Welcome to Florida!

I arrived in Florida late on Tuesday night. It was really sad to leave Paulo and the crew, but I was looking forward to a little R&R (Riding and Relaxation) with Lanny and Kathy. When I got in it was already 11pm and I quickly threw my bike together and went to bed because I had a 5:30am wake up call for a group ride.

I knew that the ride wasn't going to be easy. I hadn't ridden with a group of roadies since last fall and triathlon training doesn't exactly prepare you for sprinting out of corners. But HOLY CRAP was that ride hard! It is supposed to be a 24mph max group, which apparently means the average speed will be 24-25 mph steady for 1:15 after a quick 10 minute warm up. By the end I didn't think my legs were going to turn the pedals for one more minute. My HR was >170 for a large portion of that ride. One of the highlights, though, was halfway through when this guy came up from behind me to sprint to the front. Holy cow, I'm riding with Joe Bonness! He is just the most amazing athlete and I've heard nothing but excellent things about him. I just shake my head when I hear about ANOTHER Ironman that he has done- each one seemingly faster than the last. And at 52 years old he WON the Great Floridian Iron distance race last year. OVERALL. What a machine. Anywho, I couldn't speak I was so out of breath from the ride so I had no time to introduce myself.

Here is a pic of Craig, Lanny and me after the ride



Then once I had some food I decided to get a run in. We had a free afternoon so I did my long run since it's pretty short this week. I got in about 8.3 miles in the 30 minute warm up- 30 minute tempo- 10 minute cooldown workout. Not too bad. I felt like a million bucks coming down from altitude.

Here's Lanny and I before my second workout:



Then we walked over to the pool which is approximately a 2 minute walk from Lanny and Kathy's door. It's practically their private outdoor 25m pool since no one else is ever there! I did a very slow 1.6k workout and was totally spent for the day. Had a great meal and a TON of fine wine and fell into a coma by 10pm

The next day we started with a really nice 3.1k swim. It was the first swim that I did where I felt really fast and full of energy since before camp. Did:
500 warm up
400-300-200-100 descending
200-175-150-125-100-75-50-25-50-75-100-125-150 (descending down)
75 cooldown

Then we went on an airboat trip of the Everglades. SOOOOO much fun!

Here is Kathy and I with our tour guide:



And a new friend I met on the ride:



He inspired my run later yesterday afternoon!

Then last night another one of our roadie friends, Mark, from Cleveland came into town. He plays with the Cleveland Orchestra and they just happen to be playing in Miami this week. So he drove over to spend the night and then to ride with us this morning. We got together for another lovely meal and wine in Naples.

Here's me with the boys (Craig, me, Lanny, Mark)



And after dinner with the ladies (Donna, Kathy, and me hiding behind the Lion)


Then this morning was another big ride. This one was 2 big loops and 3 small loops. The big loops were a challenge because there were lots of turns and the group absolutely SPRINTS back up to 24mph after all the turns. Talk about lactic acid! The small loop was also really fun because at the end of each loop is a sprint. It's just every person for themselves for a few hundred yards. I got passed by everyone almost immediately (and I was going 30mph!) on every loop. But thankfully they all regroup after the sprint before continuing on at 24mph again. It ended up being a much easier ride than Wednesday overall.

And then afterwards we all had coffee and I had a chance to sit and talk to Joe (who was there again today)! Here is the proof:



What a great guy! I am really hoping to be able to meet his wife (who is Slowtwitcher Support Crew) before I leave, but I should have a chance to meet up with both of them again at the DeSoto Triple T. Joe is doing the Triple T as a solo competitor less than 1 week after competing in the Florida 70.3. I think next time I get the chance I need to talk to him about post-race recovery. This guy has it down to a science!

And that's IT for today. No running or swimming. I need a break! We are cooking a nice meal tonight and I'm sure having more wine (my friends are way, WAY too good to me). Tomorrow I need to do my long brick. So I'll ride with the group in Naples and then ride back to Lanny's (they drive) in a 1 hour zone 3 effort before my transition run. Don't make me go back to work!