I’m back from my long weekend in St. Augustine and it. was. lovely. There was sightseeing and eating and a little running with the Ancient City Road Runners. I love finding a running group when travelling. Runners are so friendly and I had great company for a five mile jaunt with this super nice group.

If you ever get the chance to travel to St. Augustine, I highly recommend it. It was a perfect little Florida vacation and even if you are from out of state, it’s a nice spot. There is a lot to do and explore: ghost tours, historical sites, shopping, the beach, food on food on food….

Before, I get to the tri talk, I need to make sure I give you all  my discount code for the Best Damn Race! This $5 off code is open to all FOUR locations and distances. I’m fairly certain that come winter, a lot of you will want to come visit me in Florida. My code is UNICORN. I love unicorns. Easy peasy.

Ok, now about that whole tri-ing again title. I had to go back into the blog history to see when I last competed in a triathlon. Oh dear. It was last July. And prior to that? Ironman Chattanooga 2014. So yeah, I haven’t been doing much by way of triathlon training or racing. As most of you know, I don’t really love cycling. I’ve had periods of liking it a lot, and periods of hating it a lot. Usually the more I do it, the more I enjoy it. Well, except for those hot six hour long ride days.

Lately, I’ve been having a lot of triathlon FOMO. Which is strange because I was almost to the point of selling my bike for a minute. Fortunately, the race Gods were smiling upon me and I was offered the chance to race in September at the Brett Robinson Alabama Coastal Triathlon. The race offers a sprint, which is more of a first timers event with a shortened  swim (300 meters) a 10 mile bike and a 2 mile run. I felt that the sprint was a bit too short and I had a fair amount of time to prepare for the international distance (1.5km swim, 40k bike, 6 mile run). And by prepare, I mean actually ride my bike again.

I began “seriously” training for this last week. I have been swimming on Monday and Wednesday so that was handled but the bike was another story. The plan was to go to strength training on Tuesday (Ow ow ow.) and then spin on Thursday. I’d follow that up with a 15 mile ride on Friday and a six mile run off the bike. Needless to say, that bike ride was humbling. I believe I was passed by someone on a beach cruiser. Kidding. But dang, I have lost what little speed I did have.

Granted, my run off the bike felt fantastic! But that’s what happens when you can’t quite ride hard enough to feel worn out. Only warmed up.

In some ways, I feel like I’m starting all the way over. Sure, I’m an ironman. I am also a coach. I 100% know what to do. I just need my body to catch up. I’ve got about five weeks to get it together. Who knows, maybe this will lead to more tri’s?

Here’s my plan for this week:

Monday – master’s swim – CHECK
Tuesday – run/strength training
Wednesday – master’s swim
Thursday – spin class
Friday – ride/run brick
Saturday – long ride/run brick
Sunday – track

I’ll follow up next week to show you all what I did and how I did. I see naps and an achy bottom in my future…