not according to plan...

It's getting close...

Wow... the past week has totally kicked my ass. The race intensity workouts and final prep for Tahoe are taking their toll. I think I really put myself on the fence between overreaching and overtraining. The problem was that I look at the overalls hours and they are down, but that's really not indicative of what's really going on. The intesity is way up as I have been including race pace/intesity workouts more regularly to get dialed in and used to the "hurt". Luckily I believe I caught it just in time as to prevent and real damage.

I rearranged my schedule a bit when they decided to change the TCSD club race on Saturday from the "founders" format to a sprint out on Coronado. This race was originally in my plan, but I took it out when I found out that this was going to the be the funky founders race. So I was definitely stoked when I it got changed to a sprint. I always find that club races make for some of the best training. The club is filled with fast and fit athletes and as hard as I push myself in my solo workouts nothing can bring out the intensity like chasing some one down on the run. As much as I would like to duplicate the speed and effort in training I just can't seem to do it.

Before I go over the race and my current state I will recap the week.

Wednesday: AM - 2 hr MTB - hill/LT interval workout

Thursday: AM - Masters swim/Lunch - 1hr Run - Hill repeats + Lt intervals (f'ing hard)

Friday: AM - 90min Road ride - Endurance ride, some climbing/Lunch - strength/core/stretching

*I blew off an afternoon swim because the pool was crowded and I was tired.

Saturday: TCSD Club Race (1000m swim, 15 mile bike, 3.2 mile run)

the race:
Like I said before the race was in my original plan so I was stoked when they changed to the sprint. I got to the race around 6am for the 7am start (ended up being 715) and got my transition area ready to go. I talked with a lot of the tri clubs folks and was just taking my time. I was feeling pretty tired from all the training and even had a hard time getting up in the morning which is very rare for me. I just did a 10 minute warm-up and my stomach was off a bit and I actually felt pretty nauseous. I blew it off and headed down to swim.

swim - 1000m:
solid effort. That's all I have to say about that. Nothing special. I got on some feet, had people on my feet, passed some people and just really played around with my pacing throughout the swim. I would see a pack ahead of me and just close the gap to them and then cruise. I came out just behind the lead group and was happy with that.

bike - 15 miles:
I chose to ride my orbea again with clip-ons which I knew would defintely be a huge disadvantage on the super flat, usually windy, course up and down the strand. But I wanted to get some more power data (info posted below). The ride was good, but my stomach was giving me some issues. I "vurped" (burp + vomit) 3 times which wasn't fun. The cookies & cream powerbar didn't taste nearly as good coming back up. I was caught and passed by 5 guys total. The first was Matt Dixon and that dude is getting fast. He was laying it down. Then I was passed by a pack of 3 guys... a full-on pace line. It was just club race on a tight course so it didn't bother me, but there was no way I could stay with them and I wanted to work solo. I was passed one more time right before the finish. At this point Paul and Matt were #1 and #2 and there were about 5 to 6 guys between them and me so I was in 8th or 9th off the bike.

run - 3.2 miles:

I felt good coming off the bike and was right next to a guy I didn't recognize wearing a DC tri club kit. I had no idea if this guy could run or not so I just went after the guys ahead of me. I was able quickly run my way into third place and then started to work on reeling in the leaders. When all was said and done I closed the gap considerably but there was not enough course to get to the front. Both Paul (1st) and Matt (2nd) put together good races.

They don't have the splits posted yet but I will post them later. I am curious to see what I ran. Right after the race I met they guy in the Dc tri kit, Mathias Palavecino. He was just out here visiting from DC and came out to race and finished just behind me. He qualified for Kona a couple of weeks a go at IMKY and is one fast dude. He ran a 1:13 half marathon off the bike at Eagleman. I can't wait to see what he can do in Kona.

another killer thing about the race was that Beth was racing in her first triathlon. She has been training her butt off and was finally cleared to run after a hip stress fracture. She ended up winning... and by a good margin. I am stoked for her... she's going to be fast!

After the race I got in a 50 minute run and then called it a day. Later on it was off to a tri club BBQ which was right around the corner from house. Good times, good people, good beer, and good food.

Here's where it gets interesting... Saturday night when I got home my stomach still felt kind of of off and I was mega tired. I ended up falling asleep before 10 and not waking up until after 7am. Very unusual for me and I felt like I could just keep sleeping. I got up had some breakkie, coffee and relaxed a bit. I had planned for a 3 hour mtb in PQ canyon but decided to stay local in case I wanted to pull the plug. I headed out for the trails at 9am and was back at home by 930am. I wasn't feeling it. I was tired... actually exhausted.

It hit me full-on while I was making the first climb. There was no way I could get through the ride I realized that I would be doing more damage than good if I gutted my way through it, which is what I would normally have done. When I got home I laid on the couch and watched football and looked over my training logs. It's no suprise I was shelled. I had just done two sprint races in 7 days along with 2 other very hard bike and run workouts. I needed the day off... so I took it. After taking the day off, eating good food, and just straight up relaxing I feel very refreshed today. My morning ride was incredible.

ok... now for some very bad news. I was sitting on the couch yesterday afternoon relaxing when I got a phone call from Beth. She had crashed on ride out in Ramona and was on her way to the ER. She was descending going 30+ mph when a motorcycle almost clipped her and her friend and she went down... hard. the bad news... she broke her arm, the good news... aside from some pretty minor road rash that's it. She's pretty bummed but it could have been way worse. So I spent the rest of my sunday after noon hanging out in the ER watching the Chargers get embarrassed by New England!

It's nuts because this kind of stuff can happen to anyone at anytime... more later....

some random photos...

don... the man. he hosted the club BBQ. Good times.

Two new staples in my diet:

Fage Greek yogurt


Almond milk. Awesome in cereal and oats.