Vineman race report

Vineman post-race report

This definitely was my toughest 70.3 mile race…my heel injury has prevented me from running for the past couple months. I’ve been trying to run in the pool a couple hours a week but it is a mediocre substitute at best. It’s really a shame, because this race had the potential to be one of my better ones (early wave start, potential lower temperatures).

PRE-RACE

The following is a list of “new’ things I would be doing today (with apologies to Coach Gurujan, who says “Nothing new on race day!!)

* New brand of sunscreen (the brand I was using was giving me rashes)
* New nutrition (carbo-pro, since I ran out of Infinit)
* Painkillers-I usually don’t take anything, but with my injured heel my doctor advised me to take 2 Extra Strength Excedrin with breakfast, 2 in T1, and 2 in T2.
* “Yanks” on my shoes…I haven’t used those in a couple years so I considered them “new”
* New nutrition delivery system on the bike-I squirted 5 Gu packs into a plastic mini bottle so I wouldn’t have to fumble around with opening up the packs while riding



My race wave was to start at 6:46am (wave 3). As our cabin was about 3 miles from the start line, I was able to “sleep in” until 4:45. After a quick breakfast of peanut butter on a bagel and a banana, it was a short bike ride to the start line. I had enough time to get body marked and set up my transition area with about 5 minutes to spare, then I jumped into the water for the start of the swim. I noticed that the sky was clear blue; the usual fog and marine layer that stuck around until 8:30am or so was already burned off by 6:30am. That means it’ll get hotter faster…not a good sign.

One guy jumped in the water and didn’t realize he was still wearing his glasses. Someone told him and he had to rush out and put them back in the transition area, I’m not sure if he made it back before the gun went off.

SWIM-2100 yards/1.2 miles

I think my swim “peaked” about 2 weeks before the race, and my last few swims weren’t that great. This swim was no different; I think I started getting my rhythm after about 1900 yards and by that time the swim was almost over. One positive note was that since this was my 5th 70.3 event I was pretty familiar with how long the swim would take and how fast to pace myself (in prior races I would have that “where the hell is the turnaround point” mentality).

My goal was to break 40 minutes on the swim-which was a stupid goal to have considering I wasn’t wearing a watch and therefore had no idea if I should speed up, slow down or continue on the same pace at the turnaround.

At this writing my swim time + T1 add up to 0:45:48, and since I usually have a 5 minute T1 I think I was pretty close to that goal.

T1:Swim-to bike-transition

I took my salt tabs and Excedrin and headed off on the bike

BIKE-56 miles

My goal was to finish the bike in about 3:40 or less, but I wasn’t sure if I could do it because I was undertrained. So my main goal was to “enjoy the day”.

I headed off on the bike feeling better then last year. I paced myself and didn’t get bored like I usually do; even looking at my watch constantly to make sure I took in some nutrition every 10 minutes didn’t compel me to start mentally ticking off the miles.

At mile 7 a tree had fallen and hit 2 riders; a 3rd rider was close behind and skidded into the tree. One of the riders had his back broken. Several riders were stopped and giving aid so the remaining riders were maneuvering under the tree as best they could as to continue the race. Details of the accident are here http://www.pressdemocrat.com/article/20090719/ARTICLES/907199983/1031/SPORTS07?Title=Freak-crash-during-Vineman-when-tree-falls-on-cyclists

Around mile 30 my inner quads started feeling a little tight. At mile 39 I stood to stretch a bit and both my quads seized up. I tried to ‘baby” my legs and not make the cramps worse because I was approaching Chalk Hill (about 300 foot climb, not too bad but I knew my legs would protest). I pedaled up the hill as slowly as I could without falling over, but I could still feel my quads tightening so instead of risking falling over I pulled off to the side and dismounted. As soon as my feet touched the pavement both quads cramped up. I ended up walking up the rest of the hill 1) to save time, and 2) to stretch out my legs so I could finish this thing. I also tried to determine why I was cramping up…up to that point I had taken 1200mg of sodium, which should have been plenty even on a hot day, and I had been drinking plenty. I concluded that it was probably the lack of training, and going too fast for my current ability.

I reached the top of Chalk Hill and cheered on riders reaching the top for awhile. My legs started to feel better and so I continued on without incident. Bike time-3:53:50 P.S. bike split last year was 3:56:53 so I ended up beating that at least.

T2:Bike-to-run transition

Nothing too interesting to report here, except I couldn’t find my transition area even though I had placed a bright yellow shirt over my things so I could spot it easily. More salt tabs, more Excedrin, and I was off on the “run”. T2 time: 0:05:15.

RUN-13.1 miles

The run was brutal, as usual. Even though the temperature was supposed to be around 90, actual temps ranged from 97 to 102 (yes there is a big difference). Also, the lack of marine/fog layer made the temperature rise quicker than normal. I was hoping that I would be able to run 5-6 miles, but looking back I think I only ran 1-2 miles. My heel injury and my quads were making it too painful to run. So I walked. Brian Gunn walked with me for a bit, and I saw/cheered on lots of people. It was fun but by mile 10 I had enough and just wanted the day to be over. I can only take so much of the sun.

By the end my feet were burning and killing me, and I had blisters. The last 3 miles took 25 minutes per mile to walk. I was trying to dig deep and make the last mile in under 23 minutes so I could break 9 hours for the race but I couldn’t do it. Total run time-4:17:32. Too long!
Overall, I'm glad I finished the race...I've been having motivational issues lately and hopefully this is the kick in the butt I need to start training better and more often.

24 hours until Vineman

The Vineman half-ironman (1.2 mile swim, 56 mile bike and 13.1 mile run) is tomorrow and it should be interesting, to say the least. I use the term "interesting" in the literal sense in that I have no idea what is going to happen, even though I've done this race twice before. I'll break down the unknowns for you:

START TIME: In years past I've been in one of the last waves, starting at around 8:30. This is usually detrimental because the afternoon temperature climbs to around 95-100, so earlier starting waves get an advantage of not having to bike and run in as much heat. This year my wave starts at 6:46am, which means I avoid a lot of the heat and theoretically should have a faster time.

SWIM: I think I am faster then last year, but lack the base to complete the 1.2 mile swim as easily as I have in years past. I just need to remember to keep good form and finish strong. In prior years my times were around 44 and 39 minutes. Projected time this year = 39-41 minutes.

T1: Earlier swim wave means I have to run 10 yards out of the swim to my bike, not 100. 90 less yards to run in bare feet on gravel slightly covered with astro-turf should make T1 quicker. I usually don't care about T1 times and take about 5 minutes, but since I have this early wave start maybe I'll shoot for 3:30 or so.

Bike: Ugh. I've been training with Team in Training for Pac Grove (olympic distance) and haven't gotten in enough long rides. I think my longest ride in the last year has been 35 miles. Hopefully I can stay focused enough to notice my legs breaking down. If I can break 3:40 on the bike I'll be happy.

T2: nothing to say

Run: Ugh. I've had a heel injury for the last 5 months or so, and about a month ago I quit running entirely to try to get it to heal. It didn't. I've been running in the pool for the past couple weeks (I think for an hour, 5 times total). So how will I do on the run? Unknowns:
--Will I be stopped by the heal injury? Or did my month off from running allow it to heal enough so that I can finish this thing?
---Is pool running so incredibly beneficial that I'll be able to run the whole 13.1 miles? OR is it only marginally beneficial and I only have a 2-3 mile running base at this point?

So in the spirit of keeping focused on goals, here's what I hope to accomplish...each goal is superseded by the previous one:
1) Don't injure myself
2) have fun, plus goal #1
3) finish the race, plus #1 and #2
4) Accomplish 1-3, and finish in under 8 hours
5) Accomplish 1-3, and finish in under 7:50 (personal record for course)
6) Accomplish 1-3, and finish in under 7:35 (personal record for a half-ironman)

Goals 1-2 should be easily attainable, 3-6 might be a tad harder

Why do I like to wear a wetsuit?

300 yard time trial in the pool a couple weeks ago with no wetsuit = 5:24
300 yard time trial in the pool last night while wearing a wetsuit = 4:40

That's a 44 second benefit, or 13.5%.
BUT...the % benefit is actually greater when you consider the following:

1) these TT's were done in a pool, and when I'm in a wetsuit I can't aggressively flip-turn like I can while not in a wetsuit. So in open water the lack of walls to push off of would make my "no wetsuit" time slower and my "wetsuit" time faster

2) Last night I was coming off a 10-day head cold and could have gone faster

My body is awesome

Every time I ramp up the training my body responds with injury or sickness.
The latest debacle was an hour-long episode of pool running last Friday. It was at LA Fitness at their indoor pool and it was very humid. My body's response? I've had a head cold/sinus infection since Saturday.
And Vineman is in 17 days...

Another first!

I went up Scripps Poway Parkway twice last Saturday. Total climb was 3,060 feet. IT was extra tough because I did a hard climbing ride that Wednesday also.
I am still injured on the run...I need to start running in the pool.
Totals for last week:
swim 2.5 miles
bike 64.5 miles with 5,850' of climb
run 3.0 miles

First time up Torrey Pines hill (inside)

Yesterday I did Torrey Pines hill repeats-Sandra and I decided that since we'd never rode up the inside that we should do it! (see 3rd hill repeat...it doesn't look any steeper then the outside ones :( ). On the 4th repeat I pretty much hit the wall and decided I'd had enough for the day. Thanks Sandra...

Tried a zone 2 ride at Lake Miramar...

and I think I went too hard. The level of effort seemed too high. Next time I need to shoot for a HR of 110-115.
However I AM pleased with the HR distribution, I was able to stay in a relatively tight range.
34.2 miles in 2:15:47
Average mph = 15.1
Average HR = 118bpm
http://trail.motionbased.com/trail/activity/8261399

Ok tax season is over...

And HAS been over for a month now, so I have no excuses to not blog anymore.
To recap the last couple months, I've been trying to heal up, I skipped Oceanside 70.3 and Wildflower, and I've been doing lots of short easy rides to get back into things. Last week I did 4 rides ranging from 60-90 minutes, and so far this week I've done 3 rides of 75-105 minutes.

I signed up to mentor the Team in Training Pac Grove team, and that starts Saturday. I'll keep everyone posted as to how that goes.

San Diego Tri Club = #1!!

Despite the fact that I only got in 138 miles on the bike in January, TCSD came in 1st place for the month in both biking miles and total miles (click chart at left to zoom in). Luckily there was a lot of people to take up my slack.

My personal miles for the month came out to be:

swim-8.9 miles

bike-138.3 miles

run-40.5 miles

As of today I am getting over a cold and numerous ankle/knee issues, hopefully I can start training to get my run base back up. Oceanside is in 10 weeks!

Paul's thought for the day

I think the most important aspect of working out is being able to maintain good form even when your body starts to crap out.

I remember what pain feels like now

Today I decided I needed to quit screwing around and get back on the bike no matter how I felt, so I joined Breakaway in their Sunday morning workout. It turns out that today was "do Torrey Pines repeats for 2 hours" day. So: 1st real ride in months, on my tri bike with no climbing gears, I cranked out 6 repeats which isn't that great but I'm glad I did it, and hopefully I'll start getting back into it. Here is the motion based data http://trail.motionbased.com/trail/episode/view.do?episodePk.pkValue=7438257

Happy New Year!

It looks like I'm becoming one of those "once a month" bloggers. See the chart at left for my swim, bike and run totals for the year. I feel like I have my swim base back, more or less.

Anyways, for the triathlon challenge the San Diego Triathlon Club came in 3rd for the month of December (swim month) with 856 total miles (75 participants). We got beat by 2 Alaskan clubs, go figure. I guess they have nothing to do up there then swim indoors.

January is bike month, each club is racing to get to 10,000 miles first so I need to put more time in on the bike. I also need to get my bike base back, the Oceanside 70.3 is in a few months and I am not prepared.

I hope everyone out there had a safe and happy new year!

Wooo, havent posted in over a month!

Time to get back into it.

I didn't go to Arizona to do the Ironman. My legs, shins, and ankles were giving me too many problems. So now I have the Oceanside 70.3 to train for.

I just updated my year-to-date miles, see spreadsheet on the left. I guess they look impressive to anyone who hasn't yet trained for an Ironman. Unfortunately, for IM training I came up woefully short. It looks like November turned out to be a "rest" month ( I was actually tapering, with the intention of going to Arizona).

Today starts the USAT triathlon competition, where teams try to rack up the most swim, bike and run miles in a respective month. This month is swimming, so I need to get to the pool!

My fastest "marathon" ever

Last week I ran/jogged/walked 26.3 miles over the course of 4 days, which qualifies as my fastest marathon ever.
Tuesday: 10 miles
Wednesday: 6.8 miles
Friday: 9.5 miles
Here it is 3 days later, and my feet still hurt.

A word or two on walking...

http://chuckiev.blogspot.com/2008/07/walk-this-way.html

There's some good information there. Walking can be tough, I walked 11 miles Tuesday (there were a few spurts of running mixed in), then my 6 mile run the following day was pretty damn painful.

The MS 150 bike ride is this weekend, so I have to be up around 3am tomorrow. I'm still debating whether to do the 150 miles (on practically no training), or wimp out and do the 100 miles (on practically no training).

A quick trip to Austin...

(Texas) to watch Brian, Katie, Tim, Ryan and Dana (see blog links at right) finish the Longhorn 70.3 last weekend. It was fun being the team sherpa and cheering everyone on instead of racing. They all finished, and quicker than I would have. Congrats to all!

Refocus on my training...and what cartoon character are you related to?

With all my running injuries (feels like shin splints and plantar fascitis (sp?) and IT band issues all rolled up into one) I have come to terms with what my Ironman run is going to look like...a 26.2 mile walk, with some jogging interspersed here and there. So I am going to start walking as much as possible to get used to the feel and to get extra miles in. Today I had a good excuse, my roommate's car wouldn't start so I let her use my truck and I walked to work, about 3.5 miles. Tonight I'll take the long way home and try to make it 9 or 10 miles for the day.

I feel that if I traced my lineage back I would find Popeye somewhere in my bloodline. Every time I start ramping up my swim volume my forearms become more noticably massive. Not something cool like my shoulders or biceps, but my forearms. Are women attracted to big forearms? Now all I need is an anchor tattoo and a corncob pipe...

My body is falling apart

I guess I've been lucky for the past 18 months or so...I've had the ability to work out hard and not really feel the effects the next day, which would allow me to train again. Lately it seems like I feel the effects of a workout days later...and not necessarily a hard workout. I guess old age is catching up to me. Anyway all this stems from 3 runs I had last week:

Wednesday: ran 5 miles at a fairly fast pace (for me)

Thursday: was only able to do 4 miles at track (including warm-up and cool-down), ankles and shins were bothering me

Saturday: I went for a "run"at Kit Carson Park, which degenerated into something that resembled a 1-minute run/3 minute walk. I had nothing in me, plus my legs were still smarting from Wednesday.

So I need to change up my Ironman plan. I need to start walking A LOT.

Speaking of old age, Jen Ferkins threw me a birthday party and it was awesome! Ate some tacos, ate some cake, watched an episode of the Office, tequila, more food, and Brian in a gold bikini...all in all it was a good time.

Below is last week's effort. It was a recovery week and fairly light.

Slowly improving...but is it enough?

Biked for an hour today. I ended up doing 67% of my assigned workouts this week. I guess in the grand scheme of things I might not be able to finish this Ironman in November but I at least got in 10 solid hours of training, which in theory is keeping me healthier.

Back to feeling lousy

After giving my friend Amanda a swim lesson in the ocean, I went off for a bike and run. My training schedule said a 6-hour bike, but my goal was to just get out and do as much as possible. I ended up riding 2 hours and running 25 minutes. I think a lot of this was due to boredom, I need to start riding with other people so I have someone to talk to.
Also the good feeling I had last night didn't last, I am back to feeling lousy.

Felt good...for 1 day out of the last 7 months

Tonight I forced myself to go to LA Fitness and get in an hour spin class. Once that was out of the way, I decided that since I was already there and since I was way behind on my swim volume for the week that I would get in a quick 1000y. I finished all that and I when I got out of the pool, I realized that I actually felt GOOD. No pressure in the back of the head, no sleepyness, and I actually felt like I had some energy. I couldn't remember the last time I felt this close to normalcy. If I could feel like this all the time I'd have no problem dropping weight and being able to finish the Ironman in November.

Anatomy of a missed workout

The good news: I ran my 2 hours on Wednesday without making my blisters worse. I just took it slow and threw in a bunch of walking. 9.25 miles total. I would have liked to go further but I'm not going to beat myself up for that.

The bad news: I missed my Thursday night track workout. I see a definite pattern with these missed workouts. Here's how it went down yesterday:
8am-noon: looking forward to the workout
Noon: start getting a headache and feeling tired
Noon-4pm: headache gets worse. I feel like someone is stabbing me in the back of the eyes.
4pm: go home and lie down, fall asleep until 7:30
7:30-wake up still feeling headachy and groggy. I try to gather the energy to go swim but it never happens.
So then since I took a nap I'm unable to fall asleep until about 4am. Ugh.

Feet don't fail me now

Yesterday's (Tuesday's) effort started off with a spin class at lunch. I was all jazzed about meeting Breakaway at Fiesta Island after work for a speed brick, but as 5:00 approached it was obvious I wasn't going to get out of work on time-I generally need to leave a little before 5 to get to Fiesta or La Jolla by 5:45. So I left work around 5:40 (visualize shoulders slumped, head down, with sad Charlie Brown music playing in the background). As I stepped outside the weather was so beautiful that I just pulled my bike out of the back of the truck and hopped on...I didn't worry about fuel, water, sunscreen, or the fact that my clothes reeked from me accidentally leaving them in the gym bag overnight with my wet swim towel and suit. So with my keys and gus jammed into my aero bottle (no bento box or pockets) I did a quick ride the the end of the 56 bike path and back, about 15 miles.
Once back I decided to complete the brick and go for a run, but not too far because I was wearing a brand new pair of Sauconys that hadn't been broken in. I ran for 20 minutes and felt fine, but last night I realized there were 2 spots on my right foot where the shoes rubbed the skin right off. Ugh.
Tonight's effort is a 2-hour run. I am putting band aids all over my feet and hopefully I'll be able to put in a good effort without injuring myself.
FYI yesterday's effort = 1:55 on the bike, 0:20 on the run

Disclaimer about last weeks effort...

One reason why my training volume was down-I had an epic dentist appointment Tuesday; 1/2 of a deep cleaning and a filling replaced. 2 hours of skull-vibrating goodness. So I sure wasn't in the mood to work out that day! I think Wednesday's effort was poor too.
That's my story and I'm sticking to it.

Am I back? Nah

I am slowly getting in more and more training. I wouldn't say I am back 100%, as last week's training log had 18.3 hours to do and I only finished 10.25...or about 55%...but each week I am putting in a little more than the prior week. Any motivational/inspirational words would help! Here is last week's volume...

Last night I was supposed to swim 3600 yards. I made it to 1500 (0:40) before I had to stop...my stomach was on fire (forgot to take a Zantac), and my sinuses were clogged for several hours afterwards. Maybe I need to invest in some nose plugs and see if that stops the problem.

America's Finest City half-marathon 8/17/08

This is just a quick update as I am trying to get caught up with my blogging. I thought this race was great! This was my first official "half-marathon"...all the other times I've run 13.1 miles there have been a bunch of swimming and biking right beforehand. I ended up running it in 2:40, which is a PR for me but I'm surprised that it took me that long when I ran the distance at the Wildflower Long course in 2:52 (a tough run course with a tough bike beforehand). Oh well a PR is a PR. I saw lots of friends and acquaintances out there and overall had a blast.
Also, lesson learned: 1/2 marathon aid stations aren't stocked with food like the 1/2 ironman aid stations are. I had about 300 calories with me, luckily I saw Dana and Penny around mile 9 and they graciously shared some food and salt tabs with me.
I definitely want to do this one again next year.

Did I forget to post the Vineman race report?

Yep...and everything else that happened in the past 6 weeks.

Actually it wasn't forgetfulness, it was more like the malaise that has engulfed my body ever since February. My goal has been to train and blog, but I can barely motivate myself to train, and the effort is usually so mediocre that I don't bother blogging the attempt. But more on that later.

Here are Katie and Dana (circled). I had planned on doing something with this picture but changed my mind...and it turns out that once I upload something into Blogger I don't know how to remove it. So feel free to ignore this picture (and this sentence explaining what happened)

I am really really surprised that I finished Vineman. I wasn't in the mood mentally or physically to do this thing, even though I had rented a cabin in Guerneville and was surrounded by friends both old and new. Brian and Katie even came up to cheer us all on, which I thought was really great.

Since the race happened over 7 weeks ago I forget most of the specifics, but here goes:

Vineman 2008, aka The 70.3 That Didn't Hurt
THE LEAD-UP
Woke up to the usual Guerneville morning fog. It was pretty cold, but I kept telling everyone to prepare for 100 degree temperatures later in the day (never happened). I was in the 2nd to last wave (start at 8:22am), so I took my time getting down to the transition area. I could tell Sandra and Dana (left) were excited to participate in their first half-ironman!


THE SWIM
At 8:22 the gun goes off and I'm swimming the 1.2 miles. I really haven't been training hard at swimming, but instead focusing on form and energy conservation. I also focused on having an "honest" swim, since at some places the river is literally 12-16 inches deep and the temptation is there to just stand up and walk. But I kept honest, even at the turnaround point where my hands were scraping the bottom on every stroke and every single person around me was walking.

I swim in and my time turns out to be 0:39:30; I was able to have a smooth easy swim AND break one of my old goals of 40 minutes. So I got that goin for me.

Swim rank = 1191 out of 1825. This can almost be considered "back of the middle of the pack", which makes me so happy I can barely stand it.

T1
I always feel lame for including my transition times, because 1) I don't feel they reflect fitness level (or much else), 2) they are easy to manipulate if the athlete feels so inclined, and 3) my transition times usually suck. As usual I took it fairly slow to give my stomach time to adjust from the horizontal to the vertical, and my time turned out to be 0:5:23, which is pretty poor by coach Gurujan's standards. However my T1 ranking for the day was 1328th out of 1825. What the hell were those other 500 people doing?


THE BIKE
So as usual, about 5 miles into the bike I start feeling horrible and feel like quitting. I don't know why this happens, but I suspect I get water in my sinuses from the swim and it induces some sort of pressure-migraine effect on my head and brain. So the next 10 miles or so consist of me searching for some reason to keep on going and finishing this damn thing. The reasons that ultimately kept me going were:

• I've never DNF'ed a half-ironman before. If I finished this one, I would have completed 4 halves in under a year. If I didn't finish, I would have to say I DNF'ed a half and I didn't want that


• There is the possibility that I could cheer someone on and motivate them to finish when they otherwise wouldn't
  

So I decided to just go as slowly as I needed to on the bike, and enjoy the day and the scenery. My ultimate goal was to finish this race unhurt, and have the ability to continue training the next day or the day after.

Around mile 25 I caught up with Dana, who was changing her 2nd flat of the day. She was pretty discouraged so I stopped and chatted with her for awhile and tried to cheer her up (which was tough because my attitude was probably worse).

FYI here is an excerpt from Dana's blog "I'm feeling like I'm WAY behind on time and going to have to race the clock without much luck of making the cut. ok - it's going to be ok. and then i see him. paul has caught me and i know that i'm in trouble of not making it"...I'm hoping she was referring to the fact that I started 2 waves behind her, and not to my slowness :P

Anyways, to make a long story short (too late Paul) I finished the bike in 3:56:53, about 30 minutes slower then last year but given my current state I was just happy to finish.

Bike rank: 1750 out of 1825 (ugh)

T2

Again, same as T1...I take my time to take off my bike gear and change into my run stuff, T2 time = 0:4:29. Ranking = 1061 out of 1825. Looking back I could have easily shaved off a minute and been in the top 700. Maybe that should be my new goal, at least I can be in the triple-digits for SOMETHING.

THE RUN
I brought my road bike instead of my triathlon bike so my quads were cramping up almost immediately. Last time, Coach Felipe! No more road bikes in triathlon, I swear!

So as I said before it was a lot cooler this year. It was maybe 80 degrees on the run, whereas last year it was 100+. nothing interesting to report, just a 13.1 mile out and back in 3:04:52 (about 30 minutes faster than last year). I get near the finish line and see Katie jumping up and down and screaming her head off...she was either 1) excited to see me, or 2) was waiting so long for me to finish that she really had to go to the bathroom. She ran the last mile with me which was super-cool because I was ready for the race to be over.

run rank: 1729 out of 1825.

Final ranking = 1695 out of 1825, time = 7:51:08 or about 4 minutes faster than last year. I stated above that I wanted to finish the race unhurt. It turns out that after a cold bath (no ice available) that I only had mild soreness the next day and wasn't forced to take time off to recover. So that plus my swim PR made a pretty decent day.

Thanks for reading, and I banged this out without proofing so sorry for any spelling errors!

Vineman 70.3 tomorrow!

The weather is cooling in Windsor...good news! There's a good chance it won't be 100 degrees on the run this year.
I was originally hoping to break 7 hours this year, but with all my ankle injuries and feeling like garbage I'm just going to go out and enjoy the day and do my best.
Today Me, Dana, Jason, Sandra, and Tina went swimming (about 500 yards or so). We picked up our race packets and set up our bike-to-run transition items (T2 is 15 miles away from T1). Tonight we had an awesome pasta dinner made by Tina, and it's off to bed early tonight. Wish me luck!

Vineman lead-up

It's been awhile since I've blogged. I still haven't been feeling right and have only been training about 5 hours/week since Wildflower.
I am currently in Guerneville for the Vineman 70.3 triathlon on Sunday. The river temperature is warm, about 76 degrees. It is cool in the shade but hot if you are in the sun! I just ran 2 miles and it feels a lot hotter than the 74 degrees stated on Weather.com.

Swim cramp

Yesterday I tried to get in a swim before track practice. At around 2150 yards I got a cramp in my right lower calf. After massaging it for awhile I decided I should skip the track workout. Since I dropped out of the Deathride I've been focusing on swimming and running which is probably the reason for the cramp. I need to stretch out more.

Heavy workout day

I got to the pool this morning shortly before a water aerobics class started so I was only able to get in 1100 yards. Also today was my long slow run day so I split it up between lunch and nighttime, ran 10.1 miles total.

Breakaway!

I actually tore myself away from work and joined Breakaway for spin class followed by a 30-minute run. It was nice to be able to get back and see everybody. Marty was there with his new bike that he crashed already. If he doesn't kill himself he'll do great at Kona.

Totals for the week ending 6/22/08

Since I dropped out of the Deathride I've given myself a short vacation from the bike. My swim and run totals are getting back up (hopefully I'm not increasing too fast)

swim-5000 yards
bike-17 miles
run-21.6 miles

Heh, I ran further than I biked.