Notching up the volume.

When I looked at the schedule for the week, the first thing I noticed was a slightly different daily schedule and a slight increase in the volume. (11 hours this week vs. 9:40 planned last week)


I'm writing this post on the new laptop. I got this on Wednesday and am stoked to have it all loaded with Garmin Training Center, Training Peaks WKO+, and Power Agent. I'm going to be more consistent with going out training with my G305 and Ptap and downloading to Training Peaks/Training Bible. Time's going to be tight and the expectations are high, so hoperully all the data and feedback will get me to a place where I'm making the most of the time I do train. Of course not taking into account all the time spent tweaking on the posting and data. At least I can do it when its dark and cold within earshot of my daughter. I'm sold on data.


Monday:
A great day off and I felt awesome and strong even after a slightly harder than planned. I love to ride hard and am looking forward to some long hard rides in the hills!


Tuesday:
Ride 2:00 Z1-2 (honest)

I headed out from Fiesta Island and was determined to stay within the training zones as I was solo and wanted to be disciplined. I wanted to stay between 180-210 W. Easy enough on the flats but the route included torrey grade and the del mar bump. I wanted to see how well I could control HR vs. watts on the grade and I was able to hold steady 225W with NO heart rate(138-140) variability for the 9 minute climb. What's wierd is that my wattage was in endurance zones for the ride and HR was in recovery zones. Got to ask Jim about that. I also experimented with riding some slightly bigger gears meaning lower cadence~70's.

Wednesday:
Swim 1:00

What a wakeup call. I headed to Nado 50m pool to do 1000m time trial. It was pointless. I got through the warm-up and was feeling OUT OF SHAPE. I think it was a combination of being out of the water (sick) for a week and pushing off the wall half as much. I figured I'd pace myself and suffer for the first 200m then get in a groove. Wasn't happening. I called it after 500m in 8:53.

That's what...1:47's, swallowing water and throwing cement. Determined to stay in the water for 60 minutes I went back to past workouts and did 4x100(30s) and 8x50(20s) form on EACH one. Felt good for not throwing in the towel completely, but was really shocked at how badly I swam. Swimming is the new limiter! Perfect, now I have two limiters out of three!

Run 0:50
I wasn't tired at all from the near drowning and was psyched to run 8x20s strides on a hill.
I have a perfect spot 15 min from the house. Warmed up on the run over and did some drills then the repeats. Cool down on the way home then over to the bleachers for 2 sets of 10 jumps, 10 lunges ea. leg, hopped back to start. Good Run!


Thursday.
Run 1:15 Z1-2

I chose a new flat course for these runs as I want to be able to repeat the effort and compare pace/HR. I left from the MVY, then out to FI for one big loop.

8.21 mi.
Avg pace 9:07
Avg HR 145
Max HR 165

Felt pretty beat up after this long run of the season so far. Not worried about the pace. just wanted to keep it in the Zones.


Friday.
Swim 1:00
2000m

Luckily I felt better for this swim and made it through the first T-pace workout of the season.
Not too difficult when your threshold pace is 1:47/100m. Just for comparison last year it was down to 1:38/100m. completed the workout as planned but not easily.
Time for some swim focus!

Saturday.
Run (Intervals) 1:05

First time to Kevin's workout in a long time. This is one of those workouts that you get excited about the night before and then in the morning you want to avoid like shit on your shoe. I let those negative thoughts pass on through and just show up. Kevin always gives some inspiration before each session. this time he talked about the secrets to getting faster. Guess what? no secrets! Consistency and be willing to get out of your comfort zone. This really means, be willing to get out of your slightly uncomforatable zone and into the really uncomfortable zone, that's all.

I was still a little sore from thursday's long run but fired up. after the usual "warmup" about 15 minutes. we did:

3x3minutes
1x6minutes
2x2minutes
4x1minutes Total interval time: 23 minutes

I actually spent 33 minutes in zones 4 and5
I hit 180-181 bpm on almost all intervals and my legs were definitely soaked on each one. Good session but I was cooked the rest of the day.

Sunday:
Ride: 3:11 50 mi.

Froze my ass off at 7:00am 43 degrees. It just sucks when its like that. good ride but a little boring solo especially when your constantly thinking about how cold it is. I was a little sore from saturday, and happy to keep it zone 1-2.

Going to work with Jim on the swim this morning. He's got the underwater Coach Cam. Hopefully we'll be able to "fix" something!

Power update (not measured in watts)

Finally getting a break to post a meaningful update on the training. This last week has been more significant because there was some problems. The week prior went relatively smoothly with some easy runs, swim golf, capped off with a great Run clinic with Jim on Saturday and a Muddy 2:30 MTB with James on Sunday.

Run clinic.
This was a new take on the run clinic this time. I learned a lot of new stuff regarding dynamic warmup and drills. I was also really happy to get some tape of me running. Jim filmed us and broke it down one by one afterwards. Things checked out pretty well but we identified two good areas I can easily work on.

1. MORE LEAN
2. Keep elbows more in front to eliminate tension in the upper back. This will probably allow
my spine to stay more in line and make it easier to accomplish item 1.

Its also good to have some baseline footage at this early point in training. Thanks Jim.
Neuromuscular Pathways....On!

Last Week 12.02-12.09

Monday.
Off

Tuesday.
I had a swim and a run on the schedule.
Run was 30 minutes easy and got it out of the way at sunrise. I woke up not feeling so good, but made it through the run. By the time I got home that little queeziness felt like I got punched in the stomach. The rest is far to graphic. Begins with D ends with A and lasted for two days. I missed an important workout on Tues. which was the 1000m time trial in the pool to figure out T-pace. I was out until Friday when I was finally "confident" enough to get on the bike.

Friday.
I had a two hour ride scheduled and felt more comfortable riding on the trainer close to home.
I ended up doing 60 min's on the trainer including some SLD's and some solid Z2 steady. I had to make something out of nothing and knew the SLD's that I missed on Wed. needed to be done.

Saturday.
Finally feeling 100% I headed out for a 60 min run Z1-2. I felt the best I've felt on a run in a long time. Not that my pace was smoking in relation to HR...because it wasn't, I felt this way because my legs felt really strong. I attribute this to being pretty consistent with strength training. I've been getting in one to two sessions with the second usually happening after a run.
There's some bleachers at the Little League park next to my house. What I'll usually get in is some dynamic lunges, A-skips, Step-ups on the bleachers and bleacher Jumps. About two sets of two minutes each. Usually to fatigue not failure. (I'm going to start counting these)

Sunday.
Ride 3:00 Z1-2
Freebased my Base training.

I was happy to see that it was clear when I woke up because three hours in the cold rain makes for a long ride. I was happy to get out riding again with JW. His work ethic is second to none and Lord knows it pays to hang with successful people. The intentions of this ride went by the wayside as we ended up in rolling/hilly territory right off the bat. We had talked about riding flat up to Pendleton but got sidetracked. We ended up doing a pretty fun improvised loop and kept it pretty close to zones until I asked James where the ten minute hill was that he does his intervals. Next thing I know, we're halfway up with the wind in our face. I did my best to keep it under 230 watts and rode it like a chick (sorry girls). This was a beast of a hill and great for future workouts. At least I didn't attack it. I felt a little guilty for breaking the workout but the stoked feeling I had after a fun ride made it go away pretty quick. I'll do better next time.

At this point I'm working on my goals for the season. This includes race goals as well as training goals. I've also got my race schedule figured out and will post this after it's confirmed with Jim after our next phone meeting tonight.

Daddy do number two. (there goes the neighborhood)

It's official! I'm going down the road of fatherhood......again! I've been sitting on this huge news for the past month but it wasn't until Jessica brought a picture back of the little pollywog that we decided to go public. Everything looks great and I couldn't be more stoked. Of course this puts a lot of question marks as far as the topics of this blog. The baby on the way is a perfect parallel to what looks like an amorphous schedule at this time. It doesn't have much size or shape that I can recognize but it just keeps growing gaining more size and strength with each day.

This is what I know. Baby X is going to be born on or around June 20th. This puts Wildflower out of reach as leaving the wife 8 months pregnant for four days is not wise and counting on her to travel there is even more unwise. I'm still on for Xterra West Championships as it's local. What happens after the baby is born will be considered to be pure chaos and have no intentions of planning races after that unless its late september or October. What I am considering is getting back over to the Big Island and giving Lavaman a go. It's around the first of April as I couldn't find the date yet for 08. For now it will be pending as planning air travel for the third trimester is subject to doctor approval.

So.................It begs the question. What am I going to do? Can I justify all the sacrifices that are involved in trying to balance family, work and training for just one "A" race in '08. Why not?

Let me explain.

My success in sport will not be measured by one race, one season or one year. It will be measured over time and only after I am no longer able to physically do what it takes to get to the starting line, the ocean or the mountains whatsoever the case may be. I love to swim bike and run. I don't need to do them in that order or even on the same day to be fulfilled. These are the vehicles by which I am fit enough to be able to pull off just about any activity on any given day at any age. Consider Laird Hamilton, god of performance and longevity. If I'm fortunate to be able to pull off a completely focused training plan, that is enjoyed by most pro's and younger carefree athletes (you know who you are...JW) the results will come. For now, I have to consider taking this season Credit/No Credit. I can train, gain a lot more knowledge and miles in my legs whithout worrying too much about the end result. My focus is on the cumulative effect over the years and have some breakthrough experiences along the way. The question is, how does this philosophy manifest itself into the current training plan?

Answer:

Train my ass off for Xterra West Championships

any races between now and then is considered training.

Become a monster on the MTBike and in the water.

Keep the running as Xterra specific as possible. quality not quantity.

Thats what I want to do!

TRAINING RECAP

This last week of training has been a lot of fun as the cobwebs are gone and the desire to train has not yet been tempered by any cumulative fatigue.

I'll start with a week ago.

Sunday: Hike:2:00

I hooked up with PL local MCshow and headed out to Mission trails. We hit both summits of Fortuna mountain from Clairmont Mesa and did a little easy running on flats and shallow downhills to keep the HR from going back to resting rates.

Elevation Gain: 2000 ft

Avg HR: 130

MC leads and clears the trail of snakes. N. Fortuna
N.Fortuna. Cowles Mt. in the distance.

Monday: OFF

Tuesday: Swim :50

Swim golf 50's

Best score: 54, that's 37 seconds with 17 strokes

1600 yds total

I was happy with this score but its not an apples comparison to 50 m pool that I'm used to. I'll be swimming in a 25 yard pool a little more this year as it's close and usually hit the weights right after. Swim felt good and threw in some left side breathing 25's. This was usually faster(?), but more strokes and more hydration.

Wednesday: Trainer SLD's: 60 minutes

I pulled off 16x30 second SL repeats for a total of 8 minutes each leg. These were f'ing tough by the end and just couldn't get the legs up and over the top. Left leg fatigued far sooner than right and I was definitely sore the following day.

Good Work. I need more of this!

Thursday: Strides :45 minutes 4000 ft elev.

I did an out and back off road at the ranch before EATING. I found a good shallow slope and did 4x20s up and 4x20s down. Otherwise it was easy running on soft fire roads.

Friday: No show(swim golf scheduled)

chopped wood.

Saturday: form sprints on the bike: 2:00

Easy ride under 200W then back to Fiesta Island to do the sprints 8x20s

Max power: 800W

Average power for all sprints: ~650W

Max cadence: 124 (from HUB)

These were fun but I know I was working hard as my arms, low backand legs all felt some decent work by rides end.

Sunday: Hike off road: 2 hours

Headed back out to Mission trails with MCshow and did the loop backwards heading up the stairsteps of S. Fortuna instead of down. This was the better way. We hit some killer steeps on our way to Portello (Along 52) and had an easy run back down to the car. The run was easy keeping the cadence tight and carving through some technical sections. I can't say enough about these workouts. Keeping the HR in check while focusing on some legburning strength is perfect. There are lots of opportunities out there to go as hard or easy as I want as the specifics of the workouts will progress.

Monday: today:Off

I have a phone conference scheduled with Jim and we'll see what he has to say given this bombshell is all news.

Updates coming sooner than later.

Ahhhhh.....Kona!

I got back from my well earned vacation on thursday night. 13 days of kickin' it with some swimming, running, hiking, diving and bodysurfing all thrown in for good measure. The one thing I was missing was my bike. Now this is the dilemma. I promised to bring the bike next time, the only question is which one. There are a few good bike shops in Kailua and after asking around there is some awesome mountain biking upcountry. After that I began to notice a lot more muddy bikes atop cars coming down the hill. hmmm. There is also some decent road biking, the obvious route out the Queen K highway. This is the WC bike course but is like riding on the freeway with lots of distracted tourists and not so (bike/triathlete) friendly locals. Pretty dangerous if you ask me. Still there are lots of country roads if you go to Waimea and lots and lots of climbing as the whole island is several big mountains. I have some time to decide.

Running

I showed up on the island pretty deconditioned. My first run was a 50 minute easy on the flat.
I'm glad I brought the HR monitor because I had to dial it way way back on this and all the runs, to stay in my training zones. The only flat running is more or less at sea level and down there it is HOT!, even at 8am. I started on this particular run planning 8.5-9 min/mi pace. My HR soared to just below LT in no time. I slowed to an embarassingly slow pace and just tried to keep it under zone 3, and took off the running top just to try to get some evaporative cooling. During that time in the lava field I realized how difficult it must be to try to race in these conditions. I'm thinking IMWC running the marathon in no wind, almost raining, 85 degrees at four in the afternoon. Fricking sick. If I ever have the opportunity to race XterraWC in Maui I'm sure its the same story. Call me Frosty the Snowman and I don't even live where its cold. By the time I left I did notice about a 10 bpm drop in HR for the same effort, some of it acclimation some fitness gains I suppose. I did also struggle a little with some tightness in the Piriformis/IT band got to look into this. In summary I pushed the HR zones a little too much and included too many hilly sections into the runs even though I took em really slow, I just made sure to pay real close attention to recovery.

Swimming.
Kealekekua Bay


You name it Kona's got it. Open water, free lap swim at the muni pool and tons of water time just diving, bodysurfing and floating. Not to mention the ocean water is 84 degrees.

For my first swim workout I headed to the Kona Aquatics Complex and ran into Karlyn Pipes-Neilsen, master swimmer extroardinaire, world record holder and a great coach. I took a clinic from her last year and introduced myself again. Man she's a talker but I got her to start talking about my stroke and got some good feedback....for free while she was just finishing her workout. She also started talking about these fins. There ultra light, flexible and float like a cork. I guess they're made of the same rubber as Crocs. I ended up getting a pair. At first I thought they were great but put a weird arch in my lower back as they float the feet, not the hips. This was especially noticeable in the pool and less in open water. The jury's still out.

I got in a couple of good swims at the pool but the big deal is the ocean swimming. Kealekekua Bay is a mile down the hill from where we were staying and is absolutely the best swimming I've done. Dead flat crystal clear and a mix of sandy and coral bottom, all visible from 40-50 feet. Which is nice if your worried about the man in the striped suit. Another good session was at Ho'okena Beach Park. Its more of a cove but same clear warm water. That was made even better by being greeted by a pod of about 10 dolfins and one calf. All time experience.

I also started doing something new for me which is including some 2-3 hour hikes into the training plan. The theory is getting some vertical under my feet while keeping the HR out of zones 4-5 and reducing impact on the legs. These are fun, scenic and am definitely feeling some strength gains. It's amazing how the heart rate can climb when you start taxing the legs even at walking pace. I also did some hiking repeats on my cycling days. These were on about 20% grade and were done on long driveways servicing the coffee plantation below our house. Alternating facing the hill and backwards hiking and some lunges/squats at the top was an awesome strength workout.

It's good to be home though with familiar training grounds, a refreshed spirit, and a familiar feeling of fitness brewing.

One final thought.

There is a strange feeling hanging around Kona town when you realize what went down there just weeks ago(and every October). I guess its like going to a ball park or stadium when its empty. You can't help but imagine and feel the pain, the drama and the history that is a part of that small island town. The benign road down to the Energy Lab with its seemingly gentle slope, is nothing more than a flash of curiosity through the rental car window of more than 99% of the visitors there. It's a stark contrast to the reality on race day when emotional battles on tortured souls are won and lost. On one day, I got back in my car after a bodysurf at Magic Sands around two in the afternoon. Magic Sands is about halfway to the run turnaround on Alii Drive. It was fickin' hot, still, and when the sun broke through the clouds it felt like somebody opened the oven door. I couldn't imagine feeling those conditions on mile 4 of the marathon seven hours into the race. It's an unbeleivable venue for what must be, arguably, the most difficult race in the world.

Warning Opinion/Training Ahead.

Wow! The last two weeks have really been a blur. I'm crazy busy at work and have been taking care of my baby girl who had an ear infection/cold/3 new teeth coming in. All at the same time we were watching just about all of San Diego County burn east of I-5.

I'm going to take a second to editorialize my entry concerning the fires. I've lived in San Diego my whole life and remember no fires of this magnitude (that's at least 185 Santa Ana's). People start these fires in my opinion.

First suspects are frickin' wacko's who feed off the sensational media attention and don't even need to plan their wicked deeds. The media tells them basically "These are perfect conditions for another Firestorm". (they only recently started making a big deal about this) Okay better get my arson kit together. Dumb! For an arsonist, all the media coverage was basically pornography for those sicko's, showing video close-ups of towering flames and massive destruction. Not at all necessary for the safety and well being of citizens. All they need is information, NO PICTURES!

Second suspects are Illegal Immigrants. There I said it. We had a fire burn about 500 acres through our ranch land near Pine Valley about two months ago.(Third fire in two years. No Powerlines there.) This specific area is a known highway for Illegal Immigrants with all the trash, clothing, footprints and firepits they leave behind them as proof. Luckily it was not during a wind event. That particular fire's cause was spun by the flacid media as an "illegal campfire" , not a campfire started by "illegals". Big difference. One addresses the real problem the other blows it off like somebody was illegally parked. We can expect to have lots more of these fires as illegal immigrants remain free to cross our borders and travel north around our backcountry setting campfires to keep warm. Don't think that's what they're doing? I've seen the evidence (makeshift camps on our property) but it also jives with common sense.

I understand there are arsonists and possibly some remote chance of natural causes, but we need to address ALL potential flashpoints in the future to prevent fires and not just fight them.
They are not caused by global warming, neither are the Santa Ana winds. Let's get on point here and prevent further fire disasters.

I feel a little better now.

As for the training. This week I started getting my workouts and have officially entered "preparation phase" for upcoming training. I'm ready to roll. I've been a little sore since I started again, mostly feet and hamstrings. It's always tough starting out again just slightly heavier (2 pounds) but just shit slow, breathing hard. Can't wait to start realizing progress.

I'm headed over to the "Big Island" tomorrow for some good 2 week well earned vacation. There's obviously some great training ground over there so my goals are to:

Train smart (avoid early injury)
Eat totally fresh food.
Relax a ton.

If I offended anyone with my editorial......get over it!

Aloha.

Everything butt.

It's getting to be that time of year. Halloween. I know because I feel like I've been getting "egg'd" metaphorically speaking, for the last two or three weeks. I was talking to a friend of mine and we commiserated that it sometimes gets like that where everything seems to crumble at your fingertips and it requires a real "global" perspective of the life and style, to keep from going Richter. Challenging times will pass only when the challenges are met.

I've assumed a real layman's approach to fitness, where it's more about relieving stress than it has anything to do with becoming a better athlete. I suppose that's good to be totally focused on other things, I just wish the atmosphere were less tumultuous. The day will come.

The training has been so erratic that I can barely can recall the details. I've been mostly running 30-40 minutes, every other day at best. My last run was through the desert at sunrise during a family trip to the Colorado River last weekend. It had it's moments but it was strange to head out on a run straight out of bed without coffee. Gratuitous shot of the family on vacation at the river.

I guess the last post I promised some photos of the "great" rides I had planned around Warner Springs. Honestly, it was a bust. To get to any decent riding, I would have taken my life for granted on any of the roads out there. Busy fast traffic with no shoulder to speak of. I'm not that dumb. It was frustrating but even more so to have a clear view of Palomar Mountain and the East Grade, knowing that at any other time of year, during a training phase I would have been all over it. Turns out I could have been a lot more busy on the MTB as they just cut about 10 miles of trails (flat singletrack) which would have made for some fast action. As it turns out I did get some fun runs in on the trails. The first time I've ran with my wife in at least a year. She's a proficient runner, 4:20 marathon, but just a little slower than I'm used to. I suppose it was just about right.

Jim is back from Ironman and I am expecting to start getting some workouts sometime soon. I'd like to get the run and swim up as I'll have some time and place when we head over to the Big Island for a 12 day vacation. It's pretty cool that Jim was just there and knows where I'll be staying and can hopefully consider the location when planning the workouts. Someday I'll pack my bike over there but at this point, it'd be a lot of work.

Some work(outs)

I've been pretty slammed at work and am fortunate to not have to sweat the training.

Today was the official start of preliminary, pre-base, no load, easy training. I had a good meeting with Jim to discuss my plans for next year. I am really happy with the longer term coaching relationship as Jim is getting a chance to know me better as an athlete. This is critical to fine tuning some overall planning as well as understanding my true limiters and how that applies to my race selection and schedule. I still have to temper my ambition when setting up the race schedule as this year will be another tough one schedule wise. I've got the opportunity to get some great jobs this year and have to be careful not to make any unnecessary compromises.


The focus this year will be Xterra, with a handfull of city tri training races. We've been talking a bit about gaining some more specialized strength. One thing I've noticed is that I don't have much raw leg strength. A better balance of fast twitch muscle is what I'm after. This will put me in the gym a little more often and should begin to transform me into a more powerful type of athlete able to absorb the more intense bursts consistent with off road racing. I am also going to try and gain some leg strength on the trails by doing more straight hiking to improve strength and minimize impact.

As for the training I have been doing, it's simply what I can get in. So far it's been a couple of 30-40 min. runs, 2-3 short swims 30-45 min. focused on drills/DPS and one ride. The rides mostly going to and from picking up my van from the shop. Killing two birds. I've got the luxury now of getting in two full rest days/week which is refreshing.

On the nutrition front. I've got a pretty firm goal of dropping 5 lbs and getting down to a race weight of 155 by mid April. "It's a performance thing" -Peter Reid. I just picked up Joe Friel's book "Paleo Diet for Athletes." I've just started it and I'm pretty well aligned with what he's saying. His hypothesis is basically based on Low glycemic, nutrient dense foods with the exception of during and post-exercise allowances for higher glycemic foods to take advantage of insulin response. I was looking at some of the suggested daily plans and they look a lot like how I learned to eat during my cancer treatment. Both are focused on promoting healing and maximizing nutrient absorption.

I am expecting things to start heating up mid October wher I expect to start getting specific workouts from Jim. I'm going up to Warner Springs this weekend for a family weekend and will get in some fun workouts and should have some photos and details to post.

"West and Wewaxation...uh.uh.uh.uh."- Fudd

As promised to myself and family I've settled into the first week of a two week Rest period. This sucks! I imagine there are a lot of athletes out there feeling the way I am after finishing up the last races of the season. This is exacerbated by the fact that Normann Stadler just gave a talk/interview to the triclub on Thurs. It's like losing in the playoffs and having to watch the World Series on TV (I don't think I even made it to the playoffs). The thing that I took away from that night the most was how much fun it must be to be the "best". I am not a Normann fan at all. I think he's a big baby but it was fascinating to listen to his background and how much inate raw talent that guy has. It's both inspiring and depressing. You just have to go with what you got and make the best of it.

I've been having some brief discussion with Jim about next year and the races I will have on the schedule. This is where I have to live somewhere between fantasy and reality. There is so much I want to do but striking a realistic balance will be the difference between satisfaction and frustration. The first thing I will do is include the wife in all discussions of race planning. The more she knows and is involved, the less grief I'll get when the schedule gets tight. I'm going to plan some destination races on the B or C (if there is such a thing) level. This way we can get out, travel and have some fun while Daddy does his thing without the stress of A level racing.

XTERRA

I did my first full Xterra this year at Temecula. I love it and will hopefully be able to focus on this style of racing next year. It's gritty, wicked hard, and adds a double dose of adrenaline. There are less newberries that do this style of racing and sets itself apart from the TNT tri trend. I figure if I train for this style of racing, I can race anywhere. Maybe not as effective for dead flat courses, but where's that around here? It also puts me where I want to train. In the mountains/hills and away from the crowds. The pinnacle of the sport for me would be the World Championships in Maui. Some people dream of Kona, for me, Maui! This is a long term goal, aka pipe dream, and I am pretty honest with myself about qualifying in 35-39AG, especially when I've got the little one in diapers. The more obvious goal would be to qualify for Nationals in Tahoe, which I could pretty much do next year if all goes reasonably well. The only caviat to that is I've got a really big problem with the COLD. Not just getting cold easily but premature numbing of hands and feet associated with Raynaud's Syndrome, not good to MTB with numb hands. Feeling doesn't come back unless I've got a warm water soak or can eliminate exposure. Whether this is a complication of the Chemo is unclear but it's appearance is more than coincidental. Anyway, I deal with it and avoid the cold.

That's the update and I'm looking forward to getting back on schedule.

Paydirt.

Yesterday's Time Trial went extremely well despite less than optimal pre-race preparation. We had a birthday party for my one year old on Saturday and I was dragging balls all day wondering if I could make it through and also if I would feel better come race day, with the 5am wake up call. It's becoming apparent that on about the third day of some taperlike workouts I feel like crap, plain tired. I recognized this familiar feeling and didn't panic just got to bed early after a jacuzzi and a good Yojah session. It's my twist on Yoga with a little bit of jah.

Here's the numbers:

Official time: 29:48 (2nd by :01 M30-39)
average speed: 25.02 mph
Average watts: 264
Cadence:101
HR max: 180
HR avg: 172
HR start: 128

Temp:~70F
wind:NNW 3-5mph
RH:~50%

Pre-Race:

I woke up around 5am and drank 20oz water befor standard 2 cups strong black coffee. Took in a banana and PowerBar and headed over to the island. After a long wait at the check-in, I allowed for a 45 minute warmup. This was not enough time. I'm still fine tuning this important part of short course TT. I kept it in aerobic zones allowing cadence and Power to slowly rise on their own for 20 minutes. It's amazing how easy it comes if I don't rush this. I did 4 surges to Low LT~245W for 1 minute 2:1 recovery, then 3 20s jumps to ~400 W w/ long recoveries. I showed up to the start with 5 minutes set my watch then just rode near the start and tried to keep the HR in solid Z1. I think I could have done at least 2 intervals at race pace to heat it up a little more. I'll count on 60 minute warmup next time with 5 minute break. Oh yeah, prerace nutrition was 1.5 scoops CPro with 1motortab at 45-30minutes. JW's Rx-5Vantage Tabs +2 Energ-Ease(secret weapons) and 1 gel @ 15 minutes w/20oz H20.

Race:

I started off a little hot in one gear too high. I was pushing 320 for the first 30 s then settled in around 280 trying to ease up. Apparently it's appropriate to negative split these races but I still don't have the confidence. I was flying hitting the first lap at -25s off 6min pace. I started to hurt a little earlier than expected part way through lap 2, I backed off a bit and focused on keeping it above 265, deep steady rhythmic breathing and staying aero. This meant adjusting the helmet back, staying low, and not staring at the P-meter especially into the wind. I waved slightly at my wife and baby girl on the first two laps then I had to dig in. I was still above pace and just had to hold it until the last lap. I had some surges on the last lap but was panicking slightly trying to find a gear and get comfortable. I missed the finish chute slightly and had to dodge some cones in the sprint to the finish. (maybe the :01 s differential?) I barely had over 300w even out of the saddle! Stoked with my finish time It took a while before I felt like I could have gone harder maybe with a team car and a bullhorn. Faster you pussy!

All in all I was fast yesterday. I think it was a combination of the new helmet, wicked fast wheels w/135psi and freshly waxed spokes. But also some solid workouts from Jim and really getting the power training zones wired. My PR for this race was 31:36 on 10.8.06 so almost 2 minutes in a year is pretty good considering a roller coaster year for training and racing. I got to give props out to James Walsh for joining me on some long hard rides this year. You can do intervals, long easy rides and hill repeats but nothing makes gains like 4+hour rides in the mountains. It's tough to do it alone.

I'm off now for a couple weeks, I think then I'll do some fitness testing for the run, body compostition then it's time to get running. I'll probably do some swimming, biking and running while I'm off just nothing over 30 minutes and probably not consecutive days. I think I'd go crazy if the wind doesn't blow and the surfs flat.

It feels good to end this season on a solid PR.

All fired up.

Today is a day off in preparation for the Time Trial on Sunday. Tomorrow I'll blow the legs out with some short, hard stuff and then be ready to race. I am psyched. I've never felt fresher for each workout leading up to a race. My pedaling is smoother than ever easily hitting 130 rpm on some descents. I'll be setting up the bike today, tying cables, and putting on the 11-23. The TT is dead flat and the smaller cassette will give me an extra gear in my power band. Hopefully I'll be racing in my new Giro Advantage 2 helmet (on its way?) and skinsuit thanks to Len at Canari custom. The focus on aerodynamics, with position and equipment, becomes more critical heading over the 24mph mark and beyond. I went well above 24 in the 20 minute test and hopefully with a solid warm-up, my Zipp 404/808 and a solid dose of adrenaline I'll be able to hold it for 20k. Racing is exciting and it should be fun to start the day in dry clothes for a change.

It was my baby's first birthday yesterday and she's stoked on my race too. Helping me clean my bike and turning the cranks to make sure the derailleur is adjusted properly. We're actually going to go down on Sat. morning to watch the B+L boys in the TTT. That's a killer event, and should be fun for her.

Looking forward to posting some good numbers on Monday.

Power updates

It never ceases to amaze me how stoked I can get on the little things in life. Sunday I cleaned my bikes. I'm not hyper-vigilant about cleaning my bikes, but it seems to be the one thing that gets me fired up to go ride. The drive trains were cleaned, rubbed, wiped down, rubbed again, then lubed so each link shined like a pearl. I spun the cranks around amazed at the lack of sound and the ease with which they spun. Have you ever noticed that when your car gets washed it just seems to run that much better as if its thanking you. My bikes do the same for me. They must have a soul.

My training is turning a slight corner from a faded peak for IB sprint to full on cycling mode for the second time this year. I had some good sessions last week and really started to get fired up on my run and swim. I think I had a decent peak regardless of whether or not I raced.
What is on tap now is the Fiesta Island Time Trial. In the past this has been a training tool and I've never had a specific focus to do well in that one event. It's just been a test.

This effort will be the same but I'll be using this data to establish my Power zones and raise the bar for my off-season cycling so I want to go hard and do well. I pretty much get my ass handed to me when I go against the sticks that show up for these races, once you may think your good you find out your not that good. This should be no different as the Open men are racing against Masters and Juniors for the State Championships. I know where I stand and what would be a good effort for me. I'd like to average 265-270W which should put me pretty close to the sub 30 minute mark for the 20k. That is if conditions shape up and we get some lighter winds and reduced humidity. My PR for this race was 31:13 and 250W average.

Yesterday I had a 20 minute field test at Fiesta Island. I was supposed to do it Wednesday but I couldn't get out til noon and it was windy 12-15. That's not exactly conditions I want to repeat, so I had a window thurs. at sunrise~6:15am and the conditions were perfect. NW breeze at 3-5
72 degrees RH~65-70%. Warm up was 15 min@ 150-175W 1x5minutes race pace, 5x1 minute @ 275-280, all 1:1 RI. 5 minutes easy then quick stretch and TT start. It's amazing what the warmup can do just reflecting on how hard the first 5 minute WU effort felt. In contrast I was flying out of the start and finally settled in around 280W. My plan was to do the first lap at expected average~280, then let it rip. I began realizing quickly I went to hard starting lap 2, not much rip letting going on. Looking back the first 5 minutes was @ 298 W. Not ideal but at least power didn't drop more than 15%. I averaged 25.1 mph on the first 10 minutes, 24.6 for the whole effort on training wheels @ 100psi, aero helmet.

Total 20 minute test DATA:
326kj

Average Watts: 271

Average Speed: 24.6 mph

Max Speed: 28.5

Average Cadence:99 rpm

HR avg: 165
HR max: 174

FTP: 257W

Looking at max HR data I probably could have pushed a little harder as I've seen 180 during a 20k effort.

The good news is that I'm right on track to have a go at sub-30 minute race. It'll be tight but that's what will keep me focused. That's nice but I know now what my FTP is for future workouts. Funny thing is is that's pretty close to what I've been using for LT just using the PTap on most of my workouts. You just get a pretty good sense. I'm just glad to get the Field test overwith as they are tough. Some great rides planned for the weekend.

Checking in.

Wow! 18 days since a post. You got to know somethings up. My mom just got out of the hospital after a 2 week stay from a broken hip falling from her horse and I've had to spend alot of my free time checking in on her. My wife who's a PT spent a lot of time with her also, so that meant watching the baby on her shift. The bottom line is that for a while there my training was all out of wack and I really had to juggle and struggle to get in about 75 % of scheduled workouts. Jim and just about everybody else talks about consistency as the key to success. I'll take that as good advice but it is more applicable to my long term success. Consistently gettting back at it and not allowing too much unscheduled down time. This is starting to pay off as my run is back popping a bit and I'm getting some feel back in the water. The running hasn't been as fun as the swimming having to deal with mid-afternoon runs in this disgusting weather. The thermometer hasn't been doing any justice to the true heat index. It's been hard to judge fitness when its 80 degrees and 80% humidity. My HR has been consistently 10-12 bpm higher on the run and much slower to recover. Regardless I had a 60 minute run yesterday with a negative split:

8:32 pace HR 150 avg out

8:05 pace HR 167 avg home

Still pretty slow but felt good about the run with the heat and all. I remember training in Kona last year during December for Carlsbad Half. The training was tough in the heat and humidity, but came back to the cool weather on race day and ran really well, so I guess its all relative.

Earlier in the morning I did a fun 55 minute ocean swim. 73 degrees with just the speed tube pant. Its nice to feel like your actually IN the water. I used to think that swimming in open (salt) water was more difficult than the pool. I'm slowly learning some respect for that little black line.

I've been keeping together my cycling pretty well despite all this craziness. which is nice.

I had a 6 minute test last wednesday on the trainer where I averaved 314W. My cadence was a little lower than normal at 88rpm which actually felt pretty good. Not a best but much better than I would have guessed. Other than that it's pretty much all been on the trainer for mixed tempo intervals. I think the trainer has been the key to maximizing my training time.

I'm going to have a crack at the last FI TT on Sept 9th so getting on the trainer for some steady state stuff is going to be key.

On a side note I bought the 2006 XTERRA world champs DVD to check out the venue. That race is the shitt. I would never try to convince someone its better than Ironman WC but for me short course is where its at and XTERRA is the pinnacle of that realm of violent efforts. This year there will be a pretty good showdown in the AG's with UnC James Walsh and current WC Trevor Glavin. It'll be fun to watch these guys battle it out in Tahoe and then take it to Maui.

On the couch.

Things are never as bad as they appear. There is always a more positive perspective that can be realized taking a step back and modifying your point of view. My training and racing are both important to me, but I think the training is my primary focus right now. This is the time to gain fitness, refine skills, practice discipline and rediscover yourself everyday. These are the benefits that you can take with you for the rest of your life. It becomes part of your personal portfolio. There are far more experiences in training than in racing from which to draw on. Racing is the test. Undoubtedly you learn a lot about yourself and it enables you to practice execution but as far as the multi-sport lifestyle that promotes optimal health and longevity, racing is just a flash in the pan. Still, I love to race for many reasons. The festival atmosphere, the sense of community and also the adrenaline rush that comes from competition and laying it on the line. It doesn't always work out to knock out a PR but to do something difficult, completely out of the comfort zone, pays huge dividends in the scope of everyday life. This is why I have felt such frustration in not being able to race this weekend. I know it's good for me.

That being said, I can revert to and be satisfied with the benefits of just training...for now. I have been forcing myself to think long term as far as what the sport holds in store for me. Times are tight right now with such a young family and so much adjustment that goes along with that. I spoke with Jim at length on Tuesday and man, having a coach with all that he has seen and experienced in the sport is golden. We talked about a lot of issues including my "where to" plan from here, but what struck me the most was that he was surprised at how much I was able to accomplish this year. In a realm where it is so easy to compare yourself to others, the motivation that goes with that can be a double edge sword. If not checked it can lead to a lot of dissappointment and frustration. This sport is unique that it is personal and has the potential for long term fulfillment.

The plan from here is to take the rest of the week off. I was showing some pretty classic signs of fatigue. From what? The training hasn't been so intense or long. I'm guessing though pretty sure it comes down to recovery. Recovery is dependent on a lot of things, obviously nutrition and sleep but also overall stress levels. That is where it gets tough to realize. What is the stress? How are you handling it? Obviously stress becomes evident when things are out of balance. Therein lies the challenge. Having said that the plan is to take these four days OFF. period.
Sat and Sun. I'll do a some weekend workouts and then get back into a lighter training block.
I'm still planning to do IB sprint. I've earned it. After that it's two-three weeks off and then back to base training. I'm planning to do a 20K TT on September 9th to get some good wattage data.
I'd also like to get some performance testing done. Particularly HR zones for the run and body composition. My weight has been pretty steady around 160-164 and BF% around 6-7%. But to run better I'd like to be steady 158-160 and 4-5%. During the base training I want to have a significant run focus. I've tried training the strengths but can't deny the limiter. The run. To know that if I ran as well as the swim and bike I'd move up 10%-15% in the standings is enough to drive me to crazy. There you have it. It's all about the run.

Looking inside.

This last week of training has spurned lots of introspection. My training has been less than optimal and I feel there are a lot of things at work here. Some that I've come to terms with and others that are hard to understand. Some are related to a drop in fitness and some related to overall health, well-being and level of satisfaction. My motivation and overall energy levels are lower. I'm struggling through run workouts and my pool swim on Friday was far poorer than expected. Of course I've had some issues as far as illness and injury but I really expected I was going to be able to jump back into the game and reach a reasonable level of race ready fitness.

Yesterday I was scheduled for a running group that is pretty aggressive interval based workout. Based on how my running went this week I was not up for this effort. If I went to the workout I probably would have been dropped in the warm-up. I'm guessing this because I did a little 50 minute fartlek on my own and I felt like shit. I did a good warmup and started out planning 5 minutes on @ 10k pace and 2 minutes easy. My HR shot up to LT in the first interval and I could barely hold half marathon pace for the rest of the 30 minutes. Perceived effort was way high and my breathing was not easy. My HR was not responding very well to the recovery intervals and I felt worked. I finished the workout with a pretty decent hill just to get back to my house and it was at that point I knew I wasn't up for shuffling around my work and family business to get to Snow Valley and walk the run course. It's too easy to say this sucks and I'm over it after a bad workout but this is how they pretty much went all week.

Friday's swim was at the pool 10x100(10s) all out. The first interval was 98% effort and I swam barely 1:30. Way off considering the effort. By the sixth interval I could barely hold 1:45's. Normally I'll hit the first 5 sub 1:25 and drift up towards 1:35 in the last few but this was ridiculous. The only explanation is that I did a 1.75 mile (50 minute swim) on Thursday but it was easy and I felt great. Same with the swim on Tuesday.

I did a 40 minute run after the open water swim on Thursday and it was tough but hard to judge as it was hot and I was pre-fatigued from the swim and recovered only an hour before the run. I'd also ran pretty hard on Wednesday, which was a break from the plan but I made the call to make up the run from Tuesday since the bike was going pretty well.

Wednesdays run was a little disappointing but not horrible. I had been feeling some decent strength gains but the aerobic fitness was weak. I ran a warmup to Zone 3 (~163 bpm) and held it for 15 minutes and then jacked it up to Z4-5a (170-175 bpm) for 5. It was only 75-78 degrees but I was dogging. The first 15 minute tempo I barely kept it under 8's, 7:57 avg pace to get technical. The second five minute portion, was 7:32 with HR @ 176 avg. 181 max. That is shit slow. I could barely get it to Half Marathon pace at that HR zone. I monitored my pace during the workout and tried everthing to relax, breathe, lean and check cadence. I just didn't have it.

At this point I'm taking some personal inventory and considering calling it a season. The ups and downs are getting to me and the personal sacrifices aren't paying the dividends. I think the most fun I've had lately is the two week cycling block and getting in some solid open water swims in the ocean. I haven't spoken to my coach all week so this is going to be news to him. It's even news to me. Being such a fitness fiend and finding it really difficult to take any time "off" this is really hard to stomach. I just need to get my body and mind in order and spend time with my family, going to the beach, taking a vacation all that stuff I've been sacrificing trying to resurrect some real fitness in order to bang out a late season race. My training schedule will not change a lot but will allow a lot more flexibility. If the ocean is flat and warm, I'll swim. If I head to the mountains with the family, I'll take my bikes. If I need to clear my head, I'll run. That's what my heart is telling me to do. If I listen to my brain, I think I'll continue to be all over the map, spinning my wheels, trying to make sense of what this all means.

Tomorrow is my birthday. I'm taking the day off today to celebrate and spend some quality time with my family.

Not a bad week... in review

This last five days have been a little difficult. I've been trying to get my ass into shape for Xterra Snow Valley while still trying to shake the crud out of my lungs. I have been over my cold for about a week and it didn't even work me at its worst but like I've talked about before, my lungs are pretty sensitive. Bleomycin tore through my body as part of the ABVD cocktail for my cancer. Notorious for causing complications in the lungs, every now and then, like now, I'm reminded of where I'm coming from and how lucky I am to be a part of this whole gig. Despite all this the training has been going surprisingly well.

Yesterday I tweeked the schedule a little by taking my swim workout to the ocean. It was pretty flat and I had only a small window to get it in so I cruised down the hill and jumped in.

I tried to stick to the bones of the workout by getting in a decent warmup followed by some laddered intervals ~ race pace strarting from 8 minutes down to 4 in one minute increments. I did (2) 1 minute intervals of fast swimming between sets. I can't tell how much more satisfying it is swimming in the ocean, slipping past surfers in the lineup seeming a total contrarian. I like surfing but those guys were sitting/looking around alot waiting for a week southerly pulse. Total time 50 mins. I opted out of the following run to pick it up today with some cleaner lungs.


Monday
off


Sunday
One hour run Z1-2. I felt a little tight in the first part of this run but paying attention to warm up helped. My legs felt strong once I got going and I am definitely feeling strength gains from the cycling especially the hamstrings. It was pretty warm with some humidity and had to pay attention to keep the HR sub 150, especially in the last quarter. Once again still coughing up some shiz.


Saturday
was the keynote ride of the week. Special guest Ramon and James showed up for the mountain ride. We left from Pine Valley and headed up to Laguna Summit and around the ~50 mile loop with close to 5k feet of climbing. I was just glad to keep in touch with James on this climb. He definitely had the advantage (at 61 kilos) during the last pitch of the climb where I was topping out at 310W (CP6-12) to hang on. We regrouped and motored down the hilly ridge. We encountered some fun descending and I tried to expand my skills on the hairpin sections. The last grade was a killer where I had some hip flexor cramping probably from the SL drills on Friday. Great ride with beautiful scenery. Timewise we came up short of the four hours planned but the three hour effort we did put in was pure quality.





First 60 minutes of the ride including major climbs-one turn around



Friday
I completed a 90 minute trainer ride including some "hills" after 20 mins of SL drills. The hills were steady at 245 W+ with the cadence dropping as I went through the gears. At 80 minutes I decided 1.5 hours is just about the upper limit for me on the trainer. A lot of pressure in the seat.

Good work. I was a little nervous about the long mountain ride but I knew James would be prefatigued as well, I hoped.


Sooooo. As of now I'm still planning on racing at Snow Valley but it's more dependent on finding a place for my family to stay. A solo weekend is not in the cards. I kind of wished I picked up the Solana Beach sprint this weekend instead. Down the road I'm looking to Imperial Beach sprint on Aug. 26th for the next peak.

...

Well this week started out great with a call from the man, Jimmy V. Having a coach is a more than a luxury for me it's absolutely necessary. He is the voice of assurance when things get a little derailed. Not that there is much consolation going on, but it's all about proceeding forward. Taking action and making smart decisions with the information we have right now, not dwelling on the past. We talked briefly of old injuries and being sick but mostly about progress on the bike and how to get up and running for Snow Valley Xterra. I haven't put any races on the schedule since the DNS at San Diego International and had planned on sticking to baselike training picking up a few races here and there where my schedule (mostly with the family) allows. I haven't signed up for Snow Valley yet as I wanted to see how I was responding to the training at the end of the week. As of today things are going pretty well.

Today

I'll do a 40 minute run after work. This morning I went for a great swim with my buddy Ramon.

We swam pretty easy for about 40 minutes at the Shores. I had a chance to check out my new

summer training wetsuit. It's a DeSoto 2 mm speedtube pant and 2 mm vest. There are a couple things that I love about it. It's sleeveless. I can't tell you the difference in how much easier it is to swim in a sleeveless suit. Normally I fight fatigue in the shoulders for about 15 minutes stopping to stretch and adjust the suit just feeling tight. Not today, it was awesome. Sure there is less buoyancy but just enough for a little added safety. My shoulders felt great and really had better ability to lengthen my stroke. Just a few rashes to deal with, a little lube should take care of that. For a little warmer water temps I can wear just the pant to feel even more slippery.

Wednesday

I went for a scheduled 2 hour hilly ride. I had tweeked my fit slightly lowering the seat about 1.5-2mm. I tried to keep the whole ride above 200W and below CP60-90 which is ~240W.

Normalized Power: 210W (including a 3 min phone call)

I felt great during the whole ride despite fighting a nasty headwind, all hail the P-Tap.

Tuesday

I checked out the pool at the local Mission Valley Y. I just joined there to have an alternate pool other than driving the 25 min to Coronado. They also have 5 masters sessions per day but the pool is only 25 yd. which is quite an obstacle to getting in a solid rhythm. 8 stroke cycles and I'm at the wall. It might enjoy it more if I flipped a little better as there is lots of turning in a long set.something to work on. Other than that I felt really good. I swam for 30 mins warming up with 5x100's on 1:40 and then 200's (20s).

After the swim I ran out along the Flood Control Channel for a total of 30 mins. I could feel the recent strenght gains in my legs from the cycling but found my lungs not totally clear from my recent cold. Kept it aerobic and hit the strength training for some light leg work and shoulder/core stability stuff. It was nice to get this all in from just one parking spot. That's what's nice about the Y. I can ride my bike there or take off for good running/cycling routes right after a swim.

One other thing. I got an email from a TCSD member who was looking for Cancer survivors in the triathlon scene. They're putting together a calendar in conjunction with the leukemia and lymphoma society, which is kind of suspect given their whole corporate style agenda, but I sent in some photos and a profile just for fun. If I can use my story somehow to inspire others, that's where it's at. We'll see....hopefully it won't turn out to be lame.

A little present

Well I kind of screwed with my training plan last week, going longer than planned on the weekend and it may have come back to bite me in the backside. My baby got sick on Monday then tuesday I started getting a sore throat/cold. It's hard to avoid the little germinator but I think I may have stressed the immune system a little. Either that or it was just my time. I take glutamine added to my recoverite for recovery and was feeling great on monday (not fatigued).

Be that as it may, I've been taking it easy and will get on the bike easy today for an hour just to flush the legs. Should be back with the program by Monday. I will miss out on the Rim Nordic MTB race on sunday as I could have had a ride up with James and back the same day. Damn.

Looking forward to the weekend of the 22nd for some more riding with JW.

Gold in them thar hills

I have been really digging this last two weeks of cycling focused training. I've been seeing some good improvement both real and perceived. First of all my legs and hip (IT band) feel really strong and balanced. I've also seeing some improved stability on the bike from the core and strength training. Spending all this time on the bike has allowed me some time to think and kind of set some goals for the rest of the year. I probably won't release the details of these goals just yet, as I'm pretty excited right now.

Since the big ride on the Fourth, I've been feeling really good. I took a planned day off on Thursday and went out for a longer tempo ride on Friday. Longer meaning a 35 minute tempo section riding in Zone 3.

I was surprised at how easy the effort felt compared to the suffering two days prior. I descended the workout slightly to make sure I was in the proper zone/HR wise. It was a big gear interval keeping the cadence around 72-78. I noticed it was less taxing on the cardio side and more strength oriented. I generally favor a high cadence to produce speed and am able to produce smooth power up to 125 rpm. I think the strenght workouts will translate into more pure speed at the higher cadence, normally around 100.

20k @ 238 watts avg.

average HR: 144

Max HR: 156

Nice power for low HR!

I did a little flip flop Sat/Sunday and hit the gym for some corework and shoulder stability on Saturday so I could join James on a longer ride on Sunday.

It's a little more work organizing a "group"ride but well worth it as it gets me more stoked. We've done pretty well mixing up the rides as we've set out to keep it fresh, trying some new rides around the county. There is a lot of killer rides that have yet to be checked out. I kind of wanted to keep this ride on the mellower side but was not afraid to go longer than the 2:30 on the schedule. We talked about riding up the coast to Dana point but fear of boredom led us to pick a ride outside of Alpine,CA. It's pretty much the same route as the Alpine Challenge road race, so it's definitely legit.

The temp was cooler than expected around 68 at the start and low 80's and dry by the end. Perfect. We surprisingly managed to keep it mellow, but I appreciated the discipline as we could have easily turned it into a suffer-fest. That's the great thing about this ride, even though it was 4000+ of climbing, it didn't max out my ratio so there was occasion to spin up the hills riding in Zone 3/low 4. It also ratchets up with some brief rolling at the top of each climb which were only about 6-10 minutes at a pop. I did let it out a little on the descent to work on generating some good speed and power at 120-130 rpm, plus it was fun. I just pugged a redbull and wanted to test my "wings". This was a great ride on a fun route that has lots of potential to link for longer rides up to Sunrise Highway or for some good climbing intervals. Road riding at it's best.

Of note is how strong my legs felt on this ride. It's amazing what great training response I get from riding in the mountains. No matter where my training is heading I'm definitely going to keep these rides going.

K.O.M.

Yeah right. The king of the mountain I was not, but yesterday's ride was epic in the truest sense. I was supposed to head out to ride Palomar Mountain with James of "Blood Sweat and Beers" fame, but he had to cancel on Tuesday on account of his neck. I was really fired up to do this ride and also do it on the Fourth of July so I loaded up the bike and drove out to Escondido to park and ride solo. James had sent me the route a couple days earlier, a total of 61 miles including the 12 mile climb up the mountain. I had to be home around noon so I could ride for 4.5 hours max. I cut off about 5 miles and started a little closer at E Valley Parkway. I would be glad for this on the way home.

I took off at 7:15 weighing in at 165 with two full bottles of the usual and some gels. I was greeted by the 2.5 mile grade up to Lake Wolford. Not bad as it wasn't hot yet and minimal traffic. I was aware of this first climb and knew that I had to hold back and ride sub Z4 for most of the ride if I wanted to make it to the summit and home. It was tough even riding with the 27t in the rear to keep it under 260 watts on this climb, unless I wanted to ride at 50rpm. There was some beautiful riding after this and I really enjoyed seeing some new countryside and finally knowing where all those damn indian casinos are. I made my way across the valley and could see Palomar and the one thing I noticed is how vertical it was. No rolling foothills just a big green mountain rising up. I made it to the base after an hour of riding and figured I was on schedule. How long could it take to ride 12 miles to the top? I was heading into the unknown. Watching the altimiter clicking away and keeping an eye on the wattage trying to be conservative. I was trying to keep it around 250W which meant a cadence between 65-70. Not ideal but that's all I could do. Out of gears.

This climb goes up and up and up. Unrelenting is putting it lightly. More like water torture where its never really unbearable, it just doesn't stop. The miles go by slowly. It was fun for the first six miles in some kind of rhythm, after that it was pure survival made worse by the fricking hornets on the rice rockets hauling ass up and down the mountain. I began to see other cyclists on the descent smiling with there jerseys opened up. I was suffering from the effort but also from the heat. It had been 95 degrees the day before and felt like it was going to be the same or worse. In and out of the saddle I fought the dropping wattage which brought my cadence into the low 60's. I could barely hold 220. I was on the climb for an 1:20 with two miles left. I thought about stopping a lot but didn't. If I beat it down the descent I could still make it up and down in two hours to keep on schedule. Finally I made it to the top, not to the observatory like I'd hoped but that was another 5 miles. I hung out near the store (which was closed unfortunately) drained the last of my bottles and ate a bar. I could have used some H20 for the descent.

Peak Average Power chart showing 2hr @ 220W and 60min @ 238. both personal bests.

Climb Data

11.61 miles 1:34

AVG HR 163 Max 174

AVG Power 226 Watts

I learned a lot on the climb but more on the descent as there are lots and lots of hairpins. Twenty minutes of descending topping out at 42 mph. My triceps were really getting tired. Some of the turns are over 180 degrees which makes for some certainly wide eyed situations. I finally made it to the bottom at 3 hours ride time and stopped at a store for some water, slammed a coke and some Thermolytes. One thing I noticed is that there is a climb out of this valley too. Equal to the first climb up to L. Wolford. It was hotter, there was more traffic and my legs were behaving badly. Back by the casinos the sign read 92 degrees probably 97-100 on the fresh blacktop. This part of the ride was sort of like the bad hangover after a long night. You got to get through it and nothing makes it better. I got to the lake and thought about jumping in but kept going and saw some guy puking from his car on the side of the road. I thought I felt bad.

Down the final descent and back to the car in 4:10, 52 miles and around 8000 ft of climbing. I weighed in at 157 (8 pound deficit) after taking in 96 ounces. I was slow roasted but proud of the effort. That's a lot of climbing but when its in huge chunks like 90 minutes+, I think it's tougher than it sounds. This was by far the toughest single ride I've been on. I loved it and can't wait to get back on it. I think next time I'd start a little closer so I could really cook the goose on the climb.

Big respect goes out to all those who charge this ride. The locos that do it in the aero bars, those that do it without a saddle and those that just do it. f'ing nuts.

Random Pics.

Lake Wolford in the morning

View from the top. It's up there!

Oh so happy!

Quality time.

I've been busier than ever but still getting in some good cycling workouts. Two out of the last four workouts have been on the trainer. I was talking to a buddy of mine about the love hate relationship that goes along with using the bikestand from hell. Anytime you got some time, you can make the best of it. That's important to me being able to stay close to home lately.

Yesterday I did a 2.5 hour road ride that was very necessary. Call it a mental health ride after having relatives in town for 3 days. I was feeling dead tired from hosting these guys and the heat didn't help either. I popped an energ ease that my buddy James uses and headed out the door to Del Mar. I was feeling really good once I warmed up and spent the first 30 minutes holding 200-225. Practicing a lot of discipline. The next 30 minutes I rode how I felt and was hitting the 300-320 numbers with a lot more ease than expected, just not hanging out there. I hit TP grade after the turnaround and held it at 265 just a little above LT. I normally push Z5 there but it was nice to give a steady effort over the top not requiring any recovery. Last 30 was held to Z2 and I felt pretty fresh at 2:30. I tried a lot of things along with pedal stroke. One thing that worked well was paying attention to posture on the bike. Pulling up and forward through the spine trying not hunching and I immediately saw the power surge without any increased effort. Like 20 watts. Another was making sure the glutes were firing. It's amazing the way it takes the strain off the top of the quads to generate some power with the backside.

Here's the Peak Average power from that ride. I like to see it flattish to gently sloping like that.

My IT band and shoulder are well on the mend and should be there by the end of the week. I've been doing a lot of strengthening for the core, shoulders, and back. Pretty much something everyday especially pushups, 100's and planking. Already feeling more stability.

This week should be fun with a tough ass ride scheduled for the 4th. I'm going to hit a new route (for me) up to Palomar mountain with JW and it should be a good test for both of us. I'm going to go over the profile but I think it's like 4,500 feet over 12 miles. Right in the middle of what should be a solid 60 miler+. James trains with power on his road bike so we can easily talk about pacing and compare numbers from the climb. just for kicks. Looking forward to it.

Man with a plan.

I got off the phone with Jim this morning and am feeling good about our conversation. I wasn't sure where to go from here. We reviewed my injury status and we both agreed I need to get healthy. I also told him that I won't have any races planned at least until after July and even then I think it'll be just some MTB racing and the Sprint Xterra at Snow Valley. What we came up with is a two week training block of some base-like cycling training with 2xweek strength/core training.

That's still training six days a week but much more manageable than 3 2xday multisport in a six day training week. This is something that I've been wanting to do for a while anyway, that is, focus on the bike. Everywhere you turn there is advice telling us to train the weakness. That's probably true but I think there is a lot of room for improvement in my cycling. I consider it a strength at this point and because of that I haven't given it the time to really break through. Since I train with Power, it will be pretty easy to monitor the progress.

As I get healthy and am able to get back in the pool and running on a regular basis, I think I want to continue with a similar type of workout block. Like laying out swim, run or bike focus blocks that allow a good amount of focus in each sport paying particular attention to technique.
I think that's a good amount of time to develop some positive muscle memory without risking overtraining/overuse related injury. The bottom line is to develop a schedule I can live, maint/gain some fitness, improve my skill level and have more fun.

There is a lot to be said for triathlon and the training, but it is the very idea of being able to train in a different sport every day that can become the most difficult part. It echoes the newly surfaced idea that multitasking reduces productivity in the workplace. Yeah you can do all these things at once but how well are you doing them. It's as if you showed up to work every day and worked on a different project each day. So when you sit down to work, you get the "so...where was I". If your a professional athlete or sponsored without a day job then you can put 100% of your effort into shifting gears and managing your life around the training. For me and just about everyone else, it's training around my life which risks the feeling of spinning your wheels that much more. To further illustrate, I've got about 4-5 house projects going on right now. None of them are done. I'm working on them all at the same time. If I just focus on one project and finish it before I start the next one, I'll have continuity be better able to anticipate problems and a lot less trips to Home Depot.

Back to making sense, I actually did get back in the pool yesterday. I was jonesing for a workout and swimming makes me feel awesome. My shoulder felt great. I took it easy for starters but also worked on initiating some of the technical refinements that will hopefully keep me injury free from here on out. I've talked about some of the potential causes of my problems but the one I'm keying in on is increasing roll onto my right side (non-breathing). I worked on spending more time gliding on the right side, which allowed be to roll more, opening up the recovery. This is just one aspect that needs to change but it was good to get some positive feedback.

I'm gonna go get on my bike. I love my bike(s).

Retooling

Well I'm officially over it. That is, with the depressing day I had yesterday. I went to at least watch some of the athletes who were able to race. I walked the two blocks to where the bike course hits the top of the hardest grades. Oh yeah and I could see the swim course from my house also. But I walked over with my wife and baby and cheered on as many people as I could without blurting out my strategy for that particular climb. I pretty much had it figured out to the Watt. Oh well. Later on, we went to the mountains and I took the epic out for a flat spin on some fire roads. I had to do something. My hip was feeling better but I kept it real easy.


I don't know exactly where I'm going to go from here. I don't have any more races officially planned and don't know if there will be for a while. My professional and personal lives have been pretty much been marginalized since January. For one thing I need to get totally healthy. This means getting into some PT, chiropractic and strength training. Just to note. The strength training I beleive has been my achilles heal through all this training and racing. I was training with Pilates up until February and had to cut it out of the schedule for time management.

Spectator.

It's Saturday afternoon and I'm officially not racing in San Diego International. I'm pretty bummed about this decision but I think it's best in the long run. I've been fighting off some shoulder problems as I've written about it ad nauseum. I figured I'd rest it for a couple of days and focus on the bike and run which was fine given SDIT was only a 1000m swim but the run was 10k. On Wednesday I had a 60 minute ride with some race pace intervals. I took it to the trainer so I could easily control my effort but also noticed some popping on the outside of the right knee. No pain, just the common tight IT band stuff that goes away with some warmup/stretching/massage. I warmed up and cooled down about 20 minutes each and stretched well in all planes. I felt pretty damn good otherwise.

Thursday I had a swim and a 30 minute run with some RP intervals. Obviously I skipped the swim and stretched my shoulders pecs and lats. In the afternoon I hit the run. Something was up I could tell within about 5 minutes. I run without music and am very aware to listen to my feet and breathing. My right footsrike was loud and slapping. Nice and soft on the left. I tried a couple of things like switching sides of the road, shortening my stride. I started feeling little bee-sting like twinges right around the outside of the knee, no signature IT band pain but enough to stop and stretch a couple of times. I still hit the intervals. During the last 10 minutes my hip, primarily TFL started really heating up. This whole time I wasn't worried at all because I was in taperlike mode and not overeaching at all so it couldn't be an injury, right? Well an hour later after the run my "hip" was really sore. I still didn't worry as I got right on the foam roller and tennis ball.

Friday was a day off and I couldn't do anything if I wanted to. I was practically limping on account of the soreness. By this time my shoulder was feeling a lot better, clicking and popping had subsided and no real dull pain like the days prior. I'm still thinking okay if I take Friday and Saturday off I'll probably still be cool to race. I wasn't panicking yet just trying to ice and massage my damn right leg thinking this can't be happening. If it wasn't better Saturday morning I was making other plans for Sunday.

I woke up this morning and took a hot shower and did some stretching. The first couple steps out of bed were not bad. It just felt like the day after a long run kind of. I put on my shoes and figured I'd do some light jogging, like once around the block to check it out. I got to the end of the street and walked back. That was all I had to do to realize if I show up and race, I could easily inflame the IT band and watch all my fitness go down the toilet for the next two months. My wife is a Physical Therapist and I've had full on ITband syndrome before. We talked at length about the situation and she (not signed up to race of course) recommended not racing. I recognized that ITBS had not manifested but also was aware of the warning signs. The writing was on the wall. I couldn't help fantasizing about overcoming obstacles, ribs, shoulder and hip to lay down a solid PR after all that "rest". It's all fanasy and a dream now as I'll be sleeping in tomorrow. I've only missed one race due to injury or illness, that was back in 2003 LJ half Marathon.

I'm looking back at my training and the plan is not suspect. What is becoming more obvious is how that big hit I took in the side found it's way through my body. I probably should have been getting chiropractic 2x week to have my body settle back in properly. This is where I'm heading. My PT checked my pelvis and it has a pretty pronounced posterior rotation on the right side. I'm going to wait for the muscle tension to subside a little then hit up the chiro.