Operation Mountain Goat: Week 1 Recap

heading out saturday morning.

It's on. ... Operation Mountain Goat.

I will be riding my ass of in the coming weeks with a heavy focus on climbing. I have always done a lot of climbing in training but I am taking to another level. Both Tahoe and Maui have a lot of climbing on the bike I plan being ready to attack them like haven't done the last couple of years.

During my "transistion phase" I was still getting in some workouts and that left me ready to tackle last week pretty hard. Monday and Tuesday consisted of some mellow swim, bike and run workouts just to get back into the flow of everyday "structured" training. Wednesday was my first hard day on the bike and it definitely left me a little haggard heading into my recovery day on Thursday.

Friday was killer. I met up with Mac at Moonlight Beach in the morning for some open water swimming, and the was joined by the Beth and the Encinitas YMCA Masters crew. The conditions were perfect and the beach was packed by 9am. After the swim I headed out for a mellow ride with Mac. Trainings and just hanging out with Mac gets me stoked. His attitude and dedication are "all time!" My homeboy is focused and fit... I can't wait until 7/20 (that is the date of Lake Placid and Vineman 70.3...can't wait to watch Beth race)!

Saturday was a mountain goat day. It was all about climbing Palomar!


pre-ride breakkie


When I need somebody who is down for some epic training I know who to call. Luke is always down and a great training partner. I started from my crib and met Luke at the base of the Lake Wohlford climb. We rode long and hard... good times. This was my first time climbing Palomar... and I loved it! I didn't push and just kind of sat it because I had no idea what to expect. The climb was hard and I got the numbers (power/HR/cadence) and it will now be my baseline. I will doing the same climb every couple of weeks to see how training is going.

recovering at the summit


The rest of the holiday weekend was pretty mellow. Sunday Beth and I headed out to the Ranch to run. There was a solid crew and my mission was to run with Beth at her "Vineman race pace". The run went better than expected. She is ready! After a big Saturday she ran great on Sunday. We ran most of the run with Patrick Baldwin who just had an amazing race at Ironman CDA. He won his AG and got his Kona slot. I love seeing good people and hard workers succeeding!

The rest of the weekend was spent grocery shopping (Beth's first Costco mission), eating a killer dinner, and watching the Olympic trials. good times.

grilled red snapper and shrimp, huge salads, and cauliflower "mock" mash!