Monday, December 27, 2010

The last week of the year

2010 is winding down with only a few days left. The off season is going well. I am almost back to my fitness level from April/May. The dogs are happy to be running more frequently. I think I have some of the fastest tri-dogs around. Here is a picture of tired dogs after running.



I can't wait to see what 2011 has in store for me!!!

Sunday, December 19, 2010

ICE?!?!?!?!?!?!?!

Have you ever got up to go for a run in the wee hours of the morning? I decided to take the dogs out for a run at 5:30AM. It was mostly cloudy with a few stars here and there. After 45 minutes, I noticed there were more stars and less clouds. I figured no big deal. That is until I almost fell on my face. The temperature dropped and iced up the roads. I changed up my stride for the rest of the run. I slipped several more times, but never too bad to bite it. I have never run with the temperature cooling during the early part of the day.

During the week I swam, biked, and ran a little more than last week.

Sunday, December 12, 2010

Rain and wind

What a crazy night/morning!!! The winds were howling and the rain wouldn't let up.

I decided to head out for a run with the dogs. I'm glad I took my floaties and flippers. There were several small ponds formed from all of the rain. The dogs had so much fun. Every time they came near a giant puddle, they attacked each other to claim ownership of the puddle. It was hilarious.

I swam, biked, and ran a little over the last 2 weeks. The See-food diet is going well. Whatever food I "See" I eat.


Keeping Vizslas busy


Tuesday, November 30, 2010

I hope everyone had a great Turkey weekend

Drank till I puked my guts out...

Swam some, biked a bit, ran a few...

Relaxed and pigged out a lot...

31 days till 2011...

Thursday, November 18, 2010

Status report...

Ummm...

I have worked out as minimally as possible. It has been nice.

I have eaten pretty much everything in sight.

The dogs are happy.

That's all there is to say about training.

It's getting nice and cold.

Thursday, November 4, 2010

Can you believe it...

It has been over 60 degrees the last couple days. Does this mean it is going to be a warm or cold winter? I am not sure, but I like having the sun out.

Fina hurt her shoulder the other day. I don't know how. She seemed fine after a twenty minute run. I ended up taking her to the vet. She is hopped up on narcotics and benadryl.

Kona is her normal crazy self.

As for me a swim here, bike there, and some running in between. I love the off season.

Sunday, October 31, 2010

3 weeks of recovery

Recovery has been going well. I took a full week off with no exercising.

The second week I swam 3 times for a total of 1 hour. Yep, that was the entire week.

Last week , I started running again. The dogs are happy again. We ran everyday except Saturday. I also squeezed in 3 short swims totaling ninety minutes.

Starting tomorrow, I get back into some form of a routine.

Thursday, October 21, 2010

Article in the local paper

NW Guardian - Oct 21, 2010

Running on Queen K

OOMPH SPORTS

Kona (Part III - Post Race)

I didn't sleep well after the race. I went to breakfast as soon as it opened. I sat there reflecting about the race and watched the waves. My primary goal for the race was to respect the island and enjoy the race. My time goal was 10hrs (1:00, 5:15, 3:30). I was very satisfied with my performance. I got a text saying I needed to buy the local paper.

West Hawaii Today Oct 10, 2010

Sunday evening we went to the awards banquet. The food was ok. They served beer, so it more than made up for it. We listened to Mirinda Carfrae (Rinny) and Chris McCormack (Macca) give a speech. Rinny was a little emotional, but what do you expect when you just won the biggest title in Triathlon. Macca was much more humble than 2007. I guess aging has a way of maturing us. Afterward Josh and I stopped for a few drinks at the local bar.

The goal for the rest of the trip was to relax and get some sun. I saw a couple of turtles. Josh got a moped on Tuesday. We went to a beach a few miles down Alii Drive. I tried body surfing. I got pummeled several times. I caught a glimpse of a couple get hammered by waves. The lady stood up with blood running down her face. The guy was knocked down by a wave. As he was trying to regain his footing, a bigger wave decided otherwise. The beach lifeguard came running down and pulled him out of the water. The lady ended up going to the hospital because of a possible head injury. As for me, the nasal enema I received over and over again caused me to have a nose that wouldn't stop dripping. I had Josh drop me off at the condo. I packed earlier that morning, so all I had to do was get all of the sand off me and call the taxi.

Going into this race, I told myself this was the last ironman for me. I chased a dream for 5 years and finally made it a reality. I think it is time for a break.

All of this would not have happened without:

  • Heidi Grimm - She wrote my first training plans.
  • XTERRA WETSUITS
  • OOPMH SPORTS
  • NEWTON RUNNING
  • OAKLEY
  • FIZIK
  • GARMIN
  • ROTOR
  • SPIUK
  • QUARQ
  • All of my family/friends who supported me through the highs/lows and swim/bike/run workouts.

Saturday, October 16, 2010

Kona (Part II - Race Day)

I woke up at 4AM, drank 2 Boosts, then went back to sleep. We headed out the door at 5:30AM. It was a little chilly so I grabbed my lucky Green Lantern sweatshirt. First stop was body marking. They stamp your race number on each arm. Second stop was special needs drop off. Third stop, I added my run drink to the run bag. You are not allowed to just walk up to the bag. A volunteer must be with you. Fourth stop, I added my nutrition to the bike and pumped up my tires. I found Elizabeth and she was ready to go. We met up with Josh with about 15 minutes till the pro start. It was enough time to stop and wait in line at the port-a-potty. I donned my XTERRA SPEEDSUIT. I made sure to apply body glide thoroughly. The gun went off for the Pros. We started 30 minutes later.

SWIM - 1:04.24

Swim Start

We walked over to the water entrance. I got in to warm up a little. I stayed near the front treading. They announced there will be no countdown. After several minutes of treading the cannon sends us on our way. It was mad chaos from the beginning. There were swimmers everywhere. I got elbowed in the goggle in the first few minutes. I treaded water to clear the goggle. A few minutes later and elbow to the jaw. A quarter of the way done and I get hit in the other goggle. I didn't need to stop and adjust since it didn't fill up with water. Every time I saw a lane to swim through, it closed up within a few seconds. I had a guy try to swim over me. I didn't let him. I made both turns figuring it was going to thin out. No such luck. This was the hardest swim I have done. It was simply brutal.

Swim Exit
T-1 - 2:50
I finally hit land, jumped up and started to unzip the XTERRA. I ran under the hoses and stayed there for a few seconds making sure I got all the salt off my body. This was a long transition. I grabbed my bike bag and ran into the changing tent. I grabbed SUCCEED! S-CAPS and my OAKLEY JAMES CONDUCT SUNGLASSES. I ran to my trusty LYNSKEY. I put on my road helmet and then headed out. I did a flying mount and was off.

BIKE - 5:15.37

Bike on Queen K
My hydration plan was to drink often and never let my mouth get dry. The aid stations were every 7 miles. This was great. I drank a lot. I grabbed a water bottle at every aid station. I drank a lot of water. I also started with S-CAPS every 30 minutes for the first hour then switched to every 20 minutes for the rest of the ride. All of my calories came from my INFINIT-CUSTOM FORMULA. The first part of the ride is through town going up then turning around and heading out to the Queen K. I knew to hold back on this section. It was really tough with all of the riders passing me. Once onto the Queen K, I settled into my race pace. There were packs of riders everywhere. I would pass people only to be passed right back. At one point I was stuck with a group of 20+. I dropped back and it seemed to be the same thing with groups riding up and passing me. It was good to see at least 20 people in the first penalty box.  We turned left toward Hawi. We started into a wind and a gradual climb. This was the hardest part of the ride. The cross winds were inconsistent. First I would be leaning to the right, almost at a 45 degree angle. Then I would straighten up as the wind faded. All of a sudden a burst of wind would hit again. (The coolest part was watching the Professionals riding in the opposite direction. I saw Chris Lieto and another pro in the lead, followed by Macca and a few other guys. Then I saw Julie Dibens leading the women.) It was like that riding up to the turn around and back. Totally Nuts!!! I heard Elizabeth riding toward the turn around. I was glad to be out of Hawi. We turned right back onto the Queen K into a headwind. I noticed my toes were in a lot of pain. I couldn't figure out why. Later I came to find out the road temp was 120-130 degrees. The pain was getting to me. I really wanted to get off the bike. I tried to ride on the balls of my feet while lifting my toes off the insole. It didn't help. UGH!!! At around the 95 mile marker I decided to spray my legs down with water before ditching and grabbing a new bottle. My toes felt a little better. Why didn't I think of that 40 miles ago? As I rolled back into town, I was mentally preparing for the run.

T-2 - 5:42
I pulled out of my shoes with less than a mile to go. I jumped off the LYNSKEY and handed it to a volunteer. I stopped at a port-a-potty before grabbing my run bag. In the tent, I dropped my helmet and OAKLEYS. I sat down to put on my CEP compression socks. It is a little challenging to pull long socks all the way up to your knees. I grabbed my NEWTON VISOR & RACERS, more SUCCEED! S-CAPS, my water bottle filled with POWERBAR ENDURANCE, and headed out of transition. I even took an order for a cup of cold water from the volunteer. As you can tell I was in no hurry to start the run.

RUN - 3:42.11

Run along Alii Dr

I felt okay at the beginning. My plan was to walk through every aid station. I figured this would keep my core temperature down. As for hydration, I drank water, coke, water at each aid station. I also took an S-CAP every 2 miles. There were lots of people lined up along the roads running through town and down Alii Drive. I heard a familiar voice yell for me near the start. I saw Beth and Ross along Alii Drive.I started to feel stronger at the turn around and started picking up the pace. I saw Elizabeth looking strong as she was running toward the turn around. I got to the bottom of Palani hill and decided to walk all the way up. I knew there was still 17 miles to go and wanted to be smart. I felt like the Queen K was never ending. I saw Macca leading the pro men and Julie leading the women running back. I hit the Energy Lab. There seemed to be no wind. I now understand the "energy zap" that occurs there. It felt like there was a machine making us weaker. Luckily this section was less than 3 miles. I turned right back on to the Queen K with about 11k to go. I felt a second wind, so I started to pick up the pace. I think I may have frustrated a lot of people. I would pass several people running then hit the aid station and walk all the way through. It was like the tortoise and hare. I was the hare. I saw Elizabeth again and was looking strong. What an amazing athlete. (She had her appendix removed five days earlier. She rode 5 miles on Thursday and felt horrible. She decided to start knowing that if her body wasn't up for it that she would call it a day. Every time I saw her, she looked great with a big smile. I was shocked each time.) I finally made it to the top of the last hill and turned off the Queen K with a couple miles left. There were people every where. I knew the day was about to come to an end. I had so much left in the tank. I started to speed up and later discovered my last mile was my fastest mile (7:13) of the race. I turned right onto Alii with 400 meters to go. I tried to pass as many people as I could until I finally crossed the finish line.

As you walk through the finish area, a volunteer puts a lei over your shoulders. I proceeded to the the medal area. They verify your number and that you finished. The medal is heavy. Next stop was a finisher picture then pizza. The last stop was a nice long massage. I lucked out and got a nice 15 minute massage. I waited for Elizabeth to finish. I congratulated her. We all wandered over to medals and took a group picture. Then back to pizza. They actually ran out of pizza. Elizabeth walked over to get her massage while Josh and I sat down.

I was done. I achieved a goal that I set five years ago, to qualify and race at Kona. This had been a long journey with many highs and lows. What next?


Finish


Kona (Part I - Race Week)

 
Garage roommate
 I arrived Tuesday late morning. It was nice and sunny. I waited for my bike box and then took a taxi to the condo. There were a lot of people out riding their bikes along the Queen K. I get to the condo and meet one of the roommates. There are two key locks for entry into the condo. I get into the first one with no problem. I could not get into the second door. I tried several times. Finally I called Elizabeth and the code they gave me was wrong. The stairway was narrow. I was sweating so much that I left the bike box down stairs and checked out the place. I had to open up the bike box and take up a few things at a time. Once I got all my stuff up, I walked over to registration. The condo was around a mile away from the race start/registration. On the way I stopped in Lava Java for a coffee. I got an iced coffee and big cookie. The cookie was awesome! I continued on to registration. They gave us backpacks filled with a lot of stuff. On the walk back, I saw Chrissie Wellington riding her bike through town. I was hungry, so I stopped at Basik Acai. They make Acai bowls. They are awesome!!! It is a smoothie with fruit, nuts, granola, honey, and all kinds of superfood ingredients. I spent the rest of the day relaxing.


My bed

View at breakfast

I did not realize there was a 3 hour time difference. I had to make myself sleep in till 6:00am (9:00 in Washington). The latest I have slept in all year was 7:45am.Wednesday morning I walked over to Java on the Rocks. This turned in to my morning ritual stop everyday except race day. I basically ordered the same thing each day: Large Iced Coffee and wrap or bagel with egg whites/cheese. I had a great view of the ocean. I walked back to the condo and got my gear ready for a bike/run. I brought both helmets because I wasn't sure which I would wear. I am a heavy sweater. I did a sweat test once and found I lose a little over 5 hours sweat per hour. I rode down Alii Drive, which was part of the run course, and stopped over to pick up my XTERRA Speed suit. These are the new suits that meet the new standard set out by WTC (World Triathlon Corporation). I met Glynn, COO of XTERRA, and his family. I also stopped at the GU house. They were giving out samples of their new flavor Island Nectar. My head felt hot wearing the aero helmet and it was only 9:00AM.  I stopped by the condo and dropped off the stuff and switched helmets. I then proceeded toward the Queen K. My head felt much cooler for the rest of the ride. I caught up to a couple of female pros (Hillary Biscay and ?). I also saw Norman Stadler riding the other way. After the ride, I dropped my bike off with the group mechanic, Adam, because I could not shift into the small chain ring. Then I headed out for a short run. I did not feel great on the run. I think the heat was too much for me. I decided that I needed to slow way down and that was the strategy I would use for the rest. Be smart. I showered up and walked over for an Acai Bowl (Banyan - was my favorite). Elizabeth landed and headed to eat lunch at Humpy's with Greg Kopecky. I haven't seen Greg since Steelhead 2008. He has since turned pro and racing well until he was hit by a car this year. It sounds like he will be back to racing next year. After lunch, she dropped off her stuff and we headed over to the race site. She picked up her gear while I swam. It was an awesome swim. I saw so many fish that I changed my breathing to every 4-6 strokes, just so I could watch the fish. After 32 minutes of swimming, my armpits were chaffed. Mental note - BODY GLIDE. After a couple hours of relaxing, we headed over to the HAMMER NUTRITION party. It was at the Kona Brewing Co. They provided pizza, wings, beer/wine, and even a goody bag filled with 2 new items (Perpeteum tablets and Fizz electrolyte tablets). We got back to the condo at 6:00pm. We were feeling tired. Elizabeth checked her phone and found out ERIN BAKER, the team she represents, was having a catered dinner. One of her teammates picked us up and we had a great meal there. I met several of her teammates. The house was right on the ocean.

Breakfast



Acai Bowl - Islander
On Thursday, I didn't have any workouts. I had first breakfast at Java on the Rocks. A few hours later, I had second breakfast at Basik Acai. We attended the athlete dinner. The fire demonstration was amazing. The food was filling. We ended up back at the condo just after 9.

Friday morning started with breakfast where I saw Bob Babbitt and Mark Allen. I had a few short workouts. I rode with the aero helmet. I was still undecided because I felt so much better today during the workouts. During my run, I saw Macca on his bike riding the other way. After second breakfast, I made sure everything was ready to be dropped off at the race. I decided on the road helmet. I figured the temperature would be much warmer on the Queen K and in Hawi. Josh rolled in around 1PM with a convertible Sebring. We headed out to Safeway and ate lunch. Then took our stuff over to the pier. As we are walking to transition, I see a line of people sitting in chairs. Elizabeth said they are the counters. They count equipment/gear that racers are using. A volunteer is assigned to walk each athlete through the entire transition area. This place is so unreal. We grabbed dinner at the nearby Thai restaurant after Josh and Elizabeth came back from team pictures. We were back at the condo by 8:30PM.

Thursday, September 30, 2010

Fina was dragging

Yesterday afternoon, I headed out for a cruise run. My legs felt great. I had the dogs on leash for 3 miles before I hit the trails. On the way back, I had to put Fina on leash. I had to slow my pace down because Fina was dragging. I sucked it up for 2 miles then let her off leash when it was safe again. I went right back to my pace. It felt effortless. 9 days till Kona.

Wednesday, September 29, 2010

Flat!?!

Yesterday morning I swam 3.2k. I felt good, but not great. The main set was 300 + 150 + 2x100 + 50 three times through. The base send off increased as the distance decreased. I was consistent through out.

After work, I cleaned the bike and then took a nap. The bike was still dirty from the race. I didn't want to spend several minutes switching out wheels and tires, so I decided to ride the race wheels. It was humid with lots of clouds. It looked like there was a good chance of rain. I felt good on the ride, up until mile 38. I saw a blur on the road. I missed it with the front tire, the back tire hit it hard. I hear the sound of air whooshing out of the tire. I stop to change out the flat. I had the new tube in the wheel. I go to inflate and air is not going into the tube. One cartridge down and one to go. This time I make sure I have everything snug. Same outcome, nothing. UGH!!! I am near the Texaco station in Ranier and it is 5:00PM. Who do I call? Ghostbusters were busy, but luckily my brother wasn't. What a total bummer! I was supposed to ride 3 hours. This is what I get for being lazy and not washing the bike and switching out the wheels after the race. Lesson learned.

I haven't inflated the race wheels with the new adapters, so this was good practice. It is better to have issues on training day, so that you know how to overcome on race day.

Tuesday, September 28, 2010

Black Diamond Olympic

At the last minute, I decided to enter this race and use it as a training day.

In the wee hours of the night, I heard loud rain. How could this happen? It was sunny and 77 on Saturday, only in Washington. The weather was going to be a repeat of the race from Cascades Edge.

I was getting ready to take my bike over to packet pick-up, until I noticed my rear tire was flat. I learned through several lessons to change the tube and not try to mess around with it. After a few minutes of messing around in the dark and dropping stuff, I got the tire re-inflated. This put me behind enough that I ended up as the second bike on the rack. I went back to the car and relaxed. I grabbed the rest of my race gear and set up my transition area.

It rained on and off all morning. I headed out for a short run to warm-up. Then took the LYNSKEY to get my glutes warmed up. With 15 minutes left till my wave started, I donned my XTERRA VENDETTA. Actually, it took me a good 10 minutes to get it on because of the pouring rain.

SWIM - 22:10
I started in the center. 3-2-1 the gun sounded. It was chaos. There were a lot of people in the mix. After the first buoy it started to thin out. I swam next to a guy stroke for stroke through the next 2 buoys. I made a move as we were rounding for the second loop. I think he went wide and never caught back up to me.

BIKE - 1:03.10
I ran into T-1, ripped off the XTERRA,  grabbed the LYNSKEY, and headed out. The roads were much worse than June. I played it conservative on the turns. The only reason I had the fastest bike split was because the winner went down.

RUN - 39:42
I racked the LYNSKEY, slid my feet into my NEWTONS, and stormed out of T-2. I passed a guy nearing the transition area. It was short lived. He passed me back within the first mile on the run. I tried to keep my pacing consistent. As I neared the turn around, I started to count 6 racers in front of me and once I came around I saw 4 guys chasing. I managed to pass the super swimmer at the start of the trail run. I heard a guy behind me in the distance with half a mile to go yelling, "On your left!!!" I knew he was moving like a cheetah and I was the antelope. I kept it together and held him off. He ran 4 minutes faster than me for the fastest run of the day.

I ended up 4th overall and 1st in my division. I biked faster and ran a little slower than June. As for recovery, I swam Monday morning and felt great. I wasn't sore.

Saturday, September 25, 2010

Deep into the tooth

I swam one of my favorite sets yesterday. The main set was 40x50 odds cruise and evens fast 1-28 on 50/40 and 29-40 on 55/40. I improved dramatically from the last time I swam the set in early August. I averaged 35 for the entire set. Last year I was swimming the set on 60/40 and averaging 37-38. I finished up with 3.5k.

I left work early to see the dentist. I had a cavity in between teeth. Lucky me. I love the smell of drilling on a tooth. The dentist said she drilled deep into the tooth. If the tooth gives me problems later on, I will have to get a root canal. They should have just pulled it out.

Thursday, September 23, 2010

Kona is fast!!!

Swimming fast without effort was much easier than yesterday. It required a solid effort. The main set was 3x100 on short rest followed by a 100 fast then 100 cruise, 3 times through. I some how mustered enough strength to descend the fast 100s. I finished up with 4.2k.

After work and a short nap, I took Kona out for a run. I knew Fina would not be able to run because she got in a long walk earlier. My legs felt a little heavy when I started. I stayed on the trails. Kona took off at one of the turn-a-rounds. She was gone like a cheetah chasing antelope. It was at least 3 minutes before she came back looking for me. The look she gave me was hurry up slow poke. I threw in several short bursts of speed and finished up with almost 8.5 miles.

Wednesday, September 22, 2010

Last long ride of the season

I had a good swim yesterday. It was an easy workout with IM and pulling. I felt much better than Monday and finished up with 3.3k.

After work and a nap, I headed out for my last long ride of the season. It was sunny with a few clouds. The air was much cooler than Saturday. The workout consisted of several short bursts of speed followed by lots of Half Ironman/Ironman pace riding. After 3 consecutive bad workouts, my power numbers are back to normal. It must have been a combination of hard cycling and increased running that trashed my legs. It seemed bizarre that my swim & run workouts were good and by bike workouts were bad. I am glad to be back on track with my final week of training. I finished up with almost 86 miles at 22mph.

Monday, September 20, 2010

Tired dogs and me

I was a little surprised at how sore my legs were from the run yesterday. I was expecting a slow swim this morning. I was wrong. I had a good swim. The first part of the set was 100/200/300/400 with the send off base decreasing from 1:35 to 1:20. The 400 was on 5:20. I did not think I was going to have a shot at making the 400 until I saw my 200 split. I knew if I held it together, I had a shot. I couldn't believe I made the 400. I know having sore quads and calves definitely don't make it any easier. I did the rest of the workout with pull buoy and paddles. I finished up with 4.5k. Last long swim of the year.

Look at how tired the dogs are:

Sunday, September 19, 2010

Less than 3 weeks til Kona

It rained Thursday and Friday. I thought the chances of me riding on the trainer were 100%. I woke up Saturday morning and saw some blue skies with clouds. I decided to head out at 9 and caught up to the group at the Dupont gate. I said hi and then took off. A half marathon race started at 8ish. I slowed down and tried to make sure there was plenty of room between the runners and myself. It was nice and humid yesterday. A good day for getting ready for Kona type weather. The only thing missing was another 20 degrees of heat. I rode to Johnson Creek, then Waldrick Road, then Texaco to home. I finished up just shy of 110 miles and a few minutes over 5 hours. I even managed to beat the rain.

This morning started with blue skies then rain. I swam just over 3k in the lake. It stopped raining for the swim. I lucked out again. I came back home, refueled, then took a nap. I took the dogs out for a run in the sun. It was humid with a little bit of heat. Perfect Kona like training. That is until mile 12. It started to rain on and off for the next few miles. I finished with a little over 17 miles at sub 7 min/mile pace. It is less than 3 weeks till Kona. One more week of peak training before taper time.

Thursday, September 16, 2010

A typical day in Warshington

I had a another great swim this week. Yesterday I set personal best for 200m free twice. I was very surprised. The main set was a 200 fast followed by 6x100 pace on short rest then 200 cruise. I went through that twice. I decided to add one last 200 and see if I could go any faster. I was almost 4 seconds faster.

After my yummy mocha frappe from McDonalds, I took a nice 1 hour nap. I did not want to get up. My eyes were telling me to go back to sleep. I knew if I did then I wouldn't run. I grabbed Kona and took her for a 12+ mile run. We started in the rain, a typical day in Washington. The rain was intermittent, so it was kind of refreshing. I didn't take Fina because she went for a long walk earlier. I lost 2.5lbs of water weight. Have you ever tried to eating after drinking 32 ounces of water/recovery drink? Needless to say I could only eat a small portion of my dinner. I ate 2 more dinners throughout the night.

Wednesday, September 15, 2010

Easy swim, biking backwards

Yesterday I swam an easy 3.5k. The workout was mostly IM and pulling. Nothing too special.

After work, I headed out for a 3.5 hour ride. I was feeling pretty good about the workout until I looked at my power meter. My numbers pointed to the fact that I was biking backwards. This is 2 consecutive bike workouts that fall in the category of poop. I guess it is the combination of peak training and sleep or lack of quality sleep. I chose not to focus on the numbers and go with perceived effort. I finished up with 76 miles at almost 22mph.

Tuesday, September 14, 2010

Longest swim...

I did not sleep well Sunday night. Actually I couldn't sleep. I finally fell asleep at 3AM. In the past, this meant I was over training. What doesn't make sense, I had a great swim later in the afternoon. I was not expecting to have a great swim because my legs were sore from the bike and run over the weekend.

I can't believe how much faster my aerobic pace has increased. The main set was (100, 100, 200), 4 times through. The first 100 send descended each round, the second 100 was on a short rest send-off, and the 200 was on a short rest send-off. The last set was basically short rest for everything. It was a really good set to be able to negative split with fast 200s at the end. After that set, there was 800 of cruise efforts. Then I finished up with 4x200 pull with paddles. I did these on 2:50. I was able to descend all 4. I finished up with 5k of swimming. The longest swim of the season.

Sunday, September 12, 2010

Longest run...

This was my longest run of the season. I took the dogs to the bottom of Solo Point and back. Fina struggled after 5 miles and it was 6 miles back to the house. I'm sure the climb didn't help either. I dropped the dogs off at 11 miles. I grabbed a new bottle and headed for the trails. I felt good on the entire run. I finished with 19.5 miles in 2 hours and 15 minutes. I snuck into the house and the dogs were chillin. No mischief. This is what the dogs look like after long run Sunday.


Saturday, September 11, 2010

4 weeks til Kona

I will be racing in 4 weeks. I am nearing the peak volume of the season.

Yesterday, I swam 4k in the morning. I thought it was going to be another tough swim. It actually turned out to be a great swim. The main set was 30x100s. I finished the set with a 1:08. Sometimes you feel great and are slow in workout. Sometimes you feel horrible and have a great workout. Most of the time you are somewhere in between.

Later in the afternoon, I attended Chip's change of command ceremony. Then quickly headed home for a run. It was dry for about 3 minutes. It sprinkled for the next 15 minutes then stopped. The run felt good and the dogs were very happy.

This morning I headed out for a long ride. It was a little chilly, so I grabbed arm warmers and gloves. I guess the summer is truly over. It was cold until the end of my ride. I love it when the sun comes out as I put the bike away. My plan was to ride 5 hours. There was nothing in the legs. My wattage continued to drop, even as I tried to increase effort. I know how Chip felt last weekend. I managed to get in 84 miles at just over 21 mph. The rest of the day I will rest up for a long run and easy swim tomorrow.

Friday, September 10, 2010

No nap, have to beat the rain?

I planned on taking a nap yesterday after work. I didn't really feel tired and the roads were still dry. I quickly got everything ready and headed out the door. No nap, I have to beat the rain.

After a long warm-up, I started several 2 minute hard efforts. The 1st & 3rd were a few watts over the goal. All the rest were a little under. I also had a low number that would end the repeats. No, it's not because I am looking for a way out of the workout. If you drop out of the zone then that energy system is no longer being worked. It helps you train smarter. I was close to the low once. Only because it is super hard to keep the watts high in a tailwind. After the last one, there was a short recovery spin. Then straight into a 20 minute tempo ride. I felt strong. I have done similar workouts in the past and fell apart on the tempo ride. I finished the workout with 43 miles, just under 22mph.

Thursday, September 9, 2010

The good, bad, and surprising

I thought I was going to have a great swim yesterday morning because of my warm-up was fast. This was one of those days that start well and go down the toilet very quickly. I think my heart was trying to jump out of my chest on the first round of 100s, 300, and 100. I decided to back off and just finish. Once I got to the last round. I took a minute rest and tried to swim fast. Surprisingly I was 3:53 for a 300. I did not have the endurance to swim fast with short rest, but mustered out a good 300. I finished up with 4.5k.

After work, I took nap. I fell asleep to the dogs playing. Kona somehow landed on top of me. Dead center bulls eye. I tried to swat at her, but she went into matrix mode and I missed. She went into the kennel to hide. I told her it was okay and she came out. I fell asleep for almost an hour. I woke up and could not find Kona. She was sleeping on my bed. That was a first.

It was time for a run. The weather stayed dry, so I was happy. I made a looping course on the trails. Fina is happy running at 7:15 pace. For an experiment I picked up the pace. Sure enough, she started lagging behind. Kona was having so much fun during the run. At one point she was sprinting and jumping at branches. We finished up with a little over 8 miles.

Wednesday, September 8, 2010

Pluggin along

It rained Monday night.

I swam 3.5k yesterday morning. It was a lot of kicking and IM swimming. I felt so so. After work, I went home for a nap. I did not want to get up. My motivation for riding was super low. I slapped myself around and finally got up.

I headed out for a 3 hour bike ride. I noticed there was very little wind and a lot of humidity. The workout focus was on improving endurance/FTP. I had to change my route a couple of times because of traffic. Mental note, start earlier. No naps at 2:30PM. It was a good workout. I averaged 22+mph. My wattage was a 2% higher than Saturday. Probably because I couldn't draft off anyone except my imaginary friend.

It is raining again today.

Tuesday, September 7, 2010

Blobs

Swam in the lake yesterday, almost 5k. The worst part was swimming through a blob of total nastiness. It smelled like sewage. I lucked out because it only happened once and I saw several blobs floating around.

Monday, September 6, 2010

Running hills

Yesterday, I hit the pool for an easy 2k. I assumed it would be a hard swim because my legs were tired from the ride.

I went for a run at 1PM. The dogs were super excited since they haven't run for over a week. I headed out to the trails for some hills. Lots and lots of hills. Short gradual hills, long gradual hills, short steep hills, and my favorite long gradual hill with a short steep crest (my slowest mile of the run). There is a even a water source for the dogs to cool off. Fina has figured out the run routes. She will stop and wait for me to turn around. Every once in awhile I change it up and she will sprint to catch up. She does not like to run over an hour. I dropped the dogs off 75 minutes into the run. I finished up the rest of the run on pavement. I managed a little over 17 miles in 2hours.

I drove south to visit with the family. My niece wanted to throw the ball for the dogs. My nephew was watching us and smiling. They are very cute. The rest of the day entailed legs elevated and chillaxin.

Sunday, September 5, 2010

Ironman Canda Pics



Riding with Chipster

I haven't ridden with Chip in 2 years. He was down in Florida tearing up the cycling scene. He broke his collar bone in a race and came back even stronger.

We rode out to Johnson Creek road. The winds were tough. We could not find shelter from the persistent wind. Surprisingly we still managed to average over 22mph. The best part was when Chip came flying by me after the last downhill. I was soft pedaling waiting and all I hear is whoosh. I laughed. He totally caught me off guard. He wanted to make sure I knew he still has it. We stopped at Forza at the end of the ride and saw a few familiar faces.

Less than 5 weeks to Kona.

Friday, September 3, 2010

Pulling fast

I had a great swim today. The main set was 40x50 pull with paddles on 45. The set progressively gets harder as you have to swim faster more often. I felt strong and finished up with 4k. I miss swimming outside in the sunshine.

Lake Stevens 70.3 pics

Tuesday, August 31, 2010

Ironman Canada Swim-Bike

My alarm went off at 3:55AM. I quickly drank 2 bottles of nutrition and swallowed a bunch of pills. I went back to sleep for a few minutes. We were out the door just before 5AM. Monica dropped us off a few blocks away from the start. That's what we thought until we tried to walk toward transition. It felt like we walked over a mile just to get to our gear. I set up the bike and headed over to a nice grassy area to relax and listen to some tunes. I don my XTERRA VENDETTA with 40 minutes to race start.

SWIM - 56:40 (1:29 per/100m)
I lined up slightly to the left. We were off. I tried to swim with Karen, but her pace was a little to aggressive for me. She ended up swimming over 3 minutes faster and was one of the top female swimmers. After 500 meters I started converging over to the buoys. I went around the first boat then the second boat a few minutes later. The trip back to shore was fast. We had the waves driving us back to land. The water started to get very shallow 100 meters out from shore then a little bit deeper. I  hope no one stood up there. I continue swimming. I start with a few dolphin dives and start running with high knees.

T1 - 2:09
I start stripping off the upper part of my XTERRA and let the wetsuit strippers pull it off. I ran into to transition. I put on my shoes, OAKLEY's, and start running with my SPIUK on my head. I had a slight disadvantage on bike placement. I guess my bribe wasn't good enough. I ended up having to run all the way into my rack then out and to the mount line.

BIKE - 5:13-16 (21.45mph)
I jump on the LYNSKEY and ride down Main Street. There were throngs of people cheering. It was a good feeling. I rode the first 40 miles in control. Once I hit Richter Pass, several people started to pass me. Luckily I am a good descender. I caught up to most of the people that passed me on the the downhill. I peaked at 50.9mph. I had shifting issues a few times during the seven hills. (On Friday, the mechanic from Bike Barn said it was the frame. UGH!!! Nothing I could do about it for the race, except suck it up and cross my fingers.) I caught the rest on the out and back section. I felt great. The best and worst part of the ride started near Yellow Lake. It started to rain a little. On the first climb up there were people lined up on both sides of the road. I felt like I was riding in the Tour de France. It was awesome. I probably even biked a little harder just because of all the positive energy from the spectators. At the peak it started to rain harder. The decent was scary. I think I used up a few of my nine lives on the downhill and ride back into Penticton. Combine rain, wet roads, disc rear, 808 front, 20-30mph cross winds. What do you get? The wobble. Have you ever watched a motorcycle wobble uncontrollably and then crash? That was me except for the crashing part. This is the first time I thought my chances of crashing were 99%. I'm not sure how I stayed upright, but I did. I passed a racer with 4 miles to go. He mumbled, "That was so f...in scary!!!"

I rolled into T-2 turned in my chip and changed clothes. I quickly met up with Monica and we cheered on Guy at the start and turn around. I found out I was in 50th when I came off the bike and 9th in my age group. My goal was to swim 56-59 and bike 5:05-5:15. I achieved both with only 2 days of rest. It would've been nice to see where I could have finished, but it's all good. Kona here I come!!!

Pre Ironman Canada

Monica headed out for a ride at 7AM. She came back after 15 minutes. The temp was in the upper 40s. We headed to Starbucks. I jumped into the Lake for a short swim. The water was rough and choppy. It was a complete turn around from Thursday. Once back to the hotel, I went for a short ride and run. There was a crazy tailwind going south on HWY 97. It took me 3 minutes longer to ride back. I felt good on the run. We watched a good movie with Ray Liotta and Andy Garcia. We dropped our bikes off 30 minutes late. We were the only athletes in the transition area. We were definitely a little worried. We grabbed some food for dinner and headed back to the Condo.

Friday, August 27, 2010

Chillin in Penticton, Canada

It's day 3 in Canada. The first day the weather was in the mid 90s. It has cooled since. Yesterday we swam some, biked a bit, then ran a lot. In between all that, we squeezed a small drive around the course. The day ended with some ice cream from Tickleberries. It's a must!!! They had over 40 flavors. It was delicious!!!

Today will be a relaxing day. We'll head up to the race and pick up packets. It will be a good day.

Tuesday, August 24, 2010

Making progress

Sunday morning I swam just under 1k. I threw in a few fast 100s before staff training. After training, I took the dogs for a run. I felt great. I made the entire run on rolling terrain. Fina was dragging after 5 miles. I think that is her magic number. As the miles continued, she drifted farther and farther back. I had to wait for her at all major turns to make sure she was still back there. I dropped the dogs off at 8.5 miles and finished up my 90 minute run. I felt really like I could hold this pace for an entire marathon. My breathing was so relaxed.

Yesterday, I swam 4.5k. My legs were a little tired from the weekend. I came up with a tough swim. The main set was a longer swim followed by 2 shorter distance swims on faster send-offs several times through. The pace I was swimming my 1000 back in the early part of the year was now my send-off for the longer swim. I guess I am making some progress.

Saturday, August 21, 2010

CUJO

A little bit of swimming, biking, and running has been good all week.

It was a little chilly today at the start of the ride. I rode the Johnson Creek Loop. There is a yellow house with a black poodle. The dog barks a lot and runs up real close. I always have my water bottle in hand just in case. This time he had a friend with him, CUJO. If you haven't watched the movie, the dog is vicious. I start to see my life flash before me. I stop and try to calm them down. They look at me and bark. I guess they decided there wasn't enough meat on my bodies for them to share. I averaged 22+ mph for the entire ride. Once home, I transitioned out and grabbed the dogs for a quick run.

Wednesday, August 18, 2010

sonic boom

I was throwing the ball with the dogs yesterday. Out of no where there were 2 loud bomb sounding explosions. Fina and Kona were completely spooked. Less than a minute later, it happened again. Fina and Kona took off, scared to death. I tried to recall them. They must have thought the world was coming to an end. At one point, I did not know where Kona went. I found Kona standing by a tree. Fina crossed a street and ended up under a laurel bush. She would not come out. I had to crawl in after her. She was still scared, so I had to walk with her for almost 600 meters holding her collar. My back was not happy with the angle. I later found out there was an unauthorized plane in the area while the President was visiting. They dispatched a couple of F-15s.

Tuesday, August 17, 2010

All screwed up

I took my bike out of the car yesterday and noticed the seat post was 2cm low. I guess the crunch I heard was my big butt pushing the seat post down. This morning I was getting the bike ready for a short ride. I found out that I was missing 1 of 4 screws for the seat post. One of the other screws was loose and about to fall out. Maybe I am just all screwed up.

Sunday, August 15, 2010

Wasn't meant to be

It seemed like this race wasn't meant to be. I arrived at the race site early. I found what I thought was a good parking spot. Matt Lieto, a pro K-Swiss athlete, parked next to me. A cop pulled up and said move it or get a ticket. Luckily I got there super early and found a good spot just down the street. I guess that is sign #1.

I set everything up and was back in my car listening to the Ipod by 5:30AM. Could listening to "Mad World" be sign #2? I headed back to transition at 6:05AM. There was still air in the tires and the biked looked ready to be ridden fast. I grabbed my XTERRA VENDETTA and headed over toward the swim start. My age group was the 5th wave to start. I lined up on the left.

I saw Lee in the first 200 meters or so. We were swimming side by side. The swim felt good until around 1400 meters. A guy in my age group came up on the right and as he tried to pass me, he elbowed me water polo style. It knock my goggles sideways. Sign #2. I stopped, readjusted, and then swam on his feet the rest of the way. I was 82 seconds faster than last year.

I overshot my rack. Yes, even with a green bike. Sign #3. I exited T1 with my newly colored LYNSKEY a few seconds faster than last year. I did a flying mount and landed on my seat. I felt it move downward. Sign #4. Lee passed me around mile 7. I was feeling pretty strong and thinking I can't believe how good I feel until I looked down at my chain ring. I had been riding in the small ring the entire time. The shifter said otherwise. I tried to get it to shift to the big ring. No luck. UGH!!! A vehicle driving the other way, gave me the middle finger. Sign #5. The vehicles on the course did not help either. I had a vehicle turn left in front of me, causing me to hit the brakes. Then I got stuck behind him and couldn't pass. Sign #6&7. I usually make time up in aero descending. Not this time. On almost every descent I had to sit up and tap the brakes. Sign #8,9,10,11. On the last descent, there were several cars and a crazy racer who passed them all in the opposite lane. Crazy!!! I almost wiped out on the second to last turn. I thought it was a normal 90 degree turn. It was more like a 115 degree turn. I ended up on the shoulder in the other lane. Sign #12. I was still a few seconds faster than last year with all the things working against me.

I overshot my rack again. Sign #13. I quickly racked the LYNSKEY and put on my NEWTON RACERS. As I was exiting T2, I dropped my water bottle. I picked it up and noticed the top was flattened like a pancake. I went to adjust it and the spout fell into the bottle. Sign #14. Even with the drop and pick up, my T2 was a few seconds faster than last year.

I ditched the bottle in the first mile because it was splashing all over me. Sign #15. This would be my first half ironman not running with a water bottle. It was also at least 10 degrees warmer this year. I had to walk through most of the aid stations. Sign #16,17,18,19,20... This helped eliminate the cramping in my diaphragm. I ran several minutes slower than last year.

I finished a few minutes slower than last year and a several places down. It just wasn't meant to be.

"There are signs everywhere."

Next up Ironman Canada. I will only swim and bike. Then cheer on all the people racing.

Friday, August 13, 2010

Kona thinks...

I woke up yesterday and noticed Kona facing me. She had her head on the pillow, paws straight out, and taking up 2/3 of the bed. Kona thinks she is human. Crazy dog.

The week has been good. Everything is pointing toward a great race. I'm so excited and I just can't fight it. I know, I know, I know I want to...

Wednesday, August 11, 2010

Krazy Kona

After work I went for a ride. I put up some solid power numbers for a 48+ mile ride.

Later that evening, I opened the door for the person who will be dog sitting for me in 2 weeks. As I opened the door, Kona slipped out and said hi to the neighbors. I tried to run out and grab her. They opened their door and Kona went inside up the stairs. I felt so embarrassed. I apologized several times. Kona came out after a few seconds. Unbelievable. Krazy Kona!!!

Tuesday, August 10, 2010

The K's of swimming

Yesterday my legs felt a little tired from the weekend of training. I headed out to Titlow for 4.5k of swimming. I swam better than expected. There were a few other high speed athletes swimming next to me doing a crazy long set of 1200s. There was also a girl who had huge shoulders and biceps too. My main set was 2600. Nothing too special.

This morning I swam 4k. My calves were more sore today. I have done this same set three other times. My speed and endurance are improving steadily over the last 2 months. I am looking forward to this weekend of racing.

Sunday, August 8, 2010

Yeah, no rain

My legs felt heavy after the ride yesterday. I wasn't sure how the run was going to feel. Especially since I started with a head ache. Everything seemed to work itself out after a few minutes. I felt really good on the run. Kona does not like to run at sub 6:40 pace. I had to slow down a little to keep her happy. Fina definitely doesn't like that pace. She was fading further and further behind us. It is nice to see my running is right on form. I ran 10 miles in a little over 68 minutes. That was with a 3 mile warm-up and 2 mile cool down.

Saturday, August 7, 2010

Didn't stay dry today

The weather was kind of gloomy yesterday. I went to Titlow to swim one of my favorite sets. The pool wasn't very crowded. The staff moved the lane lines over twice because there were only 2-3 people playing and several people swimming laps.The set went by quickly. I even lapped Karen's Team.

I heard rumors of rain today. It was misting a little when I started. The workout called for a nice long warm-up and several 1 minute hard efforts. Then a few 10 minute efforts at 40k pace and finally finishing up with 45 minutes at half iron pace. There was a lot of crosswinds today. I thought I was going to luck out on the weather. As I rode through Fort Lewis the roads were wet. It dried up once I got out to the ranges. I stopped at Texaco to refuel. I was going to ride toward Johnson Creek. I noticed rain in that direction, so I re-routed and rode the same way back. Murphy's Law said, "Nice try." It started to rain as I entered Yelm. This time the roads were dry through Fort Lewis. I stopped at Forza to refuel one last time. I finished up riding to the Chamber's Bay. I felt strong today.

It started to sprinkle when I took the dogs out for some play time. After eating lunch, I took a nice nap. The rain is finally here. I know it is much needed. I hope it will be gone soon.

Friday, August 6, 2010

Fire in the woods

It turned out to be a nice day yesterday, sunny and in the 80s. I went for a short run in the morning. It was just short of 4.5 miles.

I could not decide what to do after work. I was kind of tired and contemplated a nap. The dogs were still panting from playing. I opted to ride. The workout was super tough. The workouts the last 2 weeks have been challenging. I think it all caught up with me. The focus was working on Max VO2. I alternated between 3 minutes at olympic distance and 2 minutes and sprint distance over and over and over... I could not get into a good rhythm. Right before I started the first one at mile 2 of the TT route, there was a fire on both sides of the road. There were firefighters trying to control the spread. I did not want to inhale too much smoke so I quickly re-routed and turned around. This also meant that I would climb the hill by the bridge twice to complete the workout. You can never ride too many hills. Right?!?!?! As I came back by the fire on the last repeat, I thought I saw Smokey the Bear. I had to do a double take, it was just me starting to bonk. I cruised home starving and ready to pass out.

Thursday, August 5, 2010

Swimming on tired legs - round 2

I headed out to Titlow yesterday. I must have been a little stinky. There were 7 people swimming laps when I walked up. After 5 minutes, there were only two others left. The main set was four sets of swimming where the distance decreased and the the speed required increased. It didn't matter how much harder I tried, my gearing selection was very limited. My clutch would not shift into fifth. It was still a solid 4.5k swimming. I was exhausted at the end. Afterward, I stopped to let the dogs play for 20 minutes. I wanted to run later in the evening, but my energy levels were non existent. I stayed on the couch and acted like a potato.

Wednesday, August 4, 2010

Have you ever tried riding your bike fast...

My upper body felt a little tired on my swim yesterday. I mixed it up with almost 2k of IM and finished up with 3.5k.

I jumped on the bike at 2:30. I had another strong ride. The QUARQ powermeter has definitely helped with pacing. After the warm up, I had 10 minute efforts at sprint distance with 5 minutes cruising four times through. I increased my power output every round. On the first repeat, I had issues with sweat running into my eyes. Have you tried riding fast with sweat filling up one eye? I felt like Popeye the Sailor man. I couldn't stands it no more, so I took off the glasses and put them in my pocket. Much better. On the second one, I had a dragonfly get trapped against my chest. I wasn't sure if he heard from the coyote, "He would be some good eatin." I stayed calm and it flew away after 5 seconds. As I was finishing #2, I saw a blur of red. This guy was moving out. I bet he was holding 270 watts. He must have been military because I did not see him again. I finished up the last 2 while riding out to the bridge and back. Then I cruised for 20 minutes. The last hard thing for the day was a 20 minute ride at Half Iron pace with several short bursts of power. The smoke was getting worse in the Time Trial area. Either that or I was starting to become delusional from all the power I was generating. It was definitely smoke. I ended the ride with a little over 55 miles. Not bad for another day of work.

Monday, August 2, 2010

Swimming on tired legs

I wasn't sure how my swim was going to turn out today. My legs were tired this morning just walking around. The workout was 4.5k with the main set of 400, 2x100, 200, 2x100 on a 1:25 base send off three times through. My pacing improved each set for the 400. I am gonna have to start working even harder, if I want a chance to beat Lisa. She was only 17 seconds slower than Karen at their race yesterday. Watch out Lisa, I am gunning for you!

Finally a run 99.9% pain free

I took the dogs out for a 10 mile run yesterday morning. It was the first run in awhile that was almost 100% pain free. I looped around back to the house at mile 7 to drop off Fina. I contemplated leaving Kona too. She was still bouncing around, so I took her for the last 3 of rolling hills. I noticed she was limping around. She limped for almost the rest of the day. If she would've have just said something, I would've left her. This was how they spent the rest of the day.

Sunday, August 1, 2010

An article in the local paper

http://www.nwguardian.com/2010/07/29/8219/triathlete-has-sights-set-on-kona.html

There was a misprint. I did not win Cascades edge. I was 5th.

Vineman Pics

Hills, Hills, and more hills

I rode for 5 hours yesterday. The first hour and a half was mostly warm-up. I repeated the hill after the bridge 3 times. The first time was nice, the second ok, and the third ugh. After the bridge I had 4x20 minute efforts at Olympic distance effort. I ended up just past the Texaco for the first effort. I cruised back and refueled. I wanted to keep the ride challenging, so I rode back thru Yelm then Lewis. I refueled at Forza and then finished the last tempo. After all the tempo stuff, I rode out to Solo Point for 8 hill repeats. I could tell the 20 minute efforts zapped my legs during the first hill repeat. It did not get easier. I somehow managed to improve the power numbers. After the last one, I had 45 minutes at Half Iron effort. I was toast, burnt toast. All the work hard efforts left the tank empty. My little leggies had nothing left. Nada. Nil. Zero.  I completed the workout in 5 hours and 30 minutes and only 2 stops.

I took the dogs out for some play time. Kona looked like a major league baseball player. She caught the ball in her mouth, slid into the grass, rolled all the way over back onto her feet, then trotted back to me. It was hilarious!!!

Saturday, July 31, 2010

Swimming in place

Yesterday the fog was out again. I decided to swim 4k at Titlow. There were only 10 people in the water and 1 lap swimmer. The swim gods must have wanted me to swim fast. The main set was 3x100 fast followed by a 200 cruise four times through. I was hoping to swim a little faster. At least I wasn't swimming in place. I hope the swim gods do not bring bad weather for the ride.

Friday, July 30, 2010

Have you ever worked out so hard...

I am not sure what has been going on with the Garmin satellites lately. It has taken over 5 minutes on average to locate satellites. I know there are out there somewhere. Tell E.T. to move his ship, it's blocking my signal.

I went for a run yesterday morning. It was short and sweet. The watch said I averaged 5:25s for 30 minutes, running backwards of course. Luckily I had run the route a few times, so I knew it was a little over 4 miles. My internal GPS said it was closed to 6:45s.

After work and a nap, I went out for a killer ride. This workout had more rest than Tuesday. Interestingly enough, I had the same amount of time and distance for the workout as Tuesday. The focus of the set was improving Max VO2. It was 5x (6 minutes hard + 5 minutes cruise). I didn't realize how windy it was out there until my speed picked up. As speed increases, drag exponentially increases. This by far was one of the hardest workouts I have ever completed. I couldn't figure out why #2 had my lowest power numbers. I have to assume tailwind. I put out the biggest numbers on #3, only because I climbed up the hill from the bridge. I descended 1,4,5. I saw a coyote on the road looking back at me. He may have been licking his lips as he saw chicken legs riding around.

I cleaned up, stretched out, took the dogs out to play for ten minutes, then picked up dinner. Have you ever worked out so hard that your hand was shaking as you held food? That was me. At first, I thought I was losing my mind. Then I realized my hands were shaking for every bite. I tried to use the force even the Jedi mind trick to make it stop. No luck. "What doesn't kill me, only makes me stronger. Right?"

Thursday, July 29, 2010

Swimming in another dimension

I don't know why, but I felt great in the water yesterday morning. The main set was 3x200 on 2:50/2:45/2:40 + 3x100 on 1:40/1:35/1:30 + 100 cruise on 2:00 two times through. I can't believe how fast I am swimming right now. The crazy part is that my 1st 100 and last 100 of the 200s were the same. I couldn't go any faster or slower. That was a, "Go buy myself some pineapple upside down cake for having a great workout and eat the whole thing :-)" I finshed with 4k.

Wednesday, July 28, 2010

Swimming forward yesterday

I felt so much better in the water yesterday. I descended both sets and the effort required was minimal. It was and easy 3k with mostly IM.

After work, I ate a bowl of cereal, took a nap, then headed out. The focus of the workout was to hold Olympic Distance effort three times for 20 minutes each with 10 minutes easy between. My goal was to start off just under and make sure the last one was over. I performed better than expected. My first one was high, the second higher, and the last even higher. I negative split the last one by a considerable amount. It helped having to turn around at the bottom of the bridge and climb back up the hill. At one point during the ride, I tasted puke. I need to put a sign up in the kitchen kind of like don't feed the bears - DO NOT EAT WITHIN 1 HOUR OF HARD WORKOUT.

Tuesday, July 27, 2010

Swimming backwards

I ran nine miles on Sunday. Fina only ran half and Kona ran it all. It was a nice day.

Yesterday, I felt like I was swimming backwards. The main set was a 400 + 2x100 + 2x50 on a 1:30 base send off, four times through. Aerobically I felt fine. It really sucks when you think you are swimming faster, only to have the clock call you a liar. I made the set, barely. Another 4k in the bank. "Just another day in paradise."

Saturday, July 24, 2010

Have you ever sat in your car...

Yesterday, I swam 4k at Titlow. My main set consisted of a lot of 50s pulling with paddles. This is my second favorite set. Karen's team swam next to me. They couldn't figure out how I finished my 2k set faster than them. "To finish faster, you must swim faster..."

I got up early this morning and headed out for a solid ride. I opted for the Johnson Creek route. Early in the ride my handlebars moved when I hit a good bump. Nothing like sitting in aero and all of a sudden you are trying to kiss the tire at 20+mph. I felt strong until mile 70. I guess my body isn't fully recovered. Maybe it's because I started a little too fast after the first hour. I ended up averaging 22.2mph with good power numbers. Once home, I took the dogs out for a short brick run. It was nice and toasty out there. Fina was done after a 2 miles and Kona after another 1/2 mile.

After a few hours of being a vegetable, I took the dogs out for a quick toss the ball while I bake in the heat session. Have you ever sat in your car after it has been in the sun all day? OUCH!!! I think I lost a layer of skin. The dogs were done with their play session in less than 10 minutes. The rest of the night will be relaxing.

Friday, July 23, 2010

Recovering nicely

It was a long drive back from Monterey on Monday. I left at 4:15AM and arrived back to my house a little after 8PM. Traffic was good until Portland. I was tempted to park the car and get on my bike at that point. My average speed was 7mph for 30 minutes.

I swam an easy 2k Tuesday. My legs were a little tired. I normally take a big jump into the pool, not this time. I think my jump was as far as a 3 year old, 3 inches from the side. I dropped my LYNSKEY off at Triumph, so they could send it back. Russell Stevenson was kind enough to let me use his TT bike. If you want the best fitter in the area, he is the guy. I have been fit by three different people and he was hands down the best.

On Wednesday, I felt pretty good on my first short run of the week. Fina does not like running on leash in the heat. Later in the day I swam 3.5k. I felt better in the water. The main set gradually built up by decreasing rest and increasing speed.

I don't know where the sun decided to go yesterday. It was windy and cloudy, no sun. I ran a little longer. My speed is coming back. I am almost fully recovered. In the afternoon I went for a 2.5 hour bike. I could not shift into the big chain ring. I guess my body did not want to ride too hard.

Sunday, July 18, 2010

Vineman 70.3

The day started just before 5AM. Bi333y and I drove over to the race start. It took us about 40 minutes. I walked over and set up the LYNSKEY. I noticed my arm pad fell off. I did not have any tape. I saw someone with a big roll and asked for a piece. I was very thankful. I looked down at my watch and saw 6:13AM. It was 17 minutes until the start of the Pros and another 24 for my wave. I stood in line for the port a potty one last time. I started to put on my XTERRA wet suit and would have succeeded putting it on over my shorts (not my OOMPH race suit) until Bi333y spoke up. I have never seen so many people start their swim wave late. I must've counted 4 guys in the wave before me running down to the water as they were under 10 seconds. One of the guys didn't have his wetsuit on and the other wasn't fully zipped.

SWIM - 28:42 (1:30 per 100m)
It was a little foggy at the start. I started in the middle. The gun fired and we were off. I tried to catch a draft off several people. It doesn't help when they are slowing down drastically. There were several sections of shallow water. I had to adjust my stroke to stop pushing dirt off the ground. If you ever had any doubts about the swim portion for a half ironman, I highly recommend you sign up for this race. As I approached the turn around, I saw people walking. At first I thought I was delusional. I lifted my head up again, and there was a convoy of people walking. I wasn't sure if I should join them. I was swimming faster than they were walking.

T-1 - 1:45
I quickly ran up to my bike and strip off my XTERRA. We had to place all of the contents in a bag before we left. The bag would be transported to the finish. I grabbed the LYNSKEY.

Bike - 2:29.22 (22.49mph)
I tried to mount the bike on a hill. I failed on the first attempt as I tried to bike on top of my pedals as my shoes rubbed on the ground. I failed on the second attempt, see previous. On got somewhat lucky on the third attempt and made it up. If I were to do that different I would either run up the little hill or no put shoes on the bike. The course was nice and rolling the whole time. I started taking a salt tab at the beginning. At mile 30, I went to grab the vial and felt all the pills drop into my pocket. I had to slow down to get them back into the vial before my sweat dissolved them. I don't race well without my salt. The only person that passed me was the tandem racer, who was visually impaired. I passed them right back once I figured out how to keep salt in the vial. There was a guy in front of me for miles 40-50. He kept looking over his shoulder every 2-3 minutes. That usually means you are struggling and the yellow taxi is on its way.

T-2 - 1:57
I hit transition, ran down the rows of bikes till I found rack 23. I could not find my shoes. I stood there scratching my head. I overshot the landing. Now I know why I am not a pilot. I ran back and racked the LYNSKEY. I put on my  NEWTON shoes/visor and grabbed my water bottle. I stopped at the water station to fill my water bottle before I left transition.

RUN - 1:29.48 (6:51 per mile)
I was a little surprised at hilly the course was. I noticed Chris McCormack was riding around on a road bike. He said to me, "Keep it up mate." It was the coolest thing ever! I won't lie, I picked up the pace at that moment. I met Mark from Portland, Oregon. He was running right behind me. At mile 4 he said, "You gotta to be f.... kidding me." The funny thing, I was thinking the same thing. In the distance was three hills that seemed to touch the moon. We were either going up or down. It is the hardest half marathon run I have done yet. I smiled when I saw a guy running in a pink fairy outfit. I struggled through miles 10-12. I had to walk through each aid station. I saw Bi333y cheering at mile 12. She also threw down a challenge. Something about how she was going to outrun me in this last section. She was running on the sidewalk stride for stride. I definitely needed the mental boost.

I finished 6th in my age group and 43rd overall 4:31.34. I qualified for the 70.3 World Championships. I declined my spot because my focus will be for Kona.

After the race, we went over to a local winery. We lucked out there were 4 at one location. I did not like any of the wine at the first place. We walked over to Kokomo. We both enjoyed every single wine we tasted. We had to eat a lot of breadsticks to make sure something was soaking up the wine. After 9-10 sips of wine, we decided no more wineries if we wanted to get back to Monterey.