What's Next: Tempe, Portland... And A $10 Coupon Code!

It's time for me to lay off the racing for a few weeks as I starting building up some training miles in anticipation of that little thing called Ironman this year, 24 weeks away! Really not much time at all considering the work that needs to be done! I sometimes question whether I'm ready to tackle the training for the distance again, especially with Lucho as a coach (I know he's going to push me to a whole new level), but you know me -- not one to turn down a good life challenge. I actually enjoy the "thrill" of figuring out how I'm going to fit in the training on top of everything else. With all this taper, rest, etc... I'm sick of it! Ready to get back to logging in the hours!

Oh the things you see in Portland.

So, yea, my next races aren't until May. On May 11, I have the second race in the LA Tri Series (distance is in between a sprint and Oly tri), then the next weekend I'm heading to Portland to run the Rock 'N' Roll Half-Marathon on May 19. I fell in love with Portland when I went there in '11 of the Rev3 Half, and am so excited to return for the half-mary now! Not to mention, I am much more of a beer snob connoisseur so visiting Deschutes and some other local breweries post-race will be an experience on a whole new level vs. last time when I was a total novice ;)

The Portland course goes through the downtown area, and it looks pretty flat. Anyone out there interested in running this too? I think it's PR worthy!!! Well, the registration fee has increased, but I have a sweet deal for you: Use the code: COACHTAWNEE and get $10 off your entry to the Portland RnR Half-Marathon. That savings can go toward some good-quality Deschutes beer after the race! Click here to register. If you do sign up and/or are already planning on racing, let me know. We'll be making a weekend trip out of it.

Post-race goodness is not hard to find in Portland!

Speaking of fun race-filled weekends.... This weekend is going to kick ass. I find myself heading back to Tempe, AZ, again already to support one of my athletes who's racing USAT Collegiate Nationals on Saturday. I've been working with this athlete for quite some time now, and I am beyond excited to be able to make the trip out for her race. I would do this for all my athletes if I could!!! Plus, I've never watched a big USAT championship race so that will be an experience in itself. Did you know they have mixed-relay triathlon event with the kids doing short distances of s/b/r together?? Looks exciting!

Then on Sunday, as luck would have it, there's another race in Arizona, Leadman! So that means I get to cheer for ER and Tomas (and a bunch of other friends apparently). To heck with my own racing, it will be so nice to play sherpa and support others for a change this weekend.

I'll hopefully have some updates from Tempe when I'm there. In the meantime, I'm off to run in some lovely 70+ degree weather here in SoCal... Lucho has this thing where he believes in 20 X 20 miles before a marathon. I'm nowhere near running 1 X 20 miles right now, so it's time to build that endurance.