The SUN.

New life begins for me at the summer solstice. I'm a dead ringer for a Leo and that means a solar powered psyche. Jess and I got married the first saturday after the summer solstice, my son born just before and my birthday is on July 30,1969....summer of love. whatever. so my point is that July is for the taking. I'll be turning 39 which is nice because I'm not yet 40. That's important because I always told myself, at least since I started AG racing (and that 35-39 is the supposedly the toughest) that I would try to breakout and be ready to take advantage of my freshman status with the rest of the mid-o-lifers. It's too soon to tell if it's realistic since I'll be expectedly racing that AG starting this January. I'd like to put that out there as my intention.

My point is that July is my month and I've got some low key but firm goals for the month. We've settled into a rocky rhythm around the house, barely discernable, but at least it's not total chaos. With this varying degree of predictability and some personal sacrifices that don't include my family, I've found myself with a little time on my hands. My intention is to really get some frequency back with my workouts. I've been consistently managing two to three runs and two to three rides per week but duration and intensity have not been in the plan. But even though frequency and consistency may sound synonymous they are not. I've just been having fun, beating the stress and snacking on 50-90 minute workouts (granted the trainer duration f(x) ~ 1.5) So all in all I think its safe, in terms of preventing injury, to start throwing some intensity into a more consistent, I mean frequent schedule. I'm not really worried about endurance or aerobic training at this point, that's what Nov-Feb is mapped out for. It's for piece of mind and gives me a better shot at stabbing a sprint or fall TT in the belly fat.

Speaking of fat. I got on the scale this morning to get some metrics...168-7.1% not too flabby for being off training schedule for 3 months. I raced at 162 last year. I'd still like to see those numbers like at 155-158 @ 4-5% by spring but for now I'm shooting for 163 by the end of July (my birthday). Since the next best thing to being fit is looking fit, right? (visualize the fat ex-polo players (no-offense guys) two lanes up that are faster than hell, but still fat? yeesh) Having said that, any drop in weight will mostly be to help boost run economy, strength to weight, W/kg. It's also a pretty simple goal since the only major change in diet will be avoiding the late nite cereal(damn it's good. two types of granola over raspberry mueslix with handfull of frozen berries, vanilla protein powder and rice milk till it floats) and passing on the pasta. I'll really miss this while settling into dvr action of "le tour".


Another firm goal is to get my run tempo TT down from 25:37 to sub 24. This is a big gain but considering where my pace/training is now, I can expect that kind of bump. The tempo TT is one of Friel's run fitness tests that entails just three miles at 9-11 bpm below lowest Z5a HR(155bpm). bla bla.

The point is to pick a test that is easily repeatable and one that allows me to run faster.

There are some other good theories out there but to run at 141 bpm for 5 miles requires me to run too slow at this point(especially by mile 5), not to mention it's god awful boring. I am not a good runner and constantly need to focus on technique. At 9:15-9:30 pace, my current Z1 this is miles away from good running technique. ie lean, elbow swing, breath control, etc.

So the plan is to target the run speed now and worry about base fitness later when I'm lighter and faster. It makes perfect sense to me for all these reasons but most importantly because it's what I want to do. From time to time I'll talk about balance here, this is an attempt to try to recreate some of this for myself, now. Training plans are a ways off and this is a way to get out amongst 'em without taking anything too seriously. Finally I'll have something fun to write about, without getting into the hectic details of my other life.

Little man in da house....yo.

Hell yeah! My son, ahem.....MY SON was born on June 14 th, Saturday. Before I make this post all about him or me, I've got to give huge props out to my wife, who put in the performance of a lifetime. Talking about hitting it out of the park. She had the baby completely natural, denying the epidural and meds late in the game. I was there for the whole thing and it was rad. Raw/ Primal stuff to see. You think you know someone pretty good and they just come out of left field with some all time performance. I knew she could do it but we didn't even take those classes or anything. It all happened so fast and she just said, "I'm going for it". (Another "Hell yeah"). If you remember that cheezy simile to racing last post, I saw with my own eyes, more determination and willingness to suffer than ever before..by anybody, anytime. My hats off to her.

Here's the graph:

All Z1 aerobic HR for my boy. HR avg 138. J did the hills(contractions)

He weighed in at 8lbs 3 oz and is super healthy.

Well we're all safe back at the house and stoked to be out of the hospital, where anything can happen. I just got back from a run but it's too early to tell if I'm going to be able to balance this equation. Taking a month off of work should help to keep my priorities straight. I'm super lucky to have that option. Give thanks!

"Race Week"

" I can't beleive I ate the whole thing"

All the preparation is done. well into the taper for the big "race". J is feeling awesome and surprisingly agile for being so close to go-time. I've been spending most of my time catering to her needs lately, but have been getting in a pretty consistent schedule of workouts for the past four weeks. It's like medicine that takes the edge off my anxiety. Anxious of course, like the last at bat for a retiring baller. (the ole snip snip y'all) You want to knock it out of the park for a standing ovation. But alas it is all about her and "him". It's amazing how parallel the birth process is to an "A" race, granted the race of your life, except you have no idea where the starting line is or what time it starts. GOD just says GO! Nine months of preparation, cutting out the beer and maximizing nutrition, comes down to just a few hours of execution. Nobody knows how it will turn out and a lot will be a lot of drama out there on course. Just her doing work with me helplessly encouraging the effort. So any day now, I'm guessing early tomorrow morning, Saturday, we'll cross the finish line. Pretty weak metaphor but it's the only way I can grip my hands around such a mysterious and awesome event while trying to put myself in her shoes. We appreciate all the thoughts and prayers.


As for the training, I've never had so much fun with such informal sessions. Each run sees out of control heart rate at moderate pace. It's a relief to not worry about it. I've been averaging 1500-1750 in the pool of mostly "sprint" 100s, weak side breathing, and plenty of 60-90 minute trainer workouts (lots of standing) out of necessity of proximity. I have to say the emphasis is getting and staying stronger not necessarily fitter, that will come. Once things get settled I'll be heading into some more aerobic training but for now I want to get prepared for that phase by being as strong as possible. So, the weight room has been in full effect. Supersets on the sled are:


18 rep light warm up
90% max to failure
50% of previous weight to failure
box jumps to failure
all on no rest x 3

RI is time of one set.


I'm really digging the split cable lat pulldowns with "high elbows" for the swim strength. This will hopefully even out my weak leftside pull. (this really reveals itself during fist drills).


Have you checked out the ab-wheel for functional core strength? What appears to be a hokey infomercial product produces some insane stability and good end range resistance. It is about as close to swim pull movement as I have done for the core. (the guy in the link makes it look easy, it's not)


I've been looking for a good commuter bike. One I can lock up at the Y and work but won't make me go "(f)yuck" on the way. This would do fine.




debadge and camo paint...incognito but technically solid. sweeet!


Oh that's right the baby.
(cold sweat)

'bout time

"Everything but the blog and its story of my dormant training." This is the story of the last few weeks. having a pretty bad bout of the flu segued into a mid season off season. Interesting enough I have never not thought about training and racing for this long since I picked up the "sport" three years ago. Any attempt to take time off has been a painful process but not this time. I guess it has to do with finding myself neck deep in the nest-guarding (nest building with a decidedly masculine approach) process. With the new man just around the corner i've been clearing the decks making sure that all the short term come long term projects around the house are more or less wrapped up. (one of the pitfalls of being a married homeowner and dad) At least I've been able to stay focused on the reason for my tri-batical (my word) and gain traction in the other aspects of my life to which I am accountable. At first I became anxious about losing fitness and putting a spike in my body compostion, but two weeks of serious manual labor has served as a quasi-surrogate for an off season training schedule. Putting in 12 hour days of digging french drains, installing irrigation, hauling buckets of gravel and welding steel planters takes its toll and on the hands and back. One thing I know is that endurance athletes can run circles around laborers who are having to set stuff down and take a break. come on fellas.


Nutrition has been weak.
Living on power bars and skinny silver and blue cans has compelled me to gorge on salads when the sun goes down. That's balanced right?


I have been reading triathlete mag with a renewed cynicism, which is fun, smiling at photos of fat healstrikers running in wet cycling jerseys. Go get em Ironman. The latest edtion really got me grinning with the over the top representation of ethnicity in the swimsuit issue. Please. Let's keep it about the sport and less about fashion (and political correctness). Until the gals start racing in the g-bang save it. There are maybe a few out there who look good in tri-bike shorts but their ass is way too small to actually kill the bike. I think the problem with the mag is it tries to include all interests in the sport which dilutes the content to that of a strip bar cocktail. Too much handholding and bike photos. I don't need any more equipment, thanks. But you know what they say. Those that cannot do...critique.

Going for a run today. should be interesting. I'm going to take the garmin to do a little aerobic fitness assessment. I think this will change my approach slightly. Previously I had wanted to focus on maintaining speed and intensity. That was 4 weeks ago and when my aerobic fitness was not in question. Today not so much. I think it'll be back at Z1-2 with easy strenght training for at least 4 weeks. So time to get to it.

'bout time.

102.1

Not the new triathlon distance but my average body temperature over the last four days. Man, I've been sick. It's been very anxiety provoking laying around in bed and on the couch for that long when my schedule has been duck ass tight for the last two years. It's kind of a relief knowing that there is nothing really that can't be done later, not the case if I was still planning to do Xterra West. I'd be freaking out because I'm still really weak, not that I was superstrong a week ago. Which leads me to some post-mortem comments on the April 6th TT that needn't be exhumed.

I'll keep it brief. Basically it was a windy day with gusts to 13 from the south which is a headwind into the whole backside stretch of the course including the false flats. I knew it would be slow but at least the Ptap would help my pacing. Before my warmup I met a guy who travelled all the way from Park City to race at our little dust bowl. I pinned his number and he asked me, what are you racing, the 50's. I thought he was talking about some part of my equipment I guess, then I realized he was talking AG. I told him 30's and stuck him with a pin, twice. That'll teach him to act stupid. So I had a good warmup and was feeling okay but thought my interval sessions would pull me through because I had worked hard to improve my wattage. I was on time relaxed and ready to throw down but as I settled into the first lap my laddered split wattage started hurting me way to soon. Not what you want to have happen when you go out easy. The headwind sections really dropped the speed and required a lot of shifting. It was hard to find the sweet spot in my gearing. I told myself I had the advantage with Power reading and the rest of the field would struggle as well trying to maintain average speed through the tough spots. Still I

Graph details. check the speed variation, crazy for this flat course.

.

couldn't get the Power up to my goal. It reminded me of the feeling I had at Wildflower last year, where I just couldn't get it going. I basically just held on and tried to not blow up. I knew I wouldn't make it sub 30:00 at about 200m to go so I kind of let up and cruised in at 30:16. Not that it really matters but the guy in front of me went 30:15, doh, lesson learned. Just frustrated was all. It was a rough day, but good training and another start. I went for a 30 minute run right off the bike to prep for the Pine Valley DU. Probably a good idea to do that since it had been a while. It felt surprisingly good. I don't have much of an explanation for the decreased performance except that maybe my aerobic fitness has decreased with less total training hours.

Well this leads me to my prognosis. I'm probably not going to race this Saturday after all. I want to slowly get back to some activity tomorrow and hopefully rebuild some fitness to start the Road Race in May. Getting another start with the CAT 5's would be nice.

Smuggling fitness.

In truth are the rhythms of life, ups and downs, ins and outs. Keep moving forward with resolute intentions and "progress" shall be made (I tell myself). The past few weeks have been good for me, streaming with self discovery and elective workouts. The punched in the stomach feeling like I had somehow let myself down re last post, has been replaced with excitement surrounding a more low profile approach, trying to smuggle as much fitness as I can.

It involves a reduced volume/ high intensity training plan and a small handful of short duration. I spoke to Jim at some length about executing a 6-8 hour/ week TP and some general guidelines surrounding fitness maintenance that might allow stabbing at a race with 3-4 weeks notice. It looks like this.

6 day training week 3 week microcycle (sport focus) within a 6 week block:
.
3_2_1
.
3 days focus sport (2 interval, 1 long)
.
2 "on-deck" sport (1 interval, 1 long)
.
1 day (interval)
.
*plus all the strength training I can fit in.

It sometimes sounds like a cockamamey scheme, but it should work.
I'm going to try to make as many of the workouts with a group to help with motivation and fun factor. The best part of this type of plan is that it's "sustainable"(buzz).
.
Training has been mostly about having fun, and yes Vo2 max intervals are fun, with plenty of cycling and undocumented runs. I've been averaging over 100 miles on the bike for the past two weeks and I'm feeling strong and fresh. I got out on the MTB with the kid on Sunday and built on some local knowledge in Penasquitos Canyon.

On the radar.

Time trialing again this sunday. I don't know what it is about these races, but I've always been a speed junky, techno weenie, and suffering on the bike. They are really well run with good fans and a low key atmosphere. My start time is late, which is good for my warmup style. It'd be nice to lay down another PR, but I'm mainly looking for the data for the next 4 weeks of training.


ready to blow.

Keeping with the cycling focus I'll be heading up to the TCSD Pine Valley Duathlon on the 20th.
This race features a killer climb that I know pretty well with a less attractive two lap hill run. It's draft legal on the bike and want to implement some strong strategy to work with a lead group and establish a good gap then motor the descent into transition.

PV DU profile

Then on May 4th taking to the bike once again in the San Luis Rey Road Race. I'm really looking forward to this race having learned alot from BLVD. I will be bringing more bike fitness and a go for it attitude.

I've got one more card to play but will talk about that later.

The leprachaun stole my mojo.

St. patty's 10k has come and gone and the parade passed me by. DNS. I had overcome some doubt (regarding my fitness) and was willing to put it all on the line for the sake of doing just that. Mentally prepared with my motivation identified, I went to sleep with cautious optomism. It didn't seem to matter because my daughter's mind was apparently made up that she wanted to see her daddy first thing in the morning. Not at 8:10 in the morning coming down the finish chute, but more like 4-5 times between the hours of 1:30 and 5:00am. I punched my alarm clock when it finally went off at 5:30. I think only Tony Robbins could have got me out of bed. In hindsight I could have slogged to the starting line, but I would have most likely sat in yawning and ran a 45 minute 10k. I died my hair green instead.


I can't take racing seriously anymore. There are too many variables that require the flexibility of gumby. If it happens, great, if not, I get pissed...I mean no big deal.

My current training is liveable and still manage to get in 6-8 hours depending on the long ride.
I have been cutting out some swimming but getting in enough to maintain some feel.

The challenge for me going forward is to develop a training style that will service my current level of fitness. I will probably consult with Jim on this one to make the best use of my time, but
one theory I was considering is a rotating focus on all three sports. I want to be fit enough to bang out a club race, Aquathlon, or Road Race with just a little notice. Parts of me want to just focus on the bike, another tells me, "hey focus on swimming, what's not to love about that." I think it'll end up something like:

6 day training week. (2 week cycle)
3-4 days/week focus sport
2-3 day mix of non focus including strength or pilates

The question is what kind of intensity should these sessions be?

What I don't want to do is just vamp everytime I head out the door.

Another thing I really need to focus on is diet. Not in terms of quality, but quantity. There is a huge difference between fueling a 12-15 hour training week and 6-8. I don't need to explain what happens if I don't recognize this elementary fact. Carrying any extra weight is understatedly counterproductive. It'll be challenging fighting off the instinct to feed.

I must admit I totally miss the excitement of moving my fitness forward enjoying the fruits of a breakthrough workout. To any readers out there living the life, seize the day, your are truly fortunate.

My hair's not green.

F.I.T.T.

The bitter pill has gone down and now the sugar. Results of the Fiesta Island TT yesterday yield yet another PR on the bike, which is nice. I went 29:34/25.22 mph a couple of well earned ticks up the road from last September where I went 29:48/25.02. It was a surprise because I've only been training with that level of intensity for 2 weeks. Credit solid base and strength training. What is more surprising is that I rode "blind" for the last 20 minutes. That is, my P-tap blacked out after 9 minutes and had nothing to judge the effort but my gut. No power, no HR, no cadence. (It'd be nice to have power/HR data but I think I can interpolate from first 9 minutes @ ~275W avg) Funny thing is it was almost perfectly paced. First two laps were within seconds and last was the fastest by 5 seconds, luckily I had a watch. Even though there is something kind of cool about that, It think I probably left something on the course, as a result. Even though getting wattage feedback limit you, it can conversely force you to reach beyond current average wattage without over-reaching and blowing up. It also let's you know when your unknowingly letting up.

almost one full lap to interpolate avg watts~275.


looking "comfortable" relaxed and aero.

The day had a rough start with the time change robbing an extra hour of sleep. I was lagging and only warmed up for 35-40 minutes. I intended to get in 60 minutes with some time to stretch.

Warmups freak me out because during the first 10-15 minutes, 200 Watts(Z2) feels like race pace, and I'm like how the hell am I going to push 80 more watts for 30 minutes. (it makes me nervous everytime) Patience and experience are the only salvation. As soon as I start sweating it starts to get easier. It takes me a while to thaw out and could have used an additional 25 minutes, but had to boogey, pump and piss to get to the start house with 30 seconds to go. That was good and bad. Good because I was still pretty hot off the trainer and the sprint to the start house. It also kept the nerves from settling in. Conversely the race basically started from the bathroom and didn't have time to collect myself mentally and breathe.

It's always a learning experience. I threw on the 11-23 cassette for the first time in a race. I pulled the 808 off the wall and I went back and forth knowing that the 12-25 works from experience but wanted more gears in the power zone. I think in the end I ended up pushing a bigger gear and was happy with the choice. (It did make me a little nervous if the wind happened to be in my face on some of the rolling/false flats, having to shift to the 39 to avoid excess cross chain friction in the 53-21/23 config.)

I also was happy with my ability to stay relaxed throughout the whole effort. Normally I start shifting in the saddle and gears when I start hurting but I settled in and focused on my motivation and pedal stroke without letting my mind drift into the pain too much. Looking at most of the race photos, my face is relaxed and position stayed pretty aero.

It was a good day and know I can go lower. I'd like to see a time in the 28's if I have a go in April.

St. Patty's 10k is this Saturday. I'm going to have to focus on flexibility, recovery and eating especially "clean" this week.

No blood from a turnip.

It's amazing how much my life is growing in all directions right now. I'm expecting a son in June, my daughter is developing at seemingly supernatural rates, my work is finding fresh pressure with the development of a new business model, all along with some solid investment endeavors. Pretty dynamic stuff that leaves me very little time and energy for the one thing (disciplined training) that waters this victory garden that is my life. Pretty gnarly paradox. How this relates to my training is fairly simple. My training is full of compromises. Not only in quantity but also quality. Though life is full of compromises it is not a place that I am comfortable.


This is where I'm headed. The month of March is my last month of focused training at the current level. I've made arrangements to take time off from being a coached athlete. My racing goals reach no further than the next 30 days. This is not to say I won't toe the line after that, I just don't have the time and energy capacity right now to meet my previous expectations. It's a pretty shitty feeling pulling away from your well intentended goals, but what I have to realize is that you can't keep doing the same thing when it's not working and expect a different result. There is no more blood. Adaptation is key and for me that is a more fluid approach to my fitness and racing goals. I've been afraid to make such a hasty decision and that's why I've allowed a grace period allowing time for some reevaluation. I can still have an omelette instead of waffles. Of course, I've discussed this at some length with Jim. He was kind enough to empathize but more importantly shared how difficult this sport can be off the course, especially when loved ones are involved. In such an introverted sport I think we rarely share the flares, just crashes and PR's. Honesty is righteous.

My life may not change at all but it is the perception of pursuing a life that is balanced, perhaps not so narrowly focused (as it can become) that will promote my personal success. Back off, reevaluate and hammer when the time is right.

I've still got a full month ahead of training and racing. Sunday is a 20k TT and the following weekend is St. Pattys 10k. My plan is to stay focused on the bike and run but still try to get in two swims a week. Swimming will begrudgingly be the first to go. I'm also going to go into the races a little more rested to try to make a point and take full advantage of my current fitness. God forbid I nail some PR's and it lights a fire in my belly. I can deal with that....later.

The state of my training at this point is actually not as bad as it appears. I've had two weeks of some anaerobic endurance and LT work, same hours as base phase just harder, a lot harder.
5x3 mins sub 5k and 5x3 min at max sustainable wattage have been taxing me down big time. Not to mention a shocking 90 minute tempo run. I welcome the efforts, but just not recovering that well with added stress and lack of sleep. I did have a hard and fun MTB ride on sunday and smashed a record climb on Black Mountain twice, within 10 seconds of each other, which is nice. Local weather has been keeping me on the roads and on the trainer so getting outside away from cars was a premium. I want to spend more time on the Epic.

Weather/ME=R+R

I'm breathing much easier now. A mild cold played tag with my emotions all week. I ended up coming down with something on Tuesday. Go figure combining emotional and physical stress along with some air travel and lack of sleep last week. And not to mention some honey kisses from my little germinator. Consider it a toll to pay on the long bridge that is my Annual Training Plan. Damage control reports very little as I was still able to get in 6.25 hours of training, with two full days off. I was basically waiting for the bomb to go off and it fortunately was more like a sparkler that just sort of fizzled. That's the Cod Liver Oil and knowing when to "not go" that helped a ton. I have high hopes as I'm feeling alright after tackling a long run yesterday.

.

I was able to get in:

2 runs

1 swim

2 rides

2 strength sessions

.

Monday.

Strength+Run(treadmill)
started feeling sick.

Tuesday.

Swim.

Felt okay to swim but definitely worse by afternoon, bagged a tough run.

Wednesday.

Trainer.

Still sick but not completely out of commission. Trainer was the smartest option to keep moving.

60 min. steady @ 200W.

Thurdsay.

Off. A few strength moves that night.

Felt a little worse in the lungs. Conservative play was to chill and see if that helped.

Friday.

Off.

Same. Okay do nothing, damn.

Saturday.

90 min trainer. felt better, but didn't want a setback but did get a full 60 min at Tempo~220W.

Sunday.

Extreme chilling at Estancia Hotel and Spa. (see details) Felt awesome in the afternoon and took off for my long run of 90 min. I was willing to cut it short but felt great and moved on. I basically had a taper week, so to feel that good despite being sick was nice to enjoy.

R+R weekend.

pretty much the nutshell. I like to nutshell.

It was Jess' birthday and Valentines day weekend combined so we dropped off the little 'choo at grandma's and headed up to the Estancia Hotel in La Jolla. It was all about decompression as we had no plans but to get some good rest and then enjoy the spa on Sunday. That place is amazing.

Beautiful grounds, nice pool, secluded and close. I got a killer 80 min rub in the morning and spent the next couple hours in the eucalytpus steam, stretching and kicking it in and by the pool with beautiful weather.

poser.

The toes knows.

This week is looking up. Rested with some good energy levels and great DVR action with the Amgen Tour of California. I love watching cycling on Versus. Classic commentary+ visuals to remind me that there is some world class riding in the golden state that needs to be done. Nothing makes me chron to ride like watching Pro Cycling. It's weird because I can watch marathons but don't necessarily want to run one. go figure.

Bizarro Weak.

Thank GOD its monday. I guess Monday is officially the start of a new week. Time to go shopping, set out the schedule and renew weekly goals and motivation. I got back from PHX yesterday spending the weekend with Jess' family. They are truly Mexican-American, meaning they have been here before the border moved. It's refreshing and exhausting spending time with them. It's all about family(refreshing) and food(exhausting) when we go out there. Enough beans and tortillas to levitate an airship. It's interesting to recognize how marginalized this lifestyle has become. One that revolves so tightly around staying healthy. Quality nutrition appears to be an eccentric quirk. 10-15 hours of training per week is enough for a month. For an instant it's embarrassing like exposing a repressed fetish. But alas validation is often times achieved through understanding and communication. Alot are both intrigued and confused by those who don't drink, consume something that is not "tasty", go for a workout when tired, not to mention monitoring heart rate. To most...beating good, not beating bad. I am happy to be a missionary of lifestyle without a stump. It is truly a noble endeavor. Having said that I must admit I have been really tired. Sleep has been at ration proportion all week and I'm feeling it. Ever since last Satuday I've been getting between 4 and 7 hours at questionable fault of my own. Its mostly the X factor of having a toddler in the house. She sleeps, we sleep, if not, nobody sleeps. It's a trip how sleep or lack of affects my mind. I may have brief episodes, encountering cryptic revelations and perceptions, coincided with memory loss, clumsiness and absent congeniality.

I had high expections for the week and was probably a little naive at how much Saturday's race had taken out of me. (For the record I finished 25th of 50 starters and 47 finishers. MOP for sure but I was both conservative and new. With BT numbers, I'm satisfied with the results.) The ensuing training week was tainted by fatigue/ lack of sleep and some confusing and frustrating training sessions.

Monday.

Five hours interrupted sleep. Beat, but dragged myself to the gym for some strength training with lots of rest interval. "Dready" for 30 min. immediately following trying to ride any leftover adrenaline.

Tuesday.

normal sleep 8.5 hrs.

3100m in the pool including 1600 at Tpace+5s(8x200) MS. Big swim for me so far. But I continue to swim well following strength sessions, strange but true. One wierd thing happened. I got really disoriented after pushing off the wall on last 50 of last 3 200's. I think a combination of being fatigued and CO2 accumulation, nonetheless swam well. I wanted to run right after to stay motivated but I was tired and used some drivetime to recover a little.

I had a choice to run 40 mins mellow but couldn't fight off leaning into a mostly Z3 run at Fiesta Island.

Wednesday. (this is where it gets weird)

Long ride. with 2 hours steady at 146-150 bpm(tempo). 3 hours total.

I warmed up for a good 30-40 mins. It normally takes longer for me to warm up but HR was extremely sluggish. I was pushing Z5a wattage with Z2 HR. I finally started my test when HR hit 145 but still had to keep it above 290 watts or HR would drop! As a point of reference my best 20k TT is 29:54 at 265 watts. I rode for 60 minutes like this and averaged 287 watts.

WoW.

My legs were tired but not an all out effort at all. Just didn't know if I could ride 120 minutes at that PE. I was really confused and didn't want to trash my legs on bogus numbers so I stopped to Zero torque. I must of pushed the wrong buttons and ended up resetting my display to only HR and wattage stopped recording. At this point I was ready to throw my bike. No power, no test. Not to waste my time, I was sick of clicking laps at the island and finished off 3 hrs on the road. I was shocked to review the data. It was like the bermuda triangle of training. Super adaptation or technical glitch. Time will tell when we try to repeat the effort again this week.

Thursday.

Swim. 2700m. tired again. This time I had to really push through 1800m @ Tpace (4x300/4x150).

I had another episode of strange feeling on the last 50s and took a little extra on the RI on the last 300 to be safe. Not that anaerobic sensation, just dizzy. I was torched after this swim and rested over the gutter for a good 10 mins before leaving the water. I took maximum recovery and strolled through a strength session that night at home focusing on legs core and a lot of stretching and T-balling.

Friday.

Up early (5am) after packing for our weekend to get 60 min's on the trainer. That S.O.B. is incredibly uncomfortable at that hour. Still my "hill" efforts were focused and strong making the previous CP60 a little more credulous.

Cranky traveler man hit the tarmac running upon arriving in PHX for a 30 min session of strides. I was tired, in need of an attitude adjustment, still cranky. The topper was sleeping in a postage stamp bed with Jess and eventually my baby (2am) who insisted on not sleeping until 5am. With a full house I searched in vain for a couch, opted for the floor, the bed, the floor.....hilarious in hindsight.

Saturday.

Morning couldn't come soon enough to try to shake off the night with caffeine. I had an exciting day planned. I headed up to Saguaro Lake,

can't wait to race here!

to run the course for AZ extreme. A thirty minute drive seemed worth it to get out of the house for a long run in the beautiful weather and desert hills. I was greeted by this sign.

I guess you gotta know before you go. Not even a drop box. Weak!

So close to getting down.

At it's best.

In a true test of patience I was so close to my "querencia", yet unwilling to pay a $50 dollar ticket and returned to base in a flurry of mixed emotions. I didn't say a word and hit the "canal"

Beautiful but polluted, smelled like laundry soap.

to get in 70 of 80 minutes of a seemingly punishing run. It was easy, hard, then got harder. HR rose and pace slowed, legs heavy and heart heavier. Shook it off with a PowerBar and a Burrito.

(I swear the only thing in the house).

Sunday.

Rest day. This is the first day off in at least 4 weeks. I got good sleep but was willing to pay my mortgage to be able to "hyperspace" back home. My bed felt like a field covered in velvet and clouds. My daughter slept through the night despite coming down with a cold, (thank you) and I'm relatively recharged and thankful to be able to share my experience. I know I'm not the only one who can hang on to a lifestyle that provides so much satisfaction on a shoestring percentage.

So much hard work to approach the intangible. But when disappointment is relative, Life is good. Praises.

"Where The Hell Is Boulevard?"

Saw this on a bumper sticker on the way up to the road race on Saturday. I've got to say it was a really good time. Definitely happy I stuck with it, showed up and raced hard even though there were about a million excuses I was coming up with to not go. I suppose some apprehension was understandable given I had never raced that style before and had no idea what to expect and also no strategic experience except from watching Versus. Doing is a lot harder than watching, but you got to start somewhere.

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My race preparation started on Friday, finetuning my ride with some quick and easy equipment upgrades. I headed up to B+L to pick up some Ultra lite tubes and tires. I threw them on my Velocity Aeroheads and was stoked to have some kind of weight advantage since I wasn't going to ride my ZIPP combo 404/808. It took much longer than expected and missed out on the talk with Conrad Stoltz. I just had to make sure my bike was safe and race ready. I still had to see the mechanic on race morning.

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I woke up to clear skies and no wind and headed east to watch the weather deteriorate. Driving up into the only clouds in the sky. It was 37 degrees, light breeze but cloudy which gave little chance for warming. At least everybody was freezing while fumbling through paperwork at check-in.

Loving the weather.

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My warmup was cut short to 25 minutes after I found a loose rear hub. Got it fixed and just made the rollout at 9:40. It had warmed to maybe 43 degrees by then but I was stoked to have a good choice of technical gear. I was towards the back (because I was late) but soon found myself in the back of the pack, like no one behind me. Knowing that wasn't good I made my way carefully about a third of the way up during the first descent. There were some sketchy riders, sure, but the highlight was when some cracksmoker hillbilly jumped in the middle of the road and started waving his arms trying to hit people off their bikes. The field skidded to a stop and I got a look in the iceman's eyes. SCARY! He looke like a zombie staggering around flailing his arms. We continuted with the descent and it was a lot mellower than I expected with the pacesetters taking it easy. Just a few more dogs down the road. There were some accelerations after turning uphill into some rollers. I was in a bad spot to stay with the lead group. I had to pick my way through the dropped riders trying not to do too much work on my own. I was starting to hurt and hadn't made it to the main six mile climb. Luckily the wind was at our backs on the climb and I could settle into a rhythm without worrying too much about sucking any wheels. My steady state training helped me to pass quite a few riders on the first climb and I was feeling strong.

First climb. 39 minutes.
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As we reached the summit I tried to get some guys to work with me but they were already crushed so I headed into the second descent solo. (Luckily the abominable ICEMAN was gone. serioulsy he looked like the cavemen from GEICO) Not good because at this point because the wind was in my face and had to pedal hard at least 3/4 of the way down the descent. I kept looking back, no one. Finally two larger blokes working together pull past me yelling to grab on. Sure guys. I heated it up and caught the wheel and relaxed for a little bit. We were soon going back up hill and I said goodbye and thank you. I bridged some gaps through the rollers but was mostly working solo through some carnage. Finally on the last climb I passed about 5 riders. With 2 k to go a guy in my race caught my wheel. I could hear him breathing hard so I slowed slightly and let him take an extended turn at the front. sucker. I was planning something and tried to remember the longest all out sprints that I've done in training, hmm about a minute. He pulled me to about 500m then I put a decisive move on him. I looked back at 100m and had put a serious gap on the guy and cruised across the hilltop finish. That was fun. I didn't pull too many gimmicks and probably didn't race too smart from the start but at least I was able to try some strategies and they worked.

Second climb.

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All in all the weather turned out to be a non factor having to take off my gloves and armwarmers on the final climb. I don't know how I ended up at this point it'd be nice to be top half of 50. I recovered a bit spinning back to the start area and put on dry clothes and my running shoes for a 20 min slow run. I was dead tired and glad I had a safe race.

Glad to be done. At least my feet were warm.

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I posted some really good numbers for being this early in the training and having spent very little time in the hills. One thing I didn't take advantage of was bringing more calories on the bike. I took in 300 calories 30 mins till start and only took in 200 liquid on the bike. I could be taking in at least 200 more calories. I just wasn't sure what there was time and room for. A Gel flask would work well.

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The rest of the training from the week was full of ups and downs mostly fighting my schedule with computer problems at work on Wednesday. I had to shift some stuff around but only missed one run and had to move a ride into a strength training spot. All my swims were great even after some hard strength work on Monday. I'm swimming my Tpace at around 1:38-1:40/100m on the same PE, which is nice. I should probably test again soon too make sure I'm not going too hard. Just nice to see some improvement in that zone after a blown test set last weekend.
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Of other news we found out Friday that we're going to have a BOY this time around. I couldn't be more stoked to have a little T. Freddy, to share everything that guys do. Everything looks good and things are shaping up well. Life is Good!

Weekend bumps.

Happy to have the weekend behind me. As I mentioned it was all about getting some good fitness testing in. It didn't go that smoothly. Saturday at least we had a break in the weather.

I set out to get in my swim test on Saturday. I really wanted to get in a 50 m pool as that is my standard at this point and I find it "easier" and more accurate to do one turn per 100m. given that my turns still are pretty weak and its just down and back. I was forced to go to the Y and the pool was wedged. I guess the first sunny day and weekend combined. Masters had 5 lanes and the rest were all over the map with at least 2 per lane. I pulled the cord and decided to wait until Monday to get it in. I did but will talk about that later. Off to the track at PL college to get in a 3 mile tempo TT.

3 mile tempo test.

The protocol was to warm up to 155 bpm and then 3 miles at 155-157 bpm checking correlating

pace. I made the mistake of stopping briefly before the test. It took about 400-800m for HR to catch up and started too fast as a result. I also took HR too far towards the upper limits and ended up with 158 avg. Every time I tried to relax I sped up and HR creeped as a result.

DATA:

3 mile

HR max: 162

HR avg: 157

Avg. Pace: 7:36

last 2.5 miles where min HR gets to 155.

HR max: 161

HR avg: 158

Avg Pace: 7:46

I think the last 2.5 miles is a pretty good portayal of where I'm at. Not a perfect test but at least it was easy and should be an easy test to repeat. Not true for the other two.

Sunday had its own challenges. The rain. It poured all night and my 20 min test on the climb up Black Mountain was out. It may have been rideable but most likely really soft and slow. Not a good baseline. I talked to Jim about it and he said a 1:30 trainer ride would do with a solid 20 min section. Fine. But I construed that comment into a 20 min TT which would give some good data. Here's the ride.

Happy about figuring out how to get the graphs up. Here's two looks from PowerAgent and WKO.

I did my standard 40 min warm up then hit it. Its been a while so I divided the test into three sections which helped mentally. Ease into the effort steady 7min, shift up 7 min, then hang on (or try to). It was brutal! made worse by the lack of motion but begrudgingly repeatable. Knowing that I would post the data kept me going. Accountability. I was pretty happy with the numbers since I haven't seen ANY intensity on the bike for the last 6-8 weeks. Did I mention it hurt? Here's the numbers:

20 minutes/306kj

Power: 181 min. 306 max. 255 avg.

HR: 93 min. 175 max. 158 avg.

I was stoked to see that number as my best is 275 after a lot of cycle specific training last september. This time its been all base. Good News. Plus I think the drainer accounts for at least a 10 watt decrease in recorded wattage. Why? dunno, it just appears that way over time.

Now for the ugly. Todays swim test. I was feeling pretty fresh and headed to the 'Nado pool. I warmed up well doing 2x200. 1 easy 1 build then 1x100~Tpace. The repeats were all out on 10s and this is how they went.

1:24, 1:27, 1:33, 1:35, 1:40, 1:43, 1:47, 1:48. I stopped the test at 8 seeing there was a 24 second differential between the first and last. 4-8 were pure survival. My stroke was breaking down and was pointless to continue. I did take a 60 s rest and did 1:35 and 1:37 on the last two just to complete the workout. It's pretty apparent this is the weak part in my swim. I would have been surprised if it went any better but I was still bummed out and smoked. Like the bike all the swims have been sub-threshold let alone at Zone 5. Still a baseline but brings up feelings of dread when it comes to doing this test again.

I finished up the day with a solid strenth training session. Upping the weight and seeing some solid leg strength gains. ~15-20% on the sled.

The rest of the week looks great getting into some T-pace, good fun. Friday night Conrad Stoltz is coming to B+L San Diego. I'm stoked to have him come to our local store rather than Solana Beach where traffic makes it almost prohibitive to get there by 6pm. Also is the BLVD race. The weather report does not look good but as long as its not raining (or snowing) I'm in. Wind, cold, no problem. I'm just not getting in that pack with no brakes, let alone the misery of being cold AND wet.

Duty Calls.

Yep you guessed it. I have the honor to serve my country and community in jury duty. epic.

Time to catch up on some training talk. I started out this week I normally do with a goal of completing all the workouts as planned with 100% committment and focus. I'm sitting in the jury "lounge" wondering how this week is going to turn out. I have swim and strength training scheduled for sometime today and going over possible scenarios on how to make it happen when so much of the rest of the day/week is unknown. It's always a struggle when you have to balance effective time management with patience and flexibility, but this is the general subtitle of the blog, balancing it all, when it's always out of balance. Never 50/50 more like 60/40. I guess it resembles balance when I'm safe at home with my family, putting my daughter to bed, healthy and positive with at least 90% of my training hours under my belt. Whole.

So far this week has been great hitting all the workouts, with good energy and motivated. I can't tell how many times in the past getting to or starting a workout requires more internal energy and strength than actually completing the workout. I've taught myself to stop thinking and just react. It's become critical to turn this on like a switch when so much of my work requires me to think critically understanding all the objectives, analysis and decision making that promotes good design.

Monday.

Strength training. 1:15

Still in AA phase strength. this is the second week in a row where there have been no scheduled rest days. Mondays have traditionally done that job. Hanging in there surprisingly well.

Tuesday.

short swim. :30

20 minute straight swim MS felt awesome. Surprisingly I'm swimming very well despite being sore while on the deck. I suppose swimming can be somewhat therapeutic in the sense that the muscles are being constantly elongated and the water acts as some kind of circulatory massage. Easily swam 1100m w/ 20-21 S/50m one arm consistent even as pace was building.

run. :40 zone 1

straight after the swim HR was a little higher than normal 9:15 pace HR 141. running on soft surface definitely slows the pace down also.

Wednesday.

strides. :40

Hit 30 cycles in :18 and 3:45 pace max. progress.

drills and skips

trainer. 1:00

Z1-2 with some pedalling drills. PE relatively low.

It's now 11:30 and still haven't been called. getting really tired sitting around. fighting off the urge to 'buck up with a coffee. Newton was right about a body at rest.

The rest of the week looks really exciting with some field testing coming up on saturday and sunday. Saturday I'll head to the pool and do 10x100's and then a tempo HR test at the track after some good recovery. sunday is a 20 min climb TT that I'll do on the MTB. weather has been an issue but i think that Black Mountain will still be okay if it's wet. Good drainage and traction unless it's pouring. Wait and see. This will be the first bout of intensity in some time, at least I'll be a little more rested with after a lighter week. It'll be nice to get in some suffering on the bike in preparation for BLVD.

...........................................................................................................................................................................

Back from "lunch break". Found out we had a two hour lunch and bolted to the pool. Stoked to just barely get in my :50 workout this early in the day. I hate swimming in the late afternoon.

This session was good and necessary as I'm not used to sitting around for that long. I swam 3 rounds of 4x50's. counting the strokes plus time I swam them all at or close to 85 I think two 83's and a couple 84's. Stroke count was identical at 40 each time. Pace was well under T pace? but felt pretty comfortable and consistent throughout. It just felt good.

That's about it for now, just got to get prepared for the weekends bouts as it should take a lot out of me mentally, not to mention carving out the timeslots but that's usually the same story every weekend. Mahalo.

What I remember.

No apologies from the world's lagging-est poster. Training has been keeping me staggeringly busy along with the world that is my other life. Training has bumped up to 15 hours a week and really has been more like 25 when you count all the management, negotiation, drive time, clean up, wash down etc. I digress.

Workouts are actually going well even though there has been some selective substitutions from the schedule. This happened this week by simply moving a ride from a three sport wednesday to thursday, bumping a gym session for a home strength session. It adds a bit of fluidity to the schedule at the expense of rigor. Just important to keep everything moving forward without getting too stressed out if something unespected comes up and a workout is not feasible.

Still in the depths of base training there is little excitement as Z1 runs and slow bikerides do little to float my boat and fitness gains at this point are subliminal. Sometimes the existentialist in me finds deep meaning in these lackluster efforts but lofty thoughts are soon replaced by clockwatching.

Sunday was some exception.

Hilly run/ 60 min./ Z1-2_Z2-3 on hills

The run started hard. I was tired. Z3 felt like race pace. I lacked perspective and wanted performance. I started to get into some negative thoughts, like how training has left me slow. I fought it off and stayed positive and counted the days until Temecula,119 to be exact, and decided to be patient. About 3 miles into the run I felt some PE breakthrough and started clicking some sub 8 min miles at 148 bpm (solid Z2). Finished with:

7.24 mi@ 8:14 avg pace w/ HR 153 avg. repectable.

Saturday had great promise

as I was looking forward to getting in 4 hours preriding the RR course in Boulevard with JW. First of all Boulevard is DEEP. 75 minute drive time. Always up for an adventure with some good times and fair amount of suffering, I was psyched. My anticipation was even higher since most of my riding has been out and back from the house or on the trainer, pretty boring. Santa Ana conditions were supposed to be dying down so I was more worried about the cold. Halfway there I was getting blown all over the road. James was plenty aware of the situation and we just charged it. I brought all the cold weather gear but forgot one thing in the car.

we did one lap (22 miles in 1:30) as it was too dangerous and just plain sucked with gusts to 40 mph. The shoulder was beat up pretty bad and wind was blowing us around into the lane. The first lap was brutal with almost all the climbing into the wind. Standing made it twice as bad but was necessary to keep from stopping. Once again Z3 wattage felt really hard and was tough to get into a rhythm and develop some momentum. Did I mention the wind? I was probably up for one more lap but James was justified in calling it off. No way was I going solo. I was beat when I got home and considered going back out to ride but dragged my ass onto the

RACK

to get in another 90 min.'s as my hourglass was running low and it was the best use of my time. I was done with another hour and a half with some steady Z2 and peaks in short efforts in Z3.

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The rest of the week was a repeat of the previous week with planned volume up to 15 hours from 13. Two rides, 5 runs, 4 swims, and 2 strength sessions.

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The swimming continues to progress but can still feel my stroke shorten up on the left side when I get tired. Still I'm guessing my TPace is down from 1:47/100m to 1:40-1:42 based on PE on 400m set last week. My goal is to get it down to mid 1:30's by April. I might do some filming this week if time permits.

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Bring on some tempo!

Catching up.

The last week of training was great. It was a relatively light week at only 8 hours (8:45 planned I'll explain in a bit) and focused on aerobic development in all three sports, strength training core strength and swim skills/technique. This week has been pretty much the same but with a little more volume in the 13 hour range. It has taken me a little while to get in the groove of absorbing some significant strength training in the context of a six day training week (7 days this week).

Since so much time seems to go by between posts it's pointless to review each workout but will give just an overview of my challenges and successes as they relate to each discipline.

Swim.
I can't say enough about my impovement in the water. Some simple changes have allowed me to feel greater balance, length and relaxation in the water. This has been especially important during longer aerobic swims which allows me to focus on stroke rather than burning lungs.
Swimming in truly aerobic zones has been a challenge in the past. I notice that strength training has really helped out my swim as well. It seems like I'm able to produce a lot more power during the pull phase without fatiguing any earlier, even showing up a little sore. The swimming has been very mixed with long swims up to 35 minute and some shorter 30x25 sets all technically oriented. stoked because I know the speed will come with fitness and tuning but I'm at least a lot more comfortable in the water.

Bike.
Old friend. We've been spending a lot of time on the trainer, especially last Saturday. My longest trainer session ever at 2:00 hrs. I've heard rumors of guys going 4 hours. Nuts. It was the rainiest weekend since march 07. The ride was supposed to be 2:30 but couldn't take it any longer, hence the missing time from weekly plan. It's not that fatigue sets in, though it does a little, its just that my ass starts killing, despite a double butter up on the best chamois I've found. On the road it's like 4 hours to get to that point, on the trainer 1:30. I still swear by the trainer for safety(night rides) . focus. pedal stroke and consistency. I still haven't figured out why 175W feels like 200W on the road but I'm able to get in some steady zone riding and monitor HR vs. Watts. I did miss a 1:30 session this week but that's the breaks. At least it's not my limiter. 3 hour ride on tap tomorrow.

Some cool news here also. I'm having a crack at a road race on Feb 2 in Boulevard, CA. Jim gave me the heads up on this one. James and Jim are both in so at least there will be a couple familiar faces out there. It's on. 45 miles (2 laps) either going up or going down. should be fun since I've wanted to get into my first legit cycling race for a while now. Should be a huge learning experience. Dunno if I'm going to do the mission trails 15k on sunday like some locos. Hopefully all the base and weight training will translate into Watts on race day, but a solid workout nonetheless.

Run.
Coming along. Strength training has left my hamstrings and quads a little sore for most runs but at least the Z1 only runs have been relatively easy. Yesterday was a 50 min run with the last 45 mins at 8:55 pace w/avg HR at 137. Thats down from ~9:00-9:15 for runs less than 60 min. for zone 1. so that's nice. Trusting the training and resisting the temptation to lean too far into these shorter runs.

Strength.
This is the secret weapon for the season (and disciplined aerobic base training). I've dabbled in seasons prior but mostly with pilates and a little circuit training. I've got a periodized plan from Jim and am going to stick to it as well as possible. Like I mentioned I'm already feeling some greater resilience on the run as well as swimming much easier. I've added some shoulder stuff to the plan just to keep em injury free but the leg and core will be key as the training progresses.
I've been weighing in at 166 which is 2 pounds heavy but I figure that's inevitable with some increased muscle and temporary inlamation and fluid retention as the nutrition has been going well. speaking of. My gym just got these new stationary bikes that I ride to warm up and cool down are killer Keiser.com. Fully adjustable magnetic trainer with power Hr and cadence. Comfortable with a nice flyweel. Pretty happy about the upgrade from the LifeCycle.

Nutrition.
This aspect has never been too much of a challenge. I've added a few new concepts as there is always room for improvement. More natural protein from fish and chicken. I used to be a quasi-veg with some scoops of egg white protein., but now I'm getting in more healthy natural protein everyday. Still a little heavy on the grains/pasta but mostly timed post workout. Like granola concoction will full scoop of JayRobb berries and banana. Yams are big. Steamed veggies. (what my daughter eats) and spinach salad. Healthy fats are in with a great supply of boutique olive oils that came in over Christmas. Here's the shocker. CLO. Cod Liver Oil. Two teaspoons a day working as an anti inflamatory, bolstering immunity and stabilizing mood health for cranky athletes and Lord knows what else. I definitely feel less cracks snaps and pops and am sleeping better. Loaded with DHA and EPA this stuff is the shit. Just don't take it before a workout. Burp!
One other thing that is working for me is breaking out the juicer. Carrot Apple Parsley Beet Ginger and Lemon. Raw goodness that's straight from the source. I definitely have more noticeable sustained energy when I'm on that stuff but just a little high in fiber for taking in too close to a workout.
I've switched my recovery to box drinks. Maybe not the best as they are manufactured food, but I keep em in the car and always have something post workout vs. trying to mix something on the fly or chocomilk with very little vitamins and added aminos. I like PowerBar recovery or EAS myoplex lite or regular depending on the intensity of the workout. less intensity/strenght training> Myoplex lite. otherwise its PowerBar recovery. this plus an extra dose of 2000mg vitamin C (antioxidant) and full teaspoon of glutamine are all working to keep me healthy at this point.

Everything is on track and am looking forward to doing some form of racing soon!

Post of Shame

Sunrise New Years Day. 1.1.08

It's time to face the music and get back to some regular meaningful reports. (what I lack in frequency I make up in length) I can only get feedback on what I'm posting. Unfortunately the "holidays" have been tumultuous and the posting is one of the things that gets cut when time is tight and stress levels are high. I figure my personal life would more likely be the topic of discussion rather than the training so I spare the drama. I think it's poignant to refer to a quote on James' website that has normally slid below the radar but recently has had particular relevance.

"To be nobody but yourself in a world which is doing its best, night and day, to make you everybody else means to fight the hardest battle which any human being can fight; and never stop fighting." - e. e. cummings

This quote reminds me that people will try to bring you down to their level. Attempting to transcend popular life, through high standards and lofty goals and ideals will basically leave you with a target on your back (because that's all they see on your personal road to fulfillment). There is something universal of human instinct that Cummings has brought up that motivates miserable souls to try to bring you down (to their level). I think it's often times subliminal and we have to be ever mindful that such a force exists and "never stop fighting". Thanks James.

So I start this new year with a refreshed perspective and new goals.

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1. Stay Grateful...for all things in life.

2. Be consistent.

3. Align myself with those who have the success I want.

4. Use my resources and ask for help.

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I know those are not such measurable goals as they are desired attitudes... so here's the fun ones.

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1. Xterra West: sub 3:25

2. St. Patrick's Day 10k: sub 43:00 (last year 43:45 and was a good race)

3. 20k TT: sub 29:00 (sometime this year)

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Here's the schedule:

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2.03 Xterra Trail run 15k (mission gorge)

2.10 Fiesta Island TT ( FTP test)

3.09 Fiesta Island TT

3.15 St. Patty's 10k

4.06 Carlsbad 5000

4.26 Arizona Extreme

5.18 Xterra West Championship

6.20 BABY!

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Training:

The training has been progressing and I'm into week one of four of base training cycles.

I'm finding it just as challenging going slow, mostly mentally, but I dig the science of monitoring HR variability and pace during aerobic development. I'll start posting some charts when I get it figured out how to get em up. I've enjoyed most recent gains in my swimming thanks to Jim. A couple of weeks ago we went to the pool to do some filming and I showed up with some good technical flaws (thankfully). I wrote about it in a previous post and again when shoulder pain kept me out of the water. Basically pulling way to wide on the left arm and mostly with the deltoid and biceps. This inhibited my roll to breath and pulled way too short on the left side which left me too flat. Bottom line is that knowing this has helped me improve my stroke alot. Not so much in time yet but in feel and comfort in the water which will help when I start developing some speed through increased strength and fitness.

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I'll post this weeks details on Sunday night or monday.