Double Whammy Morning Workout

Triathletes are no strangers to double workout days. I regularly have two double workout days scheduled per day and have been doing that for years.

Good morning, Sunshine!

Last Tuesday though, I did the double workout before going in for work and that was definitely a first.

Terry was already in the indoor pool.

Why would I do such a thing? Well, I had a fairly short run workout on tap with 5.5 minutes and a shorter than usual swim with 2,800 yards.... This should have been less than two hours worth of workouts and if I get up just 30 minutes earlier (4am), I am getting everything out of the way in the morning and can relax in the evening.



I picked the outdoor pool.


Both workouts ran a little over and I cut it very close with getting to work on time.

Nevertheless, it was worth getting it all out of the way in the morning, but dang it certainly caught up with me, when the alarm went off the next morning for a 6.5 mile run... Actually during Wednesday's run, I felt so miserable and tired that I was already plotting the plan of skipping my morning swim on Thursday, but an early night on Wednesday took care of that.

Bottom line, double whammy morning workouts are probably not going to become a stable in my workout schedule... I need my sleep!

Wild Flowers

 After struggling with the heat the day before, I decided to attack my long run early and by 6.15am I was on the bunny trail... ready to tackle the 9 miles on deck.

 The run was 3x 5K... One warm-up 5K, one build to race pace 5K and one medium paced 5K. The warm-up 5K felt very sluggish, but just in time for the build effort, things started to feel better, despite that it was already hot. Overall, I was very pleased with the run. So much better than the day before.

For the past couple of weeks, I have been running past these wild flowers along one section of the Swamp Rabbit Trail and never bothered to take pictures until Sunday... Would have been a shame to not get these shots before the flowers are all gone.

After the run, we headed straight to the Hincapie Warehouse sale... That little trip set me back in my new year's resolution quite a bit. I have no willpower when it comes to food and gear. On the other hand, I scored some awesome bike shorts for 10 bucks a piece... And a bunch of other stuff... I know, it's bad.

But that wasn't the end of Sunday yet. Our friend Cynthia invited us out to her boat house on Lake Lanier for a little open water swim. Originally, we were both supposed to swim, but Terry "forgot" his swim shorts and therefore, I was on my own... Well, not really, I had a boat escort and felt like a V.I.S. (very important swimmer).

From the Ocean to the Mountains

"If you're lucky enough to live in the mountains, you're lucky enough."

Last weekend was spend close to the ocean and this weekend, we decided to mix it up a bit an head to the mountains instead. Actually, we bought a LivingSocial deal for 2 nights at the Mountain Harbour Bed & Breakfast  in Roan Mountain TN.

Mountain Harbour B&B, Roan Mountain TN

Crossing a little creek to get to the B&B

We struck gold with that B&B. The setting is beautiful, the owner are super nice, the breakfast is seriously to die for and the homes a pretty and clean. The bonus of the place is, that it's popular with hikers, because it's so close to the Appalachian Trail and they also offer hostel accommodation. On both morning, we didn't only get really good food, but also great conversations with people hiking on the trail for a weekend trip or a several week long trip.

Since we were so close to the trail, we thought it was about time to finally hike a fraction of the trail.

Carvers Gap to Yellow Mountain Gap and back (10 mile round trip)

Start Point: Carvers Gap

From here to the B&B (US 19E) would have been just a little longer.

First unobstructed views were a little cloudy.

Trail is framed by rhododendron. In bloom in June.

First speck of sunlight on the mountain.

Hey there.

View from the turnaround point.

Quick break at the turnaround.

The day started out overcast and fairly cold. We decided to just hike out for 2.5 hours and then turn around. The picture above is at our turn around point, right after Yellow Mountain Gap. After that, the sun came out to play and warm us up. On top of it, the way back was more uphill and the way out, so that way we had to work a little harder too.

Sun came out to play after all.

Jane Bald

Trail snaking along the Grassy Ridge.

 Especially the views from "Jane Bald" and "Round Bald" were great on our way back, once the clouds had cleared a little.

We were really surprised by the amount of people on the trail. Sure, it was a weekend and the weather was nice and it's high season for through hikers right now, but I still just didn't expect so much traffic.

It was so much fun to discover a little of the A.T. and hopefully we'll be back to see some more soon.

The next morning, I headed out for a little out and back run from the B&B... To offset the breakfast, I was planning on eating! ;-)

After the run and the breakfast, we packed up and headed home... We still had one more item on tap.

Open Water Swim Time!!

Somebody looks excited! ;-)

Ready to head out.

The weather was beautiful and what better thing to do than cap of the weekend with a good open water swim?

I thought, I will just cruise along for a little swim, but my training buddy Stacy gave me a run for my money. I actually had to work. Stacy is doing her first Ironman in three weeks and girl got STRONG! Can't wait for her to put it all together on race day... She will do great.

Pushing

My mid week run was a track workout this week. Here are the instructions for the main set:

3K (7.5 laps) at half marathon pace (8:30)
400 easy
2K (5 laps) at 10K pace (8:10 or HR 170-172)
400 easy
1K (2.5 laps) at 5K pace (7:45-8:00 or HR 175)

When I first saw that my thoughts were: "In which universe is my half marathon pace an 8:30???" and "Can you give me directions to next wormhole???".

This had to be a mistake. But I refrained from calling the coach to ask her to fix this, because I had this nudge that she's only going to tell me that it's not a mistake.

Quite honestly, I was fussing about those "ridiculous" paces all night Tuesday, I was dreading it going to bed and it was the first thought on my mind waking up. But I did still get up, get ready and out of the door. I hit the track for my warm up and right before the main set started, I took another sip of water and had a heart to heart with myself: "You are going to try your very best to nail these paces, just giving up is not an option!"

Guess what happened?

To say that I am stoked about this, would be an understatement! I am still not buying into the idea, that I would be able to run a half marathon at this pace any time soon, but it sure shows me, that I can do stuff, if I would just push myself a little more often.


And since we are on the topic of "pushing": Today's swim.

The total workout was 3,000 yards and had 2x 500 yards race efforts sprinkled in. The good thing with swimming with a group in a big pool is, that we actually get the chance to practice pool swim races. I still hate them, but yes, it's good practice to recreate race conditions. It also helps to push a little bit harder, when you have other people chasing you down.

That was also shown beautifully, when I swam an 8:08 on my first effort under race condition simulation (changing lanes under ropes and snake along) while I "only" made it a 8:18 for my second effort that everyone did by themselves without lane changes. The second effort should have been faster, because I didn't have to change lanes, but obviously people chasing me is a much bigger motivator.

Catching Up

Well, let's just start a list and see what we are going to end up with:

1. We are not on our way to Myrtle Beach. To explain this a little: Terry was signed up for the Myrtle Beach Marathon tomorrow. Tomorrow will also be four weeks, since Terry was on a run. The doc thinks it's tendonitis, but he wouldn't rule out a stress fracture either. Stress fractures can be sneaking, because a lot of the time they are not visible on x-rays. Now we just wait and see... At least he's still able to bike and swim.
2. First there was talk about going down anyways for the weekend, but then we decided is wasn't worth the money and the time... Now we have some nice alternative plans lined up for the weekend, that I am looking forward to. Quite honestly, I don't care for Myrtle Beach all that much.
3. This weekend is carneval in Germany. Really carneval crazy areas started with the celebrations yesterday and it normally culuminates in a big parade on Monday, before things settle down again. Having been a part of a carneval club for several years as a teenager and enjoyed the partying, I really miss Germany a little more than usual these days.
4. Yesterday at the pool, coach and I were talking about why a lot of dudes drag their feet in the water, while girls tend to stay afloat a little better. My reasoning and speaking for me personally: It's the blubber that I have in my butt. It's a floatation device.... That's my story and I am sticking to it.
5. I am slowly going back to eat normal after the surgery and being on a soft diet for several weeks. Today was the first day back with salad for lunch... While I was able to bite properly before, the chewing still aggravated the area. First salad back tasted yummy and I am just happy that the soft diet days seemed to be over. But I am still chewing mostly on the other side of my mouth.
6. Follow-up on the surgery in general: I had a check up after two weeks and everyone that looked in my mouth said: "It looks awesome!" It's still tender and will take some extra care for the next several weeks, but things seemed to be doing great. I still can not use my electric tooth brush and still rinsing with a presciption strength mouth wash, but those are obviously only minor complaints. I don't feel it during my workouts except for the swimming. I don't know if it's the head position or what, but it still bothers me quite some in the pool.
7. Another follow-up: This time on my attempt to once again get a grip on my nutrition. Things are going really well this time around and I have seen consistant results in the last four weeks on the scale, in my clothes, in my workouts and in my general "wellness". One of these days I will share what I did different this time and some new things I learned and some things that I relearned. But it's important for me to stress, that I am not dieting... I am just feeding myself properly again, after months of eating just whatever I felt like.... and that's mostly junk!
8. I miss CrossFit. It was actually quite funny: Terry and I were sprawled out on the couch last Sunday and I looked something up on YouTube and he said: "Let's watch some CF videos." And then we basically said at the same time: "I miss CrossFit."
9. With that being said, I did my strength work in the gym (vs only bodyweight exercises at home) this week and loaded up the barbell and jumped on boxes and did pull ups... A regular gym really doesn't facilitate a CF workout, but it was better than nothing.... Being sore all week from it, just felt like an extra bonus.
10. Yes, I am nuts... No need to comment on that last sentence.
11. Come Monday, we have one of those wellness challenges at work again. You organize yourself in groups of four and have around 45 days to each log 150 miles (600 miles total for the team) of walking to qualify for the drawing for the main prizes (cash prizes by the way!). There will be milestone prizes too... The smack talking has already started!!!! The boys on my team can be lucky that you just have to complete the mileage within the time frame and it's not about who is first... Otherwise I would be cracking the whip for the next six weeks... Just kidding... No, not really.
12. DONE! Happy weekend!

Flippy Flip (Turn)

Does a triathlete need to know how to flip turn? There are no pool walls in a lake right? But truth to be told, most of us are going to spend most of our time training in a pool and so it's worth investing a little time in learning how to do the flip turn.

Last year, at the tail end of the tri swim class, I started to learn the basics of a flip turn and have been practicing it ever since during my training swims. Even though I have been doing them for a while, I still joined the flip turn clinic put on by Coach Katie yesterday... I thought, that it sure can't harm for somebody to look at it and make my turns more efficient and more consistent.

It was totally worth the time investment, because as it turns out, I developed a couple of habits that are less than efficient.

The first step for the flip turn is the somersault and so we somersaulted down the lane for a little while, to get a feel for it. To somersault, take three strokes, then leave your hands by your hips, tuck your chin and roll over. Things to watch are, that you stay straight and that you face the same direction before and after the somersault... Also, don't flail with your hands and arms, keep them close to your body. Probably the most important part is to side breath before you flip, because you need to have air available to breath out through your nose while flipping, so the water doesn't rush up your nose. So all together now: stroke left, stroke right & breath, stroke left, leave the right arm by your side, pull the left arm to your side, tuck your chin and roll over while breathing out of your nose... Make sure to stay in a straight line!

After that, it was time to practice on the wall. The first part stays just like that, only that you don't make a complete flip, but break the somersault half way through by planting your feet on the wall and then push off. It's going to take a little while to figure out for yourself, how close you have to be to the wall in order to be able to do a flip turn. For me it works to take the last breath right where the "cross" is at the end of the pool line, but it really depends on your body size and it'll take some practice.

Once your feet are on the wall, you push off and then you rotate your body with your arm overhead. Then utilize your momentum from pushing off the wall and streamline with some flutter kicks before starting back with your stroke and also take your first breath.

This is a boat load of information and that's why I put it here... I don't want to forget (again) myself.

Happy flip turning.

Race Report: Western North Carolina Open Water Challenge 3K

Date of the race: 9/17/2011

Results:

50m 24s -  1:32 mins/ 100 yards

1/1 Women's Open (official results state: age group 19-99 - haha)

41/41 Overall

***************

Compared to previous years, I continued to put some serious work into my swim even after the swim classes ended in April. That's what's working with a coach does for you, it makes slacking off harder even or probably especially in the areas that you feel pretty good about. Only because you are good swimmer, doesn't mean you can't be a better swimmer right?

After completing the 3K open water distance in June in Clemson in a time of a little under 1h 10m, I was ready for a redo and I wanted to break an hour for the distance. I knew, I needed at least an 1:50m per 100 yards to do that and my paces in the pool lately were promising.



Being cold before the start.



The race was in North Carolina, maybe 1.5 hours away from the house. I have never even heard of Moss Lake, but it was a very pretty lake and surprisingly clear, especially compared to Lake Hartwell and such. We got there with plenty of time to spare for registration and I spend a lot of time standing around and getting colder and colder. It was the first cooler day in months and I was wearing flip flops... what a grant idea.

While I was standing around, I noticed the absence of adult competitors and triathletes and somehow, I knew I was skrewed.

Oh and did I mentioned that I was cold? I was one grumpy mess by the time I got in the water. Grumpy with icy stumps in the place where usually my feet are.

The race was wetsuit legal, but the water temps were actually much nicer than the air temps and I am glad that I decided last minute against the wetsuit, because I would have been pretty warm.



About to get started.

I started out in the back... And I stayed in the back for the whole race. Who am I kidding. I am a pretty good swimmer compared to the regular triathlete, but in a field with highschool and college team swimmers, the back is right were I belong. Have I mentioned already, that I was the oldest competitor in the 3K by 15 (!) years??

The course was a triangle that we had to swim 3 times. The way out to the first turn buoy was into the wind and sucked each and every time, because we had to fight the chop and it felt like I wasn't moving at all. The other lengths of the triangles were good in terms of chop. The first 500 meters felt pretty crappy, because I was just so cold, but after I warmed up, things were much better. I

I felt like I had a pretty good rhythm and sighting went well. There were just two instances, where the kayakers where right between me and the next turn buoy, so I wasn't able to see the buoy, which got me completely confused thinking that I swim off the course.

And while it's not a great feeling to get out of the water with the annoucer saying: "Give a hand to the last swimmer out of the water!"... There are worse things. I was really hoping, that a couple of those youngsters would fizzle out and I would catch one or two, but I just ran out of race distance to accomplish that.

Speaking of race distance: According to my Garmin (in the swim cap), the race was 500 yards short, but with the pace that I was going (1:51/100 yards), I should have still been come close to break an hour even if it were a full 3K... So while dead last out of the water isn't fun, I reached my goal and that's all I can ask for.

And medals are nice, even when you are the only one in your age group. ;-)


Swimmingly

I don't really write a ton about swimming and my swim workouts, but I think it's about time, because my swimming seriously ROCKS right now.

Mind you, I still had a hard time convincing myself yesterday, that swimming for 3,550 yards in a pool is a great thing to do. But once I am in the water, it just feels good. Not only good, it actually feels great. It feels different, it feels like something has clicked once again. I don't know how it happened or when exactly it happened, but I am pretty sure that it has something to do with the fact, that I swim more consistent and long this season than I have ever done before.

In previous years, once Coach Katie's tri swim classes are done at the end of April, I went back to swimming once a week (self coached). And seriously, I just never come up with ways to hurt and punish myself like she does. So whenever the swim classes were done, I did one swim between 2,000 and 2,500 yards ("It's not like I am training for an Ironman, so why swim long?") per week and the workouts were pretty unplanned and unstructured.

Right now, I am in the pool at least twice a week and the workouts are between 2,500 and 3,500 yards and have a lot of drills, sprints, endurance, kicking, paddles.... Whatever hurts, it's in there. In July of this year, I already had more yardage logged than in all of 2010 and it pays off.... And you guys.... I do flip turns right now!! FLIP TURNS!! Okay, sometimes, I still miss the wall when trying to push off, but it has gotten so much better... I am thrilled! All of these weeks looking like a fool in the pool finally start paying off!

While I don't wear a watch in the pool, I have been asked lately to provide some splits for my swimming*, so I kept a close eye on the pool watch last night for the main set:

*Does anyone have a recommendation for a decent watch? It should have at least the capability to record 50 splits and preferably under 50 bucks! THANKS!

4x200 around 3:25-3:40
8x100 around 1:30-1:45
16x50 around 0:45-0:47

This got me all giddy!

I will be doing another 3K open water race in a couple of weeks and I am really hoping to break one hour (about a 1:50/ 100 yard pace) this time around. I know, it's quite a stretch from my last OWS race, but with swimming a better line and the improved speed... and a little bit of luck, this should be possible.

Quite Enjoyable

This view is kind of worth getting up early to be at the Lake for an early morning open water swim before everyone is getting out there on their boats for the holiday weekend.

My swim was so-so. I grabbed into a dead baby bird and swallowed (yet again) a bug a little later on. Today, I just went out for a swim.... No workout and other than the bird and bug incidents, it really was a nice relaxing swim.

I am especially proud of Terry for doing is first open water swim today! My baby rocks!

Right after.... Okay, not really right after... We were sitting around quite a while after the swim, just talking... But after that, I took off for a bike ride. Terry still has some back trouble from his trail run fall a couple of weeks ago, so riding wasn't happen.

I mapped out a ride from the Lake back home for a total of around 30 miles and just took my time. It was quite a hilly affair of course, but the weather is just gorgeous and I enjoyed being out there.

I passed this entry way which was completely overgrown, but funny enough, the metal initials on the gate looked like somebody just polished them... It's probably a little hard to see in the picture.

Just a proof that it was really me out there. ;-)

A covered bridge. There are supposed to me more in the area, but this is the only one, I've ever found.

A little swamp for good measure!

Happy Holiday Weekend everyone. Get out there and be safe!

Tri Relay and Paris VII/2011

Note: Yesterday, I promised the video from the Sunrise Track workout, but after watching the video last night, I decided not to waste your time. Maybe next time, the end result is a little more interesting.

*******************

Tri Relay

If you are a friend of mine on Facebook, you have already seen what I got in the mail last week:

So shiny!

TA-DAH... The award for 2nd in the 30-34 age group..... out of 4, but who's counting anyways! ;-)

I don't have conclusive proof, but I guess this little streamer has something to do with my newest "gig": Being the swimmer in a relay at the Off-Road Triathlon at the U.S. National Whitewater Center in Charlotte NC.

When my friend asked me, she said it's a 750m river swim... After already committing, I read the description on the event webpage:

 AWESOME!!!! I guess, I am going to bust out my Vibrams and start doing swim-run-swim bricks! ;-)

"550 meters in the Catawba River followed by a 500 meter run then another 200 meters in the whitewater holding pond.  The swim across the lower holding pond is a straight line and is 200 meters."

Last year, we spend a day at the Whitewater Center* and I have a pretty good idea where I have to run in between the two swims and it's not going to be pretty! ;-)

*I just read the post from that day again and there was one picture of whitewater kayakers on the canal with the caption "This time we were just spectators... Next time, we'll be on the canal." Well, I won't be "on" the canal, but in the canal. Who would have thunk!


Paris VII/2011

In other news: I made it back on Paris Mountain for the first time since April... This climb just doesn't seem to get easier and of course, I haven't done any real climbing since Mount Mitchell, so I guess I can just be happy to be still alive... Oh and it was stinking hot last night too!! I had two water bottles for an 18 mile ride, that normally doesn't happen.

Not only did I climb Paris, but also did cadence drills while we were at it. Originally, I thought about doing the cadence drill (alternate between 75-80rpm and 90+rpm) and then roll down the mountain for recovery. But I was out there with some co-workers and wanted to stick to the group, so my recovery was still going up the mountain, but at a lower cadence (around 60rpm), waiting for the urge to throw up to subside and then start all over again. Good times!

On Monday, I am celebrating Independence Day by doing a 67 mile ride in the mountains, so I am glad that my legs still remember how to climb.

Race Report: 2011 Death Valley Open Water 3K

Results (preliminary);

1h 09m 14s -  2:08 mins/ 100 yards

17/42 Women's Open
2/4 Age Group 30-34

Pre-Race
Due to the 10am start, I was able to sort of sleep in. Maybe would have been able to sleep past 7am, if the dog hadn't decided to be whiny. So I got up and had a little breakfast and then waited for Terry to get back in from his run, so we could hit the road. I decided last minutes to come along to be my sherpa and photographer. Thanks, babe! :-)

Once we got to the race site, I signed in and got body marked  - on both arms and on my back. A lot of things are different at an swim event vs a triathlon and this is one difference. The other difference is all the little kids that run around.... Kids that are a third my age and are signed up for the same distance. Besides that, I was happy, that there were many people with tri shorts around... I said to Terry: "Oh goody, plenty of triathletes around, so I won't be last out of the water!" ;-) Yep, all these pure bred swimmers really had me concerned for a moment.

I spent the time before the race to chat to a tri team friend of mine, who was signed up for the 2K. 10 minutes before start, we had a little pre race meeting, going over the course again and what things can get you disqualified (no contact - another difference to triathlon) etc.

And we were already on the way into the water. It was pretty warm, that's why the swim caps were not mandatory. I do like me a swim cap, but I don't like the latex ones they hand out at a lot of races. They feel like they cut off the circulation in my head and I know that I am exaggerating.

Course

Well, the race course looked something like this... (Lindsay, I aspire to eventually be able to produce sophisticated diagrams like you do all the time, but obviously, I have a long way to go! ;-)... Sorry, the proportions are way off. The start point was the left buoy of the double buoys closest to the shore. Then you do an out and back and had to swim between the double buoys to cross the finish line. The buoys from the start to the turnaround point were spaced apart 500 meters. There were smaller buoys in between for orientation. The green line is supposed to show something close to an ideal line, the pink line is how I imagine I swam. BTW... The water is not turqouise and the beach is more grass than sand, but you get the idea.

Race
So yes, I didn't have a clue how to line myself up. I was way in the back of the field to the left, the furthest away from the ideal line, I could have possibly be. I don't even know exactly why I did that... But I think part of it was, that I didn't know what to expect. The first 500 meters, I spent with getting into a groove and getting closer to the buoys, because 1) it's the shortest way and 2) it makes sighting so much easier.

The next 500 were uneventful and I was even able to draft off a couple of feet here and there. I saw one of the big buoys (500, 1000 and 1500 meter markers) and the swimmers ahead of me started turning. I was surprised, that we should already be at the turnaround and started to turn myself until one of the kayakers pointed us into the other direction. Yep, We were just 1000 meters into the fun.

And with that, I also lost my draft and was now sandwhiched in between two swimmers. I kept free styling my little heart out, while both of the other swimmers did a weird mix of three strokes breast and three strokes free. It was driving me nuts, but I just couldn't get rid of them until the turnaround (500 meters later).

Once I saw the turnaround buoy, I cut the corner and just booked it... I didn't see the girl after that anymore and left the guy behind me after maybe another 100 meters. From then on, I was in no-man's land. There wasn't anybody even close to me for the rest of the race. So I just kept plugging along and had a pretty good rhythm until I breathed in a bug. After hacking and coughing for a while, I finally got it out of my mouth again. Yummie. It freaked me out a little, but soon, I got back into my groove. A little ways down, I swallowed another bug, but fortunately got that one out pretty quickly.

Once I saw the double buoys marking the finish, I picked up the pace a little.

Post-Race
Soooo.... My goal for this race originally was under 1 hour. I don't know, if that was realistic or not, but obviously sub 1 hour didn't happen.

In general, I really liked the event and I am thinking about doing another open water swim this season, if it fits in and is not too far away.

Two days later, I am still sore, so I think I worked out there... That's something! ;-)

Gone Swimmin'

This is what you need for triathlon:

To be fair, this included work clothes.

And this is what you need for a swim meet:

I am going swimming today... Wish me luck, when I tackle my longest distance to date in open water. ;-)

OWS Strategies - It's all in your head

Open Water Swim in Lake Lanier

I don't speak about it much, but I am also part of the "open water swimming (OWS) creeps me out" club. I don't think, it's as bad as other people I know, but it's not my most favorite activity. The funny thing is, I am fine with swimming in most places, as long as you don't ask me to stick my head under water, which is kind of  a prerequisite if you want to do freestyle... While I don't have tons and tons OWS experience, but with the little I do have, I seem to resort to the same strategies to calm me down each time. This is not on official "how to" guide, just some things that work for me.

1. Ignorance is Bliss: Fish? What fish? Seriously, we all know, that there are creatures in lakes.... But let me assure you, that I don't want to know, so please don't even bother mentioning it to me.
2. Don't look down: I don't know and I don't want to care plus, I don't want to see anything. One of the other swimmers from today's OWS said, that she keeps her eyes closed while her head is under water and only opens them when breathing.
3. Tinted Goggles: It helps to see more above the water and less under the water... Win win situation right there.
4. Breaststroke Breaks: I look at breaststroke breaks while swimming like walking breaks while running. It let's you catch your breath. Additional advantage is that you can have a look around and orient yourself again.

 Today, we went out to Lake Lanier for an open water swim with the team. I did around 2,600 yards in under 50 minutes and I felt good the whole time. The water felt awesome and had not too many leaves on the surface (to keep the creep factor down ;-). I turned down the "offer" to add another loop... I will try the additional distance next week during the 3K open water swim race. Bring it on!

The run after the swim while very scenic, was horrible... I haven't had stomach cramps like these in a long time.... Funny enough, I think this time I was cramping, because I didn't eat enough... Live and learn... live and learn.


PS: Only the first picture is from today, the other ones are from a swim last year... Today would have been way too warm for wetsuits.