1 WEEK FROM GETTING HIT BY A TRUCK

Pics of my week...

Saturday - Getting discharge information

Sunday - Quiz: Sox either A) was sad that I was hurt B) protecting me from anyone that came to see me C) Sad that he was not getting his long walk on Sunday......

Sunday- Rehab began.. Strength Training

Monday and Wednesday - Carolina Sports Clinic went to work on my ankle/foot

Friday- Sox was a very happy Dog to go on his long walk/play day w/ his friend one day early

Saturday - Trysports- had my new bike shipped/put together/ and fitted all with in one week so I can ride it a couple of times before I go race in 10 days overseas. You rock!

So- I always think that people never get enough credit when they tell you "I will be praying for you", "I hope you have a speedy recovery" , "We will be thinking about you", "Get well soon cards"

Well- this stuff really works people! Im serious. There is no way I could have done all this in one week without your prayers and words of encouragement. Exciting stuff.. I hope your 3 day weekend started off good today.. If it didnt, well your in luck- you still have 2 more days-those who aren't in retail :(

G

TRIATHLON RACE OR NOT

Today- I witnessed a miracle...

I woke up this morning at 4am for a fun Triathlon here in Charlotte. On my way I was singing pretty darn loud in my Jeep...

The morning was great, the weather perfect, the atmosphere electrifying. I have to add one point b/c this will give you chills later on.. 2 people, out of the 700 in the race, I knew I did not get along with. I always had it out for them, just thought they didnt like me. Ok- that will come back later...

So, the swim came and went. Felt pretty good other than the fact that everyone wears these speed suits these days that I do not have so I need to go buy one of those.. Still, good swim.. Then the bike..

I pretty much was on my own during the bike course, but felt pretty good. Until Mile 15......

A guy in a Truck thought he could make his left turn (opposite way of me) into his neighborhood faster than Me cycling past his entrance, He was wrong.. 

Cracked Helmet

Totaled Bike

4 flips on the bike

51feet between where I stopped rolling from where he hit me

ER/ambulance

9 Xrays

$1,000 damage to his bumper which hit my left side/leg (He T-boned me)

At first, total numbness in both legs, then just left side...

After all that, the doctor comes in and says "I have the results, and I dont think you realize what a miracle this is and how lucky you were, but both your Femer and Foot are not broken and your ankle is just sprained"..

Other than some crazy numbness and sore bruises, I am fine. 

So I talked to God, of course for a while. And realized a couple of things that this was a lesson on. 

1) The Charlotte Endurance community is amazing, So many people have reached out through Social Media today in huge thanks to My Good friend CL asking them all for prayers to go my way and updating everyone.  They most definitely worked! Just as they did to one of our known coaches who was affected in the Boston Bombing.

2) A slap in the face! The first 2 people to come visit me in the Hospital, were none other than those 2 people I mentioned earlier that I did not have good impressions towards for the last 2 years. Man, was I wrong.. I seriously would have guest anyone but them. Thank you JH and JL! Truly meant alot 

3) As I laid on the rode- I thought I could very well be paralyzed. I instantly asked God if that was my new road- please give me the strength to live that lifestyle.  But it was not, and for that- Im rejuvenated and ready to roll... 

Crazy, but alot more horrible stuff happens every second around the world. 

I love you all.. Seriously, if your reading this- I love you in some way somehow.. 

G

GOOD MORNING

Training has been going well. Yesterday was an extremely hard training day, a swim before work , a bike during lunch, and a track workout after work. While I normally get all 3 in each day during the week, some days are harder days and some are easy. 

For instance, days with Workouts- i.e Bike - 5x2mi all out w/ 1mi recovery , or Swim - 4x1000yds at a certain time, or Run - 6x800 at 5k pace etc. - are the ones that I really need to mentally prepare myself for and know that being tired is not an excuse. 

Days that are Easy are ones with my bike is just a 25mi easy cruise or a 5mi easy run, or a swim that involves the pull bouy and fins. These days are great b/c I really enjoy training and have fun. The Workout days are fun too but not until afterwards ;).

I am feeling fit right now for the World Champs in 19 days, but not yet feeling 100% confident. The second half of the season I have not raced that much due to the training plan I have for the Championship. But I think I might enter in one shortly to dust off the cobwebs of the racing mentality. 

 

Absolutely loving it, thats for sure.. Such a fun journey and to have some friends that join me on a workout or 2 makes it that much more enjoyable. 

G

TRAINING UPDATE

Quick Training update-

I started my 9 day training cycle instead of the traditional 7 day cycle last week. We get so caught up on a typical week that we think training should just go along with the same process. So far, I am really liking it.

A couple notes that I took from some key workouts this past cycle.

1) I am horrible at pacing myself when Running fast. I always go out too fast and die at the end. A good friend of mine who is an extremely talented runner always tells me to trust my fitness. Meaning, I dont trust my self to go slow in the beginning to where I can run fast at the end and post a good time. Instead, I want to gain time in the first half and hold on the second. Yep, never works out for me. So I shall focus on that my next couple of cycles

2) My biking is finally coming together. Biking is my weakest out of the 3, it was swimming,  but this year I finally am showing some signs of strength here. I have a couple different routes/distances that I do as Time Trials and compare from the time before. 3 weeks ago I did a 22mile TT and did the same one this past Saturday. I went 1.30min faster this time around. I was stoked, but absolutely spent since it was right after a hard swim workout.

Other than that, nothing has changed. Work, Training, yard work, cleaining the house, and reading. That is my life and takes up my life from 4am-9pm. Very blessed and thankful though!

G

FILTERSFAST

A HUGE thank you to Filtersfast. They have supported me this year in a way I thought was not possible. If you need filters, literally any filter that exists (pool, air, water, car, pets), you can find it on their website at a crazy inexpensive price and have it delivered to your house in no time. My favorite product of theirs is the humidifier. Great for your office space at work and in your bed room at home.

Plus, they have this awesome charity going on right now. Free for you, all you have to do is log your walking/running miles on this website. Pretty cool!  http://www.filtersfast.com/w3/

HAMMER NUTRITION

     A big Thanks to Hammer Nutrition for giving me the energy I need each day for every training session. Their gels/bars/and drinks-preferably Heed-are all I need for my training.
     I also read one of their books, basically a nutrition guide, and the best advice I learned was that you always wake up hungry but your body trains better without anything in your system when you wake up but a gel 10-15min in the middle of your workout is ideal and this has helped me tremendously. Check them out, and save 15% on your first order online :)

TRAINING UPDATE

Good day everyone! Today is the 4th of July and it is rainy and dark. Which it has been this way for the last 7 days. I like it actually. When I went to Seattle Washington last year for a race, I had the pleasure to stay with locals there for a week and fell in love with the weather. Then again, I love our weather here in NC. All four seasons. Growing up in FL for 18 years, the one season atmosphere just was too boring for me and the heat was brutal sometimes.

Also, today- my bro is alone out on the boat on Duty(his fiance is a trooper and is at home doing her thing), my mom is alone, and my dad is alone. Definitely hurts when your so used to Holidays being all about family and doing whatever it was just as long as we were together. I look back and think about some arguments here and there but at the end of the day, I would take those any day over this feeling of knowing my family is all alone. But, thats life and you can only accept it. Plus, God is right next to me! :)

The last week or so of training, I have really dialed in on race specific workouts. Any race you enter in, make sure you do race specific training days. You never want to go into a race with any doubts. 

So I have been doing some swim/run workouts. Its definitely a different feel than your tradional swim/bike or bike/run. I also am implementing alot of speedwork. Im not doing a half marathon or marathon after the swim or the bike. Im doing a 10k and a 5k. Therefore, speed is crucial. Most of my training is 10k speed. If I do 5k speed training, then I might have a good 6-7k in the 10k portion of the race but the last 3k I will probably bonk since I wont have the endurance part. Same goes with the 1500m swim and 750m swim. Most of my swim training will be for the 1500m so I know i can maintain a good pace for the entire distance rather than just 1k of it. 

For instance, today- July 4th, I woke up at 4.30am- swam a 4k set with SwimMac Masters who are awesome and our coach is amazing. Then went to a local 5k to race in the middle of a 8mile run. I also wanted to cheer on one of the kids I coach who is 11 in which he did a 23min 5k... Then after 3 hours of yardwork, I did hard 1 hour bike session with a 3x8min workout in the middle and the goal was to hold a certain wattage. Which surprisingly went really well. So, today was one of those race specific days. Tomorrow i will run an easy 4miles and do some strength training so I can prep for my Saturday workout ;)

Here are some pics for you!

After a hard 23mile Time Trial bike, I had to stop and take this pic...

Long run with some awesome people, plus- that female is ranked in the top 15 in USA in the Half Marathon distance and can run a sub 2.33 marathon!

During this time of training, i read alot. No TV, just read.. However, Sox gets restless and looks at me like this, b/c he wants to play

After a swim workout on the 4th, in compression tights recovering with coffee and watching videos to get ready for my 8mile run w/ the 5k race in the middle

Our "That was painful" expression, and our "Lets Do it again!" expression. One of the kids I coach who I absolutely Love!

My front yard is getting there. Again, no tv means reading and yardwork to keep me busy!

My new backyard project. Love coffee out here, and Sox loves it too!

Thanks FiltersFast/Hammer Nutrition/Lululemon