The weekend is here

Today was my last day of training in Newport Beach before we head to San Fran tomorrow. I woke up at 5:30 per my usual routine this week and attempted what I hoped would be a pain-free run. Close enough. It took me a while to get going, but I settled into about a 7:30 mile pace for the first couple miles with minimal discomfort. I wore warm-up pants on the entire run to make sure my legs stayed warm. About three miles in I decided to extend my run and added a couple faster miles in on Back Bay Road, probably around 6:50 pace based on mile markers. The entire run was 6 miles, 42 minutes, and felt good when I got home.

I wanted to test myself a little more, so I did a couple speed drills (high knees, butt kicks, etc.) and four strides at 5k race pace. It was a bit of a risk, but I figured I still had 72 hours to recover if I overdid it. I was pleased to find out that running in full strides caused me no discomfort whatsoever. So basically, if I run hard on Sunday, I should be fine, but if I attempt to job, its a crapshoot. After the strides I drove over to Karen's house for another ice bath, which felt great.

My knee was a little sore during work today, but nothing rest won't cure. After work I headed to the pool for a quick swim. I wanted to do something to sharpen up my stroke, so I warmed up for about 300 meters (which include drills). I went into 8 x 50, averaging about 37 seconds per 50, which is 2-3 seconds faster than a few weeks ago. I did a couple 100's after for about 1000 yards on the day, then went home and iced.

The race is right around the corner, the car is packed up, and Heather and I are driving up at 6 a.m. tomorrow. I'm getting very excited. Perhaps the best part is I really don't know what to expect, especially on the swim. I may blog before the race, but if not, I'll post a detailed report in a few days.

Workouts in between ice baths

I'm trying to get my internal clock set for Sunday, so hopefully I'll get some form of workout in each of the next 3 or 4 days. I decided to take the day off from running to rest my knee, but didn't deter me from waking up at 5:30 and heading straight to the pool for a swim in the rain. I warmed up for about 400 meters, doing some easy laps and drills. Then I went straight into a one mile swim (no rest) which took about 27-28 minutes. I didn't push myself too hard and wasn't overly fatigued at the end, which is obviously encouraging. I probably could have gone a minute faster, but I just wanted an easy race simulation, although I definitely didn't simulate the 55 degree water. Totaled 2000 yards for this pool session. Hopefully I'll get one more in before Sunday.

After the swim I headed straight to Karen and Damien's house to use their ice bath. I hopped in from the waste down for about 14 minutes, then hurried home and headed off to work.

My knee was sore most of the day, and I can't seem to get it completely comfortable at work. I wanted to get another bike workout in before Friday, partly just to make sure I can still ride a bike. After work, I hurried home and hopped on the bike for a quick 20 miles, averaging about 22 mph. I didn't push it too hard, and the whole ride felt pretty easy with no stress on my knees. Perhaps even better, by the time I hopped off the bike, my leg muscles had loosened up enough to allow me to run without discomfort. So hopefully, regardless of how I feel on Sunday, adrenaline, combined with a good bike leg, should allow me to roll on the run.

After the bike ride, I hurried over to Karen's for another ice bath with the iCool. I love the ice bath, and it continued to work wonders. Karen and Damien are so nice about letting me stop by and use it. Here's a free plug to my 7 official followers and 20+ unofficial followers. Go check out www.ozperformance.com.

Taper Time

This knee thing is still there, but hey at least it means I have to force myself to taper. I went to the track after work today, not sure what to expect. As has been the case throughout the past week, my right knee still wasn't cooperating. I kept the warm-ups on and decided to go at whatever pace was comfortable (somewhere between 8-9 minute pace). Fortunately, Karen was in the same boat, still in recovery mode from the Boston Marathon. We ran about 7 loops around the grass perimeter of Corona del Mar High School, then I went off on my own for another two miles on the Eastbluff grass loop. I ended up jogging 55 minutes, about 7 miles, with about 95% of it on grass. As my knee loosened up, I also settled in at around a 7 minute mile pace, which was slightly encouraging.

I have been icing on and off for the past three hours and Karen and Damien are letting me use their ice bath over the next two days before I leave for San Francisco. Hopefully between the treatment and rest I should nip this thing before Sunday. Regardless, I should be able to compete well enough on adrenaline.

Rocky Tribute

If you're a runner, no visit to Philadelphia is complete without a visit to the Art Museum. I set off on a mid-morning run in the rain down Locust Walk, past Franklin Field, up the river, and over to the Museum. Then I took the steps up two-at-a-time, Rocky style, to the top. My knee was a little shaky during the run, but I was happy to get through it with minimal pain. Total run was five miles round trip. Only 20 miles for this week but at least its close enough to my race to be a taper, and I can run.

After the run, the girls and I headed over to the gym, where I quickly beat them in two games of Horse. Then I headed down to the pool again. Today's workout was 200 warm-up, then 200, 300, 400, 300, 200, with about 20 seconds recovery in between each. My average 100 was down around 1:33 for the workout, which is an improvement over my previous longer workouts. The 400 in particular was about 6:12, at about 80% effort. I swam a few easy laps afterwards, mostly drills and recovery time. Then, I closed with a few sprints, both 50's and 25's. The entire workout was 2000 meters.

After the workout we went to Parc in Center City and I ate way too much food. However, I did have the best blueberry pancakes ever, and still have a food coma. We walked a mile back to Rachel's house to walk it off. Tomorrow is an off day. Up at 5:00 am to fly home.

I can finally run again!

I flew in to Philly on a redeye Thursday night to visit Rachel at Penn. She was very excited to see me, but upset because I haven't blogged as much recently. Reason being, the knee issues I've been blogging about. I visited a physio-therapist before my flight who did a number on my leg, but fortunately it was feeling a little better on Friday. I decided it would still be best to take another day off of running so Rachel and I headed to the Penn gym to use the pool.

Yesterdays pool workout was: 200 yard warm-up/drills etc. Then 10 x 100 yards @1:25-1:30 with 15 seconds rest. I had originally planned to do eight, but that was too easy to I extended it to ten. I followed this with a coupled 200's in 2:58 and 3:05. Then Rachel and I did 100 yards of pool golf. I got down to 31, 12 strokes for the length of the pool in 19 seconds. Rachel did about 40. Then I swam 2 50's all-out in about 33-35 seconds to close the workout. Total distance for the day was 1800 yards in the pool. Afterwards, we headed over to the Penn Relays to watch Yale run.

This morning I woke up and met Luke and Pat for a Yale reunion run down the river, and past the Art Museum (Rocky steps). I was thrilled simply to be able to move again, and settled for a very easy 6+ miles in about 50 minutes. We saw Anne and Rachel running the opposite direction as we headed back; they were probably going as fast as us at the time. Great day so far, happy to be running again. Now off to breakfast and watch Usain Bolt at day 3 of the Penn Relays.

This knee thing

This is getting annoying. I've been icing my knee around the clock and just can't seem to get it better. I took yesterday completely off and woke up early this morning to test it out. I walk jogged to the park to try and run on grass, but couldn't go more than 30 seconds without unrelenting pain. I walk-jogged home and threw some ice on it right away. I'm hoping to do something tonight, at the very least a swim, but may need another 1-2 days off.

This doesn't hurt for any activity other than running. I did lots of sprint drills and lateral drills to loosen up and felt nothing, until I started running in a straight line. Hopefully 1-2 more days of rest does the trick.

Transition work/800 repeats

I woke up at 5:30 this morning to join in a transition workout courtesy of Julie Swail. My bike was already loaded in the car, tires inflated so just rolled out of bed and headed off to her gated community in Irvine. We had a bunch of last minute cancellations so it was just Julie, her friend Christina, and me. The workout went something like this: 400 yard swim, 1.5 mile bike, 1200 meter run. The entire circuit takes about 13-14 minutes, but the real value comes from the transition work. I needed practice getting in my bike shoes when they are already clipped in, and also need practice getting my running shoes on quickly.

I actually only swam 300-350 because the girls were much faster in the pool. However, my swim today was as fast as its ever been. I guess the competition helped. As expected, my biggest problem was getting in my bike shoes. A couple times, Julie and I hopped on our bikes at the same time and she'd gap me by 10-15 seconds. I can un-clip on the bike well and hop off, but getting in my running shoes is equally pathetic. The first two intervals I finished way behind, but on the last two I was close enough to catch up on the run. We took about 5 minutes recovery to re-set our gear before starting the next interval. I was absolutely gassed at the end, but hurried home to shower and head to work.

After work, I headed to the track for the usual Tuesday night workout. Despite the wind and rain we had a great turnout today and the storm clouds had cleared by the time we got going. Today's workout was a repeat of last week, 6 x 800 meters. I was drained from this morning, and my right knee was hurting on the warm-up, so I stayed in my trainers and tried to keep the first few repeats slow, letting my body control the speed. By the 3rd interval I had loosened up and was running my usual pace. On the 5th I changed into racing flats to get a couple quicker reps in. My splits today were 2:29, 2:25, 2:21, 2:22, 2:18, 2:13, with a 3 minute (400 meter) recovery in between each interval.

I cooled down two miles on the grass and headed straight over to Spa Gregories to cash in one of the free massages I won at the Spirit Run last month (see first post). I'm doing much better now, but am still really sore from all the recent work. I'm going to have to force myself to start tapering.

Last ocean swim before Alcatraz

Today was my last ocean swim before the triathlon... just two weeks away. Mom came down and watched, partly because she was nervous about me swimming in the ocean alone. Before we left, I sampled a GU gel pack and nearly puked. I'll not be trying that on race day. I wanted at least 45 minutes of swimming or roughly the distance I'll be swimming on May 2. Big C was very choppy today, making for San Francisco-like conditions. We went down to the beach around 9 a.m., and surprisingly there were hardly any swimmers there. I made sure to go overboard on the body glide today so I could practice getting my wet suit off afterward. At the life guard tower, Mom stated snapping pics with her cell phone of me getting ready. Then I jumped in the water and she started power walking along the shoreline.
It's about 500 yards to go down and back along the buoy line. I wanted to practice longer reps, so after a 250 yard swim out from shore, I swam 4 x the buoy line (or 4 x 500 yards). The first two were a bit of a mess, and I had a hard time getting a rhythm in the ocean. It was still very choppy and the sun was glaring in my eyes as I headed south so I had a hard time sighting and zig-zagged all over the place. The second two were much better and faster. The unofficial splits for the four reps were 8:38, 8:45, 8:20, 8:15. I definitely got in a groove on the last two and tried to push it a little more. I probably could have done one more lap, but decided 45 minutes between warm up and cool down would suffice. After I swam back into shore, I took off the top half of my suit and ran about 400 yards to simulate the transition (is about a 1200 yard run out of the water to the transition area for my tri), which went ok, but I was a little disoriented and wasn't running too fast.

Mom snapped a few more pictures as I cleaned up and we headed home for a nice bowl of oatmeal. I decided to delay today's run until this afternoon to give my legs a few more hours to recover from yesterday. If not, I'll go longer tomorrow.

(5 hours later...) Energized by the Laker win, I ran easy 7 down to Crytsal Cove and back. Nothing too special. 40 miles for the week, 7500 yards in the pool, 55 miles on the bike.

Super Brick

I've been gearing up (no pun intended) all week for a long brick today, since I am still two weeks out from Alcatraz and don't have enough bike time or brick work. The plan today was 50 and 10. I woke up at 6 a.m. and left the house at 6:45 to meet Cavan at Bonita Canyon Park. From there we headed out to do the Santiago Canyon loop. We cruised up and out past Cook's Corner, then took a quick stretch break, and tempo'd through the Canyon. We were pushing hard for about 12-14 minutes, each taking a 60-90 turn at the front, at speeds between 25-40 miles per hour. I definitely overdid it a bit on my quads, since most of my pulls were on the flat/uphill areas, and paid for it later. The Canyon spit us out at Jamboree and we ducked into a Chevron to re-fill our water bottles. I also downed a vanilla crisp Power Bar, which did not sit well after the ride was over. We rode home along the Santa Ana River and through the Back Bay. Total for me was 55 miles on the bike, averaging about 18 mph, which fine for that ride given the starting and stopping at traffic lights.

After I got home I hung up my bike and quickly as possible, threw on the running shoes and headed out for a 6-mile tempo. I did a "warm-up" mile down to Back Bay road, and got going at the first mile marker. I wanted to get in 4 "road miles" and finish the last two on the CdMHS track, before jogging home. The target was 5:40 pace for the first few miles, but I went out a little too hard the first half mile. The first four splits were 5:29, 5:41, 5:41,5:45 (uphill). The fourth mile finished right at the track so I jogged over to the finish line and tried to drop the pace. I probably over did it a bit, because the next mile was 5:15. I hadn't taken water at all on the run and knew it wouldn't end well if I didn't get fluids in my system so I took a 2 minute break before the last mile to get water at the pool (jogging the whole time of course). Water was a good call; I finished mile 6 in 5:08.

At this point I was 7.5 miles into the run and sufficiently drained, so instead of extending my cool-down, I took the most direct route home down Jamboree, which unfortunately has two large hills. Near the top of the first climb, my right quad started cramping up, and had I taken 1-2 more steps, it probably would have seized up. I slowed my pace to a near walk and targeted the gas station for a water fountain. Wouldn't you know, they didn't have one. Rather than take faucet water, I tried to jog home at a ridiculously slow pace, and luckily I made it. Somehow got up the last hill to PCH without any issues, made it home in once piece.

Totals for the day, 55 miles on the bike, 10 mile run (6 up-tempo). Tomorrow should be another interesting day.

Laps n Laps

Met Blake at the pool after work. I wanted to get a longer swim in today because I decided to sleep in this morning and not bike or run. Today's workout was 200, 300, 400, 500, 400, 300, 200, with a 200 warm up and cool down. I did the shorter reps about about 1:30 pace for 100s, then the longer reps about about 1:35-1:40 pace. I was felling so smooth, swimming more with my hips and core than with my arms, and never really got tired. I think I could have easily gone another 1k. Total for the day was 2700 yard and I'm feeling very swoll right now. Time to rest up for a long brick tomorrow.

Resume triathlon training

Woke up early this morning for another easy 7. This time I headed down to the Back Bay and stayed mostly on the dirt shoulder and grass in East Bluff. It took me about 3 miles to loosen up today, so the last four miles were about 6:30 pace (easy), but the first three were slow. I need to figure out a way to make sure my legs are awake in the morning. Another small problem to keep an eye on; something's going on in my right knee. It's not too bad and I can't feel anything once I get the blood flowing, but I'll probably back off the running to make sure I squash this thing.

After work I headed to the pool for my first swim since last Friday (bad Josh). After I stopped referring to myself in the 3rd person, I warmed up 400 yards of drills to try and get my stroke back. Then I went into 8 x 100 yard repeats with 15 seconds rest. I kept all of them between 1:25-1:30, which wasn't too hard and actually very encouraging because one month ago I was repping 100's in 1:40+. Next I took an easy 100 to stretch out and recover and went into 200's with minimal rest. I kept each of them at 3:05-3:10, which is ok, but my lack of pool time over the last week was definitely showing by the end of the workout. Then I cooled down a few laps and finished with some 25 yard sprints for 2000 yards on the day.

Too hot!

Ran 7+ miles easy this morning (47 min), with the first 10 minutes or so on grass to loosen my legs up. It ended up as an out-and-back down Crystal Cove bike path where I hopped on the adjacent dirt path. There was a really nice sunrise this morning to go along with it. When I got home my upper body was steaming. That run was just TOO hot!

Back at it

My upper calves were ridiculously tight on Monday so I ended up taking the day completely off. I woke up this morning not feeling much better so I decided not to swim. A little 2-day recovery is probably good for me anyways, especially since I have some intense workouts planned for this weekend.

I went straight to the track from work for the normal Tuesday interval workout. On the docket today was 6 x 800 meters (3 min recovery). I had a rough 2.5 mile warm up and couldn't really loosen up, so I decided to keep my trainers on and not use the flats today, just letting my body go as fast as was comfortable. In my head, I figured that meant keeping everything between 2:25 - 2:30, and it started off that way. On the first 800, I was so tight that the first couple strides actually hurt and I thought about stopping. I trudged through the first 4oo in 74, and then started to loosen up and came home in 71. I made sure to go right into a brisk jog between each interval (about 7 min mile pace for the recovery) so I wouldn't tighten up. This was key as I kept getting faster with each rep. The splits were much faster than expected: 2:25, 2:22, 2:21, 2:20, 2:20, 2:18. Given that I was in trainers, and my legs were exhausted from last weekend, this was a very nice workout.

After my 3 mile warm-down, I got to do something I haven't done since college. Karen's husband Damien sells portable ice baths (www.ozperformance.com) and brought them to the track today. So after my workout, I got to jump in a 45 degrees ice bath for 10 minutes (waste down). I'm feeling so much better now and all tightness in the legs is gone. As I tell anyone who will listen, the solution to everything is ice.

Carlsbad 5000

Four years ago at my first Carlsbad 5000 I set my road 5k PR in 14:54. I was only one year out of college and it was to be expected. The last three Carlsbad races have had a recurring theme of me going out way too hard, 4:35-4:40 for the first mile, and blowing up on the last two miles. There is always great competition there, and I always tell myself to take it easy on mile one, but adrenaline seems to get the better of me. I haven't really been in anywhere near this fit for a couple years. Based on recent workouts and minus about 10 lbs, I figured I could handle the fast pace, but wanted to be cautious nonetheless--nothing faster than 4:45.

Start -I'm on the left

I finally took a relatively easy day yesterday, running 5.5 miles on the Irvine Lake Mud Run course, minus the obstacles, then cheering on Heather, Angela, Mike. The course is much better than last year, so if you read this, Paul Rudman, nice work, but still a ways to go to match Pendleton. I woke up extra early this morning to do a shakeout run and jogged down to the Newport Dunes to watch the Newport Beach Triathlon at 7 a.m. Then Heather and Angela (good job on back-to-back races!) and I drove down to Carlsbad. The weather in Carlsbad was perfect, 60 and cloudy, with some wind. I made a stupid mistake of debuting my new Saucony Grid A3 racing flats, and left the Asics in the car--stupid. The A3's are extremely light at 6 ounces, but were slipping off my heal a bit so I had to make the shoes extra tight and go no socks. Good news is they should get me through Alcatraz, bad news is I got blisters.

I had a great 3-mile warm-up and felt very springy. After then 1/2 mile jog to the start from the Cal Coast tent, I took my place in the corral only to have them hold us an extra 10 minutes while we waiting for the Amtrak Oceanliner train to cross. This happens every year so I should know better by now. After about 7 minutes of standing and shaking out my legs I just sat down to conserve energy, which ended up prompting the entire front line to sit. After the train passed we had about 10 seconds to stand up and get the blood flowing before we started.

Five seconds after the gun went off there were about 25 people in front of me, including Bill Walton on a custom gigantor road bike. I stayed calm and didn't move up until we turned south(left) onto Carlsbad Drive. At the 1/2 mile I was in 7th, but perfectly boxed in behind four people to block the headwind. I stayed in this position through the mile (4:46! perfect) to the turnaround at 1.4. I came out of the box about 50 yards before the turn and took extremely wide approach, which worked perfectly because when spun around I had moved effortlessly from 7th into 4th. There was a small incline after the turn and my momentum and a tailwind carried me alone into 3rd, with nobody joining me. I tried to go with the two guys in front of me but couldn't ease my way up there and didn't want to blow up with 1.5 to go. With the tailwind pushing me north I cruised the next 800 meters through 2 miles in 9:33 (4:47!) and felt great. This was my second fastest two mile split ever on the roads (9:27 en route to 14:54) so I used a small adrenaline boost, courtesy of my 2 mile split and the crowd,to try and pick up the pace and catch the guys in front of me. Not much good happened over the last 800 meters.

1st mile1.5 miles Starting to string out...

Just passed 2 miles

At the 2.5 mile turnaround, two guys blew by me and I couldn't stay with them. One more passed me before the left turn toward home on Carlsbad Village Drive--an entirely downhill stretch--but my internal monologue couldn't pick me up, and I struggled down hill to the finish, giving up two more places and crossing the line in a very satisfactory 15:20 (5:10 last mile), good for 8th place.

15:20 is my second fastest time ever on this course. It's great progress from the 15:50 rut I've been stuck in the last couple years, a byproduct of not much training. I still think I left 10-15 seconds on the course, especially struggling downhill the last 200 meters. Still I had a great race, executed the race plan I wanted, but just couldn't finish it. This will come with more strength from added mileage and swimming.

I walked back to the Cal Coast tent, high-fiving Bill Walton along the way, and cooled down about 2 miles. Then we watched Eliud Kipchoge run 13:11 to win the Elite men's race, and headed home. Now all eyes move towards Alcatraz in three weeks. Time to get back on the bike.

Short and Sweet

It's Friday Night so I'll keep this short and sweet:

Morning - drove to Newport Ridge and ran 45 minutes in El Morro Canyon. The marine layer blinded out the canyon I was running in the clouds most of the time. Hilly, up-tempo 7 miles.

Afternoon - didn't have much time before evening festivities so drove to the pool and swam 1200 non-stop. Took about 20 minutes, no stress whatsoever. Then did 4 x 50 sprints, and cooled down 200 for a mile in the pool.

Back Bay Loop

Met Karen for an easy loop around the Back Bay this morning at 6:30. Not sure what happened to the 80 degree weather from yesterday, but it was about 48 degrees when I left the house. I ended up logging about 11 miles and change (82 min, ave 7:15 pace) and fortunately stayed on dirt trails for at least half of that. My right knee was bugging me a bit early on, but I got some ice on it immediately following the run and it's feeling better now. The best part of the run? I kept down the very large bowl of Deer Valley Turkey Chili from last night.

The best part about training for a triathlon...

...is that for the disciple I'm not good at (swimming), the progress comes in giant leaps, not baby steps, like running. After an easy 45 minute run this morning (7 miles, 6:25 average), I headed to the pool with Jay after work. I once again stopped at the grocery store for my oatmeal raisin power bar and Gatorade, and nibbled a bit before jumping in the pool. I wanted to do the same workout I did last Friday (1600 build-up), only significantly faster and with less rest.

Success. After a 200 yard warm-up, I cruised through my 8 50's in 38-40 seconds taking only 10 seconds rest on each. The 4 x 100 repeats were all 1:30 with 15 seconds, and in complete control. Both 200's were right around 3:10, and I got through the last 400 in 6:25. All splits were 2-10 seconds faster than last Friday, and I was significantly less winded. After I finished the build up, I cooled down an easy 200, then 100, then decided I had enough energy for 2 x 50 yard sprints (both about 33 seconds). I cooled down a few more laps and hopped out of the pool for a 2400 yard day. Once again no cramps and minimal use of my legs. My shoulders and arms feel great, and it's obviously very encouraging to know I'm getting faster every time I get in the pool.

Carlsbad tune-up

Time for some late-night blogging. Today was my last track workout before Carlsbad next weekend. I always want to be "on" this weekend because this is the fastest 5k in Southern California. I've only actually been "on" once in four years running this race; the other three times I went out way too fast and hobbled to the finish line. Today's workout was 1200, 3 x 800, with 3 minutes recovery in between each. I was a little late getting to the track out of work, so I only had time for a 2 mile warm up, which was fine. I also wore half tights under my shorts today to make sure my hamstrings stayed loose. I was hoping to keep everything at 70 second pace (for 400 meters) or below, and not over exert myself like last week.

The 1200 was perfect. I ran 69, 69, 68 for a super-controlled 3:26. It could not have felt easier, and having Cush there to help pace it was nice too. I made sure to jog an entire lap, instead of just circling around for 200 meters. The lap jog really helped my recovery and my hamstrings were no where near as sore for the 800s. I led the first 800 in a pedestrian 2:17, with perfectly even splits, then took another lap jog as part of my 3 minute recovery. Cush led the second 800 through a little quicker and we ended up running 2:14, again with perfectly even splits. I kept the same recovery routine in preparation for the last 800. Cush was a little tired and didn't want to overdo it on the last one so I led us out in an easy 68. My legs felt great at 400, so I decided to pick up the tempo a bit and burned the back straightaway before cruising home in a 64 for 2:12, then took another lap jog, and put on my trainers. Julie and J.C. joined me on a 3-mile cool down on the Eastbluff grassy path over looking the Back Bay. 8 miles for the day, and I am definitely ready to go fast at Carlsbad.

3-Day weekend: Par 3

Today was my first ocean swim of any kind since last summer. I actually had some pre-race butterflies about it this morning. Headed down to Big Corona with Blake and threw on my Zoot wet suit. It is so ridiculously warm and buoyant, it required no effort to keep afloat, and I barely noticed the 59 degree water temperature. I swam three laps down and back along the buoy line in the harbor. My guess is that's about 250 yards each way, so between swimming out and in from the shore probably a 2000 yard swim in about 33 minutes. It was not as tiring as I expected. Most of the time I was just trying to get in a comfortable rhythm and wasn't over exerting myself. After each trip down the buoy line--about 4:15--I would take a 15 second breather before restarting. The last lap I just kept a continuous swim going down and back into shore (about 12 minutes).
First, the good. I could have gone much faster, but spent more time just trying to maintain line of sight, and get a gauge of my ocean fitness. Second, my sighting was great and I maintained a mostly straight line during the swim. Third, my equipment was phenomenal. The wetsuit more than made up for the choppy surf, and my new goggles did not fog or let water seep in. Now the bad. It was a very choppy day, probably much like San Francisco Harbor in a month, and I was completely disoriented when I got out of the water. Also, as a result of my disorientation in and out of the water, I had a difficult time getting out of my wetsuit. At least I have time to work on this. Still, 5000 yards in the pool and ocean this week, looking to bump next week up to 6-7000.

After the swim I changed and drove up to Newport Ridge to go for a short run in El Morro. For casual runs it's easier to drop in from the top because the inclines and descents are not as dramatic. My joints were sore so I was just looking for an easy run on soft surfaces. I headed out along Bommer Ridge Road to Morrow Ridge, then retraced my steps back to Fence Line and did some freestyle walking along the single person trail. Run was about 41 minutes for 6+ miles. Total mileage for the week is 48. I'll try and keep it below 50 until May.

3-Day weekend: Part 2

I set my alarm for 5:45 this morning so I could get a quick run in before my tee time. After it went off, I promptly re-set it for 7. On my way to the golf course in Long Beach, my rear passenger tire blew out on the 405 so I had to wait for a AAA guy to come and help me with the spare. Managed to get to the course and rented a cart to spare my legs from 5 miles of carrying a bag. I was so drained after golf (shot a 94) and down about my tire that I decided it would be a good idea to just take the day off. I drove home going about 45 mph in the slow lane of the 405 with my hazard lights on. Luckily, I managed to make it to Newport Tire Co. before my other rear tire fell off, and ordered two replacements--fortunately not too expensive. The only other drag was that I had two hours to kill before my car was ready. The shop is about a mile from my parents house, and I had running shoes in the car, so I decided it would be easiest to just run home, in golf attire.

By the time I got home the endorphins were flowing and I was suddenly very motivated to keep this going. I quickly threw on some running shorts and headed off to Back Bay Road. This ended up being one of those runs that was meant to only be about 5 miles, but I just felt so good I kept on extending it. I ended up running to the end of Back Bay Road, keeping a comfortable 6:25ish pace for most of the run. Total time was 58 minutes, 9 miles.

I still had 45 minutes to kill so I did some extended stretching and a core/ab/push-up circuit until it was time to get the car. Between that and the unexpected long run, I'm very happy with the work put in today.

3-Day weekend: Part 1

Looking to take full advantage of my day off, I woke up at 7 to meet Karen at the track for our rescheduled tempo run at 8. Since it was an off-day, and I had time to stretch down and rest, I decided to do the full 10 miles with Karen, who will be racing Boston later this month. We started off on our usual 2-mile warm-up, during which I learned Karen didn't even start running until age 26, when we decided to pop in the Melbourne Marathon and won in 2:53. So it's not too late for twenty-somethings to pick up the sport! I think she was a little fired up today since it was her last tempo before Boston because the splits were much quicker than last week. Her Garmin spit out the following mile splits: 6:29, 6:23, 6:08, 6:15, 6:02, 6:06, 6:11, 6:04, 6:05, 6:18 (average pace was 6:13). As usual, the last mile was a little slow given the 30 foot elevation gain. My 7th mile was actually 5:20, because I made a quick pit stop and had to catch up. I still need to work on my stomach issues, which are constantly a problem during workouts, but never during races. 12 miles total today, my longest run in at least a year.

I wanted to take full advantage of the day off so met Blake at the pool 30 minutes later. I also wanted to start experimenting with food intake, because I habitually cramp up when I swim, so I need to figure out a way to avoid this (aside from not kicking as hard). I stopped by the grocery store and picked up a Gatorade and oatmeal raisin Power Bar. These worked wonders as my legs never came close to cramping during the pool session. I warmed up 200 meters and then we started the workout Julie recommended yesterday: 1600 build-up. First you need to figure out a 50 meter pace (40 seconds). Then do 8 x 50m at that pace with a 10 second recovery. Then 4 x 100m with the same net time (laps a little slower, but same recovery), then 2 x 200m, and finish with 1 x 400m. After this, Blake and I sprinted 2 x 50m which we won easily, then I cooled down and called it a day--2000 yards it the pool today. I rewarded myself afterward with a Jamba Juice smoothie for breakfast.

I was very encouraged that after 12 miles and 2000 yards in the pool my legs did not cramp. I going to try my first ocean swim of the year on Sunday. The plan is to duplicate the power bar intake and light Gatorade beforehand. Hopefully that will get me through at least a 45 minute ocean swim.

All is right in my world

I need to elaborate on this UPS situation since a few people have chuckled about it. This actually started yesterday with Citibank, when I got a voice message saying "my Citi card has been compromised." I went online to check my activity and didn't see anything abnormal, but had a message online saying Citi was "investigating some suspicious account activity." These are two similar, but distinctly different messages. I called Citi, and the first person I spoke with confirmed that my card had been deactivated, but she would not tell me why. We went back and forth on this for a while until I got her supervisor on the line who finally confirmed for me that Citi fouled up and someone had hacked their server and had access to my account number. They deactivated my card and informed me I would receive a new one in 24 to 48 hours. I calmly explained to the supervisor that if it took any longer than 24 hours for me to get a new card, I would soon be a proud new client of Visa.

So I'm without a credit card for the day, which is fine, but I go home, and I'm expecting a UPS package waiting at my front door. The contents of this package contained a TYR triathlon backpack, new goggles (they are awesome BTW!), and body glide for my wet suit. I basically had to re-enact the Citi conversation with a few UPS people. We re-worked the delivery schedule and I may have mentioned if they left a note on my door again I would refuse the package and they wouldn't get paid. It's only $7 but it's the principle of the matter! So what was waiting for me today when I got home? A new credit card, and five minutes later, a UPS delivery. For now, all is right in my world.

Training wise it was a pretty good day. I woke up and ran an easy 41 minutes (or approximately 6+ miles). Ran around Balboa Island and added some junk time down by the Newport Dunes. It's a mostly flat concrete/asphalt run, actually terrible for my knees, but at least its a different route. I wore the half tights today, which was very beneficial for my hamstrings, even though it was fairly warm.

After work I drove out to Tustin to have my second swim lesson with Julie Ertel. Julie is a stud, 2008 Olympian, and by far the best triathlete I know (here's her bio: http://www.usatriathlon.org/athletes/julie-ertel). She drilled the crap out of me for an hour and once again I came away feeling so much faster. I'll probably go nuts in the pool tomorrow with the hope that some of this sticks. We did a lot of work on my breathing, pacing, and sighting without losing too much speed. This is my weakest part of ocean swimming as I frequently veer off in random directions when I swim by myself. Approximately 1000 yards in the pool, but more so it was a quality session. Three-day weekend upcoming which means some ridiculous training days ahead, starting with 10-12 with Karen tomorrow morning.