Race Report...heart burn from gels?

First - let me give a huge shout out to Heidi at TriAngel (and her hubby) - it was awesome meeting you at the Sandestin Tri and can't wait for our mini 'training camp' for Ironman Florida! 

Quick race report - I swam, biked, and ran.  Ok, I'll throw in alittle more detail.  My age group was the first wave (fist pump).  I'm not sure if any of you have been in the first wave, but it's AWESOME.  Anyway,  I was the 2nd girl out of the water - which I was pretty excited about. But the swim was kind of confusing since there where just a hand full of buoys and I was not able to figure out where the turn was - but all in all I am very happy with the swim.  Oh yeah, I did see a few sharks.  I am going to assume they scattered with the madness of swimmers to follow :)

The bike was uneventful.  It was fast and flat.  Rocked out the avg of 22ish mph which was my goal.  The course was an out and back which was great on the way out with the tail wind...but killer on the way back.    With about 2 miles left, miss Heidi and her bike 'the pink hotness' flew by!  I  hopped off my bike at T2 to kill the run.  But my legs would not take - and I think the random gel I took on the bike gave me hard burn.  I don't get that very often - but does anyone else get it from a gel?  Anyway, my run was not the best- but I know that sometimes not every piece of the puzzle can come together.  It was hot, sunny, and I was just ready to cross that finish line.  But I did pull out 3rd in my age group and Heidi did as well! 

Jeff was excited for extra beer tickets:

On Ironman news, a good friend of mine, Carla, got into IMFL last week!  And not only did she decide to train with Coach Scott, but she lives right down the street with my as well!!  Hello new IM training partner! 

Carla and I before Gulf Coast - with our QR's :) 

In training news, I'm just tired.  All of the time.  I was in Orland for work the first part of the week, and then jumped back into training mode.  So after a great 14 mile run on Thursday, a short brick yesterday, and an epic 90 mile ride followed by 7 mile run this morning (riding with the hard core kick ass roadies) I am on the couch.  Enjoying some TV time :) 

Good luck to everyone doing IM Louisville Tomorrow!!!

Even a mechanic...

...can smell like an Ironman.  I was in the Toyota dealership the other day (post swim practice so I was rocking the boca suit) and I saw this:

Ironman Men's face lotion.  It smelled like crap and I had to explain to five guys what an ironman entails.  I'm in the dealership about every month (yes, I drive a ton for work) for an oil change - and I will have a crew of Toyota Dealers/mechanics cheering me on in November :)

So today I had one of those days.  I woke up at 4 so I could be at the track and warmed up by 5:45am when coach arrived.  So I ran.  And ran.  And ran.  Finally looked to see what time it was - 6am.  Where is coach?  Oh.  Track practice is on Thursday this week.  Awesome.  So I continued to run a few more miles (since I was there) and now I have to jump in the pool after work. 

SOOO...this Saturday is RACE DAY!  It's the 24th annual Sandestin Triathlon.  A 1/2 mile swim, 20 mile bike, and four mile run.  And then a killer post party at the Sandestin Hilton after.  Coach sent me my battle plan - and I'm kind of nervous about hitting the goals he set for me.  But if he set them, he must know that I can hit them.  We'll see.  Also - Heidi from TriAngel will be heading over from New Orleans to race!  Hopefully the weather will cooperate and everyone will have an awesome race. 

I have not done this for awhile.  But I get kind of pissed off when people that are on vacation think they can do whatever they want....since they are on vacation.  Kind of like spring breakers that lose all ability to make decent decisions once they hit the Bay County line.  Anyway, I saw this awesome parking job in a crowded shopping area the other day:

Thanks for blocking traffic with your sweet 1992 wave runner. 

Too good to pass up...

I follow a blog called Things We Forget - if you have a moment, check it out.  This popped up today on my blog roll and I just had to share:

Sue from Wine Chocolate and Friendship posted this blog a few months ago, and I've been looking forward to my daily 'reminders' since.   

On to triathlon ramblings - I've been thinking lately about race weight.  Do you know yours?  If so, how did you figure it out? 

TGIF!

The goodness found in Northern Florida

We had a KILLER 94ish mile ride on Saturday, which has been my longest ride.  EVER!  It was about a billion degrees outside, but I felt great.  We had an amazing crew of riders - and even though we had 2 flats and one broken spoke we still rocked out the mileage. 

But riding around on your bike in rural Northern Florida, you never know what you are going to see:

Yeah, not sure what a feeder pig is.

This place in Lavoina has the scariest.  Bathroom.  Ever. 

This is a freaky as a clown.

Just a little A/C on the head

Cam and I - the only lovley ladies on the ride

The rest of Saturday was spent with my family and dinner and drinks at the Red Bar:

Hope everyone had a great weekend!! 

And the winner is....

...thanks to Random.org is....KRISTEN from WILL RUN FOR WINE! (Love the name)  Congrats!!  You have won the Hoo Ha!  For those of you who still want to try out this wonderful product - check out the Reflect Sports website and e-mail them for a sample!  Believe me...your hoo ha will appreciate it :)  A huge thank you to everyone who reads my ramblings - and I will have another give away soon! 

Tomorrow I have a 90 mile ride on tap - hopefully we won't melt. 

Happy Friday!

Staycation!

I know I've been absent the past few days - that is because I'm on a staycation!!  My mom, dad, brother, aunt, uncle and a few cousins rented a wonderful beach house for the week in Grayton Beach.  Lots of book time, beach time, family time...oh yeah, some training as well.  :)  Why call it a staycation?  Because it's only about 30 min from my house! 

I think that is a pretty good reason to avoid my computer for a few days! 

Don't forget about the HOO HA give-a-way!

Hope everyone is having a great week!