Thursday, July 30, 2009

Family Vacation


FAMILY VACATION TIME.

I cant wait – we are spending a week away together in Hawaii. I love all our neighbors and the kids have great friends but selfishly I am glad that they will be playing with us all week and not just their friends. Vacations Rock ! I love our home but I definitely don’t miss the phone, kids ringing the doorbell every 5 minutes or the never ending to do list. Its time for me and my family – and I love it

We are all having a blast - doing some serious water time in all the pools around where we are staying. My boys are all over the place umping from one pool to the hot tub to the water slide - they are never ending action. My Princess Jordan is a little more low key which is great because we are having some great quality time together.

In between all the family fun I am able to fit in a workout or two. Bree Wee has been showing me the lay of the land and I enjoy the opportunity to train together when we can.





Saturday, July 18, 2009

Lifesport Camp - Victoria

Tuesday July 14th
Today is day two at Lifesport Camp in beautiful Victoria British Columbia. I love the opportunity to come to venues like this and train with top flight athletes. In the dog days of summer (especially long in Florida) something like this is just the ticket. Part of the days activities included a run at Thetis Lake with the group. What fun running this type of terrain, it reminded me so much of one of my favorite run spots in Wisconsin – Pike Lake.A change of scenery can really help jumpstart the body – I cant wait to experience what the week has in store for me.

Thursday July 16th
Today we had the most incredible ride. It was some big time climbing, something this Florida Girl gets none of. It becomes a real test for me but I put my head down and go !! I love the opportunity to ride like this and know that it makes me stronger. If going straight up weren’t at times bad enough it was the screaming downhills which buckled me knees. I have never been a fan of it but here in Victoria it hits an all new level. The swimming has been a blast as well - its great to not have to worry about sharks when I hit the water :)




Saturday July 18th
Today we had one of my favorite workouts to do – mile repeats !! To make it more interesting it was done with the gang around Elk Lake. Wow this was a big time hard effort, especially with a great group of athletes like this. Thanks Paul and the whole Lifesport crew !! This week has been challenging but also very rewarding. I wanted to especially thank my terrific homestay family Hillerie and John, they were absolutely fabulous – super accommodating and what great cooks. It helps that they are both athletes so they understand the intensity we are experiencing daily. John works for Lifesport so he knows better than anyone the fun we are having out there.



Part of the Lifesport Gang !


Let the real games begin !!

Here's to new friends and great food !!

COLD TUB :) So Much Fun !!

Sunday, July 12, 2009

Morton Plant - Family Fun !!

Most of my Lifesport friends and Teammates are racing a
Half today in Vancouver. GO GANG GO !! I had considered
going but local Race Director Philip LaHaye - who also directs
St. Anthony's invited me and my family to race his Sprint
Event Morton Plant Mease in Clearwater Florida, which was
the same day.

He always takes great care of us and its such a nice family
weekend get away. In the end I didnt want to miss it, nor
did I want to be away from my crew for too long ! The race
was fun and the weekend was great (see the pics). I finished
3rd behind Nina Kraft of Germany and Tamara Kozulinski
of the Czech Republic.

As a Long Distance Athlete it is so different to do a Sprint Race.
I keep thinking that doing more of them would be beneficial,
as its a fun way to work the "speed" needed for these type of
races.


My neighbor Stacy competed as well. Our families
had fun swimming together and we enjoyed a great
post race brunch. Watch out - she is going to be good!!!


Fellow Lifesport athlete Stephanie and I post race


Michelle Bonfe, a client and friend of ours !!
Awesome job Michelle - keep up the great work!


Help me name this one !!
I have been loving my great new ride from QR
but havent been able to come up with a name yet.
Can you help me????


My Support Team !!


Pool time with my oldest son Josh !!


Prncess Jordan and I enjoy a dip


My youngest Zach and I enjoy the spray from
a cool waterfall :)

Saturday, July 4, 2009

Lovin The Holiday - Happy 4th !!

Yes there are many reasons to love the 4th of July Holiday. The friends, the picnics, the food (it’s a Holiday so you can eat whatever you want – NO GUILT !!) the fireworks – OH so many reasons but for me there are 2 additional reasons:

1. Everyone is in a great mood!!

2. There is always LOTS of training opportunities !! I decided to do the Village Bikes Ride this morning (a great sponsor of mine).



I met my friend Tracy and we rode to the shop where we did a 50 mile nice steady ride ( well there’s always a few that try to push the pace and drop the group – today we had two like that and we just let them go). Village had bagels, coffee and the Tour de France playing after the ride – what a fun morning – THANKS VILLAGE

Then I was off to the Salmon Swim with the Sharks Swim Team. After a warmup we did 50 x 50 on 1:00 minute. Doesnt not sound that hard but you had to pull yourself out of the pool on the end after each 50. The first 30 were not bad, but from 31-50 I felt my triceps when getting out of the pool – but so much fun !! Hope you had a great 4th as well !!!