Wildflower Training Weekend

This past weekend was training weekend for my triathlon. IT WAS AWESOME. We went to Lake San Antonio, camped in the site we'll be camping at, swam the distance we'll be swimming, then biked the actual course.  That night we had a catered pasta dinner, heard stories from honorees, and had some entertainment in the form of two skits from my team Captains and Mentors, and the East Bay team. Ours was obviously better. Sunday was an optional swim, at 7:30am, which i didn't do, and then the actual run course.

So Saturday: Swim 1.5km.  The water was beautiful, especially in a wetsuit.  I finished that in 29'42".  Sweet. My goal for race day was sub 30' so it'll only get better in the next 5 weeks.

We then went directly into the bike like we will do for the race, and i finished the 40km in 1:48'24". Sweet. My goal was sub 2 hours for the race, which means if i get some good hill workouts in in the next 5 weeks that will drop too.

The run on Sunday was a little tougher than i expected, but we did have one hell of a party saturday night, and i was on the championship flip cup team, so i wasn't exactly fully hydrated, but i finished the 10km in 57'34" which is 9:16 pace with walking and water stops.  SWEET. so my goal of sub 3:30 for the entire race has already been beaten! Even taking into account a 10' combined transition time, i'm still under 3:30.  So my new goal is sub 3:15.  And I'm going to do it.

I'm hooked on triathlon.  I can't wait to keep training, push myself hard these next few weeks, have a good taper before the race, and surpass my goal.

Speaking of goal surpassing, you can help me surpass my fundraising goal!  Only 16 more days to raise $1500.  Please Please Please help out by donating as much as you can, if you don't know, I'm on the hook for the balance of what i don't raise by April 15th!  Do it to beat cancer, do it to keep me out of the poor house, do it for a tax break, do it because it will save lives, do it now!  Thank you in advance, and thank you to those who have donated so far!

WETSUIT!

Check it out. My own wetsuit.  Sweet.  I couldn't have gotten it without your help. Please keep the donations coming!  Only a few weeks left to get it all in, please help me out!

Open Water!

Today we got our wetsuits and got our first taste of the SF Bay. In case you were wondering it was not delicious.  It was gross and a little slimy, not as salty as the ocean, and you can only see about 6 inches in front of your face.  We were at aquatic park near fisherman's wharf.  There is a line of buoy's that one length is 1/6 of a mile.  I did 4 lengths for a total of 2/3 of a mile in 30 minutes.

The Bay is cold.  55 degrees.  THe wetsuit is great for keeping everything warm, except for my face.  As many of you know you keep your face in the water when you swim, except for when you breathe, therefore my face was super cold for eh first length, so cold it was hard to keep it in the water.  Hopefully the lake we'll be swimming the race in will be warmer and all this cold water training will be helpful, and i'm sure it will be.

So it's 4 weeks till my deadline to get all my donations in.  I'm almost halfway to my goal.  Lets keep up the momentum and reach that goal!  Thank you to everyone who has donated, and thank you in advance for those who will!  There's no time like the present.  It's easy, it's a tax exemption, you're helping save lives, and you're keeping me out of debt (whatever i don't fundraise, i'm responsible for, eek!)  Please donate however much you can, every amount helps!

Here's a pic a snapped on the iPhone before we got in the water.  Yep, that's Alcatraz in the back!

Hill Repeats & Nutrition

Because of daylight savings we can bike on our thursday night practices.  So we went to the Presidio Sports Basement and did hill repeats through the presidio in about a mile and half loop.  I did the loop 5 times.  Had to stop at one point and adjust my rear derailleur.  That was annoying but i think i've gotten it close, i'm going to take it in to double check.

I need to figure out a way to warm up, because the first loop was ROUGH, and the rest were fine, i was in lower gears, not breathing as hard and getting the look done in good time, around 6-7 minutes.  Maybe i'll start biking to practice, and that'll act as my warm up.  What do you think?

After the hills we had a nutrition clinic.  We got a quick and jam packed presentation by Dr. Clyde Wilson, you can check out his website @ www.drclydewilson.com The main message was about how to get more nutrition into your muscles and less into fat.  What i learned.  I need to drink more water because just the act of eating is a dehydrator.  Stop drinking gatorade unless its during a workout, because gatorade is sucrose, and i need some other type of "-cose" that starts with an M.  and to each more vegetables because they slow down the digestion of carbs over 100cal, which is what you want for recovery slow calorie absorption.

I want to find out more, and get on the nutrition band wagon so i can lose fat while retaining and building muscles while training.  He assures me it's possible!
 

My first flat.

I got my first flat tire on a training ride on Sunday. It was so aggravating! So first we swam:

100m warm up
5 x 50m drills
5 x 200m free
3 x 50m drill
50m cool down

Then we got on the bikes and went for a 14 mile ride. I was in the first pack, finally! On the way back at about mile 11 i got a flat, going 27mph while i was trying to catch back up with the front 4 people (I lost them on a hill).  The best part?  it was my back tire. So i stopped, changed it, had the peloton pass me, and ended up coming in 2nd or 3rd to last.  I guess i can take away that i would have come in the top 5 if i didn't get the flat.  Oh well.

Running is hard on sore legs

Even though i took yesterday off to rest my legs, and i took an ice bath, which i was told would prevent me for being sore at all, my legs were tired today.  Tired and sore.  On the bright side my knee didn't hurt, so obviously i'm doing something right in that department.

We ran the Land's End trail today (the picture on the left) to the Legion of Honor and back to the beach.  Tough run.  Lots of hills, some quite long and steep.  The way back was good though, mostly down hill with a few little kickers.  It was supposed to be a 3 mile jaunt along the water headed toward the Golden Gate, but i got lost, and didn't follow directions so it ended being about 4.5 miles.  Which is fine.  I took a couple walking breaks, mostly when a steep hill was involved and my legs felt like they weighed 1000lbs about halfway up, but the tough runs tend to be the best runs for you, so maybe i'll do that one again on my own.

Tomorrow is a two sport day.  Swimming 1200m then a 14 mile bike.  I like those days.  They prove the training is working.

Go Team!

Kezar Stairs....

So the track was closed because of a soccer game last night. Instead we ran stairs and laps around the top loop.

2 lap warm up about 1000m
3 laps total doing 3 pairs of stairs per straight-away
1 lap cool down.

So that's 6 sets of stairs up, and 6 sets down per lap. For a total of 576 stairs up, and 544 down, because we started on the up.

I was the the 2nd one out and the 3rd one in. Really great feeling to only be passed by one person, and push myself through the workout. Resting today because this weekend will be a good workout. 4 mile beach run, mile swim, 14 mile bike in two days. Good times.

Thank you to those who have donated! ALMOST halfway there. Lets get it over that hump and it's all down hill from there!

By the way, that's not me.

Longest Bike To Date

Today was a great long bike ride.  Went all around the west side of the city, up and down some good hills, and through some beautiful scenery.  Got to try out the MapMyRun iPhone app, which follows me using GPS and every mile tells me my total time, total distance, and pace.  I pitted it against my bike computer, and there was a slight discrepancy, but that might be due to me messing with my phone during the ride. Why did i mess with my phone?  So i could take pictures for you!

View at mile 11 of the pacific ocean.  Luck for me the great highway was closed to cars!

Me!

What i look at.


















So MapMyRun said it was 20.84 miles and the bike computer said it was 21.49 miles, at a pace of 4'36".  I'm going to trust the bike computer.  Once i got home attacked the foam roller, and then, with the encouragement of John Weselcouch took an ice bath for 20'.  That was harder than the bike ride! John says i will not be sore tomorrow.  Lets hope he's right, because tomorrow i'll be on the track for a coached run.  Sore legs will probably not help.

Thank you for those who read this, and those who have donated.  Let's keep them coming in.

Best Workout Yet.

Today was the best workout yet.  Why would i say that as my knee and hip flexor on my left leg are currently being iced, with frozen blueberries?  I say that because it was a self imposed two sport day.  Swimming and running.  Why did i do this to myself?  Well, I took last week off due to laziness, busyness, business, and pleasureness.  So i forced myself to get back on the train, and get in a long, good workout.  So it started like this.

Swim:
10min warmup
4 x 100m with negative splits
4 x 100m with negative splits
5 minute cool down

The splits for the 100m were:

First Set:
1st: 2'15"
2nd: 2'00"
3rd: 1'58"
4th: 1'55"

Second Set:
1st: 2'28"
2nd: 2'12"
3rd: 2'03"
4th: 1'55"

Overall it was about 1200m i'm guessing because i always lose count of how many laps i do for the warmup and cool down.

Then i drank some gatorade, ate a powerbar, and hopped on the treadmill.  I ran over 4 miles, in a little under 40'.  I don't know exactly because i screwed up the readout by pressing buttons on the treadmill, so it had to start over, but before that i saw that i had run over a mile, in a little over 12' so i just added that to the second readout.

So why was this the best workout yet?  Because even though i got a right big toe cramp halfway through the second set in the pool, and i got a right calf cramp in the first .25 mile i swam and ran through both, refused to give up and throw in the towel, and i pushed myself through.  No one said triathlon was easy. Not giving into the pain was an amazing feeling, and personal achievement.  The previous athlete in me would have sidelined himself, however, this new triathlete is doing this for more than himself.  He has the support of donors, friends, family, survivors, and casualties.

I'm not doing this for me anymore.  Today proved that.  Today was the best workout because today i broke through a wall.  On the other side is optimism, a cure, and a lifetime of hard work and dedication to breaking through the next one.

Please help with a part of that and donate today.  Right now.  Ask your company if they match charitable donations, because then anything you give doubles.  Tell me what company you work for, and i'll find out!  I'm almost halfway there, and with your help, and your family's help, and your friend's help we can surpass that goal!

Thank you for your support.  GO TEAM!