Tucson Arizona

Sat 8/15/2009


So…it took us 2 and ½ days of driving with 2 cats and the dog to arrive in Tucson, and 2 days to unpack and move in. The movers unloaded and unpacked everything that I could find a place for on Wed. We spent the rest of Wed afternoon and Thursday putting away and emptying other boxes. I think everything is unpacked that is going to get unpacked.

My aunt , Helen and her daughter Judy and husband Phil and my daughter Kate all came down Friday afternoon from Phoenix and we went out to dinner last night at La Fuentes. Old Tucson – wonderful Mexican food and mariachi band. Our celebratory entry into Tucson and Judy and Phil’s 46th wedding anniversary. My aunt will be 90 in December and we will be here for her Birthday celebration!

Life is good…the guy from the gas company that hooked our gas up on Wed is a cyclist…saw my Cervelo t-shirt and bikes and figured out he would test a Fla girl out on a mountain ride Sat morning… I survived and got invited back again for tomorrow Sun am ride.

Ah…2.5 hours – of climbing. ( I am out of shape) A 7 mile climb, and a mountain pass. Mountain lions, wild pigs (javalina) coyotes , jack rabbits and snakes. Its like the wild west. This is a very cycling friendly town with lots of bike lanes and for the most part polite drivers….and the best part..after 2.5 hours – my clothes were still only slightly damp…WOW…no dripping sweat in the eyes…. Lots of runners and bikers out early in the morning. We started at 5:30 and were done by 8 am.

Now I know why we Fla people always get our butts kicked on the bike by the Western state folks. These are cyclists out here – even when people are modest and say they aren’t very good. I was huffing and puffing and Ryan was talking away not=2 0even breathing hard…hmmm I have some work to do before I try Mt Lemon…9200 ft…27 miles of climbing.

There are mountains everywhere you look – very humbling and the stars at night look to be close enough to touch. Our house is off of big sky road – Big Sky Ranch – and it is aptly named. At night the big dipper is huge and so bright you can actually see the stars twinkle.

Cooking steaks on the grill tonight for neighbors…Norm has a couple of good leads on jobs already and I start Monday at Tucson Eclectic.

Hope all is going well…


Pam

Great Cartoon

No Fly Bikes

4/30/09 .. This is the text message that I received enroute from Pam & Nina's trip to the St. Croix Half IM , 2009... Ja Mon!



"We be climbin' da beast on foot mon. Sitting next to cock fighting rooster mon! Nina gonna let loose in SJ airport.

Dey fly the rooster, but no fly bike Mon!"

Ultimately the bikes arrived in St. Croix...

Miami International Tri 2009

MIT 3/15/09

Photos - Click here

Pilates and You

Ever considered the serious stretching & core strength benefits of Pilates as it relates to Tri?

See Doug's experience with one local Pilates Master at the following link


Pilates Article

Early Season Form

Here we are in Mid January already. Training has started for everyone with early season races, and if it hasn’t quite started for you yet it can’t be far off.

The Tri K 2 team has some stellar results already this year with the St Pete Classic 10k road race and the Clearwater ½ Marathon and 5 miler this past weekend. Wendy Johnson put on a great race in the St Pete Classic. Scott Vaughn posted a big PR by more than 3 minutes and was 12/32 in his age group with a time of 47.41!!! 3 min in a 10 K is huge. I think he is at the start of an A-1 race year!

Doug posed a time of 40.13 (5th) in the 35-39 age group with a perfect 5 k spilt of 20.06, after a HARD week of training, Val ran a 1.14 with her heal pain, a SISU effort. Thanks to Dror’s advice ,yours truly hit my goal of breaking 50 min, with a little help from Scott and Doug, thanks guys!!.

Jose Baez and Jose Baez Jr both ran the Clearwater ½ Marathon and 5 miler respectively. Jose posed a time of 2.24 for the ½ and was glad to be somewhere warm instead of freezing in Chicago…at least he thought this was warm. It’s all relative, the rest of us are freezing here. KUDOS to Jose Jr, who posed a time of 34.50 for the 5 miler, avg. pace 6.58. He was 9th overall male and won his age group. Congratulations to all of you!

Doug and I proved out the benefits of OUTSPOKINS RETUL bike fit on Sunday with our first long ride 4+ hours on the Suncoast with some friends and training partners. The RETUL is like the MasterCard commercials – Priceless--added power in the hills and on the flats, pretty amazing. I saw a lot of Doug’s back wheel from a distance as he must have had a motor on his P3.

Happy Belated Birthday to Jodi who decided to go freeze in NY for her special day. Lots of good training rides and runs coming up soon. The Chilly Willy sponsored by Outspokin is Feb 8 so mark your calendars.

Now is the time to make sure that all those nagging injuries are put to rest – so you can focus on your training for 09 and reach your goals. Hopefully you have all done your goal setting for the year, have your races planned out and can be focused on what you want to achieve.

Train well, Race smart!