6 more days...

...until Ironman 70.3 Cancun. My -almost- last tri of the season. I say almost because I MIGHT do one more, the St. Peters Rec-Plex Fall Tri on Oct 5th. It's a sprint one: 500yS/21MB/5MR. I did it last year and it's a nice way to end the season. But we'll see, kind of undecided yet.

I see some of the bloggers I read have been working on their 2009 race schedule, which makes me think I should as well, even though I have been thinking about 1 or 2 here and there. I will come up with a list soon.

I also see some bloggers write less and less....(including me) as the tri season ends I can tell triathletes are fading out. On one hand I feel I need a break, months and months of training feel heavy and our bodies are asking for some rest, some bad food and some beer :)

I miss waking up in the morning, looking outside and see daylight, you know?

On the other hand I know after a couple of weeks I will be missing the tri season big time.

My plan right now is to focus on Cancun, have a good race, enjoy it and have fun. We're staying in Mexico for about a week after the race... BUT... things are not over yet for me. I still have the Chicago Marathon... and it's only 3 weeks after 70.3! Wait, before you say how crazy (or dumb) this guy is for registering for these 2 races, let me explain how this happened. Last year, after my first full marathon (December 08 - Memphis, TN) I decided to do one marathon a year, so after Chicago opened registration I went ahead and registered. A few months later, the familia and I were looking to do a vacation, we wanted to go to some beach. Initially we thought FL, looked for prices, they were kind of high so I decided to check Mexico thinking 'what if'... well... I was right. I ended up finding cheaper flights. So in the process of buying the tix it hit me.

PC's brain: "Dude, there's a 70.3 in Cancun!!!" Checked with the wife and the cool, supportive and understanding wife she is, she said: "do it, might as well!" YES!!!!!!

Wait.... the tri is 3 weeks after Chicago... D'oh! But I thought, I could do Chicago any other year (I'm about 5 hrs drive away) and I don't know when I would be able to go to Cancun again, so I registered. And after months of training and some of those months I have been working with Coach, we (Coach and I) decided I still should and could do Chicago even though my priority is Cancun. Obviously I won't be PR'ing in Chicago, still it'll be great to run with so many people.

I've checking the weather for Cancun and man oh man, it's gonna be H O T !

For race day Sun Sept 21 it says: "Very humid with periods of clouds and sunshine. High 88 - Heat index: 105" Wow... it's gonna be interesting.

Good luck to all of you racing next weekend!

PC

Lake Saint Louis Oly triathlon race report and more...

This past weekend (Saturday) I raced LSL (Lake St. Louis) Oly tri.... and allow me to say it went GREAT.. better than expected.... this was supposed to be a B race but I ended up PR'ing :)

Fantastic weather.... in the low 70s.... excellent day for a tri - even though later in the day it got hot.... and humid.

The swim - 0.9 miles
Started feeling a bit tired.... I've been thinking about maybe all the 2008 (and part of 07) training has been building up and I was starting to get tired... and I realized it was more mental than physical. My last swim I felt tired.. heavy arms.. etc... I remember telling one of my friend's right before we started: "I feel like I'm not ready for this tri"
The siren went off and we started.... felt really good and very relaxed.... after probably the first 300 meters I found this guy and I drafted him.. almost the whole swim... AGAIN! I did the exact same thing the previous weekend at the Chicago Oly tri. Felt strong and towards the end I passed that guy and finished hard.
- Swim time: 26min 06sec Swim pace: 1:48/100m (2nd fastest swim in my AG)

T1 time: 1min 52sec

The bike - 24.8 miles
The bike went great. Felt awesome so I decided to hammer it.
Everything worked out perfect... this time the bike shoes on the pedals were fine.
- Bike time: 1hr 11min 38sec Avg MPH: 20.8! My fastest evah!! :)

T2 time: 1min 2sec

The run - 6.2 miles
I was a bit more tired than usual after the bike because I went faster than usual but I thought what the heck.... I grabbed water at each water station and kept going. Close to the finish line I heard all the people, a few people I knew started cheering and I sprinted to the finish line, which was up hill - ouch!
Run time: 47min 24sec Run pace: 7:38min/mile

Hats off to the organizers and race director, who I actually know. He did an amazing job. This year's race was even better than last's.

Total time: 2hrs 28min 2sec (My last year's time was 2hrs 44min)

AG: 7/34 - OA: 63/327

In other news... Today Coach had me doing an 1hr 15min run in HR zone 1!!!! The whole 1hr 15min! It was cra-zy! Never done it before.... she's so funny, she said: "Embarrassingly slow"
I came home after work got ready and started to pour... bad! Lightning and all. Decided to go to the gym and do it on a treadmill.... the first 30min I was at 15min/mile! LOL and my HR zone was still reaching zone 2, so I had to SLOW DOWN.... it was actually kind of funny. I did it, done.. finished... no mas!!!

(with announcer's voice): Aaaaaaaaand now.. iiiiiiiiit's time to think about IM 70.3!
18 days and counting!

PC