10,000 Hours

My husband and I usually do double workouts at least twice a week, usually Wednesdays and Saturdays. Wednesday I met him at the gym at noon and did a warm up on the spin bike and then hit the weights - upper body.

Later that day, I decided that instead of driving from our house to our other gym (we are members of two different gyms - sad, but true. We are fanatics) for the second workout, I would run the 5 to 6 miles and then do core and squats. It was an awesome workout day. I need more of them! It's the way I use to always train.

The good thing about living in the St. Petersburg area is there are sidewalks, bike lanes and trails everywhere. I didn't have to run directly on busy roads although I did have to cross several which can get dicey with all the 80 year old drivers around here. I made it to the gym in 55 minutes, which gave me over an hour of cardio for the day. This use to be my standard, but the past six months it's been more like 20 - 30 minutes/day of cardio.

I did squats when I got to the gym, just to finish my legs off and make sure I wouldn't be able to walk for a few days and then core and stretched. My husband was nice enough to drive me home so I didn't have to run the 6 miles back.

My legs were not sore at all the next day and that surprised me. I did some pretty intense squats. I think that doing more weights all winter and increasing the reps and the amount of weight has paid off. I hope it shows during triathlon season. My first triathlon is at the end of this month and I haven't been on my tri bike or in the pool yet. 

Last year, all the strength training I did got me through the short sprint races without too much pain despite my lack of time on the bike or in the pool. All the work I did in the gym everyday seemed sufficient. I realize I wouldn't be able to do that in a longer race that requires more endurance. I would have to put in the training time to make it through one of those longer races fairly pain free. As if that's even possible!

But what's a little pain. After all "Pain is just weakness leaving the body, " right?

I admit that I am a little nervous because my first official race of the season is coming up at the end of this month and I've spent way more time reading and working on my writing than swimming and biking. I believe in the 10,000 hour rule that was introduced in the book "Outliers" by Malcolm Gladwell that says it takes at least 10,000 of doing something before you get proficient at it. Over the past 17 years I've put the 10,000 hours into swimming, biking, running and racing and now it's time to put the 10,000 hour rule to work in my writing.

The 10,000 hour rule not only means putting in the time, but it takes more than that as you can read about in this article HERE   that states not only do you have to put in the time, but you have to put in quality time as well.

Many years ago when I started biking I joined a local bike club. This got me not only riding longer, building up to Century rides, but also riding faster because I didn't want to get dropped out in no man's land and have to find my way home all alone.

When I started running, I ran with people who were a little faster than me so it forced me to go faster. Then when it came time to train for marathons, I had a small group to run and socialize with which made the time go by faster.

After learning the basics of the freestyle on my own and building up a small base, I started swimming with a masters group to help get my technique better and also get faster, since I think some of the people I was swimming with were part fish.

Recently, I started taking online writing classes to help me write better. I've also been reading a lot about writing and reading authors who write in the genres I'm interested in writing. I'm no where near the required 10.000 hours, I estimate that will take me about 7 years, but I've made the commitment and I'm on my way.

 I consider my blog writing as part of the 10,000 hours and I've been blogging for almost 3 years.

Have you used the 10,000 hour rule in your life and if so, what have you become more proficient in because of your commitment and time?

Bad Timing Tropical Storm Karen! Bad Timing!

I'm sad.

My triathlon training and racing that started out so well in the spring and was suppose to end with a bang this fall with me doing a half ironman and a marathon, has ended with a fizzle. And a drizzle.

I blame it all on Tropical Storm Karen because I can't blame it on the Murph. He reads my blog and I would NEVER hear the end of it!

First of all, remember I was suppose to race in the USAT Nationals in August, but gave up my spot because we had a family situation and a sick cat. That was fine, but because I couldn't race Nationals, the Murph said it was okay for me to sign up for Miami 70.3 which is this October 27.

I signed up.

Then a few weeks ago, the Murph accepted a new job offer in the St Pete/Tampa area (which is great!), so we are moving around the first of November, which means I won't be able to do Miami. We will be busy packing up the house in Birmingham. I also won't be able to run in the Pensacola half marathon November 10 since we will be moved to Tampa.

Little L was coming down from Birmingham to do the marathon and we were going to run some of it together.

Not now. She'll be running it, but not me. This makes me sad!

Even though I am sad, all that was sort of okay because I was still going to be able to do one of my favorite triathlons this weekend, the Santa Rosa Island triathlon, which is a sprint triathlon in Pensacola Beach, Florida. It is a 600 yd swim, 18 mile bike, and 3 mile run. I rock sprints and love racing on the beach so I was excited. It was going to be my last race of the season.

But then came Tropical Storm Karen. She's heading toward the Mobile/Pensacola area so the Santa Rosa triathlon was canceled.  It was the right thing to do because you can't have over 1,000 triathletes hanging out on the beach with a tropical storm/hurricane bearing down. We're just crazy enough to jump in and start swimming if some sane person doesn't step up and cancel the event so we don't hurt ourselves.

Right now it looks like it will be Sunday before we see the worst of TS  Karen, but who knows. The race is canceled. That is final!

It's beautiful out there at the beach right now even though the surf is rough. Red flag.

So my racing season ends.

No favorite sprint race.
No USAT Nationals
No half ironman
No Pensacola half marathon
No fall marathon (Probably)

To cheer myself up (and since I don't have to get up to at 5am to head to the race), I am going out tonight to get some of these ....

And maybe some of these...

That should cheer me up. If you follow me on Instagram or Twitter, you may even see on the spot pictures.

After a few of those it won't even matter that when I asked the Murph what our hurricane preparedness plan was his response was, "What hurricane preparedness plan?"

I Confess - I Turned The Alarm Off And Went Back To Bed (And Other Important Things)

What a week! I don't even know where to begin. The Murph's job offer in St. Pete? The Boy's eviction notice from his college apartment? Phantom, the cat's, bad, good, trying to get him to eat, drink and take his pills and supplement days? My half ironman training (that's not) days?

The 15 hours of continuing education real estate license classes I have to take so I can activate my Alabama license, so I can then get a reciprocal Florida real estate license without having to take the 60 hour pre-license class again. Searching online for a place to live in the Tampa/St. Pete area before we head back down there in a couple of weeks so we can see them in person.

That doesn't include all that's coming up next week. We are going back to Birmingham to clean out and pack up the house and then turn it over to a Birmingham realtor to sell for us. Hopefully, she will sell it quicker than we were able too. Being there to show it is key. That's hard to do when you're 4 hours away like we are. We weren't all that concerned about it until we discovered we were moving several more hours away. Any way, that's all next week.

This past week the Boy, who has Asperger's, called me from college while we were still in St. Pete saying he got an eviction notice from his apartment. This is after the fact that the Boy had gone down to the office several times to get this vendor form filled out for Alabama Rehab. AL Rehab has to have the form before they can pay the apartment complex. The Boy is eligible for a part of his rent to be paid by Alabama Rehab. Without their help, the Boy can't afford to live there. There have been a series of phone calls, emails from the Boy, me and Alabama Rehab to the apartment complex, but nothing has been done. I even called the corporate office and the Boy has been to the apartment office several times. Despite all of this, since rent is past due because the form hasn't been filled out, the Boy got an eviction notice.

This has FINALLY been straightened out (I think) so the Boy's okay for now. His classes were dropped also, when his financial aid wasn't applied to his account because of me. That was back a few weeks ago when I didn't know the difference between an income tax return and a transcript. This was taken care of as well so he's okay there too. Finally!

The Murph accepted the job offer and we are still waiting for everything to be finalized. We should know something this week. We already have a realtor trying to help us find a place to rent in Tampa/St.  Pete and I've been looking online. What a headache!

Me and Miss Mary

Phantom is doing pretty well. We had dinner with Miss Mary, an energy healer, who has been helping Phantom, last night. She's been sending Phantom healing energy and giving me other suggestions for him. She thinks he might be dehydrated. He was drinking tons of water when we were in St. Pete and not so much now that we are back in Pensacola. If you want to keep up with how he's doing he has his own facebook page here and blog here.

The Murph and Miss Mary

I had to upgrade my computer system so I could take the online CE Real Estate classes. That was a pain since I thought I could do it myself and wasted several hours attempting it. Who knows what all I've downloaded on this thing now. I have a dinosaur of a computer! I've only gotten halfway through the first risk management class and have 5 classes (15 hours) total that I have to take. Boring!

Half Ironman training? Well, uh, yes, I'm sucking at it! I haven't swam in a couple of weeks or been on my tri bike. I've been indoor cycling, weights and lots of running, but shorter runs of between 3 - 9 miles. Okay, mostly just 3 miles.

Sunday was the Trigulfcoast's club members only practice triathlon for the Santa Rosa Island Sprint that is coming up in a couple of weeks. I was signed up to do the practice race which was going to be officially timed with a chip and everything. It would have been a great practice race and good overall brick workout. The night before I pumped up my bike tires, set my tri clothing out and packed all my gear into my transition bag. I set the alarm on my IPhone for 5:30 a.m and was all set to go!

My alarm went off at 5:30 a.m. just as scheduled. It was still dark outside at 5:30 a.m. That totally sucks because I terribly dislike getting up when it's still dark outside knowing that I have to swim. In the ocean!!

I got up, turned my alarm off, fed a snack to two of our curious, demanding cats, who were probably wondering what the crap I was doing, then I crawled back into my nice warm bed between my sexy husband (he has incredible body heat at 5:30 a.m) and our other four legged furry kitty, Ed, who likes sleeping on my side of the bed.

A few hours later, the Murph woke up, looked over at my sorry sleeping ass, laughed and asked me how I did on the race.

I told him it was an incredibly tough race! I had to stumble 10 feet to turn my alarm off, followed by a couple of hours of some marathon sleeping. It was grueling, just grueling! I even shortened my Sunday long run because of how exhausted It was from getting up at 5:30 a.m.

And did I feel guilty about being a no show?

Heck no!

Falling A Little Behind Again On Training, But Not Too Bad

My weekly comparison of my half ironman training is below. The column to the left is what the plan says to do and the column to the right is what I actually did last week. Not as good as the week before but not too terrible either.

  The 70.3 Plan                                                              What I actually did that day

Monday           1250 yd swim                                          1250 yd swim

                         25 mile bike                                             22 mile bike

Tuesday           2000 yd swim                                          6 miles spin bike

                          60 min run                                               30 min run = 3 miles

Wednesday      30 mile bike                                             2 miles run aprox 20 minutes

                                                                                       

Thursday         1500 yd swim                                          8.5 miles on spin bike aprox 30 min                             

                          50 min run                                               5 mile = 50 min run

Friday               20 miles                                                  8 miles spin bike = 30 min

Saturday           80 min run                                              16 mile spin bike = 1 hour
                                                                                           30 min run = 3 miles

Sunday             50 mile bike                                             1 hour 40 min run = 9 miles

I did core, about 20 minutes last week and weights, about 1 hour which is not included on the 70.3 plan.

Total workout hours on plan = Swim           5750 yds aprox 3 hrs 

                                                   Bike             125 miles aprox 6 - 7 hours

                                                   Run              3 hrs (no mileage included in plan on minutes run)

                                                     Total aprox 12.5 hours

Total I actually did last week = Swim             1250 yds aprox 30 min

                                                   Bike               60.5 miles aprox. 4 hours

                                                   Run                20 miles aprox 3 hrs 30 min

With weights and core added. 

                                                     Total aprox  10 hrs

As usual I am way behind on swimming, a little ahead on running and somewhat behind on the bike, but not too terribly behind. I really need to get a 50 plus bike ride in and a 2500 yd swim in soon and continue with my regular training. I think I'll be okay if I can do that. Especially if I continue to increase my long runs in preparation for the November marathon I plan to do.

This Is Why I Need To Start Swim Training Again - Portofino Sunset Triathlon

I just finished triathlon number four of my racing season. This one was another Portofino Sunset Super Sprint triathlon. This was race number 8 in the 9 race series. You may remember I did race number 3 (or 4) on my birthday in May (Here).

These super short, fast races are perfect for a first time triathlete or for anyone who wants a great sprint workout or practice on transition skills.

I was hoping to finish in under 40 minutes, but that just wasn't going to happen today despite the absolute perfect weather. I must have gotten use to the heat and humidity because I didn't even notice it this evening.

The race is a 300 yard swim in the Santa Rosa sound behind Portofino Island  Resort, then a 7.5 mile bike ride followed by a 1.5 mile run. Below is Coach John from Team MPI telling everyone about the course. Know the course! He also had just told me I needed to get the Murph out of the transition area. Only registered racers are allowed in the transition area, even in small races like this one.

The Murph, being my number one athletic supporter, staff photographer, among other things which may or may not have to do with triathlons, was there taking pictures. He then turned around and took one of the coach. He took all these pictures and in between my swim and my bike, got a little work out in himself before taking the rest of the pictures at the finish.

Here are all the racers heading to the swim portion of the race. This race was full with 60 triathletes in all. The races in this series can have anywhere from 25 to 60 triathletes. The one I did in May had around 45 or so.

The racers were divided by race number. Race number 1 thru 30 started the swim first and then the rest of the numbers started a few seconds behind. (not sure how many seconds)

And we're off! The water was perfect. Not too hot, not too cold. It can never be too hot for me, but I can't stand the cold! What I don't understand is where the stink comes from. Every time I swim in the sound I smell awful and can't get the smell out of my hair despite the expensive shampoo I use even though the Murph doesn't understand why I don't use drug store brand shampoos.

Expensive shampoo or not, it doesn't get that stink out! What is it? Fish poop? As a triathlete, I have done many swims in fish or duck poop. It never stops me from doing a race. It's just what we do.

Swim done. Running to the transition area to hop on the bike.

And look! I got a weird, alien Louis Garneau bike helmet and I'm all aero and stuff now! The photo is a little blurry because I'm going really, really fast. Probably.

I looked a little like a golf ball head from the front and the back was pointy. This pointy look makes you go faster on the bike. Yes, yes it does!

If you've actually done your bike training that is.

My finish time was 15 seconds SLOWER than my finish time the last time I did this race in May despite using my race wheels and my new aero helmet. My bike split was faster though and I could really tell the difference with the race wheels, especially going into the head wind. I'm sure my new helmet helped me slice through the wind too. I must have been slower in the the swim or the run or both.

Probably both.

I haven't been swimming much at all and even though I run a lot, I haven't done any fast runs only slower average or long runs. My asthma has been acting up, but I'm not using that as an excuse.

I only have myself to blame. Somehow I have to convince my stubborn brain that I NEED to get into consistent swim training again. I lost a lot of time on the swim portion of the race. My fault, I know.

I suck at swim training!

On a more positive note, I got a pedicure today and my toes looked great! They are a little sandy in this picture, but the color still pops! I switched from China Glaze Pool Party, which is a more coral- pink color, back to China Glaze Pink Voltage.

Never underestimate the importance of a good pedicure for triathletes who still have their toenails.

Even though I didn't reach my goal time, I still had fun and that's the most important thing.

I Feel Way Better About My Half Ironman Training Now!

First of all I just wanted to say that I volunteered again for the Portofino Sunset Triathlon series race number 6 or 7 or something like that and guess what?

That's right! I directed traffic again wearing the super sharp, orange vest, although this time I didn't get a flag and I was at a different traffic stop (See the orange fashion statements Here). This time I was at the main entrance with three other volunteers, where the bikers were coming out of the resort from the transition area and then coming back in as they finished the 7.5 mile ride.

After making sure the cars all stopped when the bikers came out and then waving the bikers back in, I had to make sure the runners stayed on the sidewalk. You would think stopping the traffic would be harder than merely directing runners to stay on the sidewalk, but no. By the time the racers got off their bikes in the heat and humidity, some of them were a little delirious, I guess, and they were trying to go everywhere but stay on the correct sidewalk. It didn't even matter that I was wearing the bright orange vest!

My spot directing traffic/bikers and runners

It just so happened that one runner got past me and ended up on the road and had to be directed back to the sidewalk. The Murph witnessed this and shook his head at me like it was all my fault I let the delirious, sweaty racer get past me.

What? I TOLD him to stay on the sidewalk. I even pointed down the sidewalk in the direction he was suppose to go. Was this my fault?

Hey, I didn't even have a flag!

Besides, one of the volunteer coordinators congratulated me and gave me a high five after the race telling me what a great job I did. Of course, he was the one who totally stuck me and a couple of others out there until the last runner came through.  It's funny how even the most delirious, heat exhausted ones had no problem at all knowing which way the finish line was! Amazing what the promise of vodka shooters will do. (and that was a lie because there was no alcohol at the finish line - sorry!)

I  know that feeling of getting to the finish line! Sweet! Sweaty and sweet!

I sort of like the power that comes with directing traffic. This kind of power could go to my head. All the vacationers really appreciated my help crossing the road too as they made their way back to their condo at the end of a beach day. It's been a lot of fun volunteering and the racers are great and appreciative, which makes it totally worth it, but next time I'm racing, not volunteering!

Not bad when you are looking across the road at this as you're volunteering!

Once again I decided to compare what I should have done according the training plan this week with what I actually did. First, let me start by saying I haven't been getting much sleep lately which has directly impacted the intensity of my training. Second, I've had to go back to inhaling my steroid meds because of my asthma and trouble breathing. Third, my weird vertigo/motion sickness, whatever it was the other day decided to linger around and screw me over.

So there are the excuses and there's more of them where those came from! See...

image from showmestrenght.com

Here's what the comparison looked like and I had to estimate how long it would take me to bike the number of miles that is on the plan since it goes by miles, estimate how long it would take me to swim the number of yards on the swim, and estimate the number of miles on the run since the plan goes by number of minutes run, not miles. It's all way too confusing which is probably why I stick with my own plan or lack of plan. Whatever, here's what it looks like....

                    The Training Plan                                            What I Actually Did

              Yds/Miles                Time                                     Yds/Miles                 Time

 Swim     3500 yds                 1 hr 45 min                             BIG FAT '0'              '0'

 Bike       80 miles                   5 hrs                                         49 miles                  3 hrs

 Run       14-15 miles             2 hrs 25 min                             14 miles                  2 hrs 30 min

Total Overall Times:          9 hrs 10 min                                                            5 hrs 30 min

So not surprising I am way behind on swimming, half-way there on biking and right on target in running. While it seems like I'm way behind in overall training time, if you add the strength training (weights), core training, stretching and time on the elliptical I did for the week, it brings my overall workout time to 9 hrs and 22 min. This is clearly more than the training plans 9 hrs and 10 min, although not by much. I  would say according to this comparison, I am not as behind as I think I am. I have plenty of time to make up the swim and bike hours before October. No worries!

I think this training plan seriously lacks in core and strength training anyway. Although I think it does say somewhere on there that you should do strength training at least twice a week for an hour. That would make the training plans overall time 11 hrs and 10 min. Hmmm...

I'm still going to remain positive. I mean it's not like I haven't had painful races before when I didn't put all the training hours in that was suppose too. Two races to be exact and I finished both of them swearing I would never do another race without proper training ever again. They were the slowest races I've ever done, as well as the most painful. Being slower, I had a lot more time on the course feeling the pain.

My motto is: "It's all mind over matter.  If you don't mind, it don't matter!"

I think I better get to work!

Image from graphics99.com

It Was The Fashionable Bright Orange Vests - Portofino Sunset Tri

Me volunteering at the Portofino Sunset Triathlon Series

Last month on my birthday I raced in one of the Portofino Sunset Series Triathlon here on Pensacola Beach (here). It is a super sprint triathlon meaning it is very short and fast and great for both beginners and experienced triathletes. It's great for beginner triathletes because of the short distance and a great fast, sprint workout for more experienced triathletes.

Yesterday evening was another race in the Sunset Series put on by Team MPI. Since I just joined Team MPI a few weeks ago I decided that I would volunteer for some of the races and give back to the sport so to speak. When I told my husband I was signing up to volunteer, he laughed and said, "Well, as long as they don't have you directing traffic or bikes you should be okay!"

Transition area - Portofino Sunset Series Triathlon

I agreed. Me directing traffic would probably not be a good idea. There might be some bike incidents if that happened. I probably shouldn't body mark either although it would be fun to mark on people with a  big, black waterproof marker. My handwriting would most likely be illegible. With my numbers written all over the racers, the Race Directors/MPI coaches wouldn't know who the heck was coming across the finish line.

Body marking would be fun though!

I signed up to volunteer online the day of the race and when I went to the race site to check in, my husbands worst nightmare came true. I was told I would be at the first bike turnaround directing traffic about 2 or 3 miles down the road with another girl, S.

Portofino Sunset Series Tri

We got bright orange vests to wear and some orange flags to wave at the bikers and the cars. The Murph laughed when he saw me and took some pictures. "At least you get flags!" he said. "And hot orange vests!" he said.

Yes, that!

I told him to take a picture of me and S. I don't really think she wanted a picture taken of her in the bright orange vest but she laughed and let him take the picture. Then we drove to our spot in the middle of the road, just the two of us, and waited for the bikes to come.

It turned out to be really fun when I got over the fear of being run over part. I think we got all bikers flagged down and turned around and all the cars stopped at the right time. My job was to flag the bikes down and yell, "Bike Turnaround!" while S stopped traffic.

A reassuring sign from God that we would stop all traffic for the bikers?

 I was truly amazed that all the cars stopped appropriately (well, except for one) and all the bikers made the U turn (except maybe a couple, but I'm not sure if they were part of the race).

It was those bright orange vests that did it. And the flags. And maybe that rainbow that appeared right before the race. The bikers were looking for us and we were easy to see. The cars didn't know what the heck we were doing out there, but we had those bright orange vests on so they stopped. And flags!

But mostly the fashionable orange vests are what stopped traffic. We looked very official!

Bike turnaround #1 at Portofino Sunset Series Tri

Perfectly orchestrated bike turnaround thanks to my flag waving techniques.

S stopping traffic with perfection and her own flag waving techniques.

S and I got all the bikes turned around and then headed back to the finish line. All bikers and the two of us still intact. There are still several more races left in the series. One is an all woman race and one is a relay race both in August and two are regular races like this one and the one I did in May.

Next time I'll probably be body marking...

The Best Way To Recover - Beach Time!

I've spent a lot of time here with my toes in the sand the past two days recovering from the triathlons I did Thursday and Saturday. Sure they were short, but I raced them as hard as I could as that was the plan to see where I am in my training, what I need to work on, etc (which is swimming and biking.) and I was a little sore.

Also, my asthma was acting up and I had some trouble breathing. The race Thursday I was really having a hard time breathing even though I had done my inhaler before the race. Saturday it wasn't as bad, but my throat and lungs were sore from the breathing struggle on Thursday. I was very surprised because I haven't had a problem in a long time. I'm thinking it may be the humidity causing it.

After the race on Saturday, I went to the gym and did some time on the spin bike and did upper body weights and on Sunday I did lower body weights, but no long run. Monday I actually swam in the ocean for a few minutes until my imagination started working over time and I imagined big, menacing fish with large teeth sneaking up behind me.

Totally creeps me out!

I don't know how to work through that fear. I never think about it during a race since there are so many people in the water with me. Okay, maybe I do think about it a little, but it doesn't stop me or creep me out or anything and during Ironman Florida and Gulf Coast half we swam straight out about 1/2 mile into the ocean and back. Once during Gulf Coast I tried new goggles during race day and they kept filling up with water and I couldn't see a thing. I totally got off course and didn't know where I was or which way to go and had to keep stopping to pour the water out of my goggles and try to spot a buoy and get back on course.

Now THAT was creepy!!

Anyway, Monday I swam. For about 5 minutes. In the ocean. Hey, you have to start somewhere!

I also did upper body weights, the elliptical and a mile 1/2 run. My legs felt tight, but I'm hoping by Wednesday they will be back to normal for my next run. Tuesdays for me are biking days.

The cats have settled in nicely and are getting along somewhat despite all the Murph's worries. I reasurred him that I had a plan and it is working. Phantom the bad cat has his "territory" in the guest bedroom. This is where his litter box is and where he gets fed and sleeps. We close him in there at night and when we leave the condo.

Ed and Cadence have their own litter box in the half bathroom and get fed in the kitchen. They can go anywhere in the condo except Phantom's room. Cadence can go in there sometimes if Phantom allows it, but it's not a good idea for Ed to go in there. That would be kitty suicide!

Their nightly routine is chilling out to some nice jazz. Last night I got this video of their typical evening.

We'll probably have to take Phantom with us when we go back to Birmingham for a few days. He has to have heart meds everyday and the Boy has started his summer "job". He was one of the few computer students who was selected to help some professors with a research project this summer. It is such an honor for him and he is so excited. He gets so focused on these things that I'm afraid Phantom might get neglected and his meds forgotten.

The Boy did a really great job taking care of him a couple of weeks ago when we went to Birmingham to get the other two cats and more stuff, but he was finished with classes and not working yet. Now I think the cat would be too much so he'll have to go with us. He's a pretty good traveler when he's in the cat carrier and not lowering windows with his paw.

Besides he'll get his jazz fix all the way back.

Two Triathlons And A Birthday

This week I raced in two short sprint triathlons and celebrated my "25th" birthday. Okay, well maybe double that number and subtract two to get my real age, but what's a number, right? I feel better and am stronger now than I ever was in my twenties.

Let me tell you I had the best birthday I've ever had and I mean EVER! How could it not be good when I'm at the beach with my wonderful husband, all my cats, on a gorgeous day, racing in a triathlon and eating cake afterward.

Perfect! 

On Thursday evening I raced in the Portofino Sunset Series triathlon and this morning I raced in the Pensacola Beach triathlon. Both races are sprints meaning short and fast as opposed to long and slower.

Portofino Sunset Series Triathlon - Thursday Evening

Team MPI, a multisport coaching organization, puts on a series of super short sprint races at Portofino Island Resort in Pensacola Beach. They do around 6 to 8 of these from April until August or September. The maximum number of participants is around 60, but there were only about 25 of us last Thursday.

It is a perfect race for beginners who have never done a triathlon or for racers looking for a fast workout. The swim is 300 yds in the Santa Rosa Sound, 7.5 mile bike ride and 1.5 mile run. All fast and flat. It was a lot of fun. I did the race as my cardio for the day instead of my usual "brick" indoor workout at the gym.

It's time to get outside now!

After the race, the Murph and I had dinner and then birthday cake. The Murph told me he wasn't going to eat any of it but changed his mind after he saw me shoveling spoonfuls of it in my mouth. We got the cake at Walmart during our grocery shopping expedition and he was telling the cashier that it was a "one person cake".  I thought he meant me since I was the only one who was going to eat it, but now I'm not so sure who that "one person" was since he was the one who finished it off the other day before I could get another piece of it!

He even ate the other rose! This size cake clearly isn't big enough for the Murph and I.

 Pensacola Beach Triathlon - Saturday morning

This morning I raced in the Pensacola Beach triathlon which was much bigger, but also great for beginners since the swim is only 400 yds and was also in the Santa Rosa Sound behind the restaurant, Flounders instead of being in ocean waters which can sometimes be a little rough.

Transition area for the bikes was across the street from Flounders in the Casino Beach parking lot. The bike was 10 miles heading east going a little past Portofino Island Resort and back. The run was a little over 3 miles.

Pictures in the transition area.

Pictures behind Flounders Restaurant.

The run from Flounders back across the street to Casino Beach was a little tricky since I was running barefoot. I noticed when I got out of the water that the smart people had left flip flops over there to run back in. Oh well, they might not have stumped a toe, but I'm pretty sure it slowed them down!

I'm fumbling around in transition trying to get my running shoes on. I need to work on this!

I placed second in my age group. See the first place finisher in the middle? She looks fast! Four minutes faster than me! She did the race in less than an hour. No way could I have done that at this point. It's too early in training for me!

Overall, I was very happy with my times in both races especially considering my lack of swim training and time on my tri bike.

Right now I'm tired, happy and a year older!