Cozumel preview

IM Cozumel is closed (as per Slowtwitch). We had already decided to come over to the island as one of our mini vacactions (we'll also go to Bacalar (Cenote Azul), Boca Paila (after the 10K in Tulum next Sunday) and Merida during August. We can't leave for many days at a time due to my work constraints and the girls' horseback lessons so we'll do long weekends.

We decided to head over yesterday afternoon but go figure, showing up 15 minutes before the ferry leaves (car ferry) during vacation month is actually a laughable event. The ferry guy suggested showing up at 3:30 for the 6pm ferry. I had planned to work as soon as we got to Cozumel but decided I'd blow off work and suggested we head to La Floresta for some fish tacos as Jamie and I had not eaten at all and had a 40km bike ride we'd just finished. The family didn't have to be convinced at all and we stuffed ourselves silly at lunch. Jesse (who is intent on breaking every teen boy stereotype there is by never eating anything) had 3, I had 2, Ellen had 3 (camaron, much smaller than fish), Jamie had 5 and Sissy had 3. Thus sated we headed home so I could work a tiny bit, get the contact info for the house we were renting (I'd previously forgotten it) and headed back to the ferry terminal. We're pretty much used to just showing up and doing stuff so it was a bit weird to plan to be somewhere at a specific time, and we managed not to go too insane waiting. At 5:30 we got our ferry papers and at 6:00 we were still waiting to board for the 6:00 departure. It ended up being over an hour late and we got to Cozumel at 9pm instead of 7:30 pm. The owner of the house had given up waiting on us but he was quickly located and came by on his bike, showed us in and around and even called us later with the clave for the internet. SWEET! Unfortunately, there are only 2 king beds instead of 1 king and 2 twins so I'm not sure this will work for the IM. Boys will NOT share bedspace with ANYONE so I'm thinking for tonight we'll have to find some colchones for them. At any rate, Jamie and I provisioned up with Ellen this morning. We have water, cawfee, breaky and enough to last the kids until we get back from our ride. Because we're circumventing the island today, loop 1 of 3 for the IM in November. I'm really glad we came over now - I was starting to wonder on ferry last night. Kilo has been a great traveler and he is such an easy dog it isn't funny.

It's not the sharks, it's the PELICANS!

I finally figured out my run plan for IM training. I only do BarryP (as it has kept me injury free all year and after 2 years of constant injury, I'm a TOTAL convert) but that is a LOT of running (frequency) so it took some juggling to get it in there. And I wanted to add some longer runs towards the late middle of the training.

I finally got off my butt and started looking for accomodations during the IM as our usual place now has a very territorial cat and our dog would not be welcome. We're going to head over to the island this weekend and check things out and have a nice vuelta of the island. Looking forward to it. Next weekend is the Tulum 10K (or an unofficial Sprint in Cancun) which reminds me to register before the inscription bumps up (until today you couldn't register). ARGH. I have been looking EVERYWHERE for info on this 10K and until today there was nothing published. I now find that inscripciones were open June 1 and the fee is already up to $200. Yuck. I'll still do it though. :) So typical here.

So the other day I finally manned up and got in the sea water. I really dislike swimming in the sea, especially after being "dogged" by that damn cudda, so I'd try to finagle a way to get in the 10-12m pool before cleaning and definitely before hotel patrons strolled over for a dip and kept getting kicked out for maintenance. Since Jamie requires that I do not swim solo, swimming in the sea in the early morning doesn't work out very well. So last week I started running early morning and swimming afternoon when my babysitters were awake. Finally got some distance in. I really don't worry about sharks much but my last swim SOMETHING was hitting my feet intermittently. There is little debris in the sea and I couldn't figure out what it could be until after the last "hit" I saw a pelican heading skyward. Apparently my slow 2-beat kick looked too much like a fish to that pelican until he got close enough to see the leg and body of the large animal and aborted dinner.

I'm learning to listen to my body - the last 2 rides before today were hard, PR rides and today I put on the brakes and rode SLOW. It was actually hard to ride slow. I worked on cadence and got bored but my legs thanked me. Thursday's ride will thank me. I'm not sure how it was possible but just before heading out on Sunday's ride, I clipped in and immediately fell over. I've got good road rash (gravel) and am soaking with tea-tree oil to stave off infection.

I think I finally have a handle on the training and am looking forward to seeing what happens in the next weeks.

Day in the Life

I can't believe I haven't updated in so long! I finally threw caution to the wind this week and got in the water. I still have that damn ear blockage but I'm done waiting for the TM to turn right side around. Everyoneceandawhile I think I can hear but then it is gone again.

So I decided to do a DOTL. It's not super accurate because I forgot various times throughout the day but this is a pretty standard day. I'm the first one up and Jamie and I have been sleeping in the recamera with the girls since we tore the trailer apart. I tend to be eaten alive by mosquitos so after the first bloody night I strung up curtains around our bed. Ellen sleeps on the floor and we have STUFF stacked everywhere.

I normally get up, get online, start downloading work and then head outside to the kitchen to start a pot of cawfee. To the right here you can see the almost complete absence of trailer, pouring calica (fill) and the surrounding block to form the base of the floor of the new area (bathroom, recamera and office). To the left is the kitchen before the destruction which will be brought about by the family throughout the day. The kids are responsible for nightly kitchen cleanup so this is how it is left when they are done. Pretty nice, eh? They do good work.

So I gets my cawfee and works until Jamie wakes and we then watch the tour. How much depends on how much work I have. When the tour finishes for the day Jamie heads to the kitchen (girls are likely still asleep, but not always) and makes cawfee and I keep working. Today is a ride day so when I find a good stopping point we get ready for a ride while the girls do some schoolwork. All my riding and running stuff fits in this drawer. We've become more Mexican in our clothing habits and both the girls and I can fit all our clothes into 2 drawers. Big drawers, but 2 drawers. Ellen takes only one. Boys probably take 1 to 2. Jamie is the clothes horse and I have no idea how many drawers he'd need.

We have pretty much only one choice in ride, either north or south, and traffic is always less south so we head down to Akumal and back for our ride. This is our (short) bread and butter ride. We have a medium (58-60km) and a long (90 km) but this ride is standard for us and we do it 3-4 times a week. We have our favorite sprint areas (living on a flat peninsula any rise is the road is a "hill" and serves for sprints. By the time we get back the laundry is either ready to be hung or brought in, but that's not my job - I head back to work in my makeshift office (recamera) until construction gives me a real office. It has been a bit cramped but I'm finding I really enjoy having the kids around all the time. I was really isolated in the trailer office and I'm wondering how much I'm really going to enjoy being way over there again (once construction is done) after enjoying their company all day here in the recamera.


After eating, someone else doing housework and me working some more it is time to take the girls to horse lessons. Sissy is sick so it is just Ellen today.



















The drawer of run and bike. Nike tempo shorts, Target socks, Champion bras, tops, 1-2 bib shorts, and 5-6 jerseys. I have to be honest that I'm pretty sure I have more in a duffle somewhere.

I was supposed to go for a run but I'm so used to bricking my rides (and I ran out of time in order to get Ellen to her lesson) that I totally forgot to run when I got home, but instead worked a little more, ate and went to bed. I just finished week 1 of IM training and just like with the HIM I'm wondering if I'll ever be able to do the workouts in the middle but will just have to trust the training. Like the HIM, I'm padding the cycling a bit again. Now to hunt down mozzies before heading off to bed and starting it again tomorrow.