Long days in the "office"

Jason likes to call training our "office", or day of work. It sometimes feels super exhausting and I really am not sure how we managed to do all this and work full time. I have a new appreciation for everything we accomplish back home. It honestly amazes me now. We've had to make a lot of sacrifices along the way (sorry friends and family, you are neglected)!!

Shannon asked what our typical day has been here....and I thought it was a good question. We haven't been lazy to say the least. I have my alarm set for 5:15 every day, except on Sundays we let the birds wake us chirping away. Funny how getting up at 6:30 is no big deal on vacation but to go to work it isn't that fun....

We joined the local Master's swim team and have been going to their workouts Monday, Wednesday and Friday mornings at 6:15 am. Steve is the coach and he is known all over for his awesome teaching ability. We have been taking his swim 101 (intro class) on Wednesday as well and it is awesome. If we only had 6 months here we would be really good swimmers!!!! Jason and I both have improved in the very short time we have been here. Steve is on top of his workouts and doesn't let anyone take breaks, so in an hour workout we are easily swimming 2700 yards, which is a lot for me considering how horrible I am at swimming. I still am in the slow lane.....but it has given me faith that I could become better with a lot of hard work. On Sundays, we have been swimming in the ocean on the Ironman course. We have only made it to the 1.2 mile buoy, but I want to hit 2.4 before we leave. The water is awesome, so clear and lots of tropical fish and coral! If we are out there long enough, several people told us we will likely be able to swim with dolphins. A guy we just met today at the pier, Mark, who swims in our Master's group is going to meet us on Sunday and will be helping us in our hunt for dolphins! :) The picture above is of Jason, Jim, his kids and I after the 3 of us swam out to the 1.2M buoy.


The bike....is a pain in my arse, literally!!! I have tried what feels like 100 saddles and can not find one that works for me. I am about to use Jason's saddle from his $20 bike that has a gel pad over it! :) If anyone has an answer on how to fix this, I am open to all suggestions. I am in misery for most of the entire bike and really don't enjoy one minute of it. The bike is probably my strongest event but the one that I dislike the most.

Our longest ride has been around 75 miles. We are riding about 4 days a week and the distances vary. Some are pretty hard efforts, others are pretty easy. Jason is getting fast, I never see him in in front of me anymore.

Running here is tough and another reason we get up so early. We have long runs on Tuesdays and Thursdays, which range from 14-19 miles for Jason and about 14-16 for me. I can't handle running in the Kona heat, so if we are running by 6:30 it isn't as bad. The streets are also slanted to deal with the rain, which has led to a silly injury on one of my IT bands. Nothing serious at all, but has made me stop running this week to give it some rest. Why do we need IT bands anyway???