Weekend recap and Castaic Race Report

It's Monday... and the weekend flew by. Beth and I both took the day off today it was good to sleep in... we both needed it for sure! The weather was summer-like this weekend and here's how it went down.

Friday.

I was up early to get in a 2 hour mountain bike ride with some VO2 intervals. It was warm up on the trails and it felt great to sweat my ass off. Then it was off to work and I was able to squeeze in a 40 minute swim between meetings. It was a late night of work and I didn't get out of there until around 830pm... gotta love it!

Saturday.

Beth and I were up early to head down to the TCSD club race. We were on "beth time"(which means show up 20 minutes before the start, rush around, get in a 5 minute, and then throw down). I was just going to do the swim so I was just cruising and talking with everybody. I think I warmed up for 1 minute and then before I knew it they were counting down. I had a good swim and maintained contact with the 2nd lead pack (2 U23 Team USA guys were off the front) and I came out of the water with the top 10. I was happy with it but definitely noticed the difference of not properly warming up in the water beforehand. Lesson learned.

Beth had a good race and was the 5th woman overall and just a couple minutes off the leader. Not bad for not swimming in a month and just starting to ramp up here bike mileage and training.

Later on in the afternoon we headed up to my sisters house in LA, grabbed some good dinner at the California Chicken Cafe, relaxed, and watched "Running on the Sun: The Badwater 135". Ultrarunners are nuts... and I think all the people in this movie fried their brains out on the desert roads. Very strange.

Sunday.

I was up at 6am to start getting ready to head up to Castaic Lake for the Big Blue Off Road Triathlon... gotta love 10 am starts!

We were on the road by 7am and at the race site by 7:45am. The sun was blazing and it was already in the 70's. Perfect! I got checked in and ready to race while Beth set out for a 2 hour trail run with plenty of climbing. She's gnarly... and by gnarly I mean awesome! Unfortunately, due to not having the permits soon enough, the race was not an official Xterra points race this year so the number of races was down. Regardless of how many people were racing I knew it would be tough... the course is F'n hard and perfect prep for Temecula.

getting ready for the swim.


Swim: 1200 meters (supposedly 2 x 600m laps with a 50 yard run in between. It was long, closer to 1500. I found this out after talking with the race director)

One of my goals for this race was to swim "hard" and not the let the leaders get away... and for once I did a pretty good job. One guy took off and me and a couple of other guys formed the second pack. I stayed on someone's feet for half of the first lap and then moved up. I was in second for a while and ended up third after the first lap. I stayed there throughout the second lap and came out of the water in 3rd. Solid and stoked!

end of lap 1.


3rd out of the water.


Bike (2 x 8 mile laps):
I passed a guy in transition and was out on the bike in second and about 2 minutes down. I settled in and started to "do work". I caught the leader 3/4's of the way up the first set of climbs and just pushed the pace. I was able to open up a gap and never backed off. It was hot and there was a lot of climbing but I felt pretty strong even with a hard week of training in the legs. I came into T2 up about 2-3 minutes over second place.

heading into T2.


Hitting the run... and feeling good.

Run (2 x 2.25 mile laps):
I felt great off the bike and my turnover was perfect. I felt quick and continued to extend my lead. After the first lap I knew I was had the win and just put it in cruise control. No need to dig myself into a deeper hole with another hard week of training ahead.

Overall: 2:00:10 (2:03:46 last year... and the swim was longer this year)
1st overall/1st AG


me and my trophy.


I am stoked about the race and with 34 days (ok... I am counting down) until Temecula I think I am right where I need to be. There is still some hard work to do but things are looking good.

After the race we headed back down to Carlsbad and hit up the Yellow Coyote Tortilla Factory for dinner. good food.


Ceviche Appetizer.


I had the Carne Asada Tacos.


Beth had the Mahi Salad.

Monday (today): Recovery day... maybe the best ever.

Beth's school was closed so I decided to take the off too and just chillax... We headed out on the bikes this morning for an easy spin up the coast. It was another killer day!

After that we chilled by the pool.

her.

me.

and then headed out for some mexi-food and a couple of drinks at the Cabo Grill.

A perfect recovery day.