good times and great training.

I can't believe I just finished the third week of my first "build phase" and how good I feel. Training is going well and we had an awesome weekend of camping and training out in Temecula.
View from the "Damn Climb". Vail Lake, Temecula.

We got out there Friday afternoon set up camp and then I headed out for easy lap of the Xterra course on my bike and Beth hit the trails for a run. It was perfect. Nice and warm. Friday night we hung out with all the folks from the tri club, ate a bunch of food, and knocked back some beers (probably a few too many!).

Our home for the weekend.


Camping essentials.

Despite it being pretty damn cold Friday night I slept better than I have in a long, long time. I always sleep very well when I camp. Saturday morning Luke met me and we headed out for some riding before the Racers and Chasers mountain bike race. I ended up with two laps of the Xterra course and one the Racers and Chasers course. Nothing like getting in 2:45 on the bike a couple hours before a race.

After riding we had a couple of hours to hang out, refuel, and get ready to race. The race started at 2pm and it was pretty warm (mid 80's) and not a cloud in the sky. Eight people lined up for the start of the Expert race (3 laps/18 miles) and I knew it was going to be tough. Robert, pro mtb'r and race director, was on the start line too. He wasn't racing against us but I knew he would definitely set a pretty gnarly tempo... the guy is mega fast.

The race played out a little differently than the last one. About halfway through the first lap Robert and the guy leading the race were pulling away. I was sitting in the 4th and right on third places wheel. I didn't want to try and get to the leader just yet, but put a move on third place when we got to the steep climbing and was able to get a good gap. I finished the first lap alone in second place and quite a ways back from the leader so it was time to work.

working hard up one the short steep climbs chasing the leader.


I just went hard and didn't let up and eventually caught the leader 3/4's of the way through the 2nd lap. I stayed on his wheel and put on the pressure. I could kind of tell he was getting tired and I was making him ride harder than he wanted to. He kind of blew it on a turn and I made my move and hammered by and didn't let up. I was able to get a really good gap and finished that lap in the lead. I continued to build my lead through the final lap and held on the for the win. I am definitely happy with the race and pretty shocked how much I still had in my legs after the hard week of training.



Saturday night we hung out with the tri club and ate a lot of food. It was pretty cold Friday night and Beth didn't sleep well so we packed it and decided to head home Saturday night.

We slept in on Sunday morning and then headed out for a long run on trails. I was pretty tired at the beginning but then came around. Nothing like 75 degrees, sun, 12 miles, and 2500 ft of climbing on a Sunday morning. With about 2 miles to go I was descending the single track and absolutely ate shit! Seriously. I tripped and hit the ground hard. My garmin flew off my wrist and my water bottle went flying into the bushes. I was in shock for a second and assesed the damage. Nothing too bad. Scraped up hand and both knees were bleeding. I didn't hurt but was just more of hassle. I got some pretty sweet looks finishing my run as I passed hikers and kids playing with blood stream down both my legs.




The rest of Sunday was spent relaxing and eating some killer salads on the beach for dinner with the champ.


grilled shrimp salads.


wine in plastic cups... that's how we roll.


This week is a much needed recovery week. I'll be keeping up with some of the intensity but cutting back on the volume. I want to make sure I fully recover from these last 3 weeks of quality training.