Solstice Triathalon

Last weekend Andy participated in the local Exterra Triathalon. Exterra is a series of Triathalons that occur all across the US, and we are fortunate enough to get one right here in our back door at Morgan Lake.
It was a 1 mile swim, 22 mile bike ride and a 6 mile run. I am amazed at how hard Andy worked to get ready for each event. The struggle with a Triathalon is that there are 3 events to train for, 3 very different events to transition into while doing the event, and a ton of different muscle groups that are involved in so many different ways to work over the event!
There were 119 participants in the Solstice Triathalon. It was a bit chilly here that day and that makes the mucky Morgan Lake even less pleasureable with the cold water. But they all sported their wetsuits and got in ready for the start signal!!!

The swim was Andys most recent endeavor, therefore the weakest of the 3. But he did sooo well. He came in about middle of the pack! Then it was time to head in, transition out of the wet clothes and into bike clothes, and then out for the bike ride.

Andy swimming in to shore.

The hardest part of the day... Changing from the wetsuit!

Off onto the long bike ride!! The terrain for the ride was extremely rocky and steep! Andy had rode part of it before, but it had rained the night before and was muddy and slick to add to the tricky terrain. The woman who organizes the event locally each year fell in the first part of the ride and ended up breaking her collar bone. That speaks for how tough the ride was...

Andy is in the background taking off on the bike while there are still swimmers in the lake. Chad is in the pontoon. He got to be one of the people who made sure the swimmers didn't drown!! We didn't get to try out his CPR abilities though thankfully! Everyone made it out of the water safely and Chad made it back in first place for pontoon rowers!!!! Good job Chad!!!

The transition area.

Andy coming in from the ride. He was behind two riders when they came into view. But as I transitioned where I was so I could take his picture coming through the finish line, he passed both of them. I was so bummed that I missed it! Andy ended up being the 6th one in from the bike ride. He really does great on the bike! While he was transitioning into his running shoes he was in such a hurry that he didn't notice there were only a few other bikes that had come back so far! He got on his shoes and off for the really hard trail run!

Andy coming in from the run! Morgan Lake was a beautiful area for this fun event! It was just gorgeous up there during this time of year!



Andy came in 21st place overall! Amazingly well for first time Triathlete and in such a difficult terrain! It was so much fun watching him do so well!!!