We just returned from our Spring Break trip to St. Croix. The weather was nothing short of perfect. Sunny every day with highs averaging 85F and lows at night averaging 73F. Everyday was spent at the beach with the kids where we snorkeled and swam offshore about 1,000 meters to get in my swim practice. Lots of sun block was required and kept me from getting burned the entire trip.
In addition, I managed to get in about 4-5 bike rides, 2 long rides at 50 miles around the island. I got to experience the 70.3 course and "The Beast" which has a 27.5 degree slope and gets the heart pumping. The head winds on the south side of the island biking east averaged 25-30 MPH. This was very challenging and made me realize that if Lanzarote was anything like St Croix that we are all going to be in for a very very long bike ride - thinking that under 7 hours will be a challenge. Nutrition remained a challenge as well as I threw up my lunch due to the heat factor. This was an issue for me in Australia and thinking that I need to switch over to 100% liquid nutrition for the race. Hammer has a product called "Sustained Energy" and "Heed" that I have been testing out - with some success - need to really get this dialed in over the next 5 weeks and make it part of every workout that exceeds 2 hours.
I also managed to get in several long runs that exceeded 10 miles. In particular I managed to get in about a 15 mile run through the mountainous trails of the St Croix rain forest. This was a very difficult course, but really quite beautiful. Thinking that I need to begin entering more of the ultra running trail events. The run will be the best part of my game, with the bike being a close second. Still have plenty of training time left.
This weekend is new Orleans 70.3 - which I'm expecting to be a flat fast course. I'm hoping that this will be a great training day to work the fast twitch muscles and develop some speed for IM Lanzarote. really must focus on the total package over the next 4 weeks as I need to be peaking with my hours, at least 20 hours per week for the next 2 weeks and then begin my taper for Lanzarote. Nutrition, rest and focused training will be the goal over the next 14 days. My work schedule is going to be rather hectic and stressful - so stress management will be a focus as well.
Getting to sleep by 9PM this evening to catch a 5:45AM flight tomorrow. I hope that we get good news from the vet tomorrow about Frankie. We're all concerned and hoping that he has a speedy recovery from his surgery, poor little weenie dog.
Here's to the next 2 weeks, on all fronts!
Signing off.........
