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.

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!!