July 4th

Here we are starting off the day with a run and ocean swim...  Run 4 miles, then swim 30 minutes.  The ocean was perfect!

Catching up... our Century Ride!

Wow, it has been a long time since I last posted anything on this blog!  Keeping up with the workouts, 3 kids, husband, part-time job, house, laundry, etc... has been very challenging....  I'm not sure how things are going to work out once our training starts to ramp up significantly!  But thus far things have been pretty smooth sailing...  so far the workouts are reasonable.  Suzanne keeps telling us we're in the base building phase, so we're just plugging along.  We're doing about 2100 yard swims, 6-8 mile runs, and 70-100 mile bike rides!  More specifics on the training later, but just wanted to give an update and show off some pictures and videos of the past few weeks of training.  As I'm "catching up,"  I'll start off the next few posts that way so you'll know they're older updates until I'm caught up...

A couple of Sundays ago (4/17), we just completed our first century ride - ever!  Well, for Ana and me at least.  It was a great day for a ride!  Started off at Eastminster Church and took advantage of the wind and flew south down A1A at about 23-24 mph until we got to Ft. Pierce Inlet which was at about mile 50.  Couldn't believe how fast we were going!  Here we are towards the beginning of our ride in Sebastian Inlet:

Going over the Sebastian Inlet Bridge @ approx 23-24 mph

Here we are riding along the train tracks on Old Dixie Highway (US1) in St. Lucie County heading home.  Still feeling strong, although starting to feel the wind and our pace dropped down to about 18-20.  We were doing pretty good all taking turns pulling every few miles.

In St. Lucie County heading back.

We did it!  100 miles!  Me and Ana at end of ride still able to stand upright!

Here's a link to the map of our trip.  My iphone died at mile 92 which is why it doesn't show the complete loop, but as you can see from my bike computer above, we really did the full 100!

I guess the base building phase is working because I actually felt pretty good after the ride.  We took Monday off to rest, but definitely felt the fatigue in my legs the following Tuesday in the pool.  A week later, however, I am still dealing with saddle sores...  definitely need to test out more bike shorts!

Sunday AM Bike Ride

59 degrees and foggy this AM!  Met up at 6:30 at Eastminster and rode 53 miles round trip to Wabasso.  Fog never burned off, but at least it kept the weather cool for us.  Took us less than 3 hours to get back.  Rode 20mph average on the way down and 18mph back.

Beach Run

After our swim on Friday, we drove over to Millenium Park for our run.  What a great day for a run on the beach!    I took Suzanne's lead and took my shoes off for the run, but I hadn't been running at all on the beach.  So needless to say, I ended up with a blood blister on the bottom of my big toe, but luckily I was able to finish my 4-mile run.    The weather has been perfect here in Melbourne, FL! 

Nutrition Tip

Had to post this awesome lunch I made myself!  I know....  should have taken the picture before I started eating it, but I didn't think of it...  Anyway, Patti was telling me about the PBnS Sandwiches she used to eat (peanut butter and spinach, yes, spinach)!  I'll have to try that someday... but I did take her lead and toasted a couple of pieces of ezekiel bread, spread on some nut cheese I got from the Happy Healthy Human, and packed on some spinach and alfalfa sprouts...  yummmmmmmy!  I was really surprised at how good it was!  Filling and guilt free!

Happy Birthday, Patti!

Happy Birthday, Patti!!  Hope you had a good birthday swim and run!!  I did!

Gear Review: Louis Garneau Bike Shorts

Went to Petty's Saturday night to pick up dinner and spontaneously decided to walk over to Infinity Bike Shop to check out their bike shorts because I knew we had the 50-miler the next day.  Tried on a few pair and decided on the Louis Garneau Women's Alveo Zone 8+ shorts because the padding felt really good!  After getting home, I was having buyer's remorse because they were $120!!  Almost didn't wear them and thought about taking them back, but I was tired of being in pain after every long ride, so I decided to give them a try.  After Sunday's 54 mile ride, they were worth every penny!  LOVE THEM!   I wasn't in any pain at all!  After checking the internet though to get some pics to post here, I found a couple of sites that have them for a lot cheaper since they are last year's model:  Triathlete Sports, TriVillage.com, and MyCyclingGear.  You can also get the specs at one of those links if you're interested.  Looks like the updated model might be the Alveo 3K in case you're interested.