Big News...and South Beach W

This past weekend I won a big race in triathlon, and for the second victory in a row my now wife was not in attendance. Last year at St Anthony's she had to work and couldn't go and this year for South Beach she just wasn't feeling very good. However, this time the not feeling very good made a lot of sense, which leads me to the big news...

Natalie is pregnant!!

I always wonder who is on the other end of my ramblings, so some of you know this already but those of you that don't there it is. So far this has been an amazing 2011. I got married on the first of the year, started another successful season as a pro triathlete living a dream, and now my lovely wife is pregnant.

Anyway, on to the weekends happenings. As I have already said this trip was supposed to be a bit of time for the two of us to hang out as well as me to start off this years Toyota Cup/Lifetime Fitness series with a good showing. Since Natalie couldn't make the trip I had an awesome king sized bed, a big rental car, and really no plans for the weekend. Got into Ft Lauderdale Friday afternoon and drove down to Bike Masters in Miami for a little shin-dig with the other Advanced Sports athletes and the patrons of this awesome bike shop in Miami. Post party it was back to the hotel for some relaxing.

Saturday I got up, grabbed some breakfast in the lobby with I think every person in Miami headed out on a cruise ship that day, and then headed over to South Beach to meet up with my boy Justin and get in some warm up workouts. We did an ez spin/run around the south beach neighborhoods and then did a quick swim out on the beach. Then it was time to grab some lunch before hanging at his homestay's place till the pro meeting. And let me tell you about the $125 burrito I had for lunch...

If there is a tiny parking lot that says will tow unless shopping in one of the three shops there, believe them! We parked, ran around the corner and figured we will get burrito's to go and be back before there is any way a tow truck can get here....WRONG! Luckily for us we did get back in time to see him hooking me up, and then after a very polite discussion about my car were told he would unhook for $115 or take it for $205. So Justin and I hit the ATM and kept the car. Not sure exactly how that would have gone in Miami without it but just glad my burrito didn't take any longer than it did to make.

Chilled for a couple hours, watched some golf, and then went to the pro meeting. Nothing unusual there so then it was back to my hotel for my standard pre race dinner...hawaiian pizza! Ate some 'Za watched some tube and then tried to get some sleep. Which is always rough the second night going east but you do what you can.

Next morning was a standard pre race. Get up, hot shower, eat some oatmeal from a hotel coffee machine and head out. Got in a little bike warm up riding to transition and then a quick jog and it was time to walk up the beach to the swim start.

Usually I am not a fan of two turn, straight away swims, but this one was actually alright. I lead out to the first buoy before Andy took over and Ben and John and myself just stayed in a pack a bit behind him. I came out of the water with Ben and hammered up the beach to get to the bike. Threw on the helmet and it was time to let the 4000 fly.

It is always interesting being the first biker out because cops aren't ready, cones aren't out and you never really know when a city bus will block your path heading over a one-way causeway causing you and the other leader to veer into the wrong side of the bridge, unclip, hop a grass median and continue on. Anyway, once we got going again I tried to slowly turn the screw on Andy and the other guys and by the half way point myself and Andrew Yoder and gotten a significant gap on the main pack. Over the second half I tried to continue to accelerate and by the time I got back to T2 I was well ahead of everyone including Andrew, found out later he got a penalty. Threw on the shoes and number belt and took off. Unfortunately, my trusty headband apparently was taken during my absence so I blame that person for my ridiculous flopping hair in all the pictures.

The run was survival as I knew many a fast runner was coming for me, but I know I have put in the work to ride like that and still finish so I did what I could to continue to push the pace. At the turn around I still had a decent lead but knew it would take some guts to maintain it and luckily I had just enough making it back to the beach in time to throw out a couple high-5's and grab the tape before Andy and Filip came blazing in.

I was really really happy with the race. It is not often that you can sit down with a coach, lay out a plan and then execute it. I mean we always try, but its nice to know that it can and does come together sometimes.

This got long, but there were hopefully some funny parts. Now its a couple weeks to train and then rest for my first ever attempt at a repeat victory and wear #1 at St Anthony's 2011 on May 1.