Post IM 70.3 Cartagena blues.... err Report

Last year, after we finished IM Cozumel while we were exploring the streets of Mexico City an announcement came up on Facebook that Ironman was coming to Colombia. It was a 70.3 distance and was going to be held in the beautiful city of Cartagena. Without much hesitation we called my brother and sister and they were already making plans.
We came back from vacation and by then Brian, whom we were traveling in Mexico with, had already convinced his wife to let him do it and to plan a vacation. So the planning started on our end. My family came to visit us over Xmas so we were able to get some details in person. My sister had a friend who owned a couple of condos in the City so that was the main thing. Getting that squared away since it is the most expensive of all. The next thing we had to worry about was getting there. For us was relatively easy. JetBlue flies direct to Cartagena from JFK at a reasonable price without too many additional charges. The bikes are also one of the cheapest of any carrier, however due to the military status they were free for us. Thank you Uncle Sam.

Our vacation started to take shape when my sister moved to Medellin, JetBlue flies to Medellin as well though FLL and since Adriana had never been there and I was there about 20+ years ago we then planned to go there first and head to Cartagena with her and my parents since they were going to meet us in Medellin to spend a little longer with us.
Medellin will be probably another blog entry on either one of our blogs but I’ll try to focus on the race for this one.  

Getting to Cartagena:
Since we were flying from Medellin, we took a domestic Avianca flight to Cartagena. One way was about $100 each and Avianca being the official airline of the race was taking our bikes for free. Little parenthesis here, TriBike transport announced in October they were taking bikes, but since it was so late for it they couldn’t get the 50 min bikes needed to transport them. It all worked out, but definitely something that the race needs to work on. There were enough groups from the USA that would’ve benefited from the service and for most that were traveling on extended vacations having one less headache would’ve been ideal.  

Once in Cartagena bikes and all, arrived decided to get a big van service. It charged us about US $17 to take 6 of us and 3 bikes. If we would’ve split into UberBlacks might have been about $20 each and needed 2, and forget about taxis, that would’ve been probably $30. So it all worked out at the end. In terms of logistics I think we were pretty lucky. We flew to Cartagena on Thursday 12/1 in an attempt to get acclimated to the weather. Not sure if it worked or not, I might need more time for that after a few fall/winter weeks at home.  

The Expo Shenanigans:

The expo opened up on Friday at 10 am. Guess what... everyone had the same idea, get

the expo out of the way as soon as possible. We stood in line unnecessarily for about 2 hours, luckily it was inside the Convention Center but still we were standing. People that arrived much later were done a lot faster. Only downfall was that the race shirts for women were gone and also the race bag color were limited by then. No biggie, we did some shopping at the IM store since we learned our lesson that most of international races don’t make it out to the regular IM store website, so rather get it or forever hold your peace.  Only time we buy finishers gear before the race and ignore the superstition.

We had done a short out and back ride earlier that morning on the route since our condo was on the route, we did about 18 miles out and back. You go through a toll booth on race day so we just returned right before the toll booth. It was HOTTTT and we got a feel for what it was going to be on race day. Some folks that had done the route said that after the toll booth there were some false flats and the 2 climbs of the route (more on that later).  

Saturday:

We did a little ocean swim again to get a feel for the water, we knew it was going to be different since the swim happens at a bay next to the convention center, so the water is a lot calmer than just open ocean.  Then we went to get the bikes to transition and dinner with the family. Luckily we had 4 of us plus Maria Claudia and Maribel going to transition together and they had a cab that was behind us protecting us because riding on the roads can be a bit scary sometimes. 

Race Day

Race day started with everyone doing their morning rituals for breakfast and all that good stuff. The house was still kinda quiet. No one really talked to each other, everyone was concentrated on their own stuff and things were just moving along. Getting our number tats on and packing up the nutrition. We were so concentrated that we forgot about our sherpas' nutrition and hydration for them. Note to self, always remember their needs too.
We scheduled 2 vans to take the 9 of us to the race start at 4:30 am, so by 4:30 am we were leaving the building. By 4:50 we were in transition. We then set it all up, we had frozen all our bottles since we knew by the time we got to the start everything would've been melted and wouldn't been hot as hell. Nothing worse than warm Infinit. Pumped air on all 4 bikes, set up transition and got everything set. Then it was the waiting game.

The swim:
Race was technically supposed to start by sunrise. However it got delayed. We didn't hear why it got delayed, all we thought was every minute it is delayed now it is more heat and more sun that we will get. By then our Sherpas had taken their positions and we were by the convention center area where everyone was gathering. Our early hydration was done, and the heat was starting to climb. The wait seemed like forever. I came to find out when we were leaving at the airport from another athlete  that the wait was because the buoys that were moving.


 Anyways the canon for the pro's went off and then our waves started to move. My sister, Adriana and Margo were within the first 10 waves, I was 17 out of 20. I wasn't worried about the cutoffs, I was just worried about the heat. Finally my brother and I got in the water. He was swimming with a friend that had OWS fear, so since he wasn't doing the bike then he helped him through the swim. Once our horn went off I waited about 10-15 seconds and started my swim. We were swimming east first so we had the sun in front of us. Our ROKAS performed great but still once the sun is in front of you it just gets annoying. I followed the buoys on the way out to the turn. Once at the turn I knew I was in better shape. The sun was then on our left and by the second turn it was going to be on our backs. I reached the second turn and I went a little wide which cost me swimming maybe 200 yds extra and of course cost me the PR on my swim. My swim split was 40:40 (146 out of 320, finally towards the front of the middle  :), with an avg of 1:47 /100 yds. A little slower than I expected it, I wanted to go sub 40 but I didn't pay attention to it. Got out of the water, the volunteers did great pulling us out of the water, my zipper on my speedsuit got stuck so I couldn't unzip myself. I went to one of the girls and asked her to help me, then I saw my dad and threw the goggles and cap to him. The run to T1 was about 250 meters. Luckily for me I was right at the entrance of transition and since my brother didn't have his bike and was next to me I had some room. I was surprised that most of the bikes on my rack were still there, my T1 was pretty simple, put on the race jersey, helmet, glasses and nutrition. Shoes were on the bike since I knew I had to run out a bit so I didn't want to run on the shoes. T1: 3:41.



The Bike: 

By the time I started the bike it was hot. I had a Gatorade while I ran out of T1 and got on my way. Leaving the city the road isn't great but isn't too bad either, my plan was to settle myself in a rhythm by the time we got out of the busy area which was past our condo. So I was 7 miles just focusing on staying on the bike, road and others around me. Once I got to the divided highway I started the nutrition. The heat was hitting hard, so it made taking in nutrition hard. I kept looking for the girls to see if I saw them going down but I didn't. I saw Claudia, then finally I saw my sister near the turn around. I did the math and she was maybe 5 miles up the road. The bike course is not a flat course. It has a few rollers and then towards mile 25 it has 2 climbs, when I got to the first one I dropped my  chain mid climb, got off the bike and fixed it quickly, so didn't waste too much time. Then got to the second climb and at the top was the turn around. I kept my power where I needed it, 75-80% so I knew I was in good

shape. I actually tried to dial it down a bit since I knew the heat was going to take a  toll on me and there was no way I could keep up. As soon as I turned around I saw Margo, she was doing well, then down the road my sister, chatted with her a bit and 2 bikes down I caught up Adriana. The 3 girls were trucking along. I had about 7 miles and bike traffic got congested. Couldn't pass and it just seemed like it was taking forever to go through those 7 miles. we had a short rain shower earlier that cooled us off a bit but it just increased the humidity. I saw a friend of my brother and we tagged along (keeping a distance) or a bit, but it was too congested so I just stayed back, didn't want to get carded or anything. Officials were all over, they had a ton of motorcycles on the course with officials, I didn't want to get penalties or anything. No drafting means no drafting. My bike was a PR bike by a few seconds, with a 2:48:57 and avg of 19.975 mph I was pretty happy with it. Riding with power and sticking to it really has helped because I got off the bike and had legs which in the past that has never been the case. I usually hammer the bike and start the run with dead legs. I came back to transition put my socks on, got my hat and shoes on and off I went. T2 was faster than T1 with a 2:54 time. 

The Run:
Oh the run. I came back from the bike and while I was feeling pretty good, I wanted to get into a conformable pace. By comfortable I didn’t want to push sub 10:00/miles right off the gates. I wanted to take some hydration, cool my body off a little and see what damage I could do on the run. The first kilometer right off transition is outside the wall and you enter into the walled city right after the first aid station. While running that part, I saw Angela (my sister) and Adriana come in, I knew they were safe and sound back home. I hadn’t seen Margo but I knew she was probably another 30-40 minutes behind them according to my math. I managed to get some Base Salts in me and water on me. The sun was hitting hard on us, and by the time we entered the city no wind, just sun, heat, humidity, and more heat. 

The streets were packed with tourists, cheering crowds, DJs at the aid stations cheering us, it was pretty fun to run through the city. Finally I saw my mom standing and Claudia, Shayla and my dad in the back, I have my mom the biggest sweaty wet hug I have ever given her when I saw her. She then sent me off, saw them back on the return and asked for my sister and brother. I knew my brother was jumping again into the race to run with my sister to take her from the bike to the finish line but I hadn’t seen them. My dad said they were already together. I then saw  Adriana, she was going out on her first loop and I was coming back. She had lost her Base Salt vial, I gave her mine, I knew I could just finish it without it. She looked strong but was missing the salts. I saw my brother and sister and they were shuffling away, lastly I saw Margo, she looked pretty good, but I knew the bike had taken a toll on her,

however once on the run I knew she will get it done. As you are returning on your loop they take you on the wall for about 1 kilometer, at the top of it they give you sponges, however it is probably the hottest part of the race. Imagine a 500 year wall made out of limestone at noon. That thing is HOT!!!!. The first time I went through it fine. I got my sponges and got out as quick as I could. Then I went to finish my first loop and get back into the second loop. I started talking to a few guys and we kept motivating each other, but the heat was just taking casualties. I got back to my parents and I wanted to look strong, so I was attempting to run those stretches, the walking was a lot more on that second loop. Once I got through the second part of the wall I looked at my watch and I just went for it, I was 2 kilometers out so I was just committed to run to the last aid station and then from there get a sprint to the end. 

The finish was packed, they take you under the clock tower and there is where the food and medical tents are. I finally found a place to sit next to a pool full of cold gatorades and ice. I just dumped the towels they gave me in that and cooled my self down. Saw Maria Claudia and Diego (buddies from Texas) then Adriana came so we just stayed there to rest a little. Then my sister came up with my brother, took a picture but she could hardly stand up, she was really struggling with the heat so we went to cool her off immediately and lastly Margo showed up. 

We all finished what we had started. A race that we prepared for all year, a season well planned, no injuries, great shape, strong in all 3 disciplines. We knew it was going to be hot, just wasn’t expecting it that hot. Was it a PR? No it wasn’t, I still got my PR at Atlantic City, did I want a PR? Yes I did. Did it matter? No. To me what mattered the most was being able to spend 2 weeks with my family, race with Adriana, my brother, sister as a family and of course our plus 1… Margo who became part of the family on this trip.

In general, for those looking to do Cartagena, I highly encourage you to do it. I really hope that Ironman continues it. Cartagena is a city that if you plan your trip well it caters to the tourist and to the families. Does the organization need to tweak things, of course they do. It is the first time an event of this size comes to the city or even the country. The pros had a fiasco with their running routes…

When you volunteer.... And sign up

After we finished IMCozumel 2015 we knew we were going to take a break from long distance triathlon. Don't get us wrong we love long distance (aka the 140.6 or the Ironman they call). There is something about it that is addictive and simply keeps you coming back for more. This time we needed a break, we came into 2015 having 2014 raced 1x70.3 and 2x140.6 in 2014, I had recovered from a crash and dislocated shoulder/broken ribs injury and our bodies and mind needed a break. Then we moved to NY and did 1x70.3 closing the year with Ironman Cozumel which we had committed with our team before we had moved. As with anyone that has done a move across the country (or half way in our case) it definitely took its toll. Trying to figure out a new life in our new place, while getting settled in our new jobs and the pressure of training for an Ironman which its a full time on its own.

While we were in Mexico City (the week after IM Cozumel) Ironman 70.3 Cartagena was announced. Right there we knew that our 2016 season was going to be ending there. My brother and sister were going to do it and it was a no brainer to do it. Along the way Quassy 70.3 came along and we tackled it, and then we got into the NYC Marathon lottery so our season was just that. Considering that a lot of times for IM branded events you have to think about them like a year in advance, we then started to think about our 2017 season. I guess we miss the pain that a full ironman and its training brings because we set our sights in IM Lake Placid 2017. What better way than to really drink the kool-aid than by volunteering. We signed up to volunteer this year and live the IM experience at Lake Placid that way. It is pretty amazing when entire towns really embrace the whole IM family. We have seen it a few times now, but Lake Placid is different. The whole village breaths IM from the spring all the way until race day, and even past race day. It is triathlon heaven.

We were also able to meet up a few friends whom we have known now forever via today's social media outlets (facebook, instagram) and had a chance to cheer on a few others as well as give back to the sport that has given us and taught us so much over the last 4 years.

Last time we took a pic with The Ironman Voice was when we volunteer from IMAZ2013

One more shot at the rock, this time we mean it


Meeting Swim Bike Mom in person :)

Swim Bike Mom Family - Todd... came a long way to meet us, almost 130 miles in + his trip from ATL

Heather Jackson - Wattie Ink Boss... killing it

Shit got real

"How about Rev3 Quassy 70.3" they said

Earlier this year while I was sitting at work a co-worker came and said, let's do a race together. Without much thought I agreed. Of course telling her "we are both in" while at it. Long and behold a few weeks later she comes back and tells me "found it! Let's do Quassy". Once again without much thought I agreed.  Didn't really check the race site much, normally we don't really obsess about routes or elevations or much of anything. It is one of those things that we can't control or I guess we could but then we wouldn't be doing any races if we limit them to certain stats. We put it in our plan, talked to our coach about our year plan and training started.

The winter this year in NY (where we live) was weird. We had warm days, cold days, really cold days, not a whole lot of snow, more cold days, rainy days and then spring finally decided to make an appearance. We were able to put some decent miles on the bike, a lot of movies were watched in the basement and the threadmill got plenty of use. When it gets dark before 5:00 you simply gotta get it done somehow. We were able to do a few rides outside with some hills and we are glad we did them. Wished we had done more but it was all we could do. We weren't going to worry about it. Our swims did get a lot more consistent, so we saw a lot of progress there. Res for a change had to travel a lot. She was pretty much away for about a month and a half where here training was close to minimal. Her miles were done on foot more than anything and racking up some airline miles that's for sure. 

So with the training done. Or as done as we were going to get it done we departed to Middlebury, CT. It is about 1:20 min from home which is very convenient. We are so used to driving at least 3 hrs to a big race. We had of course by race time checked the elevation on the bike and run but we knew we could tackle it, it wasn't going to be pretty but oh well... Again we didn't control that, we could control the outcome. We had an strategy and it was let's go have fun. It will hurt but we are used to it. We didn't even read many reports from previous races. We joked with my friend about why she likes hills so much but we rolled with it. Res was a little nervous about it, but we said if we finish good if we don't is ok too. Of course we will push to finish but won't be the end of the world if we don't. We left it all out there. 

Happy Finisher

We started the weekend by cheering one of my new athletes on Saturday. She had signed up for the Olympic distance. She had done a sprint before and her training was a bit iffy. She didn't pull the trigger until about 5 weeks ago and her work made her pretty much miss a lot of workouts. She had done a marathon in the spring so she had a good base and was able to put a few long rides during the weekends. We knew it was going to hurt and I don't endorse doing that for anyone. We talked about the race and had a plan for it. She has a 70.3 at the end of the year so this was a good wake up call to respect the distance. This isn't a 5k :). 

Foggy Start... swim delay

Saturday was clear skies, sunny, hot, good weather. Here is the kicker, storms rolled overnight. Temp dropped 20 deg. , rained overnight, no wind luckily. Again one of those things not in our control.  Race people said that if it was thundering they will pull the plug. We went for it. Set up our transition, air in the tires at 80 and off we went. We actually slept for 40 more min in the car before we walked to the swim start. 

I was the first swim wave. I wanted to see how my swim how gotten. Usually I do pretty good in the pool but fall apart in open water. I had very solid swims in the pool so this was a true test. I was aiming for sub 40' and came in at 39'20" #winning. I stayed a little wide from the bouys and added maybe 100-200 yards which was maybe 3', this makes me happy because I am aiming for a 35' swim so I'm close. 

Got out of transition, I took my time and also taking my wetsuit off. No strippers at this race. Gotta love BodySlide which makes it very easy to take off. 

Off on the bike I wanted to be safe. Wet roads are something that I respect as I have whipped out before on them. I have had good rides recently with our club so I knew I was ok with the hills. However it took me about 5 miles to get a good rythm going. Maybe because you go up as you come out and the heart rate gets high. I looked at that and talked my self into getting a good rythm. Lowered my HR and also was watching my power. I didn't want to hit more than 150W. So finally got the legs spinning and tackled those hills. At one point it got worried because I was actually off the saddle and the rear wheel started spinning and no traction. Good thing was that since I was on the road bike I would pass all the fancy Tri rigs going up but they would pass me going down. I was playing it too safe on the downhills too. A lot of turns at the end of those didn't really help. So I was not going to risk a crash for a non PR. I did my own thing. Didn't pay attn to my speed much. I watched those watts and tried to enjoy the ride. It finally dried up a little at around mike 40 so I just pushed the last hour to take it home. 

looking strong for a little bit

Back in transition I actually had a pretty fast one. Under 1:30. While it is a small transition I think it was pretty fast and I thought I was rusty in my transitions. Always helps to keep it simple. Was matter of putting my shoes, hat and belt on and off I went. I didn't carry any nutrition with me on the run. I wanted to use whatever was on course. Only thing I took was my Base salt vial. 

The run... While I kept the bike safe I wanted to maintain a nice steady pace on the run. My goal was a 9:30 or so which I settled on relatively quick. The first 3-4 miles are somewhat downhill but after that it gets real. I ran with another guy the first half almost to mile 7, was happy with the first 10k right under 1:00. Then all hills were thrown at us. I started walking more and more. At mile 8  I met a couple of other guys which were local and knew the course pretty good. They knew we had a harder hill coming at around mile 10 so they had an strategy to jog to a point and then walk the hardest part. I was fine with that. Then from there there is only one more hill and its almost downhill to the end. We started getting a pretty hard rain at mile 9 or so but it wasnt actually that bad. So didn't mind it. 

as usual... best smile

The finish at Quassy is pretty cool. Something that I hadn't seen in other races which is that the Shute goes through the village. Only difference here was that it was pouring so there weren't many people out. Different from Saturday where there were tons of people cheering people in. 

Total finish time wasn't the fastest. Actually was the 3rd out of the 5 I've done. The swim and run were both PRs but the bike was pretty brutal and considering the conditions of the rain  and the close to 4,000 ft of elevation was one of those that I knew I wasn't going to PR at. In all, I'm pretty happy with the results. This is a race to do for sure. Not for the weak of heart. To PR definitely a good bike preparation is needed. I think if the roads were better I could've done more damage but maybe paying the price on the run. So I guess it all worked out at the end of the day. 

kids bikes for their tri... wished mine had training wheels sometimes

In general Rev3 is a pretty good Tri company. The event was very well organized, both days seemed to run very smooth. We kinda did a Rev3 event last year at Atlantic City before it was bought by Ironman but it has the Challenge brand so we wanted to give the opportunity to Rev3 as a comeback. While they call it a small race, it isn't a small event. Between both days they have close to 1800 athletes and they have a few race formats. Olympic, 70.3, relay, aqua bike. So there is a little for everyone. Even there is a Olympic and 70.3 special which you compete in both distances on both days. The post race meal was pretty awesome. Not the cold pizza that we are used to. They had hotdogs, fries, burgers, pasta. Big shout out to the volunteers. They rocked totally. They were so helpful on the bike course. The run was pretty good, every mile we had an aid station and everyone was cheering and ready for us. Even the cops through the course were pretty amazing, see the link below of the cop that had the  squad car with The Eye of the Tiger song on to cheer us on. 

With that Quassy is done. Recovery week is done and we are off do our training for Cartagena 70.3 in 24 weeks. 

Betty Sisters

As for Res she rocked it too. She had a PR on her swim and a PR on her run too. She had a small chain drop that cost her a couple of minutes to get back on but she managed to stay on track and tackled the hills like a boss. Best of all she snitched the 1st place military female of the race. 

Female Military Champ :) 

New beginnings and new adventures

I was always apprehensive to go through the licensure process because  I didn't want to be the typical Ironman that crosses the line and before you know it we become experts in the subject. I was and still am far from that. There is so much to learn about the human body and what we put it through during a triathlon or an endurance event that I don't think there is anyone that could comprehend in a lifetime. I didn't want to take away from our coach or from so many great coaches out there famous and non famous that dedicate their lives to doing this. To me, it is a little different. It is more because I have a passion for the sport and want to help others. To me, it is a way to give back to the triathlon community.

As we grew into the sport we started learning more and more about it. In my case (Puli speaking) I was somewhat obsessed by the process, metrics, and in general learning. Not that I would question the process (maybe I did on more that one occasion) but in general I simply wanted to know the why and the how. It's the engineer in me that wants to always know how things work in general. I can follow a plan and I can see the route to get from point A to point B but I have to understand the process to get there. Over the last couple of years I started learning more and more, bought a few books to teach myself why workouts or phases (cycles) were the way they were. It wasn't until last year when we moved that I found the need to probably get more and more information about it. We were training virtually and doing all the workouts on our own which led me to continue my exploration so I could explain to Res why or how we were doing things. Before we would just see our coach in person at least 3 times a week so it took that thinking pressure off our training. It was different last year, we were kind of our own and while we had access to our coach it was different, we didn't want to become a burden to him since we knew he had plenty of other people training for IM Cozumel including himself so we figured we shouldn't bother as much and also it wasn't our first rodeo sort of speaking.

From the beginning of this crazy world called triathlon, we have had the great luck to work with a very experienced coach. It wasn't easy finding him, we went and met probably 3-4 groups and coaches and we never felt like we had found what we were looking for. We were looking for a coach that had the patience to show us the ropes and guide us through our new found hobby, pushed our limits and most importantly out of our comfort zone. We were in a way blessed to find our Coach Mike and our Irontex Family 4 years ago on a cold February morning in Texas. We were such rookies.... And have come long ways from then.

Then I realized a few months ago, that every time I talked to people I often ended up giving advice to others and more often than not I sent them to our coach, or maybe provided some guiding points, but wasn't sure if I was giving the right advice. I was talking to others and giving my thought, but I was simply talking from my experience and what we have learned through our many mistakes. I then thought to myself and talked to Res about what if I got certified as a coach. Going through the process of getting my USA Triathlon Coach I License  and seeing where that would take me. I also talked to my coach,  I look up to him and definitely wanted to get his thoughts and in a way approval for it. It isn't like I wanted to open up my own team or anything, I don't have the time for that, I wanted to do it so I could be in part more knowledgeable while helping others and at the same time having some credentials, other than all our medals and finish lines. My coach agreed that I would be a great candidate to be a coach, at the end of the day, a coach is much more than someone that writes you a plan. For that you can simply use google and you get plans for all prices and flavors. I wanted to use my leadership skills, my analytical mentality and also my willingness to teach and be able to teach others through the process. I didn't do it for the money or the glory... I know this isn't my ticket to retirement any time soon.

Long and behold, I submitted my application to USA Triathlon and I got notified of my acceptance to the clinic which is a weekend of classes. I think the clinic was great. I learned a bunch and a lot of things made a lot of sense. The clinic more than anything is a guideline to future coaches on how to put things together. It's not like I got a secret recipe to write plans or to make athletes faster. It is more to change the mentality from a competitor to a coach where now you have to be someone's advisor, psychologist, friend, plan writer, parent, and so many other things that come with the connotation of the word C-O-A-C-H. They do talk a lot about the psychology aspect of the sport and helped to see things a little different. In any case I'm excited about that new beginning and what will come after that. I'm starting to help a few people and I'm looking forward to helping them with their journeys.

I got notified last week that I had passed all my exams (yes there are multiple) and that I has fulfilled

all the requirements to be a Certified USA Triathlon Coach I. This is really exciting, I'm looking forward to learning a lot and helping others with their dreams and goals. This will be interesting to see where it goes. I don't really have a plan right now on what I want to do with it. I've gotten more questions about it and probably will start "coaching" officially now a few friends. Part of the clinic has to do with the business side of things, I definitely don't know yet if I want to go that route,  that wasn't the reason I did all this. Would I charge? who knows, Would I create a team? maybe not, Would I maybe try to lead some groups around home? maybe... a lot up in the air, hoping the real life work cuts me a break and I can think about all these things. Definitely couldn't have done all of this with the support of my badass wifey who supported me 100% on this crazy idea, I think she likes to call me coach now more.. :) and last but not least, my coach and mentor Mike Blankenship who helped us both achieve so many goals and was an integral part of this whole crazy triathlon ride, without his mentorship and patience through the process and his recommendation I don't think I wouldn't have been able to make it to the clinic.

So if you come across this, and think that maybe you have some questions or simply want to have some guidance on where to start... feel free to reach out to me here. I'll be more than happy to chat with you and offer any info I might have.