Ironman - T-12 weeks, vacation week & I turned 53!

Time is flying by! I'm starting to see the end of this training coming very fast and I'm beginning to get excited & scared all roll into one!  12 weeks till race day.  Do you know how fast that will fly by?  Just 3 months! YIKES 

This week I also had a planned vacation.  I haven't had a simple vacation in awhile.  I've been doing a lot of runcations.... destinations in which I had a race planned.  I was looking forward to some downtime from racing and also some downtime from work!  I researched the area in which I was going for a pool where I would be able to get in my swims.  I knew even on vacation that I would have a workout schedule.  However, when I got my schedule for the week I was surprised to see this note from my coach:

This week is AT YOUR LEISURE!! (except the 16 miler - that's a key session). But otherwise, easy, relaxing week!! All workouts can be swapped around or completely ignored ;)

But for those of you that know me well, you know that I planned to get in every workout.  I love to have all "green" on my TP.  LOL  I get down when I miss a workout.  I know... call me crazy.  :>)   However, I did miss my 2 swim workouts due to having a flat tire and me not checking the pool schedule to make sure of the times it was open to the public.  GRRRRR ... At first I was aggravated so much about missing my swim, but after a couple of days I finally convinced myself it was OK.  Heck, my neck & shoulders actually needed a break.  I've been really tight in that area and having a ton of what I call a crick in my neck.  Could be work.... could be sleep.. or could be swim...   who knows... but it felt better the week I was off on vacation. :>) 

So me and my children went to Destin for the week beginning on Saturday.  Had a flat tire literally the moment we arrived into town! What a bummer!  We did have a little adventure getting it changed.  The first guy that offered to help made me and Erin very uneasy.  He was all tattooed up and had such a foul mouth.  He used cuss words in his regular speech.  I heard the F word many times!  And I have nothing against tattoos... my daughter has 3.  I just wonder about people that have them from head to toe.... like is any of that ink going in their body?? ... is that safe??...  I know... weird thoughts... but I have them.  :>)  He tried his best to help.  At one point I saw him jumping up and down on the bar tightening the lug nuts!  I told him and then he starting looking up youtube videos on changing a tire.  I knew we were in trouble then. Ha   Erin called her brother to find out where they were at ... they were in a different vehicle ... and told him to come help mom. :>)  He showed up and a young kid from Madison, Ms came over to help, who ended up having an impact wrench in his tool box.. THANK GOODNESS... so they got the tire changed.  I offered to pay them for helping, but no one would take any money.  The first kid with the foul mouth told us and I quote.. "I've been in prison and shit so I figured I'd give back to society by trying to help".  LOL  Here's a few pictures of our adventure:

The first few days were beautiful, but extremely hot and humid.  It wasn't even pleasant to sit out on the deck to drink your coffee in the mornings so you could watch the waves.  It was like an oven when you opened the door to walk out at 6am.  GEEZ...   The water however was so clear!!  It was the prettiest water I've seen since Hawaii.

Sunday we were all tired from the travel on Saturday due to the HEAVY TRAFFIC.  It was bumper to bumper almost the whole way going 20-30 mph!  So we spent most of the day at the beach on Sunday. 

We played a little football and pong ball.  It was a nice day.  I got in a run early that morning and boy was I soaked.  It was so HUMID & HOT.   

Monday was my birthday.  53! Where has the time gone!! Seems like yesterday I was turning 35! 

We rented a pontoon boat and went out to Crab Island for the morning.
Girls didn't like early morning wake up and took a nap on the boat. ha

We couldn't stay all day because we had my daughter's dog with us and needed to get back to the condo to let him out to the bathroom.  He was no trouble except that we could not be gone long from the condo.  He had to be let out to the bathroom every 4 hours or so and we couldn't take him every where we went.  That was aggravating.  Dogs aren't allowed on the beach and there were only a handful of restaurants that allowed dogs.... and you had to eat outside on their decks where it was HOT.  We learned a lot having a dog with us for the first time on vacation.. hee hee   I didn't do any workouts on Monday.  I took my birthday off.  I did have to check on my tire that afternoon to find out if it could be fixed.  The tire store said it couldn't be fixed.... had to order a new tire.  That took up most of my afternoon because driving 2 miles from our condo would take you 30-45 minutes due to the traffic! We did go down to Sandestin Baytowne for dinner.  We ended up having dinner where there was live music and the guy was so good!  I really enjoyed it... plus my kids picked up the tab. :>)  

Here are a few pictures from Crab Island.. the water was PERFECT.. Great Birthday!: 

The rest of the week was full of showers off and on.  We'd have sun a few hours and then rain.  Captured this nice rainbow after one afternoon storm.  Tropical storm Barry was brewing. 

By Thursday double red flags were going up at the beach.  The waves were so bad you could not get in the water.  I did however finish my book on the beach while the kids went to ride scooters.  This is a great book! 

 Boss getting his ride. :>)

They did stop on the scooters long enough to come grab a beach picture with me.  That's the reason they aren't in swim suits. ha  Every day I wanted beach pictures and by the time we got around to take some the storms would roll in and everyone was running back to their condos to get out of the lightening. 

We even had dinner at the Paula Dean restaurant.  I had never been to one so I decided we would try it.  

One night we went down to Harbor walk and talked Brett into letting a man draw him and Whitney.  It was a lot of fun watching and the guy did a great job! 

And of course we had to go to Louisiana Lagniappe to eat one night.  

We played dominoes a couple of times and of course Boss was in my lap! AND we learned that Brett is very good in MATH!  He surprised his sister!  Playing with double nines can really add up when several are on the board that count. :>)  

Brett has the sweetest girlfriend.  I'm glad she came with us.  I hope he treats her like a queen always. :>)

One day I even talked Erin into doing 2 miles with me. :>)  I'm trying to get her motivated for the half marathon later this year!

I ended up getting in 22.7 miles of running and 65 miles on the bike for the week.  No swim, but that's ok... it's back on this week. :>)  Count down continues... 11 weeks till race day! 

It was a nice week away from work.  :<>)

P.S. the only thing I wanted to do on vacation that I didn't get to do was watch the Blue Angels! I had planned to go to Pensacola on Friday to watch their show, but due to tropical storm Barry there was a lot of question as to whether or not they would be able to fly so we didn't make the drive.  I heard they only flew a limited show due to the weather.  Maybe next time I'll see them. :>)