Race Week Update #2: doing what I can...

I'm still here and so is my condo. After a stressful. crazy couple of days things are getting back to normal... kind of. I finally left downtown yesterday morning to skies filled with ash, but the mandatory evacuation for my neighborhood was lifted Tuesday morning. I decided to play it safe and give it another day. Everything was fine when I got home. Everything was covered in ash but the fire never got to close to my place. I was one of the lucky ones. There has been some damage that I can't even wrap my head around.

I am now back at Beth's in downtown San Diego and I am all packed and ready to go first thing tomorrow morning. Our flight leaves at 830am so we will be in Maui by noon. I can't wait. I have quite a few images and photos to share from the week so I will keep the writing to a minimum.

Training this week has been a challenge to say the least. Doing anything outside has been impossible. The air quality has been horrible all week and swimming, riding, running outside would do more bad than good. I know I have had a good build up to this race and I had to trust that. So everything I have done this week has been done indoors on the treadmill, trainer, and the indoor pool at the just opened 24 hours Fitness right by my house and just enough to stay sharp and ready to throwdown on Sunday.

The AQI (air quality index) this morning:


a chart explaining the severity:


Here's what I have done training-wise day by day (planned vs. actual):

Monday:
Planned: Rest

Actual: Rest
I took the day off and just sat around with my feet up and did some stretching while being glued to the TV trying figure out what was going on with the fires.

Tuesday:
Planned: AM - Swim - 2500 yards w/ race pace intervals
PM - Run (San Elijo Lagoon) - Race pace intervals 3-2-1-1-1-1-1 (minutes followed by equal recoveries). 40 minutes.

Actual: AM - Run (treadmill) - Race pace intervals 3-2-1-1-1-1-1. (minutes followed by equal recoveries). 40 minutes.
PM - Ride (trainer) - easy spinning, recovery watts. easy, easy.

I had been feeling really good in the pool over last weekend and was bummed I couldn't swim, but was very pleased with the run. I read about mega fast guys like Simon Whitfield and Hunter Kemper doing a lot of treadmill workouts and have been wanting to incorporate them into my training. After this workout I will definitely be hitting the treadmill for regular speed workouts next year. I loved the even pacing and controlled efforts. The recovery ride was just to spin out the legs and I followed that up with some good stretching.

spinning away in Beth's apartment:


Wednesday:
Planned: - Ride (MTB) - short climbing intervals done at race pace with plenty of recover. 90 minutes total.

Actual: - Ride (trainer) - intervals done at race pace (threshold watts) with plenty of recover. 75 minutes total.

The trainer workout was solid. Having a Power Tap to gauge the effort is key. I could just lock in my cadence and wattage for duration of the interval. I also wore long sleeves to simulate the heat of Maui and sweated my arse off. I followed that up with some more good stretching.

Thursday (today):
Planned: AM swim - 2000 yards w/ race pace intervals

Actaul: AM swim - 2300 yards w/ race pace intervals

I was kind of torn last night as I was sitting on my computer looking at the air quality index. There was a chance it could be better in the morning and I really wanted to get in a swim. The YMCA is closed all week so my only option would be my work pool, which is outside. My plan was to get up early this morning check the AQI and make the call. As you can see from the chart above it was horrible. So I went to plan B. A brand new 24 hour fitness had just opened a couple of weeks ago a couple from miles from my house and they have a 3 lane pool. I have a lifetime membership (paid in full) to 24 hour but haven't been in over a year. So I headed and figured the pool would be packed because nobody could do anything outdoors. I was wrong. I had the pool to myself. Swam for 45 minutes and called it a day. On another note... the gym is killer. All the equipment is brand new, the pool is solid, and the locker room is huge. I will definitely be spending a quite a bit of time there over the winter to try and pack some lb's of muscle on my scrawny frame.

Well that's it for now. I just finished a killer dinner. Time to rest and relax. I will post again from Maui before the race. Here's some photos/images from the week:

This is right up the street from my house. The hill in the background is where I do a lot of my training both riding and running. Stolen from a news site.


The smoke-filled sky as I was leaving downtown Wednesday morning. I actually saw people out jogging and there the ash was falling like snow flurries. Not smart.


check all the smoke over the ocean. it's supposed to blow back onshore over the weekend.


cooking my post swim breakkie this morning:


the finished product: scrambled eggs with brown rice, spinach, red onion, mushrooms, roma tomato, shredded cheese, taptio hot sauce, & salsa. Fruit bowl on the side. word.


Beth coaching me through my trainer workout: