November 27th - Time to Buckle Down

No more screwing around! 6 months till Ironman Brazil! Official training schedule begins on the 1st! I will slowly start to disappear from social engagements and the like over the next 6 months. I'm planning on getting pretty serious this year. I really want to get to Kona in October. The run will be my focus, while retaining the strength and endurance on the bike. Running doesn't help cycling...cycling helps running. Swimming, well I'm just looking to keep that at a solid level - no worries there.


Workouts:
Swim: 2k with drills and flip turn practice
Run: 4.1 miles - standard waterfront loop
Lift: full body, light weight, high rep

*The knee is still funny. More than likely will take awhile to recover.

Breakfast: Venti Americano, cinnamon roll (healthiest thing on Starbucks menu)
Lunch: Green tea, yogurt, salad w/ egg, walnuts, sunflower seeds, Italian dressing (low-fat), broccoli, carrots, peas
Dinner: Dream Dinners Tuscan Chicken, beer

November 19th - USGP - Hillsboro CCX

Similar to Estacada, this course suited my style of racing - flat and fast. While I'm far from a Roadie, I'm a triathlete (albeit somewhat out of shape) and flatter, the better. I rode MAX out to the stadium with fellow teammates in Pink & Black for a pre-ride and registration. It was dry today, but the forecast was for lots of rain on Sunday. The whole course was rideable today with several big puddles with mystery holes. It took out on teammate and had me hitting my stem so hard with my knee, it still hurts to run...8 days later! I'm getting some physical therapy on it.

Back to the race, finally got a front row spot! A long straight start was good for me too. I pulled into the top 10 by the second corner. The knee is feeling fine today. My nemesis, Gant, isn't racing today, but he will be out for the Veloshop's race this Sunday. It rained on and off since 7am that morning, making the course sticky and slick. Perfect racing conditions. I felt good on the first lap, riding some, running some other hills that became faster to run than ride. I was still top ten with two laps to go and I was gaining ground on people, starting to pass several. I was getting good support from teammates, especially Erin who kept telling me I was the fastest one out there in a particularly tough muddy section. Whether or not I was doesn't matter, I felt that I was because she said i was, that's all I needed. Thanks Erin. As i pasted the finish line, I was pulled...one lap short and only 32 minutes into the race. WTF? They were behind on time, so we got screwed. I was just getting started! I ended up 4th! They dq'd the winner for cutting course, sucker! There a couple photos I'm going to buy and post, check back for those.

Nov 12th - Cross Crusade District Champs

It's double points Sunday at the Cross Crusade Champs! Since my season hasn't shaped up the way I wanted it too, I've conceded to battling for spots 10-20 each race. One of the Veloshop riders, Mike, has a chance to take the overall title today. There are about 6 riders in B's who are going to try and help Mike win. None of us would be fast enough today to help. He ended up 3rd and 4th overall...bummer. My race was again battling Gant. I was with him for three laps at the end. It wasn't until the last lap did he see me and try to get away. I stayed with him only to lose in the final sprint to the finish, he had too big of a gap. This time we were 10th and 11th, better than last week. I think I have ended the crusade in the high teens for overall placement. I didn't train like I planned for cross, so I'm not too upset. There is always next year!

Nov 5th - CCX @ Barton Park

Barton Park is the second to last of the Cross Crusade series. Barton is an old rock quarry that usually has big puddles and deep mud. This year was no exception. And again, it was raining the whole time, hell ya! Check out the video of Barton. I'm in the beginning of the video trying to ride the ditch, but i crash hard and get back up...good stuff. I weighed like 20lbs more after that, the mud was thick and cold.

The race was good. I got a fifth row starting position, which sucked, but I was able to work up quickly after the long straight start. The ditch in the video was the best part, except for the time i crashed, i nearly rode it everytime. I just put my foot down at the top for a second. Eventually I ended up behind a teammeate from Ironheads, Gant. He just got back from Kona a few weeks ago. One the last lap, he gapped me when a rider between us didn't respond to his pace. I knew I had better handling skills, so I knew I would see him again. I did and ended up passing him until the giant run-up at the end...where he caught me and we both finished at the same time...although he got 15th and I got 16th. I'll get him next week.

St. Helens Climb Recap

As I mentioned before, it was going to be cold! And it was. There ended up being 17 who summited very early Wednesday morning. The wind was blowing pretty hard as we left Portland, even harder once we hiked past the tree line about 4500' . As of November 1st you don't need to pay for a permit, just record yourself and take a permit. We slept for an hour once we got there and started hiking @ 1am. It's very different being guided by your own headlamp. There are posts to mark the "trail" but they aren't easy to spot inthe dark. I think the group of four i was with ended bouldering a little more than necessary, but it was fun. Once past the false summits, we could see the top and first light was appearing. Even at 8000' breathing became more laborous. We made it to the top before sunrise. Awesome sight being up there watching the sun come up behind Mt. Adams. Mt. Hood to the south and Rainer to the north. Cool shit. There was no snow up there, but since it was below freezing the moisture that was on the ground made the scree hard, which is good for the climb, bad for the descent. Check out the photos.

October 31st - Halloween

I didn't dress-up for work today, nobody at work did for that matter. Our earnings conference call with investors was this morning. Lost another $20MM this quarter...

Anyway, I'm off for a run (30 minutes) for my warm-up to climbing tonight. I'll be bringing my sleeping bag for the top as we wait for the sunrise. Getting pretty excited about the climb. Not too stoked on the allnighter part, but whatever, there's plenty of Halloween candy to go around...

Monday Oct 30th

So, I finished 12th, well 13th after the results were revised. Not bad considering the long climb, which was the only place people passed me. I'm started to get stoked for the next two races, as the are flatter and faster. My kind of courses.

Ran today for 4 miles, felt good.

Yin yoga was also very good. It's such a good class.

Tomorrow night I'm climbing Mt St Helens!!! Can't wait to see the crater with the new lava dome. I haven't been up there since the late 80's, 1988 I believe. I think I went after that, just can't remember when it was. It was "exploding" and ashing a lot last year and the Forest Service final opened it to hiking again. It's only 8000' or so, and not technical. It's going to be freakin' cold though. It was 29 degrees at sea level this morning!!! I'll get some photos for the entry on Wednesday. We'll summit in the dark and wait for the sun to rise, should be way cool!