Givin props

Another great weekend on the beach in FL. I failed to mention and thank my greatest weapon and favorite training partner and man of my dreams, the Dane. He has been a huge part of my success this season and I wanted to make sure that he got proper cred. He knows this all of course but I'm not sure that anyone really knows how much of a positive influence he is on my training and racing. The music fits so don't shut it off......
Val (from Outspokin) did great yesterday taking over one hour off of her prior best in the Hawaii 70.3 after losing 40 pounds - we are very proud of her accomplishments and look forward to more from her!
Inspiration is everywhere, you just have to keep an open mind...

I like this

We are two weeks into our "summer mini off season" and I'm actually enjoying it, believe it or not! I feel totally out of shape but that's how I'm supposed to feel on a mini break. We start our big build for IM Canada in a couple weeks then, God willing, further push to Kona. We'll see. I have a painful left foot and I can't quite pinpoint it but I'm not at the point where I think I need to stop running all together so, I won't. Not much running going on now anyway - just beach runs after open water swims, nothing organized. I'm enjoying getting back on my sweet road bike, such a nice ride. In fact, the leader and likely winner of this year's Giro is riding the same bike - awesome ride on the Giant TCR Advanced. I highly recommend a test ride on it if possible, go to Outspokin's new store! Our new bridge opened yesterday - Belleair Causeway bridge which replaces an aging draw bridge and gives us a really nice 13 mile loop with three such bridges to climb on the bike or run (although no pedestrian traffic allowed yet). We also had great opportunity to try out a stand up paddle board today from one of the owners of Nekton surf shop (nektonsurf.com) who was gracious enough to take us to his house and try out his board. I instantly fell in love with this! So many toys, so little time! We're going to check out a few other shops prior to laying down any coin on this but it's definitely in our future! We have a few friends racing right now at the Hawaii 70.3 on the Big Island so many positive vibes going their way. Some local folks also racing Mad Beach Tri tomorrow and likewise to them for a safe adventure. Race wise, we are going to spend most of June doing beach 5K running races and a sprint tri in July then onward to Penticton, Canada for the epic North American Ironman race the end of August. All's well that ends well! Hoping the body holds out for a few more but I've had a great run thusfar. Thanks for all the well wishes after Florida 70.3, I really appreciate it!

Recovery

Nothing intelligent to say (not as if there is ever) but we are getting cabin fever here in "sunny" Florida. We have slept in (til 6am) every morning all week which is really a treat. Wanted to swim but felt I needed the sleep more at this point. We did a road bike ride this morning (off work) and found my legs are still dead. We'll ride through the weekend and try and open water swim if the water cooperates but otherwise no programmed workouts for now! I'm eyeballing my kayak! IM Canada is on the horizon and I want to be hungry!! This will happen.........
Cheers!

Fun pics at Florida 70.3

Since I'm sitting around doing nothing now, figured I'd post a few pics

Our little cabin feast!

The Dane tired post-race!

I'm a bit more elated post-race

Ah, the awards.....finally getting the big one!

5 tries, one AG win... Florida 70.3 race report.. never stop believing in yourself

Got back from Disney yesterday morning in a full-on Florida downpour! I fully expected we were going to crash and die in that rain but, luckily, I wasn't the driver! Once again, we hit the right weather for the race on the right day! We got to registration and what not on Saturday around 1pm with our housemate Linda M (female 55-59 ass-kicker) and all went smoothly. Had no real issues and didn't forget anything this time - pays to have a couple races in the bag already! Tom Z does a good job as RD and should be commended! I didn't feel particularly great in my workouts during last week but that never really means anything. I did have quite a bit of stress at work and figured that would eat away at my energy and likely did somewhat. We had such a nice Saturday afternoon with our house mates and just sat and relaxed. Luckily, all of our waves went off around the same time (Linda at 6:30, me at 6:36 and the Dane at 6:42) so we needed to be to transition early to set up. No issues here except it was quite dark out! It is very strange starting a race in the dark, I think sunrise finally came when I turned the last buoy for home! This swim start is hard because you aren't "allowed" in the water prior so all warm up has to be dry land - something I'm not very good at, not being a swimmer from birth. I had a really good start and lead my wave about half way to the first turn buoy until my left arch of my foot started cramping - a brand new thing for me! Had to let that work it's way out and slow up a bit. In doing so, another purple cap (my wave) got ahead of me - granted, since I breathe to my left, I had no idea what was going on on my right even though I took a gander every now and then. So, I jumped on her feet and let her navigate me through the throngs of other swimmers from the earlier waves. Not much contact so I didn't get too freaked out. I lost my navigator every now and then due to the traffic but found her usually. Towards the end of the swim, which I thought was quite long, I had another cramp in my foot and had to let it work out, weird. Now I'm thinking if this is something that will come back to haunt me today. Got on dry land and hauled ass the long run to T1, managed to pass 2 purple capped gals in the process - knew I didn't have a good swim at this point. I let it go mentally, no use in getting down about it. On to the bike and I felt tired and moderately sluggish. I had to work way harder to push the power that came easily in New Orleans. Luckily, my SRM kept me honest and I tried no to lollygag too long. Passed another two in my AG on the bike. The drafting was pretty bad, mostly with the men that I saw. The Dane finally caught me after mile 40 and seemed to be struggling to lose the pack ahead of him. The wind kicked up the last hour on the bike but nothing like it was in New Orleans so I handled it mentally pretty well - wish my legs handled it as well! Got off the bike without issue and onto the run. Actually left T2 with the Dane just ahead -found he was cramping in T2 trying to get his shoes on! I had a bit of a bounce in my stride and ran through the first mile in 6:40 - either short mile or my pacing really sucked! I felt the vague twinge of a side stitch building and didn't want a repeat of Kona '06 so had to slow up and regulate the breathing pretty much the next 8 miles or so. I never felt good but never felt horrible although had a couple spots where I thought I was going to pass out and managed those ok. I broke the run course down in my mind and it went pretty fast until the third and final loop. I had no idea of my placing or anything so just tried to push the third loop even though I thought I was going to puke at any moment. Finished strong and waited for the Dane who looked great finishing. We all gathered in the CAF (Challenged Athlete's Foundation - awesome charity) and they were awesome to sit with. Seeing all the folks with amputations of various extremities do the same thing I just did is really awe inspiring! Linda finished strong and crushed her age group.....again! The Dane finished strong also but had many cramping issues that we'll work on figuring out later. I didn't know I won my AG until we found the unofficial results page. This is my fifth time doing this race (missed last year due to Europe trip, well worth it) and I finally got a win! The time wasn't fast and I thought I could go faster but I went fast enough. Never stop believing in yourself. If anyone wonders how hard it is and how much dedication and consistency it takes to finally win one of these (70.3) races, just ask me but you better have a lot of time to hear my answers! I was very gratified that, even on a day when I didn't feel my best, I could do enough damage control to be competitive. We'll take a little mental and training break now before embarking on IM Canada training. Thanks to all who sent us well-wishes, it really does mean a lot to me. The groups that I train with in the pool and on the bike really have helped make me a better swimmer and cyclist. I hope I'll continue but for sure I'll continue having fun!
Cheers

Just a thanks

I am honestly astounded by all the friends that I have. I guess we realize these things on such days as birthdays. I have had so many B-day greetings and well wishes it makes my head spin. I can't possibly thank everyone individually, which I'd like to do. So, instead, I thought of every single one of you and remembered cool times I've had with each. I really did. I also got a massage (pre race type of thing) and spent time on the beach with my man, which is my favorite thing to do. We are racing Sunday and will go 110% as usual but will have fun, most of all! Wish us all luck!
Thanks again to all!
Cheers!

Great weekend!

Beach at it's best in FL

The picture says it all for me! Awesome beach weekend in FL! Good heat taper training, sun and plenty of fresh air. We did an open water swim with the kids from the pool we do masters at and that was fun. Rode the bikes there and back and then hit the playa for sun and more sun. Today, did a short ride then a brick and find my legs are still quite tired so this week will be really chilled - just some focused workouts and not much else (except stressful work). Spent the rest of the day today on the beach with L&L and that was fun and relaxing. Happy Mom's day to all and congrats to Jennifer my niece for having a new baby. Here's to a great week!

Episode #13 - Kara Goucher 20M Pre-Boston Workout | Workout Wednesday, Season 3 on Flotrack

Episode #13 - Kara Goucher 20M Pre-Boston Workout | Workout Wednesday, Season 3 on Flotrack

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Check out this sick, freak workout prior to Boston Marathon. Only for true fans, watch at your own risk...

Sunday ride

Last hard ride until we taper (once again) for last half ironman for the spring campaign. Group ride today which, after 71 miles in the hills yesterday with hard run, was a daunting task. Just went through the motions and found I finally get warmed up after about 30 miles. So, we head to Trouble Creek out and back which isn't terribly hard then the ride back to Outspokin was hard hard....for me. The ride back from Trouble Creek was about 7 guys which are really good riders (including the Dane) and me into a stiff headwind. I just kept hanging on to wheels because I knew if I had to push against the wind on my own, it would be slowwww at this stage. Made it almost all the way with the small group and hung on and was proud that I could do that after yesterday's ride/run. I'm pretty much done and confident in my cycling fitness, just need to recover. I'm hoping that the next half IM will be better than New Orleans 70.3, we'll see.
Props to the folks who conquered St Croix 70.3, especially Jeff C who laid down the law like he said he would when we saw him last weekend. You're the Man, JC!
Cheers.

!

Thanks Ken for the pic!


Had a good ride in the hills today, 71 miles at a good clip with a fast crew! I wanted to go 60 but when you are in the hills and you don't know the way, you follow wheels, shut up and ride! I felt pretty horrid this week. New Orleans 70.3 three weeks ago, check. St Anthony's last weekend, check. Another half ironman in two weeks, check. 42nd birthday upcoming in two weeks, check. The old body just doesn't do what the younger body used to......amazing! That said, had one last go at a long run this week and it was, in a word, awful. I got through it and trained my mind to just HTFU. That's all half ironman racing is anyway so it was a mental training effort. I felt horrid coming out of that then my good friend Mary D wanted to go out for "a glass of wine" and, yada yada yada we are stumbling home on Friday night. Had a bad week at work so that's easy to get sucked in to! No worries, up at 5am today for a committed ride in the hills and I actually didn't feel nearly as bad as I thought I would so went with it. The run wasn't perty but got through it and another shot at character building (thanks Linda M) and mental HTFU training. Swimming long course a bit now so that is a good thing and I feel good in the water - I'm ready to swim in a triathlon!! So, tailor the taper again and see how it goes. The Dane seems cured (I wish I got over injuries so quickly) and very hungry to race a half IM! Watch out! Good luck to all the fun folks we know doing St Croix 70.3 tomorrow.
Good luck Jen and push that baby out!!