Surviving the holidays & on to twenty eleven

Christmas has come and gone at the Ramirez household, and it was a great one. Donovan got great loot from his uncles and aunts, and a little something from Santa as well. This year he was really counting down the days with anticipation. Despite sleeping very few hours, I have to admit I enjoyed waking up before 5AM on December 25th to share in the excitement and put Legos together with my son.


Over these last few days, I have managed to get some workouts in here and there, nothing fancy, just enough to keep the body moving and sweating out all the wine I've been partaking in.

Wishing you all a great 2011. Thanks for reading.

Beginning to look a lot like Christmas...

Despite some seriously intense rain over the last week, winter is here. And it is time to make awesome things in the kitchen. As well as relax by a warm fire, and count down the days until the 24th.

From Team Ramirez to all, Merry Christmas and have a fantastic 2011.

one last muddy race

The last local cx race took place this past Sunday, and it was a tough, fast and very cold one. I barely made it to the race on time, registered in record time and lined up at the end of the field with, literally, 1min to go, while race officials radio'd in to make sure I was legit. It was full-gas from the get go, with almost no places to recover. I only slid out once, on a corner I took too aggresively, which lost me a whole bunch of places. It was cool to see everyone throwing down hard for this last race, and then enjoying the cammaraderie at the finish line, swapping war stories. I had a lot of fun racing cx and will definitely be back next fall for more. There is something freaky cool about being borderline out-of-control while going as fast as possible. I hope to be able to learn some skills btwn now and next fall so I can race faster, or at least, fall less.

We workout....

... whether the sun is up and shinning, and it's warm...

or whether it's cold and windy, and there's snow on the ground.

Weather doesn't stop triathletes. :o)

Here, Papa, let me give you a little push so you can get going....

Have a great Thanksgiving, gobble, gobble!

Muddy Fun at Woodland Park

Awesome action photo by Andrew Malakoff

I participated in another cyclocross race yesterday, just ~15minutes from my house. I rather say 'participated' than 'raced' because I'm doing it for fun. Oh, I still race it as hard as I can, but I'm just lucky to avoid trees and stay upright. Yesterday was a lesson in some of the finer cx details, like "tire and air pressure selection." At least that's what I heard people talk about, it's not like I have tireS -plural- to choose from, or a good idea of what they were talking about... I guess that's why I drew some chuckles when in response to "Which tires did you run?" I said, "Uh, the only ones I got..."

Photo by Ann Marije-Rook, The Ballard Tribune

I slipped around a whole lot in the mud, and managed to stay upright more than I should have. I found I was able to ride through most of the really sticky parts. Then again, I likely would have been able to run faster through some of those sections, but what do I know? Maybe I'll try that next time. To make matters worse, er.. 'more fun,' it must have been like 120 guys or more in the Cat 4 race tearing up the ground. Woah.

Photo by Michael O'Leary, The Everett Herald

You want to really get going and stay strong next time you race in the mud? Mix a shot of Pre-Race with one scoop of EFS and let your legs do the talking. Oh yeah, the First Endurance line is not just limited for use in triathlon.

Not a whole lot else to report at this time. Stay healthy. Stay upright. Enjoy the fall.

jc

Cyclocross & Halloween

This past Saturday I partook in my first cyclocross race ever, on a borrowed, slightly-small, mountain bike. My cx mudster is sitting in my garage, awaiting tires to arrive in the mail. 'C'mon, go to the nearest shop and buy some,' is what I heard a lot, and I would have, but I've stretched out the budget I set for myself for this adventure. So, I opted to borrow a mtb and just give it a go. I hit the deck twice, managed to not finish last and had a good amount of fun. I should also add I've never been off-road nor pack riding in those conditions, so there was an added unknown element which made this first outing crazy. I chickened out in some sections and I struggled to engage my pedals efficiently. By the 4th lap, I was getting the hang of it.

Holly crap, I'm going to kill myself here...

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The low-key, down-to-earth vibe of the race was awesome. Heck, I walked away with a 6-pack of beer, a bag of oatmeal and 50minutes of good hard work, all for $22. How cool is that? I got tires now and I'll have the cx ready for next weekend, see if I can do a little better.

Please don't hit the boulder, please don't hit the boulder...

Sunday was Halloween, and it was awesome. Donovan was Darth Vader (once again). I was Green Lantern. We had a cool get-together at our house, with yummy food, festive costumes and lots of trick-or-treaters. Donovan and I were out ringing doorbells until he could no longer carry his pumpkin full of candy and begged to be carried home. It was a lot of fun.

Feliz dia de las brujas!

cx

CX. As in 'cyclocross'. It's gotten me curious. So I plan on building up a rad mud machine to throw down during the coming weeks. Said bitchin' racin' rig needs to be built up for cheap, so it is going to be a project. I'll post some pictures as I progress.

In the meantime, we have just been relaxing, catching up with life. I'm s-b-r'ing whenever and however I feel like it, no structure (yet).

Enjoy the fall/winter!

update

My season is officially over. Some good races, some dissapointing ones. That's how it goes. It is time for physical and mental regeneration. There's plenty of yard work, weekend cartoons to watch, shallow pools to splash in, and lots of planning for next season.

I feel I came up with some marked improvements this season, but was not able to put it together on the big shows. The PotentrX team will be helping me train smarter to be able to make that good training translate to good racing. I will listen intently to what Dan has to say, see what it is that I am missing, so that I can do as Donovan says in the photo below.

Run, Papa, RUN!

I want to thank my awesome sponsors, Blue Seventy, Nuun, Blue Cycles, 1st Endurance and Potentrx, for being there for us and making racing possible. To my awesome family and friends, thanks for the support, and understanding (and baby-sitting!). We'll be back stronger and more determined!

And so I leave you with a nice sunset view from our home, as the summer ends in the PNW and we get ready for what looks to be another character-building fall and winter.

Thanks for reading.
JC

Fork in the road...

It's been 9days since IM Canada. Still with the nasty cold/cough. ugh.

The part of me that is used to the constant state of fatigue from training is asking "Where is the familiar stimulus, dude?" The part of me that looks at the calendar and realizes the up-n-down season has been pretty long asks "What's my motivation, dude?" So, here we are, at a fork in the road. The road to the right leads to the offseason, the road to the left leads to Arizona, one more big event. Time to put the blinker on...

Post Ironman Thoughts

It's been 8days since IM Canada. I've had a nasty cold/cough since the less-than-stellar race day. I've been trying to get my health back, spend time with Theresa and Donovan and take care of some home chores. It's been great so far, and has helped me not dwell too much about last week.

Here are some of my reflections from 8days ago:

*My swim is improving. I'm happy with my 59min swim, as I swam half of it on my own. It was just like long-swim training day. I need to be more assertive on race day so I stay in the right pack for better times. Keep working on it.

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*Take time in T1 to dress according to the weather. Full finger gloves, arm warmers and vest kept me at a nice operating temperature most of the day. I don't care if I looked like a fashion train-wreck.

*Difficult to say if I was already sick on race morning. Bottomline is, my engine shut down 2hrs into the ride. This requires some investigative work....

Green=power, Red=Heart Rate, Pink=Speed, Purple=Air Temperature

*No matter how crappy your race is going, keep pushing. Be grateful you are able to be out there, and when things aren't going well, learn what you can to have a better show next time.

*No matter how crappy your race is going, keep pushing. DNFs leave big empty holes, and Donovan loves all finisher's hats and/or medals you give him.

JC

Ironman Canada--25th MPro

The tall scruffy fellow (below) had a great day, pushed thru pain and got his picture on the front page of the local paper.
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The short scruffy one ran out of power at ~3hrs into the bike, and jogged a dissapointing marathon on zapped legs.

Pictures and more story soon. Time for beers, thanks for reading.

Mexico & Ukraine invade Canada

This pair of shaddy, scruffy-looking characters will take on the winds, the mountain climbs, the rollers and whatever else IM Canada dishes out tomorrow. Don't mess with them.

the calm b4 the storm

Another lovely day in beautiful in the Okanagan. Except the winds have shifted and are blowing from the north, which is not a welcome sign for tomorrow.

2/3 of Team Ramirez is now under the weather, so it will make for a long(er) day for everyone. The remaining 1/3 of the team (me) is ready to go.

The push for the summit is on...

Shifty weather

Today we woke up to some milder temperatures for this time of the year in the Okanagan Valley. I went for an early morning swim in Skaha Lake, a beautiful deep body of water. A 5min walk down from our homestay sure beats the driving time and logistics to get up to Lake Okanagan.

Do you not understand how pretty this place is???

Afterwards, I walked the 5minutes home to some awesome pre-made hotcakes, thanks to the awesome planning by the savvy team management. I then got a ride in the team car down to Keremeos, and rode my way back up Yellow/Twin Lakes. It was a tad chilly when the sun would hide, and gusty at times, and it gives me something to think about for Sunday, forecasted to be at 10C when we get out of the water.

The rest of the day included some grocery shopping, some good relaxing by Skaha Lake (before it got cloudy and sprinkled on us) and some more chilling with our great hosts. Mike and Su are super cool and we get along great, and that makes coming back to Penticton so nice. Donovan and their daughter, Anja, make each other laugh and have a ton of fun together.

Check it, Mike- This is how you play this thing... C'mon Anja, press the 'X'

Even though the Team Director is under the weather, the rest of the team is pulling together and making the best of it. See you tomorrow, T-32hrs. All systems are go...

Oh Canada...

We made it! A speedy border crossing and we are back in awesome Kaleden, on Lake Skaha and just south of Penticton.

Thanks to some awesome planning by the Team Director, we got off the the van and right unto an awesome meal of noodles, chicken, veggies and fruit!

More tomorrow...

Lk Stevens Redux

I was asked if I could quantify the impact the water temperature had on my race. Being a data-driven enginerd, here's my analysis-

Swim- No ergometer in the water, but the horrible swim time says it all. I did all I could and all it got me was really cold.

Bike- Ah, the beauty of power data...
0-10mi, AvePower=199w, NormPower=209w
0-16mi, AvePower=205w, NormPower=212w
0-28mi, AvePower=213w, NormPower=223w, 1:19
28-56mi, AvePower=231w, NormPower=245w, 1:14

the numbers don't lie... I was hurtin'

16mi was about the point where I stopped shivering, and my HR started becoming 'normal.'

Taper switch is ON.

Lake Stevens 70.3 - 21st MPro

The last big hard workout leading to Canada is done. I really wanted to do more at this race, but I encountered 2 big hurdles:

Hurdle 1)The AIR temperature, combined with the water temperature- After warming up, they pulled us out of the water for what seemed like an eternity. So there we were, shivering in the 50F air, soaked to the bone, teeth chattering, shivering and shaking. The RD banned us from using wetsuits, by 0.2degrees. Really? You kidding me? Great judgment call on that one, sir... "So what? Cowboy up, man!" I did, and it made for a miserable first 1.5hrs of racing. By the time I finally stopped shivering, was keeping my nutrition down and could turn the pedals without being in pain, I had been blown out the back and was dead last, way back after the worst swim ever.

uffff.....

Hurdle 2) My body was/is still recovering from last weekend's leg-pounding. My goal was to clock 1:18 on this course, and I was on target at mile 10, just under 60minutes. I then came unglued in the last 3miles. I managed to get past a few of the guys who were fading, and was very happy to get across the mat. Afterwards, I sat down in a shaddy spot at the finish while Donovan poured water bottles over my head.

Happy to get the running legs going...

I would like to thank my kick-ass sponsors who were out on the course, being super vocal- Mike and Shawn from Blue Seventy; Jon from Blue Cycles; Wes from Potentrx; Scott from Nuun and Robert from 1st Endurance where there in spirit. To Theresa & Donovan, thanks for putting up with another really early morning and a long day at the races.

Outstanding job by 8th place Guy Crawford, who's been racking up some awesome races around the globe. Great job as well by my buddy Michael "Mo Powah" Gordon, who finished 20th. I think he was getting back at me for 'beating' him at Boise. He too was just working out. Now let's see how Canada treats us both.

It's taper time. The work is done. Let's see what kind of ROI we get in 2 weeks.

the long slow road to recovery and my big mouth

Last Saturday's little adventure has left me out of running commission for days. Maybe it's a sign of total inexperience with trail running. Maybe it's old age. Whatever the case, it's taken me a while to bounce back. I think I will be fresh again come Sunday morning, but we'll have to wait and see...

Speaking of Sunday, today I was on the phone with my buddy Shawn, who informed he was having coffee with some of my competition. So I said to tell them I was going to hand it to them on Sunday. Little did I know he immediately relayed the message to Luke Mac and Big Matt that I was going to spank them. Great. That's like a casual weekend jogger telling, oh, I dunno, someone like Haile he's going to get schooled.

Let's hope by Sunday my legs help me get most of my foot out of my mouth.

Grand Ridge Half Marathon - 2nd Overall

My buddy Dave has been raving about trail running this and that, and how awesome it is compared to pounding pavement. So this past Saturday I decided to give it a go with a half marathon that had 2,000ft of elevation gain. I figured it would be a really good workout for this build block. Little did I know the leg-pounding fest I was in for.

Post-race, food & drink in hand, happy the pain was over.

My impressions? It sure is different- it is a laid back atmosphere, and it is cool. It is also crazy, especially going downhill: I felt I was running borderline out-of-control, trying to place my foot in the right spot among holes, roots, rocks, branches, all while running as fast as possible without falling face first or injuring something. I almost won the thing too, but a XC runner hunted me down in the last 400m. I'm pretty happy with the result given, IMHO, how tough the terrain and the elevation gain was.

Will I do it again? Not sure. I found it a little dangerous, I felt like I was about to lose it at almost every corner and down section. Maybe there is some technique involved, as I smashed my legs. The workout was awesome, though. Now let's recover for next weekend.

JC

The case of the dissapearing flip flops

Someone stole my flip flops. My $2, all-rubber, gray slippahs (as they say in Hawai'i). From the Greenlake Bath House steps, where lots of people leave wallets, car keys, bags, etc. in full sight. No, they were not picked up as garbage, as there were plenty of other visible garbage items scattered around the steps pre & post swim.

Well, whomever you are, I hope they keep your feet comfy. I mean, if you are taking cheap used flip flops, you probably need them more than I do. I'm more in disbelief than I am angry, honestly.

Federal Escape Olympic - 3rd Overall

I did a small Olympic tri just south of Seattle. It reminded me a lot of when I was starting in the sport, back when I had just started swimming, and had gotten my first road bike. It had that low-key, feel-good vibe about it.

You see this brake thing here, Papa?

You know you are not supposed to use those when you are racing, right?

I got a swift kick to the mouth in the swim, which cut up my upper lip (fat lip in picture). It really messed with my concentration, and I wasn't able to get it together and get back in the game. At some point on the bike ride, the bleeding stopped, and I was able to tear out the big flap of skin that was hanging from my lip inside my mouth. Had I had run splits, I may have been able to do more. I eased off and cruised the last mile, stopping for Donovan to run in with me. "I gotta help Papa finish the race!" is what he says. All in all it was a good high-intensity workout, which is what I was after.

Thanks to Stefan and Melissa, for letting me come out to play. They are the RDs for this race, who put on a great event together. My family and I had a great time, and enjoyed the venue and great post-race food (organic hotcakes, sausages, fruit, granola, etc). As always, thanks to all my awesome sponsors. 2 weeks to the Lake Stevens workout, and then unto IM Canada.

jc

whirlwind weekend

Another weekend of careful universe-balancing moves is in the books. That would be my universe, where family responsibilities meet triathlon dreams, where hot-cakes, cartoons and play time co-exist with obnoxiously long rides and runs, and, now that the weather is nice here in Seattle, swim time with the little fish.

Both Sat and Sun consisted of brick workouts-
Saturday's brick went as follows: a 50mi ride, a 12mi run, followed by lunch, followed by 10min nap, followed by a 1-hr lake swim with the little fish.
Sunday's brick was a little more intense: a 100mi ride, lunch on-the-go, and 1-hr pool swim with the little fish. One thing after the next.

I should add I've been experimenting using considerably less calories, trying to get my body better used to burning fat. So far so good, except yesterday, when I ran out of gas 20mi out, with a nice headwind, a 4-yr old at home, ready to go, and a set pool schedule that waits for no one.

You gotta dig deep sometimes....

jc

Testing, testing, 1, 2, 3... is this thing on?

I'm excited to announce I've started working with the guys at Potentrx to try and improve my training/racing. If you are in Seattle and are looking for physiological, biomechanical, or muscoskeletal testing (and whole lot more), you should consider the services of the Potentrx team headed by Drs. Tripps and Speck. If you have any questions about my own experience, pls shoot me an email.

Warming it up...

So I had the opportunity to go in to get my VO2 tested. I wanted to obtain data to better fine-tune my bike training and racing. Sean and Wes, super professional yet down to earth, got all the Darth Vader hardware on me, put me on my bike, pointed me to the pain cave, and asked that I go in as far as possible. In I went, no lightsaber. Some 15minutes later, I came out a soggy sweaty mess, seeing spots and feeling a little weak. If they had asked me to keep going for another 30sec, no doubt I would have had to use that garbage can next to the bike.

Uh... guys...? Is it me or is it getting awfully dark in here...?

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So what did I learn? While the data shows I've done an ok job bracketing racing/training efforts based on my experience, I learned where my little engine is lacking punch and how to improve and do more with what my parents gave me. All in all, it was a great experience, and I very much look forward to having them in my corner.

See how they enjoy watching others suffer? :o)

Thanks a lot you guys!

JC

Burnout & Rebound

This past weekend I was clearly in the valley of post-IM depression, weighed down even more by the dissapointment of a race gone wrong. Zero motivation to keep pushing through training. Having put my (very patient and supportive) family through the rigors of training, to come up empty handed on the day when it counts, well, it made me question decisions, as well as my time management skills (or lack thereof).

So I got off the bike after hardly any work on Sunday, and did a good amount of house work instead, chores I've been neglecting for a long time. I took back the backyard with the weedwhacker, fending off vicious dandelions. After Donovan's bedtime, I opted for a short ez run. I was ready to quit within the first 2-3minutes, my legs feeling super heavy. I stuck with it and very slowly felt the snappy feeling and fast turnover coming back. 30minutes later, my spirits were lifted, and I was happy to return home and spend time relaxing with my awesome wife, enjoying the sunset from our house. We can see the mountain peaks, both literally and figuratively speaking.

Let's see what next week brings.

Make that Cd'A 3- JC 0

"When you get hurt and all your sacrifice adds up to NOTHING...
are you willing to put it all on the line again?" - Conrad Stoltz

See you in 2011, Cd'A. We're not done here. Not even close...

Thanks to my dear family, friends and my awesome sponsors, for being there for me.

Time to re-focus.

jc

PS-For those who've asked, stomach cramps lasting the *entire* ride and worsening while running-shufling was the kill switch this time. I think it was the few mouthfulls of lake water....

Cd'A 2, JC 0

"Lemme see your hands in the air if you underdog,
If you are not a favorite...."

The van is packed, the team is ready, we're on our way Idaho... it's time to settle the score.

Father's Day Recap

This past weekend we had some really brutal weather here in Seattle to welcome the summer. Team Management shoved me out of bed at the crack of dawn on Sunday, and indicated to go swim in the cold lake. Brrr....

Photo by Zach Hodgson

Greenlake is still cold (specially with just one latex cap on), and the air temperature was ~50F. When I got done swimming, I was ready for some hot breakfast and coffee. I opened the front door to our house, and was greeted by a delicious aroma and a cheerful Donovan screaming, 'Happy Father's Day! We made you CAKE, Papa!' Not only had they made hot cakes, but also super yum coffee cake. It. Was. Awesome. As the rain started to really come down outside, and we were sitting over the cozy warmth of oven-baked goodies, I was one happy papa....

We are all excited to get going and have a nice little vacation in Idaho, hopefully with nice weather. 4 more cold swims, and a couple more rides and runs before show & tell.

jc

México 2 - Francia 0

The sweet taste of victory

¡¡¡ Viva el Tri !!!

Boise 70.3 - 16th MPro

Photo by Idaho Statesman

What better way to end the last big build to an Ironman than with a lot of pain courtesy of super tough race conditions? So thanks, Boise, for kicking my butt.

I drove to pick up fellow pro Michael "Rocket Cheeto" Gordon, and then we were on our way to Boise. The drive was really nice, and we got the chance to catch up, ponder the meaning of life, and trash talk.

The 2pm race start was awesome. More 70.3's should do this. Here's how it went- The water was WAY cold for this dude. I could not keep my hands open to catch water towards the end of the swim, which got more interesting with the the little chop on the way back. I was just wanting to be out of the freezing reservoir. Wasn't a good swim.

Blue Triads racked after a tough tough ride.

On to the bike, we were immediately greeted with absolutely crazy wind conditions on top of heat. Everyone I talked to after the race agreed it was ridiculous. We got blasted the whole ride, having to either lean hard left, or right, to keep the bikes upright. After that kind of riding, there just wasn't a whole lot of running left in anyone. Just look at the run times.

Michael & I chatting it up with our buddy & runner-up Ben Hoffman.
Cuidadito con Ben- el chamaco se ha convertido en dinamita pura, y va por buen camino.

Professor M. Gordon, Doctor A. Jensen, B. Halpin, "the Missoula Click" + 1 Mexican, post-race.

Hey, if you see this guy, please remind him he owes me a beer.

We chatted post-race about what REALLY matters (the World Cup!)

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Before signing off, thanks to Shane and Katie for hosting us. You guys were truly awesome! Thanks to my great sponsors, Blue, Nuun, Blue Seventy, First Endurance and Oomph! for their continued support. Last, but always first, Theresa & Donovan- I missed them so freaking much.

My lats/shoulders are still sore from fighting to keep the bike on the road, my butt is sore from all the driving. Bring on the taper, 13 days to Ironman Coeur d'Alene.

jc

Boxes & bags of goodies

The new Blue Seventy Trisuits are here, and mine just made it back from getting logo'd!! The endurance suit uses Cold Black fabric to keep things cool and allow ariflow. It also has as few seams as possible. The fit is great for me and I'm excited to race in it and make a fashion statement! I would like to thank taigraphx for the print job and crazy-quick turnaround.

Representin' for the guys that support me

In addition, a package from the folks at First Endurance arrived, to restock my pantry with rocketfuel. EFS drink and liquid shot continue to be my staples for training, and I resort to Pre-Race when it's an early morning workout or, as the name implies, pre race nutrition. I was also sent the new prototype Liquid Shot flavor. I really like the original vanilla, but this is equally tasty and a good option for all you non-vanilla-ites out there. And of course, Optygen HP rounds up my stash.

The 2 small flasks are the top-secret new liquid shot flavor.
I could tell you more about it, but then I'd have to put you in the cooler...

As always, Nuun keeps on hydratin', and I recently got a little refill. Mhhhh.... bubbleycious goodness.....

Can't wait to get to the start line at Boise and then see what happens 2 weeks later.

I 'll try to make as many guys see this side of the trisuit this season.

jc

More hurt, exploding gear and other stuff

The last big build training block for the big race is on-going. Things are going well. I've been able to make the most of my bike training time thanks to the computrainer. Boy, does that thing hurt. This past Saturday it destroyed the tire on a trainer wheel. Granted, the rubber was old. Still, that is just plain cool, when you are able to take a piece of equipment to its limit (without hurting yourself in the process, of course).

On a not-as cool note about equipment failing, the battery inside my SRM powercontrol exploded. WTH? I have no idea why or how. The burst was strong enough it severed cable connections, basically, rendering it out of commission. Since it lightly holds charge, I may try to race with at Boise just so I can have speed, HR and rpm numbers in front of me.

At this point in time, I'm starting to feel the fatigue accumulating in my body. That, and a few nites of reduced sleep hours, and I'm starting to move a little slow. I am looking forward to racing hard next Saturday at Boise, and then to begin the taper down to Ironman Cd'A.

Let's see what we got then.

The Hurt Weekend

I've had some really solid training over Memorial Day weekend, including some heavy cycling and running. The pedal-pounding pain was delivered thanks to racermate's evil (and fantastic) training tool known as computrainer. Load a real course video on one of these puppies, and you will be pedaling every single foot of every single mile you log. I'd like to think my fitness is decent, but let me go ahead and admit just how much ouch this thing dished out on me. It hurt.

Aside from the hours spent on the computrainer in the hurt garage over days, I also had an awesome LONG run with one of the my best friends. For me, it was a nice & low perceived effort for the even pace we were blasting. I'm not about to go quoting numbers or making predictions, but let's see what happens at Coeur d'Alene when the dust settles.

Additonally, Donovan and I took Theresa swimming with us on and we got our hotcakes and waffles on (as always).

Peace

Training with the stars

This past weekend I got invited to tag alongside a couple of the top rock stars in the state. Fellow BLUE rider Michael "Pedal Pounder" Gordon and Kara Nielsen planned a long suffer fest, and I got sent an RSVP to get my butt kicked. Sure-why not? It's always nice to be humbled by riding with power houses.

Look at these two geeks...

The ride turned out to be actually really nice, though we did get hit with a heavy shower during the first hour, and the air temperatures made us wonder if Spring is ever going to come. We were able to hit some long stretches of open road, and made sure we got some good headwind beating on us. Last time I went out with Michael on this route, I was gasping for air- at least I was able to hang off the back this time.

Don't let the smile fool you- she bends crank arms just by looking at them.

I got a chance to practice my IM race-day nutrition and hydration, composed of First Endurance (Liquid Shot and EFS) and NUUN, while Michael and Kara shared a couple almonds, a fig and some cheetos. Maybe that's the secret to going fast... In any case, I got my fueling strategy down and feel confident with the 4th discipline come race day.

Small and Medium Triads. Can you tell which one is which? Mine is the more aero.

Another solid weekend of training in the books for me. Now a few days of down time, and then it's time for the final build block ending with Boise 70.3, all in preparation for IM Coeur d'Alene.

Thanks Michael and Kara for the long ride!

10 de Mayo

Día de la Madre. It's a chance for me to think back on the time I had with Mona. I remember many 10 de Mayos when a phone call was as close as we could be. I would play one certain mariachi song that celebrates mothers' love and remember her crying happily on the other end of the phone. Sigh... There's also the part of me that looks at my present life and is grateful for the family we have and what an awesome mother Theresa is to our little guy.

Speaking of parenting, we had a tough weekend in that department. Donovan underwent oral surgery at Seattle's Children's Hospital. The end result is he doesn't have his 2 front upper baby teeth anymore, a product of tooth decay from having really big teeth crowded into a tiny mouth. In the greater scheme of things, it is not so bad, and it helps to see he quickly accepted what happened, is adapting, and back to being his usual happy self. My point is this- we worried, we stressed, it was mentally draining. In any case, my thoughts go out to parents and their children who battle the really tough medical conditions. You guys are on whole different level of toughness.

training, training, training

Not much else to say... busy with life otherwise...

At this point, I've decided to skip Florida 70.3 on 05/16 and keep training hard, targeting Ironman Coeur d'Alene. I will race at Boise 70.3 two weeks out as final prep for IM Cd'A. Should be good....

Juggling the calendar, the $, and the little fish.

For the time-constrained triathlete and on limited funds, one of the more complex aspects of triathlon is figuring out what races make sense and fit to make the most out of a full racing season. Take yours truly as an example- I was having a slight niggle in one lower leg, and hence hesitated to finalize travel plans to Texas 70.3 , taking place 04/24. Even in tip-top shape, I don't think we could have afforded the plane ticket, looking ahead to the rest of the season expenses.

The Shawnigan Half IM I thought of doing on 05/01 is out of the question. Simply too pricey and too many logistics involved for me.

So now it's time to figure out which is better: Flying to Florida 70.3 (05/06) or driving to Boise 70.3 (06/12). They both involve roughly the same travel time, obviously driving to Boise is more affordable than flying to Orlando. But, Boise is also only 2 weeks before Ironman Coeur d'Alene. Which is not too bad.

In other news, Donovan has become a fish, and I'm having a hard time explaining to him why we can't go to the swimming pool all the time. If it was up to him, we'd likely be there 2-3times a day. Where did I put that ITU U23 application???

One more partner

As we head into the 2010 season, I'm totally excited to announce I'll be counting on the support from First Endurance.
From Pre-Race to EFS Drink to Liquid Shot, it is just an awesome line up of nutrition products that work. Period. I've been using their products for some time, so I'm super happy to be able to partner up with a company not only dedicated to sport, but totally interested in its athletes and their feedback. What do I currently use to train and race? Check my existing stash in our pantry:
Here's to having to not worry about nutrition when racing! Thanks First Endurance!!!

jc