Monday

I know it's been over a week since my last post but I have been at the beach having a great time. I went to Destin, Fl for my annual family vacation. My brother and I got in some great training in Florida. I know that vacation is usually a rest week, but we both have a big race this coming weekend in Alabama. We are both competing at Nationals, which will be Ben's first National Championship race. Almost everyday, we would wake up and get a workout over with early, then later in the day head to the pool to swim. It was so hot there, so we had to run or bike in the morning when it wasn't as hot. We always swam in the afternoon. We got to hang out on the beach in between workouts, eat some really good seafood every evening, and hang out with the entire family which doesn't happen that often.

Some of the workouts we did while in Florida felt epic, even though they were not that hard (in normal conditions). The first full day I did my second longest run of the year, and in the heat there, it was an epic run. I managed to hold under 7:10 pace (which is about my normal long run pace), but I just felt like I melted on the run. I laid out 4 bottles of Gatorade endurance to make sure that I stayed hydrated, which did help. We did a harder bike ride on Tuesday, and then a harder run on Wednesday which was equally as hard as that long run.

With my second ITU race in my life coming up this weekend, I have been on my new Mercury road bike more than ever, and I have missed having a road bike. I have had so much fun on it. Sure, I have loved my tri bike, but this road bike is just a little different and it is fantastic.

And this week is great for tv viewing. The Track and Field World Championships started on Saturday and will continue until this coming Sunday. Versus and NBC has live and replay coverage everyday. It is really exciting to watch the best in the World, do what it is that they are good at. For example, the 100 m dash was last night, and Tyson Gay and Usain Bolt went head-to-head for the first time in a while. Bolt ran a WR by over a tenth of a second and Gay ran a new AR of 9.71. It was crazy to watch. www.letsrun.com has complete coverage and tv viewing schedules for the Championships.

That's about it for now.

T-Bird