Monday Musings: We have arrived

Hello from somewhat sunny Florida, ha ha.  It's overcast this morning but it's WARM so that's a-ok with me.

We left Toronto on Friday and had a pretty uneventful drive down to the US.  G had to do his visa at the border so we had to stop for a bit.  The process was pretty smooth, I think we were in and out in 30 minutes or so.  The weather was awesome on Friday, sunny and 3 degrees when we started and it climbed steadily the further south we went, so we had a really smooth drive.   We drove into Charleston West Virginia on Friday night after spending the majority of the day on the road.   Saturday was our big day on the road (almost 9 hours of driving).  We drove from Charleston to St. Augustine, Florida.  Last year we stopped in Savannah but it was still roughly 6 hours to Clermont from there so this year we opted to at least get to the top of Florida so we only had a couple of hours drive to Clermont.  That way we could spend a bit of time exploring in the morning before we hit the road.  We did a day trip to St. Augustine last year and loved it so we thought it would be nice to stay the night there.  G and I went for a bit of walk on the beach in the morning and then I left G to continue his walk and I went for a very sweaty run.  It was 17 degrees and very muggy.  I only had my tights and a short sleeve dry-fit t-shirt in my overnight bag so that's what I ran in.  OMG I was drenched.  At least it got me used to the heat. 

Going through West Virginia on our first night

Walking along the beach in St. Augustine yesterday morning

The house we’re in this year in pretty freaking awesome.  It’s in a newer development within walking distance to the NTC.  Being in a newer development, it also has a POOL.  WAHOOOO.  The house we stayed in last year was a very old home with no real useful outdoor space which was a shame given how awesome the weather was.  This year, I intend to take full advantage of the upgraded outdoor space.  Here's hoping the weather cooperates!  

This past week was nuts.  For some reason I thought it would be smart to schedule all my appointments in the week before we left.  UGH.  So much scrambling!  It meant a lot of missed workouts but whatever, I know the next two months will give me more than enough time to get some solid work in.   My back was also causing me some grief so I opted to skip a swim to let it rest.  I really wanted to come to Florida feeling as good as possible.  I don't want to spend my time here sitting on the sidelines.  So let's just say I had a really good recovery week, ha ha.  I'm going to spend my morning planning out my next few weeks here.  

So, this is how my big time recovery week went:

Monday:  OFF

Tuesday:  9km run with 4km at tempo

Wednesday:  2450m swim

Thursday:  45 minute ride, 1 hour of strength training

Friday:  OFF

Saturday:  OFF

Sunday:  6km run around St. Augustine with 2km at tempo pace.  Easy to do on the flats!

Total time:  3h and 50 minutes.  I am clearly very well rested, haha.

Today I'm headed to the NTC for a swim and probably some strength training and then the afternoon will be a Training Peaks review day.  Last night we met up with a couple of our friends from here (Hi Marianne & Butch!) and I was talked into doing the Cherry Lake Duathlon this weekend.  I always say make sure your first race of the season isn't your first brick.  OOPS.  I had planned on starting brick workouts this week so, looks like I'll get ONE in before the race on Saturday.

Now it's off to Target to do some grocery shopping.

Happy Monday gang!

~ Coach PK