Operation Mountain Goat: Week 7 Recap

Base training is over. Now it's time to switch gears and really start hitting it.

After consulting with Trevor quite a bit last week on how to plan my build up to Nationals and Worlds he suggested that in order to get the most out of my build phase that I start my first build phase this week as opposed to taking a full recovery week. So I decided to cut the volume back over the end of the week so I will be ready to go hard tomorrow. Trevor is helping me out a lot and it's good to have somebody that you trust look at your overall plan and give you sound advice. He definitely opened up my eyes to quite a few things. Mostly that I need more recovery... not something I am good at scheduling myself, but that's going to change. I plan on going harder than I ever have in my "hard" workouts and then being more focused on my recovery days. No adding workouts... nothing. Just follow the plan.

recap of the weekend:

I got back from San Jose Thursday night and chilled with Beth. I woke up Friday morning feeling pretty shelled from my long run on the previous morning. My long run on Thursday was 2 hours and the longest run I have done all year... and my last run that will be that long. I got out the door kind of late and just got in some easy spinning and then Beth I went for an evening open water swim with the Masters crew at Moonlight beach. I felt really good in the water.

Saturday while Beth was tearing up in Coronado I got out on the road for my long ride. Instead of the 6+ hours rides I have been putting in this one was only 4 and I felt great. It's hard to believe 4 hours on the bike seems short now. I was just doing some recon to find a good 4 hour route for "build" rides, and I found a killer one. The ride ended up being just over 4 hours with 7500 ft of climbing.

Sunday was a big day and not necessarily from a training perspective. A year ago yesterday Beth and I hung out for the first time. That day we met up for a bike and ride, and followed it up with time lounging at the pool, and then went to Cabo Grill for beers and mexican food. It's pretty funny that a year later our Sundays pretty much spent doing the same things.

So what did we do for our one year anniversary? We raced... obviously! Beth and I raced in the Zoot sponsored Playa Del Run aquathlon (1000m swim/5k run) in Solana Beach Sunday morning.

We got to the race, set up in transition side by side, did a run warm-up together, and then hit the water for a quick swim.

My race went pretty well. I was just out there to have a good time but there were definitely some guys out there ready to throwdown because there this was the second to last race of the series so there were some points on the line. I kind of cruised the swim and just found some good feet and stayed on them for most of the swim and then hit the run. I wasn't sure how my run would go but it was solid. I had the fastest run split on the day. I was kind of bummed that the run split started right when you exited the water. We had to run pretty far and up a steep 50m ramp to t1 and I just cruised it, but then I hammered the run. Beth also had a good one, check her blog for the details.

Results:
6th Overall
3rd AG


After the race we lounged on the lawn at Fletcher's cove and then headed home. I hit the road for some easy spinning and then we headed out for a killer lunch overlooking the beach at Ki's.


Then we hit the beach for some more chillax'n. Once we had our fill of the sand we hit Cabo Grill for some happy hour drinks and then it was home to grill up some dinner and watch the women's Olympic triathlon. A killer day for sure.

I would have more pictures from the weekend but beth stole them all.

That's it. I'll have more training info later in the week.