Kenny and I had the wonderful opportunity to travel down to Jacksonville to visit both of our coaches this past weekend. Since we just finished our recovery time after our goal race of the season, we really wanted some face time with the coaches to hang out and talk next season. Because they are only a few hours away, the trips are super convenient travel wise but still a great way to get away from home.
Relaxation!
As we head into the off season, Kenny is set to begin his pure cycling training for his first season as a
racer, while I am looking to boost the weakest of my three
sports, the run. Knowing that the "off" season will bring with it some tough
training we wanted to relax one last time and chat goals with the
coaches all while enjoying the company of great friends. Thus the idea of a weekend in Jacksonville was born. We had previously done a similar trip about a year ago and found it extremely beneficial and fun.We arrived on Friday night just in time to have dinner with Marni and Karel (our coaches and friends.) As mentioned before, Marni is my coach and Karel is Kenny's coach. And lucky us they are married and are extremely fun to hang out with. We went to the Red Elephant which apparently is a chain restaurant who on your first visit gives you a free elephant ear. LOL I did have a great salad and yes I even had part of the free elephant ear. I do believe that may have been my first bite of fried food in several months.
Saturday called for a ride (detailed below), my Retul Fit (also detailed below), the Northeast Florida Veg Fest and a fabulous home cooked meal at the Sumbal House. Veg Fest was a fun outing down in the River Park area of Jacksonville. Many vendors came out to set up booths and promote a vegetarian lifestyle. I enjoyed listening to the local music, seeing all of the visiting dogs and sampling some fun products/food. The weather decided to be a bit chilly but it didn't stop people from coming out. I would compare the atmosphere similar to that of a local market. Definitely something to check out and I hope that the event continues to grow in the coming years. Our dinner was a fabulous Marni creation of potato fries (baked), salad with tons of yummies and steak (cooked by Kenny).
We concluded our weekend with sleeping in on Sunday, having a nice breakfast at the hotel and heading home. It was just what we both had in mind.. relaxing... fun ... and away from home.
Riding!
What trip would be complete without a little bike riding. On Saturday morning Karel, Marni, Kenny and I all took off for a nice 1.5 hour ride through the wonderful area of Nocatee. The goal was simple, enjoy the company of friends, while getting in a good solid ride. Oddly enough in this group of cyclists, I was the "slow kid". Guess that is what happens when you cycle with your husband and coaches. :)First let me say that I LOVE RIDING IN FLORIDA! It was so nice to have a break from the hills of middle Georgia. What we have around us is nothing that I would consider horrible or hard in the way of hills but it definitely isn't flat. Florida on the other hand is flat, flat, "flat"ski. The only hill I saw from our entire 25 mile ride was an overpass. As I learned last year during my visit with Marni, flats really are my forte; this trip proved to me the same fact. Even in the crazy wind we averaged over 18 mph. I got off my bike feeling refreshed and amazing instead of fatigued with burning legs. Another thing I loved about the area we rode in was minimal traffic, large bike lanes and respectful drivers! Cyclist bliss!
I followed up the ride with a simple one mile run just for muscle memory purposes. I don't want the legs to forget that feeling and necessity for quick turnover.
Retul!
Kenny surprised me by scheduling a Retul fit for Princess during our trip to Jacksonville. I was fit on my bike about 1.5 years ago and although it was a good experience at that time, I have learned so much more about myself and cycling that I knew I needed a different experience/fitter. Having heard wonderful things about Retul (and the Jacksonville Trek experience specifically), Kenny jumped on the opportunity to get this done for me while we were in town. On Saturday after our ride and a wonderful breakfast at the Sumbal House, we headed over the to Jacksonville Trek Beach Store to meet with Jeff Kopp the owner of Jacksonville Trek who would be doing my fit! Jeff is tremendously knowledgeable and extremely personable. He made me feel at ease and explained each step of the process to me in such a way that I felt not only informed but actually in charge of the decisions I was making for my bike.
The Retul process is fairly simple and straight forward. First you do an interview of sorts to give information about your goals, race distances, flexibility and experience. Then of course you jump on the trainer to start the fit process. Retul uses a data collection process by which they hook wires up to you at key pivot points on the body and measure your angles and movement. I called this the shock therapy section because it looked like Jeff hooked me to a machine in order to send me electrical pulses. Jeff and I had quiet a few laughs about it, it was funny to me.
Even though I had a camera on me, I didnt get any pictures of my fit so instead I grabbed this one from the internet of Chris Lieto getting his Retul Fit. You can see the wires that are velcroed to your skin in order to collect data.
They take the data that was collected and compare it against the normative data that is collected from Retul fitters across the world. Ultimately they are trying to find a good fit for you while paying attention to the recent trends in the triathlon fit process. Next adjustments are made followed by another session of data collection to make sure everything looks good and feels right. Your final data is collected electronically and sorted for your future reference and for future fitting purposes.
Overall my fit process took 2 hours and I am extremely happy with the results. We ended up dropping my handlebars (YIPPIE), moving my elbow pads back and moving my seat just a tiny bit down and forward. The new positioning closes me in a bit more rather than leaving me stretched out like my previous fit did. It is a position that feels natural and comfortable while still putting me in a more aerodynamic position.I have only done one trainer ride since the fit but at this point I would give it a complete thumbs up! Once I get a few road rides in, I will give you the final verdict!
If you are looking for a fitting process (and I would definitely recommend getting fit on your bike), I would highly suggest the Retul Process. And if luck has you in the Jacksonville area with your bike, do it at Jacksonville Trek! It was well worth the drive for me!
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