GMR Photo

The yellow line is the end fo the first race Tony and I did. It's another 12 or so miles after this to Mount Baldy Village.

Like there was no chain!

Last year in the final days of the Tour de France, Lance made a comment to the effect of, "today felt like I was riding with no chain". That comment was made even more impressive, in that, the day consisted of climbing the French Alps. I remember thinking, yeah right you freak!
Then it happened. Saturday I finally got out for a ride after being sick and getting ready to move all week. I went for a 60 mile ride with my coach that consisted of a 5000' climb up to Mount Baldy Village via Glendora Mountain Road. I've ridden this ride many times and it is tough. In fact, I've ridden it with Tony before and been left behind by a margin of about 30 minutes. So with a fresh set of legs from having rested all week and a good couple of months of training under my belt, we set off.
I could tell it was going to be a different day when Tony, a guy named Jaime, and I rode the first 7 miles up the mountain at a good pace while holding a conversation the entire time. Usually, I reserve this time for breathing and suffering. Towards the top of the climb, Tony and got into a really hard race to see who could make it to the top first. Jaime joined in too ( who was this mystery guy that neither of us had ridden with before?) It was an attack, recover counter-attack move that got me to the top first, but not by much. The next 12 or so miles are interesting on this road. They roll up and down in some spots with a 4 miles sustained grade right in the middle that takes you to the highest point of around 5300'.
We all climbed together again, but this time no one was talking. Then it happened. It only lasted for about 15 minutes, but I heard Lance's voice when it hit. On a particularly tough section of the climb I actually shifted down a couple of cogs to a harder gear and it felt like the chain had fallen off. I was climbing pretty much without effort. I wish I could say it lasted all day, like Lance did, but alas, reality and gravity came back to me and I was back into an easier gear and pushing hard after about 15 minutes. But I do know the feeling. Soon after, Coach Tony pulled up to me and commented on how strong I had gotten and that he was having a hard time holding my wheel. He laughed that he used to be able to drop me with the "blink of an eye". It is more a compliment to him, since he is my coach.
At 5300' it got really cold, so after one short downhill section, I decided to hammer out a short uphill to get warm. Tony pulled up and said "thought you could shake me, huh?". I just said, " Nope, I'm just trying to stay warm". He looked over and said "I'll keep you warm". With that another race was on. The last 3/4 to 1 mile of that climb became an all out race to the finish. I pulled out to the front, but never wanted to look back to see where he'd gone. I raced like he was on my wheel. I was surprised when I got to the top a full minute or so ahead of him. He would get the last laugh though.
We had decided early in the ride that we would do a short 2 1/2 mile run after the ride. When we got off the bikes and started the run, I realized he was going to have his way with me. It was a tough short run and in the end he kicked and I had nothing to answer with. That is why he is an Ironman.
Sunday, I took my friend Megan out for her first ride on her new tri bike. That was fun. It's a blast to watch new people coming into the sport. She did well.
We moved into our new house and today I got in a short run before it started raining on me. I will be able to get back to some sort of normalcy soon and really buckle down on my training.
This Sunday is the first race of the season. It's a sprint distance race here locally that the station helps to put on. We'll see how I measure up this year.

I feel like a slug

This darned cold has kept me sidelined too long. No workout Monday nor yesterday. This afternoon I WILL get a run in. I am planning a 1 hour run. It has been really windy by my house, so it should be a good challenge. I am excited to move next Monday to our new house we bought. It gets windy there, but not nearly as often as at our house we currently live in. Saturday the 30th is my first race of the season. It's a sprint distance race, so it should be a blast. Bella is racing her first race that day and I imagine Diego will too as he watches big sister. Yvette is running the 10k.

Let's try this again

Here's the photo.

Megan's new bike

I forgot to put a picture in the blog entry below of Megan's new bike, so here it is.

I hate being sick

This weekend was a bit frustrating. I picked up another cold, or still haven't gotten rid of the last one, so my training suffered.
Oh, and as for my fast on Friday- I changed the time frame to be from 7pm Thursday to noon on Friday, because by the time noon had rolled around, it was getting pretty ugly. So I ate a HUGE lunch and a snack before bed.
Saturday morning I woke up to the sound of rain and a sinus headache that made me feel like I had been punched in the left cheek (a feeling that still exists even now). I had promised to meet some people for the ride and I had the directions, so I jumped in my car and drove 30 minutes east to Redlands to meet my friends. I secretly hoped no one would show and things looked good as I sat at the coffee shop sipping a latte. But my friends are freaks and don't care about rain, so I got the phone call at 7 from Coach Tony saying "don't leave without us, we're running a little late". In a strange way, I was sort of excited that I would get to ride. Tony and Melinda showed up and off we went. About 1/2 way up one of the big hills, I noticed that Tony was behind me and that is something that never happens when we ride together in the hills. Either I was having a great day or he was still not recovered from having done Ironman Arizona last weekend. It turns out it was the latter. He threw in the towel and he and Melinda headed back. When we talked later he told me his legs just weren't responding and he didn't feel like suffering that much. I had a great ride to the top of the hill and turned around realizing that I would have to finish the ride on my own. That was not likely to happen being that more blood rushing to my head was not helping the sinus pain I was having. So I bagged the rest of the ride and headed back to the car. I still rode a 1 1/2 hour ride that was very tough, so I was somewhat ok with having to cut it short.
Sunday, I took Isabella for a run in the jogging stroller between church and brunch. It served a few purposes. 1st to make my gorge at brunch guilt free. 2nd, I hoped that running would somehow make the pain in my head and face go away (which it did after about 15 minutes). And lastly, we were hoping to get Bella to take a nap before going to brunch. As we got into the stroller, she said "maybe I can take a nap in the stroller". She is a blast to run with, because she talks to me most of the time. She asks all sorts of questions and makes all sorts of observations as we run. We got about 3 miles into run, and blew a tire on the stroller. A piece of glass cut into the tire and tube. So we called mommy out to rescues us and sat on the side of the road talking and throwing rocks until she got there. It stunk that my run was cut short, but the time with her was still very good.
Yesterday afternoon, I met a friend of mine, Megan in a Olive Garden parking lot in Yorba Linda in order to help her out with a bike she was looking at buying. I helped her find it through my triathlon club. It was a great deal on paper and when I saw it in person, it was still a great deal. She basically got a $1500 bike for $500. The guy selling it fell in love with Xterra off-road triathlons and needed the money for a new mountain bike. I am going to help train her to complete an Olympic distance race by the end of summer.
Today is a rest day. Hopefully this cold/ sinus issue will go away before the end of the day.

Happy Easter

Got in a 1500 meter swim yesterday in 25 mins 16 seconds. It was a little off my normal time, but it felt like it should have been even worse. Some days when I get in the water, it feels like I am gliding effortlessly, and some days it feels like I am struggling to keep from going to the bottom. Yesterday was definitely the latter. I'll get back in the pool next week and dedicate a day to doing drills. That should get me back to swimming like I know I can. 500 meter splits 8:14/ 8:30/ 8:32
Last night I went back and rode the training loop again. I took 3rd place on the ride up the hill, but the group was a little different, so it isn't fair to say that I moved up from my 4th place finish on Tuesday. I will say this, the 1st and 2nd place finisher last night don't have much to worry about from me and provide an inspiration that I can get faster. Funny thing is, when you ride with the same group for a while, you can think you're getting fast and strong, andf then you go out and ride with a different group and find out how far you can go. This is that kind of group. It was a bit windy on the ride back, so pacelining became even more important and I learned a lot last night. I ride a lot, but most times in small groups or with triathletes, who are notoriously bad a riding in a group. These guys ride in groups all the time, so they have all sorts of tips and tricks ( and expectations). Riding in a group is fairly dangerous because you are riding inches off of someone's back tire and if you rub tires you're almost certain to go down and go down hard. When that happens, many times you will take down riders behind you. It's a skill I work at. You need to be super smooth and consistent and as any abrupt movements are unwelcomed, at best.
Tomorrow I am doing a 60 mile ride with 7000' of climbing in it. It ought to be interesting. Today is Good Friday and a day of Fasting, so I am wrestling with how to fuel myself for tomorrow. Normally a large carb filled lunch or dinner is in order. Perhaps, I'll set my alarm clock for 3 am and eat a large carb meal then.
I'll let you know what I come up with.

Have a great Easter!

Picture of Yvette's new shes

Stability
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Grit
Speed
Walking

Adrenaline GTS 6 (42166)

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Price: $90.00

Yvette's new shoes

I didn't get up yesterday to swim, so I am going to do that at lunch today. I did get in a 30 minute run on the treadmill last night at 10. I feel good for having done that. I think I am going to try to catch the training ride tonight again at 5:00.
Last night I took Yvette to a running store over in La Verne so that she could get new shoes. I have hard time understanding how someone can make a living off of one of these store, being that they are so specialized, but I appreciate the fact that they are there. The manager, a guy named Rob who has been running 19 years and is the cross-country coach for Claremont high (and looks like he is about 16 years old), fitted Yvette for some new shoes. He watched her run and found that she is a over-pronater. That means as she runs, her foot rolls towards the inside. That explains the significant pain she had in her knees at the end of the 1/2 marathon she ran last year. Most people (85% according to Rob) overpronate and most running shoes that are sold are sold for neutral runners (those whose foot rolls straight through from heel to toe). Neutral runners need little lateral support. Over-pronaters need lateral support built into their shoes. Can you see the problem yet? Yvette is going to run a 10k at the end of the month in her new shoes so we'll see if it fixes her problem. In fact, I just got off the phone with her and she was walking into the gym to spend some time on the treadmill.
I had Rob check my run gate. He said I overpronate when I walk, but as the treadmill speeds up and I start to run, I move up onto the balls of my feet and end up with a neutral gate. Good thing too, because I just ordered 2 pairs of new running shoes that are for neutral to mild over-pronaters and they should be on my doorstep today when I get home.
This is probably more than you wanted to know about running shoes, unless of course you have pain when your running.
Talk to you in a bit.

4th Place

I took fourth place in tonights training ride. I felt pretty good. We had 17 or so riders out on this loop and the guy who finished 1st races at a semi-pro level. He was pretty far ahead, but number 2 and 3 were close enough to see. I think I'll be able to beat them next time. This is a chippy ride. It starts out slow and conversational but whenever the road turns up, it gets pretty serious. The top guys are pretty good and they ride pacelines pretty well together. That being said, I took a super long pull on the front of the paceline and pulled the tops guys at around 32 mph for quite a while. I got to play lead out boy at the end of the ride to the 2 sprinters. It was fun to watch them go at it and I felt like I was able to help by lifting the pace right into the last 100 meters of the ride. I know that I am not training my sprinting muscles, so loosing that battle was ok. I would like to place 2nd or 3rd on this ride next time though. It's a fun ride that only should last about an hour, but they stop to regroup for the slower riders, and there are some really slow folks. Tomorrow morning is a swim workout. Pray that I have the discipline to get out of bed in the morning.

My daughter

So here it is, my latest excuse for not waking up to workout. At 5:00 this morning my 3 1/2 year old daughter, Isabella, comes running to my bed scared from some bad dream. She crawls into bed and snuggles up to me. This is one of my favorite things in life. So when the alarm goes off 20 minutes later, it was easy to roll over and go back to sleep.
This afternoon, I am heading out to do a club training ride that is more of a race. It ought to be an interesting ride. We'll get to see who slacked off in the off season and who was sweating in their garages getting stronger.
I'll give you all the report tomorrow.

Finally I get to workout again

Last week was dedicated to the common cold. I rested Monday per my training schedule. Tuesday's workout fell victim to the time change for daylight savings time. I couldn't get out of bed when the clock read 5:30 am when my body knew that it was really 4:30 am. So I slept. Good thing too, because by the end of the day, I had caught a cold. It kept me down until Saturday. Sunday, I finally got back on the bike for a 2 hour spin of about 40 miles.
I had to train Saturday because I knew that a bunch of my friends were dong Ironman Arizona. A good friend of mine and smack talking competitor, Dan, was doing his first race at this distance and he had an incredible race, based on the times. He finished in the top 300 out of about 2500 racers and I can't wait to hear the stories. He and I are racing for the 1st time head to head in July at the Vineman half Ironman. We have very close times in all of our races, but I'd be lying if I said that his times at Arizona don't give me a lot to think about. He did the 2.4 mile swim in 1:05 the 112 mile bike in 5 hours 37 mins (avg. 19.9 mph) and the 26.2 mile run in 4 hours 55 mins (avg. 11:15 min/ mile). I am super proud of him. Now that he knows he can push himself that far though, he will be even more dangerous.
I'll keep you up to date on this weeks training throughout the week.
Finally, I sucked another person into my triathlon vortex. A good friend of mine and co-worker named Megan is going to be doing her first triathlon this year. I suggested she do the Olympic distance race (1500 meter swim/ 24 mile bike/ 6.2 mile run) at Carpinteria in September. I will be caoching her through this race. It was my first race and I know that she will love the course. Wish her luck in her endeavor.

Another great training weekend

Even though it rained on Saturday it still turned out to be a great training session. I did the 3-hour Spinerval workout in my garage on the bike trainer, but the cool part was that Yvette joined me for the first hour of it. I have been trying to get her to join me on some training rides. Typically she will not. But since we were on the bike trainers, she knew she wouldn't get dropped. She did great and I think she even enjoyed it. The Spinervals 13.0 workout is 3-hours of training just below Lactate Threshold level. Which for me means, three hours at between 150 bpm (heart-beats per minute) and 175 bpm ( my LT is 167 bpm). You can burn upwards of 2500 calories during the workout and loose 5 pounds of water weight. My trainer told me that I averaged 21 miles per hour and went 63 miles. That is made even more significant since a good portion of the workout is spent alternating between a seated position and standing in all sorts of gearing combinations. There are times in this workout when you want to crawl through the TV screen and choke the guy running the workout for making you stand when you don't even want to pedal any more. I love the feeling I get knowing that I've finished it, once it is done.
Sunday morning we had daylight savings time kick in and some beautiful weather. So I slept in until 8 am and went for a one hour run at a strong pace. Total run time was 53 minutes and I ran between 7 and 8 miles. I was trying to chase down 2 guys that were about 1/4 mile ahead of me, but they were moving out at a pretty good pace, so I was only able to close about half of that gap. Today is a rest day, then I start a new cycle of training tomorrow.