where have i been!?!

holy crap my life has been nutty lately. ive been working my butt off training for the ironman. so here is some random stuff about what ive been up to.

the family is out of town visiting grandma so i have a much too quiet house to myself. i couldnt go because of work. i miss them.

today i did my 3rd olympic tri of the season. it was the st paul tri at lake phalen just a few miles from my house. since my family isnt here i decided to bike to the race. ive never been able to do that before! i loaded up everything into a backpack and headed out the door. its hard to wear an aerohelmet with a backpack. from my door to transition was less than 15 minutes. i got a sweet spot and then found my ironman training buddy jason.

he is going for his first attempt this year in madison! go jason!


i was in the first wave and was excited about that. i ended up getting hit right on the shoulderblade within the first 5 seconds and it hurt! it spasamed the whole race. my swim time was the slowest of the year. 4 minutes slower than i usually am at that distance! slower than last years ironman pace! ouch! i had to keep sitting up on the bike because my shoulder made it hard to stay aero but i still managed 21.9 mph average. not super fast but respectable. then i kept a steady pace on the run without pushing very hard but ended up with a 7:45 average. my finishing time was 2:29:30. not too bad for no real speed work and no taper. the reason i held back was because this race was just the start of my workout today. i rode home, ate a quick lunch and let the dog out, then headed out the door for a 90 mile ride. ouch. so i ended the day with 120 miles of biking, 10k of running and 1.5 k of swimming. then i sat on the couch and promptly fell asleep!

after a short nap and shower i ate and sat down at the computer to check out movies on netflix. i browsed aimlessly and managed to find a movie ive never heard of called challenge of a lifetime. i cant believe ive never heard of this movie before! its about a divorded mom who struggles with depression and ends up training for the ironman to get over it. it was made in the 80's and it kicks ass! its even got a cameo of dave scott and mark spitz. its interspersed with actual ironman footage. its available as a streaming movie on netflix until the end of the month so check it out! to tell you the truth i got a bit misty eyed at the swim start but i always do!

two days ago louis garneau sent me some sweet shoes! woo hoo! being associated with a bike shop/team has its benefits!

yes its a stock photo because im lazy. but they are super snazzy and i love them! they are the carbon hrs model. today was my first time riding in them. yes i used shoes for the first time in a race because im a rebel. i also once bought brand new brooks shoes that i had never tried before the day before a marathon. i dont seem to have a problem with using new stuff on race day. unless its food then its probably going to come back out and whichever end is anyones guess! eewww.

im tired so its off to bed. im going back to school to start a new career and have class tomorrow. it should be fun. yay first day of school!

p.s. holy crap the ironman is in 3 weeks!