Defending the clearwater change to vegas...

I am on blogger. I am on facebook. I am trying to network. The latest news is that Ironman has changed Clearwater to Las Vegas. I have noticed a lot of unfortunate words used to describe this change. I do not know clearwater. I do know this valley. I do know these athletes. Everyone has an impression of "Vegas." The truth is this community is 2 cities in one. I have the option to go to "Vegas" any time I want. When there is a concert, nice restaurant, show, etc. The rest of the time I live in a place with tons of outdoors activities. We have lake mead. We have Mt. Charleston. We have Red Rock. We have the Colorado River. All within an hours drive. We have snow close in northern NV or California. The beach is 4-5 hours away. There are literally 1000's of cyclists and runners in this valley. If you went to Red Rock/Lake Mead on a Saturday morning you will see 100's of athletes. Fast/fit athletes to people who are learning to be athletes. So this community if VERY active. It is VERY outdoorsy. I think it was Adventure Magazine rated Las Vegas as the TOP active place to live. The course change is something they complain about too. The Silverman was rated by Triathlete Magazine as one of the top 3 HARDEST triathlons on the planet. In the Silverman promo video Macca says its the hardest course hes raced. Many experienced Ironmen have said if it was on the Ironman circuit it would be hardest. Recently the St. George folks may have something to say about that. Why do we want a super fast, flat, boring course for a World Championship? Kona isn't easy. The Xterra World Championships is ridiculous in Maui. Why not have a challenging 70.3 course?

Sorry (off soap box). Back to me. My Silverman experience is not a championship caliber endeavor. It is me against me on a very challenging course. Less than a month away. I am so pumped. I am ready and this weekends will be the last big weekend until I taper. I will run Ragnar Las Vegas as part of that taper. Here is how my week went:

Monday-Scheduled 4 mile easy. Pushed secondary to cold. Been sick. Swapped Rest day with tue.

Tuesday-Bike Quality. Tried my best to sprint the sisters again. I didnt have much energy and I moved some phlegm (lol). I actually felt better after riding.

Wednesday-Easy 4 run. Felt strong. I wasnt sure if going out instead of sleeping would help the cold but it did. Happy to do it. Strong 4.

Thursday-Rest

Friday-Rest

Saturday-Long swim. Made it open. About 1800 or so with the wetsuit. It has been a while since it was cool enough for a wetsuit. Truth be told it wasnt cool enough. It wasnt too bad though. I forgot my watch so no time data. I felt good. Fast at times and bored at times.

Sunday-Long Run. I have been managing my week to get to this day. I felt about 95% over the cold and I wanted to have a good run. For the first 8-9 I felt awesome. Then this ugly blister popped up on the arch of R foot. I made a run to the local running store for new shoes. NB 760. I figure since I lost so much weight the "old" style shoes were over posting me. Hmmm we will see. So I banged out all 15 but the last 6-7 were miserable. Especially since my cardiovascular system had no problem. Even more especially since my musculoskeletal system was ready to go as well. Stupid blister. Overall happy with it. QUOTE, actually instead of my normal inspirational quote I leave you with a link to that Adventure magazine article about Las Vegas:

LINK