"Nick's Ironteam Training Blog", Also Known As: "Why I'm so tried all the time", "One Hundred and Forty miles in a Day", "Why I need to get more sleep", "Why I am always hungry", "It seemed like a good idea at the time", "It isn't a donut, is just simple carbs, I need it", "The pains of training", "Grammatical errors are the result of exhaustion and over-training", "It is all for a good cause!"
Sunday, December 30, 2007
Captain Nick verus the Loch Ness Monster!
How better the to end the year than with more one final crazy thing? Today I battled the Loch Ness Monster! A couple of weeks ago before I left for Scotland I was joking with my fellow Training Captains (Ann & Christy) that we should have an open water swim in Scotland and that Loch Ness would be the best place for it. Unfortunately when I get an idea like that stuck in my a head I like to follow through on it.
This took careful preperation, firstly I needed to increase my body fat to keep myself from freezing in Loch. I was up to the task and with a careful regiment involving eating Mince Pies, I was ready. Next I needed to pick the right day from a weather point of view with the help of the BBC's weather forecast the date of December 30th was chosen. Now it was by no means a warm day, the sun was out but the temperatures varied between -1C and 3C (33F to 37F), luckily water temperature was around 5C (41F) so no worries about overheating in my wet suit :-)
After a long drive up to Loch Ness, I was ready to start my swim just after 1pm in the warmth of the afternoon Sun. The area where started the swim was particularly rocky which made for a careful and lengthy entrance into the water. My feet, hands and face were numb as soon as they hit the water. The visibility in the water after leaving the shore was almost non-existent, my hands disappeared from my sight in less two feet down the water. Below me was an abyss, over 1000 feet deep, in which a monster waits and waits, but for what? Prey or a photo opportunity perhaps? While I was swimming a number of tourists begun to watch, perhaps to see if Nessy would pull me down into the depths of the Loch.
I didn't take long before a chill started in my hands and feet, so cold they felt like they were burning, as I had no support with me out in the water and I didn't want to end the year with hypothermia, I thought it best to head back to the shore. Just as was turning around I felt something brush by my leg, I momentarily stopped as if something were about to happen. All was quiet and still, I started off again realizing what brushed by my leg before was none other than my other leg :-) I made it back safely to shore to warm my feet and hands that were now shaking uncontrollably. I must go back again, maybe on a slightly warmer day, to seek out Nessy.
Today's Ironteam practice featured the first open water swim of the season. Despite the flashbacks of the chilling water and feeling like my head was stuck in an ice fire, from the swim at Aquatic park back in January; I still managed to get the courage to drive up to the city arrive late, spend an unusual amount of time putting on my wetsuit, then proceed to enter the water with only a few minutes left to go of the swim. Still was it my fault everyone started on time and only wanted to swim for 30 minutes? Obviously I love Aquatic Park in San Francicso and if I lived closer would probably be there every day, trying to work out why people swim there! It's cold in December :-)
After my brief but hearty attempt at swimming in the bay, the team headed out for a 5 mile run up towards the Golden Gate Bridge (ah, a nice dry land activity). It felt good and the weather was overcast which was perfect for running.
Well I couldn't possibly imagine begin all that things I've experienced over the past year, here is a (fairly) quick recap of the past year:
August 26th 2006: In final preparations for my second Half-Ironman (Big Kahuna), I crashed my bike quite spectacularly on our team practice Triathlon. After a few hours waiting in the hospital, I found out I'd fractured my arm and would not be able to do my event which was in two weeks time.
September: Having missed my Trialthon, I was determined not to miss my next event which was my first Century Ride. I hadn't done any training and my arm was still not fully healed, being only four weeks since the accident. So against my Doctor's best advice I went ahead completed my first century, it left me very sore wondering how I would ever run 26 miles afterwards.
October: Ironteam kick-off and the training began, I started to get a lot of good runs in and I completed my first Triathlon since the accident. Just 6 days before Escape from the Rock, I was not able to swim with out pain in my arm, but come race day, I guess the water was cool enough to numb the pain.
December: The weather was getting colder but I was still getting some good miles in the bike and the run. On day of over exuberance, I ran 29 miles and cycled 25 miles.
February: This was another great month of training, good rides and runs. Plus my first on my own, self supported Century Ride. I felt great and ready for Ironman but still had 6 months to go.
March: Perhaps one of the toughest months of the year filled with some regrets, I completed my first Double Century Ride (in Death Valley of all places), finishing in 10th place and feeling pretty good. Although I took some recovery time I hit things little hard on the Ironteam, practice Half-Ironman at Lake San Antonio, while I finished the practice well, I realized a week later I put some serious wear on my legs that do cost me dearly.
April: Was a low key training month, I did my best to continue all the workouts but it was impossible run more than a mile without pain. I started going to a place called SMI, where they specialize in treating athletes with injuries such as mine. There treatment is very effective though describing it as painful would be an understatement. Still managed to get some good training including the Ironteam Boot Camp weekend and hill repeats on Mount Diablo brought my heart rate to a new high of 203bpm.
May: It was time for Wildflower again, I was not fully recovered but decided to put in my best effort without damaging myself any further. I was fine until 5 miles into the run where I started having issues with my legs, I did my best to slowly jog the rest out with worsening things. I continued to cycle strong, hit a top speed of 54.9mph (obviously I would of like to have gone faster but the speed limit was 55mph).
June: A new month and different goal, I had been training with the cycle team for America's Most Beautiful Bike Ride, a Century Ride around Lake Tahoe. Training with the cycle team had been great though I'd only done a few rides with them, forgetting about that whole not being able to run thing was good. I completed the Century Ride strong and quickily, with a 5hr 10min ride time I was the fastest finisher of 1800 people, though I should point out it was not a race :-) Just one week after Tahoe, I faced one of the Ironteam's toughest training weekends at Lake Berryessa, a 2 mile swim followed by 98 mile bike ride with 13,000feet climbing with a run the next day.
July: The madness continued, with another brutal Century Ride in the East Bay with 12,000 feet of climbing (plus i got lost and did another 17 miles trying to find my way back). Then racing tried at Vineman, completing my third Half-Ironman of the year and first with a sub 6 hour time. Not letting up for the month of July, the next weekend at the longest workout of the year, "The Triple Brick", a 9 hour workout, 2 hours of cycling and 1 hour running, repeat 3 times!
August: This is the taper month, the first weekend was a on your own Century Ride, known as a "Mental Toughness Ride" which I did up in Napa on the Vineman course. The following week I went up to Donner Lake for 2.7 mile swim, I just need a long distance to find a rhythm. Now in full taper with just short workouts.
The above summaries are just the tip of the iceberg, the past year has been tough physically, mentally and emotionally in all aspects of life. While it has had it's challenges it has been an incredible year!
Swimming has been my weakest of the three and after a disappointing swim at Vineman I wanted rebuild my confidence with one last big open water swim in before Ironman. Having just decided to do the Donner Lake Swim, at around 3pm yesterday, I started the long drive up to Donner lake just before 9pm, I arrived in Truckee just gone midnight. Having barely slept I left the hotel at 6am, wearing my wetsuit, with my first port of call at the supermarket to get something for breakfast, surprisingly I didn't really get any strange looks. I guess it was a little premature to start wearing the wetsuit as the swim was not going to start until 8am, but it did bring me back to the good old days of wetsuit week :-) By 8am I was in the water and ready to start, it was not nearly as cold as I thought and the majority were going without a wetsuit. Just before the start I asked someone exact where the finish was as there were no buoys in sight, I was then pointed to a small orange dot in the distance at the far side of the lake, with the advice of just using the mountain to sight from.
The swim started with 300+ swimmers with a wide starting line from beach, it was a little crowded at the beginning but nothing as bad as the beating you get at the start of a triathlon. My goal was to keep a consistent pace and keeping swimming the whole way. For a while at the beginning I was near a kayak which was helping lead the swimmers, this stopped me from making any wrong turns and helped with the pace. With the lake being very long and wide the pack spread out and after the first mile I left like was all alone. Now a pessimistic person would start to think everyone else had finished already and that they were the last remaining swimmer, while I not the best swimmer thought didn't even cross my mind. Instead I took the optimistic approach and pretended I was leading the pack and having the best swim of my life, there is nothing better than a positive attitude to keep you going strong. However the best will in the world can not prevent the occasional issue, firstly I got a cramp in my leg, staying relax and let it gradually ease away did the trick through it slowed me down. Secondly at around 2 miles into the swim I found really need to pee and was becoming uncomfortable (here is the part of the story where I let people use their imaginations of how I resolved this). Needless to say I kept going with a couple course corrections as I finally sighted the finishing point. With just merely 500 yards to go, two people came out from know where and swam by me. I picked up the pace a little and started kicking more to get my legs ready for the land. I ran out of the water very nearly stumbling and landing flat on my face, my time was 1hr 41mins on clock.
It felt strange to not be able to go jump straight onto my bike, instead I got some food in the finishers area and then caught a bus to the beginning. Once I got my to my car I changed to my bike gear and set off for a ride up Donner Pass. I hadn't planned on a long ride as I was in entering the taper phase of training and also exhausted. Obviously the first thing I realized was it is a heck of lot quicker go from one end of the lake to the other by bicycle. I then started to climb Donner Pass, which offers some spectacular view of the lake, I found my self stopping a number of times to take pictures...
The views were striking, and my heart rate was raising along with the elevation, tried to take the ride easy and was very cautious on the decent. I completed the ride with a loop around the other side of the lake. While it was a short ride the swim was worth the trip up to Donner Lake.
Work has been eating up more and more of my free time, that said I was able to get in a good swim practice this week and ride on Saturday. The Saturday ride was not as long as I had planned but still had a decent amount of climbing, tackling La Honda (Highway 84) to reach Skyline.
Today involved and early morning start and by early I mean early! The team was to meet down at Pacific Groove (home of the kelp crawl) for a swim and long run at 8am. Luckily I was carpooling so didn't have to be fully coherent for the drive down. We got there early and the weather was no how you expect it to be from a post card, it was decidedly gray and cold, though good for running, but not very inviting for a swim. There was some discussion on whether the swim would take place or not, it was planned to be a long swim, more of a short mental toughness exercise. The decision was made to go ahead with the swim, although not the whole team were taking part I decided not to past opportunity to get into the freezing cold water and attempt a swim.
The water was indeed cold, I swam with head out of the water nearly all the way to the turnaround point. On way back I my motoviation to take the plunge and put my head was so I could swim faster and get out of the water quicker.
After drying off I headed out with my team mates on the run, the weather was perfect it was overcast and cool. I started off at a good pace and kept it going all the way to the turn around point at mile 7, where a support station was setup. On the way back I picked up the pace a little, though this was my longest run since Wildflower and was a little uncertain how my legs would. Has headed towards the mile 11 I could feel the pain creeping in so I decided to walk for a bit. Realizing walking was just as uncomfortable I decided run the remaining couple miles, overall not a bad pace and dip in the ocean to cool the legs was nice. It was a actually a good confidence builder, as my longest run recently has been only 7 miles before this.
Of course after a run like this, there is nothing better than putting your legs right back into that freezing cold water which started the day...
Run Details (Click here to view on Google Earth): Distance 14miles 2hr 5mins 9:23min Avg Pace 5:24min Best Pace 950 feet of climbing. 151bpm Avg. Heart Rate 176bpm Max Heart Rate
Friday night was a late drive up to Lake Berryessa, arriving at 11:30pm. Then up before 6am to be ready for the 6:45am swim start. I missed the talk about the swim as I was running late, so I just jumped in and followed everyone else. The water was a good temperature and clear enough to see to the bottom in shallow parts. It was supposed to be a roughly two mile swim, I wasn't even wearing a watch, so thought I'd just keep swimming until everyone else finished. On my fourth loop I was questioned on why I was still swimming? It turns out that 3 was the magic number of loops well it was a good swim :-) Not too much more than 2 miles.
Next up was the 98 mile bike course, I plenty of time between the swim and the bike to get ready. By the time 10am rolled around I was already to go, or so I thought. I started off the ride in the final wave of riders and set out a fairly fast pace, I caught up with Tyler can continued alongside him. After last weeks quick century I didn't worry too much about the pace I was keeping, I knew it would be a tougher ride with the extra climbing but thought the quicker the pace the sooner I'd be done. This was my first mistake I went out too hard and didn't take into account the affects of the hot weather; by 11am it was 80F and rising. I approached a hill still pacing alongside Tyler and realized I need need to slow my Heart Rate which was above 185bpm and rising far too quickly. As continued up the hill my heart rate peaked at 196bpm, I immediately pulled over and stopped to catch my breathe, it took a few minutes but I then continued on a much slower pace.
With that behind me I thought all I needed was too keep a steady pace and the rest of the ride would be fine. Due to the rising temperature my sport drinks had become a unwanted beverage to consume so I had switched to water. I didn't really consider that I all the electrolytes that the sports drink provided, all I knew was water was refreshing. At around mile 40, we arrived at another rest stop and took a few minutes to refuel and refill. From there the climb continued ever upwards, I was riding with a few other people so didn't worry about the route too much. We continued on and the climb got steeper and steeper, I had too pull over a number of time to let my heart rate drop again. At mile 48 where we expected the turn around point there was nothing, so we continued on about half mile further to the peak of the hill, at which is when it was decided we could turn around now that the climb had been conquered. We descended down steep hill at breakneck speed, obviously slowing to avoid the breaking anything and back to the rest stop we had left at mile 40. It was strange that during the long climb we had seen no one else going up or down, it turned out that we had made a wrong turn on the way up giving us an extra 1,000 feet of climbing a grade steeper than anything else on the planned out and back course. With this sad realization of over achievement I continued on.
I passed back through the only town on our route, a small and pleasant in the middle of nowhere, the question in my mind was "Will the $15 I'm carrying be enough for a deposit a house I never have to climb the big hill I'm approaching?". I distinctly remember how great going down that hill been on the way out, which meant only meant it was going to be hell to climb.
I should take a moment to described some of the scenery on the ride, there were trees and a lot of brown (dead) grass, and hills with in view. While it was by no means without its high points to be sure, it seemed like I was on the road to perdition in comparison last week's beautiful bike ride.
But wait there was hope present upon the hill, a Mini Cooper pulled to the side of the road and presented us with ice. At that moment ice was, the best thing ever! If I had been presented with choice a bag of Diamonds or Ice, I would of taken the ice without a second thought.
This seg-ways to an important point, supporting both the North and South Bay Ironteams today were a great groups of volunteers, as well as Honorees and Coaches, I couldn't of imagined doing this ride without their support and with that said I'll go back to complaining about how tough the ride was :-)
With ice the my water bottle no longer burned mouth when I tried to drink it, oh ok, it was never that hot but the temperate was hitting the 90's now. It is true that the ride was uphill both ways as the elevation profile clearly shows. At mile 68 the worst of the climbing was over and it was nearly downhill all the way back, but at this point I was seriously bonking and even downhill felt tough, my stomach was gone, I was drinking it but was in vain as I was already dehydrated. Around miles 75 to 85 there was 10 miles of potholes and even the occasional gravel patch in the middle of the road and enough twists and turns to make a good thriller, it short this was the most miserable piece of road to cycle on.
Finally to main road again, I stopped and took the picture alongside, the lake was in sight again and almost near the end. There was a few more little rolling hills and a number of turns weaving back around the lake, but finally I reached the camp or at least what I thought was the camp ground. I cycled into a place that seemed almost identical from the outside, after few minutes of confusion I headed out of there find to actual place I was staying which turned out to be just a mile away.
I finished! I felt like death warmed over, but I finished!
After the perilless ride their was one more danger ahead, I walked down the boat ramp towards the lake to soak my legs in water, I slipped on the algae and nearly fell flat on my back.
That night I reflected upon all the mistakes of the day: 1. Not drinking enough 2. Not drinking enough before the ride 3. Not drinking a sports drink 4. Not mainting my sodium/electrolyte levels 5. Not following directions correctly :-)
The next morning was a two hour run, I took it very easy, so much so the last part maybe referred to as walking.
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).
(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. :-)
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.
Boot Camp Day 2 - "Tacking Into the Wind" (aka the Tesla Loop)
Day 2, was at Lake Del Valle in Livermore. A early start to the day with open water swim starting at 8am. Unfortunately I was running late a got a little lost on the way but still managed to arrive at 8:05am and quickly transition into the water. The water was good, cool but calm, the swim was 25 minutes out and back so depending on pace somewhere around a mile of swimming.
After the swim was the main event of the day a 60 mile bike ride, when driving to Lake Del Valle earlier I couldn't help but notice the long climb and descent to get to the lake, and sure enough this was to feature at the beginning and end of the ride. This photo captures a rare moment and provides proof that I do really read the maps I am given. No has ever called into question my sense of direction, only my ability to follow them. Today's tactic for not getting lost in the far off land of Livermore was to stick with other people who knew where they were going. It also turned out that for the most part the route was fairly simple, a loop on Tesla Road.
First up was the climb out of Lake Del Valle Park, it was 2.5 miles long and around 650 feet of climbing, certainly a good warm-up for the rest of what was to be known as an epic ride. Just over the top of the first climb was a great decent I hit 38mph and braked so not to fly off at the corners. At the bottom of the hill things seemed to flatten out however from looking at the elevation profile it was clearly an illusion and by mile 12, I was no longer fooled and started wonder when this slow climb would end, the answer was mile 15.
At this point in the ride I was with 4 other riders, Tyler from the our own team and the rest were from the North Bay. We had been riding in group for the last 7 miles pulling each other on a little, as the top of the hill approach I got a burst of energy and broke away from the group, but I was not prepared for what was on the other side. A fast and furious decent with number of hairpin turns, this was the scariest decent I have ever done on my Tri-Bike! The picture along side really doesn't do it justice. During this portion I managed to keep my speed below 30mph for the most part. By the time I had reach the bottom my fellow teams had blown by me.
At mile 17 the fun began, the road a head was a straight with a comfortable downward trend, I got into the aero position and hammered it out. It was a great stretch of road, I felt like I was flying along it, averaging nearly 30mph with a peak at 38mph. Things were going great but suddenly and without warning, all the force I was putting into the pedals was lost as they were now spinning without any traction. To begin with I thought the chain had slipped off however it turned out the as top gear on the bike given way. A changed down a couple gears and things seemed to work fine again so I continued along.
What makes the ride "epic" is what happened next. Slowly but surely the wind made it's presence known and I started to be pushed from left to right by a cross wind. My bicycle is well designed aerodynamically for heading into the wind but not for cross winds, in fact is much worse than a regular road bike. I managed to keep a good speed going for a while but as I left the valley and headed towards Tracy keeping the bike upright was a challenge. Just up ahead was the first rest stop at mile 27.
I took a break at the rest stop and regrouped with the others who were just behind me, there was just a another 3 miles before the cross winds would end and the head wind would begin. As we head into the wind we form a pace line that even my Cycle Team coach would be proud of (well accept for the fact some of us, including myself were on Tri-bike with those nasty Aero-Bars). We pushed through the wind effectively as team, North Bay and South Bay united. Once through the head toughest part of the head wind all bets were of as the group fractured again, Tyler and I took lead while the guys from the North Bay dropped behind.
The next 30 miles were a gradual climb back towards Lake Del Valle, the wind was still there but it was behaving better than before. At mile 50 while going up the a hill, my front tire punctured, Tyler stopped with me (though if he known what was going to happen after this I'm sure he would been happy to get a couple minutes lead on me). We quickly changed the tube while doing so two of are North Bay counterparts passed us by (though did offer to stop help).
Back on the bike and at the top the hill we started a nice straight forward decent. I was going around 30mph when I hit a bump in the road and which point one of my rear water bottles jettisoned from by bike directly in the path of Tyler who was right behind me. I turned around to look as felt something come lose and heard an explicative from behind. He ran right over the bottle but managed to keep his bike going straight. I turned around to retrieve my ammunition (I mean water bottle) and Tyler continued ahead.
The bump had also loosened my gears (rear cassette) further and my bike started to sound very unhealthy as I finally leg of the journey began. We managed to pass are fellow North Bay teammates as we started to climb back into the park where we had begun. It was on the final descent where I hit my max speed of 40mph on the ride and that was without my top gear even functioning.
After the ride, it was time for from core and strength training, including but not limited to 200 crunches, some big number of push-ups, a lot planks and number people asking when it was going to end :-)
A big thanks to the Coaches from putting together this weekend of torture, no I mean training (no really torture describes it better :-)
Today was first day of our IronteamBootcamp Weekend, packed with Swimming, Cycling and Running. The long day ahead started at Burgess Pool in Menlo Park, at 9am. We started off the morning with a 1hour swim, doing 1000 yard repeats broken up into different sets. Towards the end of the swim the rain started, my shoes sitting by the pool ready for me to start the run after of course it didn't take long for these to become very soggy shoes, luckily I had a spare pair in car.
Then for a run in the rain, which took us out from Burgess Pool to Standford Campus for some loops. I took the run easy and chatted with a member of the North Bay Iron Team, as they were join us for our Boot Camp weekend. By about 1.5 into the run my IT band flared up and running became hobbling once again, so I walked back to back to start and got ready for the cycle.
The rain was still coming down as our ride began, just as everyone was heading out I realized I had forgotten my sunglasses, not needed to protect me from the absent Sun but from the inevitable spray from the front tire. I had heard the ride brief so knew the general loop but I was on unsure of the beginning, I had a fifty/fifty chance to make the correct turn at the beginning, seemed those odds weren't good enough so I started out the wrong way. I suppose I should note I could of looked at the map but I still have a sense of adventure :-) It wasn't long before I was back on track and caught up with the rest of the team. I was also drenched to the bone with a nice mud wash on my legs and spray up my back. Despite the conditions it was nice little loop through Portola and I still managed to get a nice speed with safety in mind.
Just as I wasn't sure about the beginning of the ride I wasn't sure about the end either, though I had directions they were some what like a damp rag and unreadable by now. Of course I know the area, so I made my own way back, though a wrong turn did add some extra distance at the end.
After the ride we had a short break for lunch then it was on to sets of Spinning, Running, Strength and Core. The running was out of the question after the morning's hobble and the the spinning while generally ok, though gave me the occasional wince as a sharp pain shot through my leg. This however meant I had plenty of time to devote to the strength and core training, plus some stretching for good measure. By the time we finished (around 3pm) the Sun was finally out and it was looking like a nice day :-)
Even I start to wonder ever so often whether I do any swimming. Well now I have proof thanks to a video created by my coach. There are few things to note about the video, it is slowed down that my stroke is easier to see, it was done at the beginning of swim practice (I was much better later after some good tips) and of course the camera adds 20lbs :-)
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!
When something is really cold, it actually feels like it is burning. That is how my face felt when I put it in the water while swimming in the bay up at aquatic park this morning. The water temperature was approximately 53F and though I have swam in colder water before, this was no easier. The water was a little choppy but not unbearable, my hands and feet numbed fairly quickly, but my face only froze. This isn't the first time, I've been swimming the bay, I have done the "Treasure Island Triathlon" and "Escape from the Rock", when your in a race things seem different you just get your head down and get on with, when training you keep asking yourself "Why?". It is funny after wearing the wet suit days and being way too hot, then suddenly the opposite.
After the swim we headed out for a run down the Embarcadero, from Ghirardelli Square to the Ball Park and back. It took three miles for my feet to thaw out. The weather brightened up a bit and there was a bit of wind, generally the conditions were good.
Second team practice for the weekend, it was the South Bay Ironteam's turn to go up north to Pleasanton. We started out with a 3,000yard swim, comprised of various drills and ladders, 100, 200, 300, 400, 400, etc.. Then out of the water and on to the road.
This was my first ride up in the Pleasanton area, hence unfamiliar and feared getting lost. We were supplied with route maps, yes try cycling 20mph and read a map at the same time, I thought I'd just follow the people ahead of me :)
By the forth turn we had made a mistake but we got back on track very quickly. Soon we were out of the town on to the open road and the route bceame easy to follow. Some great long straights with few climbs here and there. On the seoncd half of the ride the wind was certainly a factor, there was a strong cross wind, followed by a strong head wind, eventually become a tail wind towards the end. The final section was through Dublin, too many traffic lights though we managed to just hit most of them right. Finally arrived back in downtown Pleasanton.
The first of our North & South bay conbined team practices for the weekend was at Gunderson High. We started off with a 2500 yard, followed by a 9 mile by Lake Almaden.
First team swim practice of year, I seemed to be drinking all the water in the pool tonight. Logically if I drank enough water, I would be able to just running across the bottom of the pool, however I don't think I drink that much in a decade, I was quickly left feeling bloated. Not a bad night of swimming a part from the bloated feeling I had at the end of it :-)
It was a cold weekend in May at Lake Tahoe, it had been snowing over the last couple of days. I really should of checked the weather before went there for the weekend, it was a stark contrast to the weather in the Bay Area. However I had gone with my wetsuit and I intended to use it! I went for a couple swims, the water was freezing, but clear enough to see to the bottom, a first after all the murky water I usually swim in :-)
How better the to end the year than with more one final crazy thing? Today I battled the Loch Ness Monster! A couple of weeks ago before I left for Scotland I was joking with my fellow Training Captains (Ann & Christy) that we should have an open water swim in Scotland and that Loch Ness would be the best place for it. Unfortunately when I get an idea like that stuck in my a head I like to follow through on it.
After a long drive up to Loch Ness, I was ready to start my swim just after 1pm in the warmth of the afternoon Sun. The area where started the swim was particularly rocky which made for a careful and lengthy entrance into the water. My feet, hands and face were numb as soon as they hit the water. The visibility in the water after leaving the shore was almost non-existent, my hands disappeared from my sight in less two feet down the water. Below me was an abyss, over 1000 feet deep, in which a monster waits and waits, but for what? Prey or a photo opportunity perhaps? While I was swimming a number of tourists begun to watch, perhaps to see if Nessy would pull me down into the depths of the Loch.
I didn't take long before a chill started in my hands and feet, so cold they felt like they were burning, as I had no support with me out in the water and I didn't want to end the year with hypothermia, I thought it best to head back to the shore. Just as was turning around I felt something brush by my leg, I momentarily stopped as if something were about to happen. All was quiet and still, I started off again realizing what brushed by my leg before was none other than my other leg :-) I made it back safely to shore to warm my feet and hands that were now shaking uncontrollably. I must go back again, maybe on a slightly warmer day, to seek out Nessy.
