Swamped... again.

This week has been nuts... I feel like I haven't really had any time to relax this week. Between work, training, my roommate moving out, and getting ready to head up to Sonoma I feel pretty beat down. I have gotten everything done but the couple of days up north will definitely serve as a good break. While I was busy busting my ass Beth was frolicking on the beaches of North Carolina with her Family. After a draining 24 hours of traveling she is finally back in SD... just in time for another vacation to wine country.

Quick training update... Things are going great. I put together my training plan with this mini-vacation as a planned recovery period. I will still probably do some riding and running but will definitely be keeping it mellower than the past couple of weekends. My goal was to really challenge myself in terms of volume and I am pretty stoked with how my body is responding. I feel like I am getting stronger by the day.

With a couple of huge (for me) weeks behind me I am really starting to feel really good on the bike and run. My plan for the last couple of weeks has been to ride huge, run a a lot, and swim enough. Swimming "enough" is about 10,000 yards a week spread out over 3 to 4 sessions. While it's not a lot of volume the workouts have been solid and focused. No bullshitting! Since I am back in base training one thing I am really trying to do in the water is build strength which means a lot of pulling with paddles and of course the newest tool.. the band (thanks Trevor).

I'm also back in the gym for regular core and upperbody sessions. All the riding (big gears and climbing) and running (a lot of climbing in the hills) is doing plenty for the legs right now. It feels good to just be putting in the time but after another couple of weeks of base-style training it will be time to start dialing up the intensity. I should go in stronger then ever so hopefully that will translate into more speed!

workout of the week. Big Gear Intervals. Check the graph (elevation & % grade). All those climbs were grinders at about 50 +/- rpms. I alternated seated climbs with standing climbs and each were about 10-12 minutes. With over 5,000 ft of climbing in 37.35 miles this workout is definitely a gnarly one.


I can't wait to watch Beth race Vineman 70.3 on Sunday. She signed up for this race back in December and watch her build her fitness and confidence to tackle this race has been rad. I know she's going to have a good race... and then it's time to party! I will be taking plenty of photos and video from the weekend for sure. expect some updates.


OK... time to finish packing and to get Beth's bike race-ready.