TriSwim, Running Hot, and Sharpie is gone...

As with most triathletes, we are either kicking off the training season or are in full training mode already as we get ready for those key early season races like Rev3 Knoxville.  We are all swimming in public pools unless you are luck enough to have your own 25 meter lap pool in your backyard (if so can you be my neighbor?) which means some annoying lane hogs (doing thier 2 minute 25m quasi breast stroke), old school speedo violations (breaking the laws of physics) and high levels of chlorine blessing us with that wonderful aromatic chlorine smell.   So when I started using my new SBR Sports TriSwim I was very excited on how well it worked.  The products eliminated the smell that says "Yes I swam at lunch today!" which is a wonderfull thing.  Check these products out if you have not done so already.. now if they could only come up with something to get rid of the old school speedo violations! Please?! 

So my training has been going well until I hit small bump in the road - named sickness.. caught whatever was being passed around here for a couple days.. which as nomral I refused to let my mind think I was sick.. it was not until mile 2 of Sunday's 1/2 marathon did I realize that holy crap I am sick, I can't respond to the recent pack surge, and this is going to hurt more than I was planning.  I mentally made the decision to push what I can and see where the chips fell but with low mental and physical energy it was tough.. I had to revise my goal from being top 5 to finishing under 1:29 and boy was that a struggle to hit that.. I made it across the line in 1:28, dehydrate, coughing, and not very energentic.  So I tried to eat some food, down some caffiene, and headed home for a nap... Little did I know the next morning I would feel like I had been ran over by a truck.. legs hurt, back hurt, arms hurt.. but dragged myself out of bed to ride a reduced time of 2.5 hours and climbed a little over 4000 feet.. afterwards the legs felt ok and I could atleast touch my toes.. but the energy was hit or miss.. time I felt the killer instinct and times I felt the can I fall back to sleep..   I feel better now and almost back to normal energy.  I am happy that I mentally stayed with it even though the body was saying no.. I tempered the stratagies and plans but it would have been so easy to say "I am done!"

So the last note is that my training partner, Sharpie, decided to head back north to remember what it was like to see snow, freezing temps, and ride the trainer.  Carole will be missed  y the Racelab group as we ride in ths beautiful weather but we were fortunate to have her around and look for her to return like the wind..
Happy training,

Andy

February training, my new Saucony shoes, and some new partners...

February training is going well out here in the nice Arizona weather... the Racelab team I train with has been very fortunate to have Trakkers' infamous Carole Sharpless out here for a while.. she is our new honorary Racelab member.. the team has been training well and pushing me hard as I work to get ready for an upcoming race in St George.. then time to focus on the Rev3 races..

My new saucony shoes came in the mail - the Saucony Tangent 4 and have done some great runs in them including a hard fast track workout last night as I get ready for my 4 hour mountainous ride saturday and my 1/2 marathon race sunday (crazy I know).. The shoes are awesome - they are comfortable and needed no break in time. If you need a good pair of light training shoes these are definitely ones to try out...

Also I wanted to send some notes out about some new sponsors/partners of racelab .. Michelob Ultra, Bareskin, Towels, Max Muscle Scottsdale, and the Ron Pina Agency of Farmers Insurance -.. check these guys out.. I will be sending more info on them later about the great products & services they offer...

Now it is time to go swim and work on getting those gills...

Andy