Where or where did my bike legs go....

Been avoiding writing the race report for Miami International Triathlon for over a week now. Not that it was really all that bad a race, just not what I had hoped for. Got up early for the 7:15am race start and luckily brought my camping headlight so I could see what I was doing setting up transition and warming up. As the race was right downtown Miami we were all getting ready to go at about the same time the party crowd was stumbling out of the clubs. Thankfully there was the biggest police presence I have ever seen at a race out keeping most of them off the roads.

Felt pretty descent warming up and got off to a good start and right onto Sara McLarty's feet. I guess I must have zoned out for a second because right before the first turn buoy I looked up and suddenly there was a gap that I couldn't close down, grrr. I ended up towing three other girls around the swim course and lost about a minute to Sara. Pulled the rookie move and dropped a shoe coming out of T1, hopefully got that out of the way for the rest of the season. Then tried to settle into a strong pace on the bike but had nothing in the legs. I know that I haven't been on my TT bike much but not sure that can total explain my complete lack of power. Struggled just to get through the course as more than half the field rode by me like I was standing still. Legs felt like lead weights, like in those nightmares you have where you need to move and no matter how hard you try you just can't seem to go anywhere. Got into T2 in 9th and thankfully the run legs felt pretty good. Got into a good rhythm and started making time on some of the girls in front of me. Ended up moving up a spot into 8th and having a really solid run split 37.17.

Post-race with Berk

After the race I enjoyed a nice night out in South Beach with my homestay Berk Boge, good food, live music and the biggest mojito I have ever seen. Monday I had a late flight out so got in an easy run/swim before heading out to the airport. I had no trouble getting my bike, disguised in a hockey bag, on with no fee from Phoenix but had to argue a bit with the agent. I think she finally got tired of fighting with me and said "this time she would let it go without a charge" :) After some thinking and talking with Gareth about the race and training in general, we decided that a trip out to LA for a bike fit and blood lactate/VO2 testing on both the bike and run was important. I haven't had any testing done in a while so we have been working off really old numbers.

The 8hr drive out from Tucson on Sunday was super boring but really flew by. I am here in LA for a couple of days, then back to the desert for a nice training block before the next set of races. The craziness starts with the first race of the Lifetime Fitness series, South Beach Nautica Triathlon, then right into Xterra Waco, a weekend off then over to Spain for the ITU Cross World Champs. One week off after that then another block of 3 races back to back!!!

HERE WE GO!!!!

The 2011 triathlon season starts offically tomorrow for me with the Miami International Triathlon. But first a quick update since I've been MIA since the Desert Duathlon... Tucson has been treating me well and is now permanently home :). While that was always the master plan instead of just my winter training camp, I wanted to make sure everything was going to work out before making it official. I had packed up all my worldly belongings and shipped them out with me in January in anticipation of the move and they now sit in a storage unit waiting for their new home. I will be working with fellow pro-triathlete Lisa Ribes at LJ Designs while still helping out my old firm with some of their residential design work as they need it. I was a bit nervous about how they would take the news of me not coming back to work, but I couldn't have asked for a better situation. I even have an accepted offer on a townhouse that should see me in my own place beginning of May :) For the first time ever I will be able to ride my MTB from my house right to some of the best training trails around, very exciting!!!

Moving on, my FUJI D-6 arrived and after a bit of fiddling, swapping to a smaller size, and lots of work from the guys at Fairwheel Bikes (I did bake them chocolate brownies for their effort) it is now just about dialed in and ready to go. Having not been on a true aero bike in years there will undoubtedly be a few more minor changes in position, but overall super happy with the fit. I have only gotten about 2-3 weeks worth on training on it, so the appropriate muscle groups are still in the process of adapting to the new position, but it's already super speedy.

Last weekend I got to head over to TriSports for tri-fest and meet up with old friends and sponsors. I had a great time chatting with Sandy and Andrew from Extreme Endurance and meeting up with fellow sponsored triathlete Charisa Wernick. This will be my three year using their products and highly recommend giving them a try. (use code bigfish for a 10% discount :)) I'm also super excited to add Champion Systems and Honeystingers as sponsors and will be sporting some terrific new training and race kits design by Kirstin Mayer at Betty Designs. We are still finalizing the designs but I hopefully should have them ready to go early in May.

So I am here in Miami, staying with Hammerhead triathlete Berk Boge in beautiful Coconut Grove. I arrived, bike unscathed, thursday afternoon in time to get in a short set of bike/run intervals in Key Biscayne. Friday was a legs off day with just a short swim and today a quick bike/run/swim with Xterra racer Branden Rakita complete with lunch at 100% Natural, yum :) The women's field only has 14 on the start list but should be very competitive. Sara McLarty is here, so the plan is to try and stay on her feet for the swim and put some time on the rest of the field, then see what I've got on the bike and run!!!

Here we go!!!!