Always fun in St. Auggie!

This weekend, Abby and I went to visit my sister, Laura and her husband, James and my nephew, Finn in St. Augustine. Finn just turned 2 this Thanksgiving and he is so much fun to play with. Definitely need to make more trips to St. Auggie so I don't get the evil eye from Finn. If you want to see Finn in action. Check out this video from last night. Finn doing intervals.

Anyways, the trip was also filled with some great training. Road a total of 120 miles for the weekend, which included a 80 miler on Sunday. I had no clue where I was going. I was just following the group and ended up in Ponte Vedra. We went everywhere! Way out west towards the river and then all the way back to the Atlantic! 80 miles has been the most I have ridden in a probably a year and a half. I need it though! My bike is goal number one over the off season - ride, lift, and ride some more. But I can never forget to get a jog in St. Augustine. I just love running there. Going downtown towards the fort and going over the Bridge of Lions towards the park. Just awesome! This a great way to start my two weeks of epic training. No school = heavy legs!

A trip to St. Augustine is never complete without going to dinner downtown. Laura and James took us to the Floridian which was just amazing! I love the outside seating in the back and the shrimp n' grits was awesome. Of course, we ended up at JP Henley's for a beer and had the Rough black IPA.

Hope everyone is enjoying the holiday's! Only a few more days till Christmas.

Off season...what off season

A lot of reflection this weekend from the past season and to the future. Two reasons for this: 1) watching NBC's airing of the 2011 Ironman World Championship 2) the Sarasota Storm Tri Club's end of the year celebration.

Watching the Ironman is emotional for any triathlete. Watching so many people pulling every ounce of strength to complete their goals and becoming something bigger then themselves. So much motivation, so much inspiration...

At the club's celebration, I was awarded the 2011 Triathlete of the Year! Such an honor to be recognized by my peers.

I had a breakthrough year. I'm so blessed to be supported by the wife, Abby! She believes in me through ever thing. She is there during my victories, but more importantly she is there during my lows. All I could think about last night was how lucky I am.

Well I guess I should get back to the main topic of "off season." My usual year would go like this...run, run, run, run some more then dust off the bike around March or so then work into tri season until October and then go back and run. This year I'm deciding to forgo my first love of hitting the pavement and focus on becoming a better triathlete not a better runner. I decided to focus on becoming a better cyclist therefore bought a road bike and started lifting specific cycling muscles. Decided to become a better overall swimmer therefore working on I.M. work in pool...aka more pain from coach Agnese (oh...check out Steve and Agnese's website Triathlon Rocks). Two things to get from Triathlon Rocks: 1) "I pee on my bike" shirt 2) lat cords. Both will change your life.

I feel this will make me more competitive and faster in triathlons. Will this hurt my run? Only one way to find out, but from previous years; I have been able to peek on the run in 6-8 weeks. So anyways...focus on Eagleman 70.3 and Kona qualification.

No off season this weekend...Saturday was filled with 6 mile run with hills at tempo pace plus lifting and Sunday was the longest ride since 70.3 Worlds at 50 miles with 7x10 min power intervals and a coaching session with Agnese to focus on back and fly strokes. So much props for those butterfly swimmers.

Good luck to everyone in their training and reaching your goals.

2012 Race Schedule...I think

I pretty much figured out my 1st half of my race schedule...the second half gets a little hairy depending on my performance the Eagleman 70.3 in June. But here it goes...

January

- Ringling Bridge run (SHS XC has a team...watch out team New Balance)

February

- Chilly Willy Duathlon at Ft. Desoto

- Rock n' Roll Half Marathon in St. Petersburg

- Scrub Jay 10K in Sarasota

March

- Gate River 15K run in Jacksonville (Great post-race...fast course)

- Clermont Olympic (getting ready for Rev3 Knoxville)

April

- Escape from Ft. Desoto (not totally sure on this one) Fun course but might have to be a wicked training week

- No Boston Marathon (decided to focus on my weakness this off season and leave my marathon to another year)

May

- Rev3 Knoxville Half [1st Rev3 ever! Super psyched!]

June

- Eagleman 70.3 in Cambridge, MD [Kona qualifier...need top 2!! This is why I'm doing heavy bike and swim training! This is my race of the year...let's do this!]

So, everything after June really depends on my success of Eagleman, but I'm definitely going to do Rev3 Portland (July 8), Rev3 Wisconsin Dells (August 12), and Rev3 Florida (October 27-28)

July

Rev3 Portland Half

August

Rev3 Wisconsin Dells Olympic

October

Kona?....hopefully

Rev3 Florida Half

More to come later for second half...

Any other recommendations?

I'm back!

Did my first "hard" run since my achilles inflamed about three weeks ago! Ran with my friend and fellow mix1 athlete Marco! 2 miles easy + 2 miles at tempo pace + 1 mile warm down. The tempo section felt amazing. Nothing spectacular but glad to be back. Plus I got the insight on the Benderson Park being constructed in North Sarasota. It's going to be amazing! Rowing, XC races, ITU races...infinite possibilities!

Weekend's WO

Got three rides in with my road bike this weekend! Feeling good...actually got in some 6x10 min 11 tooth intervals with 2 minute easy spin today! I got back into my run too...2 mile and 3 miler just for testing purposes. Achilles still felt a little tight, but no pain in the run. Still icing and limited running, but I'm hoping in a couple days to build up into 5-6 miles. Saturday evening was spent with Abby's parents up in Tampa...checked out New World Brewery pub (ah I missed you...haven't been there since college), Cigar City Brewery, and then of course Mellow Mushroom for some Kosmic Karma!! Good times! Now for a relaxing Sunday of Football and maybe a beach cruiser ride...