Cross-training: Swim, Cycle, Run & Kayak?
Today was Memorial Day, a public holiday and rest day on my training calendar so I joined so friends for a nice relaxing Kayaking trip. Our adventure for the day was at Elkhorn Slough, just south of Santa Cruz. We rented a Kayak and got suited up (oh yes the wet-suit again). They explained to us before we went out in the Kayak that the Sea Otters had filed a restraining order against humans requiring they stay more 100-feet away! Well I'm only partly kidding it is called the Environmental Protection Act and it carries a very serious $10,000 fine if you get too close to one.
I went out a tandem Kayak with a more seasoned I kayaker (ok, that is not a real word) than myself. I was in the back so it was not to noticeable when I stopped paddling. I started out with a lot of energy and bad technique within the first mile I realized all my training did not apply here. With a few pointers I was able to make progress again and keep up with the pace.
We did have the occasional Otter siting and back-off when appropriate, although at one point we were surrounded, I believe the Otters get commission on every fine collected.
The details:
2hr 13mins
5.63 Miles
5.7mph Max Speed
3.1mph Avg. Speed
125bpm Max Heart Rate
88bpm Avg. Heart Rate
3 months to Ironman Canada
It seems far to close now! We have entered final phase of training the "Race Phase". This past month has been busy more long rides, some good swim and not forgetting Wildflower. I do feel somewhat disheartened that I'm not back to full running form yet but I'm getting there.
Labels: Ironman Canada 2007
A long swim...
This morning was one of our longest Swim workouts totaling around 3,600 yards. We were at Gunderson High school again, but this time the pool was set up for 50 meter lanes, when your going long distance things quicker this way. As usual we started with a number of drills then went in the main set, which was followed by some sprints. I have to say today was the first time I can really really enjoying swimming the final sprints were a lot fun and my energy level was still good.
After the swim I headed over to Rancho with a friend to get some running in. We did 8 miles, half walking and half running, with a good hill in there (1,859 feet of climbing).
Labels: Running, Swimming
The key to speed, Teleportation?
It was time to tapper for the Tahoe which was coming up in a just week. The rest of the Iron Team were off for a 80 mile ride, but for a change a shorter option the Cycle Team were doing had routes for a 27 mile or 45 mile route, naturally I picked the 45 mile option which lead up to Skyline. The morning was very overcast and cool, I didn't prepare for the sun shine and went out with my cycling jacket and no sun screen. Of course just 30 minute into the ride I was baking, I shed the jacket and hoped to finish as soon as I could. I started out the ride with coaches Andy and Kevin S. we stuck together until we reached the Highway 9 climb. It felt like rush hour on the road as the Webcor Cycle Team were out in full force making the same climb when I reached Skyline Road the people I could see were the Webcor team.
According to GPS it was at this point I teleported back to just a mile away from my original start position, you might think this would give me a speed advantage but my time was still the same and full recalled cycling those missing miles. Of course it just be user error on my part not hitting "Start" button soon enough on the watch, but I prefer the teleportation theory. :-)
Ride details (including teleportation):
38 Miles (Rec.distance)
45 Miles (Act. distance)
2hr 55mins
181bpm Max Hear Rate
137bpm Avg. Heart Rate
13mph Average Speed (loads of climbing)
35mph Max Speed
Labels: Cycling
Time to Spin
It seems far too long since I've been to Ironteam Spin, due a busy schedule of late, but when I saw 90 minute spin on the calendar, I thought wow I've never done a constant 90minute spin before, sounds like a good challenge. I was still a little fatigued from Sunday's ride but the virtual 90 minute Ironman Canada course was a lot of fun. However I must say I don't recall every sweating so much through a workout as I did tonight.
Spin Details:
30 miles of spin
75rpm Average Cadence
193bpm Max heart rate
155bpm Average heart rate
Labels: Spinning
Better than Sex...
54.9mph! Well the graph above tell most of the story, but I'll tell the rest.
The RideToday was the cycle team's 80 mile ride, with the Tahoe Century coming up in two weeks this was the last long ride. We started out at Natural Bridges in Santa Cruz and headed north on Highway 1, we rode in a pace line which was beneficial going into the head wind. After passing through Davenport, we took Swanton Road, which took us into some rolling hills, followed by a tough climb and fast decent, through this we rode individually and I got the charge some hills. We got back on to Highway 1 and reformed the pace line and then hit our first rest stop at mile 25. Just beyond that stop we turned away from Highway 1 again leading to some more hills, were in pace line on and off through this section, which passed through Pescadero.
The Race :-)
This lead us to Stage Road, which has some great climbing and exciting descents, it was at this point we came across some riders from a couple of local cycling teams, Webcor and Apline Velo. My coach gave me the ok to charge up the hill with my other team and chase the other riders. Ok, well maybe he didn't want me to chase the other riders, but that is what I did :-) I manged to pass them going up the first climb, but at the end of the twisty descent they were right by side again. You can see on the graph just coming up to mile 40 my heart rate hit 190bpm, this was the second climb and I managed lose them all.
Back on OneAt mile 40 was a are second rest stop much needed after that burst of energy (great thanks to those who supported the ride). Shortly after this rest stop we back on the Highway 1 now heading south with the wind at our backs and in a pace line. At this point all I could think of was the big hill just before Davenport, I knew the conditions were perfect for some great speed, but would I be at the front of the pace line when we came to hill?
The Miscommunication At mile 60 mile, my coach Matt, told me go up ahead what meant was join the fastest two people at the front of our pace line, we were heading down a hill and picking up a lot speed. Really all I needed was the word "Go" and I charged forward quickly accelerating hit 45mph by the time we hit the flat, I then took that momentum and went for it! I soon hit another uphill and at this time I could still see my group not to far behind, I slowed down a bit but wanted to get up the hill so started going harder. Of course once at the top this hill there was another chance to build up some speed, so I did :-) Then I realized I would be at my favorite hill every soon so I continued on.
The Speed
The hill was just up ahead I increased my speed and with the wind in my favor I started my descent, there is a narrow bridge at the bottom, so traffic can be an issue. I waited for the cars to pass me, and then pulled in to the center of the for a safe decent. I cranked at the pedals as hard and fast as I could, watching the speedometer and road the I kept increasing my speed, I had never gone past 49mph before. I was going along 48mph, wondering whether I get any more speed so I spun faster and the next thing knew I was at 52mph. At that point it was down to aerodynamics, so I got lower and faster hitting my new max speed of 54mph. The feeling was amazing, my heart was pounding at 190bpm, but I just felt great. I slowed down a bit after that looking back taking in the moment, wondering whether I should wait for the others to catch up. However I was having so much I had to continue, my speed was in 20mph to 40mph all back to the start. I arrived back at 12:59pm, then turned around to find my teammates who weren't too far behind. I'd like to thank Coach Matt, for not giving me a hard time after ride for ditching the group, it was a tremendous ride!
Ride Details (
Click here to view on Google Earth):
4hr 15mins (ride time)
78 miles
7,905 feet of climbing
54.9mph Max Speed
18.3mph Average Speed
190 Max Heart Rate
144 Average Heart Rate
Labels: Cycling
Footloose on Foothill...
How the day began, 6:30am the alarm goes off so I can join the Ironteam for the 50mile marker set. Now the reasoning process begins, "I'm tired I shouldn't cycle" then "I have a 80mile ride tomorrow", "I shouldn't ride 50 miles today", "I should get more sleep it is the sensible thing to do", "I'll get up a little later a join the Tri team for a little cycle". 8am the alarm goes off again, the reasoning and bargaining at this point doesn't really occur, I don't even remember switching off the alarm :-) 9:30am, look at the clock and leap out of bed, at this point I was clearly on my on schedule for the day. I started out my ride from where the Tri team began there practice and headed out on Foothill, soon enough I started to see some of my Iron teammates heading back from there 50miler so I followed them back to their starting point and got some ride details. Having done a whole thirteen miles by this point it was time to get some lunch with friends :-) After lunch I convinced one friend to join me for afternoon ride along Foothill.
In summary 3 short rides, longest being 17miles combining for a total of 30miles, mostly flat just along Foothill.
Combining all rides the details are:
30 miles Total Distance
1hr 45mins (ride time)
16mph Average speed
30mph Max speed
814 feet climbing
Labels: Cycling
A Midweek Swim
(Ok, I promise to come with better titles for future posts :-) Tonights swim with the team was notable not for the many laps we swam, but the swimming drills we did after the main set. Focusing on what to encounter in a open water swim with thousands of people. The first thing is closeness, you become every friendly with your fellow swimmers, to simulate this we swam four people wide down the lane, leaving no room between us, next chasing each others toes (I'm ticklish and I've never been so motivated to swim fast). Finally the not so passive aggressive, aggressive passing a leap frog drill and body roll drill, I won't go into details on these. :-)
Labels: Swimming
A Sunday Morning Swim
A beautiful sunny morning, one of those days where you think "wow this is California". The hardest part of working out is often getting out of bed, I was determined to make the swim and managed to drag myself from bed at the last possible moment. I arrived just past 8am and quickly got in the pool to start the workout. It felt great to be in the water and was a perfect morning, however my exhaustion from
yesterday's long ride was kicking in and the water was very warm and I was
lethargic. I could of fallen asleep in the pool :-) I did manage get a decent workout in and a fairly good marker set at the end.
Labels: Swimming
Calaveras Loop Redux...
I once again had the chance to do the Calaveras Loop, with a different starting point this ride was longer than the last at 78 miles in total. The ride started from Don Edwards Reserve in Fremont, near the Dumbarton Bridge. Although it appeared warm when I left home it was windy and cool when I arrived this was to continue through the rest of the day.
My usual riding group was not there for this ride, so I just joined different groups of riders as I came across them. As the first the first ten miles was flat going through Fremont it gave me a good chance to get to know a few folks. Only being a week after Wildflower I wanted to take it easy and the first climb up Palomares Road did seem tougher than the last time I did this ride. We regrouped at mile 15 at the top of Palomares and started to get comments about my pink socks.
After about 10 minutes we started off again, down a steep descent on which I hit 42mph, next up I made the correct turn at the bottom of the road and headed out on Dublin Canyon Road. I broke with the group then circled back after a few miles, we made a couple stops and I took a several turns leading the pace line, of course there was the occasional call from behind, something about a gap :-) I pulled back every time and stayed with the group.
Then at mile 40 we reached the second big climb of the ride up towards the Calaveras Reservoir, I broke again away from the group and sprinted up the hill. This move was not anti-social, just strategical it allowed me to go up ahead and get some photos that you can see along side and stop for some other needs (enough said).
I circled back again and rejoined the group then managed to snap a few shoots of my teammates.
We kept up a good pace going alongside the scenic and beatiful Calaveras Reservoir, which is followed by a steep descent with of course a stop sign at the bottom, to kill that 40mph of momentuim you've built up. We regrouped then continued on down to Milpitas, which is another nice quick descent. Back on the suburban street of Milpitas I realized there still another 20 miles to go; although most flat from here there was a strong head wind. At mile 68 our group split in two, I was now with three other riders. Twelve miles to go and only couple little hills but plenty of wind, my fellow riders let pull them in the final few miles through the headwind. A great ride, but a long one.
Ride Details (
Click here to view on Google Earth):
78miles
7,993 feet of climbing
5hrs 4mins (Ride Time)
15.4mph Average Speed
43.8mph Max Speed
133bpm Average Heart Rate
183bpm Max Heart Rate
Labels: Cycling
Wildflower 2007 - the Long Course
It was the 25th Anniversary of the Wildflower Triathlons this year, two days of racing, three events and 7,700 athletes competing, on no average course. Wildflower boasts on of the world's toughest Half-Iron distance course (the long course), along side a Mountain Bike and Olympic Course.
There was one important thing I had to remember going into the race, unlike last year this was not the race I was training for, in fact the race was now just part of my training. With that in mind I had to be careful not to do any further damage to my legs that were still recovering, having not run in the past three weeks I didn't know how I was going to feel.
I wasn't as nervous the night before as I had been the year before, that is not to say I got a good nights sleep though, still that is part of the challenge of Wildflower. I was up at 5:30am to make the last minute preparations, fill-up my water bottles and double and triple check all my stuff was with me for transition area.
Never change anything before a race, is what anyone will tell you. Having done the whole course twice before I knew that what I had done the previous two times hadn't worked in terms of race nutrition. It is always best to change one thing at a time, but what the hell it is not like I was going to do this again and again, so I changed everything I could and thought I make my best judgment on what worked or not. So I switched from GU to E-Gel, Gatorade to Accelerade and even changed the wheels on my bike to a set of Zipps for the day, a move that made me nervous.
Roll on to 8:15am the race is about to start and I tried one other thing in my Wetsuit that I hadn't done before, and then I knew it was going to be a good race. My goal in the swim was to try and pace with the other swimmers in my wave and draft as much as possible. Drafting definitely was it advantages, but you can also get kicked in the face, which I can now tell you isn't nice, I felt me goggles embedded on my face when it happen. The first half of the swim went well, however the return was tough, it was choppy and nauseating. I made my triumphant exit from the water feeling rather ill, but with the energy of the crowds I ran to the transition and prepared for the next leg of the journey. I changed in my bike gear including my new pair of socks, neon pink with "Hottie" written on them, I got cheers from my friends shouting "Hottie" as I got ready :-)
Out on the bike and my name was called out by the race commentators as I cycled by, that is a great feeling. I was careful on the first miles to not crash out, and made it up the first hill without issue. Over the first hill I was struck by the wind the as I tried to make a quick exit from the park, going forward was taking considerably more effort than it should of been. A couple of downhills leading out of the park helped build speed and confidence. The first 17 miles of the ride were a battle against wind and my stomach which hadn't recovered from the swim. On to Jolon Road things became better and I had a good stretch all the way to Nasty Grade. The ride up Nasty Grade was not too bad but I was sure glad when it was over. Of course the biggest uphill leads to the biggest descent a few miles later, the descent was a dangerous one and the prevailing winds did nothing to improve it. I took it slowly and avoided the cross winds the best that I could. From then on just a number of climbs back to park. I managed to pass a Pro Female who started a couple of waves before me, while I no illusion of maintaining my lead on the run but I had the bike course down.
Next up was run, before I headed out I made sure to correct one of my biggest mistakes of last year. I took some extra time and reapplied my sunscreen, last year's sunburn was not good, an extra minute would not be missed. I made my way out on the run and took things easy, things were going great until mile 4. I had planned to walk at this point to save myself for rest, but as I approached mile 5 I was feeling dizzy, and I could swear I saw things on the run I was not expecting. I reached the top of hill and could see mile 6 down below, the thought of running down the hill seemed like crazy move with the way I was feeling so I took it slowly. After mile 6's rest stop I was feeling better, though my IT band was flaring up again. I met one of my teammates along the run and chatted with him of while before I dropped back to my not quite running, not quite walking pace. As I reached the campsite the only thing I could do was run, all my TNT friends lined the side of the roads and were cheering, this as was last year was the best moment of the race.
By mile 8 of the run, I knew I needed to walk to not damage my legs and undo all the work I done to improve them in the past month. Walking was hardest thing, when you have people cheering and saying things like "Run", "Keep going", "you can do it", while the cheers are great you sometimes wish they would leave you alone, they don't know the pain. I continued the walk/run with more emphasis on the "walk" element :-).
There was just 1 mile left to go and I realized despite the slow run I could still best last years time, so I gave the final downhill what I could. To prevent injury and increase speed, I ran sideways down most of the hills, I did get a few strange looks. I made a final but painful sprint through the finish shoot. It was a great feeling to have completed the course again, although my legs weren't good shape, I was feeling a thousand times better than the year before. I think the key to feeling great at the finish is to walk the run, so to improve my time more next year I will really need to focus on improving my bike time :-)
So what was the results? Well I was the
first to finish in my age group wearing pink socks which said the word "Hottie" on the side!
Overall Time: 6hr 37mins
Swim: 40mins
T1: 4mins
Bike: 3hrs 4mins
T2: 2mins
Run: 2hrs 46mins
The Details (
Click here to view on Google Earth):
193bpm Max Heart Rate
153bpm Average Heart Rate
A Story of Post Race Stupidity (PRS)
I had a bad case of PRS after the race, I collected all my stuff together from the transition area and headed up to the Expo to return the nice Zipp wheels I had for the day. There was a good mile of walking between the Expo and the campsite with a long climb for good measure, but for some reason I thought return the wheels now was a good idea, "my bike is light and it will be even lighter after I take the wheels off". Halfway up the hill with my bike on one shoulder and my Tri bag on the other, I realized this was the toughest part of the day :-) What helped naturally were people comments, "What happened to your wheels?".
Labels: Triathlon
Today was Memorial Day, a public holiday and rest day on my training calendar so I joined so friends for a nice relaxing Kayaking trip. Our adventure for the day was at Elkhorn Slough, just south of Santa Cruz. We rented a Kayak and got suited up (oh yes the wet-suit again). They explained to us before we went out in the Kayak that the Sea Otters had filed a restraining order against humans requiring they stay more 100-feet away! Well I'm only partly kidding it is called the Environmental Protection Act and it carries a very serious $10,000 fine if you get too close to one.
2hr 13mins
