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.