2 words: Hot and Hilly

I guess with my work schedule and new training schedule I don't have any down time for blogging, so I apologize for the infrequent posting and even more infrequent commenting! Whenever I have a chance I get caught up on your blogs but I don't comment often.. sorry! Here is the review of my entire week since I didn't get around to updating since last Sunday.



It's been a great week overall! The hot weather has continued here and it's great. It made for a few tough workouts but the sunshine and summer vibe makes every other aspect of life more enjoyable. :) We've been eating our dinners down at the park whenever possible and generally spending every possible moment outside. In other words, I'm tan.



Here's the stats for my week of workouts. Everything went as planned and I only have a couple photos to share so this should be pretty short.



Monday: ST
Gym with Zach

Tuesday: Run
4.25 miles/41:30/9:46 average pace
Marine Drive with Deana

Thursday: Swim
2300 yards/1:00
Masters
(The new ear plugs seem to be working! I wore them every swim this week and no ear problems to report. Yay!)


Wednesday: Bike
1 hour spin class with Emily


Wednesday: Run
1.85 miles/15:00/8:06 average pace
Brick run on the treadmill right after spin

Wednesday: Swim
2100 yards/1:00
Masters

Thursday: Bike
30.1 miles/2:09:21/13.9 MPH
Randomly long ride with Zach after work. He thought it would be more like 22 miles but obviously was way off. We took it pretty easy and had a very fun ride. I was a little tired toward the end because I wasn't properly fueled/prepared to ride so long!



Friday: Run
6.0 miles/47:18/7:53 average pace
Forest Park with Zach. It was HOT and I struggled.



Saturday: Bike
44.5 miles/3:18:30/13.4 MPH
Hilly and hot ride down through Milwaukee and across the river, then around Lake Oswego and back. You know it's a hilly ride when the hills on Terwilliger 3 hours into the ride seem like a breeze. I also got my FIRST FLAT TIRE on this ride! I was excited, haha. I changed it all on my own in about 15 minutes. I am glad to have the first one done without incident. For those who have never had a flat tire and wonder how you will know- well, for me there was a super loud hissing noise. The tire wasn't even low when I stopped but the air leaked out within a minute or so. I don't think this is how every flat sounds/feels but it was really obvious this time.



Sunday: Swim
800 yards/16:32
My first Open Water Swim of the year is in the books! We drove out to Hagg Lake early this morning and almost didn't make it in time. We donned our wetsuits and got in the water- it was about 66 degrees and pretty comfortable. I did a warm up swim then the race started. I stayed toward the back and tried to stay relaxed. I had some trouble with my nose clip and had to stop to adjust it, but otherwise felt good. I never got freaked out which was great. I was very happy with my time! That's about 2:04 per 100 yards which would be a pretty solid pace for me in the pool. Considering the time I lost to the nose clip issue, I'm happy. I wasn't even last!



Sunday: Run
10.5 miles/1:33:30/8:54 average pace
Right after the swim was done we changed into our running clothes and headed out to run around Hagg Lake. Zach went off on his own pace and I just ran slow and steady. It was really hot and hilly (again!) but I maintained my pace and enjoyed the scenery. I was running like 9:00-9:20 for most of the run but busted out a couple faster miles at the end (downhills) to bring my pace down. The longer distance swims were finishing up when we got back so we watched the swimmers come in and grabbed a plate of free and delicious bbq food. I jumped back in the water to rinse/cool off and it felt great.



totals for the week:

Swim: 2:15 (5200 yards: 2 masters and 1 OWS)

Bike: 6:30 (74.6 miles outside and 1 spin class)

Run: 3:15 (22.6 miles)

total: 12:00

(plus one gym strength training session and a couple pushup sessions)

That total is way above what my plan calls for but at this point I'm not stressing it. I feel like I'm handling the volume just fine and will adjust if necessary. As the plan gets more intense I'm going to follow it more closely for sure. I might check in on what the Advanced plan calls for (I'm roughly following the Intermediate one) and see if that is more my style. I'm sure I'll be humbled in the coming months but for now this is fun and not that hard.

In diet/weight loss news, I've lost 10 pounds! I am planning on trying to maintain this weight for the whole summer and through the Ironman. I will be eating more and if I happen to lose weight due to the training, that's great, but I don't think I need to lose more. I won't ever post them here, but I took some "before" and "after" photos in my bikini and it's SHOCKING. Really amazing. I'm right at that threshold where the 10 extra lbs made a huge difference. I look much leaner and healthier now, the way my body wants to be! My goal now is to not slip back into my unhealthy eating and drinking habits. The exercise part is obviously not the issue, it's all about the intake.

Before I wrap up here I have to give a big fat shout out to my best girl MARITZA who finished the San Diego Rock and Roll marathon today with amazing courage and determination. I won't spoil the results- go check out her blog in a couple days when she can get a race report up. I am so proud of her and everyone else who ran the marathon this weekend. Congratulations everyone!!! :)

Here are just a couple pictures from the weekend. The first is me changing my flat (look how happy I look!) and the second is after the run today right before I jumped back in the lake. Thanks so much for reading everyone!

Memorial Day weekend recap and pics

I hope everyone is having a wonderful holiday weekend! It's Sunday night here and I'm so glad I have tomorrow off. Here's the recap of the weekend and week and a bunch of fun pics.


Saturday we drove down south of Portland for a long bike ride. We rode through farmland and countryside with a little side trip up to the Mt. Angel Abbey. It was a flat ride until the climb up to the Abbey and then there were some rollers from miles 30-38 or so. I felt really strong on the ride and didn't get tired toward the end like last time. I think the big difference was the heat- yesterday it topped out in the low 70s where last weekend it had been in the mid 80s by the time we finished. I had plenty of water this time and ate extra Clif Blocks which seemed to work well for me.



Sunday (today) we drove out to Hood River to run the Historic Columbia River Highway State Trail. I've been there 3 times before but never during the summer- it was beautiful! There were tons of wildflowers and everything was so green. There were lots of runners and bikers and hikers out. I felt really good even on the long hills and kept a good pace.


Here's the stats:


Saturday: bike
45.7 miles/2:59:47/15.2 MPH


Sunday:run
9.0 miles/1:15:48/8:25 average pace



totals for the week:


swim: 1:00 (once for 2000 yards)
bike: 4:50 (1 spin class and 2 road rides)
run: 3:40 (25.85 miles: 4 runs inc. 2 brick runs)
total: 9:30

(plus 2 strength training sessions for about 1:00 total)



My schedule for next week looks a lot like this week did so I won't write it out. I do like this schedule so far. The one thing is I decided I need to start fueling myself better calorie-wise. The quality of my food intake has been fantastic, but I think the quantity is too low. I'm going to add like a good afternoon snack and I bet it helps. I've lost 8 lbs which is great but I'm starting to feel kind of crappy and I think I need to eat more. Which is weird because I've been eating what I thought was a good amount. It's confusing but I'll figure it out. The Daily Plate is telling me how much I should be eating so I need to just make some adjustments and follow that.

Anyway, It's been a great weekend so far here with the bike ride and run and fabulous weather. We've also been enjoying the Rose Festival- fireworks Friday night and all the goings-on. Last night we went out to to sushi and then to a place on 23rd with a bunch of friends. Today we had lunch in Hood River after the run. Then we went to the carnival down on the waterfront this afternoon. I got Zach to go on a big scary ride with me- would you believe HE was the one who didn't want to! It was hilarious. We had snowcones and I played whak-a-mole and won a stuffed monkey. We then got some sandwiches and ate a picnic dinner in the park. We just got back from the rooftop hot tub where tons of people are grilling and hanging out as the sun is setting. Another beautiful Portland day. :)

Here's some pictures from the activities:

Mt Angel Ride (Saturday)

Historic Columbia River Highway Trail (Sunday)

Top of the ferris wheel

6 months out

Today is exactly 6 months until Ironman Arizona. To me, this means it is time to face the music. This is really happening!

I've had a great week and am really looking forward to the long Memorial Day weekend. I missed one workout only but made up the time in other stuff.. I know it's not the same thing but oh well. I had to be flexible to accommodate life and I think it worked out fine. The thing I missed was a swim and it was because I'm having this weird problem with my ears. I think the water is getting deep inside my ear and screwing with my hearing. It has been off and on the last couple times and is like a humming or reverberation. It's really annoying. Zach bought me some ear plugs to use but I still skipped the second swim of the week just to be safe. Hopefully the ear plugs help and this problem stops for good! It's not horrible or painful or anything, just irritating. Also it makes my own voice sound very loud to me and I don't like the idea of talking less. :)

Here's the summary of my week so far:

Monday: ST

Weights with Zach at the gym

Tuesday: run

7.0 miles/1:06 ish/9:30 ish pace

This was the day I was supposed to run 30 minutes then swim. Instead I ran for a little over an hour and didn't swim. I ran without my Garmin and just wore a regular watch. I kept the pace really slow and that felt good. I ran into Alisa and Erika with about a mile to go and we all ran over the Steel Bridge together and back up into the Pearl. Yay for Portland runner friends! :)

Wednesday: bike

Spin class/1:00:00

Alisa met me at about 4:00 and we hopped on the bikes and chatted while waiting for the 4:15 class to start. I did my pushups in the meantime too. The class was good but I didn't like the instructor as much. Right after the class we hopped on treadmills for a brick run. It was Alisa's first ever and she rocked it.

Wednesday: run

1.85 miles/15:00/8:06 average pace

I ran the same distance in the 15 minutes as last week! I started off at 6.5 MPH like last time but ended up finishing the last minute at 9 MPH (vs. 8.5 last time) which means I must have not increased the speed as quickly. Whatevs! It was awesome. Alisa headed off to the pool in the gym and I went to meet Zach for masters.

Wednesday: swim

2000 yards/1:00:00

Masters. We did a lot of pain in the ass drills like sculling and catch-up drill holding a baton. Sheesh! Then we did 15 x 50 with like NO rest. We were doing them on the minute. So at first I got a leisurely 5-7 seconds rest but by the end I wasn't resting at all. I got some good tips on my stroke so I was trying to think about that stuff which I think slowed me down! After the class my ears started bothering me again, but it went away by the next day.

Thursday: bike

13.0 miles/51:02/15.2 MPH

Springwater Corridor with Zach. Have I mentioned that the weather has been amazing here lately? We went for this ride after work and it was gorgeous out- 70 degrees and sunny. And it's light here until like 9:00 already. I LOVE IT. Anyway, this ride was great and Portland is great.

Thursday: run

1.0 mile ish/9:00 ?

Zach had a brick run scheduled and it was so darn nice out I couldn't stay inside. I was just going to walk around but I figured what the hell. I ran really easy up and over the Broadway Bridge and met Zach for the run back. I def. picked up the pace when I joined up with him.

Friday: run

7.0 miles/53:56/7:42 average pace

Forest Park. Probably the best place to run in the world. Here's my splits:

8:55

8:00

7:37

7:49

7:30

7:23

6:39

I have to admit that I am probably cutting that last mile about .05-.1 mile short.. the actual mile marker is several feet past this narrow entrance gate, that I can't possibly negotiate at 9 MPH or whatever. And I know I've said that it's a f-ing rippin downhill. Probably like 100 ft loss over the mile. Combine that with the fact that I always like to finish strong, I get going pretty fast. Weeee! The rest of the run is pretty rolling. It's so beautiful though. It's just such a fun place to run. I can't wait to show Maritza!!! (she's coming to visit soon!!yay!!). Here's a picture for reference.

File Photo (it wasn't that muddy today):

Friday: ST
Weights with Zach at the gym

So all in all, a great week. I am loving it. My diet has been really healthy and clean and I FEEL so much better. I've got a plan for the weekend- I'm going to need a lot of food and it's tough coming up with healthy stuff. For tomorrow's long bike ride I will have: oatmeal, banana, clif blocks, clif electrolyte drink, larabar.. and more probably. Then try to stay balanced over the long weekend. I'm going to a party for Deana - she got her LEED certification(!!). It's also the first night of the Rose Festival down on the waterfront so I'm all over that. My goal is to have fun but not overdo it. With our training plans and every thing else going on it should be a fun long weekend. Hope everybody has a safe and fun holiday.

Splendid

Friday: run
7.0/55:04/7:53 average pace
Forest Park after work. A little tired at first but got in a zone eventually and had fun.


Saturday: bike
44.0 miles/2:50:30/15.4 MPH average
Max speed 31.4 MPH
"North Plains Plus" route from Rubber to the Road
Super awesome long ride through the farm country west of Portland. We rode through fields and forests and there were some fun rolling hills. I felt really good and was having a blast. We kept a good speed going and didn't stop much. I got really tired toward the end and was out of water, but we made it in. It was 85 degrees by the time we finished at like 1:30 pm. We spent the rest of the day chillin and then went went out to dinner in the neighborhood. I had oysters and avocado rolls and halibut and two Grey Goose martinis. It was a wonderful day. :)


Sunday: run
9.0 miles/1:24ish/9:17 average pace
Waterfront
We got up and ran early to avoid the heat. It was beautiful morning and there were tons of runners. Sometimes I think everyone in this town runs. My legs were definitely fatigued but by keeping a slower pace I was able to run the whole thing feeling pretty good. Probably could have drank more water. After the run we went up to a cooking class at Sur La Table. It was so fun! We made a fruit tart.

total training time for week one of the Base phase ...

swim: 2:00 (Masters)
bike: 4:30 (1 spin class + 2 road rides)
run: 3:15 (21.85 miles)
total: 9:45
+ weight training 1:30 total for the week ish?

Yahoo!

My new healthy eating habits are a success... I'm trying now to figure out how to have more variety in my meals, especially dinners. All my recipes involve piles of cheese and so forth. This week I got potatoes and squash and feta cheese and lots of other good stuff. I still ate bagels this weekend and I had some cookies my neighbor made, but I think that's fine. I sampled the desserts at the class today too of course. I've been drinking way less (the martinis were the exception) and I think that is making a big difference. Anyway, I lost another couple of pounds this week and feel great.


My schedule for next week is a lot like the last. The times are a little shorter on a couple of the runs/rides which I guess is nice.

Mon: off (weights)
Tues: run- :30
swim- masters
Weds: bike- spin class (w/ Alisa!)
run- :15 brick run
(weights)
Thurs: bike- :30
swim- masters
Fri: run- :45
Sat: bike- 1:30
Sun: run- 1:15

total: 7:45 (+weights)

Bakeshop desserts class at Sur La Table

So far, so sore

My first week of base tri training is going great- but dear lord am I sore! It is really just only my upper body, but I can tell my whole body is being worked in a whole new way. I love it! Here's the run down:



Monday: ST
Weights at the gym with Emily. We did a bunch of different stuff- bench press, pull ups (the "s" is being generous), captain's chair leg lifts, side plank, bicep curls on the bosu ball, and we did that back-to-back hand-off thing with the heavy ball. Fun stuff! I did my pushups too.



Tuesday: run
4.0 miles/39:15/9:49 average pace
Easy run with Deana. She was done after 3.7 miles so I had a little solo kick at the end to bring the pace down. She's doing great though! I'm thinking 10k is in her future...



Tuesday: swim
2150 yards/1:00 ish
Masters! YES, I went! It wasn't even that hard, I don't know why I was so nervous. I shared a lane with a girl who was my same speed and it was fun. I kept getting foot cramps though which really sucked. I think that will go away with more time in the pool, right? Any tips? Otherwise the class was fun and went by fast.



Wednesday: bike
1:00 spin class
Spinning! YES, I went! It wasn't even that hard, I don't know why I was so nervous. (you see a theme here?) The music and instruction makes a tough workout go by fast. I didn't think it was anywhere near as hard as riding up real hills outside, but I think that is because there can be so much stress and frustration out on the road. I need to train my mind. Maybe I'm a lot stronger than I think on the bike. Like Zach has been saying this whole time.



Wednesday: brick run
1.85 miles/15:00/8:06 average pace
Right after the class ended I hopped on a treadmill and did my first transition run of the season. My legs felt super fresh and fast. I started off at 6.5 MPH and bumped it up bit by bit, finishing at 8.5 MPH. Weee!



Wednesday: ST
Ya, that's right, we're still on Wednesday. After the run I did about 20 minutes of weights at the gym. Mostly core stuff, but also some bicep curls and shoulder presses. I'd already done my pushups while waiting for spin class to start (Did I mention that I finally did 50 pushups in a row? It was last weekend after our bike ride. Usually I'm maxing out at like 35.). After this I sat in the steam room for a while breathing the eucalyptus steam and feeling like a f-ing champ.



Thursday: bike
10.4 miles/38:15/16.4 MPH
It finally stopped raining so I got in a nice ride after work in the sunshine today. I was keeping a fast pace the whole time and felt great! Maybe the spin class is already working. It was nice having such a short workout scheduled. I'm guessing this is one of the workouts that doubles++ in the next 27 weeks.



Thursday: swim
2000 yards/1:00
Masters again. Go me! No foot cramps this time. We did a lot of non-free, which for me is breaststroke and backstroke (no butterfly for me yet) and it was tough. My arms, shoulders and back are deeply GOOD sore.

So, overall, good week. I am really proud of myself for doing every single workout so far. I will be appropriately flexible with this training, but had to prove to myself that I could do it this first week for sure. I'm making all kinds of new habits here and I'm just in that "make it stick" phase.

Diet-wise, things are still going good. I've been keeping my calories low, under 2000, but haven't felt too hungry or tired so I think I'm getting enough. I'm eating a lot more fruits and vegetables and I have been drinking a lot of water too. I already feel a little better, like less bloated, but I have quite a ways to go. Still loving and highly recommending the Daily Plate!

Speaking of diets, did you all see the Biggest Loser finale? Dude. Tara was robbed! Helen looked downright skinny and like 20 years older. Also I couldn't have been more creeped out by Jerry. That show is pretty weird, but gets downright gross at the end. Such extremes. I love it.

I'm really looking forward to the weekend. It's supposed to be very warm and I have all kinds of fun running and biking planned. I'll definitely take some pictures. Have a great weekend everyone! Thanks for stopping by. :)

weekend update

It was a wonderful weekend! The weather was nice and we spent lots of time outside.

Friday we ran after work up in Forest Park, then Saturday we had an awesome road ride with Emily. We explored a route that took us down south along the east side of the river then back up the west side and through the Terwilliger hills. It was so pretty and I felt really strong the whole time! I was slow on the hills, but I felt comfortable flying down the other sides. My max speed was 33 MPH. Weee! Today I ran but I really felt the bike miles in my legs. Ouch. I was just not feeling it at all, so I cut the run short.

Friday: run
5.0 miles/38:08/7:38 average pace
Forest Park

Saturday: bike
30.5 miles/2:13:10/13.7 MPH
River Road Loop

Sunday: run
6.0 miles/53:00/8:50 average pace
Waterfront


The Diet is going good so far this week. I lost 3.5 lbs in the first week. I'm sure it will slow down and I want it to be permanent, so I know it won't be that much every week. Still, yay! I love that Daily Plate website. I went grocery shopping today and am excited for my week of healthy foods.

Here is my schedule for the week. It's my first week of Base Training!

Monday: rest/Weights
Tuesday: :45 Run/Masters swim class
Wednesday: :60 Spin class+ :15 T-run/Weights
Thursday: :45 Bike/Masters swim class
Friday: 1:00 Run
Saturday: 1:45 Bike
Sunday: 1:15 Run

Total: 8:45 (plus Weights)

After the ride on Saturday we drove out to the coast. It was cold and and windy as usual but very beautiful.

Have a great week everyone! I'm going to try to update more frequently with all this training. Here are some pictures from Saturday:

Lincoln City, OR:

Plan of Action

- Big picture: Ironman Arizona. November 22 2009. Currently about 6 1/2 months away. Oy. It is of course totally intimidating but I've got a plan and I'm biting off small chunks at a time. The over all plan following a training plan from a book called Iron Fit by Don Fink. I have no idea what I'm doing here, but it seems like a solid plan. Anyone? I cannot afford to hire a coach. I have Joe Friel book and it's f-ing nuts, so complicated. But this book here seems really straightforward. It's got a lot of swimming, biking, and running so it's probably fine.



- For now: Baby step #1 is a base training period. The Ironfit book has a 30 week training period broken up into 10 week sections. Base, Build, Peak. What a concept. :P So off we go, on a basebuilding adventure! There's the training, plus I need to shape up and get my body ready.



- Base building: Start riding my bike. Start swimming. Keep running. Specifically, I am joining the gym and am going to start doing a spin class once a week. I am going to be riding with Zach a lot during the week (he just switched to a 7-4 schedule so we can play all afternoon). On weekends, I am going to start riding with Emily and Anne, and check out some local group rides. I'm going to masters 2 times a week. Remember, baby steps. That's a big increase from the ZERO swimming I've been doing the last month. I'll start going 3x a week soon. Finally, I am going to start weight training 2x a week at the gym as well. I'll keep running 3 times a week but I'm going to switch up the intensities more.



- Lose fat: I'm going to lose like 10+ pounds. Seriously, it has to happen. I have gained it slowly over time and I'm sick of it. I am at a point in my life where I need to decide if I'm going to get fat or if I'm going to be skinny. None of this rationalizing anymore. I've gained 10 pounds in the last, say 3-4 years. And that is after gaining a solid 5-7 lbs when I first started running and built some muscle. I'm saying I've gained 15 lbs in the last 5 years. Fuck that. And to the point here, losing weight is going to directly benefit my training.



- Be happy: I am going to be my own best friend. I'm going to have fun with this and enjoy every day of my blessed and wonderful life. I am going to spend as much time as possible with all my fantastic friends, especially Zach. :)





So this week has been good.. I actually feel like I'm getting my rear in gear! I signed up for the Daily Plate which was an awesome suggestion from Alisa. I've been tracking my calories and exercise and stuff. It's a really cool website and makes it kind of fun. I'm going to make sure I'm eating enough, especially as I ramp up the training. But man do my habits have to change. I've been soooooo overdoing it.



I took Monday off, I was actually pretty sore. Tuesday, I rode the bike on the trainer for 30 minutes. On Wednesday, I ran 4 miles in 40:48 with Deana on Marine Drive. Today (Thursday) Zach and I went for a road ride for about an hour. It was weird riding with traffic but I felt pretty comfortable I guess. We went out and back on Naito Pkwy for about 6-8 miles, then rode around Northwest for a few miles. We even rode up Thurman to the Forest Park trailhead- whew! After we got home we walked around the neighborhood enjoying the First Thursday art fair. :) Tomorrow we're going running in Forest Park, Saturday we're going cycling with Emily, and Sunday is a longer run.



Some short notes that didn't get mentioned above:



- It rains a lot in Portland.

- I love my job!!

- Biggest Loser nears the finale.. go Tara!

- Lost nears the finalie.. go Richard Alpert!



And finally, I have to aplogize for not commenting on your blogs lately. I can't keep up! I do read them and loved all the race reports and stuff lately. And to my Portland blogger vixens, what's up!! Let's get together.



Have a great weekend gang! Thanks for reading. :)

Eugene Half Marathon Race Report

I feel like my race reports are getting boring! I have been running a lot of races this spring, I haven't had any spectacular results or triumphs... so I am going to try this a little different.

In fact, I tried doing a lot of stuff differently recently. I kind of adopted Petra/George Costanza "Opposite" thing. You know, do the opposite of what you normally do. Go against your instincts. So in really minor ways I switched it up. I'm usually pretty anxious and obsessive and lately I'm loosey goosey! The training was nonspecific- no schedule, whatevs on the pace.. and that was working well. Then for the race- I didn't pack until the morning we left, I had pizza and a beer the night before the race, I tried on the race t-shirt before the race (it was too big), stuff like that. The good news is, it didn't make my race any worse! The bad news is, it didn't make it any better.

I finished in an unoriginal 1:45:51 (8:05 ave). I guess it's cool that I'm consistent and that is a good time for sure, but it kind of turns out less isn't more. I have got to get serious with my training. More importantly, I think I really need to clean up my eating and drinking and get in better shape. Ugh!

Anyway, the half marathon course was more difficult than I had imagined, but it was a fabulous race. Gorgeous little green Oregon college town and Everyone is all about running. Good beer, good people, amazing runners, Hayward Field, you just can't beat it. The course was good but there was a long-ish climb in the early miles and a big f#&*er of a hill in mile 9. It was lightly raining for my whole race but let up right after and the sun came out to cook the full marathon runners a little. I think you should expect rain at this event. It rains a lot here.

I really felt strong the whole time and the miles kind of flew by. I got pretty tired by like mile 9 and just gutted it out. Here are my splits, I actually had some good speed going I just didn't hold it up in the end.

1 8:09
2 7:40
3 7:49
4 8:00
5 8:14
6 7:52
7 7:51
8 8:04
9 8:21 (hill)
10 8:12
11 8:23
12 8:08
13 8:15
0.1 :50

1:45:51
(8:05 ave)

Zach had an INCREDIBLE race. He is such a smart and fast runner. Hopefully he'll post his splits too, but I can tell you he PR'd big time with 1:34:14. :O Merlin's beard! (that's my new saying)

So I have a tri training schedule ready to begin in one week. I'm going to use this coming week to let my legs recover from the race, get my schedules finalized and printed out and stuff, outline my diet a little and figure out how I'm going to survive without Cupcake Jones, etc etc. Get my shit in gear. It's transition time! (get it, that's a triathlon joke)

Thanks for reading!! Congratulations to Aron on an amazing marathon finish today too. It was great to see her and her family. Wish we could have hung out longer! Alisa and Amy also drove down to cheer everyone on which was awesome. Alisa's sign said "Toenails are for sissies" Love it. Thanks guys! :)