Operation Mountain Goat: Week 2 Recap

OK... this seems to be becoming a trend, but I decided not to do the Rim Nordic MTB stage race this weekend. I went back and forth with it all week and I really couldn't justify sacrificing the training time or spending the money. It's 110 miles each way, I would have to get a hotel, pay for the race, and then of course money for food. It's pretty clear that it becomes pretty expensive and the fact that it was just a fun/training race it just wasn't worth it.

My second half of the season race schedule was originally planned around wanting to have a good race at the Xterra Mountain Champs in Ogden on 8/16. So with the original plan was to get in some racing between now and then to stay sharp. When I decided to not race in Ogden and I didn't change my race schedule. So this week I took a good look at my schedule and got some consultation and decided to bag it and just go big this weekend. I am back into full-on base training so a weekend of long workouts would definitely benefit me more in the long run (both Nationals and Worlds are in October) than going and doing some short and hard mountain bike racing.

So I planned for three solid days (fri, sat, sun) of training. Here's a recap.

Friday:
AM - Mountain bike: 2:16, 18.96 miles, 4700ft of climbing! I love this ride. 4700+ ft of climbing in just over 2 hours. Quality... and it's right outside my door.

PM - run: 1:02, 7.71 miles, 1400+ ft of climbing. After work. I did this on some same trails I rode in the morning. I felt really good on this run and pushed it up the single track to the top.


Saturday:
Road Ride: 5:49, 95.25 miles with a ton of climbing.
Big ride. I am trying to spend some serious time in the saddle and that's just what I did.
Here's the loop I put together. I have been mapmyride.com a lot lately to plan my riding. Pretty good tool. The ride was solid until I cracked about 3.5 hours in. Seriously I was over it and over all my nutrition I had with me at that point. I finally made it to a 7-11 slammed a Red Bull and a bunch of Trail mix. Eventually I came around but it was pretty rough for an hour. I just didn't eat enough before the ride. Dumb!

here's the route.


The only thing that got me through the ride were the visions of a giant burrito from El Caribe. The Garmin/Chipotle team may have their "Le Burrito" but it's got nothing on my burrtios from El Caribe!


After the ride I had to head downtown to show Beth's condo to a potential renter and then I was supposed to go to the Padres game with some friends. The game ended up being nearly sold out so we were out of luck. So I was downtown hanging out and decided to just charge the game solo because there were some single tickets still available. They were honoring the '98 World Series losing team and I really didn't want to miss it. It's the first time I have ever gone to a game solo, but it's baseball... all i needed were a couple of beers and some peanuts. Of course the Padres lost. They are horrible this year!!!

Sunday:

I slept in a bit and didn't get to working out unitl noon.

noon - swim in the work pool. Nothing too fast but I got in another 1000 yards with the band.

Pm - MTB in PQ canyon with Eric and then followed it up with a solid run.

mtb: 2:17, 22.46 miles, 2600+ ft of climbing

run: 40 min, 6.07 miles

Overall a solid day and a great ending to a killer week. The last two weeks have been gnarly and I am glad I am through it. I am pretty stoked with where my fitness is right now. I have a couple good sessions on tap for the week then some much needed recovery. I'll be heading up to Sonoma to watch Beth tackle Vineman 70.3. I can't wait.

Sunday night dinner... on