the gluten free kiwi

Ahhh...New Zealand. Pure, beautiful, natural, and full of cheap (but good quality) Gluten Free Food. My husband can't wait for my arrival just so we can go to the grocery store. He knows I get giddy when finding GOOD and REASONABLE PRICE food that I can eat. I have a feeling that we might be packing a lot of food for our return! I can't wait to cook and shop fresh local food. This again will be crucial for James' last week before IM NZ, CRAZY!!! But seriously, there is one thing NZ that makes JUMP for JOY and that I can't wait to get to. Yes, here's comes the corny talk- ITS MY HUSBAND!!

I wish Sadie was with his too, but a girl can reminisce can't she?! Anyway, this time coming up is so precious and I want to cherish it not only for myself but for US and for my Husband. His hard work and determination makes me so PROUD. He is a world champion triathlete in my eyes EVERY DAY! RACE your HEART out JAMES! I will be there soon!! XOXO

LC

No camera and it's killing me

Yesterday was another sensational day here in Auckland. I don't have a camera and the scenery around here is just spectacular. It was another early start to beat traffic heading out at quarter to six for our 30 minute commute to our open water swim session under the guidance of Mark Watson. Mark is such a passionate coach and fan of triathlon and you can see it through his words, actions, and how all the athletes respond to him.

We were in the water early and it was another star studded field. One of New Zealand's top female ITU athletes, Debbie Tanner was swimming today. It is very cool to see so many top level athletes all assembled together for sessions.

The main set for the day was 2x15 minutes at race pace. According to Mark, it was going to be a real "mind fu**" since we had some strong swimmings who would be pulling the "pain train". Mark is full of great phrases while training. I fared much better then I thought I would stay with the pack the first interval. During the second interval, my wetsuit filled with water and I was spit out the back. It was so hard to make forward progression with the suit full of water, and my form gone to bits while I thrashing about in the ocean. Now I have a HUGE fear of open water especially when it is murky. Conditions today, Murky and early = perfect feeding time for predators lurking in the depths. There was a time there i honestly thought i was going to drown. I was 20 meters off the back, and freaking out. i couldn't breathe, I thought sharks were all around me! It took some strong mental power to focus on form and stay relaxed. Eventually i caught up, my fear dissipated and i was able to enjoy a very nice sun rise.

Off to do my first solo ride with a map in the back pocket! We'll see where I end up in this beautiful country!

Cheers,
JC

Back to my birth place

I can't believe how fast the time has gone by. It seemed like just yesterday it was Thanksgiving and I just become very ill and was questioning if i would still have enough time to arrive in NZ in good form. Well, I'm here in New Zealand and I have some form.

Left Honolulu on Friday night and was very excited. Air New Zealand had installed the personal TV monitor in all the seatbacks so i would have games, music, and movies at my fingertips! Unfortunately my console broke and I had nothing the entire flight. I think my excitement of arriving in New Zealand helped pass the time by quickly because before I knew it, we had started our descent into Auckland.

I rushed through customs and beat the masses. Perfect, all i had to do was grab my bags and done. I wish it had gone that smoothly. There was bag/belt mistake and everyone was stuck in the baggage area for an hour plus until the luggage arrived.

Once through I met up with my homestay, the legendary, Cameron Brown. It was only 30 minutes after I left the airport that Mr. Brown convinced me to go for a run. It sounded great at the time. I ended up running for 1hr 30min after getting lost while taking a nature break. When I looked up, Cameron was gone! Luckily I was able to reconnect.

This morning we were up at 5:50 and off to swim training. Talk about multisport all-star packed! Cameron Brown, Terenzo Bozzone, G. O'Grady, James Upton and more heavy hitters whose names I have forgotten. We put in just over 5km under the guidance of Mark Boone.

Now I'm enjoying the most delicious fresh food NZ has to offer. Then it is out for a 90 min swim with Cameron.

What to feed a tapering athlete?!

Lots of Good Pure meats and omega rich fish, Local Fresh ingredients and Produce, calcium and probiotics from natural Kefir, whole rolled oats, and oh of course NATURAL ALMOND BUTTER!!










During this taper time before James' Ironman (coming up March 7th), its crucial for him to stay lean and absorb TONS of good nutrients. So we back off the quick carbohydrates and focus on lots of fruits, veggies, good fat with Vit. E for even more antioxidants, and of course Protein for muscle regeneration and to keep him strong and Lean! I love cooking with fresh produce from the local Kona Farmers market and the papaya's are amazing here of course. Cut it in half and pour some natural kefir yogurt and local honey for a tasty and nutritious breakfast or snack! Just a quick update on training, cooking, oh and Lavaman Triathlon work is good as well! We're about sold out and the race is still 6 weeks away. ITS GONNA BE CRAZY BUSY, but that's good for us!
Check out www.lavamantriathlon.com for all the details coming up March 28th and 29th!

Cheers,

LCotter

Hard yards in Hawaii

The biggest weeks and biggest single sessions are over and done with! My coach has received several nasty text messages, phone calls, and emails the past two weeks. My motto is "Go as hard and long as you can till you brake, then recover". I can officially say that my body is broken and it is time to start reducing the volume and sharpening up the body.

I don't recall ever feeling this fatigued! I can't stand up straight, I'm always slouching. I'm looking forward to feeling stronger over the coming weeks.

So my longest run day.....27 miles. Longest run in my life and it was wasn't all that fun. 3hr 15 min. I was in an ice bath minutes after this run drinking my recovery solution. I have a habit of running my long runs too fast, which results in me not recovering fast enough for torture Tuesday. I still complete Tuesday, but it pushes me that one notch higher to complete.

Longest bike/run combo: 7.0hr with 6mile mile run.
This was a tough set today. Race pace watts for the following sets:
3x60minutes, 4x15min, 5x10min. Short rest and my legs were hurting and cramping. I jumped on the run just to log the miles. No set pace.

I will enjoy a very easy day tomorrow to recover and get ready for shorter and sharper workouts.

JC.

High Price for Health

I love Hawaii, but beauty sure does come with a high price. Now if you're a regular Joe Schmo eating regular american processed foods, the price for bread and milk are about $1-2 more here than on the mainland, yes even at Wallmart! BUT if you're a health conscious victim like me and needing gluten free foods and desiring organic goodness, there is a high price to pay. Today I ventured out the local health food store to see if I could get some GF (gluten free) staples. I needed cereal, bread or rice cakes, and brown rice pasta for dinner tonight. I usually buy the new Gluten Free Kix from HEB in Austin. Its so yummy and 1 box feeds 12 and cost $2.50. Well, no kix here. Instead I found the gorilla munch puffs (still so yummy) but one box that feeds 9 was $4.65, luckily I found it on sale for $3.60 (SCORE!!- said sarcastically).



Next I found the Lundendburg Rice Cakes. I love these because they are actually heartier rice cakes with flax seeds, etc. But seriously, who wants to pay $5 bucks for a pack of rice cakes. I pay $2 in Austin. I bought them anyway. Girls gotta have some form of bread. The GLUTINO bread that they were selling was $9 BUCKS, no way. I think its expensive in Austin and I pay $4.75 for that. CRAZY!! But the best steal was the Ludenburg Brown Rice Penne Pasta. I think this was actually close to regular cost but the best part was that it cooked so well and tasted so good. We topped with stewed tomatoes, baked chicken, black olives, and Parmesan. I was just happy that we had leftovers to munch on for tomorrow. Don't have to buy grocery's for lunch, phew! I guess I'll have to start looking into eggs and SPAM (a local cuisine here). That's always cheap and suspicious in a way. Hmmmm.... I wonder if its gluten free. HA HA!



Aloha!
LC