West Point Triathlon

I live a hop, skip & jump from one of the oldest military institutions in the United States: West Point. I've been to concerts, the Museum (largest collection of arms & armory in the Western Hemisphere!) Mother's Day at the hotel and rambled around the grounds. I have even volunteered to be a practice cadet as the older ones prepare to welcome the newbies.

This was a totally new experience.


Camp Buckner is the beautiful location where newbie cadets have "Beast Barracks" where they are *broken* of their civilian life and turned into soldiers. Its basically boot camp.

Why do the swim buoys always look so far away?

Even though we ended up starting late, I felt that this Triathlon was very well organized. There were *hordes* of people in a very small entry way, but it all worked well. My whole family was there to support me, which I loved. Egotistical? Maybe. But they know I have been working towards a goal, so its nice to see the whole package put together.)


Check out my DIY Tri Suit. The top is the Athleta Energy Tank
athleta.gap.com/browse/product.do?ci
d=70799&vid=1&pid=201872
(Male readers may want to skip this) I have enormous 9009s. Getting into and out of this top is a challenge, but once I'm in and adjusted, I can run in this without a separate bra. There's a nifty pocket in the back for iPod or whatever. (cant use iPod in contests, but nice feature for regular workouts)

Bottom is the Athleta Point Break Bikini Short
athleta.gap.com/browse/product.do?ci
d=48567&pid=224157
I also own the top which supports enough for jogging workouts. But not in public. My midsection still isnt ready for prime time.

Back to our *hero*

Giving low-5s to a group of kids on the sidelines.

There were loads of people on the course. Here, there were a group of kids right on the swim exit with hands out for low-5s as we head to transition. You see the blue cap in the foreground, she is from the wave AFTER me. Time: 20:59, same, even though 50m longer. Also, the open water practice really helped, I was not intimidated staring into the dark, but I still did about half the course as a backstroke because I struggled with freestyle for that long.

Then into transition and out onto the course. Before this tri, I did some nutritional experiments and settled on Swedish Fish for quick carbs and 50/50 Powerade in my waterbottle. I had frozen the Powerade the night before and topped it with water in the morning. These were resting in my bike. I had put two small piles of Fish on my towel (about 5) and just shoved these in my mouth and chewed as I got helmet, socks, sneakers and out of transition. T1: 2:44

Bike course was closed and coyote free. Not kidding, on the way in, we saw some guy cleaning up the roadkill which included a dead, stiff coyote. Mad props: we thank the volunteers that hand us water and give directions, but I'm really happy that there is someone who I was NOT able to thank, but who took care of something really important.

Hills on the bike were not as bad as Hunter Mountain, which meant I was faster overall, even though the course was slightly longer (about an extra half mile)

Bike time 1:03:55   Can you spot Child? He's wearing a red sweatshirt in the background.

T2 1:13, I forgot to eat my second pile of fish. It was fine.

Running has become my strong suit, which surprises the HECK out of me. This was a hilly course, and I'm *thrilled* that my hill workouts are showing benefit. This was probably the area that I improved the most. Instead of walking 2/3 of the course, I only walked about 5 min total and ran the rest, uphills and down. I had a strong finish and felt GREAT! Organizers had about 3 different aid stations and I hit the electrolytes twice. Which also may have helped.


The woman in pink started after me, stopped for a pee and *still* smoked me by a solid 3 minutes.



At the end. PR on the run portion: 32:11 Color me surprised.

Total time: Exactly 2:01. This was a HUGE improvement on 2:32 for Hunter Mountain. The course was slightly longer (although flatter). I cant pinpoint ONE single thing that aided my improvement. It was only 6 weeks between. Items that definitely helped me (in no particular order)
1) Swedish Fish to avoid the Bonk
2) Hill Workouts
3) Long Runs/ Rides (I didnt do *many* of these, but a few definitely helped)
4) Gear that I didnt have to change.

For y'all out there considering or are working towards a Tri goal, the first 3 are recommended and cheap. The gear is expensive but worth it if you consider continuing in the sport.

Epilogue: I've got the gear & the training. I'm going to do another one this weekend. It will be my last Tri for the season as I GOT A JOB! Temporary, 6 weeks, but it cuts out going to Sandy Hook on Sept 9th. I'm considering going for a 10K in October and then a Turkey Trot 5K in November (or a DIY Duathalon while the turkey is in the oven). Then I'm going to back off, do some Zumba cross training and hopefully start cross country skiing this winter.

I probably will NOT go back to Hunter Mountain for distance reasons. There is another Tri closer to home around the same time next year.

Pied Piper Moment: My cousin has expressed an interest in the sport and a good friend of mine is giving it some serious consideration.  I'm heading up a very small movement.

Lastly: The real reason I started these shennaigans: I'm down to 158.

You want more pictures?? http://www.backprint.com/view_event.asp?pid=bp%1ErCs&eventid=106168 and search my bib #841.