OK guilty as charged - no blogging for what seems forever (and it IS forever) but I promise I started this blog post over a month ago!!!!
At the end of March I flew to the US to attend one of Jen's training camps in Tucson, AZ. The long trip was definitely worth it. I had great time.
I flew into Los Angeles and drove to Carlsbad that afternoon. I was staying the night with the most awesome hosts Charisa and her husband Steven. They looked after me so well that I cannot wait to return the hospitality soon. That evening Charisa and I had a dinner in a great Mexican in Carlsbad with Marit. Even though by then I was exhausted with a huge jetlag I had great time with the ladies. Also the following morning I had lovely breakfast with Marit - I loved spending time with her - she is so amazing.
The Tuscon camp was great. I finally got to meet a lot of blog friends and also some new friends. Also I was really looking forward to meeting my coach Jen The camp was tough for me. I've been quite sick in March and without too much training done I was not sure how prepared i was for it. But the camp was awesome. Climbing Mt. Lemmon was absolutely amazing and I cannot believe I got all the way to the top. The running routes were also amazing and swimming in the open air pool was such a treat in early April.
Since coming back from Arizona my training has been going OK (although as I write this I have skipped couple of workouts due to sore throat/slightly high temperature, ugh). Couple of weeks ago I raced my first triathlon of the year called the Swashbuckler. The race takes plane in the New Forest, the beautiful English national park. Even though New Forest is pretty close to us I have never been there and it is so beautiful. The race organisation was second to none and the field was pretty strong. Quite a few of my friends were racing (the male winner in fact) and it was great to catch up pre and post race with them. The race distance is "half-ironman-ish". The difference is that bike is shorter - 50 miles and run is longer - 14 miles. Run is quite lumpy as well. Because of the odd distance it is difficult to compare it to other races but my bike average speed is definitely a PR and run was close to PR. You really do feel that extra mile on the run. The swim was in a very tidal river with strong current and so although my swim time was nowhere near my PR it was bang on what I was expecting. So I was really pleased with the race although such strong field made me hungry to work more and harder and start being competitive in my age gr op. That is something new to me as up until now I just wanted a PR. Now I want to race well and compete.
So that's the news - you haven't really missed much. This weekend Shaun and I are off to Wales. Shaun is doing inaugural Ironman Wales in September and this weekend the organisers have put on an open water swim, bike SAG rides of different distances and marathon and half-marathon, all on the course of IM race. So for Shaun it is a great opportunity to recce the courses and for me a perfect way to do my long weekend workouts in a good company.
Have a good weekend everyone!
