Bike Diva

Above: Bike Diva during the run portion of the 2010 Miami Man 1/2 Ironman duathlon.

Bike Diva Races

2011 marks the 4th year that I've been racing. Every year around this time I go through the same routine. I find the dates of all the potential races I want to do for the year, put them in a MS Word document, then realize there are way too many races for a mere mortal to realistically participate in. Both budget constraints, and not being a super hero, make me furiously edit the list of races down to a reasonable size.

Above: Bike Diva crossing the finish line at the Club Med triathlon #1 which took place on February 6, 2011. This was the very first triathlon she competed in.

Too Many Races on the Schedule

Last year I participated in 22 races, and was absolutely exhausted by the end of the year. I told myself that I was going to do a lot fewer races this year, but the other day I was already up to 23 events that I wanted to do for 2011. My main goal for 2011 is to race triathlons, so other than a local 5k Thanksgiving Day turkey trot race, I deleted all non-triathlon events from my tentative race schedule.

That meant that all 5k, 10k and half marathon running events, duathlons, time trial bike races, metric century and century bike rides would have to be slashed from the list. My three year goal is to be able to compete in my first Ironman distance triathlon so I need to really focus on my swim-bike-run workouts and start with smaller triathlon races to gradually work my way up to the Ironman distance.

That leaves me with 15 races on my schedule for 2011. That's still a lot of races, but most of them are sprint distance triathlons so I think I will be okay. I've only pre-registered for 6 of the events, so that still leaves me a bit of flexibility should I decided to add/subtract a race or two during the year.

Above: Members of the On Your Mark cycle club at the 2010 Riviera Beach triathlon/duathlon. Left to right; Christopher Diaz, Lynn Smythe (AKA the Bike Diva), Charlie Lockerson, OYM owner Matt GoForth.

Bike Diva's 2011 Race Schedule

My current race schedule, and archive of previous years races can be viewed on the Bike Diva blog: Bike Diva's Races.

1. 2/06 - Club Med Race Series #1 – sprint triathlon – Club Med, Port St. Lucie
2. 3/27 – Club Med Race Series #2 – sprint triathlon – Club Med, Port St. Lucie
3. 4/03 - Multirace Season Opener - sprint triathlon - Tradewinds Park, Coconut Creek
4. 4/17 - FAU Wellness Triathlon - sprint triathlon - Spanish River Park, Boca Raton
5. 4/23 - Egg Hunt - sprint triathlon - CB Smith Park, Pembroke Pines
6. 5/01 – St. Anthony’s Triathlon – Olympic distance – St. Petersberg
7. 5/22 – Miami Speed Triathlon – sprint & Olympic triathlon – Homestead Speedway, Miami
8. 7/04 - Independence Day - sprint triathlon - Tradewinds Park, Coconut Creek
9. 7/24 – Club Med Race Series #4 – sprint triathlon – Club Med, Port St. Lucie
10. 8/06 - Loggerhead Triathlon - sprint triathlon - Carlin Park, Jupiter
11. 9/04 - Labor Day Weekend - sprint triathlon - Tradewinds Park, Coconut Creek
12. 9/10 - Club Med Race Series #5 – sprint triathlon – Club Med, Port St. Lucie
13. 10/09 - Race the Troops - sprint triathlon - Tradewinds Park, Coconut Creek
14. 11/13 - Miami Man - International triathlon – Larry & Penny Thompson Park, Homestead
15. 11/19  25th Annual Turkey Trot - 5k run - Anchor Park, Delray Beach

Bike Diva Trains with Team in Training

I will also probably be doing an event with Team in Training in the fall. Team in Training, or TNT, is the main fundraising program for the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society. My husband and I are currently training for St. Anthony's triathlon with our local TNT chapter. For the fall TNT season, I am looking at doing either a century bike ride or a full marathon. I've done 8 half marathons over the past two years but have yet to complete a full marathon.

I've done 5 century rides with Team in Training, but my husband is one of the cycle team coaches so I usually feel like I should do whatever ride he is coaching for TNT. But I also want to get my triple crown with TNT, that's someone that has done at least one century ride, one triathlon and one marathon through the Team in Training program. So I'm thinking instead of the fall century ride, I might sign up to do the Disney Marathon which takes place in Orlando, FL in January 2012. So technically that event wouldn't count towards my 2011 race schedule!

Take care,
Lynn Smythe AKA the Bike Diva