On your mark, get set....

I decided to update my blog on the eve of my first tri this season, in Florida nonetheless!  Yay!  I am here in St. Petersburg, Florida for the St. Anthony's triathlon.  As I expected, this is a pretty huge deal being a 5150 Ironman branded race.  The expo rivals any Ironman event, the transition area is huge, and there are a whole bunch of really fit looking people leaving me questioning what am I doing here! LOL!

Leanna and I arrived Thursday afternoon and were shocked by the heat and humidity!  The moment I stepped off the plane all I said was wow!  Leaving TO in a rainstorm and arriving to sunshine is awesome, but our system is just not used to this.  It will be interesting to see how my body will respond to the heat and humidity on race day.  I do love walking around in flipflops, shorts, and a tank top again!  So happy to be here away from the cold and not having to wear tons of layers to cycle or run.

In front of the expo entrance

Thursday we swam in the hotel pool and then ran around a bit while doing a bit of sightseeing at the same time.  We also took care of assembling our bikes together which was pretty painless.  Friday we rode around a bit but it wasn't the ride that I had planned.  I was suppose to ride 50km but we quickly found out that riding in downtown St. Petersburg is not that easy.  There were a lot of stoplights and quite a bit of traffic which did not make for a great ride but it was fun to ride in the sun along the water and palm trees!  We then ran for about 20min off the bikes and took care of registration and the mandatory shopping at the expo on our way back from our run.  There were some pretty awesome deals at the expo including 'cheap' running shoes compared to our Canadian prices.  I got some pretty good deals so that is always a bonus.  And another bonus, we were dolphin watching!  On our run we spotted  three dolphins in the water.  Here is a pic of their fins:

Saturday we finally managed an ocean swim.  The water is actually quite rough and the swells were pretty big and I was being thrown around a bit.  I just hope the swim does not get cancelled as has happened in the past at this race.  The water was warm and most likely will be a non-wetsuit swim.  I actually did not even bring my wetsuit so I will only be swimming in my speedsuit regardless of the water temperature.  We also did a short run too and from the swim.  We then relaxed for a bit back at the hotel before we had to go and take care of bike check in.  As in most big events, there is a mandatory bike check in the day before.  It kind of makes race morning a little easier as we do not have to deal with transporting our bikes to the race site.  



Posing with Limey just before bike check in



Leanna and myself

Oh, and on our way to bike drop off I decided to get a new saddle. Haha!  I am breaking the cardinal rule of never trying anything new on race day!  Yet, this is not the first time I am breaking this rule.  I've even tried race wheels for the first time on race day, at my first ironman to boot!  I've been wanting to try a new saddle for a while now.  I am ok with mine, the Specialized Jett, but I wanted to try something else.  I have heard good things about both the Cobb and the ISM saddles and wanted to try either of them.  ISM was at the expo here and were offering a good deal for their saddles (especially compared to our prices at home) and they included a full set up.  So after I hummed and hawed for a bit I decided to go for it.

The ISM Adamo Breakaway saddle, the saddle I went with after trying this one and the new Time Trial one

  The guys at ISM did a great job of making sure I was set up properly and he took his time.  In fact, I also had superstar pro triathlete Michellie Jones help out a bit in making sure I was fitted properly!  Yes, that even meant Ms. Jones touching my back side to make sure my hips were even! LOL!    I am kicking myself that I did not take the opportunity to get a picture of this!  Actually, I missed out on a great opportunity to get a pic with her along with Andy Potts and Sarah Haskins as they were all at the ISM tent while I was getting my new saddle.  I did not want to be that crazy fan but in hindsight I really should have asked for a picture which I then could have posted here.  Maybe I can get a pic tomorrow at the post race party!?

Now I am back at the hotel with a full belly and all packed and ready to go. Here is a pic of a typical triathetes' hotel room, lol!:

 It will be an early wake up call in the morning.  So that is my update for now.  I am excited and it will be interesting!  I'll update with a post race report as soon as I can!