The Calaveras Loop
Today's ride with the Ironteam was the Calaveras Loop. We started out in Milpitas and went north through Fremont, city streets and stop lights until we came to Niles Canyon Rd, this where this great ride really begins. Away from the traffic on a very scenic canyon road, we then turned up on Palomares Rd, for a bit of climbing (about 1000ft in 6 miles). This was the highest point of the ride with a great downhill to follow. I took it easy on the descent not going above 35mph, the turn at the bottom lead us to Dublin Canyon Rd, which runs parallel to 580 it a fast road with little traffic. That dead-ends with the Foothill Rd, which goes through the back of Pleasanton.
Looking at the map now the ride is very simple route, however I did take a wrong turn, luckily though a left turn and another right turn can equal a two right turns, at least in this case.
The best part of the ride was Calaveras Road, it begins with a lot of climbing for the first ten miles but then you level off with a few rollers giving a great view of the Calaveras Reservoir (next time I do this ride I'll take pictures). After few miles we hit the final descent which was incredibly steep, I hit 39mph on this final downhill. :-)
Ride Details (
Click here to view on Google Earth)
3hrs 37mins
60 miles
6,117 feet of Climbing
Heart Rate:
185bpm Max
144bpm Average
Speed:
40mph Max
17mph Average
Labels: Cycling
Early morning hobble at Rancho
It was 10 days since practice weekend at Lake San Antonio and figured my legs would have recovered enough to go for a light run. I arranged to meet-up with a friend at Rancho at 6am, still dark then so I had my trusty headlamp. As we prepared to start out are run in the wilderness another runner asked to join as she had no headlamp with her. So we headed with the stranger behind us, the first half mile is flat with a steep hill to follow. By mile 1.75, I was done with running my knee was killing me so the walking began, there was the occasional jog to round out the 5.49 miles.
Things got worse after the run, stairs in the building at work were a major difficulty as I hobbled around. I went to track tonight to do some strength training but running was out of the question.
Run Details (
click here to view on Google Earth):
5.49 miles
1,604 Feet of climbing
1hr 32mins
120bpm Avg Heart Rate
231bpm Max Heart Rate
(Ok the max is clearly wrong, I'm still alive and no paramedics were around, instrumental error)
Labels: Running
5 Months to go until Ironman Canada
It is hard to believe another month of training has gone by but it has been a busy one, with a
Half-Ironman at Lake San Antonio and the
Double Century in Death Valley. This coming month the training intensifies, longer swims, rides and runs. My personal focus over the next month will be improving my swim.
Labels: Ironman Canada 2007
Recovery Week
After really tough event, like a Half-Ironman the training schedule allows for a recovery week for the body to recoup, also for time to catch up on life. Here is a brief run down of my recovery week:
1. Sleep
2. Eat (recovery food such as donuts)
3. See friends
4. Do laundry
5. Clean house
6. Shave
7. Get a haircut
8. Being auctioned off at a fund raiser (best not to ask :-)
The Half-way to Ironman Triathlon
This was to be my second Half-Ironman Triathlon, back at Lake San Antonio where I completed my ever
first Triathlon back in May 2005. The weather was truly amazing, at the same time last year the it was be raining and cold, but this year was different in many ways the and weather was just one factor. At last year's
practice weekend, I had never even ridden 56 miles before I started out, but with a whole year of training and nearly 3000 miles under my belt since then I ready to tackle the cycle course again, plus a I had a shiny new bike to put to the test. The coach went over the details of the course, despite listening carefully and having already cycle the course before I was to get lost the ride.
I got up at 5:30am on Saturday morning, had breakfast then headed down to the lake in my car. All my stuff was jammed into the boot of my car with my bike beneath it all, it took much longer than I expected to find everything and get my transition area setup and I needed every last minute to get ready.
The water was a good temperature for this time of year and the lake was calm this made for a better than expected swim. I managed to swim mostly straight and get out of the water in an acceptable time. After I left the water I ran back up to the transition area, the Tri Team were in the car park getting ready for there swim and my friends cheered me on went by. I transitioned at a casual pace and headed out on the bike, their was some initial confusion on where the bike course went to begin with and despite the fact I done it twice before I found myself taking wrong turns and going in circles, I lost a little time but soon got back on track.
Soon enough I was out of the park and on Interlake Road, I started off easy gradually speed up as I continued, I refilled my water at the first stop at Interlake and Jolon Rd. I continued power through the next stretch with an average speed of over 20mph. I passed the second water stop, without refilling and went towards, "Nasty Grade". For the past 10 miles I had been experiencing some pain in my left leg, the previous two weeks (
Double Century and then an
80 mile ride) were catching up with me quickly but didn't let this get to me. Managed to get "Nasty Grade" at a steady pace.
The payoff after climbing "Nasty Grade" is some some great views and an even steeper descent. This was the part of the ride that had been praying on my mind the most, would I fly-off the road or take a bad turn like I had down last August. I went as fast I could while still maintaining complete control of the bike and managed to 45mph on the decent. From then on there are a still several good hills to climb to get in to the park. I reached the transition area, applied a lot more sunscreen, took a quick bathroom break and continued out on the run.
I started the run with memory's of last years painful run flooding back, I knew I needed to take it easy so aimed for a 10 minute mile pace while trying to keep my heart rate low. Keeping my heart rate low wasn't really working, it seemed to only want to go up and settled at 173 just below my lactic threshold threshold. I took the hill on mile 4 easy, walking some of it this did help a lot but the feeling I had when reached the bottom on the other side was exactly the same as last year. My stomach felt weak and bowels undeniably distressed, luckily a water stop was just up a head at mile 6. Unfortunately a much needed facility was not available at this location and a tree was recommend, I really needed more than a tree but when push comes to shove (such a bad choice of words) I had to make to do. I still had 7 miles on the run to go and my heart rate remained high, I kept drinking and eating what I could as I went a long.
As I ran through the campsite and remembered the music and cheer from the year before. The next few miles down to the pit seemed to last forever. As I reached the bottom of the pit, I could tell from the look my coach's face, I was not looking too good. But I got some more water and some food and continued on, 3 miles to go. I always like to tell myself at this point that it is really only 2 miles, as the final one it downhill and therefore a freebie :-)
I let gravity carry me down the hill faster and faster, as my heart rate rose quickly as sprinted final 100 yards. When I arrived that the finish it took me a minute before I could speak as I caught my breath. To speed my recovery went to soak my legs in the lake.
A great day of training with the team, thanks to coaches and volunteers for putting this event together!
(Above me some of my team mates)Triathlon Details:
Total time: 6 hours 14 minutes
Swim:
About 1.2 miles with a long transition, I didn't get my exact time for this somewhere between 30-40mins.
Cycle (
click here to view in Google Earth)
3 hours 2 minutes
159bpm Average Heart rate
188bpm Max Heart rate
18.2 mph Average Speed
45 mph Max Speed
Run (
click here to view in Google Earth)
2 hours 35 minutes
173bpm Average Heart rate
139bpm Lowest Heart rate
188bpm Max Heart rate
10:48 Pace (when moving)
11:11 Pace (including stops)
Labels: Triathlon
Swimming
I make very few entries on Swimming, there are two reasons for this, firstly it is hard to describe swimming in an interesting way and secondly I don't swim nearly I as much as I should :-) While I can't really make swim laps sound more interesting I can do more swimming. To achieve this on Monday I joined a the local master's swim program and did some lap swimming.
Tonight was Iron team swim practice this was the first evening swim in the daylight, oh the joy's daylight savings time!
Labels: Swimming
Sunday's rest
Well yesterday's workout was more than expected after a week of taking it easy from the
Double Century. Today's team workout
was a swim and a long run, I had planned to go for swim and then spare my legs the pain of the run :-) However the best laid plans... The swim was at 8am, which was just not going to happen, with the time change and still recovering from yesterday's ride didn't rise until 9:30am. The next couple hours I moved very slowly around the house, it daze of exhaustion. I no of only one cure for this, a good run :-)
I got a message from who was going to running at Rancho so I met up with her, and we started off what was to be a half-marathon, and we did so half-walking and half-running. The weather was great it felt just like summer, also there is a good bit of shade on the trails so sun burn wasn't a problem.
Run/Walk details (
Click here to view in Google Earth):
2hours 43minutes
Avg speed, well look at the graph :-)
3,825 feet of climbing
Labels: Running
Unexpected 80 on 1
Saturday's team ride was at out and back on Highway 1. The plan was to go out 2hrs 10mins on Highway and turn back, with the correct head wind this should of taken me out around 25 to 30 miles. This was not the case as there really wasn't much of a head wind, until last few miles out. When the time came to turn around I was 40 miles out! The ride back went well, though I was definitely fatigued towards the end of ride.
Details (
Click here to view ride on Google Earth):
4hrs 10mins
80 Miles
156 bpm Avg Heart Rate
184 bpm Max Heart Rate
19.1 mph Avg. Speed
44.3 mph Max Speed
7,084 feet of climbing
Labels: Cycling
The Death Valley Double - "Failure lasts forever but pain is temporary"
"
Failure lasts forever but pain is temporary", those the words from the race organizer just before the ride started. Furnace Creek Ranch was the starting point of the race, the route then continues south on Highway 190 up and out of Death Valley until you reach Shoshone, which is the first turnaround point at 75 miles, at 150 miles you past the starting point to continue the final 50, an out and back to Stove Pipe Wells. Due the fact you have to pass the starting point at mile 150, it has caused many to finish the race early in past years, hence words of warning when starting.
There were 172 riders signed up for the Double Century, the fastest few left just gone 6am with the mass wave starting 10 minutes later. I didn't consider my self to be in the "fast few" category as this was my first double century the goal was simply to complete it, not burn out in the first 100 miles.
So the ride began...
The first 45 miles were mostly flat with a few small rolling hills, I gradually picked up speed and was at an average 20mph towards the end of it. There were a couple nasty cross winds in places a long this road, at one point pushing me towards the center of the road. I skipped the first rest stop at Badwater (17miles in) and made my first stop at Ashford Mill (45miles in), just a few miles beyond this was where the climbing began.
It was around mile 55 I hit the top Jubilee Pass at 1290 feet, it was decent climb I worked hard to keep my heart rate no higher than 160bpm, which made for a speed of 12mph. As small reward for reach the top there was a nice downhill on the other side my first chance to get some real speed on the ride. Next up, more climbing I continued with my pace and past few people on the way, until eventually I hit the peak of Salsberry Pass at 3315 feet, as I got closer to the top the head wind became stronger.
Down the other side of Salsberry Pass, was a nice straight downhill although the head wind did slow things down a fair bit, as it flattened out towards the bottom it was difficult to maintain 20mph, but soon enough I reached the rest stop in Shoshone. I took a quick break excited to have hit the first turnaround point in the ride, then it was back the way I came. The climb back up Salsberry Pass was the the last major climb on the ride, I figured it would be a breeze from that point on (I was right sort of). As I hit the top of Salsberry pass again, I hit my max heart for the ride of 187bpm.
I flew down Salsberry Pass holding nothing back, it was a straight and simple descent, I reached
up to 40mph and slowed down so not to fly off the road at the bends. Just was approaching Jubilee Pass, I hit a pot hole, I was fine but a the yellow sponge thing that sits in the tops of my water bottle flew out. I had some good speed going and nice lead on the a couple of the riders I met at the last stop. So I continued on but the guilt of littering in a National Park quickly set in so a less than half mile later I turned as I headed up the hill again, I saw the other two riders coming towards me, they must of thought I was mad to climbing the hill again. I only lost a couple of minutes there and quickly past the two riders again and headed down into Death Valley.
The further down I got the stronger the wind was and it was not going in the right direction :-) I stopped again at the Asford Mill rest stop now at mile 103. This is where things started to change, I had ridden further than I had ever done before, what was going to happen next? Well the wind made the next 30 miles to the Badwater (lunch stop) incredibly tough, my exertion and speed were not very different to the climb earlier. Having gone it alone for the most part, I decided a bit of team work was in order so I caught with the guy in front and we took turns drafting off each other. I'm not sure if this really helped much, I managed maintain a slightly higher speed than he could, but the company was welcome. It is at times like this when you need someone to share the pain with.
The road seemed to go on and on, with no end in site. This felt like the longest 30 miles i had ever ridden, I was starting to feel real pain, never before have I worked out to point where my heart felt sore. This not a good feeling to have especially when your in a place called "Death Valley", you find yourself thinking about death, for some reason?
Finally time for lunch! At the 130 mile point it was time for some real food not just "GU" like I'd
been eating all morning. I took this rest stop seriously I need my heart to recover before starting out again. I had sandwich, some fruit and some always nutritious Oreo cookies :-) Put on some more sun block, filled up the water bottles then continued on. I started off with the guy I had ridden the past 30 miles with but the next thing I knew he was way behind, it was time again the battle against the wind alone.
The 20 miles to Furnace Creek were easier than the previous 30, the wind was dying down and I was able to get my average speed up again. I could see the remainder of the journey right a head of me and seemed very daunting. Before I knew it I was at the 150 mile point and didn't even consider throwing in the towel, I felt ten times better than I did at the previous stop and ready to take on the final 50.
I started out fairly easy on the 25 miles out to Stove Pipe Wells, there was
no one insight behind or ahead me. I did start to see the first of the riders head back in the opposite direction. While quite happy at my own pace, from out of no where three riders past me, all drafting from each other. I was starting to feel competitive again, my first thought was just to hang back and pass them towards the end of the ride, but then the front runner of the pack broke away from the other two, so I figured this was my chance. With a sudden burst of speed I past all three while heading up the hill, my heart rate also quickly jumped to 170bpm, I maintained the speed for a few minutes to put some distance between me and them.
By now it was getting dark, I switched on my front and rear lights and I headed towards Stove Pipe Wells in the distance. I could start to see the a another cyclist ahead of me the other guy was not never far behind. I made it to the last check point and found out I was the 11th rider through, seeing the 10th standing right in front my I quickly left the rest stop and headed back towards the finish 25 miles away. I was a couple minutes ahead of the #10, and did my best to keep an average speed of 20 mph. After about 15 miles the guy finally past me, I managed to keep in my sights for the next few miles with a hope of passing him again, but all of a sudden hunger set in. I quickly had the last bit of nutrition I had on me, but I wasn't going to catch the guy at this point.
Exhaustion can set in fast and I was running out of steam, thankfully I was right near the end and finished the ride 13 hours 16 minutes! Never have I gone so far and so long.
Ride details (
Click here to view ride on Google Earth):
Overall:
13hr 16mins
155 Avg Heart Rate
187 Max Heart Rate
10,583 Calories burned
40mph Max speed
8,800 feet of Climbing
3,000+ feet of Virtual Climbing (thanks to head wind)
Please forgive, this poorly rewritten version of "The Charge of the Light Brigade", the words "Into the valley of death.." just stuck in my head while I did the ride :-)
Half a mile, half a mile,
Half a mile onward,
All in the valley of Death
Rode the one hundred and seventy two.
"Failure lasts forever!
"But pain is temporary!" he said:
Into the valley of Death
Rode the one hundred and seventy two.
"Forward, the Century Riders!"
Was there a man dismay'd?
Not tho' the rider knew
The wind was to sunder,
Their's not to make reply,
Their's not to reason why,
Their's but to do and die:
Into the valley of Death
Rode the one hundred and seventy two.
Wind to right of them,
Wind to left of them,
Wind in front of them
Boldly they rode and well,
Into the jaws of Death,
Into the mouth of Hell
Rode the one hundred and seventy two.
Wind to right of them,
Wind to left of them,
Wind rarely behind them,
They that had pedaled so well,
Came thro' the jaws of Death,
Back from the mouth of Hell,
Rode one hundred and seventy two.
When can their pain fade?
O the wild ride they made!
All the spectators wondered.
Honor the ride they made,
Pity the fools riding a double in valley of death,
The Crazy one hundred and seventy two.
Labels: Century Ride
The long drive..
The roads went on seemed to go on forever and with no cell phone reception I felt very disconnected from the world of the living, as I entered Death Valley...
The panic sets in...
One minute I'm thinking, "Cool, I'm doing a Double Century" then suddenly reality creeps in and I start thinking "I'm going to cycle two hundred miles in Death Valley?". When panicked before any major sporting event, there is only one thing to do....
That's right tonight I made a final run to Sports Basement to pick-up some last minute
essential supplies and some I probably won't needed, while it did occur to me, I did see sense before purchasing the inflatable life raft. Why don't they sell distress flares at Sport Basement? I could see a definite need for that on the ride.
I stopped by track and ran a couple laps and said my last goodbyes to friends.
I also sported my work attire for the day, my cycling gear.
(such a cheesy picture)
Today's ride with the Ironteam was the Calaveras Loop. We started out in Milpitas and went north through Fremont, city streets and stop lights until we came to Niles Canyon Rd, this where this great ride really begins. Away from the traffic on a very scenic canyon road, we then turned up on Palomares Rd, for a bit of climbing (about 1000ft in 6 miles). This was the highest point of the ride with a great downhill to follow. I took it easy on the descent not going above 35mph, the turn at the bottom lead us to Dublin Canyon Rd, which runs parallel to 580 it a fast road with little traffic. That dead-ends with the Foothill Rd, which goes through the back of Pleasanton.
3hrs 37mins
Heart Rate:
Speed:
