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…

Mexican Vacation with an Ironman

IronTex Athletes ready to take on Cozumel

Part of the reason why we have been so quiet this year in terms of posts other than being busy adjusting to our new place, it was because we have been training for Ironman Cozumel. Two years ago when we volunteered for Arizona and after talking to a couple of friends we knew it was going to be our 2015 A race.  When we came back from Arizona last year, we knew we wanted to sign up. To our surprise a couple of our IronTex teammates had already been talking about it and before we knew it we were having a team meeting at Fuzzy's after a practice morning to talk with our coach about it.  It was so appropriate to talk about Mexico while eating tacos. What started with a handful of us ended with a total of 19 friends racing and total of 35+ counting the cheering crew. It was going to be an epic IronTex Cozumel takeover. Definitely one of the largest groups out there.

Had to have some fun on those long swims

summer riding around NY State

Anyways, the year went by with the typical training. We did our Challenge AC 70.3 and we then got with our coach to set up goals and a plan for Cozumel. We knew we had a tough one since one of the toughest things of Ironman training is the mental training. The physical is doable but it takes your mind to places where you don't even know you could go   We have had a taste of it during our IMAZ training when it was just both of us training since the majority of the team didn't have a late season race like us.  We are happy to report that we manage it quite well. A few things we did differently this year were getting together with our local cycling club. This served a dual purpose. We were able to ride with people and also helped us push a little our limits since we knew we had a group to keep up with. It made us definitely stronger in that department. The swim front we got lucky and a pool opened up 1 mile from our house. This meant no excuses and our focus was to do the prescribed swims. Proof is that we improved a lot on our swim. So our training was just the usual swim, bike, run, eat, rest, work, repeat. We didn't have any major setbacks. No injuries, illnesses or any other issues. It was rather enjoyable for a change. We were seeing good progress each week and our bodies were responding to what the schedule was calling for.

Our trip:

From the beginning a group of us wanted to be in Cozumel but didn't want to do the resort type of racecation. After doing Atlantic City where we stayed at a house we knew we wanted to go that route. We did our homework and found a company through a friend that lives there. Enjoy Cozumel is the name and they rent house/condos at reasonable costs. We had selected a house for 8 people near the center but during the summer the owners sold it. The company gave us a couple of options and we ended up at Villa Lloyd. Couldn't have asked for a better place. Ocean view, 3 bedrooms/3 baths. Everything we wanted and we had access to the ocean too simply by jumping off the dock. On top of that we didn't want to cook for ourselves or each other. We also found a chef service for all of us. Super recommend Emily and her team at Cozumel Chef if you are interested on something like this. Worked out great, they helped us plan our meals and the chef who was a local was awesome. So our trip planning took a few months which were totally worth the effort. 

Amy sending us off... good times

Getting to Cozumel was not a direct flight from NY. We used miles and also had a return from Mexico City which made things a little harder, however we got to see Amy Dixon who was working a gig for United at Newark the morning we were leaving and she sent us off on our trip, she is simply amazing and such an inspiration (you can learn more and support her at the link above).  Then we had a short stop in Miami to visit a friend and we were on our way. The entire flight (at least most of it) was ironman related. Was pretty cool to see the excitement on everyone's face. 

Arrival at Cozumel 
After doing customs and all that stuff we got with our house manager and we followed him to the house. We were then settled. The transportation is tricky but there are vans that take you everywhere. 

Pre-Race

Packet pick up and all that was pretty easy. The convention center is the headquarters, bike transport is a few blocks from it so it works great. By Thursday (thanksgiving) we were set with packets, bikes and all.

Minions and Coach Gru take on Cozumel

Friday morning was the practice swim in Chakanaab. We got to see the swim exit and got to see everyone too. Then we participated in an underwear run. It was a Texas team that put it together and they had gotten together with an organization similar to the humane society so the proceeds were going to them. What better than running in your underwear for a good cause. Our team decided to do a Minions themed run, about 25 minions took over the run that's all you could see. It was a blast. Then we were off to lunch back in the house with our chef :). 

Saturday rolled in and we knew we wanted to keep it slow that day. All activities were done by Friday so Saturday was bike drop off, bag drop off and back to the house to rest. 

Race day

Sunday alarm went off at 3:10. We had a pick up scheduled for 4:00 am. We got our rituals done and off we were. First in transition, only first place of the day. We were mostly calm. Transition opened, check the bikes and everything else, group picture and off to the shuttle to the swim start.

Swim start (by Puli)

I knew I was going to be in the 1:10-1:20 corral (rolling start) I saw some friends from the team and decided to go with them in the 1:00-1:10 swim. I knew I would be in the back of that pack but didn't care I was starting with friends. I ended up swimming for a good chunk with a friend and I ended up with a 1:17 more like 1:13-1:14 because I almost couldn't get up the stairs. So I was was right on target with my swim. Left transition with 2 of the guys that I started the swim with. So it was good to see them leaving too. Transition was quicker than most of my IM transitions. I was able to get a kid and got him to do what I needed. Perks of speaking Spanish I guess. 

The bike.... Windy bike

so happy to be ready to get off the bike

We all knew the bike was going to be windy. The wind forecast was for later in the day so my strategy was try to get as much of it done before it sucked. Lap 1 I felt great, caught one of the guys and 3 of the girls from the team. One of the girls and I leap frogged almost the entire ride with me in the front for a good chunk of it (should've left her lead the way more) I was right on target at 1:54 the first lap. Got into town excited and started the second one. I knew as soon as I passed the bike start that it was starting to pick up, back into the wind and it was blowing. Got to town and I was at 2:15 for that lap. Then by lap 3 the wind started even earlier. Then I knew all I needed was to get through those miles and back into town to get the run going. Head down and put the hammer down as much as I could without blowing and trying to leave some for the run. Well that lap sucked, 2:30 for a total bike of 6:41. Far from my 6:00 goal (yet 2nd overall in our team of 19). All I kept thinking was about Res and her bike. I knew she would be hurting. Back into town the energy takes you in, the locals are awesome and seeing kids tell you "si se puede" (Yes you can) while cheering you gives you what you need to get through the last 6 miles. 

Transition was again faster than usual. I got one kid and he helped me get everything done. 

Run

Oh the run. I left transition and the legs were somewhere between mile 80 and 112. I tried to jog a little but no response. I then started executing our plan to walk to the first station at the first km. I got some water, sunscreen and off I went. Started jogging a little then Will Vargas (brother's ex coach) passed me and I chatted with him for about 2 miles. He was keeping a nice pace but I could not hold it. He was on his 2nd loop. I had 23 more miles. Then I was walking and Jeff went by me. He had been behind me for the entire bike so we started intervaling 

1 mi/1:00. We did the first half in no time 2:40ish I was actually thrilled that I could go 5 hr and then have a 13:00 IM. Well that faded quick. We both started to feel the legs and everything else heavy. He couldn't jog because of his belly. I couldn't jog because the legs simply wouldn't respond. So we said lets just keep a constant 14:30' fast walk. We managed that at times. By mile 23 he was fading so I made him pick up a little jog to wake him up. Mile 24 and 25 were a blur, we saw coach Paul by Señor Frogs and he gave us that last boost to take it home. Then I told Jeff I was going in, I had told him otherwise earlier since he had 179 and was doing the Blazeman roll finish, I just got pumped and went in. Took my flag out, and into the chute. I couldn't believe going sub 15 much less 14:13 on my 4th ironman. I saw Jeff roll in and waited for him to hug him. We had done it!

Waving the flag and hearing my name correctly for the first time!!!! :) 

Seeing Matt at the finish was pretty awesome!

We got our medals and stuff and Bob (another teammate) was there too. We hanged out until almost everyone finished. I was able to wait for Res and gave her her medal. She broke into tears after having a sub15 day too killing it with a 5:30 marathon that I can only dream of at this point. I was super proud of her. She had an amazing day too that I will let her tell you and post of her blog. 

We then went to cheer our last teammates in and saw our last teammate finish at 16:57 which was super impressive. Her first and she managed a tough day like she had done it many times before. We had seen her and her husband do their first tri 2 years ago and now we were cheering her on at the chute of her first ironman, super proud of her too.

While this one was our 4th ironman it holds a special place in our racing, it was our first training alone without our team, learned a lot about ourselves through the months of training and also learned that sometimes having team support is great and we counted with them for our virtual accountability at the end of the day it is up to both of us to get it done. We held each other accountable, helped each other pushed through tough days and breakthrough workouts and also simply as moral support when we needed it. We love our teammates, miss them and wished sometimes we were training with them. Now we are a little more independent and have managed to get our training done, love our training grounds, our bike rides are seldom repeated, and our pool and trails are simply amazing. 2016 is turning to be a great year for both of us in the endurance sports world, more to come out in the next couple of weeks, you might have seen it already on our social media, but there is more to it coming.

Until then... hope you enjoyed it and hope to share more exciting news soon. 

Running for a good cause

If you have seen some of our posts on twitter or Instagram you know that we are lab parents. We have rescued 2 beautiful black labs from the DFW Lab Rescue, a local non-profit rescue group in the Dallas-Fort Worth area. We rescued our first lab 6 years ago, a few months after we rescued her they were holding a 5k. A fundraiser to help with the costs of running the organization covering vet costs, and other cost associated with this great cause. What is best about it is that it was our first 5k. We knew we could run, simply signed up and maybe “trained” for a couple of weeks, running a few blocks around the house. Race day came up we were just happy to run with our new dog. She was so happy pulling me the whole time and she probably carried the heavy lifting a good 2 miles, but then we jogged back and finished our first 5K together.

Last year we had to put Anise down after finding out she had a spleen tumor that had metastasized in her lungs and heart. We found out after a race and before our Ironman. We waited until after that big race and we went ahead and rescued our JayJay. We fell in love with her, and she did the same with us, making her self comfortable on our bed when the foster mom came to our home visit.

DONE!!!!!

sprint to the finish line

Anyways we have done their 5K a few times, this year being the 3rd year and they had it two weekends ago. We ran it as usual, Felipe leaving us in the dust, he has gotten podiums before there so he likes it, and JayJay and I stayed in the back with the rest of the puppies. Once again Felipe got his podium and JayJay and I managed to finish it, she struggled a little but I gave her the motivation she knows now which is she will see her “papa” and she started running again looking for him. He was waiting for us at the finish line (as usual) and when she saw him she just started sprinting towards him.

Ice Bath anyone??? feels good...not sure why my parents complain so much when they do it

The funniest thing was when we were walking afterward JayJay saw a kiddie pool that was full of ice and water with water bottles and she didn’t think twice and got in it for a nice ice bath. I guess dogs need that too… She didn’t complain as much as I normally do when I get in one… She looked rather happy.

Scout wrapping up his first 5K

We also got to share it with a couple of of Tri-ing friends and their pups, most of us have that in common so we run with our 4 legged kids every once in a while, since we don’t have little humans to push around in strollers we let the 4-legged ones pull us around :).

So with that we did one more 5k, but is a 5k that holds a close place to our heart for many reasons. Like I said before is the very first one, the one that got us off the couch, our beloved Anise who crossed the rainbow and our JayJay who has been a great dog and we love her to death.

  

our Anise on her last road trip to Jersey

Third time is a charm... Well sort of

OK, so it's been a couple of weeks already since we finished our third 70.3 Ironman. In a sense it was a race that we were kind of looking forward to but not really if it makes sense. Yup.... Confusing we know. Maybe you have seen posts from Res on her blog about our motivation and how bad of a job we were doing keeping up with our training schedules. So that's the "not really" part of it. We felt a bit unprepared, and maybe were underestimating the distance. It kind of happens... But don't let that fool you it is still a big race and a long day. We went in with our training as much as we got in, one thing for sure we were rested. We did our long workouts and hit them hard but we felt strong on them, long swims were great, long rides didn't really bothered us so much and the runs.... Well the runs suffered but we had some miles in the running shoes that made us think we were going to be OK.

The week leading to it was of course crazy busy with work. We didn't do our typical day off before the race. We typically leave Friday as a day off and since the race is on Sunday it leaves us Saturday to "rest" more. Well... If you know what happens at the Expo day then you know you do anything but rest. So our approach this year was leave the house on Saturday, go in to check-in, eat, rack bikes and leave... It actually worked out pretty good in our opinion. It eliminates the amount of walking you do trying to walk to places you don't really need to be at. Also it helped with the nerves, which were pretty high due to the weather conditions we were going to have so the less time we spent at the expo and around athletes the better for us... Yes... Antisocial mode helps sometimes.

We were able to see the coach, he gave us some last minute weather related tips and off we went. We went to the hotel with K (our Sherpa of choice for the weekend). She wasn't doing the race since she got sick but still offered to come down and help us with cheering, and also for the drive back home after the race. Anyways we went to the hotel and stayed there until the next Sunday morning. Did the usual pre race stuff.

Sunday came, we enjoyed the benefits of being in the club village this year. It is pretty nice to have that since we have a place to camp near transition. We just got there while the team people got ready. We chatted a bit but not much, usually we are not too chatty without being rude.  There were a lot of nerves because of the weather which at that point we had nothing else we could do other than let Mother Nature take her course with our day.

This year we our waves were different than last year, Res went first then Puli. The swim was rough, chop and current took at beat on us and it was not fun to see people taken out as we were getting off the dock. The bike while uneventful we were being very cautious as the roads where wet. A little of a tail wind on the way out and cross wind on the way back made it for a fun bike. Galveston is an out and back bike which it's cool because you see everyone and we saw pretty much the whole team. Getting off the bike we hit the run. Puli didn't feel well, he was getting belly cramps after probably taking too much salt water on the swim, Res keep pushing forward with her awesome steady pace. 

It was a great day. Puli managed to have a PR on this course and a sub 6:00 70.3 with a 5:59. Res managed a 6:40 which wasn't a PR but knowing our load over the next months a number she can work with since we don't want to get injured nor push too much too early as the year will be long and this is just the beginning. We definitely have learned to read our bodies, our fitness and endurance are there, we need to put longer hours and get some speed but other than that we have a tough couple of months coming up and want to do well without breaking apart.

We were also glad to spend time with almost all our teammates and our cheering crowd who were awesome. One more for our 70.3 distance... Again one of our fave races and we will probably do it again, being so close to home. 

Time to get motivated so we can get the peak of our Challenge Atlantic City training in and work on our weak points. Other than that... Let's continue having some fun. :)

PS. Even if the weather is overcast... Do not forget sunscreen! Those sun rays will still burn you and we want to continue playing outside so let's avoid the risk of cancer.