Ironman Canada '09 race report

Warning, this is long. Read if you dare. 7th Ironman, worst result.
Was going to title this "cut lip, sprained thumb, bruised ego race report" but thought better of it. This is, though, what I left Penticton, BC with. Every year, I manage to have an absolutely horrible day in a race. This year, it ended up being the biggest race on the calendar, unfortunately. Yes, still bitter, upset and moderately depressed. Training went extremely well this summer. I had the Dane around to do the workouts with me and that pushed me harder and harder. Not gonna lie, the goal was to qualify for IM Hawaii in October for my third trip. We had wonderful group on Saturdays to do long rides with in the hills. We had another wonderful group for fast ride on Sundays. I felt these weekly jaunts which pushed me very hard, would benefit me in the end and give me a great bike split on a tough IMC bike course. I was riding the powercranks twice per week along with another mid-week ride to give my cycling a boost. It was showing in training but I hadn't raced since Florida 70.3 so not really sure where it was all going. I had a foot/achilles injury coming out of (and going into) Florida 70.3 so took a week off from running then and decided on a huge change, to rid myself of orthotics. This proved over the following several months to be a good decision as my foot pain mostly resolved as I continued to train. Enter taper week one. Went for regular Tuesday tempo run and got about 1/2 mile before I had to walk home with strange extreme pain in my left hip/upper hamstring area. Funny, I don't remember tweaking or injuring this in my brick the previous Saturday. No biggie, I was sure this was one of those fleeting taper problems. This hampered the taper, no running at all, just some riding and swimming. I admit I backed off the swimming this year due to many reasons but mostly so I could focus more on biking and running - the money events in long course racing. Anyway, I proceeded tapering without running, figuring this would certainly resolve prior to race day. Still felt a bit tired riding but this is usually the norm for me. Got to Penticton and had three ART sessions in the days prior hoping this would cure me. Onto the race. Slept great the night before, not unusual for me. Had my normal breaky and got in thewetsuit and warmed up. I had been paying attention to recommendations on where to line up for this one loop swim and felt I knew where to be to get good benefit of drafting. Don't think I overestimated my swim speed. I was trying to be competitive and go for a Kona slot - can't do that from the "back of the pack". No offense to others. Gun went off, waded/swam behind the fast-looking girl I lined up behind and thought I was in good position.....until the masses came. I will make this very short and just say that I felt I was going to drown and meet my maker on this swim. I had a full panic attack, the legs went numb and felt the day was ending here, needless to say, not a good way to start a long day. I did manage to find clean water inside the buoys and decided this was the place for me and managed to stay there the remainder of the way (with exception of the turns, obviously). I managed to survive the swim and it was much slower than I wanted/expected but I did indeed survive which was a new feeling for me. I felt the leg/hip pain and WALKED up out of the water and pretty much knew this was how the day was going to be. Getting my wetsuit off, I felt pain in my right thumb, not sure if this occurred during the swim or out of but didn't pay much attention, as I would normally do (this swelled during the course of the ride and added to my dismay). On to the bike, ready for my great adventure. It was an adventure indeed. All I can say is that it's hard to do this course if you don't train/descend in mountains. Needless to say, don't have that opportunity living in Florida. No excuses here - I've been working hard on my climbing and was climbing very well and passing folks along the way. Problem is, I was getting creamed on the descents. I am a total pussy descending (and I only weigh 104 pounds), and I know it. It's been a known fear/weakness of mine for a long time. I was freaked out in the water and now freaked out on the bike. I got through the bike and if I was on a "scenic" ride, it would be great but unfortunately, I was in a race. I am disappointed at how fearful I was on the descents but when I learned that the Dane was not that comfortable either, I didn't feel so bad. I had several girls in my AG pass me on the descents but I would pass back on climbs but I never felt good. I found out later, the Dane was having severe cramping issues only a couple hours into the ride. I couldn't hold my planned power numbers on the flats later either and figured I was just too cooked from training. That's the risk when you're self coached and extremely motivated! Anyhow, finally made it back into town and got off the bike and tried, by reflex, to run into transition and had the same pain I'd been having for two weeks. Bummer. Got into the tent and didn't hurry too much. Chatted with the nice volunteer helping me and limped out of T2. I knew immediately, the marathon wasn't going to happen for me today. Wanted to cry but just walked and soaked in the disappointment. Managed to find the Dane coming the opposite direction and told him I was done and he told me the problems he'd been having and wanted out with me. I made sure that he was very certain about this and we walked hand in hand to the med tent. We were treated very well there and had a nice massage. Overall, a good learning experience, I suppose. The thing about having a bad day is that you truly analyze everything that would not otherwise really be looked at too closely with a good race. So, for those reading this mammoth sob session, you might ask: What do I take out of this? Several things, actually.
1. Don't sign up for races with mountain descents, I suck at them
2. Don't smash yourself so hard in training that you are still tuckered for the race
3. No extra-curricular activities within two weeks of a major race (SUP session in the swells I think contributed/caused this last-minute injury)
4. Consider hiring a coach to put a governor on my motivation.....oh yeah, can't afford that at this time
5. Consider not doing races with mass starts with 2600+ people - panic attack is close to follow
What are the good/positive things?
1. I had a solid 7+ hour "race situation" training day
2. No pounding from a marathon
3. Nice Vietnamese meal while others were still running, ugh
4. Awesome trip to Canada where I'd never been before (and may never return to)
5. The crowd support at IMC is second to none. Yellow Lake climb was like (I imagine) climbs at the Tour de France, no lie
6. I still have IM Cozumel at the end of November - trust me, if I can run , I WILL be going for this.
So, I have a couple of appointments with doctors who, hopefully, know more than I do and can figure out what is wrong with my hip/leg so I can get back to running. In the mean time, I will enjoy the beach, walk barefoot, ride my road bike, swim masters, swim open water and move on. I do also have IM 70.3 World Championships here in Clearwater in November. If I'm healthy, November will be a very busy month. I am truly hoping so!!
Cheers

Mini IMC race report

Well, what can I say. I've never dnf'd an Ironman so I guess my time was coming. I was pretty sure starting the race that I wasn't going to be able to run since I haven't really been able to run for the past 12 days or so. I still don't know how I injured my leg/hip but absolutely cannot run and that's the only thing I can't do. The swim was super crowded and scary. Was slow but glad I survived as I was sure I was going to drown in the first half mile or so. Managed to sprain my thumb also. The bike was epic and the downhills were scary - I think I was the only person riding their brakes going down the mountains. Lost massive amounts of time there. I climbed well though. Got off the bike and couldn't even run through transition so I knew my day was done. Very, very disappointing to have an injury like this come up during taper. I think I may have injured myself SUP'ing, not sure. Will figure it out when we get home. The Dane was cramping severely during the bike which continued into the run so decided he didn't want to walk 26 miles either. We showered then found a great little Vietnamese restaurant along the run course and called it a night early. Great race overall though and I would love to come back here and finish what I started. Anyway, need to pack the bike.
Cheers

One sleep left

Transition bags lined up, like graveyard, eh

Mere hours prior to starting our epic day tomorrow and feeling pretty calm. I was able to sleep past 6am today for once since coming to the Pacific time zone. Even though I fell asleep before 7:30 last night - real party animal! Anyway, got up and walked to the lake for our daily swim which was nice because it was warmer and there was a little cloud cover. The swim will be tough on the way back to the beach because the sun glares in the eyes. I have some great Sable goggles that are mirrored so hoping that will be good (thanks, Val). We did a little 30 min spin ride through some beautiful rolling terrain just out the door from where we are staying. I have some video and plan to post this when I get a chance. Stunning vistas and I wanted to ride there all day and forget why we were here! Back to the expo for more ART torture/treatment to finish us off. We cleaned up and had a bite of leftover pasta which was supreme with the awesome ingredients we have to cook with here! Went to local farmers market and got a few things to cook with tonight - the Dane is in his glory with all the great veggies! Had to rack the bikes and drop the transition bags today also so got to see the lay of the land, as it were, for tomorrow. Just relaxing now and enjoying a local wine, doesn't get much better. My "injury" feels a bit better today but the test will be tomorrow and I hope that I can work through this. I'm more worried about surviving the bike - it is truly an epic course that I want to be sure to manage my energy on. I was going to do a video blog today but too lazy and video isn't downloading as I would like. None of you should mind missing my mug! Thanks for all the well-wishes which we appreciate very much. This race will require the best we have and it's always a bonus to have all the encouragement. Thanks.
Cheers.

you, you and you

Our patio dining spot, not bad


Early to swim, not bad


Bike and run course, very pretty


Somewhere along the bike course

These are the wise words from one (and only) Paula Newby Fraser. If you don't know who that is, do me a favor, save me the time and google her. Briefly, she won IM Hawaii nine, yes nine, times. More than anyone else. And, she has won IM Canada. We had a breakfast with her because we contributed to the community fund which goes far to help the local community support programs such as children's sporting events and various others. A feel-good thing to do, good karma builder and I'm happy to support charity in this community which we happen to invade for a few days. Today, was a swim in the lake which is beautiful. Then over to the breakfast and here Paula give many words of wisdom. Waited for more ART torture then had that. My ART guy today suggested that I try a jog today, just 5 minutes or so (most I've been able to do in over a week) to see how the treatment is working so I can report back tomorrow. Let's just say, if these people can save me, I may change my career!! I did jog for three minutes with moderate pain but, an improvement. How I'm going to string that into 26.2 miles, I haven't yet figured out. Very, very frustrating because I'm in the best condition of my life, I feel, and running pretty well all year. That said, I'll take what the day gives. This afternoon, we drove the bike course. If you want a challenging, epic, stunningly beautiful ride, come here. It is going to be scary in the long descents but, more than the wind, I can control this. I will post video when I have better connection and it doesn't take an hour to download! Having our healthy pasta meal tonight that chef Anders is whipping up as I type. Will try a video blog tomorrow, we'll see how that goes.
Cheers

O Canada

Beautiful Seattle sky

Lake Chelan, WA

Our view of Penticton from the patio of our duplex

Made it to Penticton last night. The drive was pretty and uneventful until we hit the border. Yada, yada, yada 2 1/2 hours later we were allowed in. Hopefully, my faith in the pleasantness of the Canadian peoples will improve during the rest of our stay! Seattle was really cool and the drive out of there was amazing. We stopped half way in a little town called Lake Chelan which borders the Cascades and ate a fab Thai meal. That said, I'm sick of eating out already. We just put the bikes together since I cannot seem to sleep past 5am! We will get registered, take a swim and a bike ride and try to find an ART guru to help me with this hip/groin/hammy problem that I've managed to obtain and hasn't gotten better by not running. Wish us luck and I'm praying my race doesn't end in T2!
Cheers.

In the barn

Well, taper is in full swing. I feel really tired, which is usually normal for me. I have managed also to somehow injure myself during this taper and I'm still not quite sure what's wrong or when/how I did it. I ran fine last Saturday after the long ride and felt tired but good. My foot has slowly been better and better and is, essentially, a non-issue. We SUP'd quite a bit last Sunday, tried to battle some big swells which was probably wrong. Then had the whole thing with the manatees and were on the boards for quite a long time. Felt a twinge in my groin area, where the adductors and hamstrings attach on the left leg but didn't think much of it. Went to run on Tuesday and could barely go 1/2 a mile and had to walk home due to pain. Haven't run since, have been favoring it just to walk but doesn't bother me to swim or bike. Today, feels a little bit better. Praying it won't be there in one week so I can run a marathon. I'm moderately freaked out but realize not much I can do but rest, ice and take lot's of Advil (which I don't think helps much). Anyhow, otherwise, things going well. We leave on Tuesday and I'm in desperate need for a vacation! Have a full day at work tomorrow, should have taken it off but didn't. Oh well. Will make the days off more sweet! The bike is packed but still have to pack the rest of my stuff. I took a couple photos of my IM Canada Splish suit - hope it's not too cold to wear! Hope I get to run a full marathon in it also! Will certainly update from the road as we will be traveling with laptop. Wish us well, eh!
Cheers!

video proof!

manatee orgy and other various topics

I hope to have some footage of the amazing scene we were blessed to see today while on the SUP's in the intracoastal. We witnessed at least 8 manatee (endangered, I think) in a mating pod along the sea wall not too far from home. The day started out on the Gulf. We had the day off from training (thanks, taper) so ventured out to the Gulf as there was a tropical storm brewing so the waves were starting to come up. Since the wind was offshore, we thought we might be able to paddle and catch a few waves back in to the shore. It was way worse when we paddled out that it looked from the beach. If I wasn't two weeks out from my Ironman race, I would have been more daring, maybe, but not today. The winds were blowing but offshore so the water was pretty glassy but decent swells. We bagged this due to fear of injury and went home. Got home, and noticed the tide was super high so decided to launch off the sea wall across the street. Best decision of the year. Got out to the flats and saw huge pod of manatee making a big stir along the sea wall. They were slapping water and moving around, even swimming under our boards! It was a truly magical experience and something we hung around a while to watch. Luckily, friends who live close by noticed us out there on the water just hanging around and brought out the cameras, I'm hoping to get footage. It was truly a highlight.
The week of training last week was ok. Super hot and humid so I think we have that covered. We had a "race rehearsal" ride/brick yesterday in the hills and I do not feel recovered on the bike at all, mostly going up hill! Hopefully, that will improve during our taper. I do, however, feel super strong running. I can run on extremely tired legs and keep 7:30 pace which is encouraging. I think IM Canada is more a runner's race (as long as you can ride decent) so I'm feeling good about my run fitness now. I hope my bike legs come around during the taper or it will be a long day! Getting excited to leave for Penticton now and making packing lists. One thing for sure, if I don't do well, it's not because I'm not fit! The Dane hurt everyone on the ride yesterday and is rediculously fit!
Cheers to the manatee!


This is LM and the Dane SUP'ing on the glassy Gulf!

Driving to SUP in the Gulf (not today)

What it takes

Do we really know, well, not really. The game changes constantly. The competitors change, constantly. We think about it, constantly. What am I speaking of......Kona. What else? In my mind........constantly. Wanna go back. My ticket is going to have to be earned in 3 weeks at IM Canada. Won't be easy but we've trained really hard. Today, for example, rode only 4 1/2 hours (cuz I'm baked) but the brick was 6 miles at an insanely happy, feel good pace of sub-7:30. That shouldn't "feel good", it should "feel shitty". Don't know but I'm certainly embracing running with really, really, tired legs. Good, I hope. Ran 18 1/2 miles on Thursday night in the Florida heat at sub 8:10 pace and stayed aerobic for most part. Is this my IM marathon pace now, sure hope so. Just glad to get through the key workouts. The foot/achilles is doing well out of orthotics, never going back if I can help it! I feel much more fit and definitely faster than the spring doing the 70.3 races.
Video is just stupid coverage of parking lot in the hills getting ready in the dark. We're tired of waking at 4:15am on Saturday mornings! Taper is a whisper away! Cheers.

4 weeks to go

We are in the middle of the heat of IM training. It's hard. Every morning comes with groaning and slowness. We do it anyway because it's what needs to be done, basically. If you want to be good, to compete, you have to get up and keep going. The really hard thing, I think, is to keep going after hard, stressful work days. That's what no one sees and doesn't get factored into the "training time/stress", but it's a factor, I assure you. But, you might ask, why do it then? I don't know. Everyone's answer is very personal but I just like pushing my body to the max and seeing what I might learn about myself, how do I handle real pressure and misery. I get a lot of pleasure from a long day of work, training the body, pushing the boundries and maybe too far sometimes. It's likely rather sick but it is what it is. I feel most fit and "healthy" (not mentally, of course) when in this place. You walk into a public place and know that you can out run/bike/swim anyone in the joint for the most part - in a Darwinian world, that's pretty powerful. But, I digress. We had a good week of training. Long run was faster, at lower heart rate. Long bike in the hills with longish brick was brutal in the Florida heat but it prepares us for anything (except cold). Ride today was good tempo and tolerable. Definitely earning the taper but it's a couple weeks off. Staving off further injury for the most part. The foot is holding up pretty well, off all orthotics. I'm very happy about that! Got to SUP for a little bit today but conditions weren't great - pretty breezy with a lot of chop but we managed a bit of time on the boards but relaxing on the beach is our real reward for a hard week. To get back at it again tomorrow for sure. Light at the end of the tunnel for now though.
Cheers.

Lightening makes the hair stand up!

The Dane pondering the sunrise
Paddling away


Dodging the lightening, we ended the week of big training block. Looking towards this week on the schedule, I was just wanting to get through it without any major problems. That occurred, and I'm happy for it. Damn near got struck but lightening today on the bike ride, it was scary. We had to bale out into the Tarpon Springs marina to save ourselves, good idea! We got to stand there and watch a forming funnel cloud try and get angry and we avoided to full on downpour and electricity. Ended today's ride with a solid brick of 6 miles at sub-7:30 pace. We were supposed to do that run yesterday off the long run (5.5 hours) but I was already bonking (bad calorie management) and I had wicked cramps (you gals know what I mean). I have gotten all my runs in this week and need to do the same for the next two weeks for sure to feel moderately confident about my IM marathon. I stopped using my orthotics and that seems to be a good decision thus far. The only time my foot bothers me now is if I run fast - which isn't an issue now with training for IM! We got two good days of SUP also. Friday the water was glassy and we saw lots of fish - tarpon, snook and mangrove snapper. Pretty cool when you're "standing" out among them. Today, a bit more challenging because the water was not glassy but choppy but I like that challenge to try and keep paddling and stay up. We did much better today in the chop, it's a real workout! Fun, fun, fun though. Five more weeks to IM Canada......
Cheers.

"Rest" week

We had a nice, unusual rest week training-wise. That basically means, back off the long run, and Sunday ride is optional. We opted out. Actually, we opted to SUP as the sun rose today. Great decision as the storm clouds kept building off-shore. No riding in the rain today, thank God. Yesterday, the ride felt like storm chasers. We managed to ride in and out of every thunderstorm in Hernando and Citrus county. It was plain not fun. I hate riding in the rain, I get very unnerved that I, or someone else, will crash. Or, worse yet, a car will come skidding into the group. When we hit Brooksville, the lightening started. It was not fun but we had a 5 hour ride on the calender so that we did. Then we took our soggy selves onto a 40 minute brick which went quite well (other than Jaime getting bonked and lost). I'm feeling tired but in pretty good shape overall - likely, better than a year ago. The more I run, the better I feel. I've managed to slim down into race weight now and we still have 6 weeks to IMC so will need to be careful to not lose any more weight! Then Dane is in unreal shape. He won Masters category at the Morton Plant sprint tri last Sunday after riding 90 miles in the hills on Sat. Unreal, for sure. We will continue our IM build now, it gets longer and harder but will go by fast for sure. I hope we aren't dodging thunderstorms all summer though.
Way to go AC in today's stage! Only Tour stage I'll get to see live but it was worth it!
Cheers.

Well deserved beach time

We had a good week of training. I managed a tempo run and long run of 2 hours without too much complaining from the foot. The tempo run (long warm up/cool down with only 20 min at 7:15 pace) was hard as I haven't run "hard" since St Anthony's - had to get the brain to remember how that feels (been running real slow the past couple months to let this foot get better). The foot complained for a day afterwards but I was able two days later to jam out our 2 hour run. Nothing pretty but got it done none the less. We had a solid long ride in the hills on Sat with good group then Anders did the Morton Plant sprint tri on Sunday. There is no way I could have done a race, I was spent (ended up peddling squares by my lonesome for three hours instead). He did awesome, won Masters. The video is celebrating that. He had a broken seat rail also but brought home the W and was really happy. I had a really good brick run but felt like ass the entire time - I guess running sub-7:30 will do that. Anyhow, have to recover a bit and ramp up a bit more next weekend. On a lighter note, we had the best SUP session ever. Got to the Gulf before the wind kicked up too much and the water was super clear, you could see everything. Had an amazingly large school of rays swim right through us, very cool. As per the video, the wind kicked up and forced us out but we got back in about an hour later with somewhat of a choppy sea but rideable (our first ride in the choppy Gulf). It was a great time and good workout (like I need more workouts). Loving it here in sunny FL......when it's sunny!
Cheers.

tempo run tuesday

Have a new toy and will try and post videos

Oh, am I tired

A little motivation on my paddle!

Lovely three day weekend is ending, sadly. One would think I'd now be all rested and ready to tackle another week. Probably would if not for IM training in full effect. I am quite smashed today from the weekend of swimming, biking and running. It was so rainy during the week we did miss a few workouts but nothing disastrous. Working on getting my long run to be, well, long. Not there yet but hopefully will be able to jam it up to 2 hours this week. My foot/achilles seems to be tolerating the work and gradual increase in mileage. I have gone 180 degrees from the world of orthotics and am just going without and it seems to be a good thing. There is a big sprint tri next weekend that most are doing although I'm going to pass. I really need to get in my bike rides more than one hour hard tri effort. We did get to SUP on Friday morning. It was pretty windy and the surface chop in the intracoastal made it very challenging! My calves were sore from constantly gripping the board to stay upright. Fun, fun though. We spent the 4th riding, running and beaching with L&L, fun times! Loving Le Tour!
Cheers

Ohhhhh, so excited on war against cancer

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mw_4McYl4Tk
Go through the effort and see the you tube.

http://www.nike.com/nikeos/p/livestrong/en_US/video_wall?guid=09bac6ee-3f75-1a3f-3658-97bff9537f4c_id16035#?guid=7f8f833d-0ca7-e6e6-5fbc-e50aa74c9394_id16035
If you can watch this, please take the time to. Amazing women. Lance get's through. I see a ton of cancer and I believe in the cause. Go Lance! (He's already won if people give to the cause).

some pics

Gettin ready to ride


Yippee, happy to go ride at sunset


Ugh, heavy after paddling!



Just wanted to put up some stupid SUP pics. We are trying to launch off the seawall across the street but hard when tide is out. I am having difficulty lugging the board as well - I know.....weak!
Training is going well except for the running. Trying to manage upping mileage with foot/achilles problem but going to work it and see how far I can go. Supplementing the running with power crank (http://www.powercranks.com) workouts instead of swimming tues and thurs morning prior to weight/core work. I have good days and not so good days with the foot but it doesn't bother me enought to take a hard break from running so..... I won't. After all, we're 9 1/2 wks out from IM Canada, kinda have to run! Winging it!!
YOLO

Starting IM training

We are 10 weeks out from IM Canada and a good week in the bank. I have been cycling 5 days per week, up to 4 runs per week now and 4 swims. My run is not where I'd like it now as I'm nursing my left foot. It only bothers me when I run, of course, but I'm going to try and push it and see what I can do with it. I'm supplementing my run with the power cranks twice per week on the computrainer which is no easy task, I assure you. We had a nice 85 mile ride in the hills yesterday with a good group. It has been super hot here for June with humidity through the roof, even for Florida! Came out of that feeling quite tired. We got the call that our SUP boards were in and we went and picked them up, very exciting! We couldn't stand not riding them straight away so did a sunset paddle off the sea wall across the street. What a ride! It is amazingly peaceful to paddle at sunset in calm water. I think I found my new drug (besides regular training). Today presented the usual Sunday ride. It is always fast, hard and now, hot. I tried harder to tack on the the front group today in spite of the fact that we did the 85 in the hills yesterday. The legs were really tired but I feel a bit stronger every week now, good progress. After 100K on the bike today and a max HR of 183 (don't know if I've ever been that high on a bike), the run beckoned. It was over 90 degrees once we started our 4 miler off the bike. Heat index was way higher I can bet - hotter than any part of the IM Hawaii course in my two showings! Got through that with a niggle in the left achilles but all went away with a dive in the pool once home - ahhhhh. All pain goes away once I stop! We didn't quite have the energy to paddle today, yet - maybe later. My dream is to paddle in Hawaii and see the fishies beneath me. I'm glad that my motivation is back in full force after a good spring racing season. After all, YOLO.
Cheers.

YOLO

If you look at the youtubes. just mute the music. There is sooooo many cool videos on SUP, it's SICK. We aren't surfing the big swells.......yet! Thanks Christina N for the link! You're a rock star and I wish I was riding with you in France in July!!

Good week in the books. I started back running after a forced break due to left foot/heel/achilles problem. Haven't really nailed down what the culprit is but I don't think my achilles is the major problem, which is good. I had a couple ART treatments on it and my ART guy didn't feel the achilles was problematic either. I do/did have pain in the ankle ligaments which is really strange. I thought I had injured every body part possible, this is new! Anyhow, I feel better although not totally pain-free. I only have pain when I run, of course. I plan to try and manage this and begin on my Ironman journey as is. I can't afford to take any more time off from running. That said, I will just be doing run frequency for now - nothing super long or fast until I feel my foot can handle it. I am really intrigued now by the whole barefoot movement and plan to persue this idea more in the off season. I'm reading "Born To Run" so, forgive me. Awesome book and extremely motivating - makes me want to take up ultra running! Meanwhile, we had our "first" long ride (we've been doing this all along during the spring) in the hills yesterday without too much problem. Actually, I felt quite better as the ride went along. The Dane was moderately shattered (but, ran 12 miles thursday evening then raced a 5K on fri night) so, it's all relative. We did the usual Sunday group ride this morning which I was concerned about after 4 hours in the hills yesterday but I felt better than last Sunday! Crazy but glad to know my fitness hasn't dropped off too much on the bike. I've had five days on the bike this week and plan to continue this track until I can run more. Swim-wise, we are on long course now which is always difficult to begin with but I love it as it goes. Now, our extracurricular SUP activity was awesome today. We launched at a new spot (normally alot of fishermen there) and got about an hour riding which is a real sweat-sport! The more I do this, the more I like it. We toured around the bird islands off the Belleair causeway which was cool. The Gulf is still a bit too rough for us right now, the wind blowing out of the west is churning things up! We will stick in the intracoastal for now. I will post pics of the boards when we get ours - they are getting shipped now and we are on borrowed boards. Great core workout and fun in the sun!
Cheers. And, my new mantra, YOLO (You Only Live Once)

It's all about the SUP

Boards sleeping in the pool

Owe, that hurts!

Our lovely launch spot

The Audi is packed!

The Audi likes carrying stuff

So, as if we need more physical activity and sports in our lives leading in to Ironman time, we have discovered the SUP. For now on, understand the SUP means 'stand up paddleboarding'. Cuz I don't want to keep typing 'stand up paddleboarding'! So, we saw these last October while we were in Kona but didn't rent because we were dead set on surfing. I am not a good surfer and I'm still not a good surfer. If I lived in Hawaii, I'd likely become a good surfer because it's all about loving the water and becoming one with the elements which I love. Here in FL, I have to mix work with training which doesn't leave much time or energy for watersports. And, the "surfing" on the Gulf just aint that great. I know, you can drive over to the East coast but we simply don't have time for that. That said, for some reason we rediscovered the fasted-growing water sport in the world, SUP. It is described as 'walking on water' and it really is......once you get more more comfy with it, I'm sure! So we have sought out a few shops who actually sell these boards locally and got some demos this weekend (the shop insisted on it......and they can't keep stock because there is such a demand). I had a bit of a shocker the first time out. I, first of all, had a board that was a bit narrow and short for my skill level, which is......nil. We had to launch these monster boards in water that was calm, not choppy and with a sandy bottom (preferable to oyster bottom...ouch to the feet). Went to a little park near the Sand Key bridge, under which runs the fast current of the Clearwater pass. I got up ok on my "narrow" board and paddled a bit but ended up in a bit of a current which I found which was more than my amateur self could handle. I fell off the board for the umteenth time and found I was getting swept in the current and got a bit panicked. I got off the board and swam with the paddle in one hand to the shore as as fast as I could with one arm. The board, paddle and myself survived but I was spent. I tried to carry the board and paddle back to where we started but the Dane came to my rescue and carried it for me. My arms and shoulders were done. I went back out but avoided the current, I learn fast! We went out again today, found a calmer launch spot, and totally enjoyed the workout (that is after our 3 1/2 hour bike). We found calm water with dolphins and fish jumping, it was nice. My shoulders are pretty rocked but I'm all in. Swim tomorrow will be ugly but that's ok. On the injury front, my foot is ok after a week off of all running. Had ART on thurs and found where the pain really is so going back tomorrow for more torture. i'll likely get back running this week. We're 11 weeks from IM Canada so I don't want to take much more break from running. I think I'm heading in the right direction so feel good as I can without running (thanks Powercranks). Cheers.