All I can say is thank you....

Thanks to my cousin Nik and my sister Cyndi for posting this amazing video. Please let us never forget why we can bitch about the daily sh!t that we do. It's because of them........

Done spectating

All this and we live here!


A really good, cold (for Florida) week of training. I hope now that I'm ready for our "10 weeks to half ironman" program in prep for Ironman New Orleans 70.3. I'm really looking forward to this race. The earliest 70.3 race I've ever done and starts us in to an extremely busy/ambitious spring racing season. As it is, 3 races in April........hopefully. If I can remain healthy, that's the plan. My achilles is feeling really good after the running break and I'm ready to gradually build my run back to where it was. I'm now sure I made the right decision by taking the run break even though I was running really well. We rode 75 miles in the hills yesterday with the temperature at the start in the mid-30's, not pleasant. It did manage to warm nicely though and we had a really pleasant ride with a great group. Four mile run off the bike was a bit ugly but it is January after all! I'm feeling stronger on the bike and best ever for the "winter" on the bike. We've never really done rides consistently in the hills this early so it's a real coup to be able to get these rides in before it warms up. Since the bike is my weakness, it is always good to work on this in the "offseason". We'll see how this pans out as the year progresses. I'm not really going to expect much until my "A" race for the year, Ironman Canada, at the end of August. Obviously, if we qualify for Kona, that would be the "other" A-race in October. Cross that bridge if we get there! Another nice, chilly ride today with some TT (that means "time trial", mother) work in Trouble Creek but the legs were dead. I feel sufficiently tired today and don't have anything hard planned until my Wednesday date with the Computrainer..........I'll be ready! I will be ready for that bike ride come IM Canada, or die trying!!
Aloha and kia kaha

Spectating

The Dane on one of the four bridge ascents


So, I'm back in commission. I ran twice this week with no pain or sensation of any type in the achilles. I am also breaking in some new orthotics which I didn't like at all the first run but they weren't so bad the second run. I visited with the podiatrist again today for an orthotic "follow up" and all is going as planned - he feels I'm gonna do well with them. We'll see.
So anyway, the Dane ran the Clearwater Halfathon half marathon yesterday. We/he didn't train specifically for this what so ever, mostly use it as hard run effort and marker. I didn't run for obvious reasons - yes, back in the day I would have sucked it up and ran anyway even though I'm coming off injury. I'm maturing (read getting old) and my body needs TLC now, sucks. Truth be told, I don't enjoy watching people do things that I'd rather be doing but I was determined to be a good crew and help the Dane out as much as I could. He had a really good run, went 2 minutes faster than the last time we did this in '06 - not bad for an old guy! He was 3rd in the Masters category which is also good. It was chilly and I had multiple layers as I was all over the course on my trusty mountain bike. I did go for a proper ride later so the training day wasn't totally wasted! Had today off, thanks MLK, so did a swim and bike. Trying to get in as much riding as I can. Swimming is going very well right now, best winter I've had in the pool. I actually PR'd in the 100 in swim practice last week. Hopefully that will translate into better open water times when I need them!

semi out of commission

Out on fishing adventure from Maui

This one refers to my body, not my iMac. In all honesty, I never mentioned the really, really sore left achilles I limped around Kona on in the days after IM Hawaii. Strange things happen with the body after an Ironman. Different body parts feel injured that didn't cause any trouble leading up. Maybe it's just because I'm old (that's what Linda M. says) and these things happen. Anyway, I did have quite a bit of achilles tenderness after IM Hawaii but took a week off and felt it was just one of those "ironman" injuries that resolve with a few days off. I began running again about a week after IM because, frankly, I love running and was in damn good run shape! So, I stretched and stretched and dealt with this nagging pain in my left achilles. I could run through it so couldn't be that bad (yes, that's how my mind works). I raced Turkey Trot with it and won Masters. I raced the St Pete Bowl 5K with it and won overall. You think I want to take time off running now, not! Well, I must be growing up because this past week, while limping around in the morning because this damn thing hurts, I decided I should probably take some time off now to let it, whatever IT is, heal. Better two weeks now than 3 months in the middle of a busy triathlon season! I also got new orthotics when I felt I might have some sort of biomechanical issue and am still breaking these in. They are much different from my old orthotics which are literally duct taped together! I saw a podiatrist who took an hour watching me walk and talking to me before making a pair of orthotics that he says will keep me healthier, running-wise. When that happens, I'll promote his office! On a good note, I'm riding the computrainer during the week with the goal to get stronger on the bike. Sometimes these running setbacks give opportunities to get better in other areas. This is one of the many reasons I love triathlon - there's always something to work on! Either way, we're are currently 12 weeks out from the first big race of the season, IM New Orleans 70.3, so I'm not panicking. I spent about 10 hours this week on the bike......this is offseason (what ever that is). We did 70 miles in the hills yesterday (2500 feet climbing - thanks Garmin) and another 50 today here. The trainer rides are very difficult so I don't spend much more than an hour at a time at this point. I am starting to regain motivation for training.....takes a while after a long season and a beyond-difficult race to end the season (IM Hawaii). This is good and I'll be healthy, count on it. And, hopefully, my bike splits will improve. I'll die trying anyway!
Training with aloha.\

out of commission

Thought I was out of commission for a bit when my beloved iMac didn't restart after an update. Not knowing what to do, I got on the Apple website from the Macbook and quickly scheduled an appointment with the "genius bar" at the Apple store in International Mall in Tampa. Not that going to this well-appointed mall is a bad thing, but we had spent the previous evening in New Tampa at a party with people we do a lot of our hill rides with. Because of that outing, we decided, smartly, to get a hotel room nearby and then drive 15 minutes to the hills (as opposed to 60 from the house) on Saturday morning. So, anyway, we had a nice ride in the hills though someone, namely me, had imbibed too much at said party and didn't feel so great. I got through the 54 mile ride (2500 feet climbing) happy that I didn't fall over. I wasn't looking forward to our trip back out to Tampa after we got home from ride/party/stay over but knew my beloved computer was ill. Got to the crowded Apple store and thank goodness we had an appointment! The lovely Genius bartender got my baby up and running in 30 minutes and a short lecture later about backing up, updating and whatnot, we were leashed upon mall world. Unfortunately, or fortunately for my wallet, I wasn't in any mood to shop. We ended up in a fun sports bar watching NFL playoff football with a couple of Kona beers (miss them dearly) and suddenly feeling really tired. Went home, had dinner that the Dane whipped up and fell asleep on the couch.....sad! We did, however, discover there is a Great Horned Owl living in the tree in our backyard and we love to stare at him while he does, well, nothing but sit there. But it is amazing to see how big he is when he flies off his perch.
We had overall, a really good week of training, especially biking - got in more miles than I normally do for an Ironman week! No wonder my legs are dead. We have a couple road races upcoming, for me a 10K in a couple weeks and the Dane is doing a half marathon the same weekend. I'm not doing the half marathon for many reasons which I don't care to go into here but anyway, I feel a 10K is better for my training at this point. The Dane killed us in the hills yesterday then again today on the group ride but we're all better for it! I hope! My household trophy is not long for this world....
Hoping everyone had a healthy and safe New Years - we were sleeping through it as usual.
Training with Aloha!