New Gear, Long Ride, Long Run, and Back in the Game!

Rest week is finally over, and now the work begins. And man, it hurts! A week off did a lot of good but still, getting back on the bike was no fun.

On the upside, I came home on Friday to my awesome new Steelman Triathlon transition bag, as well as my new suit from swimoutlet.com and these great fins that Keith recommended I try to even out my swim stroke:
And this excellent lap counter that I'm incredibly stoked to try:

Even better, the wonderful people at POM Wonderful just sent me a box of their amazing juice, which I am now totally in love with:
I wasn't sure how I would feel about it but Blake told me that he's heard people cut it with water and use it as a sports drink, so I tried it during my ride on Saturday.

50 miles, some hills, some flats, and done 5 minutes faster than my best time on that route. Then, off on a short 30 minute run. Gotta get more bricks in! My stomach was killing me on the run, which sucked. But, such is life. There were a ton of gnats too, and I ended up covered in them. Yuck.

Sunday's run was more eventful. I'm pretty sure I hit the "bathroom" in the woods within a few feet of a bear... heard a lot of something very big and very heavy ambling off, scared the crap (pardon the pun) out of me. Then, dropped my car keys while walking out of the woods. Didn't notice for a mile, and then had to go find them, panicking the whole time. I thought I was going to have a heart attack.

But it got better. I've said it before and I'll say it again: I LOVE TRAILS! I did about 11 miles of hills and trails around Round Valley and it was gorgeous! That water in the reservoir is so clear, it's incredible. After 30 minutes, my stomach started acting better and the run went smoothly.

Afterwards, I couldn't help it, I had to take an ice bath in the lake! So I sat smack down in the lake for a few minutes, dunked under, and had the best cooldown ever!

Went home to another recovery bath and tested out my POM as a recovery drink- awesome!
Amazingly, I even stretched!



(check out my awesome visor- I "borrowed" it from a friend in high school and never used it until recently, and I love it!)



And of course, as promised, I'm working on the nutrition thing:
bananas, yogurt, fruit, low fat cheese and milk, hummus, V8, coconut water, and of course, all my POM!

This week, I'm weighing in, seeing if I need to lose weight off season, and if I do, how much. And back to my normal routine, with a super long (22 mile) run this weekend... I figure it's only fair I do a long run since everyone else will be racing at Kona!