The other side!!! (of Hawaii)

What to do on our last day in Hawaii...exploring the other side :-) Only a 30 min drive from us and you could see green grass, cows, a running creek, slight rain and rainforest like plants:

Kind of looks like hiking in the alps. We kept going to Hilo and discovered the wild side of Hawaii:

 Sea creatures!!!

 The roots of the plants were fascinating...never thought I would take pics of roots, but I had also never seen roots so big that you could build a house in them...

 Jurassic park plants!!! The leaves of most plants were bigger then me!!!

 This guy wasn't scared. 

 In Phoenix we can buy things like this at Home Depot. But they are made out of metal. Here it is a plant :-)

 That is me!!! Just kidding.

 A local told me that the air force flies along the coast whenever there is an earthquake or something going on with the volcano...so I showed him this picture...I am pretty sure that this is an air force airplane :-)

 Macademia nuts!!! EVERYWHERE!!!

Yes, this is Lava. At first it looked like someone just turned on some lights.

We are now back in Phoenix and thanks to Tribike transport we didn't have to deal with packing our bikes so JR and I had some extra time snorkeling. Tribike transport really really helps not being stressed out!!!

Next up: some training in the heat, a trip to Rhode Island with my friend Amber for some racing and then I am off to Europe. Antwerp 70.3 for the first time. An all downtown 70.3 (then again, Belgium is kind of small, so pretty much the entire country is one town :-) I am really excited to escape the heat for a few weeks and to be able to train mid day instead of early in the morning. 

Hawaii

Hawaii is AWESOME. This is my first trip to Hawaii and the farthest away from Germany I have ever been. I actually think during the race I swam so far out that I could see Japan. But I am not sure, it could have been Maui ;-)

The race was a great training day. Going into the race I was hoping for a good swim, a great bike and just to finish the run.  I took a solid three weeks off of running and then had about one week to prepare for this race...yeah, very smart I know, so the plan was to go hard during swim and bike.

My good friends, who know of my fear of fish, probably wonder if I actually went deeper then knee deep in the water...YES!!! I couldn't do it the first day here, so I just stood by the beach with my goggles on, looked at the water and 10 min later I decided: not today.   

                                     

The next dayI actually swam in the ocean and it was pretty. Every once in a while I had thoughts like: if I would be shark, I would hang out right here...or...cold pocket here, that is most likely where the sharks are...and I swam back to shore in record time.

                                     

Race morning was super windy and my fear-priorities changed. I love waves, so the swim was so much fun!!! I actually had feet to draft off, almost the entire time, just once the feet went out and I kept going straight so I caught up to some other feet.

The bike was crazy. The winds were blowing hard and now I know why in the pre race meeting they said: "Well, you professionals have probably been here for the past few weeks to get used to the wind..."...yeah, that would have been nice, but unfortunately not possible for this girl. So I spend 99% of the ride NOT in my aero bars, instead I got blown over the yellow line twice and was just hoping not to crash. I honestly have to say that I have never biked that slow in a race, but there was no way I could have gone faster without crashing. Maybe next year I can come out "a few weeks" early :-) HA

The run was fun. Up and down and up and down. I had coke at every aid stations since I only ate one gel on the bike and one going out of T2. I didn't know how far I could actually run so I just tried to enjoy. My time was at that point secondary as long as I could finish pain free AND be pain free after the race.               

                                                   

I finished 9th and had happy feet!!! No socks used, no pain, no blisters.

The most amazing story to me was my husband JR. He has been working a lot and has trained the absolute minimum for this race. And I am talking: 5 swims since IMAZ, runs, but no workouts, rides twice a week. He is just a really busy guy and had no time to prepare for this. However, he ended up with this: 

                                   

Here is the funny part: He swims a 33 something, passes me on the bike (smiling) and he was riding with the first amateurs and some pro males. He didn't know. We didn't get calf marks, so he was not sure what age group people where in. He started the run and got passed about 200 m before the finish. Turns out the guy who passed him got a KONA slot!!! Unfortunately he was in JR's age group, so JR, finishing third did not get one :-( He was 16 seconds away from a KONA SLOT. Unbelievable. He did however take the Las Vegas Slot and told me he would train for it (I think he mentioned a swim twice a week!!!). Watching him kick ass was cool.

                                                   

After the race the vacation began: 

                                                   

Me and my new friend. 

 BANANAS!!!

 CRAB PEOPLE!!!

 JR back at the harbor. Maybe I should sign him up for another IM :-)

 Our snorkeling/swimming beach. Yesterday I swam around the boat 3 times!!! I even made it out and back once going butterfly (with fins) :-) Yeah, that left me pooped.

 Climbing trees.

 This guy hangs out on our porch every day. 

 Hawaii is definitely a very beautiful place with so much to do. I wish we would have time to go to the other side and see all the green - ness and waterfalls. Or go to the other islands. One thing is for sure. As soon as I set foot on this island I was hungry for training and racing!!! This place has so much positive energy. 2 more days to explore!!!

Trigger Point Performance Therapy

I am really excited to be working with Trigger Point Performance Therapy in 2012 and the future. 

Working in the healthcare field I know how important it is to keep your body happy and healthy and the only way to do so is to get enough rest, eat healthy foods and spoil your body with therapy. We use Trigger Point products at work to help patients get rid of tightness, decrease the chance of injury and keep them going.

Triathlon, running and cycling can be very tough on your body ( I bet swimming can be too :-), so it is really important to use the TP tools at home on a daily basis as well as during travel. You bet I will roll on my TP products on my flight to Hawaii and Germany this summer :-)

My feet hurt after a tough track run or a race and even sometimes on normal runs and to prevent injury I try to roll out everything that might be upset with me from my quads, hamstrings, IT Band to plantar fascia,...and many more.

After a long ride my back is definitely loving the Grid to roll on.

The TP Massage ball is also a great tool to get "things back in place". Since my accident in January I have had some SI problems and just simply lying on the TP Massage ball has helped me get rid of discomfort.

I am looking forward to working with Trigger Point!!!

May happenings

May happenings...

Positive and negative. 

Negative first: I injured my foot somehow and am now baby - ing my foot with ice and rest and PT. Running is my favorite thing to do because it is just so easy...shoes on and go. Anywhere. Nothing else needed!!! I think it happened during the last storm we had in Phoenix. I ran 11 miles, and after 5 this crazy rain storm started. I ran back having to jump a lot because by now all the streets were flooded. I think I probably landed wrong and crrrrrc, there it is. Injury.

Positive: Thanks to the best PT's...ENDURANCE REAHB...my foot is getting better and better. The problem is the cuboid. It did not like the jumping. The Endurance Rehab PT's are amazing. All of them are so passionate about their work. I think every single PT there has now evaluated my foot...even after bike rides. They are not afraid of stinky, sweaty feet. They are just interested in getting their patients better. 

OK, moving on to pictures. Jack and I drove to Las Vegas to visit JR (3 weeks of Vegas work for him), Friday am drive there, Tuesday morning drive back (followed by going to work immediately). 5 hrs of driving, but very worth it. It feels like a mini weekend vacation. Jack is always exhausted after driving for such a long time because he is surfing for 5 hrs. He refuses to sit down. He wants to check out the scenery :-) So this is what he did all weekend long:

Sleep.

Sleep.

On the Vegas strip: Horse police!!! If it wouldn't be for all the lights and water that they use, I think Vegas would be an environmentally friendly city ;-)

Notice: no tail lights!!! And a car is flying right by her...they actually pulled a car over on their horses!!!

Anniversary food :-) JR and I have been married for 3 years now!!! 5/5/09 Off course there was more food involved in our anniversary dinner, but it was gone by the time I had the idea to take a picture of it.

The next morning I got to test out my Paparazzi skills. This is the airport...and there is smoke...I hope this is not an.......

...luckily not. It was a bunch of wooden stuff that was on fire. But I bet they had to shutdown the airport for a while.

Driving back from Vegas. Even though there is NOTHING there...it is still beautiful. The desert is so unique...and really pretty during flowering season aka spring!!!

Back home. Jack and his new toy. He was so happy to get out of the car!!!

My garden: a nice relaxing hobby between training, school and work. Everything is loving the temperatures. Here are: Melon, Bell Pepper, Tomatoes and Strawberries. The Tomatoes are getting so big that I need to built poles for them. And how do they hold those heavy tomatoes up? I will figure it out :-) I have about 40 tomatoes (the fruit not the plant) growing and growing and growing...

YUMMMMMMM!!!