Fuzzy four days.

The last four days have been pretty much a blur. The training has been pretty intense and I've been able to stay really focused with only a week before I leave for wildflower. I had one of those moments when I'm like, oh shit! is that next weekend? I've been trying to get all my gear together this week to reduce any panic/ last minute stuff. I'm really looking forward to getting up there early and having some time just to relax.

As for the training.

Today is a day off. I'm thinking about getting in the water for a little recovery swim with the Tri club just to spend some more time in the wetsuit. I'm still not feeling super comfortable in the new Zenith. We'll see.

Thursday.

workout 1 was a two hour ride with a focus on working hard in the hills. the goal was to spend more than 10% in Zone 4-5a. workout 2 was a 45 minute run zone 1-2.

I decided to go straight to the source. Mission Gorge pass. 8-12% grades on either side with one side having 2 climbs one ~5 minute, one ~7 minute, the other side is one long 8 minute climb into the wind. I had a 30 minute warm-up then hit it. The first climb felt good, the following 6 were tough and I was definitely feeling some accumulated fatigue. Still working hard nonetheless. Here's a graph of the gritty part of the workout.

Here's a graph of the same hills from last year about the same time: 050206

Definitely some good improvement here. I still felt my wattage was down about 5% Thursday, though HR was pretty moderate. After the ride I decided to hang out and hit an adjacent trail run for my 45 min. I took about 15-20 minutes to recover/stretch then I went out on a relatively flat run. Time to look out for Rattlers as some mtb'er saw one about 3 minutes in front of me. No siting. I felt pretty flat on this run and just tried to take it easy working on form to get me through it. I took pleasure in the fact that this was the last hard day for the next 3-4 days. Sweat test data:

pre:164.4

post:162.0

24 oz consumed over 2 hours. ~70 degrees.

Wednesday.

I had a one hour aerobic swim and a 2.5 hour MTB planned in zones 1-3 +/- I'd been looking for an opportunity to get back in open water and the wetsuit and Wed. was good. I swam from LJ shores buoy line to the cove and back. Total time straight swim about 40 min. I stopped at the quarter mile buoy to do some turns. It definitely took some time to get warmed up. I really need to do about a 15 minute warm up before I start feeling fresh. The water was lumpier than it looked but I was swimming straight. I was trying to site more than normal to work on technique. The buoy turns felt better than ever. I did a quick core workout out of the water and headed over to Penasquitos to get my ride in.

I tried to keep it mostly rolling with a few mellow climbs and felt the bike handling improve. My plan was to ride to Black Mountain summit again just to not have to repeat too many sections of the Canyon. I rode the same access road as Sunday but hit a little easier gear which made it easier to moderate HR. This time it took 18 min. with AvgHR 144-Max 157. Made it back to the car at 2:45 a little long. I really enjoy getting out in the "country" away from the cars. I did a sweat rate test on this ride.

Pre ride: 163.4

Post ride: 160.2

Total fluid consumed 40oz.

that's 91oz. lost. 33 oz/hr. Seems like a lot but it is what it is.

Tuesday.

Tuesday I had a one hour aerobic session in the pool and a 60 min. cruise interval run workout. I also went to a nutrition seminar with Kim Mueller from FuelFactor at B+L . I had to plan this day carefully to not get stuck in traffic gettting to North County. My plan was to swim in Coronado then head up to Encinitas to get in my run. I was supposed to do the run on the track, but that would've put me in PL at 4:00 not good.

The swim went really well feeling really fresh and balanced. I worked on not pulling so wide with the left side and my shoulder felt great while I was more symmetrical. Here's what I did:

5x100 warm-up

100 kick

1000 @ 1:45

100 kick

2x500 @ 1:41-1:43

2x100

2900m total

This swim felt great and I had that good tired and hungry feeling. I grabbed a little food and found a nice flattish mile in Cardiff for the run. I was doing 60 min with 3x1 mile @ 10k +:10s. this is hard to pace for me. Here are the splits and HR avg. after 10 min warm-up.

Mile 1: 6:34 HR 159/max 173

Mile 2: 6:27 HR 168/max 180

Mile 3: 6:41 HR 172/max 183

I went by feel on these and obviously could have used some 1/4 mile splits. It felt good to run hard even though my legs were feeling the weekend still. I didn't try to slow the last one but fatigue was setting in. Not as good as the last track session but some good speed nonetheless. After this I went for a quick cool off in the ocean and headed to the Nutrition gig.

It was really good with some good info that will help me stay strong through the run. Most revealing was the hydration theory. My big problem is cramping. Focusing more on fluid intake and less on calories will help as dehydration is the biggest performance zapper in races 1-3 hours in length. My sweat rate tests will help determine my hydration needs. Kim will help me figure out what I'll take on the bike and pre-race. I've been experimenting with more electrolyte in my bottle. I 've been trying 2 scoop Carbo-Pro and one MotorTab in 24 oz. That's about 300 calories and 250mg sodium. I'm a salty and heavy sweater so that sodium should really help the cramps. I also plan on taking some Thermolytes on the bike and run depending on the temp. I also would like to figure out how to just carry one bottle on the bike if possible. That may mean H20 at the turn around with a Carbo-Pro concentrate in a gel flask. I'll update as the plan gets more nailed down but this formula seems to be working so far.

Monday:

I was supposed to get in a recovery swim. It didn't happen. I was planning on hitting it with TCSD at 6:00pm. but I had to work late. I knew the rest of the week would be a schedule stretcher so I figure best to clear the decks to concentrate on the key workouts ahead.

All in all I'm feeling pretty good. I'd wished I saw some more impressive numbers on the bike yesterday but I need to trust the training. I've been beat down pretty good over the last 10 days and some cumulative fatigue is to be expected. I don't have a goal finish time yet. I'm gonna run some wattage data and figure I can run 7:15-7:30's at least. Last year was 8:00's and 199W avg on the bike with a 26 minute swim. I'm looking to shave 8-10 minutes and hit the top 20 or better. I'll discuss this with Jim to see what my expectations could be. This weekend has some lighter recovery workouts and should be good to spend some time with the family.

e

Sunday ride/run.

Now this weekend was huge. It just kind creeps on you, the fatigue that is. Sunday was the capper on what was supposed to be a big weekend training camp in the the mountains. I had to change plans due to weather and it worked out fine. A little more crowded, but the trails dried out by Sunday morning and I got there early. I had 4 hours of mountain biking and a 45 minute run on the schedule. Both were to work on hills and maximize zone 4-5a. Sounded like a lot of work and it was. I also wanted to get in at least 4,000 ft of climbing on the MTB. The other challenge was trying to string together some routes locally where by the end of 4 hours I would have accomplished my goals but not be too bored. I decided to ride penasquitos canyon for 90 minutes warm up and ride some shorter (under 8 minute) climbs and then ride to Black Mountain and ride the summit.
I had never been there so my plan was to just go for it with a few google maps in my so called photo memory. Penasquitos was great fun with a couple new routes.

At 90 minutes I headed over to Black Mountain. I figured I couldn't get lost because I could see it and I was on Black Mountain Road, right? The trails I was looking at on Google were unrideable. They all looked gnarly. James and Jim ride here and do a time trial on the trail to the top, but where was it. I traversed the mountain on an access road and came across a pretty fun looking but steep/technical STrack. Those guys are good riders so it could have been it. It got way worse/better than this and was about 20% hike-a-bike. I just kept going and figured I'd find the trail from the top. Looking back, this is a good alt. route with some real technical climbing. I cleaned some pretty tough sections, others not and I have the scrapes to prove it. I made it to the top and found the access road, but I wasn't gonna miss out on the route I just climbed.............................so I decided to bomb it and then climb back up the access road for the second climb to the top. This was a good test for the last climb of the day. I was still feeling pretty good able to push some gears in the middle ring. I actually felt strong all day. I did this 750 ft,1.7 mile climb in 15:45

Max HR 167
Avg HR 159

It was not an all out effort but pretty consistent. I needed to save a little for the run when I got back to the van. The summit of Black Mountain has some impressive views but some scary looking equipment that makes you think twice about hanging out for too long.

I got back to the parking lot at 4 hours on the dot and still had to get in a decent 45 minute run.
I don't think the intention was to make it a transition run but this is how I had to get it in. I stretched and took a gel. The run felt okay despite some toe blisters from Sat. and a pretty sore hip from diggers that day. I got in 35 minutes at intensity with 10 minute cool down.
Avg. HR 165
Max HR 172
After that I was a done deal. took some Recoverite then off to Chipotle then too the Airport.
I did manage to get in some 5,200 feet of ascent which is nice. Big Day. Big Weekend.
http://trail.motionbased.com/trail/kml/episode.kml?episodePkValues=2541566

Long run 2.0 and swim footage

Today's long run was 2.0 hours. I had an option to switch sat and sun workouts so that the weather conditions wouldn't limit my long ride routes on the MTB. I checked the ground this morning, puddles. It wasn't raining but the sun wasn't out so it was probably pretty soggy on the trails. No problem, I started preparing to run as I watched the local news. The big story: 3-4 inches of snow in the local mountains. This is where I was supposed to train this weekend. I'm all up for winter training, but two weeks before Wildflower? I think I'm justified in being a little conservative and just getting it done in town. Rx today was 120 minutes zone 1-2 with the last thirty at tempo pace. This is the longest run I've done this season. I went out on a hilly route and ended up totaling about 1700 ft of vertical with two major hills. One at 50 mins (300 ft/.7 mi/9:50 pace/HR 160) and one at 75 mins (150 ft). I took on these hills wanting to know what I could do at tempo after zapping a little strength. This is a race specific scenario. I was feeling great practicing my technique, and just enjoying my fitness gains. The last 30 mins went like this:

Avg pace: 7:37

Avg HR: 168

Max HR: 179

It was pretty rolling so I knew HR would get up but I wanted to get in at around 1/2 marathon pace. Pretty close considering the elevation changes. I still felt pretty strong and definitely had another gear.

I weighed myself when I got back and figured I'd get some Bio-data. 160.4 lbs. I left at 164.5 and drank 9 oz. of Carbo-Pro and 6 oz. water and one gel. That seems like a pretty big sweat rate @ 58 degrees. We'll see what I can do with this info as I want to hit Kim Muellers nutriton seminar on Thursday. I stretched for 10 and took an ice bath for 15. I had two scoops recoverite and 2 eggs 2 kashi waffles with pbutter, banana and agave syrup. We'll see how I feel tomorrow on the ride. I'm looking forward to getting an early start. Lots of sun this afternoon so it should be good.

I spent some time looking at the swim footage from yesterday. A couple things are clearly going on.

Decent entry with right hand about even with shoulders. could be wider.

Left hand starts moving out to catch. This is the line where I want to enter.

Still going wider on the pull.

Finally about 10 inches outside of entry line. Holding lots of water but with my rotator cuff muscles. Ouch. I'm no expert but I think I can do a couple of things. Enter the hand a little wider and pull more to the hip in a straight back movement. I don't know why this is happening but I'll check it out again this week to see if there is some improvement.

I did get some UW footage too but these were good shots with the lane marker for reference. Looking forward to getting to do this again next week.

Two different days.

Yesterday was a really weird day. I wasn't feeling really that tired but mentally not there. I started doubting the day and struggled to make it to the pool. I should have gone to 12:00 masters session at JCC but I needed to get out of the pool, take my bike into B+L and get my 90 minute ride done by 4:00. I didn't want to wait and hit the pool in Coronado at 11:00 am.

Usually I feel better once I get in the pool and get my warm up in, but I didn't. I really felt tired. My legs were burning, even though I have a mellow kick, and I struggled to get through the 5x100 warm up. I wanted to get out. I did some kicking trying to get some fresh blood to the legs and followed up with 300m of drills, figuring let's build this workout from the bottom up get balanced, and relaxed. It worked okay but part way through the main set (first 500) my left shoulder (tares major) started to hurt, something was up. I changed my plan (4x500) and put the pull buoy on and just took the pressure off my shoulder by swimming real easy 200's and starting my pull a little later. this worked pretty well and I swam out 5x200 on 2:00 staying focused and just trying to put my time in the water. I mangaged 2500m and got the hell out of there.

I got some lunch and they screwed up my order. Another reason why almost always eat at home or the Co-op. I cussed as I scraped mayo and pulled bacon from my chicken on bagel sandwich. The only thing they got right was the bagel part. Off to B+L bikes.

Matt pulled my BB apart and noticed a lot of drag on the bearings. Turns out he installed bearings for Generation II Dura Ace BB, mine was first generation. I guess there is about a .75 mm difference in bearing size. Perfect. The bearings were just crammed in there barely turning. Think Shimano Exage after sitting in the salt water for about a month. That makes me feel better about my wattage on Wed. He threw the BB away, installed a new DA Gen II bottom bracket and told me I'd have the new bearings in by next weekend. Whatever! at this point I'm thinking What The F...?

I left there with at 2:30 I had till four to get in a 90 min ride with details. I decided to jam home throw the Kuota on the trainer and get in what I could. The trainer is great for getting some quality work done with limited time. I got 60 minutes in including 3 sets of 5 x 12-15s jumps. I didn't feel great but it did feel good to hit all the shit I had to get done by 4:00.

It's amazing how caught up I can get in the (negative) details of the day. Grinding away to get in my workouts that regularly give me so much pleasure and satisfaction. That's life.

Today was going to be a different day. The wife and baby going out of town to see relatives. The weekend is mine for the first time in 8 months. I am going to take care of a lot of "business" in the next 72 hours.

I had a 30 min run and was planning to head to the Ranch for a 2 day training camp. I looked at the doppler radar and saw huge rain on the way and temps in the high 30's. Maybe I'll leave tomorrow. It started to rain at the house so I decided to hit the indoor track (dreadmill) at the gym. This was the best session I've had on the tready. 30 mins with some 45 second surges to 6:30 pace. I finally had a clear shot at a mirror that I could see myself from the side. My coach, Jim shared some great technique info with me to help my running. I put it all to the test. Great Stuff! I had a blast.
I also packed up the video camera and housing to figure out what my stroke is looking like these days (shoulder stress).

I've never tried to get footage by myself but I rigged up the housing with two bungees to the lane lines and 10lb weight to hold it underwater. It worked great. They have a short 20 yard indoor pool at my gym which is perfect for this kind of thing. I filmed from three angles and think I got some good stuff. I'll download the footage tomorrow and see if I can post some captures and comments. I've waited a while to find the spare time to do some R+D.

Today was a good day!

Crazy brick.

I woke up this morning feeling really good, a little sore, but good. I was anticipating one of the tougher workouts of the week and looking forward to it. I wanted to do this workout on the trails butI spoke with Jim last night and he told me he was doing the same workout at the same time and to show up. I don't get a chance to ride with Jim very often so I took advantage. I also wanted to take my bike for a spin to go through all the shifting cnd check how it was rolling, after all that work. I got there around 12:30 and Jim showed up around 1:00 which allowed me enough time to warm-up a little stretch my still sore legs.

This is the same brick interval I did last Saturday so there was going to be some ability to compare the two. Well that was going to be tough because today was windy. Not stormy and windy but steady 14-22 that doesn't go away. On top of that it was dirty, dirty and sandy. This place can turn into a real dustbowl which is kind of what you look for when your kiteboarding this spot, but today I was fighting the conditions on the bike and run to no mention messing the recent clean on my bike. We warmed up 4 easy laps and then started the main set: 3 x 5 mile bike with 1 mile run off the bike. I wanted to descend the intervals, problem is I descended the pace instead of the time. r d r r. Here's how they ended up.

no 1. bike: 262 watts/ 13.4 min
run: 6:35/mi

no. 2 bike: 243 watts/ 13.9 min

run: 6:31/mi

no. 3 bike: 231 watts/ 14.1 min
run: 6:43/mi HR 170 max 180 (same for all 3)

I thought I did the last run faster @ 6:15 but looking at the G305 totals pace was 6:43 must have pushed the lap late when leaving T.

Looking at my speeds on the bike my max speed was 31 mph and low was 15 mph. That's a lot of shifting gears and shifts in momentum. It definitely taxed my legs trying to maintain cadence and keep rolling through the gusty parts. Each lap on the run, the first split was with the wind and slightly down hill. I felt great averaging like 6:10. The way back was tough espacially mentally. I was really feeling the wind against my chest and face. Jim was able to ride back to me and help me through the last minute or so telling me to lean more into the wind and shorten up the stride. These are both the opposite of my tendency when tired. This stresses the importance of staying mentally focused and in control. One of the things I learned in talking to Jim on recovery laps was that its sometimes more important to back off on intensity and focus on efficiency and technique. We actually talked about it in context of climbing on the MTB but an important concept in all aspects of this sport(s).

I was feeling quite done after this main set. I was glad to get it over with. dirt in my eyes and mouth and to cap off the annoying factor, my bottom bracket had a hideous squeek. Not what I was hoping for after just getting the bike back from the shop.

I took some recovery and headed over to the B+L south shop and had the mechanic look at the BB. He took it apart and noticed the non-drive side was a little rough. Disappointing but at least I know it's not the way it's supposed to be. I'll take it up to Matt and have him take a look at it. At this point I want my old parts back. I'm hopeful to get it right or better than right. Glad I have time to deal with this a couple weeks before racing. Don't fix it if it ain't broke? we'll see!

I got to give out a big Mahalo to Jim for including me in this workout. He's always out to help his athletes and others improve. Pretty refreshing for an athlete of his caliber to really do a lot to give back to the community whether it's giving a pre-race lectures, swim clinics or shelling out shwag at a post race raffle. He's probably one of the most visible and accessible pro's who lives and trains locally. Check him out at www.jimvanceracing.com

Paying dues.

What a difference rest and nutrition can make. After feeling really bad on Sunday, I went into full rescue mode. I went to the local co-op healthfood store and picked up some green veggie juice, fresh fruit and my wife made a killer vegetable barley soup. 3,000 mg vitamin C, Fish oil, Calcium Magnesium, SportsQuest Recover and an InterPhase shake was also part of the protocol as it is pretty much daily. I also got a little PT on my right hip that was flaring up. Turns out it was the quad that was tight, pulling the pelvis out of alignment. I got a solid 9 hours sleep and woke up feeling golden. Bangers. It was just soon enough because I had some tough workouts on tap.

Monday was busy. Two workouts on top of busier than usual work, taxes and Jam night with the band. I was feeling great so nothing could stop me.

My swim was great. 11:am-12:30 3200m total. all aerobic pace. 1:43-1:45/100
All killer, no filler, straight swimming.

5x100 warm-up on 2:00
1000 straight swim
2x500 (60s)
500 pull with paddles
200 cool-down pull buoy.

I normally do some drills and kicking but I wanted to get in some good aerobic endurance.
All sets felt great, easy, balanced and consistent. Good.

I had some lactate repeats on the hills on tap for the afternoon. I headed over to the college to do the 12-14% hill just below the track. Here's what I did.

3 sets of 5x40s on the hill
recover on the downhill
3 minutes between sets

I did a 10 min jog over. some stretching followed by 6x40m strides.
Each repeat was done at a pace that was really hard. Needing every second of recovery. Walked then jogged down equalling about 1 min. R. I tried to work on form focusing on: pressing into the hill, shortening the stride, firing the hamstrings, more arms, thinking "light and glide". I guess it worked I pulled it off but my legs were buckling by the end. Had decent recovery as I tended to speed up on the cool down home. Quads are feeling alright today but my glutes are pretty sore.

Today was speedwork in the pool. I look forward to this workout all morning until I hit the parking lot. Took a gel and hit it. The plan was to get in 500m of sprinting. Since I've been swimming on my own I can really mix it up. Normally I'll do mostly 100's till I slow down too much then switch to 50's. I usually get in 5 but not always. Today I wanted to go all out so my main set was 100's but 50 ALL OUT with 50 "aerobic" on the way back. My thinking was to get used to O2 debt. Here's what I did.

8x100 warm-up on 2:00
2x100 as 25scull, 25swim...snorkel and pull
10x100 as 50 sprint, 50 easy (90s)(sprints all under :37, best :35 #10)
300 cool down with pull buoy
2300m total

The main set was tough but I was fast. Faster by 3 seconds on average. I was pulling long and hard kicking easy till the last 25m then hard. I think the key to getting faster is just doing more of these and gaining more strength, having the last cycle feel as powerful as the first. I'd like to learn more about streamlining as reducing frontal area becomes increasingly important as speed increases. I've been working on a wider entry freestyle, but I feel that water tends to pile up on the shoulders. The idea on wide entry being a pull that's through water that is not turbulent next to the body and head. But think about the position on the bike, wider is not better. I know there are many freestyle theories, but what I'm buying is front quadrant emphasis with an entry that is about as wide as your ears. Just my thoughts, only someone on deck or the UW vidcam knows for sure.

Tomorrow is another tough brick workout. Thinking about doing it XTerra style. We'll see if the coach approves.

Light weekend.

The weekend had some light training. I was ready for a couple of easier days as my legs were feeling quite crushed from some good intensity last week. Funny thing is when I have an easy day I feel slightly let down. But I needed it. Three weeks until Wildflower. I just got my camping pass in the mail. I got butterflies for a second. I've been thinking a lot about this race going through each part of the course. I have a pretty photographic memory and am able to recall a lot of the race from last year in vivid detail. I think this will help reduce any anxiety as I will try to see each difficult part and rehearse how I want to feel as well as strategy. This is the big difference in my skill level from last year. Not only am I feeling a ton more fitness, I am looking forward to having my head in the game, being able to make smart decisions and focus on the task at hand. I have been trying to practice this in the open water swim workouts we've been doing with Jim and also in the road races I've been doing. As for the training.

Saturday was an easy recovery ride for two hours. I laugh to myself when I think of any two hour workout being recovery, especially if I had to explain this to some family member or friend.
But it was under 200watts avg., HR zone 1-2. they still look confused. I worked on staying relaxed through the pedal stroke and kept cadence above or around 95, thinking light on the pedals and supple legs. I felt great.

Sunday was a different story. We went to a party on Saturday night. My mistake was not eating before I went. I've been eating real healthy, lots but healthy. At the party they had Mexican food. I figured every now and then a little is not bad. I woke up feeling like crap. I got 7 hours sleep but it felt like 4. Basically I felt hungover and I don't drink. I was supposed to do an open water swim with Ramon and James, but the weather was as bad as I felt. That was the reason I didn't sleep in was to check the ocean and surf conditions. Out of the question. the surf was pounding and the wind was hooting. I put on an extra layer and did my run out the Flood control channel. One of the only soft flat routes around. I knew I would feel better once I got going but only slightly as the wind was in my face gusting to 18mph on the way back. I was glad to get back in my car after 60 minutes easy.

I was stoked to get the run behind me and head up to B+L bikes to pick up the Kalibur. I had a full service and ceramic bearing upgrade. Bottom bracket, wheel bearings and derailleur pulleys. If I can get a couple seconds per K, (should be a little more with wheel B's) that's about 2 minute savings over 40k. I'll need it to make up for my slow ass run. It was cool to see Kate Major up at the shop. Just pulling in to pick some stuff up. Tri chicks can be a little weathered like surfers but she looks good. Nice to live in a city where it's all going down.

Looking ahead this week will get tough again as I repeat my last 10 day cycle. Should be some fun stuff to post as I mix it up and try some new spots to train this week.

Rest em.

Man it was windy yesterday. Perfect for kiting, bad for riding (the bike). I'm looking forward to some less extreme weather. That's enough whining. I had three workouts on the plan. A two hour "hill climbing"session, a 45 minute easy run and a group swim workout. Up front I didn't get to the swim group. That pisses me off. These are great. I flat out did not have a window. It got shut on me when I had to bridge mom and the baby sitter. These are the challenges that I'm balancing in my training and thought they would be more influential in the blog, but I've decided to focus more on the places and data. It's far more satisfying. I knew I was short on time so I went local and picked some long and short hills to do. My goal was to spend at least 10% of the time in zones 4-5b. I ended up doing more like 20%..stoked. I rode to the tidepools hill and wanted to focus on this one. Put in three solid efforts and see what I could do. This hill is just under a mile and averages 10-12%. Wildflower short course has several hills that are similar and these results should work well for pacing, at least for the one out of T1. I was about a minute faster than any previous effort at this hill, on the first one 4:30. The wind was helping sometimes so I looked at the average power:

interval 1: 314W 4:30
interval 2: 323W 4:33

interval 3: 308W 4:40 (rode this one in the 23)

damn happy with that consistency.

I looked at the graph from just about a year ago. Just a little difference!

I kicked it up at the top with another quick out of the saddle just to vary the intensity. not bad either. I went to find some shorter hills after
and attacked the hills in between. Here's a look at those. I was surprised at what I had in my legs having ridden pretty hard on the MTB on Wednesday. But at this point I was feeling pretty beat up by the wind. It's amazing how that can test your nerves and fatigue you. I was over the wind and decided to take the run indoors. I headed to the gym after a little recovery food and plopped on the treadmill. Yikes. How do people do that? Easy :45 felt like an hour but my legs were still kind of there. Got out of there and hit the daddy action. Family first. Looking forward to putting my legs up and catching up on work. There's a lot of it before monday. A few lighter days on the sched'y coming up so I should be alright.

Deep in the cycle..

Wednesday was a schedule stretcher, just like today will be. Two workouts at opposite ends of the city yesterday and three today. Yesterday I was in training mode for 6 hours. Total workout time was 3.5 hours. Pretty revealing when you think of a 13 hour training week is actually more like 20 unless each workout starts out the door. Only if. This sport really requires quality time management and my schedule is on the lean side. I'm grateful for the time I do have. Anyway.....
Yesterday was a 1:00 aerobic set in the pool and a 2.5 hour MTB ride.
I swam in Coronado. I wanted to vary my workoutfrom yesterday so I focused on 200m sets. Here's what I did.

8x100 warm-up
5x200 on 4:00 (descending) 1:45-1:37/100
500 pull
200 cool down
2500m total

I really try to vary the warm-up as there is a definite point where I feel I'm swimming easier.
If I can find what works best I can try to adapt this to my pre race warm up. The main set creeped slightly into T-pace but I haven't checked it in a while. It felt pretty easy.

After a quick refuel stop at Starbucks I headed up to Penasquitos Canyon to get on the Epic.

I am really stoked on this bike. I will never let equipment be an excuse for poor performance and I need every advantage I can get.

My ride was one of the better at this somewhat local spot. I made a decision to find some new loops and it worked out great. I did a couple of the loops twice and then checked out some steeps that I have ridden before. I was definitely a little rusty on the technical side but my legs felt strong. I looked for as much varied terrain as I could. Hitting sand, gravel, and baby head sections just to try and get relaxed on the bike. I was supposed to ride Zones 1-3 with a little Zone 4, which is what I did...but my legs were smoking. That's the thing about riding off road is that the Power output is sometimes violently irregular. Power can go from like 500W to 250W in like 5 cycles. Pretty much the inverse of the training I've been doing on the road and definitely not what you want to do in a race as it taps into anaerobic energy systems even though HR doesn't pick it up. That can do nothing but make me a stronger rider ....I tell myself. I'm going to be looking forward to every chance I get to ride off road. It's just better. period. Less people, cars, no stoplights and lots of adrenaline. Not to forget mother nature.

Rolling with the punches.

I was definitely feeling the weekend on Monday. Just feeling like crap. I rarely feel more than tired. It almost felt like I was coming down with something. I was supposed to do a recovery swim with the TCSD monday group. I weighed the options and decided that getting in the water in the evening might risk really coming down with something. I think I made the right choice as I woke up feeling great on Tuesday. I made a concerted effort to refuel my body. Lots of protein, parsley, vitamin c, minerals, glutamine and electrolytes.


Tuesday was a great day. I had an aerobic swim session planned. Jim wants me to swim masters on all occasions but the timing really messes with my schedule. I feel masters is great for Threshold work but aerobic sessions are just great on my own. The Masters sessions I usually go to usually have people swimming with fins in the slower lanes (aerobic for me). I hate that. I went to Coronado as it's pretty much always set up 50m. I think there is a huge benefit to swimming long course. better endurance, rhythm and ability to really work on distance per stroke, just to mention a few.

Speaking of distance per stroke, this is something I've really been working on. Aerobic sets are a great opportunity to focus on it. My best (taking into acount both DPS and pace) so far is 38 cycles/100m at 1:45 pace. Yesterdays workout was:



6x100 warm up
300 drill
1000 straight swim 25s neg split
500 pull
500 paddles
200 cool down

3100 m total


In the afternoon I headed up to the local college track for some cruise intervals. The school has one of the worlds nicest tracks. On a bluff overlooking the Ocean, breeze and great surfaces.
I ran over easy did some drills then did my workout:

1 mile warm up
3 x 1 mile @ 10k pace+ :10 w/ 200m jog RI
1 mile cool down


I am not good at pacing especially around a track. I went out way to fast first lap was 1:30 then I struggled to moderate all these intervals. Here's how they went.


mile 1: 6:37 HR 152 avg
mile 2: 6:38 HR 172 avg
mile 3: 6:34 HR 178 avg


Not exactly 10k+10s but it feels good to get some consistent speed. I might just be getting faster since March because the intervals definitely felt in control. I don't think it blew the workout we'll see if Jim comments. One of these days I want to do a 1600m TT. I'd like to see what would happen.


Max HR was 185. It was good to see that I was able to push the HR up there without feeling like an all out effort. I don't know what it really means. I usually only see these kind of numbers on hills. I thought this was my max HR.


I cooled down watching the college milers do their workout. flying by. kind of inspiring.

Last night was the first race Nightmare I've had in a long time. Late for my wave, couldn't find my wetsuit. Didn't eat anything before the race and had no bottles on the bike. pretty funny! Wildflower is coming! I think I should have these things covered.

Looking forward to getting on the MTB this afternoon.

Hell'a weekend

This weekend was great. Tough but great. Saturday was a brick workout at Fiesta Island. Basically a 2.5 hour workout with the main set being 3 x 4 miles bike (race pace) w/1 mile race pace off the bike 2 mile recovery. The weather was crap. drizzle, wind, and crowds. I forgot there was a race that morning. TritonMan sprint tri. I love races but I was a little disappointed to have to change my routine till they cleared out. I did get to see my coach Jim emcee the raffle post-race and put some people through some classic stuff to score the swag. Killer stuff by the way. The warm up was less than ideal but my intervals were solid. Bike average wattage was solid and ran surprisingly well off the bike. Just have to be a little more patient. Still negative split each run.



interval wattage/run time:



244 Watts/ 6:34

243 Watts/ 6:40

253 Watts/ 6:24


I was feeling like I wanted to do one more. I think that's a good sign. Went home and packed to go to the mountains for Easter.

Easter Sunday I got in an epic run. Left around 8:00 am for a 1:45 zone 1-2 with some fartlek in the last 30 min. It was a little more than I bargained for. The route I chose actually took me through about 2000 vertical feet. It was a route out to the main gate then once around the lake. I knew there were hills but had only driven and rode this route. It's a LOT different on a run at
4000 feet. I spent way too much time in Zone 3 and 4. I did manage to get some surges in but I considered the hilly portions part of the fartlek as it was there in terms of HR. They were just a little early in the run. I was feeling it at 90 min's. Did not notice the altitude except on the longer hills. I wonder if there is some training benefit to a little 02 debt. I was pretty much done after this run. Managed to soak the legs in the 45 degree jacuzzi post-run which felt great. Indulged in a lottle brunch including waffles, egg frittata and potatoes. Garmin said it was a 1890 calorie run. got to refuel.

The views were awesome. I didn't see another person, just cows, turkeys, deer, and ducks. It was definitely a spiritual experience, fitting on Easter.

No bad days.

Feeling great today. kind of that heavy leg knowing that I didn't have to run or bike today great.

Yesterday I had an easy 30 min run to stretch the legs and absorb some of the hill work from tues and wednesday. I went out in my Gel Kayano's with my orthotics just to give my feet a break. Damn those shoes are heavy! As were my legs but I seemed to shake em out about 10 mins into the run. Had a good stretch session after. Yesterday afternoon we had an open water workout/body surfing session in PB. Jim takes his coaching group out for group workouts on Thursdays. This was the first one this season, but they're great. He tends to push us to do drills and workout elements a lot of us would probably blow off. I'm all up on his ear whenever I'm with Jim. He's a wealth of information and pretty much on the cutting edge as an athlete. The surf was kind of pumping. we did one warm up to the outside and in and then we pretty much raced out through the surf three more times. It was a good chance to practice surf entry, but also race pace efforts swimming through and under whitewash. I practiced siting coming in and caught a few waves all the way in. a couple double breathers. Everyone pretty much got worked at some point but were all smiles as the sun went down. Water's warming up! finally.

Today was sprint day at the pool. I went to my favorite swimming hole in Coronado. 50 meters,
multiple open lanes, right on the bay. nice pool.

Todays workout 1 hour including 500m of sprints, the rest aerobic. Here's how it went down.

WU 6x100
3x100 drills as 25 scull, 25 3/4 catch up, 25 scull etc. all with snorkel and buoy
100 kick
200 easy
3x100 sprint 1:20,1:22,1:23 on 3:00 interval
8x50 as 50 sprint (20s) all under :40, :37s best, 50 easy 3:00 interval
200 pull
200 pull n paddle
200 kick

2500m total

weights today also upper body and core. Saving my legs for something special tomorrow.
should be a good and hard weekend.

In the 'hood

Today was a really busy day. I knew getting my swim in was going to be the challenge for the day. I had a 1 hour aerobic swim and a 1 hour hilly run zones 1-4 planned. I ended up with only enough time to squeeze in the run. I'm not happy with that but it happens. I might be able to get my swim in tomorrow. I ended up having a really fun run. My coach, Jim Vance, has always said to use your resources. In this case it happens to be my neighboorhood. As i've mentioned before there are lots of hills.

I had an idea to just go out and have fun and check out the 'hood'. My plan was to warm up for about 10 mins then drop into some hills. Up one, over on the cross street then down on the next. I did this for about the middle 30-40 mins and then finished with an off road portion and then about a 200 foot climb. Total elevation gain was around 1000 ft. in about 12 different hills.

I felt really good. I think racing three weekends in a row has really got me used to some good intensity. I bounced back to a solid pace after each hilly portion. The only problem I had was the outside of my left foot started to hurt. This foot was badly crushed and I'm lucky to have it let alone run on it. I'll get into the details sometime later. It felt like it was pinching in my shoe somehow, but when I got home my wife, a Physical therapist, checked it out and thought it felt like one of the fatty pads was inflamed underneath the fifth metatarsal. I'm just gonna keep an eye and some ice on it. Today I have a 30 min run, then an open water workout with Jim and some other athletes, I love these. I'm gonna try and get an early swim in to make up for yesterday. should be a good day.

The whole length of this scar blew open during my accident.

Ahhh..hill repeats.

today was hectic. i had to take my car for service. 7:30 am. i decided to ride home from the dealers and do my workout by my house. Miramar road is absolutely gnarly. this town is getting crowded. ride home was warm up for todays bike workout of:

4 x 3 minutes to HR zone 5b.

out of the saddle on 6-8% grade.

Luckily i live on a hill about 300 ft elevation. crazy hills in all directions. This one is a classic. one we've cursed ever since i was a kid. a couple of steps and a change from probaby 4-10%. 10 at the last 45s. very little traffic.

it worked out great to be about just about 3 min. four solid efforts. felt like i could have done more. i timed it so that i could get this workout in before my weekly massage. kinda nice.

Average power for each interval was:

384 W

363

334

327

I never really got the HR up to 175 let alone 180 but those wattages are definitely in zone 5. that's the cool thing about training with power. the interval is to shart to overcome cardiac lag. instant work feedback with power meter.

One other not is that I was definitely feeling a bit of fatigue in my arms on these efforts. I'm gonna try and get in at least one strength training session per week for legs and upper body. i definitely am going to need the strength for Xterra West.

my plan was to get a swim in before heading to work. i had a one hour aerobic session planned but the masters sessions are cancelled at the JCC for holiday. i checked the ocean and it looked about as good as it gets. got in for a little 2 mile swim. about 55 mins. broken up into 5 min warm up. couple of stroke drills. 10 mins siting every 10 strokes. the way back was straight swim focus on streamline and breathing with the head down. Felt awesome after the swim and took a little veggie sandwich and spinach salad for lunch.

little lentil soup and tofu for protein.

Yesterday was a day off. Felt pretty good, not to sore from sunday. left knee was a little. acl side.

No cigar.

this morning was the carlsbad 5000. it was a good day for racing and it was also nice to have a 9:25 start.

breakfast- black coffee, toast with p-butter banana and agave syrup.
pre-race - motor tab, water and 4 vantage tabs 45mins prior to race (these seem to work
better for me cycling than running.)
1 clif shot @ 15 mins prior.

i arrived an hour early to get settled. my warm-up would take me 30 minutes so i was ready to go at 8:45. Pre race warm-up was one that i learned at Rehab-United. I do this before most runs. about 10 minutes of easy drills including some strides, skips, hip mob's, buttkickers etc. then 20 mins of light to mod running with about 4 x 20s surges to race pace. i felt okay after the warm up but didn't feel a great recoil in my stride. got a decent sweat on and stayed loose with 5 mins till start. I used this time to find a spot away from slower runners and do some breathing and visualization to prepare for the effort. it helps with anxiety. one of my favorite parts of the race is the national anthem.

two minutes into the race, some idiot cut me off, and i went down. not too hard but enough to lose some valuable seconds, momentum and focus. probably took about 5 seconds to yell at the guy, check for blood and get up, but more like 10-20s to get back up into some kind of rhythm. I tried to lay off the first mile but still split it at 6:10. my plan was to run it 6:25-6:30 then heat it up, trying to run even splits. when i saw my time i figure no need to really hammer now. hold that pace and see what happens. mile two was 12:25 still on pace. there's a lot of people suffering around me and its hard to shut it out and pretend i'm not. I was just trying to lean, breath well, and stay relaxed. At 4k, i'm saying okay 4 minute interval, don't think, just go. this is the slowest portion of the race course, and felt like it. i was atop the downhill with about 300m to go and i'm at 19:10. a little disappointed I knew i would go over 20. I figured, this is what i need to practice. finish hard. i tried to regain somekind of form before the finish where the announcer called my name. look at me i'm rubber leg man! it would have been better if i crossed at 19:58. Unofficial 20:10. 1:05 faster than '06. 5k PR. OK. Got some oranges and water then cool down for 25 min.

splits:

mile 1 6:10
3k 11:49
mile 2 12:39

4k 16:05

This cake is far from baked. Jim has laid out a great plan to try to squeeze out some more speed and more importantly get me more prepared to stay focused in the red zone. good coach.

Yesterday was an easy 2 hour ride steady at 175-200W. rode up to O-side to watch JT and James. I caught (with my camera) Andy Potts going out on the run with a 2 minute lead. game over. I wished I was racing but that always happens. the sun was out. should have been there in the swim coral where it was 50 degrees at 6:30am. wind okay, heat sucks, being cold REALLY sucks. 70.3 for sure next season. HONU or Vineman.