Fords Feet

Today was a much more relaxed day. PIC and I just needed a day of extreeme downtime so we put a moratorium on any "extras" today and just stuck to our previous schedule. We started off with a swim. I think the water was the most choppy and crazy today of any of the days I've been out in the water. It was Jen's first longer swim today and the waves were crashing all over the place and it was WILD!

We decided to start off with a coffee boat visit to get the day started off on the right foot. We ran into Brave Mandy at the boat. I only run into Mandy at Kona. She is such a cute little thing, I wish we had the time to sit there and chit chat all morning.

The coffee was good, but the Erin Bakers cookies were even better. Super Yum. I love the people at the coffee boat too, they are just the sweetest, taking photos for us and attending to all the crazy triathletes whims.

Jen, PIC and I then headed out at our seperate speeds, I was headed for the third buoy, PIC a little farther, and Jen was out for 10 more minutes. I used the time to focus on some of the tips from the clinic yesterday. Honestly, I felt the strongest in the water today, I hope to build on that feeling over the next few days!

At the 3rd buoy I had a chat with Regan. He's a retired local and comes out and volunteers in his kayak to make sure the swimmers stay safe. Even though the Ironman says the course is not "lifeguarded" during the days leading up to Kona, they still have 5-10 kayakers out there making sure the swimmers are safe in the morning. Regan is rad!!!

I was too busy chatting with Regan that PIC had turned around and was back at the third buoy. Rah-Roh. PIC was feeling a bit iffy from the chop, and she was feeling like her breaky might come back up. While this was quite a bummer for her, it slowed her down quite and bit and I was able to fight for my life to stay on her feet all the way back. This was definitely the HIGHLIGHT of my day. I've been swimming out here alone all week and it was so unbelievably cool to swim with PIC. It made me want to get faster so that we could do it again. THANK YOU PIC!!

After the swim we hit up the Ironman store, and then headed to the Acai Bar again. Seriously, I'm going to be at this place every day. I so totally love it!

After refueling we had some errands to run at the expo. Both PIC and I needed new compression socks for race day. We also wanted to stop by QR and NUUN to see what they were up to.

We ended up trying out a pair of Yurbuds...and then each buying a pair of Yurbuds. I've been hearing the hype about them on twitter and wanted to try them out. They are cool, your music is really clear and great quality, but they are not noise canceling, so you can hear people talk to you and you can hear if you use them while riding.

After that it was R&R time. We lazed around for the rest of the day

At about 3 we got ourselves together for a trip to the Natural Energy Lab. It's a tough portion of the course and worth getting a view of. I wanted PIC and Jen to see it so we spent some time there and then headed out for our bike ride.

PIC mentioned that we needed to take some time during this ride to pull over and give thanks to Madame Pele. We found a great spot half way through our ride, gently set the bikes down at the side of the road, climbed up into the LAVA and took some quiet time.

It was needed, just some time to sit quietly with the wind whipping and the heat rising off the lava, just some time to give thanks, to appreciate, to recognize that we are simply visitors to this land. Hawaii is a special place.

PIC and I did a bit of slightly peppy but still many many beats away from IM tempo session on the way back. We took turns leading, took turns feeling the wind in our wheels. Sitting on her wheel I was reminded just how strong she is, and how smooth she rides, Michelle is so strong. I couldn't have asked for a better training partner all these years.

As we pulled in to the car, done for the day, happy, thankful, I was starting to get quite a bit of pep in my step. The ants are starting to crawl, I'm feeling the jitters and the nervous energy begin. Thank goodness tomorrow is the underpants run, that should take everything down a level...or five. Michelle and I have REALLY prepared for the underpants run.....but you'll have to wait for tomorrow to see photos.We have a costume of sorts planned, can anyone guess what we are going as?