changes

I have still not written a full race report for Hawaii 70.3 - for some reason it just kind of fell off my radar. Coming back from a vacation is always hard but it only made it worse when it was freezing cold and raining last week. I took a couple days almost completely off because I seemed to have brought a sinus cold home with me. I did Pilates to help stretch out but that was it till Thursday when I ran for about 30 min which felt pretty good just to loosen up my legs. Friday I got back in the pool for a short swim which felt really weird after swimming in warm salt water for a week. My legs just did not float anymore - I had to kick.
Once the weekend came around I felt more like myself and went for an hour run with a few hills thrown in for good measure. I was surprised I felt pretty good and was able to keep a good pace going even up the hills. I kept expecting to feel more fatigued but never did.
Sunday Kyle and I met up with Monique and did a new/different route around the north end of the Lake Washington. It was a really good mix of terrain, some long gradual climb, super steep short climbs, flats. We all had fun pushing and pacing each other. Though the ride ended with a mini van intentionally trying to push Kyle off the road. So we got to talk to the cops - next time something like that happens we have to get a full license plate. I took Monday off completely for a good recovery.

That covers getting back into training but the huge change last week was that after a lot of thought, stress, worry, and time (about 2 months probably) I decided it was time for me to make a change. Instead of having Coach Col creating my training plans and training with me once a week I am going to try using Mark allen online coach and work with a local swim coach from time to time. I am also looking at joining the new CycleU tri-team to have a larger group of people to train with.
This was an incredibly difficult decision to make because Col and I were friends before she became my coach. She only thought I was a little bit crazy when I decided to do Ironman Canada in 2006 with no base and very little experience. Basically she has been a large part and a big help to get me to where I am today and I will always be immensely grateful to her...

It still feels weird but I'm excited to get ready for Vineman 70.3 which is just a little over a month away...