent the next 10-15 minutes convincing Garek to get back on with the promise that we would only ride around the block so he could see if he liked it. He agreed as long as he could get off the bike if he did not like it after going around the block. Needless to say, half way around the block he was going "WEEEEEEEE." I asked him if it was fun, he laughed and said yes, so we did not complete our loop around the block and headed out to the soccer game!! Now part of my agreement with Garek was that he did not need to pedal, just rest his feet on the pedals. That is certainly what he did, until about 2 blocks from soccer when all of a sudden he said "hey mom I can pedal too!" Good thing he helped those last 2 blocks! We made it for about the last 10 minutes of the game. Needless to say, Gavin is an "experienced" tag along rider, the trip back home was a bit quicker. Ever since that day we have gone on at least a short ride each day (that it is not raining).

Back to long family rides...when we do go on rides, I feel bad for Gavin. Since he cannot change gears on his bike, he pedals a lot! By the time we get home he is exhausted. But he is a real trouper and showing great improvement on bike riding. While we are out riding about Garek is busily identifying birds, pointing out flowers and trees. It probably is a good thing he does not need to steer, who knows what he would run over or run into!!

Maybe one of these days we will take a picture during one of our family bike rides to show everyone!