Florida Accomodation??

So its time to start thinking about accommodation for florida, where is everyone else staying? Any recommendations? Last year was the ant infested Days Inn (not staying there again)!

Looking at vrbo, but can't remember where the condos are.

I want to be within a mile of the start so Gemma can easily take the babies back to the hotel room. Also would be nice to be near other bloggers.

My training is going well, the past week (and so is next week) has been tough though managed to get a confidence building 2.5 hour run yesterday and a 3000m swim earlier on in the week and have managed 5 hours cycling since saturday plus some other smaller bits. Tomorrow is a brick session of a 2 hour bike and an hour run. Not massive numbers compared to other people but with the twins demanding time when I would like to be sleeping its been tough! I think my fitness is comparable to last year so hopefully I am doing enough training.

Raced 2 weeks ago in the Chicago distance classic with my training buddy, had a really nice race and got him through in a PR which was fantastic. Though I'm sure we should have been faster as my Garmin measured it at 13.6 miles.

Review of what I use

I thought it was about time I reviewed some of my kit.

Anti Friction Products
My first marathon (London) was back in 1997 and I went with the plasters option for my nipples... yeah that worked for all of about 14 miles and by the end I had 2 little red targets on my chest! And then pain for about 2 weeks afterwards (plus sores in lots of other bodily places (lets just say I struggled to walk and sit and it wasn't because of blisters).


My second London marathon was in 1999 and this time I decided I'd go with vaseline. It worked and I didn't get the bleeding nipples as in 97 however I found it stained my clothes and was messy on my hands. So when I got back into endurance sport in 2006 I was introduced to Body Glide.

Since then I have used it at the Chicago Marathon in 2007, and the Florida Ironman in 2008 (plus all my other events) and it has served me well (through all 14 hours of my IM!).

I find it stops blisters on the feet, wetsuit burn on the neck, nipple rub, and wherever else I can get the stick to stop the rub, without the mess of vaseline, via deodarant stick and without staining my clothes.

Body Glide were kind enough to send me some new sun screen body glide to try out and I have been using this for the bike (lower back, and neck) as I find sunscreen rubs off whereas body glide stays on even when I've swam before. On the rides I have done this year it has worked perfectly, though forgetting to put sunscreen elsewhere has meant burns!

Oh and I love it when I tell people I need to get more body glide.. their faces are pictures as I explain exactly what body glide is.

Helmet

Received my new Rudy helmet from BfitBday and it fits like a glove. When I first saw it I questioned whether I would over heat in it. Especially as if you slide up the visor it covers the vents.

Having worn it on a couple of rides including a 56 miler I can confirm it does not keep my head too hot even with the visor up covering the vents. It fits snuggly and does not move around on my head. Oh and I feel fast!!

The one minor complaint.. Not sure whether I have big ears or I ride with my head to an angle but the sides of the helmet grip the side of the face, and theres a really small bit of plastic that rubs the top of my left ear. For future rides I plan on either trimming the soft plastic or rubbing some body glide on there to stop it rubbing.

Gels
I have been using gels as part of my training for the past 3 years, and have mainly used Power gels and Gu's. Gus were my first choice and suited me well however I would find them a bit thick for my palate when I was slightly dehydrated. Last year half way through IM training and on the advise of Roman I switched to power gels (specifically the ones with extra sodium) and found they are far more runny than the Gus and go down more easily while exercising. This year I have switched to the apple flavour and love them. I can really feel the effect when I take them.

Liquids
Nuun and Gatorade all the way. I am a really big fan of Nuun (Kona Cola), I find it really works for me, without the bloating I get from other drinks. I tend to avoid Gatorade on the bike as I bloat on it, but I love it on the run and find it really refreshing.
For a post exercise recovery drink you can't beat a glass or pint of chocolate milk.

Shoes
My Newtons were my new purchase for this year and its taken me some time to get used to them. To begin with I suffered immensely from blisters on the ball of my foot (behind the big toe). Runners High and Tri where I brought the shoes worked with me and replaced the shoes and switched me to a slightly different version of the newtons. I still have suffered slightly with blisters however I think some of this is just my foot getting used to running on the balls of my feet rather than my heel strike. The past few runs of an hour plus with the aid of Body glide have seen no blisters at all, so hopefully my feet have finally got used to them.

Muddy Buddy

Early start last weekend to race the Muddy Buddy.

No pre race expectations except to have a good brick workout (lots of bike to run transitions) and get muddy!

It was a tough few training days leading up to this with a 56 mile bike on Friday PM. Ans broke 3 hours for the first time for the 56 miles. Not saying it was just because I was wearing my new Rudy helmet but I felt fast. Then on Saturday it was a 2 mile open water swim race of which I won my age group (1st out of 1!!!)

So for the Muddy Buddy I was feeling slightly but with goals of have a good workout and get muddy I knew it would be a good day. Achieved both of my goals with lots of the second... MUDDY!

For this race I got to partner one of my training buddies, and run against another. As you can see pre race we were all nice and clean.


I started with the running leg in Wave 2 (Team Brazo was also there in wave 2 but I had no idea!) Its a great race and the obstacles thrown in make it really interesting.Flying on the bike! Haven't really ridden my mountain bike cross country in a while and this was exciting. On the final leg I was passed by Oldest Mini brazo as he flew by on the bike. After 6 ish miles of biking and running it was time for the mud pit.
I really like this picture as it shows my commitment (notice the gritted teeth!)

Finished, tired and ready for a beer...