Taper time

This is the final stretch to the race. In a week and a half I'll be participating in the Wildflower Long Course Triathlon. You may ask how I am feeling.... hmmm I am a little nervous, but this always happens as race day approaches. Last night we had the last track workout before the race. It was another brick(ride then run). The evening started off with me forgetting the front wheel of my bike and having to turn back on the freeway and head home to pick it up.. urrgghhhh. Got to the high school a little bit late, but the group hadnt left for the ride. I was assigned to lead the elite group out on the ride. We started off with a pretty big group but within the first couple miles the gorup started to break up. There was a group of 5 riders in the front that I ended up riding with. We covered about 20 miles on the ride and as per the instructions from the coaches, we went all out. Back to the track and run 2 miles in 15:05. I was happy with the way I felt through the whole work out. After the work out the coach talked about tapering, and taking the time from now to the race to rest and mentally prepare for the race. It sometimes hard to taper after training day in day out all season. I am looking forward to the taper and working out very lightly. Today is a day off then we have a swim and a run tomorrow at Redwood shores...... :)

quick run with Jim

this morning one of my best buddies Jim was in town from London. He's from the US, but currently resides in the UK. We used to run together all the time when he was in town. Anyway, we met up with one of his peers Jill. The run went well, then Jim lifted weights after the run.

13 mile run on a cloudy Sunday morning

It was cloudy, but that was just what the doctor ordered. I met up with Shelly and her friends(some of whom I had met before and actually one of the participants from my team was there too) and head down to Santa Cruz to run the half marathon. This was the first time I run this race, but I have run in Santa Cruz quite a few times. The goal was to make it to the finish, at least that's what I thought, but Shelly had a plan - she was going to run for 6 mins and walk for 1 min. That sounded great to me, I am glad she had a plan. Usually I just run and depending on how I feel, come up with a plan. This is not the most effective way of running or racing. The race was going well, up until mile 11. At that point we were all just looking to finish. I was suprisingly hungry, that seldom happens. We trucked on making it to the finish in 2 hours 42 mins. This is the same time that Shelly did her first 1/2 marathon in, though this time she said she was a little more tired and sore. I am looking forward to her next half, I enjoy running with Shelly.

Practice Tri

Today we had a practice tri at Stevens Creek Canyon. This event is usually held a couple weeks before the race to get help with the prep for the events of race day. There are plenty of key areas and I'll tri :) to cover them as I go. Since the team is training for 3 different distances, the practice tri was an abbreviated version of each distance(about half the real distance of the race). The first event in the tri is the swim. For this event, I signed up to be a buddy swimmer(a support swimmer for those that need help in the open water). I started swimming with one participant but when we got out about 300m, there were 2 more that needed help. I tried to work with them all, but I was stuck because they were all at different levels. I chose to stay with the one participant that was struggling the most and swam in with her. Transitioned to the bike. My legs felt a little flat and I was taking a while to get into the bike. At one of the turn arounds on the bike I stopped to take a break and hopefully gather myself. Headed back out and felt much better, but had to prep myself for the climb up mount Eden. Almost to the top of mtn Eden we came up on a participant that crashed on the way down. I headed up to the top to call for help as Michele attended to the participant. The support car was there within 10-15mins and the participant was taken back to the park. The rest of the bike went well, though I wasnt able to get back out for a second loop. The run was the best leg. I ended up walking a talking to a number of participants that were out on the course. It's always great to get out there and do all three events(swim, bike, run) in one day and get a feel for what race day is going to be like. Tomorrow is a rest day, though I may go to Santa Cruz to run a half marathon with my friend Shelly.

slow week

from a workout perspective, this was one of the slowest workout weeks. Every night of the week, we had some other activity that drew us away from our workout. Then on tuesday night I started having problems with my stomach that had me down on wednesday. Thursday was a brick workout where were had to ride a 5 mile loop 3 times and then run 2 miles timed and 1 mile easy. the coaches wanted us to give it all we had on the bike. I did the bike ride in an hour and one min and the time portion of the run in 15 mins 10sec. I felt pretty good after the workout like I could have kept going. Today is a rest day and tomorrow is the practice triathlon. Race day is getting closer and closer.....

ride n tie

Saturday's workout was a fun event combined with a workout where we dress in costume(I had a hawaiian grass skirt and a couple lays). We had to partner up with a teammate who had to be about the same height because we share a mtn for the event. It's a leap frog run, so one person runs and the other rides the bike. The course is about 2 mile long loop. A long the loop there are special place items, that we could pick up for time bonuses. There was also an additional hill loop that was also a time bonus. We did a warm up loop just to get everyone used to the loop. During the warm up, my partner Rachel, keep asking if I had a strategy for the run - which I didnt. I had no intentions on competing for anything. We decided that she would ride first and I would run first. The bike we were using was small for the both of us, so it made it a little challenging to ride and riding with a grass skirt is not easy :) We did 3 loops with 3 optional hill runs/rides. We both had a blast though we didnt place, but it was fun partnering with someone I didnt know much about.

a sunny day coupled with our first brick

We had our first brick(a two sport work out eg. bike/run, swim/bike, swim/run) workout of the season yesterday evening where we biked for an hour then run for 3 miles. I didnt get to run or bike the whole thing, but it was a blast. It was a nice sunny evening. We havent seen one of those around here in a long time. Tomorrow, we are having a fun brick called the ride and tie. will give more details on this tomorrow..... :)

wed = swim day

swimming, you got to love it in the rain. Last night I really needed to get into the pool for a workout. It was drizzling when I got there, but that didnt matter, it was warmer in the pool than outside. I thought I was going to be swimming solo, but there were a couple people at the pool that I know. It's always fun to workout with people you know. Started off with a long warmup, then the dreaded kicks. The more I work on them, the better I get, but boy, I was tired at the end of that set. the drill of the day was finger to thigh - emphasizing finishing your stroke. I skipped the build set because it was getting late, and went straight to a long steady swim. After the swim, as I was walking out, there was a basketball league going in the gym - oh how I miss playing. fun times :)

swim breakdown
400m warm up
300m kicks
200m drills
6x75m build - I skipped this one
1x800 steady
100m cool down - also skipped

80 min ride - what??

The workout for yesterday was an 80 min spin at level 2 with 5 six min intervals at level 3. I was working late last night, so I decided to spin at work. did a 20 min interval, stopped and stretched. The 60 min portion of the work out went well, I was able to avg in the mid 90s rpm. The goal is to up my leg speed. I felt strong throughout the workout :)

fatigue & form

Monday was a swim day with a short run after. The warm-up was long and it included 200m of kicks. I have been working on my kicks, but I wasnt strong enough to finish the whole 200m, I had to cut it short, actually in half. made it through the warm up, to the drills and on to the core of the workout. The intensity of the swim workouts has picked up and we are now doing sets at a max effort level, or one lower. Just to mention, it seems like the Campbell pool is a lot colder than most of the other pools in the area. On the flip side, the water in Lake San Antonio is freezing cold, so I might as well enjoy the pool for now. The last set before the cool down was 8x50m at max effort. the first 2 went well, then fatigue took over and my form went out the door. I started focusing on my form, but that was taking away from giving my max effort. at the end of it all I was so beat, that I gave the best effort I could while trying to maintain a good form... 200m cool down and off to the track for a 2 mile run

first 400m - my thoughts: 2 miles are you crazy, I can barely get my feet off the ground
2nd 400m - ok, this is not bad, I am shooting for a 9-10min mile
first mile - 8:58, not bad and I am feeling much better
I pick up the pace on the 2nd mile, finshed it in 7:32

Swim
warm up 200 swim, 100 kick, 200 pull
drills 10x50 finger tip drag
1x200m @ Level 4(scale is 1-5, 5 being max effort)
4x100m @ Level 3
8x50m @ Level 5
200m cool down

run
2miles

last long ride - oh was it long

All week I was thinking about the ride we were going to do on Saturday morning. I was signed up to assist with the first group of riders then head out for a 50 mile ride with the Long course riders. I made it about half out for the first ride, but had to return to the Mtn View High School(that's where we train - swim, run and start bike rides) to start the second ride with the second group. The start of the second ride was going well but I was feeling a little sluggish. I was taking some gu at the time and we hoping it would kick in soon. This 50 mile ride involves riding up Old La Honda(3 mile steady incline), one of the better hill climbs in the South Bay. Strong riders make it up the hill in 18mins, I on the other hand take about 30 mins. At the base of the hill we took a break as we waited on the rest of the group to catch up so that we could start the climb together. By this time I was feeling ok. We just worked steadily up the hill - made it up in 32 mins(not bad) After this there is a quick decline, then another 5 mile incline though not a steep as Old La Honda. This was the killer... I was dying and the rest of the team pretty much dropped me on this hill. The rest of the ride, all I could think was I just want to get home. Pedaling away ever now and then I caught myself wishing I would hit a red light so that I could get a break, or some times wishing the light stayed green a little longer so that I could make it through without having to stop. I made it back to the school in one piece to find Michele, a couple of the coaches and some teammates waiting on us wondering what happened to us :)
took the day off on Sunday......

run marker sets

A marker set is a timed run of a certain distance, which is usually used to compare to a prior similar timed run or a future timed run. This is done to monitor improvement in time and perceived exertion(how hard one was working during the run). That was the work out at last nights track practice. I have to say, it was great to get to the track and the sun was still out and remained out for a long time :) We started off with a weird warm up run because there was a high school track meet that was running late on time. After the warm we did some core strength drills, I always enjoy this part. Then on to the marker sets. I run/walked with one of the age groupers for the first mile. Nice relaxed pace. Towards the end of the run I paced with one of the pros for 2 laps recording a time of 3:35 - which is equal to a 7:10 mile. Today is a rest day and we have a long ride tomorrow(50 miles).

did spring start?

other than checking the date on the calender and the recent time change, there is no way to tell it's spring time out here. Sure, the trees are starting to sprout leaves again, there are a few flowers popping up here and there.... but the weather, just wet and cold. I dont mind wet, but cold... ugh... what does this have to do with training, oh nothing, well maybe not nothing, more like a miserable time outdoors training. I'll stop here, or it will rain through the summer.
Training this weekend actually went well. Since it was a recovery week, the weekend workout was not very intense. We did a 5 mile loop on the bike and timed ourselves, and on sunday we run about 6 miles, trying to negative split the second half of the run. All was well, it actually didnt rain throughout the workout :) What's in store for this week....??? hmmm, we'll find out soon.