So far I’ve been training on a hybrid bike that I borrowed from a friend, and that was great for getting me back into cycling and for my first couple of months of training.  Last week I decided to take the plunge and buy a new road bike!  I visited the great folks at Chain Reaction in Redwood City, and they were very helpful.  Here’s what I ended up with – a ‘Trek Domane 2.0’ – it’s a pretty nice bike!

new Trek bike!

Yesterday after an hour in the pool we went on a 24 mile ride so that was a great way to test out my new bike.  It was a gorgeous ride and a gorgeous day, and I definitely noticed a difference riding a road bike.

Aug 11 ride

Last weekend we did went down to Capitola for a preview of the mighty mermaid course.  Was good to get a sense of what the ocean open swim was like, and I managed to swim around the pier twice.  After that it was a 19 mile ride, again riding along some of the actual course.

Mighty mermaid 'preview ride' in Capitola

We saw some beautiful scenery – the course goes along the coast for a bit and through some pretty rolling hills.  There were a few absolute killer hills – I was able to stay on the bike for most of them, but ended up walking my bike up the last couple!  We finished off the day with a 2 mile run, which was a little challenging after the long ride, but we managed to complete it.  It was great to get a preview of the course!

It’s a little challenging to try and fit in workouts while on vacation, but I was able to get some training in.  I spent the weekend in Sydney with my twin sister Laurel, and didn’t manage any training there, but from Sunday through Thursday I was in beautiful Mooloolaba in Queensland which was a perfect place to get some workouts in.

Mooloolaba is a gorgeous beach town, so I got a couple of hour long runs in.  This isn’t a bad view for a run.

Mooloolaba beach, Queensland, Australia

Mooloolaba run

I checked out the Olympic pool in Maroochydore on my run – and was able to get an hour swimming there another day.  It’s a gorgeous aquatic complex right on the beach.

Aquatic park, Maroochydore

And of course, being on the beach I did have a quick swim in the ocean, but didn’t stay in too long (the water was pretty chilly!).

quick swim in the ocean

Finally for some cycling training I just popped into a local gym and spent some time on the stationary cycle.

I got back yesterday (Friday), and tomorrow we have a ‘dummy run’ of the Mighty Mermaid course in Capitola.  Hoping the jetlag doesn’t kick in – will be good to get a preview of the course.