Holiday Fun

I can't remember the last time I had two weeks off from work. It's been epic! I love the Holidays, and this year my wonderful wife busted out all the shopping online, super-early in the season, so there was really nothing left to do except some assembly and wrapping, oh, and lots of time to enjoy beverages, eating great food, and playing games with the kids.

Spending everyday with the fam has been outstanding. We've had great weather for running, riding, and going to the beach, and to top it off, the Chargers came back from the end of the season dead and crushed the Broncos.

Me, my dad, and his wife's grandkids also did a fun little 5K downtown, which was followed by the Holiday Bowl Parade. I've lived in San Diego most of my life, and had never gone to this parade before. I'm not much a parade person, but this one was really fun with the floating balloons and all, and of course some outstanding SD weather.

Hope your holidays have been great too, and that you and your families have a Happy (and safe!) New Years!

Rest : the wonder drug

In the weeks following the Silver Strand Half Marathon, I'd been very bummed out. Running while compensating for a blister on that day really messed me up.

On two runs attempted in the weeks following, even though I ran short distances at very moderate paces (tortise-like paces compared to some people I follow), I was having extreme pain in both knees, and my left hip. I was really worried that I'd done something very bad. On the third run attempt it was so bad that I had to stop within 1oo yds - my wife and kids were surprised to see me back, and I was depressed. I didn't want to talk or write about it for fear that doing so would make it real.

So, I stopped running, and hoped that with some rest, my body could heal itself, but in my paranoia, I doubted that it would. I was really worried about my left knee in particular, thinking that maybe I'd tore a meniscus or something.

Fortunately, the busy schedule with Thanksgiving, my kids campouts, etc. have managed to keep my mind off of it a bit, but then...

Getting the early registration notice for the Wildflower triathlon brought the worries back to the forefront. Should I shell out $220 (wow) for a race that I might not even be able to do? What about the CA 1/2IM? As you can see, I'm a worrier.

This past week, though, brought some happinees since I've been pain-free while walking, and the weather has been fabulous. This morning I felt like I've given it enough time, and decided to give it a go again.

Wow, soooo much better. Yeah, there was a little pain in the left knee during the hill climbing parts, but I feel like it's going to get better, and the hip and right knee were totally pain free.

I had forgotten how much I missed my morning runs down along Cardiff to the Solana Beach sign and back, and this morning was absolutely glorious. Wind free, quiet, and extremely clear. What an amazing sunrise, and the clarity and peace that comes to my head cannot be beat.

After the run, I was like a giddy school kid after a goal-scoring soccer game.

So, my Christmas present has come early this year, and I'm thankful that the gods of rest have smiled upon me.

Princess Weekend at Marston

This weekend I took my daughter on her Indian Princess camp out at Camp Marston, just outside of Julian.

For those of you without kids, let me tell you that I was one of those guys that was very, very afraid of parenthood, and thought that there was a good chance that I wouldn't like it (selfish person that I am), and an equally good chance that I would be terrible at it.

I now think I am living proof that the cliche about not liking kids until you have your own is absolutely 100% true, in my case at least. I don't know if I'm good, bad, or otherwise at it, but for me, nothing really beats spending some great time with my kids doing fun stuff.

It's really quite wonderful seeing them learning and enjoying new things, coming into their own as people with interesting, and quite often funny things to say.

The weather at Marston this weekend could not be beat. Perfect temperature, perfect blue sky days, and starry windless nights. And Marston, like Indian Hills, is one of those places where you can fully take advantage of all that great weather. There is so much to do up there that you're never at a loss for something fun.

I'll be back up there in two weeks with my son - can't wait!

Silver Strand Half Marathon

Sunday was the Silver Strand Half Marathon, and it was my first race at this distance. The location is great, the course is really flat, and it seemed to me that the turnout reflected that. I had hoped to set a PR here given that there are no hills, unlike my half marathon route at home, but that was not to be. In fact, I turned in my worst time ever at this distance.

I don't handle heat well, and today I was really overheating. At one point, I had slowed to a 10:30 min/mile pace to try to recover, but my HR was still at 184 which is about 7 bpm higher than my normal 7:30 pace HR. Eventually, I just had to start pouring water over myself at the aid stations, looking very sad indeed, not to mention embarrassing when everyone else was seeming fine. I was doing OK by cooling myself down like that, but I think they skipped an aid station as there was one at mile 7 and not another till mile 10. Normally, I wouldn't need that much water anyway, but today, I needed it. Around mile 9, I think, all that water was working wonders in my shoes and I had developed a good blister on my big toe.

Well I finally got myself to the finish and was limping around. I think I must've been compensating for the blister and really messed up my stride. Anyway, I found my dad who did the 5K, and we hung out and chatted as I snacked a little. It was really great seeing dad at the finish since it was pretty crowded, and I didn't think I'd find him or vice versa.

As I was leaving, I spotted James and Beth and went over to congratulate them on an amazing year of triumphs. Beth made her goal of running a sub 1:30 - congrats Beth!

Well, my first half marathon event is done. Now on to the Carlsbad half, and hopefully cooler temperatures.

Puerto Vallarta

The pictures say it all. The only training that got done this week was repeated margarita lifts, throwing kids into the pool, and laughing with our friends.

To top it all off, I got home in time to watch the Xterra world championships web feed and see James Walsh win his AG. Congrats James!!!

7.6 Mile Paddleboard

No waves today, so went paddleboarding instead this morning with my buddy Trey Foshee. Started at Cardiff reef and paddled to the Del Mar powerhouse and back (route here). On the down current / down wind leg heading to Del Mar, I paddled the shorter and slower of the two boards. Heading back (the harder direction), Trey put me on the longer/faster board. The wind really kicked up on the leg back north. It was supposed to be a Santa Ana today, but the wind was coming straight out of the north during that leg. Good thing I was on the bigger board, because it took everything I had to get back to Cardiff. Trey, on the other hand, just crushed it. He was paddling the short, stubby, push-all-the-water-in-front-of-you-board, and he was still killin me. He was so far ahead that I lost sight of him until Seaside reef where he was waiting on me (he should've just finished), and freezin his butt off because the north wind was now ripping.

I was glad to get back, but it felt great! Next time I'll bring a clif bar or something if we paddle that long. I almost repeated my bonk episode of yesterday's run. Some people never learn!

7.6 Miles, 2 hrs 15 min, 3.38 MPH pace

One interesting thing I find about paddleboarding is that it's much less cardio than running, swimming, or even biking. Even at the end of that long paddle, I was not tired in the way that I am after a hard swim, bike or run. It seems more of a long endurance push of strength in the shoulder and arm muscles. Perhaps if I was more of a paddler, and stronger at it, I could ramp my pace up enough to make it cardio. Even so, I really enjoy it. It's so excellent being out on our beautiful north county ocean, particularly on a day like today, and be entirely under your own power.

Fall weekend of training

Finally cooling down in Encinitas, and feeling a little fall like. I'm enjoying the drop in temps, but looks like we have a Santa Ana on tap for tomorrow. Maybe some surfing is in order.

Saturday was a 2200M swim at the Y. Nothing spectacular for pace: 1:49 / 100M, but good enough. The water was insanely hot though. Afterwards, asked another swimmer if he thought so, and he told me the family pool is out of commission so they bumped the temp up in the lap pool. I hope it's fixed soon, I was really over-heating, even at that moderate pace, and felt pretty dizzy from it.

Today was my return to the half marathon distance on my usual route (2 loops). First loop felt great, being a nice, cool, breezy day. When I got back to my house to start the 2nd loop, I skipped the banana that I left at my gate, and just grabbed my water. BIG MISTAKE. By the time I was making the turn at the Solana Beach sign, I was beginning to bonk big time. My pace was dropping, even though my HR was at a mere 160BPM. The remainder of the run was just survival and suffering for lack of energy. I told myself that there would be no walking, and stuck to it, but I've never been so glad to be done as when I got home again.

13.1 miles, 1:59:34, avg pace 9:08 min / mile :-(

On the plus side:
- I turned my fastest 3 mi distance ever for me, 21:38, or an average pace of 7:13/mi
- I got a good full distance test of my shoes (worked great)
- and got to plot everything (as sad as the times are) using my new Garmin 305 (it rocks)

Mission Bay Triathlon

Sunday was the Mission Bay Triathlon. Lots of triathletes, lots of fun, and a great end of the 2008 triathlon season for me and my dad, who started and finished here for this, our first season of doing triathlon.

This was my first race back since spraining my ankle, and the ankle, and my body on the whole, felt great. I finished 28th of 95 in my age group, and dad finished 2nd.

The swim course was nice because it was straight, and broad, so no issues with sighting, and plenty of room for everyone to swim at their own pace.

Bike course was very flat, with lots of sharp turns through Sea World, along with some water in that parking lot, but overall it was a great course because the pavement is so smooth along the whole way that the wheels were just humming across it. Once on the major portion of the course, past Sea World, and around Fiesta Island, there was plenty of room to pass, so I could just focus on hammering as hard as I could.

The run course was just plain fun and scenic, and a great crowd along the whole finish.

Here's some pics of me and my dad:




Here's Bill Haines, my dad, and Gerry Forman (1st, 2nd, and 3rd respectively in their AG).

Nearing the end of triathlon season

Getting back into training again after being down with my ankle injury. Some bike rides into work this week and also had a fabulous prior weekend with my wonderful daughter, and as a bonus there was head high, uncrowded surf at the campout.




This Sunday I've got the Mission Bay triathlon, for which I'm not really going to do well for lack of training, but my awesome dad, at 71, and who is putting me to shame with all of his training, will likely win it for his age group, and may podium for the KOZ series even though he will have only done 3 races.



Also, check out these two amazing people, who are just going to kill it this weekend. One in Tahoe, and the other at Mission Bay with me and dad: James Walsh and Beth

Also gonna try to squeeze in the MiraMar Airshow this weekend with the kids.

On the run again

First run after recovering from my ankle sprain. Ran one loop of my usual route. Started out slowly and really focused on taking it easy on my body, trying to run smoothly, and avoiding any compensation. A little pain at times, but only when I wasn't focused on my stride, so that reminded me to pay attention, which was good. So great to be running again! What a beautiful morning in Encinitas, and Cardiff. Roxy Jam was going on, weather and air were perfect, and I was so glad to be back training again. I did splits on my watch, but since it was my first day back, I didn't get too depressed when I saw the times. Mostly I just was trying to gauge how long it would take me to get back to pushing it. Of that I'm not certain, but for now, pure joy to be back. The only downside came while sprinting back across 101 at Cardiff campgrounds to make the light, and avoid stopping. I twanged my foot a little - jumping / sprinting should not have been in my repertoire. I feel that a little right now, but nothing big.

6.55 mi, 56 min 22 sec
8 min 36 sec / mi

Also, I finally got a decent test of my new shoes. I was trying them out the day I got injured, but since it was only two miles before I got hurt, I wasn't certain how the shoes were. Well today after 6.5 miles, I can say they felt great. Big thanks to the guys at the San Diego Running Institute for helping select them. If you haven't been there for running shoes, you should. They measure your foot in the usual way, plus other ways that no other store has done for me: arch height, take pressure images of your foot strike, etc. After this, they select shoes that are targeted to your foot type. It seems to have worked for me, because these new shoes, Asics GT 2720s feel much better than my fairly new Nike Air Pegasus.

Finally on the mend

Got off the crutches on Tuesday of last week. Hobbled around for 3 days trying to heel strike, and push off on the ball of my lame foot. By Friday, I was still limping, but could get around OK which was good, because my son and I had a campout scheduled at Indian Hills. At the last minute, as I was loading Max's bike onto the truck, I decided to load my mountain bike and just see how it would go.

Indian Hills has tons of great stuff for Max and the boys of his tribe. Archery, ziplines, paintball range, a huge playset with towers to climb, rope ladders, slides, and a huge rope swing, two pools (one had two slides), animals,



and lastly, Max's and my favorite...

the BMX Bike Track.

This thing rocked. The boys had such a great time on that track, and I did too - was like a kid again.

I started off super-slowly and carefully, trying to avoid re-injuring my still swollen, and painful left ankle. Saturday I ramped it up more and more, until I was charging it. Sunday was just excellent - completely in my groove, and having a great time watching Max and the other kids get the track dialed in.

I don't think I'm ready to run yet, but at least I know I can bike - yeeeehaaah!

Note to self: Don't run in the dark!

Started out on my usual half-marathon run this morning at 4:30AM, my usual time in order finish, shower, and make it to work.

Right at the Cardiff campgrounds, where it's dark as night, no lights, and on the blacktop, I stepped on the invisible torn up root of a bush right in the middle of the running/walking path, and proceeded to crumple with a marvelous twist of my left ankle, and then landed on my right knee.

Sat and cursed a lot thinking about all the training I just lost with that foolish choice to run without a headlamp. I'm sure the poor beach campers were none too happy about being awoken to a stream of expletives.

Had to take off the shoe, and hobble/limp the 2 miles back home. Took forever, and it was pretty painful, but mostly just depressing. I didn't have a cell phone with me but it really didn't matter since Nadine would have had to roust the kids into the car at o-dark-thirty just to get me.

Anyway, I'm super-bummed. Not sure if I'll be able to do the Gatorman 3 Mile swim event this weekend, and the Orange County International triathlon is very questionable.

I just can't believe how much fitness I'm losing by this injury, and how much it will take to get back to where I was this morning.

After the docs office, I saw a friend who had been to see my kid's doctor. The kids doc had fallen running as well, and had broken both arms. I guess I should count my blessings.

The culprit (above) .... AND the aftermath

45 mi coast ride

Yesterday was a fabulous beach bike ride with the family, followed by a great beach day at Beacons with some friends, and their family.

Had a beautiful ride this morning. Well rested, got on the road by about 6:30 and headed out to an empty PCH. Up the Torrey hill, back down into La Jolla shores, over to LJ Cove, past Windansea, Birdrock, PB and down to the jetty at South Mission Beach. Return ride was still pretty uncrowded, but coming back through Del Mar saw a lot of cyclists heading out for their rides. Passing Del Mar Dog Beach, I saw my usual volleyball crew (TARPP) getting the rules briefing for the annual King/Queen of the Beach tournament. They all looked pretty focused listening, so I guess Eric must've been giving out the rules/regs of the tourney, and the team pairings. I skipped this event this year because last year I hurt my wimpy back by diving too much while trying to make it out of the quarter finals and into the semis, and also discovered the next day that I had an unbelievable amount of blisters (on top of blisters) which took almost 2 weeks to heal all the way. But the back injury began the injury spiral took me down for the better part of 8 months. Glad I'm finally healthy and getting fit again.

Off to the beach with the family again today, with another group of friends and their kids.

4100 M (2.5Mi) Swim

Swam my longest distance ever of 4100M (2.5 Mi) continuous freestyle this morning at the Y in 1hr 14min 7sec. That's a decent pace for me, of ~1 min 49 sec / 100M.

I'm really happy about this because I've been pretty focused on ramping up my run, and I've been somewhat neglecting the pool work, in combination with my wrist injury, which kept me out of the pool a bit. The wrist felt great this morning!

Another reason I'm really happy about this swim is that on Saturday afternoon, I barely could do my old 1600M workout, even though I was planning on doing 3400M, because I had this breathless, "I'm drowning" feeling for the first 500M or so, and never really shook the tiredness. That was new, odd, suprising, and worrisome all at the same time. Saturday's sad swim had me extremely worried about my upcoming events: 3Mi ocean swim for Gatorman (La Jolla Rough Water Swim), and the Orange County International Triathlon Swim 1500M (yeah - not that long but, it's part of a Triathlon).

After today's swim, I'm feeling very confident about the swim portions of these events.

P.R. Half Marathon distance

Did a Half Marathon distance run this morning (my 3rd time running this distance), and set a new personal record of 1hr 51min 27secs. Yep - I know it's only an 8:30 / mi pace, but that's good for me at this distance. During that last 3 miles I was really trying to zone out and concentrate on my pace, and become a running zombie. When I got to the last mile split, and saw that I was going to beat my previous two times, I really pushed the final mile to my max, and was really happy with the resulting final time. Today, I became certain that my mind works against me most of the time, and I need to try to shut it off. For the entire 1st loop, I had this dread of the pain of doing the 2nd loop. That soaks up a lot of effort, and makes everything seem harder. Several times I had to talk myself out of stopping after only 1 loop. As soon as I hit my house, grabbed my water and banana for the 2nd loop, all that dread went away, and the running seemed much easier: "I'm half way there - this isn't so bad - I feel pretty good." I need to work on this mental aspect a lot. I would call it fear of pain. I saw this written on the back of a Marine's shirt at the Pendleton Sprint Tri - "Pain is the feeling of weakness leaving your body". I like that a lot. I need to tell myself that more when I'm running.

The Good stuff:
- getting more fit and faster at a distance that was only 6 months ago unthinkable for me
- running without my shirt on to stay cool in spite of the high humidity this morning (I'm not buying that story that running specific clothing keeps you cooler than having no shirt on - it hasn't been the case for me)
- taking a goo before the run, and hydrating enough beforehand (last time I just wanted to get on the road)
- running more carefully to help avoid hard impact (my knees and hips feel much better today than after the last run)
- taking the time to tighten the front laces to avoid my feet sliding forward in my shoes and giving me blisters, BUT...

The Bad stuff:
- in spite of my lacing efforts, and running care, I got blisters on the toes next to my big toe, I think it probably started happening after the final hill climb of the run.
- I thought the blisters from the last run had healed and become calouses (to offer more protection), but I guess this wasn't the case. They are big blisters on the tips now. I'll need to get this figured out. Time to go back to the running store and ask a lot of questions.

Wrist on the mend

On Saturday afternoon, I was able to do a swim at the Y, wearing the wrist guard. Pretty weird swim for me though. The first 400 M or so, I literally felt like I was on the verge of drowning. I just could not get enough air. I was swimming 1:45 100's, which is (sadly) a typical pace for me, where I'm pushing hard, but not to my limits. Nonetheless, I just couldn't get enough air. This was really depressing, particularly since I was rested. It was the afternoon, and the water felt waaay too hot for me. I was considering just stopping at 800M (what?!). But, I kept on pushing through and finished what was my old workout, of 1600M continuous freestyle. When I was driving to the pool, I was thinking that I'd do 3400M, so I was pretty bummed. I've got to get a lot of pool time in this week and fix that right away, since I've got the Gatorman coming up.

Today, the wrist felt good enough to bear weight, so I rode into work. I got some good sleep last night, so I was able to do my long route into work this morning (up Torrey hill, and back down, then up Sorrento Valley Blvd). After yesterday's depressing pool session, this ride cheered me up as I told myself as I set out from home to get ready for some suffering. I pushed really hard, and my lungs and my legs rose to the occasion. I kinda shocked one runner as I was sprint climbing the small hill into Solana Beach, because I was breathing so hard, but I don't care. If I'm not pushing that hard, then I'll never be ready for racing. Nope I'm not the fittest or fastest guy, but I'm trying my damn hardest when I'm out there.

Speaking of which, one thing that consistently bugged me in the Olympics was the commentators making what verged on derogatory comments about some of the athletes. I mean look, these people have committed themselves to a goal, day in and out, gotten to the Olympics, besting many of their fellow countryman, who were no doubt super-committed also, and are now competing against the best athletes in the world in their sport. I mean jeez, you think that these people aren't busting their humps, under that extreme pressure, trying to give their 110% best effort? To me the Olympics, are just so awesome, and humbling, for the commitment that these athletes have. Win, lose, or crumble under the pressure, they have my deep respect. One comment that particularly bugged me was the live blogging of the Triathlon, where the supposed expert blogger calls the guys trying to make the breakaway on the bike stage "pretenders, not contenders". What a cheap shot.

5.5 Mi paddleboard, and another 1/2 Marathon run

Tuesday was a bike ride day, but I didn't get enough sleep, so I just did the direct, 14 mile route, into work instead of the 23 mi Torrey up and back loop.

Wednesday went for a 5.5 mi paddleboard from Cardiff to the white buoy off of Moonlight and back. I was pretty stoked, since it was my first time paddleboarding, and I was able to knee paddle a good deal. It's is fairly difficult to maintain your balance while doing it, even if you've surfed before, so I was happy about being able to get up a number of times, and find a good power stroke rythm. Kinda kept pace with my buddy who loaned me the board, and does it a lot. He got ahead of me, but didn't really have to wait up too much, but he also informs me that he's slow relative to the regular group. Guess I'd better buck up and get in some more paddleboarding. Anyway, water was beautiful, and it was a great trip, until the end when I nose dived the paddleboard riding a wave in, and caught my wrist in the water bottle cage. Thought I broke it, fortunately not. Terrible timing too, since when I rode my bike back to home, and was getting ready to leave for work, discovered a totally flat back tire on my truck from a big-ol screw in the tread. Had to jack and change the tire pretty much entirely left handed. Every time I accidentally tried to use my right hand for anything, I was quickly reminded of my mistake by a lovely sharp pain running from wrist to elbow.

Today I ran my 1/2 marathon route, and improved on my time. Unfortunately, when I got done, 3 bad things happened: 1) my arm/wrist was *really* aching/throbbing from yesterday's injury, 2) I wasn't running carefully enough, maybe thumping my feet down when tired, and my knees were really aching and continue to be that way, and 3) I didn't pay close enough to making sure that the front part of my laces were tight, and I managed to get blisters on my toes. Dang, it's been kind of a bummer week, in spite of the good training.

Solana Beach Playa Del Run

The Solana Beach stop of the Zoot Playa Del Run was today. Very fun event, great venue (Fletcher Cove), and perfect weather and water temp. I've been swimming all week at the beach with my kids and decided to do the 1K swim without goggles. This was really nice because sighting the buoys was much easier (for me anyway), and I found it much less disorienting. Too bad I outswam the set wave on the way in. Man, that run up the ramp to transition is tough, but it makes you feel good as you're gutting it out on the way up. Sure it's no IronMan effort, but it's still fun. The 5K run was flat and fast, and I posted 7 min 15 sec miles by my watch (a new personal record). The times posted on the results page however, show 8 min miles, but that includes my sucky slow transition because my lame feet need socks in order to run. Me, and I guess from the results, Scott Schiff, ended up pushing each other pretty hard (for us anyway) on the last 3/4 mile or so. It helped my run time out a lot - thanks Scott! Really a fun group a people there today.

Afterwards, went to help out the cleanup effort from a good friend's 40th bday, along with some others who were at the party last night. Our kids all played, and we all poked along, cleaned up, aided by lots of beverages, and some excellent food remaining from the party. Finished off with one final trip to the beach (Cardiff), with the kids all surfing and boogie boarding. Excellent x 10 week!

Pendleton recap and First 1/2 Marathon

I'm on vacation at home this week (just like I did last year). Absolutely outstanding. Started out with the Pendleton Sprint Tri, and moved up into the upper 33% (13 of 46 in age group), however most of the usual suspects were not present so I'm not going to weight it to heavily in my mind. Nonetheless, what a fun race! Beautiful bike ride, and the finish line was really cool through the LCAC. On the drive back home saw a newlywed couple (from the writing on their windows) leaving the Tri with a pair of bikes on top. Gave them a huge shaka - what a great way to begin their journey together!

The rest of the week has been tons of fun spending time with my kids, and their friends at the beach for surfing, boogie boarding, snorkeling at the cove, Del Mar racetrack, mini-golf, Lego-land, etc, and some nice date nights with my fabulous wife.

Yesterday, did a session at Velocity sports fitness in Carlsbad with a friend of mine, and had a good time and a good workout.

Today I'm thrilled to have run my first half marathon distance run. Yeah, it was ~9 min/mile pace, but I did it, and 6 months ago, 13.1 miles would've been unthinkable for me. Ran this route twice: http://www.usatf.org/routes/view.asp?rID=232599

Looking forward to the Solana Beach Playa Del Run this weekend. Sadly skipped the AFC Half Marathon, because I thought I wouldn't be ready for it - guess I was wrong. Still have the Silver Strand Half Marthon, and Carlsbad Half to look forward to though.

Anyway, what a great week - wahoo!

Double Swim Weekend

Coming off of a pretty fun weekend. Saturday was the fun, but not very well attended, inagural event of the Xterra Surf Monkey. I did the continuous 1 Mi swim (I think it was shorter than stated), and 5K beach run. It was really fun, but I don't think they posted any results online, and I didn't stick around to check the board since my two girls were heading off camping and I had to get home to take care of my son.

Sunday was the Tour of Buoys. I did the 1.5 mile portion. The 5 mile event was really excellent to watch at the start because all swimmers in that event had to be paired with a kayaker. So there was tons of kayaks with all the colors of the rainbow floating just offshore on a balmy, lake-calm, 70 degree water La Jolla morning. I ended up swimming much more than 1.5 miles because of my continually terrible sighting, but the water was warm and beautiful, and I had a great time sprinting as hard as I could on the last leg, knowing that there was no bike (or run) afterwards. Even so, elderly women still beat me - sad, and embarrassing! Needless to say, I left a way too much in the tank on the first 2 legs, misjudging my needed reserves just a little bit. Added to that, I kinda made a bit of a goofball of myself at the end of the race. I was so amped up coming out of the water, that I basically sprinted up the beach as hard as I could go through the finish line. The lady taking down the finisher numbers was so shocked at me, she yelled pretty harshly, "SLOW DOWN!" I guess my triathlon thinking did not translate well into the pure swimming world where it's what you do in the water that counts. In recalling the moment it seemed that the people surrounding the finish were kinda shocked as well. I watched other people finishing after me, at it seemed that the idea is to exit the water pretty casually. Oh, well, even that couldn't spoil such an awesome day.

Rounded the whole great weekend out by taking my son (6) and two of his friends down to see the AVP finals at Mariner's Point, and saw some amazing play, and a bunch of the people from our volleyball crew there too.

3.4 KM Swim Day

I've gotta start ramping up my swim distance for Gatorman (3mi), so today I told myself I'd do 2 Miles (3300M). I messed up one of the splits on my watch, so I figured I'd go an extra 100 just to make sure I did my 2 Miles. Felt pretty good. I definitely could go another mile, in the pool anyway, but didn't want to overdo it because I've got 2 swimming events this weekend: SurfMonkey 1 Mi swim / 5K run on Saturday, and Tour of Buoys 1.5 Mi swim on Sunday.

Swim results: 3400M / 2.11 Miles, time=1:02:50, pace=2.02MPH, 1:50 min/100M

Feeling pretty good about this one as it's the first time I've ever gone this distance.

What's a guy supposed to do?

This morning while riding into work, I was focusing pretty hard on keeping up a good pace. Coming through the flats in Del Mar, at the the last minute I noticed a young woman fixing a flat and slowed down a little (not wanting to break my pace too much) to see if she was OK. She needed a pump, so I stopped, and gave her mine. I actually felt kind of rude because I really had passed her by.

So, I gave her my pump but didn't want to be the imposing "You don't know what you're doing, let me do that for you" kind of guy. I mean this woman was fit, had quality gear (way better than my low end bike), and looked like she'd been riding a lot. Surely she'd changed tires before, and me jumping in there would just seem to be a slap in the face to an independent young woman, I was sure.

Anyway, I drank some water and tried not to look on, to avoid looking like I was overseeing her work. So she didn't get the pump working (heck I'd never even used this particular one before myself). So, I offer to help - now feeling like a jerk for not offering right away - and I get the pump going (though it didn't at first seem like it was working - which is probably the same thing that happened to her), and there the tire is pumped up. Great all better, she's very nice, and now I'll let her put her wheel back on, and I'll be on my way so I can contemplate the irony of trying to avoid insulting someone, and then being a jerk by not being chivalrous.

But, wait, it's the back wheel, why didn't I notice that, and she's having a problem getting that on. So, I put my bike down again, now feeling doubly bad, help put it back on, try to make polite small talk, and get on my way.

I was feeling so bad about the whole thing that I forgot her name (though she worked at Qualcomm).

Anyhow, sorry Qualcomm young lady!

I was trying to do the right thing, but really ended up doing the wrong thing in this very confusing era for men (or this particular man).

Good thing I rode the Torrey hill and then looped back to work for 24 mi. instead of the short 14 mi. way which kept me tired enough (and close to bonking since I'm reducing my cal intake on account of my waste-line), that I was able to let go of all that... on the ride anyway.

Solana Beach Tri Results

The Solana Beach tri sure was an exciting event. Lots of people in a great location, and everyone's excited. I really enjoyed it. I always like the check in's on Saturday, and this one was particularly fun, and exciting. Heck, even Amanda Felder was out at the Avia booth dressed identically to her cover shot on Triathlete mag.

It was a doubly good event for me because my 71 year old dad was in it with me, and my wife and kids came out to cheer us on. I couldn't believe what a great feeling it was when I was truckin up that hill after the swim, and my family is yelling for me with big smiles "Go dad!". Just awesome!

I came in 32 of 72 in my age group and this met my goal of getting into the upper 50% of my age group for the first time. The splits were posted today, which is good because I forgot to split the times on my own watch. Though, something that annoys me about KOZ triathlons is that they don't give you separate T1 and T2 times.

On the bike, my computer said 21.8MPH avg speed when I got off. That's a personal record for a tri, but the bike was pretty short (9Mi), and for that matter so was the swim. Man that bike ride was crowded. They need to shut down the entire 101 to do that one. There were so many people out there on such a short ride, that everyone was seriously congested. I saw lots of close calls during passing (3 and 4 deep), and one during the Via De La Valle turn where a guy in front of me almost got run into the curb by another guy who drifted to the right. I'm glad the guy in front of me saved it, or it would've been a nasty wreck that would've included me.

My run improved, which is good because I gave up some bike training to work on that, but it's still a slow 7:43 pace. I guess on the bright side (depending upon how you look at it), that's a personal record. The top runner in my AG was Steve Thunder who turned 5:58 miles, but actually faster than that since that time included T2. Dang! As I entered T2 I was just 28 sec behind Mr. Thunder, but I would've needed to be about 5 minutes ahead of him at that point to have a chance of finishing anywhere near him.

Today I had a nice double training day. Times are not great, but doing two good work outs made me feel better about it:
2250 M swim this morning at 1:48 min / 100 pace.
6.55 Mile run this afternoon at 8:14 min /mile pace.

I've also decided not to stop training in order to rest up for a sprint distance race. Now that I'm beyond my initial goal of just doing any triathlon, I'm not going to miss training days for short races.

Looking forward to a double sport weekend coming up:
Surf Monkey 1 Mi swim / 5K run (I like the name and the monkey mascot dude)
Tour Of Buoys 1.5 Mi swim

Too much rest

Could there be such a thing? Well, yes. I haven't done anything but rest since Tuesday, and I'm now officially going crazy. I really don't want to do any work outs now since I'm almost to race day and I'd like to see if I do any better when fully rested. Funny that Solana Beach started out at the beginning of spring as my GOAL, and now it's really far too short to be a goal. I am, however, absolutely looking forward to it, particularly because my dad's doing this one with me. It's just that I should not have interrupted my training schedule for so long, even though I want to see how far I can crank up my speed (especially on the run) when I'm fully rested.

I can't believe that my right hamstring is still tight from pulling it playing volleyball on the Friday before the Carlsbad tri. That was 2 weeks ago! I tried stretching it last night, and it's still pretty tight. Oh, well.

Tomorrow's Saturday!! Packet pickup, excitement building, and gear prep!

First 1/2 Iron swim

Wanted to swim last night after kids went to bed, but was worried about right ear. Still felt clogged up from body surfing on Saturday. This morning, after some good rest and vitamins, hit the pool kinda later (around 6:45). Lots of people in the pool today. Maybe people are (like me) getting their last good swim workout before the Solana Beach tri. Funny though, that one is really a short swim - 500M I think. Anyway, I did a 1/2 Ironman set of 2100M continuous freestyle. I always work it this way since I'm really just trying to do what I need to do in the race. I've seen lots of arguments to do other stuff - sprints, kicks, etc., but right now, I'm just into training exactly like I'm going to race. Anyway, my first workout at this distance went OK for me. Hope the ear stays OK.

2100M freestyle, total time=37:28.71, avg/100=1:47.08

The guys winning my AG are swimming 1:15's (like Gunner Granquist - dang that's fast dude!) to 1:30's, and that's INCLUDING the time to sprint up the beach to T1!

Tomorrow, I hope to time my ride on the Solana Beach Triathlon route and hope for no stop lights. Then it's resting my body, and trying to keep from going crazy for lack of doing anything until race day.

Looking Forward

Did so badly on the run at the Carlsbad triathlon (~8:40/mi), that I decided I can no longer just get by on the run. Last Friday, I ran my all out fastest to my 5K mark at Seaside reef. I only managed 7:20/mi, and the guys winning my age group are at 6:00/mi.

Saturday, had a nice, very early morning ride to Oceanside and back for about 26mi. As I was riding back, I realized that if I showered quickly, I could drive up and watch the Pendleton International triathlon. I was really bummed about this one because I tried to sign up on June 11th, but it closed out on June 10th. Anyway, I happened to see my neighbor Bonnie as she was coming out of the water, and cheered her on. She ended up winning her AG! Very impressive. I had sent out this email to the guys in my neighborhood trying to fire them up to do Solana Beach with me. None of them really responded with any interest, but Bonnie said she thought she would do one. And she did, and wins her AG! Dang I'm envious. Go Bonnie!

Sunday I thought about Pendleton, and decided I'd better get onto some longer distances. Today I ran a 10K (seaside reef and back). I only managed 9:20 miles, but it was a beautiful morning, and I was happy that I finished it without feeling too dead.

Then, today at work, a lightning bolt hit me. I had been wanting to do Iron Man California 70.3. It's in Oceanside so it's easy to get to. It's a 1/2 IM, so I'd be ramping up my distance towards an eventual full IM, and it's about the right amount of time for me to train. Big problem though - it falls right on the first day of my family trip to Kauai. I had been bemoaning this unfortunate coincidence for a couple of weeks, until today when I rembered that we haven't purchased our plane tickets yet because the prices were sooooo high. I figured out that I could have Nadine and the kids go ahead, I could do the IM California, then fly out the next day to meet them. I called Nadine right away at work. No answer - the anticipation was killing me - would IM California close out today? Nadine called me back later in the day, and was OK with heading out first with the kids. She was really supportive of my goal. I was stoked. What a great day.

Can't wait for Solana Beach this weekend. My 71 year old dad is doing his 2nd tri with me. Both of our 1st tri's was the Moore's UCSD tri down at Mission bay this year. What a great year it's been.

First Day

Well, it's my first day setting up a blog. I didn't really ever know what these were until I saw someone else's and thought I'd give it a try.