Sunday, November 30, 2008

time to get back to work...

My aunt Nancy and uncle Rick hosted Thanksgiving. Good times as always!


First of all Thanksgiving with my family was awesome! Plenty of good times and way too much good food. Beth continued to impress my family with her healthy concoctions.

the fam, food, & wine.


the champ. she's pretty awesome.


my uncles dinner plate.


It lead to this.


and then he rallied to join us for post clean up/dinner walk to work off all that food. Keep the foot on the gas uncle Rick.


On Saturday Beth and I headed out to Topanga State Park for the Xterra Turkey Trot 15k. Beth was able to get into the race but Lucho had imposed a heartrate cap for her which meant no going above LT on the on the climbs. The race started with 2.5 miles straight up so I couldn't see how this was possible.


pre-race. trying to stay warm.


I warmed up for 20 minutes and got a good sweat going eventhough it was stil kind of cold. I got to the line with 5 minutes to spare and then they said the race was going to be delayed 10 minutes. The sweat quickly turned to chills and my muscles were getting tight. 15 minutes later we were ready to go. I got right in front next pro triathlete Chris Foster and a coule of local guys that had won the race before.

A bunch of guys went really hard off the line right into the 2.5 mile climb and I let things shake out. About 200 yards in it was down to just four us pushing up the climb. Chris Foster went off the front, and it was me and the guy that won last year shoulder to shoulder, and we were able to pull away and create a good gap on the rest of the field.

Then we hit the single track descent and at mile 3 my race was all but over. I felt great but my quads were not liking the descending and were on the verge of totally locking up. Then right as I passed the 3 mile marker both my quads and IT bands totally seized up. I stopped to try and stretch, walked, shuffled, and just tried to keep moving... but it was slow. It took a while for people to catch. Frist was my friend Pat Baldwin and then it was Jon Toker of Saltstick, who ironcially enough gave me a saltstick cap in hopes that it would help. Nice guy.

I finally exited the single track walked through aid station at mile 4. I was done, but had to finish the race to get back to the start. So I ran/jogged the ups and shuffled the downs. I was able to keep it together enough to finish, and ended getting passed by quite a few guys on the final steep fire road descents. It was brutal but I still had fun cheering they guys on that were passing me by giving them time splits and telling to catch the guys ahead of them.

So the turkey trot was just that... I definitely trotted the last 6 miles. I finished the 15k in 1:17 and that's about 15-20 minutes slower than if I could have run the whole thing. I am not sure why my quads locked up. Nutrition/hydration was typical, my body felt great, I was able to nail the climbs. The only thing I can think if is getting warmed, then getting cold, and then going hard right off the gun for 3 miles kind of shocked my muscles.

post-race. stoked it was over.


No worries though... I have the Las Vegas Half Marathon next weekend and then the next race in the Xterra Series on 12/14. It's on!

Beth had a good race... even with a HR cap. check out her report.

This week brings a little more structure to my training. I will actually be getting back in the pool a couple of times a week from now on, making sure I get in two rides (I have not been on my mountain bike since my last lap of the 12 hour race), and keep pumping the running volume up. I am loving the running!

9 comments:

MarkyV said...

you look good in pink

ll said...

yeah I was about to echo "the fastracedudé" on that one! do I have to come down to SD to get one of those?

runninggunner said...

Too bad about the race. Vegas should be good times this weekend.

Luke said...

to many pre-race brews? happens every time in the off-season ;^)

sometimes the body is unexplainable...if that is a word?

Lucho said...

Did you sit a ton before the race? In the few days leading up if you sat more than normal, particularly in a car, your hips tighten. Then everything goes south.. literally. Hips affect the glutes which tighten the quads which kill your IT bands.
Next weekend you want to make sure to straighten your legs out a lot during the drive to Sin City, try to stretch your hip flexors and glutes often. Then do a short run with a few strides AFTER the drive.

Pedal Circles said...

You guys should do some road riding out in the desert. I've got family out there also. Some good rides. Wide open roads and not a ton of traffic in the mornings.

Benson said...

Dude, blame it on that colossal plate of turkey and fixins you ate. Probably shocked your system good.

Cute pink hoodie.

TRI-ROB said...

Way to stay smart buuuuuuudy! I must admit... I'm kind of jealous... 4 weeks after Clearwater and Im ready to get to it. BUT.. I'm not going to do.. gonna get fat instead!

Breathe...

Sarah said...

SUPER BUMMER ABOUT THE RACE!! Dang.

Looks like you guys had a great T-Day, though. I love it when it's fun like that. :)