St Anthony's tri, er, duathlon - sort of

So, the winds picked up on Saturday in St Pete, just as predicted on the Weather Channel. I wasn't too concerned about the wind - after surviving Kona in October and getting through New Orleans 70.3, I felt it wasn't going to be anything new. Get to transition on Sunday morning, doing the normal bike checks and finishing touches and the announcement comes, the swim for the amateurs is cancelled. The girls in my wave were all sort of standing around wondering if it was a joke and if the elites would get the option to swim. No joke, no option, no swim for us. I've been busting my butt and swimming quite well (in the pool) for me so ready to get a new PR for this course. Not to be and the rest of the day was very strange to say the least. The Bay was a washing machine and the pro's, who had to swim, echoed this for the most part. I had a nice long run warm up with Cassie M then we headed for the "line up" for our time trial start. A start I've never done as I'm sure most people here hadn't. Totally not warmed up, we sprinted through transition, got our bikes and started the bike portion of the race as if it was a normal race. It wasn't. It's really hard to go into the bike hurt box with no warm up. That said, we were all in the same boat. I rode really hard at the outset, wanting to get warmed up in a hurry. It was quite windy but not as bad as New Orleans, IMO. I settled down into my pre-planned power zones and went for a new bike PR for the course. A few packs of girls got away but I had a couple girls that wanted to keep trading the lead and we did the last ten miles or so legally pacing which kept me engaged mentally. Got off the bike and had my usual slow transition but got out onto the run and didn't feel hot but I've come to the conclusion, I'm not supposed to feel good off the bike if I ride hard enough. Settle in around 6:30 pace but gradually slowed and wanted to be done! I got passed in the finish shoot and though not happy about it, I couldn't do anything. Felt bad because Brian Harrington was saying such nice things about me (Bri, thank him for me!). I wasn't happy about my overall result but the positive is I biked a PR and ran about 2 minutes faster than last year. We can all pontificate about what the swim would have done or not done but the result is what it is for everyone. I likely won't do this race next year because of New Orleans 70.3 which is going to be one week prior and I know I can't recover that fast - I barely recovered enough in three weeks! Age is a real buzz kill! The Dane got his top ten finish and hardware he so desired and his body is ok so we can move on. We will do some open water swimming and see what 70.3 races we can do to get the Dane into Clearwater since Disney is closed. We had a lot of fun post race hanging out with everyone and trading war stories and made sure the beer tent volunteers were busy and entertained! Thanks to everyone who cheered me on and if I didn't acknowledge you, I heard you! Onward.

And, oh by the way...

If you haven't seen this, (and who hasn't) it inspires me on a whole 'nother level. Go Kara G.(she reminds me so much of Cath, my BFF).

Pre St Anthony's Tri

Cool flyover in NSB

Relaxing in NSB

So, we're on the eve of St Anthony's tri. One of the biggest olympic distance triathlons in the country and very competitive. Time to bring the A-game. Unfortunately, I think I left my A-game in the Big Easy. That said, I am racing tomorrow in the Elite Amateur division so the ass kicking will be big. Got a target on my back (locally) and that's ok and a compliment. The expo was awesome and the Dane worked his arse off and hopefully, helped Outspokin. I, on the other hand, can't sell anything! Off topic, the Dane and I just watched "Seven Pounds" and I only recommend it if you have a box of kleenex nearby! It did, however, remind me how lucky I am to be doing this sport on this level. It was only 11 years ago that I was diagnosed with rheumatoid arthritis and thought my athletic life was over. It wasn't totally over, just slower and I truly appreciate every athletic adventure that I can embark upon because I do really think of all of this as a gift. If you ever wonder, just ask me. So, my only message is to do what you can with what you have because you never know when your body will take a nosedive on you! As Spencer (smith) says, go to the hurt box and embrace it! I will do that tomorrow and be at peace that I am able to still do this. Tick, tick, tick......
Kia Kaha

Pics from New Orleans 70.3

I'll walk you through this agonizing blog. First pic, yup, took the time to remove my wetsuit prior to hitting to swim timing mat, duh. Next is biking the bridge, headwind is ugly here (no, I wasn't drafting, just getting ready to pass). Next, boy, I didn't think I said anything nasty to that girl but I sure have the bitch face on! Next, yes, it was hot (note red face)! And, finally, glad as hell to finish!

Fun weekend, not racing!

Gorillas in the mist, er fog

The Queen of the Fort and me

The Athena battle starts!


We pretty much took most of last week off from training due to soreness, my cut up feet, generalized fatigue and getting slammed at work. The Dane is still rehabbing his bum hip but we think we've nailed down what it is. We got to go and watch the Escape From Fort Desoto sprint tri on Sat which we normally race but we were not in any condition to do so this year. It was super foggy, very strange for this race - normally, it's so windy that fog never has chance to form! It figures I miss the one year that there is no wind on the bike! We had our fair share of wind in New Orleans 70.3, that's for sure! It was a lot of fun to see people I haven't seen in a while because this is usually the first race of the season for local triathletes. We had a guest appearance by Cassie M (an age group, mine of course, 70.3 World Champ) and it was fun to spend some time with her; she, literally, ran away with the overall win for the women! Bravo Cassie. We had the Mad Dog party after that and the 70.3 World Championship lottery give out, I don't need one for '09 now! for Easter Sunday, an easy ride today with the Dane, short run then an open water swim in the chop. A perfect Easter Sunday for us - a long day on the beach! Two weeks to St Anthony's and hoping the legs come around this week so I can do some fast running and hard biking to prep for that race. Hope everyone had a great Easter! I think the race director for New Orleans 70.3 should put me on the payroll because I told everyone I know that it was an awesome event and we'll be back in '10! Official invite for my family to join us for a super fun event!
On to Easter dinner that chef Anders is cooking!

pics from Nola

Click the link, I'm not buying these but I liked the suit I came up with...

http://brightroom.com/view_user_event.asp?EVENTID=48245&PWD=&BIB=3102

Laissez les bon temps roulez 70.3

This race was on the calender because I've never been to New Orleans so it was a good excuse to go. Since I end up using all my vacation time from work doing triathlons, I like to make them count as "real" vacations whenever possible. It also was very early on the schedule, much earlier than I have ever done a 70.3 distance race so we had to be good about training early on when it was still cold. Luckily, we have a great group of people who braved the cold with us many mornings to get workouts in, be it swimming or biking. Thanks to all our great training partners who braved the long winter (for Florida).
On to the trip, er...race. I always thought of this trip as a cool trip with a race in it. I wasn't going to compromise too much on the fun aspect or the walking around aspect, it is New Orleans after all. I figured if all the fun bar hopping we did hurt me, so be it - I'm on vacation. As with any traveling race, if you forget things, which we all inevitably do, you can pick stuff up at the expo. Usually, not here though. I'm sure that will improve - it is a first year race after all. We got into NOLA early on Friday morning and got checked into the hotel and got familiar with our surroundings. We found a micro brewery near the race hotel so tested it out on our way to pick up our packets. Got our packets after an entertaining mandatory race meeting and all was smooth as silk. I'm sure we found another bar on the way back to our hotel on the edge of the French Quarter. Had to assemble the bikes prior to anymore bar visiting so did this then got back out. We ate at an Italian place called Bacco on Friday night and it was yummy. One thing for sure, there is no lack for restaurants in NOLA. Anyway, we did do a short run Saturday morning and felt pretty good in general - should have, I took both Thursday and Friday off which I don't normally do but I was really tired and worried the taper wasn't "kicking in". The bulk of Saturday was spent traveling to transition (you NEED a car for this race), standing in line for the mechanics and checking out the largest transition area I've ever seen. That's why they were saying it's the biggest 70.3 race in the world! Got racked with no issues and headed back to the hotel to gussy up for dinner. We went to a place called Attiki for dinner (actually, just went there for a couple beers but ended up staying) - really good, Middle Eastern flare type of place. Back to hotel early to get up early race morning. I woke an hour before the alarm (3am) with some nerves and excitement for the first race of the year. I looked out the window and it was very cloudy and windy. Got the Dane up and we planned to drive to transition (then take shuttle back afterwards to drive back with bikes - thanks Phillip L for the advice here). I brought oatmeal but had no way to eat it (no spoon, bowl, etc) so just consumed most of a Cliff bar and felt that was going to have to do - mistake number one. Got to transition (which is a Katrina tour each trip - very eye-opening) and had no issues. I had until 8:30am for my wave - the last wave of the day. It was raining a bit and that added a few extra challenges but I felt ok. Did a little run and felt ok. Walked a mile to swim start with 3000 of our best friends. The pro's got off at 7am. Lake Pontchartrain was calm as the winds were out of the south. The Dane was in the wave right before me which was good because we could sit around together and figure out where to line up, etc. The swim is a straight shot, west to east with bouys on the left demarcating the edge. I had a good start but tussled with a couple girls early on and had no draft the entire way - bummer. Got out onto the bike and could feel the wind straight away. I also could see that my SRM was not registering speed (or distance as result) so this would be my "power only" race. The roads for the first 20K are pretty bumpy concrete but not unreasonable. The roads also, some of them major highway, WERE COMPLETELY CLOSED! This, my friends, is a treat. I was concerned, being in the last wave, of the bike traffic but it was pretty well spread out and pretty easy to get around people - which is what I did for 56 miles. I went by power only and pretty much nailed my numbers. It was very windy, second only to Kona in my experience, but I concentrated on my power numbers and that kept me very engaged on an otherwise releatively boring (unless you like swamp land) bike course. The only hills were the bridges heading out and back in. Not much drafting going on except for the guy on the P3 who felt the need to sit on my wheel for a long stretch - not much draft off a 105 pound 41 y/o woman, must be desperate! Anyhow, totally uneventful ride but the wind gets to you after a while - the last 20 miles or so (no odometer here) was into a block head wind and reminded me of the Queen K so I kept my head about me. What I didn't do, is drink enough or take salt - mistake number 2. It was very humid and I was sweating a ton but I was totally focused on getting around other people and not getting my front wheel into a hole in the road. Off the bike, back onto the feet-cutting mile long transition area. Onto the run and I knew straight away I wasn't gonna have the run I wanted. The first 3.5 miles were into a really stiff, steady headwind. I felt horrible and tried adjusting pace to get better - the only adjustment that stuck was running much slower. Saw the Dane at just over mile 5 standing there waiting as he had a hip problem and couldn't continue. I was worried but he told me to continue, so I did. The only other gripe about the race was that the aid stations were 1 1/2 miles apart on the run when I'm used to (and plan for) every mile. This wasn't good as I was already dehydrated and not feeling well at all. I got quite dizzy and woozy at mile 9 and had to full stop. I thought I might pass out for a minute but gathered and walked a bit - there wasn't an aid station in sight. I jogged again and once at the next aid station, took everything they had. I was quite warm and humid at this point and wanted cola......bad. They had no cola at any aid station which is not something I'd planned for (these races always have cola at least later on). It was brutal and I had blood pooling in my shoe a bit from the chunks of skin I'd lost in transition area. I was ready to be done. Got to mile 12 and saw 4:52 on the watch. I wanted (and expected) to get under 5 hours so really had to hustle here. You get closer to the finish and thus closer to the French Quarter, it is amazing and loud. This finish gave me goose bumps! It was second only to Kona in number of people and excitement level - I thought I was winning the Olympics or something. I didn't quite get under 5 hours (went 5:00:11) but felt like I did what I could on the day. I hustled around to get on the shuttle back to transition area to find the Dane because I was worried about him. Got there and he was sitting on the curb near his bike, poor thing. We hobbled back to the car and drove back to the hotel. Got to the awards party right on time, took my Clearwater slot (thanks Pam K - I owe you) and went for a wonderful dinner at Nola. Pampered and fed, we hit the town for a while and just absorbed New Orleans. I loved it and will be back. Aside from the cut up feet, saddle sore the size of a walnut and one toenail coming off, this was an awesomely fun race in a totally unique locale. I'm sure it will get more competitive next year but I'll be ready and hopefully, won't make all the rookie mistakes. Thanks to everyone for the well wishes and everything. We're going to heal up, volunteer at Escape From Fort Desoto sprint tri Sat and prep for St Anthony's on 4/26. P.S. the woman on the song that pops up, Irma Thomas, sung our national anthem for the race. The whole town of New Orleans was so nice and positive - you get such a good vibe here. Great for racing! I'm sending an official invite to my family to join us next year for all the NOLA fun!

quickie report from NOLA

I'll do a proper report from home but wanted to say a few things now while my body still feels the pain of racing. First, this was one of the best, coolest races I've ever done. We had the roads all to ourselves and a finish line experience that was a very close second to Kona. I wasn't particularly pleased with my times but a win is a win. I actually won overall Masters which I've never seen awarded at a 70.3 event so that was really cool. We have to pack up to return home today - wish we had another day to hang out. The Dane was rocking this race until something seized up in his hip early on in the run - he couldn't run through it and was very hobbled to even walk. He was really upset about this because he was having a great race. We'll return home to repair our bodies and move on. Thanks for all the well wishes.
laissez les bon temps roulez

Hi from NOLA

From my most awesome iPod touch, blogging from restaurant in Nola. Bikes are checked and ready to rock. The Dane and I are having a real vacation, it's nice and fun. Race tomorrow, NO expectations.
Peace.

Taper sucks but other things are fun

The horses begging for a ride


So, one week or so of taper for NOLA 70.3 and we both feel pretty crappy physically. We had a bugger of a cold front come through yesterday (wind wise) and today (wind, rain, cooler temps) but had specific workouts to fit in. The week early on brought mile repeats on Tues and I ran faster than I have in a couple years for sure - no big deal though, I haven't done speed work in 7-8 months. Weds brought speed swim at masters and I really sucked - don't think I've gone this slow all year. Weds evening was threshold repeats on the bike/trainer with hard brick. Thursday brought our last "long" run, only 8.5 miles and went really slow and boring but all in all, faster with lower heart rate in higher heat outside. Sat was a two hour ride with some 10 minute sub-threshold sessions which are difficult in 20-25mph winds! Nothing like Kona winds mind you, but annoying, none the less. No brick Sat so we got ourselves out to the beach and the waves were starting to get kicked up with the winds. Got some much needed sun and the body surfing was really fun - we didn't want to leave. To bed early Sat (read, no social life) and awoke to thunderstorms on Sun morning. No worries, only an hour on the bike with more 10-minute sub-threshold sessions, doable on the Computrainer. Got the bike done then it was a 30 minute brick, zone 4 out and zone 2 back. This was not fun and I quickly felt the legs are not ready to race - thank God we have one more week! Went to the mall because it was still raining, to our favorite watering hole at International Plaza (we get there like twice a year) and couldn't find anything to spend my hard-earning money on. Came back home and the sun was back out so, back to the beach. The waves were bigger, the wind was on-shore and the air was cooler. We saw a perfect opportunity for some great boogy boarding. We made a pact not to get hurt - there is history of injuries here (not me). Water felt warm and the waves were definitely ripping so we stayed fairly shallow and safe but had some good rides. An awesome weekend of wind, waves, biking and running. Hoping for good legs in one week! I don't have anyone left to root for in March Madness so guess I'll choose as they go.

Last race rehearsal day before IM New Orleans 70.3

Mock transition, planning ahead

We had a good training week. I finally put in a run "speed work" session (better late than never) which consisted only of 2 x 1 mile repeats. Not much but I feel pretty healthy with the running now, finally. It is only March after all! Last long run of 90 minutes, which is about all I can muster this time of year without hurting myself. Have done 4 x 90 minute runs so which have all be faster than the last at same heart rate. I feel good about this. All in all, I'm running quite well for me for this time of year. So we had our mock transition areas set up in the house (not outside because I need privacy to change my shorts - don't want to moon all of Belleair) and tried to keep it pretty quick. It was quite breezy out on Saturday morning but not cold, around 60. We had a little bit of a warm up time then rode steady for 56 miles. I got to motorpace off the Dane, which is no easy task with the cross winds blowing! Anyway, good ride on tired legs then off for a 6 mile brick. Suppose to "ease" into the run, which we did, running 7:15 pace. Negative splitting, ended up averaging 7 minute/mile pace - goal pace but realistically, would be happy with 7:15's on race day. Today was supposed to be a day off but I don't do days off very well. So, we jumped into an open water swim with a couple of the Masters guys. The water is nice, not too cold but I was happy to have my wetsuit I can tell ya! Got a new 2XU V:1 Velocity suit and it got a workout today! The water was pretty choppy so it was annoying and after 2.6 miles or so, I was DONE! I don't have good patience with open water swimming which is why I need to do more of it! Since we live a mile from the Gulf and have good open water swimmers to go out with, no reason not to do it! We had some nice relaxing on the playa afterwards so a wonderful weekend in sunny Florida.
Oh yeah, Go Jayhawks and Boilers - gotta love March Madness!

Happy B--Day mikey!

Another Kona view

Today's my brother's birthday, so happy one to you. Also, little Dane's B-day as well, happy 12th to Johnny.
On the training front, let's just say I'm on a whole 'nother level than I've been this time of the year in the past. Yes, Cyndi, that's a good thing. We had a really hard week/weekend of training and, with a solid taper, I feel pretty good about a solid half ironman in three weeks. I have managed to string together two 30-mile run weeks which I know is not huge for most people, but good for me because I'm usually injured this time of year. We did a really hard threshold trainer ride on Weds with a brick. Long run on Thursday and some at pace swimming all week. Sat brought a hill ride with the group that I really had trouble with for some reason. Was it the week of training? Was it the stress of work? Was it nutrition? Was it that I wasn't slow but everyone else was really fast? I don't know really. We ran off that ride in the hills and 7:30 pace felt easy "all day" pace. That's not something someone who has really bonked says. So, I feel I got dropped because I got dropped. It is what is is and you have to get over these things. The Sunday ride out of downtown Clearwater has grown every week and now we have some really strong roadies on this ride which changes everything. The Dane and I pulled the whole way until the TT section just to control the pace a bit. The TT section was just tempo for me cuz I was pretty dead from the week. Normally, the route back is pretty steady pace and sane. Not today! I elected to try and hang on to the roadie group on the way back home, into the wind. I made it and it made me feel much more confident than I came out feeling yesterday. Even the Dane said it was hard. He is clearly in shape and one of the best men on two wheels in this area. I just try and hang on. Then, we ran 6 miles. Let's just say it felt like an Ironman run and the 55 degree pool felt good at the end! It was a beautiful, chamber of commerce weekend, weather-wise! We couldn't be more lucky to live in such a lovely environment! The beach was heavily populated but heavily enjoyed by us! We are three weeks out from IM New Orleans 70.3 and taper is everything at this point. I am pretty nackered in the legs but confident I will recover and, hopefully, carry this over for St Anthony's the end of April. We'll see but I have truly done the work. I will race with Aloha, always.

Belleair Classic 10K

Another 10K run in the books. Didn't really know how this one would go since my running has been hampered over the past 8 weeks or so with nagging pains and mini-breaks. I had absolutely no goal today......except to run hard. We didn't taper at all, obviously with New Orleans 70.3 in 4 weeks. We did move our "long run" (only 11 miles for me) to Weds from Thurs and then I did my bike threshold intervals (3 x 10min) on the computrainer on Thurs. Legs quite dead, as expected so, hence, no real goals. This race starts about 1 1/2 miles from our house so it was nice to ride over on the mountain bikes! Thanks to Outspokin, we were able to leave the bikes in a guarded corral. This course is deceptively hard and rolling. I know it's Florida but there are some rollers on this course. The Dane and my advantage was that we run on these roads all the time. The Dane felt he was defending his home turf; I, on the other hand, just didn't want to be slow or get injured. Well, the good thing is, I didn't do either. Started out way too fast, 6:05, then cooled down into a remarkably steady set of miles the rest of the way that were between 6:33 and 6:38, depending on the hills. I am quite happy especially since I haven't done ANY tempo runs or speed work since maybe September. Something to work with, I think. I came close to breaking 40 minutes which I haven't done in over a decade I'm sure. The Dane ran really well, a full minute in front of me - time he hasn't run since the mid '90's!
We will do some tempo TT riding tomorrow and a longer brick and call it a week. The fitness is ok, maybe not great for a half IM in four weeks but something to work with. We did an open water swim today too, whew - cold water! Now's the only chance I have to swim in water as cold as (or close to) what we'll face at IM Canada in August!
Good day, good week so far and got to catch up with friends, esp Sharon B, that I haven't seen in a while. Good times and perfect weather now!
Aloha

kickin' it

Old school, that is. Put new music on, from times where I felt I could do anything (athletically). I would put up more, except my mind is a bit scattered. Good week, though it's not over. Sunday is forecasted to be horrible weather for us babies here in Florida. I'll ride in some rain but not thunderstorms and 40mph winds. Anyhow, got in some hill (read bridge) repeats on the run this week. Long run up to 11 miles at good clip also. The hip pain is certainly better - bothers me more in bed when I roll on it than running! Good signs. I fear I'm starting back running a bit late for 70.3 race in 5 weeks but you never know. I like the old school music because it reminds me of a time in my life that I was fearless. Trying to regain that a bit for this year.
I got smoking hot new aerobars - 3T Brezza. My first ride on them today and they were very nice. Different position for sure but they are very nice. Too bad I left my good legs at home today! We had planned a "race rehearsal" ride/brick today but the ride was a bit slower than I would have liked. The brick, well, it was just hard. I had no legs today but managed a six mile brick at about 7:20 pace - slower than I want to race at 70.3 but I'm working on it. The Dane, well, he's Hell to keep up with anymore. Except in the pool. Our "speed Wednesday" in the pool was a broken mile (short course) - 3 x 550 with 30 sec between, add up the time, blah blah. I did quite well (for me.. 22:xx) and am happy with where my swimming is. We keep wanting to do an open water swim but these cold fronts are really churning up the water and making it difficult to get in any swimming. Maybe next weekend. I won't even bring up the pollen issue! It's making my life pretty miserable! So, a little recovery from today's workout and the next goal is Belleair Classic 10K on Sat - my run speedwork for the week. I'll post pics of new cockpit, have to eat now!
Aloha

Gettin' healed

Another really good training week in the books. I didn't fair as badly riding in the hills on Saturday as last week, always good. The Dane was more aware not to leave me out there on my own. Must have been something I said! It was cold at start there but we were there when many others weren't, hopefully this will pay off down the road. We did 70 miles in the hills Sat then a pretty hard ride today, the hard part at threshold working on TT pace/effort/power. Ran off the bike today, 4 miles again, a little faster than last week but effort the same on REALLY tired legs. I did manage a long run this week, just about 10 miles. I visited the podiatrist on Monday and bitched about my right hip killing me and it must be the orthotics because I didn't have this problem prior. He made an adjustment on my right orthotic and I'm feeling better with the hip pain. It's not gone but it's definitely better. He told me to keep running so I adjust accordingly, just not fast - I told him not to worry, I don't run fast in training! So, hoping to have a pain-free body in the next couple weeks.......yeah, right! I do need to get in some long runs, I figure up to 12 or so, prior to New Orleans 70.3 which is in 6 weeks. I can't believe it, 6 weeks! We have never done a long tri this early so it'll be interesting. One thing is for sure, the Dane is in really great shape. He's pulling the group along today at 28mph.....then accelerates leaving us all gasping amongst ourselves. Then he runs so fast that I surely cannot keep up with him on the brick. I'm happy to have the training version (as opposed to the traveling version) of him back! At least I can still whip him in the pool! So, we'll keep plugging along. I would say more here but this is all we do - work, sleep, eat, train. I wouldn't have it any other way! Aloha.

Happy Valentines day

So, we had a lovely Valentines Day together, smelling the fresh, cool spring air. Riding in the hills today was special. Haven't been up there for 3 weeks and I felt each hill dig into my sad, sorry quads. The Dane, on the other hand, is in another league right now. We had a small 6-people group so no hiding on this 75 mile venture. 75 miles, why am I riding this far - I'm only training for a 1/2 ironman for crying out loud. The Dane left me out on the road with the rest of the group but I got some good steady state TT training in by my lonesome Well, I may not be able to run in New Orleans, but I'll sure be able to swim and ride. ! I set 2 PR's for 200y in the pool this week (n the same set) so I feel really good about my swim training. My "hip" was killing me after the duathlon on Sunday so I saw my massage guru who made it even worse! We figured out it's my TFL (tensor fascia lata) insertion on the iliac crest that is hurting so much. I ran 4 miles on Thursday and flared it right back up. I only have 7 weeks til New Orleans 70.3 (now dubbed the biggest 70.3 in the world.........and I'm in the last wave, lovely). I have to run now, no more time to take off. Decided all my runs now will be quality, no "junk" miles. I will work on pelvic stabilization also, hoping that will help cure me of this nagging torture. We'll see. We have another hard ride tomorrow which I'd like to say I'm looking forward to but not right now!
So, I hope everyone has a more romantic V-day than us! We'll be sleeping (really) early!
cheers

Chilly Willy Duathlon....and the REAL race

The first multisport race of the season is done, thank God. It was ugly and painful, supposed to be I guess. I have managed to lose a lot of run fitness in my run break and it showed today. What showed more was my complete lack of power on the bike. I was really disappointed with my bike today but I realize that I've been working really hard on the bike over the past few weeks and I was really tired-legged. No excuses, just a "C" race anyway. I failed to win my fourth title here but lost to a very quality competitor, Rachel Chambers, who is racing as a professional in duathlon this year and a really nice girl. I managed to squeak out second overall thanks to my being pissed off on the second 5K run (because of my bad bike) and having to run down two girls who passed in me in T2. I definitely didn't feel anything close to good today but I really competed as well as I could and was happy with my overall effort. The Dane did really well, after he collected himself after a not-so-spectacular first 5K! He killed the bike (on his new-ish Cervelo P3) and went on the finish 7th overall for the men (second in his AG by a sliver). We had a good time and got to see a bunch of folks that we haven't seen for a while which is one of the many reasons this sport is so cool. Val from Outspokin was awesome as the sponsor and, in doing so, this race has grown to be the second biggest duathlon in the country (second to the national championship). Thanks also, of course, to Fred and Joe as RD's putting on another most excellent event! They are really top notch and put on, I think, the best and most organized multisport races in the country. I also have to mention something that has been foremost in my mind all weekend. Wendy J. of MSM (great race director) suffered a very serious medical event this week. She is doing the REAL race, the race for life. We did a moment of silence for Wendy today and I thought about her often during my race. I'm doing something that she couldn't do today and I wanted to make the most of it. I also want to mention that Wendy gave me entries into her races before she ever met me - she believed in me and wanted me in her races and believe me, that goes a long way in my heart. So, lots of prayers for Wendy.
Anyhow, I have some hip pain now from my new orthotics and need to deal with this and get this better. I don't think it's anything serious, just may need to take a couple runs off -something I hate, of course. On a good note, the achilles feels fine and trust me, I tested it today! Congrats to all who raced today and toughed it out!

Come on springtime!

Frost everywhere

More frost

That's why I'm doing this - Computrainer love


It's been a cold winter by central Florida's standards and my standards! Managed to get in some really solid training though. Trying to break in my new orthotics and I'm having a lot of hip soreness, all muscle though so I'm hopeful I'll get through it! Did a long run of 7.3 miles this week though - woo hoo! I have a long way to go and only 9 weeks until IM New Orleans 70.3! On a good note, the swim is going quite well and I'm definitely getting stronger on the bike. Spent 90 minutes on the trainer yesterday morning (hence the picture) doing endurance intervals then a quick 4 mile brick most at 7 min/mile pace. We did a tri-geek group ride today and it was chilly for sure! The Dane and his mates were really putting down the pace after a nice 20 mile warm-up (even after he chased Spencer Smith down Sand Key yesterday) but I had good time to sit at my threshold power which was hard but I'm learning how to make myself suffer more on the bike (something I have no trouble doing on the run). I'm hopeful by the end of August this will pay dividends, not sure how much prior to that.
So the Tampa Bay area is wild with the Super Bowl in town and we are staying in - plenty of beer in the fridge! Go Cards!

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