Labor Day Weekend!

Getting into Austin Riday afternoon I was reminded why this was my close-second choice after San Diego for where to move after college! Austin is just RAD! I made the obvious first stop at Whole Foods to get some real TX 'cue that I'd been craving for months :) The Bowie St BBQ joint inside the store is insanely yummy- I pounded down a full rack of baby backs and 3 spare ribs!
After that I still had some time to kil before heading to Sierra's so I went by Jack & Adams to inquire about a wetsuit rental as I forgot- or rather left on purpose as I really didn't think the race (at least for the elite wave) would be wetsuit legal. Sadly, at 73ish degrees it's wetsuit :/
J&A had a Rocket Science small that Im going to test out at Barton Springs today and if that doesn't fit then Sierra thankfully brought her Zoot swimskin that might fit.

Anyway, I got to Sierra's & Marie, our other training partner for the week, her husband, & John were already there so I settled into my room quickly and planted myself on the couch absolutely demolished!!

After Sierra flew in we all made it an early night to be up early for a swim.
That long run Thursday really did me in- you know when you're lying in bed with flu-like night sweats and the desire to sink into bed as if it were quicksand....yeah...

Luckily I got great sleep so by morning I was feeling like the semi big brick wasn't going to land me in my grave!

We swam at Barton Springs Country Club which was fab as we had the whole 25m pool to ourselves - & efficiently cranked out our 3k workout.

Then it was back home for a quick change and off on our ride! Sierra said after that she was a little concerned with the pace I set from the start but it was the best choice as I knew it was an effort we could hold and given that we all seemed to have some fatigue in our legs it's better to start out working than plan a "build"- you're likely going to get xomforable at that ez warm up pace and never really descend. It's like the start of an IM marathon. I hear a lot of people say "start slow and build" uhhh good luck! I agree you're retarted to fly out of T2 at like 6:15 pace but starting out at 9:00s hoping to drop down to high sevens or low 8's is just as dumb. Unless you have a huuuge downhill stretch home negative splitting is possible in your dreams only. I believe in starting out at a controlled pace about 20sec/mi slower than your goal pace.

But I digress....

So our ride was solid- we did a good 3x20 intervals on te Velo loop and back home for 4:30 total and 85miles. Oh and we managed to get a $200 ticket for turning left on a red light. Marie escaped the ticket as the light switched green right as she took the turn haha.

We're hoping to giro court sometime next week to get that dismissed!!

After the ride, we did a painful little 30min trun on some good rolling pavement and dove straight into the pool hehe :)

Sierra & I then hit Costco & Whole Foods to stock up Ironman style, & John grilled some chicken, I made Salad, & she roasted some sweet potatoes for a perfect recovery dinner! Yes, dinner! W finised the day at like 3:30 so after showers and the trip to the store it was time for the last and only real meal of the day :)

More couch and US Open time then hit the sack for a bit of broken sleep and up at 4:00am- that's what happens to me after any semi big training day- I can't sleep much!!! :(

Whatever. As soon as everyone's up we'll hit the pool for a swim then get our bikes ready for check in, pick up race stuff, I'll do a short jog, and chillax with another homemade dinner for the Austin Olympic tomorrow!