July is gone

What a month, this just flew by. Had great things and had bad. Had a good sprint triathlon and a great visit from my son. Have not see him since my first year of deployment, when I took leave and went to San Diego. Two weeks we did what ever her wanted and it did include a new tattoo. We planned that day for bout 4 years and finally got to do it. Although we wanted to get his first together, his mom got him his first for his 18th birthday. Guess he just couldnt wait on me. All good we had our day in the shop and as planned we got the same thing. He picked it and I went with it. Little different in placement and size. My dog Ticket got sick in one day and spent a few days at the Vet. Never did make it out of there and it was the hardest thing I had to do was tell them to take her. I went to see her one last time before leaving her for good. I thought about all the times that dog laid with me. When I was sick or after a hard workout when I could hardly move, she never left me sometimes for days at a time. I couldnt leave her! Told the Vet and laid with her petting her head as she left. Just glad it was after Kane left so he didnt have to deal with it, he just had to go through the same with his dog.

So now I'm 4 days off from another race and somewhere around 81 from Beach 2 Battleship 140.6. I was gonna take the B2B pretty easy, only had 2 goals at it. One was to better my swim and to finally run a sub 4hr marathon portion of it. As I was with Ticket, thinking how strong she is. I made up my mind I am gonna run the hell outta that race. Now training is going to a new level for the next 11 weeks and I am fine with it. Not that I wasnt training hard, now  I have new goal. New goal now is to go under a 10:30:00 for the B2B. I need to take off 12 minutes off my PR, where Im gonna take that time off is another mission. Figure it will have to come off the run and swim, not sure if I can take wuch more off the bike. Although Saturday the 11th will show a lot! Nadine and I are gonna do the "Big Ass Workout" I found in a article and planned 2 more of them till Oct. 20. Glad this month is over, not sure I could have handled much more of it and Hoping Aug. is much better. Starting the month off with the Siesta Beach Oly Triathlon, once again my first Oly in 4 years. Gonna be interesting.

Naples Sprint Triathlon RR

Being my first sprint triathlon in 3 years, gotta say I had a blast at this race. So much different the the long course, it was a little shock to the body. I had a good feeling about this race going into it and the day ended up just about where I thought it would. I could have been a little faster I think but in all was a good effort on my half. First off I have never raced with so many people that I know, made it kinda a weird day from the rip. Swim was straight across the lake at 1/4 mile, split my Garmin when I came out of water and it said 6:13. Timing mat was at T1 a ways off had me at 7:08. I was 4th outta water, that was cause I gave a spot to this guy over half way there. We was shoulder to shoulder and I wasnt gonna give but his splash from his arm kept messing with my right side breathing. Backed off a bit and tucked in on his feet for the rest of the way. Bike was odd, had a bunch of speed bumps on it. Not the steep ones but ones that roll easy over. Had a issue with the first one, my left aero pad for my elbow came loose soon as I hit it. Almost fell and elbow kept slipping out. What it cause was me not being able to pull back on areo bars, like I do so often when I need to ride hard. Bike was 10 miles and split was 28:25 , that was with the timing mat on the back side of T2 . The mats ( or mat) was only in 1 place so they kinda added in transition time along to either the swim or bike. Run was 2 laps around the lake. Came outta T2 chasing the same guy I was making time on , on the bike. We went through T2 together and I was chasing him for bout half of the 3 mile run but after the first mile split at a 6:42 I wasnt sure if I could hold that. I should have went harder longer on the run for sure, looking back at it now. Run split was 20:28 for the 3 miles. Total time was a 56:02 , Finished 5th overall and 1st in age group. 

 In off the Bike, love the new 360 Degree Athlete kits Natalia got for us. They fit way better then the one piece did.

 Mark came down from Tampa and got 2nd place in the 40+ Clyd. category , Nadine won 3rd place in her age group and me 1st in age group.

Next is the Siesta Beach Triathlon , its a OLY distance on Aug. 4th. Natalia , Laura and me will be racing, cause she got with Multirace and got us a few free spots to race. Nadine although she wants to is gonna sit this one out but will be there for sure. 

Next few events

Tomorrow we are going to the Freedom swim, its a 1.5 mile OWS across the Peace River. Should be interesting with all the rafts and parties that are going on. For sure will be back to update this with some pictures and a swim report. Sunday is the Naples Sprint Triathlon, gonna be a good day I got that feeling. Mark will be down from Tampa and a few friends will be joining us too. Just got word today that my sponsor got us into the Siesta Beach OLY Tri on Aug. 4th. Gonna be good for Nadine before we hit NC and the Beach 2 Battleship. Training is coming around pretty good, bike is doing ( or coming around) well. Did mile repeats this morning with a avg. pace of 6:38 followed by a 40 mile bike in 1:54. I really think adding these 4 new workouts to this IM training plan is gonna make the race for me. I have 2 goals for the B2B, 1 is to get as close to a hr swim as I can and 2 finally a sub 4 hr marathon on the course. I been flirting with the 4hr mark but keep missing it by just a few minutes. First things first and its the swim tomorrow, not worried about it just gonna have fun and use it as a training OWS !