Where did I leave off from yesterday? Oh, yes, we had just completed the Crystal River Triathlon, my teammates had all kicked butt in their age groups (hello first and second place trophies!), and we were hot, tired, and ready to relax…. what better way to do that than floating down the river?

I vote we float down the river after every race from now on. mmmkay?

Rainbow River is a popular spring-fed river just south of Ocala. I’d been once years ago with Derek and the fact that we were planning on going there after the triathlon was my main bribing tool to get Derek to come to the race. Who doesn’t want to spend a couple of hours floating down the river?

We had picked up a few river-related supplies on the way to our launch site, including floats, sunscreen, Twizzlers (very important!)

And Publix subs (enjoyed on dry land ).

All set and ready to relax.

The spring-fed water was amazing. It was slightly chilly, very refreshing, and perfect for two hours of floating.

We had brought a cooler full of drinks and fruit for the ride. Our original plan was to put the cooler in the extra kid’s float, but Derek was paranoid that the cooler would sink the float, so he floated the whole way with the cooler on his belly. I kept asking if it bothered him, but he didn’t mind a bit. I think he actually preferred the ample access to the beer, he was set for the afternoon.

Post-race bliss.

Stephanie had brought some Lime-A-Ritas, which tasted like fizzy margaritas. They actually weren’t bad and sorta went with the setting.   

Can you tell I was floating with a bunch of swimmers? They all wore their goggles! Nerds.

At one point we found a rope that people were jumping off of.

Obviously we couldn’t pass it up.

You know that saying “If everyone else jumped off of the bridge, would you jump too?” Well, if they all survived with a smile… I probably would.

The rope was one of those things that didn’t look bad from a far, but the second you get up to the tree and start climbing, you begin to second guess your decision to follow everyone else.

haha. I look terrified!

But all it took was a few words of encouragement and I was all smiles again.

Here goes nothing!!!

Worth it. Totally worth it!

And I promise it wasn’t that scary in the end. If it was, we wouldn’t have spent a full 30 minutes taking turns jumping.

How perfect is this shot?!

Alright, enough jumping. More floating.

Remember this photo. It’s rare to see our fearless leader, Felipe, so worn out.

After a mile or so of floating, we had reached the end.

So much fun ladies!

We deflated the tires and start the hour or so drive back to Tampa. I had an apple and stopped for an iced coffee on the way home for a little caffeine boost (I was wiped!).

Derek and I were both not in the mood to cook anything. I let him pick where to get take-out from and he chose a local BBQ place.

Not the best bbq I’ve ever had, but it worked.

Then we both fell asleep at 9:00pm. It was awesome.

Wow! What a day!

(That’s me jumping in celebration. Can’t you tell?!)

The Crystal River Sprint Triathlon was a success!! I still have some things I need to work on (TRANSITIONS!!! CYCLING!!!), but considering how much training I put into this race (next to zero) I’m happy with the results. I felt better in the water (thanks to my weekly swim practices), I was faster on the bike (crazy when you realize I just had my bike out for the first time on Tuesday), and I didn’t give up and walk on the run. There’s room for improvement (lots and lots of improvement), but for the first time, I’m willing to put in the effort to get faster at this whole triathlon thing. This is just the beginning.

The Crystal River Triathlon had a 7:30am gun time and was about an hour and a half outside of Tampa. I had gathered most of my stuff last night so I could squeeze out a slightly later wake-up call at 4:45 (better than 4:30!). All I had to do was roll out of bed, get dressed, eat my honey peanut butter and peach pita, and go.

The drive was quiet. Derek slept in the passenger’s seat and I tried to (quietly) pump myself up with my favorite running songs.

Registration was quick and easy too. There were no lines and everything seemed organized. My only gripe was that they ran out of small shirts (and I had pre-registered for one!). I ended up asking for a large to give to Derek – he’s developing quite a collection of my tri-shirts, since running out of small shirts seems to be a theme at these things. He doesn’t mind, he actually loves them and wears them around the house all the time.

After body marking, transition set-up was next.

That’s where I found Steph. Hi Steph!

I always feel like I NEED so much stuff for transition set-up, but when I sat down last night to come up with I really needed and – not just what I thought I needed – the list was pretty small. I had my bike with a water bottle, my helmet, a towel, cycling shoes, running shoes, my race belt with my race bib on it, sunglasses, and my garmin. That was it.

Nice and simple.

The ladies of XP Multisport, ready to roll!

Courtney, me, Jess, and Steph

We all hopped in the water for a quick warm-up before the start. The water was chilly, but not unbearable – it actually felt refreshing. However, I was a little thrown off by the mouthful of saltwater I got, for some reason I was expecting fresh?

We were the 4th group to go. It wasn’t until we were told to line up in the water and given the 3 minute countdown that the nerves started to kick in. The swim was only 400 yds, which didn’t sound like much when you say it out loud, but the minute I looked out and saw the 4 buoys we were supposed to circle, it began to feel like 400 miles. Gulp. Was I ready for this?

The countdown began and I didn’t have time to let my nerves control me. I wished all the girls luck and told them to save me a drink at the finish line (they’re all super, super fast). I put my goggles on, took a deep breath, and heard GO!

The swim has never been my favorite portion of the triathlon, but the minute I got myself in the water I felt good. In fact, felt better than good, I felt strong and confident in my strokes. Whoa. Where did that come from? I guess those swim practices really are starting to pay off.

Instead of being in the back of the pack (or the last one out of the water), I was in the middle. There was always a fellow pink cap around me and I could see a trail of them a ways behind me. For someone who has been dead last before, that was huge!

I was so fast (err… fast for me), that Derek wasn’t ready when I came out of the water. He sorta had to do a double take and missed getting a photo due to the lens cap still being on. All you can do is laugh.

Swim 1/4 mile 9:00.1 145th Overall

Here’s where things go south.

Let’s just call this section “What NOT to do in Transition 1.”

Do NOT worry about your race belt – you don’t need it until T2.

Do NOT forget your watch and sunglasses are in your shoes and try to put your feet in them before removing them.

Do NOT wear a high ponytail for the swim and try to put your helmet on on over it.

Do NOT take you ponytail holder out and put your helmet on thinking you’ll fix your ponytail on the bike (you’ll find this is an impossible task to do).

Do NOT waste time putting the Garmin on your bike while running.

And do NOT get worked up trying to clip in.

(Photo courtesy of Mary)

Transition 1 1:28 <— needs work!

Yeah, so the hair thing? Have you ever tried to put a helmet on your head with a high pony tail? It doesn’t work. I forgot to move my hair to a lower ponytail before the swim (rookie mistake!) and didn’t realize it until I tried to put my helmet on. By that point I felt like I had wasted so much time in transition (worrying about shoes, Garmin, and that darn race belt) that I just took my hair out and assumed I could mess with it on the bike.

Once I was on the bike I did try a couple of times to see if I could use both hands to pull my hair back, but I couldn’t get the right balance. In order to get my hair up, I’d have to slow down and I just wasn’t willing to do that. So I left my hair as is and rode all 15 miles my long hair floppin’ in the wind behind me.

(photo courtesy of Mary)

Eh. It worked.

The hair really didn’t bother me, but the people passing me? They bothered me.

I know that I haven’t been on the bike in a while – and the two “training” rides I did leading up to this were less than stellar – but it kills me to push so hard on the bike and get nowhere. I was proud of my 17+mph average (that’s a great pace for me, training or not), but that’s snails’ pace compared to some of these cyclists who were passing me effortlessly at 20+mph. My bike is definitely my weakest sport, and I really only have myself to blame for that. I’m starting to put the effort in my swim (and seeing improvements!), now I need to put that same sense of effort into my bike – PRONTO.

Even though I felt like a turtle on the bike, the ride was good. I gave it a solid effort and did a pace I was comfortable with. The course was a little boring (a straight out and back on a quiet road), but I did enjoy cheering on my fellow teammates as they headed back to transition.

Bike 15 miles 51:41.7 17.4 mph 217th Overall

Transition 2 was better. My first priority was putting my hair up (finally!) and I saved a teeny tiny bit of time by going sockless. (Many triathletes wear cycling/running shoes without socks to save some time in transition. I had never done this before and decided to take a chance. I would not recommend trying this for the first time in a race (do as I say, not as I do), but my feet were fine. No blisters and I had actually forgot I had done sockless until I took the shoes off again later. )

Transition 2 1:33 <– still needs work

The sun was out, loud and proud by this point. I began to feel it on the bike and knew I hadn’t drank enough water during the ride. Knowing how hot and horrible this run was about to be (no shade, lots of people, only one water stop) I made the last minute decision to grab my water bottle from my bike before I left transition. Best. Decision. Ever. I left with a full bottle and returned with an empty one. I really needed that.

The run is always the fun part because I know that’s what I do best. My body was tired at this point and – true to name – my legs felt like bricks. I felt like I was struggling to hold a 10 min/mile pace, but I was actually holding 8:30. I picked a few people out in the crowd ahead of me and passed who I could.

I saw Mary running with her camera around mile 1. I looked up and smiled – it felt good to see a friendly face.

She stayed put and I ran up ahead for the 1.5 mile turn around (another out and back).

I was getting a little bored at the point, so when I saw Mary waiting for me on the way back, I tired to chat it up with her. She filled me in on the others -and let me know how Derek was doing at the finish – but didn’t give much more than that. Instead she just stayed slightly ahead of me and acted as my pacer for the last mile of the run. I’m not sure she was doing this on purpose or not, but it was nice to have someone to run with for the final stretch to the finish line.   

I’m proud of myself for not giving up and walking on the run (besides stopping to tie my shoe once at mile 1), but I wish I would have picked up the pace a little more at the end. When I saw the finish line come into view, I kept it nice and easy. I looked around, soaked everything in, and reached my hand out to give my coach a high-five.

Then I saw the two guys sprinting behind me and decided to do the same. I was not letting two more people get ahead of me at this stage of the game!

Run 3 miles 25:38.1 8:33 min/mi 122nd Overall

I was done.

Final: 1:28:20.1 Age group: 7th (out of 10) Over all: 176 (out of 275)

As I stated above, I’m proud of myself for this race! I wasn’t the fastest girl out there, but I was fast for ME and that’s what’s important. I know what I have to work on now and I’m excited to really put in that effort for those improvements.This tri-season is only beginning, I can’t wait to see where it goes!

An BIG shout out to all of my XP Multisport teammates (who all either placed or WON their age groups). Great job ladies and gents!

I must say, Crystal River had quite the post-race food spread out.

I had a hot dog right after the races (that was a first, but it wad oddly just what I was craving) and LOTS of watermelon and water.

THANK YOU to Derek for not only waking up at the crack of dawn, but for braving the awful heat while we all swim, biked, and ran our little hearts out. Love you, babe!

AND thanks to Marcus and Mary for also being kick-ass spectators, photographers, and motivators.

I’ll have to save our post-race adventures for another post, but – trust me – they were worth racing and spectating for!

Good Night!

My gear is packed, my bike is loaded, and I have the alarm set for some un-godly hour in the morning. Yep, I’m running a triathlon in the morning. Then, we float. I’d say that’s a good trade off, right?

Lunch today was a lovely mix of leftovers.

The rest of last night’s salad (which was a mix of greens topped with fresh mango, avocado, tomato, olives, and jalapeno cheese).

And some toasted pita wedges with a mix of lemon hummus and 1/2 an avocado.

Hummus + Avocado = Genius.

I met my friend Allison for a bike ride this afternoon. Nothing major, just an 11 mile loop at a leisurely pace around a trail in New Tampa. We used to meet every Tuesday last summer before both of us sorta stepped away from our bikes over winter and spring. Now we’re both determined to return to our cycling routine and are leaning on each other for support to make it happen.

I had some trail mix on the way to the trailhead.

It was 95 degrees when I stepped out of my car for the bike ride. The high heat mixed with the un-shaded black asphalt path made for a very HOT ride! I’m hoping it’ll be a little bit cooler for the triathlon in the morning, otherwise I’m in trouble. I was definitely feeling it in those last few miles. The heat is not my friend!

Derek and I kept dinner easy. I roasted some onion, okra, and eggplant, while Derek made a batch of quinoa. We mixed the two with some ricotta cheese and topped it pasta sauce. Easy and done.

A saved piece of homemade German Chocolate Cake for dessert.

It’s almost tri-time. What am I still doing awake?! I have to be up in 6 hours!!!

Good night!!!

I’m running a triathlon tomorrow.

How do I keep forgetting this?

I remember how nervous I was the day before my first triathlon in 2009. My sister and I had semi-trained for the WIld Man sprint triathlon together. She was living in Tallahassee at the time and had come down to visit the week before the race. We conquered our first open water swim together (sans swim cap and wetsuit in the freezing water) and worked in a run and bike ride.

Then something horrible happened. That Sunday my sister was hit by a car while riding her bike. She was airlifted to a nearby trauma center and miraculously managed to walk out on her own two feet just a couple of hours later with only some road rash and minor cuts – nothing serious. My sister’s helmet saved her life, and it’s the reason why she’s still with us today.

I wasn’t sure I wanted to do the triathlon anymore after Kelly’s accident. She managed to walk away with only a few scrapes and bruises, but the bruises were enough to have her sit out from training for a week – no more triathlon for her. After spending so much time training for the race, she was upset – as I would have been – but she wouldn’t let me call it quits too. She made me promise to do the race without her.

So I did. What started out as a sister race remained a sister race as I ran the race in her honor. Not having my sister doing the race by my side was tough, but knowing she was on the sidelines and knowing she was cheering me on helped me push through it.

That race was just over three years ago now. Kelly wasted no time recovering from her accident (she ended up running a 15 mile race a little more than a month later) and since then we’ve done a couple of triathlons together, as well as a half-ironman last September where we crossed the finish line together hand-in-hand.

This whole week I’ve been looking at the Crystal River Sprint Triathlon as “just another race.” It’s a sprint…. I’ve done countless now (even longer ones)… I know I’ll survive… Yadda… Yadda… Yadda.

What a horrible attitude! It wasn’t until I started writing this post (not quite sure what direction I was going) that I’d realized I’d taken this race – and my ability to race – for granted.

Even though my sister has long since recovered, I owe her the same respect I showed her in my first triathlon because – the truth is – you really don’t know what tomorrow will bring. An accident can take any of us out tomorrow and take away our ability to do what we love. We owe it to ourselves to live every day to the fullest and cherish each race experience as they come. I don’t want to take this race (or any race!) for granted. My body and my mind is strong and I’m thankful for that everyday.

Tomorrow won’t just be “any other race” it will be an amazing race. It will be my first triathlon since my half ironman this past fall, it will be my first triathlon with my new XP Multisport teammates, and it will be the first race in a while where Derek will be there cheering me on. This isn’t just any race – it’s a new beginning and it was nice to be reminded of that.

Oh, man. Is it Friday, already?

I was sitting with the girls in Courtney’s living room last night thinking about how it felt like i had just seen them the day before at Bern’s, when really it was 4 days before. Then it hit me that another weekend was almost here and it’s just crazy how fast this week flew by. The pace is picking up around here and I’d really like it to slow down, please. I have too many things coming up on the calendar that I still need to prepare for. Can we just add another 5 hours to each day? mmmkay?

I cleared my head this morning with a quick 4 mile run around the block. Since my marathon I’ve been keeping all my runs relatively low mileage and easy paced. I have to admit that I’ve been enjoying this approach to running. It’s pretty relaxing and a nice break from training. I’ll need to start picking up the workouts again soon, but for now I’ll just enjoy the ride.

A post-run smoothie helped cool me down.

Mango Peanut Butter Smoothie

• 1 fresh mango chopped
• 1 cup ice
• 1 cup milk
• 1 teaspoon chia seeds
• 1 tablespoon ground flax seed
• 1.5 tablespoons peanut butter
• 1/4 cup rolled oats

Place all the ingredients in a blender and blend until desired consistency.

It’s getting HOT outside and I find myself craving smoothies more and more. The mango peanut butter smoothie was perfect. The mango gave it some natural sweetness while the peanut butter and rolled oats gave it a nutty, thicker consistency. I was a fan.

With the smoothie I had a chocolate vitatop muffin with a smear of peanut butter and almonds for a little crunch.

A great Friday breakfast.

Some posts worth reading!

Why CrossFit is not for me – Wearing Mascara

Loved the honesty from Julie here. It’s so easy to get caught up in workout trends and *think* it’s what we should be doing, but the truth is that if a workout is causing you anxiety or making you feel bad for yourself, then maybe that isn’t the workout for you. Workouts should be fun and exciting, NOT depressing.

Two Years, Two Months, and Two Days… – Running Peanut

Tear jerker. Big one. It’s always exciting to hear a friend who has been struggling with infertility for so long, finally got to see that second line appear.

Wedding: My Last Name

I updated the wedding page yesterday! Check out the comments of this post – lots of great discussions going on in regards to changing and not changing your last name after marriage.

Starbucks Gold Card Thief

If someone stole your wallet/ purse what’s the one thing you would be the most upset about?

Ochocinco’s wallet was stolen from his car earlier this week and apparently his main concern was his gold Starbucks card. Watch the clip.

I’ll admit, if my wallet was stolen I’d be pretty upset about losing the gold card too. As Ochocino so delicately put it – do you know how many coffees I had to drink to earn that?! hehe

It should be noted that the wallet was eventually located (thanks to the help of twitter!), but the Gold Card was still missing. Bummer.

We had a girl’s night tonight in honor of Jess and Courtney’s recent birthdays.

Courtney made the salsa.

Jess made the sangria.

I made the salad.

And Courtney made the ropa vieja, rice, and bean.

Put it all together and you one serious meal.

We all brought the gossip. And the laughs. Facebook and twitter played a part too.

Courtney made the birthday cake. Mary brought the ice cream.

We all sang “Happy Birthday” while Jess and Courtney blew out the candles.

I ate a piece (with ice cream) in their honor.

mmm…. homemade German Chocolate Cake. Courtney did good!

I think we all stayed out too late, but it was worth it.

Girls’ nights rule!

Let’s add this to the list of places I never thought I’d be meeting someone for lunch.

Caliente Resort and Spa is a clothing-optional resort just north of Tampa. Yep, you heard that right – my second clothing-optional resort visit in a week. I think I may have just found a new hobby!

Kidding! Sort of.

Pete (the race director for Streak the Cove) also organizes a Fall clothing-optional race at Caliente called Bare Dare. He wanted to discuss the possibility of working with him on some promotions for that race (anyone interested in winning a free race entry? ) and invited me to lunch to check the location out.

Considering the resort is in the middle of nowhere (gotta love the emptiness that is Land O’ Lakes) the resort was impressive! When I pulled up, I felt like I was pulling into a luxury country club, not a nudist resort. The clubhouse was huge and impressive. I was given a short tour of the clubhouse, which included a piano bar, a night club, two restaurants, a spa, fitness center, and group exercise room (where a clothing-optional pilates class was currently taking place).

The clubhouse was nice, but the pool was what really took my breath away.

(source: Facebook)

As soon as I walked outside, I felt like I was stepping out into a resort in the Caribbean instead of North Tampa. The mix of palm trees, waterfalls, and crystal clear blue water was enough to have me craving a pina colada, a good book, and a chair in the shade. It was such a tease to see knowing I didn’t have time to take advantage of it! Simply paradise.

There were nude people there? I was too busy drooling over the pool to notice.

Anyways, after my tour, Pete and I took a seat at the poolside restaurant (I should probably note here that we stayed fully clothed the entire time) and had lunch while talking business.

I ordered the tilapia sandwich with a side of fruit.

I enjoyed the doughy bun the fish was served on, but the fish itself was sorta bland. Pete had ordered a club-like sandwich that looked about 10 times better than mine. In case you ever find yourself at the poolside restaurant at Caliente, I would suggest ordering the club-like sandwich from the menu and not the fish.

Caliente was an interesting spot for a lunch meeting, but I will admit it was fun going out there. Now I just need to go back to take advantage of the pool. I wonder if that’s something I can talk Derek into? Hmm… At the very least there’s always the Bare Dare in September. That race might just be worth doing for the ability to lay out by the pool afterwards.

Where’s the strangest place you’ve met someone for lunch?

I don’t plan to change my last name.

Wait, let me take that back. What I meant to say is, I don’t plan to change it completely. I’m going the hyphen route. Come January 5th, I’ll be Mrs. Meghann Anderson-Russell. Has a nice ring to it, right?

This isn’t a new revelation, it’s just always been my plan. Ask my high school boyfriend – it scared the crap out of him when i told him so matter-of-factly over dinner one night (not in a creepy one-day-we’ll-get-married type of way, but in a this-is-just-a-decision-I’ve-made sort of way). I’m not even 100% sure why the topic came up, it was just one of those random statements.

“I never plan to change my last name.”

“Really?”

“Really.”

“Not even when you’re married?”

“Not even when I get married.”

For some reason the idea really bugged this particular boyfriend, and he wasn’t the only one. I’ve had a couple of other boyfriends over the years that weren’t fond of the idea either, they didn’t even like the whole hyphen route. I guess it’s a good thing those relationships didn’t work out.

I knew that eventually I would find a guy who would respect my decision to want to keep my last name. He was out there – somewhere – and I did find him. When I told Derek that I didn’t want to change my last name when I got married (before we even talked about ever getting engaged) he just shrugged his shoulders and said “If that’s what you want – that’s cool.” He knew my mind was made up on the matter from the beginning and totally respected that. We’ve talked through it multiple times since then and – you know what? – he asked me to marry him anyways. I love that man.  

The truth is, I like my name. I’ve been Meghann Anderson since I was born. It’s who I am and I don’t see how keeping that part of me is really that big of a deal. So my last name will be a little more complicated with a hyphen thrown in at the end. Big deal. It’s my decision and I accept any complications that come with it.

When the topic of future last names comes up with friends or family, I like to watch their reactions when I tell them that I’m keeping my last name and going the hyphen route. They almost always immediately look at Derek, or – if he’s not there – they’ll immediately ask what his opinion is on the manner. Funny how that works.

I think the biggest question after “What does Derek think?” comes “What about when you guys have kids?” Good question. Here’s where it get’s blurry. I’m not opposed to them having his last name (with Anderson as a middle name, perhaps?) or even Anderson-Russell. There’s no absolute answer yet and we’re ok with that. We’ll cross that bridge when we get there. We still have a few years to think it over.

So that’s the story of my future last name. I’ll be Meghann Anderson-Russell and I couldn’t be more excited about it.

How did you decide what to do with your last name? Did you always know you would change it/keep it or was it a decision that came later?

Bike trainer: 1 Meghann: 0

I pulled the bike trainer out of the cobwebs today. I was hoping to get a ride in while catching up on Tuesday’s season finale of Glee (*tear* So I’m confused…. is half the cast leaving the show or what?!)

Anyways, it’s been a long time since I’ve hopped on the bike trainer and I forgot how much of a pain in the booty it can be. The first time I thought I had the bike in the slot, my back tire wouldn’t move. When I lifted the bike out of the trainer the back tire came off with it. It took me 10 minutes alone just to figure out how to get the tire back on (the chain had come off by the pedals, which was throwing me off).

Then once I put the bike back in the trainer, it wouldn’t stay straight up. I would lean to one side and the back tire would push on one side of the stopper. By this time Derek was up and he was getting a kick out of watching me wobbling in and out of the bike with my clip-ins on trying to figure out what was wrong. A couple of times I thought I had it right, only to fall out of it again.

By the time the hour long episode of Glee was over, I had gotten maybe 10 minutes on the actual trainer total and Maddie was refusing to speak to me ever again. (She no likey the bike trainer)

You win, trainer. You win.

I finally gave up and placed my bike and trainer to the side. Instead I did Tone it Up’s recommended workouts for yesterday: Sunkissed Abs and She Sells Sea Shells by the Seashore. At least I got some sweating in.

The workout was followed by a bowl of cereal.

• 1/2 cup Kashi Cinnamon H2H
• 1/2 cup Wheat Chex
• walnuts
• Plain Chobani
• strawberries

Look who is finally speaking to me again.

It took her a while to forgive me for getting the big scary trainer out, but she’s starting to come back around.

A big CONGRATS to Leslie, the winner of the case of Whole Foods Mangos!!!

Is there any pieces of equipment that scares your dog or cat? Maddie is pretty much afraid of everything, but vacuum cleaners and bike trainers seem to put her over the edge.

Looks like the Clif Bar fairy paid me a visit today.

Clif Bar recently released a new line of Kit’s Organic Fruit + Nut Bars; a 200 calorie or less, gluten-free, soy-free, dairy-free fruit and nut bar made with just a handful of organic ingredients.

Basically, they’re CLIF Bar’s version of a Lara Bar. Just fruit and nuts, nothin’ else.

I’m not the biggest fan of the fruit and nut bars on the market. They’re something I tolerate on occasion, but nothing I particularly crave. I think the fruit or date base of the fruit and nut bars are what turn me away. If I do eat one – the nuttier, the better. The nut-based flavors (like peanut butter) seem to always be the safest bets.

Dates. Peanuts. Almonds. Salt. At least you can’t go wrong with the ingredient list here.

It tasted just like a peanut butter Lara Bar – very peanut buttery with only the slightest hint of date. Still not heads-over-heels in love here, but I did enjoy and finish the bar.

If you love Lara Bars, these babies may be a cheaper alternative. I just wish date wasn’t a requirement with making these type of bars, I’d probably be a bigger fan if it was missing.

Are you a fruit and nut bar fan?

I had the CLIF bar on my way out the door to meet my friend Courtney at TeBella.

Love Tebella and love any excuse I have to visit. I walked in requesting a black fruity tea to combat the awful heat and the very polite staff recommended the Strawberry Mango, iced. Yes, please!

Perfectly refreshing. Can’t go wrong with a good cup of iced tea.

Courtney treated us both to macaroons to nibble on with our tea.

I had the pistachio, which was very mild. Not too sweet and not too pistachio-y, yet melt-in-you-mouth delicious.

Courtney and I had a very interesting chat that covered everything from Fifty Shades of Grey (she got the first book as a gift for her birthday and is two chapters from the ending), to upcoming training schedules, to all things blog related. You know you’re in the company of a good friend when conversation easily flows from one topic to another and an hour feels like a minute. Seriously, the hour went too fast!

We left TeBella and headed to meet the rest of our team at the pool for swim practice.

Today’s practice was tough. Lots of short, fast sets that had me feeling exhausted not even 30 minutes into practice. I’m getting better at flip turns (and try to do them at every end), but the more exhausted I become, the worst i get. Water up the nose, horrible form, missing the side of the pool, and struggling to reach the surface in time to catch my breath are just a sampling of what happens. I missed a couple of sets simply because I was so irritated with my performance. My leaking googles didn’t help either – I need to remember to invest in a new pair before the sprint tri on Saturday.

Even with all the bad, there was good. I’m proud of myself for pushing through when I was on the verge of throwing in the towel in the pool today and proud of myself for semi-keeping up with the pact. (And by semi-keeping up, I mean I finished the sets, just in my own time with less rests in between. )

I left the pool ready for bed. Man, the pool really takes it out of you!

Once again, I was much too lazy to make dinner and just relied on last night’s leftover corn cakes and salsa for dinner.

With two eggs for a little boost of protein.

And an Attune Bar for dessert.

Now I’m ready for bed. Sooo ready for bed. I’m going to sleep good tonight!

Good Night!

Don’t forget! Last call to enter to win a case of Whole Foods Mangos!