a good start to 2010

so the first month of 2010 is in the books.  it's been a great start to the year.  just being married, new years in mexico, a killer party for our birthday's/wedding with all of our friends at wine steals, and a lot of good training both solo and with good friends.

this week has flown by which is always a good thing... at least work wise. everything seems like it's clicking.

i am definitely starting to feel the affects from my base and strength training. thanks to the strength classes at Rehab United I feel like my overall body and core strength is improving... rapidly. As a group we have been working really hard and as much as I get beatdown during the workouts i really look forward to them.

Next week they are offering free classes.  I high recommend anybody in the area that has ever had any inclination to try one of these classes to show up.  These workouts WILL make a difference when it comes to your racing and training.

I am also seeing gains on the bike which is what it's all about. the big gear work is getting a bit easier and i am getting up the climbs faster. I have two more weeks of base phase training after this week and they will be BIGGEST (in terms of volume) weeks i have ever put in on the bike back to back. if i can make it through and recover the benefits will be huge!

here's a screenshot of a "big gear" climb i did this week.  tough one!

Thursday afternoon i headed to Rehab United for a tough work out and then hung around afterwards with Trevor and the Skinfit crew to help promote Skinfit at the Triathlon Club of San Diego monthly meeting.  It was fun catching up with people I haven't seen in a while and talking with people about Skinfit.  Skinfit is hands down the the best gear I have worn in training and racing.  there is no way i could ridden in the conditions i have this year with out the baselayers and outerwear.

Friday was a mellow recovery day and I hit Encinitas Alehouse for happy hour with friends.  i was stoked when we got there that they had Green Flash Le Freak on draft... a great belgian IPA.

saturday was beth's b-day and she headed out to east county to ride with her friends and i got in a solid ride too.  i met up with trevor, eric, brandon, and phil and knocked the longest ride i have done this year.  great ride and a lot of fun.

i hit it again on sunday with Trevor, Jim, Phil, and Brandon.  I got in 80 more miles.  Great ending to a solid week of training.  I think it's the most miles I have put in a week.  The only bummer is that it was all the miles were on the road.  with the rain we've had the trails are still pretty torn up and I don't want tear them up any more.  I can't wait to get back on the dirt. 

I am really absorbing all the training i am doing right now and it feels good.

some random photos from the week.

BBQ Cobb chicken salad with grilled veggies.  one of my favorite meals.

Recovery week... kind of...

the weather this past was as gnarly i have seen since moving back to socal in 2003. it rained monday-friday with gnarly wind, thunderstorms, and even some hail. I just saw on the news that encinitas got 5.51 inches of rain. people were acting like it was the end of the world. i actually like the rain and while it's not a good thing when it comes to riding/training you just gotta deal with it and do what you can... and not stress.

so when i saw the forecast last weekend i talked with cody and we decided to make this week a recovery and not try to force anything.... just get on the bike as much as i could when the weather permitted... and maybe get on the trainer (hopefully not!).

I am very stoked to say that I was able to get on the bike everyday last week... and all outside. I heard everybody talking about trainer sessions or bagging workouts but I rode my cross bike in the rain, wind, and mud and had a blast. getting the cross bike was the best purchase i have ever made cycling wise. if i didn't have that bike i of have had to resort to the trainer (nightmare!). I also got on the mountain on tuesday before the gnarlier storms came our way.

some rainy day photos


then the weekend came and the rain tapered off. beth parent's, my in-laws (stoked just typing that) came into town for a quick visit. on friday and the wife and I threw a little post-wedding, pre-birthday party at Wine Steals in Cardiff. we wanted to party with all of our local friends who we have loved to have come to our wedding but the travel and holidays made it pretty tough. the party was mega fun. friends, family, good wine and food... perfect.

the ladies


the family


on saturday the weather finally cleared and i was ready to leave the cross bike in the garage and get on the road and pretty excited to ride with Dr. G... father-in-law. i spent the week putting my Orbea back together and getting it dialed in for him. so me and beth took him on a tour of north county and it was a good day on the bike. after 2+ hours they headed home and i hit the hills for a bit before heading home.

unfortunately the "in-laws" had to hit the road early sunday morning around 930 i hit the road with the wife... i actually tried to talk her out of riding to just lounge and watch football all day, but she's training for an Ironman, and eventhough it may be a longshot, i am willing to do everything i can to ensure me a Kona vacation in october. so i manned up and played sherpa for her 4 hour ride. after it was over i was glad she got me out there. it was a super nice day and good ending to the week.

as much as i like racing, riding hard, hitting the moutains and dirt with my friends on the weekends, i really enjoy the times on the road with beth. not many people get to share their passion for sports with their significant others... and i know i'm lucky. 4 hours of good times and ending with coffee is the perfect sunday to me.

beth reaching into her bag-O-snacks


so yeah... it was suppose to be a recovery week but some how i ended up with 22+ hours of training time and 277+ miles of riding... sorry cody... just doing what i can.

a good couple of weeks...

yesterday i finished up what was probably the best 2 weeks of training i have ever done on the bike. i got in a a lot of quality workouts and the balance with recovery was on the money. I got in some big days in the mountains with friends, some strength interval sessions (ILT's, big gear climbing), plenty base miles, and also 4 (2 ea week) functional strength workouts at Rehab United. I am just following the plan cody has set out for me and things are rolling... they way it should be.

the classes at Rehab United are really going to make a difference. I have never worked so hard in the gym. it's not your standard strength workouts. it's sport specific and a bunch of exercises i have never done before or even thought of doing. the class wrecks me. during last thursdays workout i really thought i wasn't going to be able to finish, but brandon and brian motivated me and we knocked it out... and i was crushed (in a good way).

the first mtb race of the season is 2/28 and if i can keep things rolling the way they are right i should be ready to go.


the highlight of the weekend (definitely not the bolts game, so disappointed) was getting up into the Santa Ana's for a lot of climbing in the dirt. Ryan and i met up early and knocked out a sick route. there is so much riding up there and route options that you never have to do that same thing twice. i felt pretty good considering the big gear work i did the day before and it was a perfect day.

ride snacks. trying to stick to "real" food on my long rides. trail mix & dried mango slices


come see me!
3:57, 35 miles, 6959 ft of UP!


on another note... beth was in AZ for the weekend and made a list minute decision to jump into the Rock N Roll half marathon in phoenix.... and she pr'd.
Result
her training is going well and i think i am getting more excited for her Ironman in may than she it!

week summary.

2010 Race Schedule (tentative)

so i think i have the race schedule figured out for the year. it's basically just a lot of MTB racing up until september and then it's on to cross. most of the races are local or at least with in driving distance. keeping it simple.

my main focus will be on the Kenda US Cup West Series and the Team Big Bear Socal State Series. Then during the summer I plan on racing the Rim Nordic series again with Celo Pacific and going after the team title. The US Cup finals are slated for September 11-12 and that will likely be one of my last MTB races of the year before I turn my focus towards cyclocross. I will be upgrading to race cross with the pro/1/2's and am hoping to get up to bend for cross nationals.

and that will be the year...

this of course is just a rough draft and i am sure some things will change.

February:

2/6 - Boulevard Road Race, San Diego, Ca

2/13- Tour de Palm Springs (century)

2/28 - US MTB Cup Sagebrush Safari - SoCal State MTB Series

March

3/14 - US MTB Cup Race #1 Bonelli & SoCal State MTB Series

3/20 - Counting Coup Endurance MTB (or VQ), Orange County, Ca

3/28 - US MTB Cup Race #2 Fontana - SoCal State MTB Series

Apri

4/11 - US MTB Cup Santa Ynez Classic - SoCal State MTB Series

4/16 - Sea Otter

4/24 - 8 Hour of Hurkey Creek, Idyllwild, Ca (solo 8)

May

5/8 - The Traverse Endurance MTB, Orange County, Ca

5/17 - US MTB Cup Race #3 Big Bear & SoCal State MTB Series

June

6/6 - US MTB Cup Santa Barbara Bike fest - SoCal State MTB Series

6/20 - Big Bear Shootout #2 - SoCal State MTB Series

July

7/10 - Rim Nordic MTB #1, Running Springs, Ca

7/25 - Rim Nordic MTB #2, Running Springs, Ca

August

8/15 - Rim Nordic MTB #3, Running Springs, Ca

9/29 - Rim Nordic MTB #4, Running Springs, Ca

September

9/4 - Park City Point to point - Not sure of this one yet... bucket list

9/11-12 US MTB Cup Championship Race

Fall/Winter

Cyclocross - SCPS series and Nationals

Team Walsh in Full Effect!

we got back in town last weekend and eased back into normal life and training. then monday it was "ON" for both of us. beth's IM training is ramping up and so is my training. cody had the first specific interval workouts on my schedule since the end of the mountain bike race season last year in september. even though i was racing cross and riding a lot... that is all i was doing. just racing and riding... a lot!

i had a great, big week of training including two awesome strength sessions at Rehab United. I really want to focus on packing on some muscle and strength in the next two months before racing really gets rolling, because once it does there is going to be a lot of racing so i don't think i will have much time to work on building muscle... just trying to hang on to it is going to be hard enough.

i have also been trying some new things with my diet and nutrition, both pre and post workout and i really think i am making some progress. I have been working with the guys at Feed the Machine to really lock my pre and post workout supplementation, and also trying out some new during workout out nutrition that is working really well. i am going into workouts feeling great and recovering better than ever. if i can keep this up i think i can make some huge gains in the coming months.

the highlight of the week (training-wise) was definitely my saturday ride up in the Santa Ana's. I met up with Ryan and Luke and we got to work. we planned a killer route and the weather could not have been any better.

the ride:
4:42, 39.5 miles, 7795 ft. of climbing.


For me last week was pretty much a perfect week of training... in all aspects. If i can repeat this 2010 is going to be good one on the racing front.... i already know it's going to be rad year life-wise with my awesome wife and good friends!



mountains.

The Wedding

I don't really even know how to sum what the past week of my life. it was amazing and 12/30/2009 was the best day of my life! i married the woman of my dreams and having my family (both sides!) and friends meant everything to me. I can't thank everyone enough.




back to work...