I LOVE SUMMER! This year we have had a bona fide summer in Victoria with the past week registering temperatures in the 30s (90s) which is downright hot. I love it. This works perfectly with my plan to do another “Tucson-style” training block here in Victoria as the temperatures are cooperating and I am getting more and more motivated. Part of my motivation stems from some really cool stuff my awesome sponsors have sent my way in recent weeks. I am very lucky! So to kick off a list of my favorite things…my full cycling and triathlon kit courtesy of Pactimo and Betty Designs:
Jersey, shorts, arm/legwarmers all match glasses, helmet and GU Chomps..haha!
The new Raptor from Sundog Eyewear in Mel-suggested “rose-colored” lenses… these are the best mtb lenses on the planet!
I have been doing some long road/trail running in the AVIA Avi Lite 2 lately. I love the pink and I really like the shoe! And yes, those are my USANA products in the background. USANA supplements and Sense skincare to keep me healthy!
Sweet new TT bike and helmet from Lazer! New Shimano Dura Ace with the cool Dura Ace levers! Profile aerobars (awesome!). Saris Powertap with Ant+ technology to keep it honest! I am having so much fun riding this thing. Now you would think I would have learned something from my last half-Iron experience and have started preparing earlier and blah blah. Well, no, I didn’t. But I think that this time around the preparation for the half fits well with what I want to do building up to Maui so there really isn’t much pressure on the race and as a consequence I am not too stressed out about it. I need to do some long, hard aerobic work while I am home so that I go to altitude with a big engine. I do notice my average speeds on this bike are quite high though… I think it is fast. Plus I can ride with my butt back on the saddle so I can utilize the “power booty” which is going to be good news on race day. Hopefully it goes well!
Larsen and Crossmark are the two best tires for xc racing – in my opinion… totally reliable!
Maple PRO bars. Addictive. Delicious. Wonderful. Getting a case of them? Pure bliss.
My favorite things at home though…. read more…
Summer flowers! I love when my garden of random abstract design erupts into bloom. I have had cut flowers on the dinner table for weeks now!
Solid rides with Rossco while he is FIT! Ross is enjoying some great form at this point in the season so there is no waiting around at all. We did a super hard ride with the fast boys 10 days back and I was feeling solid riding third wheel and there was Ross, nipping at the heels to get around me. Nice!
And last but certainly not least, my favorite thing about summer is having some down time at home to visit with friends. I really, really love our friends. I am stoked a pile of them are planning to come to Maui this year to hang out with us. I also had a chance to be a homestay, rather than be AT a homestay, for Ironman athlete Heather Gollnick. I like having some perspective on what other athletes are doing. But I will tell you what, I will not be doing 2.5 hour runs in the morning to back them up with another hour in the afternoon any time soon. Ouch! Until the next instalment, train well and have fun!