August 16th - Just a Run!

Oh the days when I could say I have just a run today, it's been a while since then!

Run: 50mins - easy to steady Z2 (145-155)
Suana - 12 minutes

Breakfast - I really need to do something about eating in the morning. I had a pumpkin muffin (vegan at that) this morning, non-fat mocha @ 8am after PT. Then about 10:30 I had a yogurt and OJ. Thats fine, i guess, but i had to buy everything, i guess that's what i mean when i say i need to do something about it - grocery shop a little.

Resting HR: 47
Sleep: 7.5+ early morning to get to therapy by 6:30.

I anticipation of my new CCX bike arriving this week, I bought some hooks to hang my mountain bike and TT bike. They are more out of the way now. I won't ride it until after Canada, but after Canada, I'm all over that shit!

I think tonight I will meditate and visualize my race. Coach has asked me to do that, and i have done well inthe past when visualizing my events and what I need to do. It helps take some of the stress and worries out the race. I have enough anticipation built up as it is, the more i can deal now, the less later.

August 15th - Massage Day

I have a massage scheduled today at Pioneer Pacific for free. There students and some are good others aren't. After the MS 150 ride my hips have been extra tight. They always are, need yoga again, but that's all the student gets to work on today. Let's see how confortable they are massaging my ass for an hour! Hip flexors, soas, periformis, hamstring, glutes, all that shit! I'm also getting PT on hamstring/bursa and right shoulder pain (only when riding). I have a real massage on Sunday morning with my regular girl.

Bike: Interval workout on the way into work this morning. Ran out of real estate and time so I got only two in. That's fine, cause they were tough. Skipped the t-run. I'll do a run after my swim and then a sauna treatment after work.

Swim: Easy 2000m, some drill work.
Run: 20 minutes
Suana: 12 minutes

Dinner: Cashew Chicken - fantastic dinner! Very good.

Resting HR: 45
Sleep: 9+ and still didn't want to get up today.

August 14th - Monday Blues

It's Monday and I feel it. Didn't want to get up at all. Resting HR was 47ish, which is fine. The day after i slept for 12 hours it was 41. I packed gear to ride home, clothes for Tuesday and swim gear. Forgot swim shorts...I discoverd this after i got to the pool. Swim will be tomorrow. Besides I swam 5k yesterday.

Bike: Easy 2 hour bike home, took the long way, did a loop arond Lake Oswego, down through Terwilliger to home. Felt okay.

I was planning a suan treatment tonight, but I had no energy. I drank tons of caffeine and sugar yesterday, felt kind of sick, but could barely stay awake! I just cooked dinner - salmon (Atlantic - yuk) and pasta. The was a not so good Dream Dinner. The lite-mayo, lite-sourcream herb sauce was gross. Pasta was good. Went to bed before 9:30 - sweet!

12 days to Canada!

August 13th - Bridge Pedal with Pops

This morning I got up at the crack of dawn, again, to ride the 10 bridges in town with my dad and his friend. For the past month, since i "sold" my cross bike to him, he's been a riding fool. Since i rode long yesterday and they don't go fast, I took the fix gear out to bump around town with him. 1,000 of cyclists, one a hand full actually knew how to cycle. Kinda reminds me of the Vineman race with all the idiots on the road. Granted, it was a billion times better than last year. It was fun, got to spend sometime with dad riding over the Portland bridges. 32 miles and over 2 hours of saddle time. This ride was not on the schedule...

What was on the schedule is a 5k swim and 1.5 hour run. After the ride I went home, inhaled some pancakes, eggs and coffee - then fell asleep. Woke up around noon, got more coffee and headed to the pool. IM session.

WU: 200 + 3*100 build to hard effort
MS: 1200, 1000, 800, 600, 400 - decsend effort to moderately hard with 30-60sec rest. Start out at 1:35/100 and ended 1:28/100.
1200 - 19:09 (1:35)
1000 - 15:34 (1:33)
800 - 12:15 (1:32)
600 - 8:59 (1:30)
400 - 5:50 (1:28)
CD: 500 easy

Alright, good seesion. Arms a bit tired, no shoulder pain, good to go. Jumped in car and drove to Forest Park. It's now almost 3pm, getting to the hotest part of the day. Plan is to run 30min warm-up, 3 miles @ 7:30 and 3miles @ 8:30 and cooldown for the rest. Reapplied sunscreen and was off.

7:51 - 147/158 ==> There was a bit a climbing on this one.
7:16 - 165/171 ==> better.
7:26 - 171/172 ==> perfect.

The 8:30's were a bit tough to hold on to for some reason. I'll blame the heat and the bike/swim I had already done today. Total of 11 miles.

Celebrated with bubble tea later that night!

August 12th - BOG Ride

It took some convincing, but I got a friend who is also doing Canada to come along for the long, slow Bridge of the Gods ride. I have never done this ride before. I just may have to do it more often, i liked it! 90 miles, 5 hours was the plan along with a 30 min t-run.

I was in Z1 for all of 3mins, 30 seconds! Average HR = 106. 4000' of climbing was nice. The climb from Multnomh Falls to Crown Point was fun. Averaged 13mph and felt easy, just what the doctor ordered at 4hours into the ride (Yellow Lake, here I come!). Other than that fairly uneventful, which is how it's supposed to be. Looking throught the stel grate on the BOG was a little crazy.

T-run: 8:30 pace, kept Melissa from running too fast.

Sleepy time, long day tomorrow...5k swim and 1.5 hour run! See ya then!

August 11th - It's Friday!

Good times, all i haad to do today is 4*400 and 4*1000

400's alternating 1:25/1:40per
1:25 156bpm average
1:37 163bpm
1:26 169bpm
1:39 167bpm

1000's @3:55 with 2:30 rest
3:55 164bpm average
3:49 166bpm
3:42 173bpm
3:39 174bpm

goal of 1000's was to get HR to 180ish. First two were good but HR was still low 170's, so i pushed the last two to get to 180, got there! While no easy, aerobically and physically, i was able to respond and complete the workout under no major duress.

Oh, and i slept 12 last night!!! Fell asleep waiting for kabobs to marinade, woke up 5:40am...crazy!

August 10th - Easy Day

After riding home last night, I obviously had to ride in this morning to work. It's a 20mile, 70ish minute ride. It was nice and brisk this morning, which was nice. Legs are a bit heavy. I climbed the cemetary under 140bpm for most of it. There are two sections that require a bit more effort.

Lunch time run of 50 minutes was less than "easy." Legs heavy, stride short. Kinda warm and muggy today. I sat in the sauna for 10 minutes as well. Time to start sauna training with 2.5 weeks left to Canada!

Tonight I hope ot have Greek Beef Kabobs before the Timbers game.

Resting HR was 48 or so.

Catching Up & Riding w/ George Hincapie

August 2nd - 10mile TT

I headed out to Sauvie Island for this. It was a nice day, a bit windy so i chose the fast way around, which still wasn't that fast.

152 bpm avg/161 max
23.5mph avg. See not that fast. The headwind kept me down. This wasn't a race though.

t-run: 20min. Nice and easy to steady.

August 3rd - Repeats!

Lunchtime swim to establish a "t-time." Warmed up and then swam 1000meters for time holding a solid effort. T-time is the average pace per 100m = 1:28

Late afternoon, errr more like evening repeats. I ended up getting a hair cut (almost shaved my head, but still cut it shorter, not as short as I've had, but closer). I'm getting tired of the longer hair, plus I'm balding...I also went to Dream Dinners and finally made those. It was like being at the restuarant again, everything was set out and you make it, pretty cool. I shold drink next time i do it.

15 minute warm-up from my house to Duniway track. I skipped the 4*400 because I ran into a friend and she was doing one more repeat so i started in on my 4.

1 - 6:38 162avg/172max HR
2- 6:38 167/175
3 - 6:34 169/175
4- 6:31 170/173

Good work! I went too fast...was suppoed to do 2*1 mile at 6:45 then 1 mile at 6:40 and last mile at 6:35, all with 1 min jog in between. However, my legs responded so i went with it.

August 4th - Rest Day

BUT, since George Hincapie was coming to my office and riding with several of us, I rode today. The photo is after the ride. See what i would look like if i lost 20 pounds!!!

August 5th - MS 150 Ride in Forest Grove w/ George Hincapie

7:30am start for the 86 mile route. We had a huge pelaton riding with George. It was fun seeing all the quacks trying to get a photo with him. Some were very scary to ride with. George had a couple "handlers" that rode with from Seattle, including his brother. There should be a photo of my and another guy on our Felt B2's leading out George and the pelaton. Should be a good photo. Iwas supposed to ride 70 easy, ended up riding 86 too hard...hills is were i lost it. I also forgot to t-run...ooops.

August 6th - Day Two of MS 150

George is gone, that's good because i shouldn't try to keep again. I rode with fellow Ironheads that were riding in supprt of their father, father in-law depending on which one you talked to. We rode real easy because one guys brother hadn't ridden farther than 50miles before. Nice easy day as i was supposed to run 2.5 hours afterwards...didn't happen. I did get massages and my glutes are shot.

August 7th - TIRED!

I ran 2 of the 2.5 i was supposed to do yesterday. Felt better than i could have hoped. Picked up the pace for 30 minutes, legs no response, HR big response. 14 miles, 2 hours.

I had my first dream dinner (DD) tonight! Pasta Primavera - good stuff. Needs some meat in it though. I'll add chicken next time and more broccoli, less artichokes.

August 8th - Resting Day

Rode to the bike shop to decide whether or not to buy a Felt F1x for CycleCross or not. I'm also looking at the Scott. I went with the Felt. I've ridden the Felt for two years, i like it. Only saving $150 bucks if i went with the Scott. I should be ready next week! Doubt i will get to ride it before Canada, but afterwards look out!

Curry Chicken DD tonight - good stuff! this one was for 6, but i split it and it will feed me twice. The chicken peices are small, so i ate three...with rice. These meals are meant to go with other things, but so far i haven't added anything to them.

August 9th - Back at It!

Swim: 3200meters - Solid MS set of 15*100's decending the 500's. 1:30ish to 1:27ish to 1:25ish...felt a bit tough, but good. It's been a few days since i have swam.

Bike: Freakin' bike! I popped a chain link, well almost. The linkpin was coming out, and the link itself was tweeked. I was able to pedal a mile or so closer to the Bike Gallery in LO before i had to walk. Once fixed i started my 4*30sec build to sprints then the 3*4mins very hard repeats. I did the first two 4's at the cemetary and the last one along the Springwater - narrowily avoiding others at 25mph... Because the chain issue, workout was 30mins short.

T-Run: Felt okay, nothing exciting. I do know that the racing flats i bought are not going to work for IM. Need other shoes for that. These Adi Zeros don't provide enough support for my fat ass. BTW: i was 177 after my run today...little light, but most of that is water loss. 180 is were is should be.

Aug 1st

Back to work today. I have 18 hours this week before the hours start to dwindle into a taper.

Run: 60mins, a bit rough. Legs feel okay though.
Bike: 75mins, feels fine. Hamstrings a bit sore
Swim: 3300m - felt fine. No worries. Easy relaxing swim

July 27 - July 31 inc. Vineman 70.3

July 27th

I left for Santa Rosa, CA this day. 10-11 drive solo! Good times! I'm tapering and doing quicker shorter workouts for the race on Sunday.

Swim: 30 minute swim, nothing special, felt good though.
Run: Ran after the swim for 30 minutes as well. Just easy.
Bike: Wasn't able to ride today. Had planned for 2 hours.

July 28th

Arrived in Santa Rosa, well Windsor where the race is, actually just the finish. The start is in Guerneville, 15 miles away. I settled into the hotel. Went to VW dealership to pick up some power steering fluid, since my mechanic failed to fill it up this week. They did fix the brakes. About 3pm I went for a run in Windsor. I had a AeT test to do. Run 2 miles @ 150 bpm and then 2 miles @ 160 bpm, record mile splits. I found a track, Los Lobos was the mascot of the school, forget the actual name.

150bpm - mile 1 @ 7:59, mile 2 @ 8:09
160bpm - mile 1 @ 7:37, mile 2 @ 7:50

Not bad.

Got back to Santa Rosa and went for a spin. I found a 15 mile route with a mile long climb @ 8.8%, good times! I was cold on most of the ride. The weather had cooled off considerably after the heat wave of the previous weeks. No more 112 degrees. It was 61 on the ride.

July 29th

I was supposed to go to a buddy's vineyard this weekend, but his sister-in-law was having a baby, so the wife had to leave, so he was stuck with 2 kids...oh well. Took my time, eat breakfast and headed back to Windsor to pick up my packet. I got really bored today. I also visted the swim start (Russian River). The water was not super warm, but i guess it was 75ish...just cold enough for wetsuits. At 78 degrees, wetsuits are no longer legal.

Ride: Rode several miles of the run course - 60 mins
Run: Ran the first bits of the run course - 20mins

Went to dinner in Santa Rosa with some friends down for the race. No drinks, left early, i was tired.

July 30th - Race Day!

Ironman Vineman 70.3

AG 30-34 42/231
OA 158/1800
Swim 00:28:47.0 PR
T1 00:02:36.3
Bike 02:39:42.1
T2 00:03:36.2
Run 01:44:23.8
Finish 04:59:05.5

Pre-race meal: At 5:30 (7:50 start) I had a bagel with peanut butter and a cup of yogurt. Didn’t finish the bagel (left a few bites). Drank about 32oz of water between then and the start. I had a half can of ROCKSTAR about a half hour before.

Warm-up: No warm up except the 50m swim as I got in the water

Set-up: Separate transitions (15 miles apart), so the run was already set-up with 2 6oz fuel belt bottles with about 4 scoops malto and 2 scoops endurolytes. I figure about 100-150calories each. Put a little Gatorade for flavor, didn’t help. I also had a rubber “coin purse” with endurolyte capsules, just incase. T2 set-up was bike, helmut, sunglasses, shoes, socks, towel, two water bottles (80 minutes of malto with 2 scoops endurolytes in each flavored with cran-apple juice) and a cliff bar.

Nerves: For some reason I was more nervous for this race than Pac Crest. Probably new venue, and I was by myself (no teammates around). My stomach was a little knotted. I was fine when I got in the water, which is usually the case.

Goals: Today was all about IM pacing and nutrition plan. 30min swim, 2:45 bike and 1:53 (8:30ish) was the goal.

Recon: I rode the first several miles of the run course and saw the few hills that it had. So, I knew there were some, but it never registered it would be a problem. There were obviously more than the ones I saw, but the dreaded looks on peoples faces in the early miles made me feel much better about where I was mentally and physically.

Swim: Out (upriver) and back (downriver) swim. The program says the accomplished swimmer will be 1 minute slower out than normal, and sure enough I hit the turnaround @ 16 minutes. I started second row, and with in the first 100m swam over two people, and settled in. I saw a group forming ahead as well as two guys to my right. I gradually got behind the two guys for a bit. The group didn’t get much further ahead so I decided to see if I could bridge up. I went, felt good, not too hard and caught the group. Stayed there for a bit until the turn around when it shattered. All alone again, but the two guys from earlier where back, jumped on their feet again. Stayed with them for most the return. It was weird to grab ground for a couple 100m after the turnaround. I altered my stroke a bit so not to go as deep. Went solo for the last couple 100m to kick it out and loosen up. Never felt stressed and I PR’d the swim too.

T1: I counted the rows prior, so I knew where I was (I didn’t do this for T2). I had trouble putting my wetsuit in the bag (for transportation to T2), it was small. There is a short steep hill just as you leave transition. I saw several people (a pro even) have trouble here – too big of gear. I spun up it no worries, actually on the sidewalk since there was too many people in the way. The wave starts are great for ego, but really annoying after several hours of passing people.

Bike: I tried and tried to get my HR down to <130 (IM pace), but to no avail. So after 45 minutes, I said screw it. On the flats I was able to, but there were very few of those. Constant rollers all day and really bad roads in parts. Water bottles were everywhere. I’ve also come to the conclusion that triathletes have the WORST bike handling skills and road etiquette! Everyone thought they were the only ones out there because they all road from the center to the yellow line. I was constantly crossing the yellow line and got tired of yelling “on your left.” I digress. I sampled the malto mixture every 10 minutes, so my nutrition was spot-on. I had a half cliff bar somewhere around halfway. It was abundantly clear, if not before, on Chalk Hill about triathletes bike skills and etiquette. Like no one is going to pass you ever? Towards the end of the bike leg my legs were feeling a bit fatigued, similar to the feeling at Pac Crest, which made me worry a bit. 2500’ of total climbing, lots of small hills and turns made for a slower bike than Pac Crest, albeit only 3 minutes and my HR was lower on average.

T2: Count rows and/or practice your run-in off the bike so you don’t get lost. I forgot to do this. I went too far and got lost for a “minute.” Found my stuff, changed socks and off I went. It was a long run after the dismount to my gear.

Run: My legs felt fantastic today. No need to be worried. I “jogged” out on the course trying for the life of me to slow down to 8:30’s (IM pace). Never worked, it felt really slow, so I stayed about 8:20’s for awhile. At the turn around, it started to get a bit harder, but still very doable. In the last 3 miles or so I picked it up and hit a couple 7:30’s. Finished strong and not labored at all. This was in stark contrast to my Pac Crest run where I suffered from mile 1. Ironically, I ran the same splits in each race. I’m making progress and stoked about that!

I’m very happy this race came together as it did. While I would have liked to go faster, especially on the run, it wasn’t in the plan. My run was very inspiring for my Canada goals!

Then I jumped in my car and drove straight home. I stopped in Redding on the way down, but not this time. Besides the liquor Barn in Redding was closed again anyway! I called just about everyone that i knew would be up to stay awake. The worst of it was from Salem to Portland! Crashed immediately!

July 31st
Sleept until noonish. Went for 1.5 hour ride to spin out. Unpacked, eat and slept some more.