man.. i am tired. it's about 9:45pm on Wednesday night and I just woke up from a 2 hour nap. I don't know if i am still feeling the after effects from the race on Sunday or just from jumping back into training on Tuesday.
I took Monday off and just headed to the gym at lunch to stretch and do some light core work. I then hit master's (swim) yesterday morning and again today. It may be masters swimming that is kicking my ass. I get up at 5am, in the water by 6am, and usually churn out between 3000 - 4000m. The length, distance, and intensity of these workouts are so much more than I thought I would be able to accomplish and I am really enjoying swimming. I wish I would have started years ago.
I also did a brick yesterday with a 70min mountain bike and a 20min run. I felt pretty good and the blisters on my feet arent an issue thanks to moleskin. I just need to figure out how I am going to handle my feet at this weekends race. Right now I am thinking i will just use moleskin and duct tape and still not wear socks. On the other hand the water in Lake Castaic is currently 57 degrees so i may throw on some socks at t1. Still deciding.
They posted the official times from my race last weekend and I am pretty happy with the splits.
swim: 23:25 - 1st in AG (included t1)
bike: 1:14:23 - 4th in AG (included t2) - CRASH!
Run: 29:14 - 1st in AG
well that's it for now... i am going to get more sleep and hit up masters for the third morning in a row. I am sure I will be zombie tomorrow, but I am really working hard to put in a good race at the Xterra West Championships on 5/21 in Temcula. All my workouts leading up that race will be about that race. I am going to start incorporating running on the beach in my tempo runs to get ready for the endless sand at Vail Lake.
ok... time for sleep.
Wednesday, April 26, 2006
Monday, April 24, 2006
Monday 4.24.2006 - AZ Xtreme Offroad Triathlon - Race Report
AZ Xtreme Offroad Triathlon - Xterra Point Series Race Mesa, AZ - Saguaro Lake
Weather: 85 degrees sunny, no clouds, hot!
1500m/26k nountain bike/8k run
Let me preface this report with two statements:
1. i totally underestimated how much harder and xterra race would be compared to a road race.
2. i currently have a about 1/2 a tube of neosporin spread across various parts of my body.
day before:
Pre-rode the course, swam in the lake, checked-in, packed and dropped of transition bags, set up bike at T1, and attended pre-race dinner.
race morning:
woke at 530am (the race started at 830) and got to the parking lot to take the shuttle to the swim.
Pre-race nutrion:
5:45am - 1 cliff bar + 1 16oz bottle of water w/ 1 scoop of carbo pro. 6:30am - 8am - 1 16oz bottle of cliff shot (2 scoops) 8:15am - clif shot gel
swim: 1500m (actually about a mile - a guy gps'd it on a kayak)
the swim was kind of intimidating. It was a point to point and it was a dog leg. you couldn't see the finish from the start. i had a plan going into this one. i was just going to go out kind of easy, get in a groove and try to hold my pace thoughout. the swim went well and i was able to draft off of various people for the first half and then headed into the cove. i figured i was right on pace. as i got out of the water and running on beach peeling my wesuit off i glanced down at my watch, which i started when the horn went off: 21:38. i was stoked, and suprised. way faster than i though i could swim.
swim Time:21:38
T1:
wetsuit off and put in transition bag for pick up, put on shoes, helmet, and glasses. sprinted out of transtion.
Bike: 26km
hard. Right out of transition you mount and ride about 50 yards in a parking lot before going over bridge straight into a deep sand wash. it was too deep to ride and you had to dismount and then hike up a steep 20ft hill. Then it was on the to the first real climb - 1000ft right off the bat. You were only able to actually ride about 3/4 of it and then had to dismount and climb again. Once to the top it was rolling hills unitl you got to climb number 2... another 1000ft with the same result. Ride about 3/4, hike about 1/4. I actually could have ridden further but a couple guys ahead of me dismounted and there was only one way up. after this climb there was about a mile of downhill and then into the wash. This section was about 1 mile of super deep sand. it was like riding in 6 - 12 inches of kitty litter. i had to get off my bike twice during this section. then came the fun. there was about 2 miles of small rollers and full on whoop sections. with all my bmx riding as a kid i was able to totally flow this section and passed quite a few guys, but no one in my AG. The next section was a couple of miles relatively flat terrain and i got caught by a group of 4 guys, all defintely better mountain bikers than I am. 2 of the guys were in my AG and i tagged along with them and was able to keep up. then, as alwasy it seems, it happened... i went down!
the crash: it was 90 degree turn and i was just cocentrating on sucking the wheel off the guy right a head of me and went in too fast. if felt myself starting to slide out and tried to recover... no such luck. the surface was loose, sandy, gravel and i went down hard on my shoulder and knee... and hands(no gloves). i jumped up assessed the damage: good scrape on shoulder, forearm, knee, and hands. My bike, chain was and all twisted up on my derailer. Fixed everything and got on the road. Lost about 1.5 - 2 minutes and got passed by 2 guys.... didn't see what AG they were in.
from that point i just pushed myself hard to try and make up time. the offroad section ended and then it was 2.5 miles on the road with one killer climber and then a super fast downhill into T2.
time: ??? I am guessing around 1:10 - 1:20. I forgot to look at my watch and start new lap for the run.
Bike nutrition:
1.5 20oz bottles (30oz) - each bottle: 2 scoops clif shot and 1 scoop carbo pro - 270 calories/67 carbs.
I could have probably drank a little more. My plan was to finish both bottles.
T2:
I was stoked when i got to T2. there was a reallty big crowd screaming and yelling, volunteers to take my bike, and they were super organized. I was able to find my t2 bag with no problems. bike gear in, running shoes on, race belt in hand, and i was gone.
run:
brutal. first thing. I made a huge mistake. Based on a recomendation i received at the dinner the night before from a guy who had run the course (i hadnt even seen it) i decided not to wear my racing flats. Instead i work my trainers that i had never run in barefoot before... can you see where this is going? back to the run for now...
right off the bat you go into a 500ft climb on constant s-turning switch backs and then over some rolling hills, and then down the back side of the first climb. At the first aid station I dumped water over my head and in my mouth. it was hot. then there was another good, long twisting climb. After the second climb the descent was fast and slippery. I almost went down more than once. At this point i was closing in two guys in AG. I continued to push it and caught and passed both of them. then i turned it up a gear as i could tell they were hurting too and i knew it was time to make a move and give myself a gap. I have never wanted to stop walk so much in my life, but i didn't, I just kept grinding along. now the shoes. by this point i could tell i had blisters on the inside of both of my arches and they had already popped and the skin had been ripped. it sucked. the last 2 miles were in a riverbed with deep sand and small boulders. now i had sand in my shoes and let me tell how good it felt to have sand getting rubbeb into the open wounds on my feet: not good. at this point i was pissed at myself for wearing my trainers.
so i finished the run and could see one of the guys in AG that passed me on the bike finish just a bit before me. I crossed the line bleeding from shoulder, knee, hands, and my feet were on fire. It was awesome! I still wasn't sure what place i was in. I hit the med tent and they cleaned me up and I watched a bunch of super stoked, beat down people finish.
Run time: ?
Run nutrition:
water (3 aid stations) + 1 clif shot gel at first aid station (carried with me from transition)
overall time: 2:07:33
Finsih: 2nd in AG (67 points toward qualify for nationals)
I was second out of the water in my AG, 4th coming off the bike, and 2nd after the run.
* the guy that finished first only beat by 30 seconds and he was one of the guys in the pack of 4 that i was riding with when i crashed. so if I wouldn't have taken a spill on the bike things could have ended differently... no worries. i'll take 2nd on that course anyday.
Despite all the blood and pain it was so much fun. I have never pushed that hard for that long. It was by far the hardest thing is any sport i have ever done, and I am already itching to do another. The Xterra crowd is awesome. They are a bunch of granola eating, beer drinking, hardcore, friendly, fast triathletes. I met and talked to so many cool people.
Post race there was a keg (my kind of race), gatorade, and plenty of food. For second place i go a pint glass with "2nd Place" and all the race info printed on it. I didn't waste anytime and promptly topped it off at the keg.
I also won the "Road Rash" award and got a box of GU's and an Xterra hat.
Xterra is what I want to do. I am still going to do road tris for fun and training, but now I totally going to focus my training and attention the the Xterra series.
I have another Xterra this weekend coming up at Castaic Lake (just north of LA). Can't wait. I am just hoping my feet heel up quickly.
Weather: 85 degrees sunny, no clouds, hot!
1500m/26k nountain bike/8k run
Let me preface this report with two statements:
1. i totally underestimated how much harder and xterra race would be compared to a road race.
2. i currently have a about 1/2 a tube of neosporin spread across various parts of my body.
day before:
Pre-rode the course, swam in the lake, checked-in, packed and dropped of transition bags, set up bike at T1, and attended pre-race dinner.
race morning:
woke at 530am (the race started at 830) and got to the parking lot to take the shuttle to the swim.
Pre-race nutrion:
5:45am - 1 cliff bar + 1 16oz bottle of water w/ 1 scoop of carbo pro. 6:30am - 8am - 1 16oz bottle of cliff shot (2 scoops) 8:15am - clif shot gel
swim: 1500m (actually about a mile - a guy gps'd it on a kayak)
the swim was kind of intimidating. It was a point to point and it was a dog leg. you couldn't see the finish from the start. i had a plan going into this one. i was just going to go out kind of easy, get in a groove and try to hold my pace thoughout. the swim went well and i was able to draft off of various people for the first half and then headed into the cove. i figured i was right on pace. as i got out of the water and running on beach peeling my wesuit off i glanced down at my watch, which i started when the horn went off: 21:38. i was stoked, and suprised. way faster than i though i could swim.
swim Time:21:38
T1:
wetsuit off and put in transition bag for pick up, put on shoes, helmet, and glasses. sprinted out of transtion.
Bike: 26km
hard. Right out of transition you mount and ride about 50 yards in a parking lot before going over bridge straight into a deep sand wash. it was too deep to ride and you had to dismount and then hike up a steep 20ft hill. Then it was on the to the first real climb - 1000ft right off the bat. You were only able to actually ride about 3/4 of it and then had to dismount and climb again. Once to the top it was rolling hills unitl you got to climb number 2... another 1000ft with the same result. Ride about 3/4, hike about 1/4. I actually could have ridden further but a couple guys ahead of me dismounted and there was only one way up. after this climb there was about a mile of downhill and then into the wash. This section was about 1 mile of super deep sand. it was like riding in 6 - 12 inches of kitty litter. i had to get off my bike twice during this section. then came the fun. there was about 2 miles of small rollers and full on whoop sections. with all my bmx riding as a kid i was able to totally flow this section and passed quite a few guys, but no one in my AG. The next section was a couple of miles relatively flat terrain and i got caught by a group of 4 guys, all defintely better mountain bikers than I am. 2 of the guys were in my AG and i tagged along with them and was able to keep up. then, as alwasy it seems, it happened... i went down!
the crash: it was 90 degree turn and i was just cocentrating on sucking the wheel off the guy right a head of me and went in too fast. if felt myself starting to slide out and tried to recover... no such luck. the surface was loose, sandy, gravel and i went down hard on my shoulder and knee... and hands(no gloves). i jumped up assessed the damage: good scrape on shoulder, forearm, knee, and hands. My bike, chain was and all twisted up on my derailer. Fixed everything and got on the road. Lost about 1.5 - 2 minutes and got passed by 2 guys.... didn't see what AG they were in.
from that point i just pushed myself hard to try and make up time. the offroad section ended and then it was 2.5 miles on the road with one killer climber and then a super fast downhill into T2.
time: ??? I am guessing around 1:10 - 1:20. I forgot to look at my watch and start new lap for the run.
Bike nutrition:
1.5 20oz bottles (30oz) - each bottle: 2 scoops clif shot and 1 scoop carbo pro - 270 calories/67 carbs.
I could have probably drank a little more. My plan was to finish both bottles.
T2:
I was stoked when i got to T2. there was a reallty big crowd screaming and yelling, volunteers to take my bike, and they were super organized. I was able to find my t2 bag with no problems. bike gear in, running shoes on, race belt in hand, and i was gone.
run:
brutal. first thing. I made a huge mistake. Based on a recomendation i received at the dinner the night before from a guy who had run the course (i hadnt even seen it) i decided not to wear my racing flats. Instead i work my trainers that i had never run in barefoot before... can you see where this is going? back to the run for now...
right off the bat you go into a 500ft climb on constant s-turning switch backs and then over some rolling hills, and then down the back side of the first climb. At the first aid station I dumped water over my head and in my mouth. it was hot. then there was another good, long twisting climb. After the second climb the descent was fast and slippery. I almost went down more than once. At this point i was closing in two guys in AG. I continued to push it and caught and passed both of them. then i turned it up a gear as i could tell they were hurting too and i knew it was time to make a move and give myself a gap. I have never wanted to stop walk so much in my life, but i didn't, I just kept grinding along. now the shoes. by this point i could tell i had blisters on the inside of both of my arches and they had already popped and the skin had been ripped. it sucked. the last 2 miles were in a riverbed with deep sand and small boulders. now i had sand in my shoes and let me tell how good it felt to have sand getting rubbeb into the open wounds on my feet: not good. at this point i was pissed at myself for wearing my trainers.
so i finished the run and could see one of the guys in AG that passed me on the bike finish just a bit before me. I crossed the line bleeding from shoulder, knee, hands, and my feet were on fire. It was awesome! I still wasn't sure what place i was in. I hit the med tent and they cleaned me up and I watched a bunch of super stoked, beat down people finish.
Run time: ?
Run nutrition:
water (3 aid stations) + 1 clif shot gel at first aid station (carried with me from transition)
overall time: 2:07:33
Finsih: 2nd in AG (67 points toward qualify for nationals)
I was second out of the water in my AG, 4th coming off the bike, and 2nd after the run.
* the guy that finished first only beat by 30 seconds and he was one of the guys in the pack of 4 that i was riding with when i crashed. so if I wouldn't have taken a spill on the bike things could have ended differently... no worries. i'll take 2nd on that course anyday.
Despite all the blood and pain it was so much fun. I have never pushed that hard for that long. It was by far the hardest thing is any sport i have ever done, and I am already itching to do another. The Xterra crowd is awesome. They are a bunch of granola eating, beer drinking, hardcore, friendly, fast triathletes. I met and talked to so many cool people.
Post race there was a keg (my kind of race), gatorade, and plenty of food. For second place i go a pint glass with "2nd Place" and all the race info printed on it. I didn't waste anytime and promptly topped it off at the keg.
I also won the "Road Rash" award and got a box of GU's and an Xterra hat.
Xterra is what I want to do. I am still going to do road tris for fun and training, but now I totally going to focus my training and attention the the Xterra series.
I have another Xterra this weekend coming up at Castaic Lake (just north of LA). Can't wait. I am just hoping my feet heel up quickly.
Friday, April 21, 2006
4.21.2006 - Triathlon and Baseball
wow... I just got back from a 1 mile ocean swim with the tri club. I feel really good. I am already to go for the race on Sunday. I am heading out to Mesa, AZ super early tomorrow morning.
ok... baseball. I was watching the San Diego Padres game last night and Jake Peavy pitched his butt off only to have the Padres blow the lead in late innings yet again. It really made me realize why I like triathlon so much.
I played baseball for 15 years of my life (ages 5-20). I started in little league, played in high school, and then got a partial scholarship to play in college. I have always approached everything I have done with an all or nothing attitude which I believe I developed my Junior year of High School. I was always a good baseball player. I always made the allstar teams, never in my life (even in my freshman year in college) sat on the bench, and always impressed my coaches. It all came natural to me.
I grew up playing in southern California and then moved to Virgina when i was 13 and continued to play and excel. They opened up a new High School at the start of my Junior year and I lived in the new district. This is when things changed. I met my new coach, a hardass, and probably one of the most infuential people in my life today. From that point on baseball became my life (as if it wasn't already). From ages 16-20 I did not take more that one week off of playing baseball. I played on my high school team, fall league teams, american legion, summer league, and then was also selected to play on a traveling team. I worked hard. Even at 16 I was coming to school at 6am to take batting practice in the indoor batting cage, hit off the tee, and use the gym. I would stay after practice and take extra groudballs. During the Fall of my senior year I also ran indoor track for the sole purpose of getting faster for baseball. Nobody else on my team was doing this. Individual success and accolades followed.
In my junior year I was selected to the all-district team and then in my senior year i was the team MVP and was selected to the all-district, all-region, and all-state teams. I even won the coaches award (hardest worker) from the track coach for my dedication and attitude during indoor track. I worked my butt off, but none my teams ever won a significnt championship (except for track... we had some really fast guys, not me). In baseball it doesn't matter how good you are, you are not always gonig to come to the plate with the game on the line. It got to be kind of frustrating. I wanted to win, as a team, but they didn't have the dedication I had. We were only in high school and I was probably kind of over the top. I couldn't have expected them to work as hard as I did.
After my second year of college I was kind over the college thing and joined the Coast Guard, but that's another story all together.
So how does my baseball background relate to my current triathlon training? I think it's kind of obvious. Triathlon is an individual sport. You will reap the benefits of that hard work you put into training come race day... and I love that. I am very dedicated and I can control how fast I become and work on my weaknesses. It's a good feeling to know that your hard work WILL pay off.
I still love baseball... I would go as far as to say I am a fanatic. I come home everynight from long day of training and work, sit on my couch, and watch baseball. I check all the scores and stats every morning, and don't go to sleep these days until I watch Baseball Tonight... Everynight.
I love the Padres but let's face it. They have a few good players but are not a good team. Amazing individual performances like Jake Peavy's last night don't really mean anything when the team blows the lead in the 8th.
Thursday, April 20, 2006
4.20.2006 - swimming and... more swimming...
This is week is flying by... yes! I am really looking forward to my first Xterra race this weekend. It starts of with a point to point mile swim. At first I was really getting some serious swimming anxiety over this, but now I am really looking forward to it.
After just two weeks of masters (5 swims - 4 long course) my confidence is soaring. Yesterday morning i swam with masters and completed my longest swim workout to date: 4000m - short course. I know i am supposed to be tapering for my race on Sunday, but more on that in a minute. The swim included a mile time trial, which i completed at a good mellow pace in just over 24 minutes, breathing bilaterally (every 3 stroke) the whole time. I know that's not really fast but i have never even swam a continuous mile in a pool. I felt good and i didn't push at all. Then yesterday afternoon I did an evening open water swim with the Tri club. I wasnt's tired at all and swam the entire 1.2 miles with the lead pack.
my swimming is coming along... on my easy swim this morning, which was a mellow 1525 with a couple hard 100's, I hit my fastest 100's to date:
1 - 1:23
2 - 1:22
on another note i have decided to not do a full-on taper/peak for my races on the next two upcoming weekends. I am really going to try and build through these in order to put in the best performance I can on 5/21 for the Xterra West Championships in Temecula. I am just kind of taking it easy on the legs. My workouts have been short and fast, but keeping the speed up.
Training this week:
Monday - Rest - Stretching/light core
Tuesday:
AM: 2500m - Masters
PM: Tempo run - 10min warm-up/16min race pace/10min cooldown
Wednesday:
AM: 4000m swim - Masters
Lunch: 20min easy spin & stretching
PM: 2000m open water swim
Thursday (today):
AM: 1525m swim - work pool
Lunch: Core/Stretching (planned)
PM: Brick - 45min ride w/ 4 x 90sec intervals @ race pace/15 min T-run w/ 1st 10min all out (planned)
Sunday, April 16, 2006
sunday 4.16.2006 - sunday brick
Cutting back the volume over the last week has me feeling strong. I am working towards peaking for next sundays race (AZ Xtreme Offroad Triathlon) and continute to the following weekends race (Big Blue Offroad Tri). My goal for the season is to qualify for the Xterra National Championship in Tahoe on 10.1.2006. To do this i need to finish in the top 10 in the southwest region and your ranking is determined by your 3 best results in Nissan Xterra point series races. I am doing 6 races Xterra qualifiers between now and August.
4/23 - Az Xtreme Offroad Tri - Mesa, AZ
4/30 - Big Blue Offroad Tri - Castaic Lake, CA
5/21 - Xterra West Championhips - Temecula, CA
6/4 - Deuces Wild Offroad Tri - Show Low, AZ
6/18 - Xterra East Championships - Richmond, VA
8/6 - Snow Valley Offroad Tri - Running Springs, CA
if i qualify:
10/1 - Xterra National Championships - Lake Tahoe, CA
In order to compete at a high level in these races I am going to have to do some interesting things with my training schedule. Firguring it all out should be fun and definitely a learning experience.
on another note i got a Polar S625x Heart Rate monitor with all the bike attachments (candence & speed sensors). i have been looking at there for a while and could come to the terms with spending the $400+ to get the whole set up. Then last week a guy in the tri club posted his for sale in the tri club classifieds for only $150... for everything. I jumped on in it and am now the owner... and stoked.
weekend workouts
saturday: PM: 90 min mountain bike - 3 mile t-run (20min)
sunday: PM:
Swim 500 warm -up
4 x 500 @ 8:00
1. 500 swim
2. 500 pull
3. 500 swim w/fins
4. 500 pull w/ paddles
run: (see chart)
60 min:
10 min warm-up
40 min hard (marathon Pace - 6:29/mile)
10 min cool down
4/23 - Az Xtreme Offroad Tri - Mesa, AZ
4/30 - Big Blue Offroad Tri - Castaic Lake, CA
5/21 - Xterra West Championhips - Temecula, CA
6/4 - Deuces Wild Offroad Tri - Show Low, AZ
6/18 - Xterra East Championships - Richmond, VA
8/6 - Snow Valley Offroad Tri - Running Springs, CA
if i qualify:
10/1 - Xterra National Championships - Lake Tahoe, CA
In order to compete at a high level in these races I am going to have to do some interesting things with my training schedule. Firguring it all out should be fun and definitely a learning experience.
on another note i got a Polar S625x Heart Rate monitor with all the bike attachments (candence & speed sensors). i have been looking at there for a while and could come to the terms with spending the $400+ to get the whole set up. Then last week a guy in the tri club posted his for sale in the tri club classifieds for only $150... for everything. I jumped on in it and am now the owner... and stoked.
weekend workouts
saturday: PM: 90 min mountain bike - 3 mile t-run (20min)
sunday: PM:
Swim 500 warm -up
4 x 500 @ 8:00
1. 500 swim
2. 500 pull
3. 500 swim w/fins
4. 500 pull w/ paddles
run: (see chart)
60 min:
10 min warm-up
40 min hard (marathon Pace - 6:29/mile)
10 min cool down
Friday, April 14, 2006
Friday 4.14.2006 - a good couple of days
i have had some really good workouts this week. yesterday was hot and i worked through lunch and took off at 2:30. i came home and went for a ride 26 mile ride wearing just a tri top and bike shorts... felt awesome to be hot. i can't wait for summer.
thursday:
AM: swim 2500 yards
-main set was 10 x 100 @ 1:45 - i hit my fastest 100 so far: 1:22
PM: bike - 26 miles - carlsbad hill loop
Friday:
AM: Masters swim - 3900 meters long course (longest swim to date)
Lunch: 5 mile tempo run - PQ canyon
PM: sitting on my couch (right now) watching the padres game drinking a nice cold beer... relaxing.
i had a really good week of training and am now officially signed up for the UCSD Masters. let the torture begin.
thursday:
AM: swim 2500 yards
-main set was 10 x 100 @ 1:45 - i hit my fastest 100 so far: 1:22
PM: bike - 26 miles - carlsbad hill loop
Friday:
AM: Masters swim - 3900 meters long course (longest swim to date)
Lunch: 5 mile tempo run - PQ canyon
PM: sitting on my couch (right now) watching the padres game drinking a nice cold beer... relaxing.
i had a really good week of training and am now officially signed up for the UCSD Masters. let the torture begin.
Wednesday, April 12, 2006
wednesday 4.12.2006 - Masters swim: take two
first of all i have to thank guernseyman for this one. at the end of our ride last weekend we were talking about masters swimming (he is a very good swimmer) and he suggested the UCSD Masters program. UCSD has a triathlon program that includes masters swimming, track workouts, and turbo (spinning) classes.
so this morning i headed out the door and to UCSD to give it a try. UCSD has two pools, short and long course, and they split up the masters group. they have a fast group and a slow-medium group and they switch week to week between the pools. i went with the slow-medium group and headed to the 50 meter pool. the coach put me in the second faster lane and they were swimming on a 1:45 interval which was perfect for me. all i can say is that the swim was a blast. a total of 3600 meters and it was not too hard, i felt really comfortable, and the people were my lane were super cool. here was our main set:
3 x 600
- 3 x 50 base +5
- 1 x 150 build base +5
- 1 x 300
i am heading back Friday to sign up and will probably be swimming with them 3 days a week. i have a feeling this is really going to make a huge impact on my swimming. i have also decided that after my back to back "A" races on 4/23 & 4/30 i am going to put myself through a "swimming bootcamp". for 2 weeks i am going to swim with the master team m-f and then do an open water swim on Sunday. we'll see how that goes.
today's training:
AM: master swim - 3600 yards
lunch: weights - upperbody
PM: Run - hill repeats
10 min warm-up
2 sets of the following:
1 x bottom of hill - avg 1:12
1 x top of hill - avg 1:10
1 x full hill - avg 2:35
10 min cool down
the hill repeats were killer... i am beat.
so this morning i headed out the door and to UCSD to give it a try. UCSD has two pools, short and long course, and they split up the masters group. they have a fast group and a slow-medium group and they switch week to week between the pools. i went with the slow-medium group and headed to the 50 meter pool. the coach put me in the second faster lane and they were swimming on a 1:45 interval which was perfect for me. all i can say is that the swim was a blast. a total of 3600 meters and it was not too hard, i felt really comfortable, and the people were my lane were super cool. here was our main set:
3 x 600
- 3 x 50 base +5
- 1 x 150 build base +5
- 1 x 300
i am heading back Friday to sign up and will probably be swimming with them 3 days a week. i have a feeling this is really going to make a huge impact on my swimming. i have also decided that after my back to back "A" races on 4/23 & 4/30 i am going to put myself through a "swimming bootcamp". for 2 weeks i am going to swim with the master team m-f and then do an open water swim on Sunday. we'll see how that goes.
today's training:
AM: master swim - 3600 yards
lunch: weights - upperbody
PM: Run - hill repeats
10 min warm-up
2 sets of the following:
1 x bottom of hill - avg 1:12
1 x top of hill - avg 1:10
1 x full hill - avg 2:35
10 min cool down
the hill repeats were killer... i am beat.
Tuesday, April 11, 2006
tuesday 4.11.2006 - going solo
well i have made the decision to start coaching myself and this is my first week. there were a couple reasons leading up to the decision.
1. save money
2. i think it will be fun and challengeing
3. i would have to pay a lot for a coach to really get to know me and how my body is reacting/recovering from workouts. i have been athletic my whole life and think i know how my body works. and thais knowledge will allow me to dial in my workouts to maximize my potential.
i learned a lot from working with my coach and i feel i can now apply that, as well as use the abundace of resources (book,internet,bloggers,club members) to get me to where i want to be. who knows... i may be making a huge mistake.
Monday: rest day
this was harder than i thought... a total day off. i did go to the gym at lunch and just stretched for 20 minutes. if felt really good. my body feels much better today for it. i can't wait to ride.
here is something kind of cool. a guy in my tri club made a little video of the club duathlon last saturday. it shows me (i am wearing navy blue and white) leading the way coming back from the 1st run and then heading out on the bike. the funny thing is it also shows me coming back from the bike and he does a close up on my face and you can see me saying something to officials. this was me informing them that "there was no way all those people ahead of me did 5 laps on the bike". if you don't know what i am talking about read my post from sunday night...
http://www.teamscout.org/sport/main.php
tueday:
AM: swim 3200 yards
PM: brick - 90min mountain bike/15min run (after work)
1. save money
2. i think it will be fun and challengeing
3. i would have to pay a lot for a coach to really get to know me and how my body is reacting/recovering from workouts. i have been athletic my whole life and think i know how my body works. and thais knowledge will allow me to dial in my workouts to maximize my potential.
i learned a lot from working with my coach and i feel i can now apply that, as well as use the abundace of resources (book,internet,bloggers,club members) to get me to where i want to be. who knows... i may be making a huge mistake.
Monday: rest day
this was harder than i thought... a total day off. i did go to the gym at lunch and just stretched for 20 minutes. if felt really good. my body feels much better today for it. i can't wait to ride.
here is something kind of cool. a guy in my tri club made a little video of the club duathlon last saturday. it shows me (i am wearing navy blue and white) leading the way coming back from the 1st run and then heading out on the bike. the funny thing is it also shows me coming back from the bike and he does a close up on my face and you can see me saying something to officials. this was me informing them that "there was no way all those people ahead of me did 5 laps on the bike". if you don't know what i am talking about read my post from sunday night...
http://www.teamscout.org/sport
tueday:
AM: swim 3200 yards
PM: brick - 90min mountain bike/15min run (after work)
Sunday, April 09, 2006
sunday 4.9.2006 - long weekend (long post)
what a long, good weekend.
Saturday: club race and leg crushing ride of mt soledad with guernseyman.
the race:
you gotta love the triathlon club of san diego... free races every month... well not free. i do pay $60 a year for membership, but that has paid for itself with all the discounts i have received with my club card.
so the race... it was supposed to be sprint tri but they turned it into a DU because all the rain and run off that that has the bay kind of polluted right now.
the course:
2 mile run
14 mile bike
3 mile run
going into this race i felt like crap. i have been beat all week from work and training. all this hard work was taking it's toll, and this was just a training race so there was no scheduled rest for this race. yesterday was rough. i swam in the morning and was completely fried. ok.. back to the race.
warm-up:
2 mile easy jog & light stretching
2mile run:
one guy went out really fast and he looked legit so i hung with him and then passed him after a 1/4 of mile and made it my race. i pushed pretty hard to the 1 mile turn around and had one guy 10 feet behind me and the rest of the pack was a ways off of us. the guy following me was hanging right with me so i decided to try and make him hurt if i could. i was not going all out. speed wise i would say i was at about 7 out of 10. so i would slow a bit and let him catch me and then speed up and make him push harder to stay with me. i did this for the last 1/2 mile and could tell he was hurting. if finished the run in about 10 minutes flat (maybe sub 10, we'll see when the post the results).
14 mile bike (5 laps):
well the guy i was messing with passed me right at the end of the first lap and then one more guy passed. my legs were fried from the rides i did this past week, but i stayed about 50 yards behind them and no one else passed me. i was just waiting for the second run. then on the 4th lap the leaders took a turn you were only supposed to take on the last lap, skipping the whole last lap. i didn't follow and did another lap. i finished another lap and as i rode into t2 i saw about 5 people out on the run ahead of me. apparently 3 guys behind me followed the leaders on the wrong turn. no worries.. it's just a practice race.... right.
3 mile run:
there was no one close to me... all the fastest guys took the wrong turn and the other 40 people were well behind. i finshed the 5 mile run in 16:30 and my legs were really feeling it.
aftermath:
i won since the other guys skipped a whole lap on the bike. i was kind of bummed on how it ended. it was shaping up to be really close race with it all coming down to the run until they took the wrong turn. it's awesome to be able to do these as full speed practice races.
the ride:
after the race guernseyman and I did a gnarly ride. it was 30 miles of riding while climbing mt soledad 5 times on 5 different routes. we originally were going to 8 climbs but were beat down after 5 and called it a day. he crushed me and my legs are still aching, but iam better for it. i can't wait to go back and tackle these climbs again.
sunday:
i volunteered to help out with the monthly beginner's race that the tri club of san diego puts on. so i woke up early on sunday, which is normally the day that i sleep in a bit, chugged some coffee and headed out the door.
there 54 people that turned for the race and most of them had never done a tri before. the course was a 300m swim, 11 mile bike, 2 mile run. i volunteered to go sit at the run turn around.
it was so much fun. i had no idea that i would have this good of time sitting next to a cone and telling people to turn around. most people were hurting by the time they got to me and i made sure to give every single person words of encouragement and try to get them to track down the people ahead of them. i was having a great time. most of people talked to me and a couple of people asked me "is this supposed to be fun". i couldn't help but laugh. i also got a lot of thank you's.
eventhough a lot of these people were hurting they were all having a great time and i could tell that they would be back. they weren't at home watching tv. they were outside sweating their butts off trying improve their health and have a good time. overall it was way more fulfilling than i ever thought it could be and i will defnitely be helping out at more of these race.
go volunteer to help out at a race... it will give you a bit of different perspective.
triathlon will change your life..... i am convinced.
weekend workouts:
saturday:
race - 2 mile run/14 mile bike/3 mile run
30 mile ride
sunday:
1000 yard open water swim
8 mile run
Saturday: club race and leg crushing ride of mt soledad with guernseyman.
the race:
you gotta love the triathlon club of san diego... free races every month... well not free. i do pay $60 a year for membership, but that has paid for itself with all the discounts i have received with my club card.
so the race... it was supposed to be sprint tri but they turned it into a DU because all the rain and run off that that has the bay kind of polluted right now.
the course:
2 mile run
14 mile bike
3 mile run
going into this race i felt like crap. i have been beat all week from work and training. all this hard work was taking it's toll, and this was just a training race so there was no scheduled rest for this race. yesterday was rough. i swam in the morning and was completely fried. ok.. back to the race.
warm-up:
2 mile easy jog & light stretching
2mile run:
one guy went out really fast and he looked legit so i hung with him and then passed him after a 1/4 of mile and made it my race. i pushed pretty hard to the 1 mile turn around and had one guy 10 feet behind me and the rest of the pack was a ways off of us. the guy following me was hanging right with me so i decided to try and make him hurt if i could. i was not going all out. speed wise i would say i was at about 7 out of 10. so i would slow a bit and let him catch me and then speed up and make him push harder to stay with me. i did this for the last 1/2 mile and could tell he was hurting. if finished the run in about 10 minutes flat (maybe sub 10, we'll see when the post the results).
14 mile bike (5 laps):
well the guy i was messing with passed me right at the end of the first lap and then one more guy passed. my legs were fried from the rides i did this past week, but i stayed about 50 yards behind them and no one else passed me. i was just waiting for the second run. then on the 4th lap the leaders took a turn you were only supposed to take on the last lap, skipping the whole last lap. i didn't follow and did another lap. i finished another lap and as i rode into t2 i saw about 5 people out on the run ahead of me. apparently 3 guys behind me followed the leaders on the wrong turn. no worries.. it's just a practice race.... right.
3 mile run:
there was no one close to me... all the fastest guys took the wrong turn and the other 40 people were well behind. i finshed the 5 mile run in 16:30 and my legs were really feeling it.
aftermath:
i won since the other guys skipped a whole lap on the bike. i was kind of bummed on how it ended. it was shaping up to be really close race with it all coming down to the run until they took the wrong turn. it's awesome to be able to do these as full speed practice races.
the ride:
after the race guernseyman and I did a gnarly ride. it was 30 miles of riding while climbing mt soledad 5 times on 5 different routes. we originally were going to 8 climbs but were beat down after 5 and called it a day. he crushed me and my legs are still aching, but iam better for it. i can't wait to go back and tackle these climbs again.
sunday:
i volunteered to help out with the monthly beginner's race that the tri club of san diego puts on. so i woke up early on sunday, which is normally the day that i sleep in a bit, chugged some coffee and headed out the door.
there 54 people that turned for the race and most of them had never done a tri before. the course was a 300m swim, 11 mile bike, 2 mile run. i volunteered to go sit at the run turn around.
it was so much fun. i had no idea that i would have this good of time sitting next to a cone and telling people to turn around. most people were hurting by the time they got to me and i made sure to give every single person words of encouragement and try to get them to track down the people ahead of them. i was having a great time. most of people talked to me and a couple of people asked me "is this supposed to be fun". i couldn't help but laugh. i also got a lot of thank you's.
eventhough a lot of these people were hurting they were all having a great time and i could tell that they would be back. they weren't at home watching tv. they were outside sweating their butts off trying improve their health and have a good time. overall it was way more fulfilling than i ever thought it could be and i will defnitely be helping out at more of these race.
go volunteer to help out at a race... it will give you a bit of different perspective.
triathlon will change your life..... i am convinced.
weekend workouts:
saturday:
race - 2 mile run/14 mile bike/3 mile run
30 mile ride
sunday:
1000 yard open water swim
8 mile run
Thursday, April 06, 2006
Thursday 4.6.2006 - can you say tired?
wow. i am really tired right now. i woke this morning at 430am to go swim with the Solana Beach masters. here's my review of my first masters swim workout:
1. the pool - 6 lanes, nice and warm. the whole complex is undergoing a huge renovation including a huge new pool which should be open by july.
2. the coach was cool when i told it was my first swim and gave me a lot of good info.
3. choosing a lane - the first two lanes were reserved for the high school kids (they swim on tues & thurs) and then there were 4 lanes (3-5 people per lane) for masters going from letft to right, fast to slow. i jumped in the second slowest lane because the coach said that it was usually the 1:30 - 1:40 interval lane... i can hang with that. not today. the fastest 2 lanes were swimming on the 1:20 and the guys than joined my lane decided they were going to swim on 1:20 - 1:25. great.
we all warmed up - about 800 yards, then 10 x 50 drill/swim. then the main set:
4 x 600
1. 6 x 100
2. 3 x 200
3. 2 x 300
4. 6 x 100
all with decreasing interval.
so these 2 guys in my lane are going for it and i was able to hang through the first two sets, which i was shocked by. i can swim harder than i thought for sure. the only problem was i was still finishing while they were taking their 10 second rest and i had to just keep going with no rest to not jack up the lane. so basically i swam back to back 600's on 1:25 with about 5 seconds rest between the 2. i wasn't necessarily winded but i was frustrated because i didnt want to slow these guys up if i fell off the pace and i could feel my form falling off just a bit. i did one more 600 with them and then moved down a lane to finish.
the slow lane was WAY slow, and again i was frustrated, but oh well. i finished the workout, and it was a good one.
overall take: i am not sure. i didn't like how there were 3 "fast" lanes and one "slow" lane with nothing in between. i talked to the coach afterwards and she said that it's really only like that on tues and thurs because of the HS kids.
so i'm going to go back on monday and have another go. i dont think i am going to join just yet as the jury is still out, but i am going to add one masters session a week to my workout for now. it's only $6 a workout and if i go once a week that's only $24 a month. we will see how it goes for the next month with that and then i will decied if it's worth the $$$ to join and swim with then 3-4 days a week.
workouts:
Wed
AM: 3000 yard swim
Lunch: weights - upperbody
PM: bike workout - intervals - 18 miles
Thurs
AM: 3500 - masters swim workout
Lunch: 5.5 mile trail run
tomorrow morning i am going to swim and get in a short mountain bike in the afternoon. on saturday i am going to the club race which just got changed from a tri to a duathlon. i guess this works in my favor, but i wanted to use this race to practice my swimming. after the race i am gonig to go for a ride with guernseyman. well that's if for now. i will post a race a ride report on saturday. time for bed.
1. the pool - 6 lanes, nice and warm. the whole complex is undergoing a huge renovation including a huge new pool which should be open by july.
2. the coach was cool when i told it was my first swim and gave me a lot of good info.
3. choosing a lane - the first two lanes were reserved for the high school kids (they swim on tues & thurs) and then there were 4 lanes (3-5 people per lane) for masters going from letft to right, fast to slow. i jumped in the second slowest lane because the coach said that it was usually the 1:30 - 1:40 interval lane... i can hang with that. not today. the fastest 2 lanes were swimming on the 1:20 and the guys than joined my lane decided they were going to swim on 1:20 - 1:25. great.
we all warmed up - about 800 yards, then 10 x 50 drill/swim. then the main set:
4 x 600
1. 6 x 100
2. 3 x 200
3. 2 x 300
4. 6 x 100
all with decreasing interval.
so these 2 guys in my lane are going for it and i was able to hang through the first two sets, which i was shocked by. i can swim harder than i thought for sure. the only problem was i was still finishing while they were taking their 10 second rest and i had to just keep going with no rest to not jack up the lane. so basically i swam back to back 600's on 1:25 with about 5 seconds rest between the 2. i wasn't necessarily winded but i was frustrated because i didnt want to slow these guys up if i fell off the pace and i could feel my form falling off just a bit. i did one more 600 with them and then moved down a lane to finish.
the slow lane was WAY slow, and again i was frustrated, but oh well. i finished the workout, and it was a good one.
overall take: i am not sure. i didn't like how there were 3 "fast" lanes and one "slow" lane with nothing in between. i talked to the coach afterwards and she said that it's really only like that on tues and thurs because of the HS kids.
so i'm going to go back on monday and have another go. i dont think i am going to join just yet as the jury is still out, but i am going to add one masters session a week to my workout for now. it's only $6 a workout and if i go once a week that's only $24 a month. we will see how it goes for the next month with that and then i will decied if it's worth the $$$ to join and swim with then 3-4 days a week.
workouts:
Wed
AM: 3000 yard swim
Lunch: weights - upperbody
PM: bike workout - intervals - 18 miles
Thurs
AM: 3500 - masters swim workout
Lunch: 5.5 mile trail run
tomorrow morning i am going to swim and get in a short mountain bike in the afternoon. on saturday i am going to the club race which just got changed from a tri to a duathlon. i guess this works in my favor, but i wanted to use this race to practice my swimming. after the race i am gonig to go for a ride with guernseyman. well that's if for now. i will post a race a ride report on saturday. time for bed.
Tuesday, April 04, 2006
Tuesday - 4.4.2006 - looking back
my legs have almost totally recovered from my race and leg cramp(or whatever it was) fiasco. now that i have had time to look back on my race there are a lot of things i can improve on.
1. swimming. i was 2 minutes behind the leaders getting out of the water. that is 1 minute to late in my opinion. i know i will never be able to hang with the top swimmers who have been swimming a lot longer than me, but i could have started in a better position. i should have started more to the inside. the first 250 meters were really rough. in order to improve my swimming i am joing the solana beach masters starting this friday. it's time to bite the bullet and have a coach kick my butt in the pool. should be interesting.
2. t2 could have been quicker. i flailed and couldn't find my transition area. typical newbie mistake. this is easy to fix.
3. i need solid warm up routine and i want it to be the same at every race. i need to loosen up, get in the zone, and be consistent.
that's about it for now. i will be doing the club race on saturday and i will begin to work on these things there.
workouts this week:
monday
AM: 2000 yard recovery swim
lunch: 20 min very easy spin on bike, core & stretching
today(tues)
AM: easy 20 mile ride - had some trouble with my front derailer
PM: 6 mile trail run - in the rain
it's supposed to rain all day tomorrow. i was supposed to have a bike workout at fiesta island tomorrow night, but that's not going to happen. instead i am going to do an indoor brick tomorrow night and head out to fiesta island thursday night.
1. swimming. i was 2 minutes behind the leaders getting out of the water. that is 1 minute to late in my opinion. i know i will never be able to hang with the top swimmers who have been swimming a lot longer than me, but i could have started in a better position. i should have started more to the inside. the first 250 meters were really rough. in order to improve my swimming i am joing the solana beach masters starting this friday. it's time to bite the bullet and have a coach kick my butt in the pool. should be interesting.
2. t2 could have been quicker. i flailed and couldn't find my transition area. typical newbie mistake. this is easy to fix.
3. i need solid warm up routine and i want it to be the same at every race. i need to loosen up, get in the zone, and be consistent.
that's about it for now. i will be doing the club race on saturday and i will begin to work on these things there.
workouts this week:
monday
AM: 2000 yard recovery swim
lunch: 20 min very easy spin on bike, core & stretching
today(tues)
AM: easy 20 mile ride - had some trouble with my front derailer
PM: 6 mile trail run - in the rain
it's supposed to rain all day tomorrow. i was supposed to have a bike workout at fiesta island tomorrow night, but that's not going to happen. instead i am going to do an indoor brick tomorrow night and head out to fiesta island thursday night.
Sunday, April 02, 2006
Sunday 4.2.2006 - over and done
well today was the day. my first triathlon came and went. here's the report:
LA Triathlon Championships #1
600m swim/12 mile hilly bike/5k hilly
ok.... what an interesting day. i got to the race site at 7 am and the race started at 830am. I talked to a couple of volunteers that had been there since 6am and it was only 36 degrees when they got there. i went over and set up my transition area and then when i was standing in line for the bathroom i watched some guy totally knock over my bike and trash my transition area. no worries... i set everything back up and then wet to warm up.
i ran back to my truck to tell my sister and nephew who were staying warm and sleeping, what was going on. so then i continued to warm-up and then jogged down a little dirthill and somehow tweaked my right quad. it immediately started killing me.. seriously. i was bummed but i continued to stretch and try to loosend it up. so i headed back to transition and put on my wetsuit while quad was screaming at me.
i went down to the lake and jumped in for a couple of minutes and warmed up. the lake was about 58 degrees and didn't feel too bad. i got out of the water and my quad was still aching. ok the time to get going....
and we're off it was now warming into the mid to upper 50's... there were probably about 40+ guys in my wave, kind of packed and i battled all the way out to the first buoy, which took a lot of energy. after the first buoy i got in a groove and that continued to the next buoy, and then to the shore. coming out of the water my sister informed my that i was about 15th... not too bad. jogging to my bike i could tell my quad was going to be an issue for the rest of the day.
T1.. quick.. bike shose strapped to pedals... in and out.
Bike:
got my feet in my shoes and started hammering on the 2 lap (6 miles each) course that included a lot of short hills. i was just ingoring my nagging leg and hammering and feeling good. i got to about mile 3 and there was a quick downhill, then sharp right, then steep climbing. i didnt have a chance to check out the course before hand and jacked up my gearing. i didn't down shift to my small ring in time and then i couldn't down shift... i was stuck on the big ring and then my chain came off... crap.. .bike .. killing me again. got my chain back on and then back on the road and up to speed in about 30 seconds after getting passed by a couple of guys. now my right quad was also knotting up...CRAP....9 miles to go. i just continued to give everything i had just trying to not think about the pain. i ended up passing a couple of guys and closed in on the leaders.
T2:
i got confuesed couldn't find my rack for a second, and my feet were completely numb. other than that i was in and out. as i was leaving T2 my sister told me that there were only 8 pople ahead of me. WHAT!?! i thought i was deeper than that.
RUN:
finally... not how i pictured it though, with both of my quads now feeling like somebody was stabbing me. i went out fast and didn't hold back passed a few of the guys ahead of me, the course was unexpectedly hilly. by the end i was all alone so i had no idea what place i was in, and there were some PRO/ELITE guys in the race, and in my wave, so i had no idea where i was in my AG.
The aftermath:
1:11:03
2nd in AG (25-29), 5th overall... i am stoked! First in my AG was 1:08:30, and he was some sponsored guy that i talked to afterwards. he rode for elite, powerbar, and zipp. The firest overall Eilte was in around 1:03. i don't know my splits yet but i am pretty sure my i was running about 5:30 miles and i know i could have been faster if my quads weren't killing me
i am not sure what happened with my quads. i think it was due to it being cold and not drinking enough water before hand. i drank 3 cups of coffee (stupid), becuase the hotel for some reason did not have any hot water at 5am and i am a wimp.
Saturday, April 01, 2006
saturday 4.1.2006 - can't sleep
it's saturday morning and it's now about 6:40am. I have been up for an hour. my body is completely programmed to get up early. no matter how hard i try there is no way i can sleep in. i feel completely fresh after a 3050 yard swim yesterday and a core workout. so i guess that's a good sign.
i drove up to my sisters house in LA last night and i am just taking it easy today... it's raining... again. i was going to go on an easy 3 mile run this morning, but since it's raining i am going to head out and run some errands with my sister. she wants to get out of LA for the weekend so my sister, my nephew, and I are going to head out to san dimas, check out lake bonelli, and snag a hotel for the night.
i can't stop thinking about the race tomorrow. i really keep thinking about the run. it's like when i think about the whole race, it's just a race to get to the run. then i have it covered. i like swimming, and a really like cycling, but running... i love it. my next post will be a race report. time for more coffee.
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