Bike Marathon

One of the many exercise items on our Cayman Bucket list (at least for me, not so much Katie) was to bike the East End loop in a single ride.  We had done it before over the course of two days when we spent the night at the Reef Resort biking out there and then completing the loop home the next day, but neither of us had done it all in a single day, single ride.  This morning I decided to check this one off my list and headed out early to ride up to the Over The Edge Cafe in the district of Northside where I would meet Katie and Arianna for breakfast  before finishing the loop.  The 27.5 kilometers up to Over the Edge were a nice warm up for the real heart of the bike ride, the 45.8 kilometer ride around the eastern portion of the island and back to Red Bay. Using the garmin I was able to track my speed and distance and create a map of the ride pictured below. The total distance was 73.31 kilometers and it took me 3 hours, twenty minutes and 18 seconds at an average speed of 22 kilometers an hour. 



 

 

Mini Triathlon Two

This morning was the second of three build up triathlons ahead of the Cayman Islands Triathlon the first Sunday in November.  With Arianna at a friends house, both Katie and I did this one together.  The swim was just 350 meters off seven mile beach and took each of us less than eight minutes.  We transitioned in a parking lot across seven mile road and headed out to a bike portion of the triathlon that was a total of 13.8 kilometers.  The bike course took us down the Harquayle bypass to Camana Bay and then back up seven mile road to the start area.  We did two laps of the bike course and then did a run that was 1.54 miles consisting of two laps of a course that ran along the access road to the Harquayle bypass. 

 

Katie caught up to me on the second lap of the run and very generously didn't just blow right past me but paced me to the finish line. I am stronger in the swim and bike but she is much stronger in the run and is really using the triathlon training as part of her buildup to the half marathon where she may well cut over an hour plus off the time we did in 2007.  We both finished today's mini-triathlon in one hour eight minutes and forty nine seconds.  The total distance was just about half of what we will do in November when the real thing happens.  We  have another official mini-tri in three weeks and are doing unofficial ones ourselves as we build up.

Here are some shots from this morning of the transition area, swim start and of each of us biking.

 

Fosters 800 Meter Swim

As we continue to train for the triathlon that is coming up in November we are still participating in the open water swims that take place here in the island from time to time.  Today was the Fosters 800 Meter Swim on Seven Mile.  Katie was under the weather so I was the only one to do the swim.  In training for the Flowers mile back in June I never could get under 16 minutes for the half mile races and had set that as my goal today.  I got a great start and was able to maintain a good pace until the end when my form fell apart and my lungs started burning.  Even with my last 100 being really rough I came in at an unofficial time of 15:27 and in 51st out of 140 swimmers.  I finished third in my age group (males 40-44) which was actually won by the man who won the Cayman Islands Olympic Distance Triathlon last year.  Here are some shots from today.

140 swimmers at the start

The course looking down Seven Mile from the Finish

Finish Line

I approach the finish

 

Last few strokes

Third in my Age Group!

Last Year in Cayman

The clock is now officially ticking on our days in Cayman.  This will be the final contract year for both of us at the college and that means we are now making plans to return home no later than the end of August 2013.  We came down here on a 27 month commitment and and that was 63 months ago.  It has been a fantastic adventure and one we will never forget.  There is still some time to go as we make all the arrangements to return and we both have a Cayman bucket list of things we want to do before we leave.  The next several months should be a whirlwind of activity and where we end up is very much up in the air though we are aiming to head back to Texas.  As we wind down our time here this blog will also wind down but we look forward to one day sharing it with Arianna and perhaps a little brother or sister of hers about our time here in the islands.  There is still some time left here and entries to record our last year as we finish those bucket lists, so things wont change too dramatically at least in the short run.  As we learn where we will end up we will let everyone know.

Practice Mini Triathlon

This morning was the first of three unofficial practice Mini Tri's done as a build up by the Cayman Islands Triathlon Association ahead of the Cayman Islands Triathlon in November.  It was a first chance to do all three phases of the triathlon and practice the transitions. The swim portion was 270 meters, the bike was 6.9 km and the run was 1.33 km.  I finished in just under 40 minutes.  Katie was there to film the transitions and watch Arianna.  In three weeks is another practice mini doubling the distances for each of the three phases.  We both plan to do that one as we have lined up someone to watch Arianna.  We learned a lot about the transition phases and some little things to do in those as we move toward the full sprint triathlon in nine weeks.  I also learned how much work I still have to do in preparing as today was 1/4 the distance of what is to come and I was exhausted afterward.

 

The Start

At the end of the run portion

Stretching with Arianna at the end



First Day of Football

We celebrated first day of football eve with a football shaped pizza and football cupcakes.  Today the Horns open up with Wyoming and tonight will be my first trip of the fall to the local sports bar to catch the games.