Run Miles and Winter Biking

Ok, so it's been a while since I've put anything down on my blog.  I didn't post for a month, and then I served time in the blogosphere penalty box.  But now I'm back!  Truth be told there wasn't much going on.

Running
I've been putting a lot more miles in than I have in the last couple of offseasons.  Marathon training is a great motivator, and Boston Marathon training is probably the best.  Up until this time in 2012, I had only 67 miles, whereas this year I have 267 miles in.  I finally seem to have a hold of the issues with my hips and feet.  I'm also doing runs slower for the most part (7:12 avg at this point last year vs. 7:26 this year).  I'm targeting 7:15 to 7:30 pace on my long runs instead to trying to run them all under 7 min miles.

Winter Biking
I bike outside all year round.  Its one of the advantages to living in South Carolina.  I haven't really found the disadvantages yet (I love the heat), but when I do, I'll be sure and let you know.  With my run focused training right now, I've mostly ran weekend mornings and biked in the afternoon.  My rides have not been bad at all.  This past weekend I did my first "cold" ride.  It was about 34 degrees and I took off about 15 minutes before sunrise.  Last year I had some miserable rides.  Party due to temps (27 degrees anyone?) but also due to lack of preparedness.

This year I'm more prepared.  I got a pair of PRO Ventura Overshoes, that I have worn an few times.  Basically whenever the temp is under 40.  I also got a pair of long cycling tights that I wore the first time this past weekend.  So here is the bulk of my cold weather gear:

So clockwise, upper left we have hand warmers, winter gloves, neoprene head band, the overshoes, and my Shimano tri shoes. I wear my regular shoes with Pearl Izumi toe covers.  I then cut the toe off of a pair of wool socks and stuck those on the end of the shoe over the toe covers.

This is just to provide an extra layer of insulation underneath the overshoes.  I purchased the XXXL size overshoes even though I only wear a size 43 shoe.  I had heard they run small and I knew I wanted to be able to put some extra layers in there.  With the wool sock toes, they Triple X's fit perfectly.

So as you can see, I'm pretty well covered up with the the tights and boot covers on.

I also have some foot warmers, but seeing how it was "only" 34 degrees, I did not bring them along.  I threw the hand warmers in my cycle jersey, but did not end up needing them either.  So up top, I have my head band under my helment and then put my sunglasses over the head band.

I wore a long sleeve shirt with arm warmers underneath a long sleeve jersey.  It all kept my quite toasty.  But we shall see how it feels after another 10 degrees cooler.  Will this winter ever end?

Training Year in Review

Another year is behind us.  All those miles and yards that I have accumulated over the past 12 months will now be wiped back to zero.  Kinda sad to see them go, but excited about adding more to it.

Swim
Yards: 337,170
Hours: 131:59
146 Swims
High Week: 14,000 yards (February 20th)
High Month: 50,100 yards (February)

Bike
Miles: 5,139.4
Hours: 244:36
133 Rides
High Week: 266.2 miles (July 23rd)
High Month: 808.2 miles (July)
Averaged 21.65 mph for the entire year

Run
Miles: 1,031.3
Hours: 121:30
153 Runs
High Week: 40 miles (July 23rd, September 9th, and October 8th)
High Month: 146 miles (July)
Averaged 7:04 min/mile for the entire year.

Lift Weights
69 times, 23 hours

Time:
Hours: 521:06
High Week: 22:20 (July 23rd)
High Month: 70:18 (July)

Overall a 6% increase in time from 2011.  Which roughly breaks down as a 4% decrease in swim yardage.  A 59% increase in bike mileage.  Then an 18% decrease in run mileage.  The big news is that I increased my bike mileage by almost 2,000 miles!  Hitting the 5K mileage mark on the bike felt great!  I'd like to do it again, while increasing my run mileage this year as well.

2012 Race Year in Review

2012 turned out to be a pretty awesome year for race results for me.

Try Charleston Half







This was my first ever half iron race.  The swim went OK for me.  Its not much longer than an oly race and it was wetsuit legal.  I was a lot faster on the bike than I thought possible.  I'm sure a lot of that has to do with the course: flat, few turns, no wind to speak of until mile 50.  Overall felt pretty good on the run, but I just didn't want to blow up in my first race this long.  5th in my age group (2nd AG bike, 5th AG run) with a 4:34.  I really liked this race and want to do it again. Its a good race to bring the family as we camped at the KOA at the start.

Tri at Baxter Sprint
This race is always a fun one for me.  It was my first ever tri back in 2010.  I keep thinking I can somehow get into the top 3 overall, but hasn't happened yet.  Sliding down into the pool to start the race is pretty cool, well unique if nothing else.  5th overall finish this year (3rd OA on bike and 3rd OA on the run).  I hadn't really been training for a fast 5K, so overall it went OK.  I guess I can't complain, since I did win my AG.


Wawasee Flotilla Road Race








This is an 8M road race up in Syracuse, IN.  I've run this old school race quite a few times.  I averaged 6:16's on this mostly flat course.  Pretty humid for the area, but it was fun, and I won my age group (7th overall).  Actually turned out to be a really good tempo run workout as well.

Stumpy Creek International
This is the second year in a row that I have done this race.  It just happens to work well on the schedule being the first weekend in August.  I had a terrible swim (no wetsuit) and found myself 11:31 behind the fastest time in my age group and 7:19 arrears of the eventual 2nd place in the AG.  I hammered the bike (first race on my FLO's) and had the fastest AG time by 4:20 (3rd OA fastest bike).  Then I had the fastest run by 2:10 to eke out the AG win by 0:42! Was great to come back and win the AG, but it really told me something about my swim.

Ironman Augusta 70.3

This was it.  My "A" race for the year (don't you just love stupid tri lingo?).  I was super nervous for this race.  The field was huge.  The competition was better than any I had been up against.  And all my training pointed to this race.  This race ended up being so much fun and so well organized.  My swim time was OK but my swim rank was incredible for me (top 1/3 in my age group).  Gotta love a current aided wetsuit swim for crappy swimmers!  Followed that up with a monster bike averaging 24.5 (2nd in AG) and didn't die on the run: 6:31 avg (2nd in AG).   It felt great to "earn" my Las Vegas 70.3 World Championships slot.  I didn't rely on roll down at all.  4 slots in my AG and I finished 3rd (out of 412) with a 4:13:57.  The rolling hills course and flat run played into my favor as well.

Rev3 Florida

We planned a mini vacation around this race, as it was all fun for me.  We hit Legoland on the way down and Universal Studios on the way back up.  The weather was nice except for the super strong winds caused by Hurricane Sandy.  They ended up cancelling the swim.  The bike course was great: flat, good roads and scenic.  Too bad it was so windy.  I averaged about 27 mph in the first half and then 22 mph in the second half.  I didn't do so well on the run, but still won my age group.  It was definitely a fun way to end the season.

So I won my age group in 4 of the 6 races, plus finishing in the top 1% at IM Augusta. Really couldn't be happier about my results for the year.  I raced a little less this year, which helps keep the training more consistent.  I like doing the 2 races near the end of the year to try and take advantage of the fitness level I was at.  

Goals: 2012 Review and 2013 New

So ya gotta have goals, right?  Most people say triathlete's goals are too lofty.  But why make a goal if it's easy to reach?  I mean if it's too easy there isn't much motivation to train to try and achieve that goal. I always found in college that goals definitely helped motivate you throughout the season.  So lets see how we stacked up.

2012 Goals Revisited
1. Swim sub 35:00 for 1.2 miles (HIM).
Made It! Of course I kinda cheated (a lot) by making this goal at Ironman Augusta with the the downriver wetsuit swim.

2. Swim 352,000 yards for the year (200 miles).
Well I didn't quite make this one.  That's how much I swam in 2011, but this year, I kinda tailed off and tried to work on speed (like I said, tried) and not worry about volume so much.  Its not like I slacked off entirely, I'll be over 320,000 yards at year end.

3. Bike sub 2:26 for 56M (23.0 avg)
Biked faster than this in all 3 half races I did.  It seemed fast at the time I wrote down the goal, but with the training, aero helmet, and race wheels, I got up to a 24.5 avg.

4. Bike 4,000 miles.
Smashed this one as I will have over 5,000 miles at year's end.

5. Run sub 1:25 for 13.1M (6:29 pace)
Almost got it as I ran 1:25:19 at Augusta for a 6:30.5 average

6. Run 1,500 miles for the year
Did not come close, as I really scaled back the mileage due to the bursitis in my hip from the Charlotte Maration.

7. Top 6 AG at IM Augusta and qualify for Las Vegas 70.3 Worlds
Nailed this with a 3rd in my AG and a Vegas Slot

8. Top 3 AG at Rev3 Florida
Also nailed this, with a 6th OA and won the age group.  Cancelled swim helped with that.

So all in all pretty good.  Just about got all my time goals, and got my race finish goals.  Didn't make the training goals, but that doesn't really matter if I'm making my time and race goals, right?


2013 Goals Training
1. Swim 300K for the year
Scale back a little bit to focus on form and speed (hey that's what the coach said!)

2. Bike 4,500 miles for the year
A little less, as I think I won't bike as much due to the Marathon Training

3. Run 1,500 miles for the year
A little more because of the Marathon training.

2013 Goals Time
1. Swim sub 30:00 for 1.2 miles
I would really like to nail this at Vegas or Rev3

2. Bike
I would really like to bike a sub 2:15 half, but I don't think the Vegas or Anderson courses are conducive to that. I'll come up with race specific goals as the time nears.

3. Run
I would like to run a 1:23:xx half, but again, not sure the courses I'm going to run will allow that.

2013 Goals Racing

1. Boston Marathon
Focus here is to have fun, enjoy the experience and not destroy my hip and ruin my training for Vegas.  So I'm shooting for 8 minute miles and a 3:30 finish

2. Ironman Las Vegas 70.3 World Championships
I'd really like to go Top 10 in my age group.  Not sure how it will go, as it is a much tougher course than I have ever done.  There were about 200 finishers in my AG at last years race, so top 10% would be good as well.

3. Rev3 SC (USAT Long Course National Championships)
Looking at a Top 5, and preferably Top 3 age group finish.  I'll be interested to see what the competition will be like.  In the past, this race wasn't as competitive as an IM 70.3 race, but with the USAT LC Nats, I'm not sure how it will pan out.  When Myrtle Beach used to host Long Course Nats, it was pretty competitive.

So now everything is written down.  I feel pretty good about the coming year.  I think my hip has finally gotten straightened out.  I'm excited about having a little bit more run base heading into the season for some hard training for Vegas.  I also hope to get my bike more aero, and of course work on the engine.  I believe it was Greg Lemond who said "It doesn't get easier, you just get faster".

Of a Hiatus and Swim Lessons

I had a goal to take the entire month of November off.  No workouts.  No physical activity of any kind except lifting beers, mass quantities of beers.  I had a couple of little nagging sore spots (I wouldn't use the term injuries) on my legs and feet that I wanted to completely heal up.  Mostly I just wanted to make sure I got enough of a mental and physical break before starting off the training for 2013.  With Boston in April and Las Vegas in September, it will be a pretty intense year.  I wanted to make sure I got back in the mindset of wanting to train.

I thought that it would take the full month, but 3 weeks in, I got pretty ancy.  I broke down over Thanksgiving weekend and went for a ride.  It was 65 and sunny, how could I resist?  Then I jumped in the pool on Monday and went for a run on Tuesday.  So I had 26 days off from Biking, 30 days off from Running, and 32 days off from Swimming.  The few extra days off from swimming were due to the swim being cancelled at Rev3 Florida.

So what really got me to break my November goal was a swim lesson.  I finally got a swim lesson setup and it was for that last week in November.  I didn't want to jump into the pool at the lesson having not swam for a month, so I swam on Monday and Wednesday.  Then I thought well if I'm gonna swim on Monday, I might as well bike on Saturday and Sunday.  Then I thought well if I'm biking on the weekend, swimming on Mon/Wed, why not go for a run on Tuesday and Thursday? Right?  So its really not my fault!

I have vaguely alluded to my troubles trying to find a good swim coach in some of my past posts.  I had a couple of lessons from the local YMCA guy (he was a no show on the first try).  It was helpful in the beginning, but when I got to the point that it looked like I wasn't going to drown, he really couldn't help me out anymore.  I had email contact with 2 coaches in Charlotte.  After a few emails about price, schedule, and me wanting to go ahead, I never heard from them again.  (I will withhold names to protect the guilty.)  So I really had my sights set on getting some real coaching from someone with a swimming background, but also coaches triathletes (or people who are bad at swimming).

On one visit to IOS I chatted up James and Melissa about how much I stunk at swimming.  This was right after my Augusta race which went incredible for me.  Obviously the current aided wetsuit swim helped a lot in that.  But if we take a deeper look at the numbers at say, Stumpy Creek, we see that I was 37th of 55 on the swim (67th percentile) in my age group.  Now compare that to my bike and run.  I had the fastest run in my age group by over 2 minutes and the fastest bike by over 4 minutes.  That's pretty pathetic swimming.

They suggested jumping in with the Masters Group that swims on Tuesdays and Thursdays (I think) at the Mecklenburg County Aquatic Center (MCAC).  I didn't really feel comfortable with that.  I really thought I needed some one-on-one coaching.  I mean someone to watch me swim in the pool and say, "Wow.  You truly are one of the worst swimmers I have seen in my entire life".  Or something to that effect.  As I went to checkout at IOS they had some business cards there and I picked up several and checked them out later.

I happened to pick up the card of Melinda Yelton.  Trijinx is the name of her coaching company.  She was very quick to respond to all my emails, and I believe she has reasonable pricing.  Her swimming credentials are actually quite impressive, I think.  So we setup a lesson at the MCAC of all places.  I had never been before, but its right on the way to work, which actually is better than Charlotte Christian or the Rock Hill Aquatic Center.  Plus I didn't have to pay a daily fee since I was getting a lesson.

The lesson went pretty well, I thought.  She said my body position actually wasn't bad, but I was a really bad "windmiller" she called it.  We went through several drills, which I will not go into any detail here as I will invoke client/coach privilege (as in pay for your own lesson if you want to know!)  The follow up email she sent with the evaluation and drills was quite thorough.  She included video links on my stroke and demonstrations of all the drills.

So now its up to me to hammer the drills for a while.  It will probably be at least mid January when I go back for another session.  I want to make sure I have all the drills down.  But it looks very promising, I will say.  In just a one hour she got my stroke count down from 27 all the way to 17 and it took the exact same amount of time!  That's efficiency.  And that is a good place to start.  The speed will come.  I have time since my "A" race isn't for another 9 months.

Rev3 Vs. WTC

It's the great debate, is it not?  Who do you like better?  Who puts on a better race?  A few people have asked me about the merits of each, so I decided to put some thoughts down on the topic.  Granted, I have only done two Rev3 races (only 1 half) and only a single WTC or Ironman Brand race.  I will also do one of each in 2013.  But I did do a half from each company in the span of 4 weeks.  So lets break it down by the tale of the tape, shall we?

Organization
Both races were extremely well organized.  Rev3 had to do a little more "on the fly" stuff with the winds preventing bike check on Saturday and cancelling the swim on Sunday.  Ironman was setup to easily handle the 3,000 that were registered at check in at the Marriott.  Rev3 only had to handle 500, but it was smooth as well.
Winner: Slight WTC

Cost
Pretty similar.  Augusta was $275 and Florida was $250.  Rev3 did do an early bird for $215.  No early pricing was availible for Augusta even though most races top out at $250 and some race early bird is $199.  But if you have a race that sells out even when you have 3,335 spots, why would you offer a reduced price?
Winner: Tie

Big Time Feel
I have to give the nod to WTC here.  With the sheer event size, people taking all kinds of pictures at transition, and all the stuff being sold at the expo, you knew it was a big race.  I saw many people biking in their "Ironman 70.3 Augusta" bike kits, which is hilarious, but makes you understand how important it was for people.  Rev3 has a great big event/laid back atmosphere however that I do like.  WTC also has the qualification for their "World Championship" race in Las Vegas.
Winner: WTC

Swag
Rev3: Long Sleeve Finisher shirt, Finisher Medal, AG Award Medal, cheap sling bag, BlueSeventy Goggles, Headsweats Visor, and free 2013 entry for winning your AG.  WTC: Tech T-shirt (no sponsor logos), Finisher Medal, AG award plaque, nice sling bag, timing chip strap.  The easy winner here is Rev3

Size
Rev3: 500, WTC: 3,000.  Depends on what you like, but 500 is a great number.  Not so small that you get on the bike course and you are by yourself, but not too big that you spend the first 30 miles trying to get some room to breathe.
Winner: Slight Rev3

Transition
Gotta like the Rev3 bike racks.  Plenty of room and you feel like a pro. WTC stuffed us in transition like sardines.  If the guy next to me had shown up, I would have been in trouble.
Winner: Rev3

Race Management
No issues with either.  Courses both marked well and with volunteers at turns.  Plenty of volunteers and aid stations on the run.
Winner: Tie

Race Results/Timing
WTC definitely gets the results posted asap.  They have some of the rankings within you AG screwed up, but nice results.  Rev3 took several days to get all the split timing straight on their website
Winner: WTC

Pictures
Ironman had a ton of pics to look at from Finisherpix.  Like 3 or 4 times as many as I'm used to seeing. Rev3 had some decent ones, but they give you a free finisher pic, and its like 20 mp!
Winner: Slight Rev3

Family Friendly
Easily Rev3 here.  WTC is more strict on the rules and such. Rev3 lets your family run down the chute with you.  Rev3 also has stuff for the kids to do on Saturday and Sunday.
Winner: Rev3

Summary
So I scored it a slight edge to Rev3.  It really depends on what you want.  You want a big race, with a big time feel and the potential to qualify for a championship?  You want Ironman.  You want a big time race that is a little more laid back and something the family will enjoy and want to do again?  You want Rev3.

I may revisit this next year after I do Ironman 70.3 Las Vegas in September and then Rev3 South Carolina in October.

Rev3 Florida Race Report

It was finally here.  The last race of the season.  The idea for doing this race actually began with my wife wanting to do a trip to Florida to goto Harry Potter World at Universal in Orlando.  We like to take our Florida trips in the fall, so when Rev3 announced this race, I suggested we wrap this all up in one trip.  Then the school calendar came out and the kids were scheduled to be off that Friday.  So it was settled.  After Augusta, I was looking forward to a little vacay and a fun race on a flat course (and my first ocean swim).

Thursday
We decided to drive down to Jacksonville as soon as the kids got home from school.  It worked out well as we made it a few miles past downtown and found a cheap Red Roof Inn and just parked the camper in the parking lot.

Green Lightning's first trip on the outside the Explorer!

Green Lightning's first night in a hotel room!

Friday
Grabbed some breakfast at McDonalds and drove about 3 hours and spent the day at LegoLand in Winter Haven.  This was my 8 year old's favorite part of the trip.  We all had a good time.  We left before 5pm and headed down to the KOA in Venice.  The campground is on Hwy 41, right on the bike course.  We were setup in our site before 8pm.

The boys were excited!

KOA Myakka River, right on the Bike course on Hwy 41

 Saturday
We all slept in and had a leisurely morning.  I went for a short 2 mile run and we headed to the beach late that morning.  When we got to the race site, the parking person told us we would not be checking the bikes.  When we got out of the car we realized why.  It was crazy windy.  Even though Hurricane Sandy was up near Georgia at the time, the winds down here were really bad.  So we checked in and got my chip.  We went for a walk out on the pier, then grabbed some lunch on the way back to the campsite at Applebees.  Again, we had a leisurely afternoon.  I got my bike all setup for the race.  The boys played and even swam in the pool.

Packet Pickup

Chip Pickup and Jumbotron Picture

The sea was angry

The Wind was howling

Very Choppy

 For the swag, we got a Headsweats visor (just like at Rev3 SC last year), a nice pair of Blue Seventy goggles, and a cheap sling bag (the type I usually throw out).  No t-shirt, but I figured we get a finisher's shirt.  And the Rev3 race tats in lieu of body marking.  They go on easy and look great.  Getting them off is a PITA, but not something you worry about until the race is over.

Prerace Swag

Locked, Cocked, and Ready to Rock!

Sunday (Race Day)
Woke up at 5:30 am and it didn't seem too windy.  But we were 10 miles from the ocean.  My wife dropped me off at the race site.  As soon as I got out of the car, I got blasted by the crazy wind again.  As I made my way over to transition I could kinda hear a race announcement over the PA system.  I didn't catch it all, but did hear that the swim was cancelled.  I kinda felt neutral about it.  I had been excited about swimming in the ocean, but I was actually concerned about doing a swim in those rough waters without the wetsuit.  Plus I stink at swimming, so skipping the swim could only help my place.

I put my bike in the bike rack, but it was still being blown all over the place, so I set my bags by my front wheel to help it stay still.  A few minutes later, I caught the full announcement.  We would start time trial style at the entrance to the transition.  It would be like we were coming out of the water.   They said we would start at 8:35am.  My wave was supposed to go into the water at 8:05, so the timing of the finish would be about the same.

Almost Ready to Roll

Transition really wasn't that big

The Pros started earlier with a 1.5 mile run.  All of us were lined up to watch them go by.  It was pretty cool to see every single pro run by like a road race.   We all cheered like crazy.  Then we lined up by bib number and they began sending us into transition about every 2 seconds.

T1 Officially 0:48,    8 / 40 AG, 99 / 209 Overall Men
When it was my turn to go, I ran fairly hard.  Not too fast because my bare feet couldn't take too much on the sea shell pavement.  Obviously a quick transition as you had nothing to take off and I was not disorientated from the water.

Bike  2:17:40 (24.5 mph)  2 / 40 AG, 8 / 209 OAL
So everyone knew the first 25 miles would be crazy fast due to the wind direction.  It wasn't as fast as I thought due to some of the crosswinds on Manasota Key.  Still, I hit 25 miles in 53:30.3 (28.0 mph!), including a 5M stretch on McCall Road at 30.4 mph.  The wind wasn't bad on the next 5M which I averaged 23.9 mph.

Then I hit it.  As I turned up Biscayne Drive it was bad.  It really blew you back at times.  You'd try to crank it, but sometimes you'd look down and you were going 19 mph.  So from 30 to 55 miles I averaged 22.0 mph which I didn't think at the time was too bad.  Looking at the results, however, I really lost some time to the top guys in the last 25 mile stretch.  Still I felt pretty good to average 24.5 in that wind.  As an added bonus, coming down Hwy 41, my wife and kids just happened to pull out of the campground when I was going by.  It was fun and gave me an added boost through that windy stretch.

T2 Officially 0:56
My dismount was flawless, but I always have a little slow T2 as I put socks on for the run.

Run 1:26:33; 2 / 40 AG, 6 / 209 OAL
My Garmin had 12.70 miles and a 6:49 average (taking out the 45 seconds that ran off when I forgot to stop my watch at the end).  I would have liked to average 6:36's as if it was truly 13.1M, but I trust my 910 more than mile markers.  I tore out of T2 too fast.  I ran 6:13 the first mile (just like Augusta), but unfortunately it didn't last.

I was pretty tired from the wind.  The cement on most of the course didn't help either.  Then the sun came out and it got hot.  Let's see, any more excuses?  Oh yeah, the motivation just wasn't there.  Got into my 'comfort zone' running 6:50 to 6:55's and just felt like sitting there.   Definitely a lack of motivation during the run.  But my goal was to enjoy this race.  The last mile was tough, as it felt like it was straight into the wind.

As I got to the finish line, I let the guy behind me go ahead and had my two kids jump out onto the course with me to go down the finish chute.  It was pretty fun.  We put on the "Gun Show" at the end as well.

Finish 3:45:55,  2 / 40 AG,  6 / 209 Overall
After the finish, my left leg cramped up like crazy.  Basically everytime I moved.  Sat down, chugged some water and felt better.  I went over and got a massage and then some food.  Loved the rice and bread.  Even had a beer (we got 2 for free).

So I "Won" my age group as the top Male 40-44 was second overall and got a Top 3 Award.  I was really happy with that and pleased with my overall 6th place finish.  I thought I might do better overall, but my run wasn't there today.  Full Results HERE.

Finish Chute

Athlete Food

Free Beer

My goal at the beginning of the year was top 3 AG at this race.  So with the cancelled swim I was pleased to "win" my age group.  For winning the AG, I got a box of Powerbar chews, a special medal with 1st place AG on it, but best of all a FREE entry to a Rev3 Half race in 2013!  That's pretty sweet.

Finisher Shirt Front

Finisher Shirt Back

AG award Medal and finisher Medal

All Rev3 award and finisher medals snap together

So I had been planning on doing Beach to Battleship Half to end the 2013 season, but instead I think I'll do Rev3 SC in Anderson.  Especially since they are hosting the USAT Long Course Nationals next year (which I qualified for at Augusta on time).

After the awards we headed up to Orlando.  We stopped by "Gecko's", a little local place and grabbed some food.  I had a Blue Moon beer, which was awesome!  We got up to Orlando and setup at the Tropical Palms Campground before 8pm.


Monday
We got motorvated around 8:15am and headed up to Universal Islands of Adventure.  So if Legoland was for my 8 yr old, and the race was for me, then Universal was for my wife and my 11 yr old son.  They loved "The Wizarding World of Harry Potter".  It was cool (and I could care less about Harry Potter).  Seuss Land was really neat as well.  We ended the day at Golden Corral for a "feast" as my son called it.

The "Wizarding World of Harry Potter"

Tuesday
Got up.  Packed up.  Drove 530 miles back home.  Got home around 5:30pm, exhausted, but satisfied with a great trip!