Winner Winner Chicken Dinner

Sorry Chicken, not everyone is a winner. 

And the winner of the 70.3 giveaway is.....

Karen from Working It Out

Karen with the guess of 6:15:12.  She had to have known about the 10 – 20 mph wind gusts everyone faced on the bike ride.  Everyone’s cycling times were about 20 – 30 minutes slower than they expected due the winds.  If the winds were not a factor it would have been a very close call between everyone’s 6 hourish guesses. 

The high winds really affected my bike time.  She must have also know you could not put a transition mat due to the high amount of rain that delayed (and almost) canceled the swim.  My transition area had almost 1-2 inches of standing water.  I had to live out of my waterproof tri bag.

Karen, please contact me to claim your prize.

I will give a full race report later in the week.  My computer is dead at home so I have to fix it so I can blog more often.

Here is my race break down.

Swim: 41:16 (2:10/100m)

Bike: 3:09:05 (17.77 mph)

Run: 2:29:15 (11:23 pace)

T1: 6:51

T2: 6:23

Overall: 6:32:50

Rank: 1226

Div Pos: 141

Throwback Thursday - I'm on a Boat

Throwback Thursday - I'm on a Boat


Dude, I need a serious sun!


Apparently my mother could afford to take me fishing but could not afford to buy me a haircut.  Dear lord, I look like a member of the Beetles.  The only kick butt part is I am rocking out with my Sesame Street life preserver. 

Ya, she thinks I'm hot!

Look at the expression on the face of the girl behind me fishing.  She got caught on camera checking me out.  Ya, even back then I had a way with the ladies.  (Or maybe she was just laughing at the dork in the Big Bird life preserver and the stupid haircut.  Naahhh...she was checking me out!!).



Plant Porn

Apparently my air plant thinks it is spring.  It is showing its red colors and blooming really late in the year this year.  It must be due to global warming.

Lots of lighting bolts this week.

Sunday’s race temperature keeps dropping.  Rock On!!  They are now predicting temperatures in the low 80s.  The bad news is the likelihood of rain is increasing.  Weather Channel is predicting a 40% chance of rain. Oh well...

FYI - do not forget to enter my 70.3 Ironman giveaway to win a $25 Gift Card to TriVillage.  See my post here

Ultimate Direction Wasp & Wink Hydration Pack Review

Ultimate Direction Wasp & Wink Hydration Pack Review

SOURCE

FYI - do not forget to enter my 70.3 Ironman giveaway to win a $25 Gift Card to TriVillage.  See my post here

For those of you who know me, I am the type of person who researches the heck out of an item before I buy it.  I believe you get what you pay for.  I like to buy once and love the item I buy.  I do not want to go back out and find a replacement because I purchased a PO and when I find an item I love I like to share it with my followers.   

This leads me to my new favorite running item.  The Ultimate Direction Wasp hydration pack.  This is my new security blanket.  I LOVE this hydration pack. 

I spent over a month researching the best hydration packs for running and basically only two names reigned supreme (the Nathan HPL 020 and the Ultimate Direction Wasp & Wink) Both are great packs but the Nathan is made more strictly for street running and has very little (if any) storage space for longer trail runs.  Many people also do not like Nathan’s bite value.  The Nathan is made more for city slickers.  The Wasp is made for runners who like to get dirty. :-)  But the Wasp is still great for City Slicker runners.  Unlike most hydration packs, all three packs are made with runner's specifications in mind. These are runnering packs more than they are hiking packs (although the Wasp and Wink would work for light hiking).

I live and run in Florida where temperatures in the high 90s are fairly normal so I need to keep hydrated.    I also need a pack that is does not make me hotter (temperature not looks – nothing in the world will me look hotter :-) ) and still stay comfortable.  I thought running with a hydration back would be a bear but after several runs with the Wasp I LOVE it.  I do not even notice it is there.  It stays cool.  The straps were comfortable.  The pack rode high on the back so it did not hinder my run or my back.  The back ventilation kept it cool to use.  There two mesh pockets in the front are great for storing GUs, bars, iphones, etc.  They are also really easy to get stuff in and out of.



Her X-mas presant (I love the Xmas lobster jammies)



Bonnie needed a hydration pack for her 50K trail run (see this post) so for Christmas I bought her the Ultimate Direction Wink.  The Wink is the female version of the Wasp.  They are basically identical.  She was a little skeptical of the pack at first but after her 50K run, she now LOVES her pack.  She even suggested I do I review of the packs.  The volunteer filling the water bladders kept asking us the name of our packs because they like them so much.  They said they were the easiest and fastest bladders to fill all day.  They also like that fact that it had some storage.

I will not bore you with all the details of the Wasp because other bloggers have already gone through this trouble.  Below are many great reviews of the Wasp (and the Nathan 020).  They go into the pack in vast detail and will give you all the specifics.  Let me just tell you I LOVE mine and HIGHLY recommend it.

You will probably need to purchase these packs online.  It is hard to fine either the Nathan HPL 020 or Ultimate Direction Wasp/Wink in a brick and mortar store but it is fairly easy online.


FYI - do not forget to enter my 70.3 Ironman giveaway to win a $25 Gift Card to TriVillage.  See my post here

Dont just take my word for it see other people reviews

http://www.runningandrambling.com/2009/06/ultimate-direction-wasp-hydration-pack.html

http://quadrathon.blogspot.com/2010/06/review-ultimate-direction-wasp.html

http://j-tris.blogspot.com/2010/05/ultimate-direction-wasp-hydration-pack.html

http://www.runningandrambling.com/2009/06/gear-review-hydration-packs-summary.html

http://iswimbikerun.wordpress.com/2009/06/29/ultimate-direction-wasp-hydration-pack/


http://www.amateurendurance.com/gears/view/ultimate-direction-wasp/

Review of the Nathan HPL 020

http://www.runningandrambling.com/2010/06/nathan-hpl-020-hydration-vest-review.html

Special Contest in Honor of My First 70.3

I would like to have a contest as a thank you to all of you who take time out of their day to follow my strange humor, my even stranger life, bad spellen, grammar, etc.   

The winner will receive a $25 gift card to www.TriVillage.com.  They offer a wide variety of gear for runners, cycling and swimming.  Their gift certificate FAQ is here.

SOURCE

Here are the rules.

1)   REQUIRED: In the comments of this post you must try to guess my final chip time for the Rohto Florida 70.3 (you cannot guess DNF).  Those who follow my blog regularly have an advantage because they have a good idea how lighting fast and awesome I am. :-)

2)   REQUIRED: You also need to tell me why you spend precious time out of your day to read my insanity and if you want me to continue posting after my first 70.3.

3)   All comments must be placed before the end of day Saturday, May 14^th, 2011 EST.

4)   In the event of a tie, the person who posted first will win.

5)   Only one guess per person is allowed.

6)   Following my blog is not required but it does indicate to me that people actually read this blog and want me to contiunue posting.

D-Day - 7

Exactly 1 week away.  Almost exactly 168 hours.  I will be in one of the last three waves.  I have to watch nearly everyone else swim for almost 1 hour before I can even get into the water.  That will be torture!

Bonnie did the Danskin sprint triathlon on Sunday.  She finished 16^th out of a hundred something.  She was pretty excited and had a great time.  Now she needs to buckle down and start focusing on the Augusta 70.3 she registered for. 

Triston did his first B level ride this weekend.  I did not want to hit it too hard over the weekend so I thought it would be a good time to have him do his first B ride.  He held his own with the group and completed about 40 miles at an 18 mph average.

Would anyone be interested in a little contest?  I was considering giving away a prize in honor the big day.  Would anyone be interested in participating? If so, let me know.  The contest rules would be posted later in the week if I get enough interest.

Last Night’s Fortune Cookie Fortune

And drowning sucks!

So my fortune last night read “Swimming is easy.  Stay floating is hard.”  Wow, thanks!!  I needed to know that right before the race.  So the swim will be easy but staying afloat will be hard.  Well, if I can not float, drowning would suck!!  :-)

12 Days Left

Only twelve days left.  I am starting to get nervous.  I found out I am in one of the LAST three waves.  That sucks.  That means I have less time to finish if something goes wrong.

On Sunday's cycling ride I had a tube EXPLODE on me.  It scared everyone in the cycling line.  This puppy went off loader that a shotgun.  It tore an 8in rupture in the tube.  God, I hope that does not happen in the race.  Luckily no one was hurt. I want to put some miles on the new tube this weekend to make sure it will not happen again.  I have bad luck with tubes.

Saturday was a 3K swim.  The first 1K I had a hard time finding my pace and breathing.  The second and third K was really easy and enjoyable.  I have to remember to start off fast to break from some of the crowd and then slow down and focus on stroke and breathing.  If I can find someone to draft off of I will in a heartbeat.

Sunday was a long brink (46mi bike + 13.1 mile run).  It was as hot as hot as Hades (probably in the low 90 with next to no shade).  It should be as hot during the race.  Luckily I live only about 20 miles from the race site so I am more use to the weather than most running it.  My biggest concern is the heat.  The mileage I know I can do.

Daniel: Hey, what kind of belt do you have?
Miyagi: Canvas. JC Penney, $3.98. You like?

I have not trained in 3 days.  My lunch time has been taken up with self defense training.  It’s a free class and has proven to be “interesting.” I am learning how to stop someone from assaulting me and using common items to defend myself.  Good stuff to know (especially if you are women).  I recommend all women take a self defense class.