... maybe we are back...

So over the last few months we've been focusing on things other than triathlon... like life in general. It's funny, but even though we want to workout and our bodies actually feel ok during workouts it is just hard to go at it with the same intensity or regularity that we were before. Even funnier is to go to the group workouts and hear everyone (most of everyone, except the new team members) say that they haven't really worked out as they had planned.

On the personal non-tri front, I (Puli) am happy to announce that my Oregon stunts have probably come to an end. Yes, I'm back to the good ol' Texas. Even though I had a great experience working there both personally and professionally, nothing compares to being home and sleeping in your own bed with the ones you love next to you (that being Res and JayJay). On the workout front, well I think I'm going to miss a bit of it, working out there was pretty awesome, got to do awesome rides and runs. So I got to say... we are probably planning a riding vacation out there.

Last Mountain Bike Ride in Oregon

Climb to Mary's Peak, OR

On the personal tri front, a couple of weeks ago we did the Disco Olympic tri. Being our second Olympic and our first race after Ironman Texas, we really wanted to do it to come back to it. To try to get back to the swing of things. Traveling didn't allow for much swimming and motivation wasn't really there the whole time. So we did what we could, hitting about 50% of the training plan our Coach M graciously put for us, but not really killing ourselves to keep up with it. We weren't really afraid of the distance. Funny now how a 1500 m swim, 23 mi on the bike and a 10K on the run really doesn't even phase us and probably we need to take it more serious than that, but after having done 5 times that, we know our bodies have the distance, might not have the speed but we know we can finish it and not really puke or be completely exhausted by it.

Back to our Disco Tri, granted I had flown in on Friday for a Sunday race and had to leave again Monday so needless to say I was preoccupied, tired and really didn't feel like going out there to kill my self on the tri. Regardless I gave it my best, I think we all did.

The morning came, we had the Keller carpool ready (truck's name for race days, since we tend to fit 4-5 bikes and 4-5 people in it) and we headed up to the tri. About an hour's drive from home. So the wake up call came at 3:45 am (last time we did that was on Ironman day). We headed up there and it was overcast, and storms were rolling in. Got to the park after a minor incident getting into the park which I'm not going to bore you with, we got in parked and unloaded. Transition setup was again uneventful, with the exception of a lady who was just rude. I think she was a beginner and I was trying to help her but she was just rude (maybe she wasn't a morning person). We had designated racks (like many races) and she decided to come to my rack, when she was like 4 racks down actually by Res (her number was one number before Res) so I politely told her, she should not be racking there as they would probably make her re-rack and/or get a penalty. She fought me back and just went to the rack next to us, again racking way off from the place she had to. She even had a balloon for her bike, thought that was cute. Anyways.... I think in our sport we try to be nice for the most part and here is one of the reasons we share our experience, so other people getting started know or learn from our mistakes. So lesson here, listen to others, they are not trying to make your life harder, if they tell you something maybe is worth listening.

Res Looking Good 

My Signature... tongue out

The swim:
On the swim I knew I wanted to stay around 30 minutes, that meant to keep a
2:00'/100m pace. The swim start was a mass start with all male and female under 40. I started towards the back and found myself towards the middle by the first turn. I found a few feet that I followed but then ended up passing. Sighiting was a bit difficult because they only had the big buoys but other than that pretty easy swim. Garmin read 31:56 or 2:03'/100m, not bad.

Bad Ass team

The bike:
By the time I got to the bike the rain started, it wasn't too bad at first and I tried to push hard to see if I could cover more while the roads were dry, that didn't last long, about mile 1 or the entrance to the park the rain just was a constant drizzle and pretty much I settled for a pace to be safe and not screwed up crashing. I settled for a 20 mph pace which I tried to keep, some hills slowed me down but I didn't want to push too hard on them as I didn't really want to walk the 10K. I came out of the Oly detour and got with the Sprint people, I saw a couple of our teammates that I knew were ahead of me from the swim but they weren't too far ahead of me, maybe 1 mile or so, so I knew it wasn't too bad. Saw Res and a few others heading behind me and warned them to be careful on the turn as some folks had wiped out with the wet road. Anyways I started passing Sprint people and here was the other incident of the day. Note to people here.... please read the rules when you participate, mistakes can get you penalized and its not fun to spend time at the penalty box on big races (luckily I haven't and hope I won't). Anyways I wasn't going to let that bother me, just aggravated me a bit, but kept going.  Finished the bike, I wanted to have an hour (in perfect conditions) but with the rain I take the 1:08 I had, 20.2 mph average.

Run:

Res focussed on the finsh

Off to the run I went, I felt pretty good starting, it was a 2 loop run. First loop went ok, second loop I was starting to feel the lack of training, I was trying to keep an 8:30'/mile pace and not get my heart rate too high, but on the second loop I found my self slowing down between miles 3-5. I saw Res at mile 5 and she told me to go finish strong, I had started to pick up the pace then, I was doing about 8'/miles then and had a girl running behind me and we were just pushing off from each other. It was raining so I could hear her strides and she was keeping my same pace. When we came to the last 200 yds of the run she just sprinted to pass me, I gave it all I could to not let that happen and not let her chick me... yes I have some pride left :). It was funny because at the end she hugged me and thanked me for pushing her. It was more the other way around but I didn't say anything. Come to find out my 10K was 53:28 or an 8:40'/mi pace, come to find out later she was running a 7:40'/mi. which is what I kept for the last mile.

Worried about getting chicked....didn't happen!

All and all, the race was a good one, weather was great, could do without the rain but it turned out great. I think the rain actually helped us to stay cool and also to not push so much on the bike that we were able to run the 10K without that much of a problem. Definitely will do the race again next year so we can see how we do.
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Not a bad swag... Disco Tri-Top

My First Product Review.... Thanks to ChiTriBloggers for the opportunity

*** Note: This is a copy and past of my guest post to ChiTriBloggers, if you want to get the original post, you can go here: http://www.listoftriathlonblogs.com/


Excited to bring you another product review.  Swirlgear is a Chicago based company that is in their second year of production and are looking toward their fall line launch soon.  I had the chance to meet the owner and really loved her, her team and what they stand for. We, at List of Triathlon Blogs, really want to support local/small businesses and I purchased a pair of shorts for one of our bloggers to review since becoming a Swirlgear Ambassador. {Res was not compensated for the review other than receiving the shorts and I personally paid for the shorts for review}.
Thanks Res for the review!
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Swirlgear Shorts Review

Hello everyone Res here, we recently connected with Triathlon Blogs and they offered me a chance to review some gear they had. Of course, being me I didn't miss a chance to try something new and to see what this whole reviewing gear was all about. We read all the time about these type of blogs but thought to ourselves... well... we are not that popular so we'll never get to do one of those cool things. So anyways they send me a pair of shorts from Swirl Gear I was actually so surprised because they offered them on Thursday night and by Saturday I had the shorts in the mail. When I opened the package I noticed the shorts where these

I didn't know about this brand before I got the shorts and neither read anything about them before I tried them (actually haven't read anything about them yet). I wanted my review to be as uninfluenced by other reviews as possible, so my review is my own experience with the shorts. 

So here I go, my first impressions on the shorts as soon as I opened the package: 

1. They felt really soft to the touch
2. The lining felt different from other built in briefs 
3. I liked the length 
4. The army green color... not my fave, but for the review purposes they worked 
5. They felt relaxed when I first put them on.

We then planned to take them for a run during the week, things got really busy with work and other social

events and our run didn't go as planned and then considering that the temps were in the 100's here in Texas we weren't pushing it too much, yes we don't like the "dreadmill"

I ended up finally putting a decent run on Saturday on them. We had a swim/run workout so we headed out to it early in the morning. I had a swim first so I didn't wear them there (for obvious reasons), my plan was to put them on after the swim. 

I put them on after I got out of the water (of course drying myself first). At first they were OK, however I should've worn some underwear (some sort of tights or compression shorts under). I thought the lining material felt different than other shorts I’ve worn, particularly since I wasn’t wearing any undies. Yes... don't start looking at me now funny... most of you don't wear any undies either. :). FREEDOM!!!

We had an hour run, 6 miles more or less, I really like the fact that they were quick drying and didn't feel hot. So what they advertise on the website "Moisture wicking fabric to help keep you dry and comfortable" was very true.

The size I was given was a Medium, I'm a size 6 pants, and wear between S and M depending on the brand. The M felt good but if I were to buy these, i would consider getting the small as they were a bit loose on the inseam and they kept riding up which we girls know is not the greatest feeling. I ended up chafing a bit b/c of the loose inseam but don't think that would have happened with the smaller size so I definitely would recommend sizing down.

Overall, I definitely will use them for short training runs or gym workouts or even for walking and if i ever purchase the smaller size, would love to try them out for long runs. Thanks for the chance to review these shorts... hope it was helpful.