Hodgepodge for 1000 please

As a long time Jeopardy! fan I thought the title was appropriate for this blog since it is not a focused race report, but a training update, and mini-reports on three events.

16 weeks until Iron Man Coeur D’ Alene.  Four weeks until IM California 70.3.  That explains the knot in the stomach.  It is getting close, and it’s getting real. 

Training is going pretty well.  As part of training I’ve done a few events since my last blog. 

I did the 15K San Diego Resolution run.  Since that distance was a bit more than that weeks training called for I took it easy, and was very happy with my overall result.  While far from fast, and still not comfortable with my running, it has improved greatly since taking the running clinic last November.  This was most evident yesterday.  My legs were trashed after a 75 mile bike with moderate hills, and a couple of intervals.  But I was able to do three miles at a pace I have not been able to hold for a 70.3, and did so easily.  I was not gassed at the end, and could have kept going.  This is real progress with running.  I’m doing transition runs twice a week.  There are good arguments both for and against frequent transition runs; but since I really struggled with the run on both of my 70.3s, I am focusing on them for this training sequence and this year’s races. 

I also did the Stagecoach Century.  This starts in Ocotillo, about 80 miles east of San Diego.  Roughly 6,000 feet of gain and it was a cold morning, about 36 degrees.  It never got much above 50, and I stayed in four layers the entire day, finally removing the balaclava 75 miles in.  I treated this as a base building ride, but wanted to give credit to Shadow Tour for putting on a quality event.  Not many cycling events offer chip timing and medals to the finishers; and more than enough aid stations.  With the amount of aid stations I would recommend this to a newbie century rider.  Well done, Shadow Tour. 

I also took part in USAT’s NCC Challenge.  This is a challenge for triathlon clubs around the country to stay active in the traditional off-season.  (There’s an off-season)?  Clubs have a roster of up to 75 participants logging miles.  The miles are weighted, so the efforts are close to even.  1 bike mile equals 1 mile, 1 swim mile equals 10 miles, and 1 run mile equals 3 miles.  I was on Tri Club San Diego’s Team 1, and we came in second out of all tri-clubs, falling well short of DC, but well ahead of all others.  Being on the leader board was fun for me, since I’m not fast and in a race I’m not even close to hitting a podium.  I also finished 12^th of all individuals in my age group, with just over 3,000 weighted miles.  Thanks to my fellow TCSDers with the Facebook posts, and Thao’s cheerleading keeping us going.  Next year we take DC down! 

Now the training gets serious.  Oceanside will be interesting as it is the first time I am doing a 70.3 where it is not my A race.  I don’t get a full taper going in, as the main focus is IMCdA training.  And after Oceanside, that training gets intense!  There will be lots of structure, and defined goals with each workout.   

A special thank you to my wife for putting up with my nuttiness, walking around sore, and falling asleep at 6:45 at night.  And a warning, it's going to get real crazy soon. 

I set up a Training Peaks account a few months ago, and recently went premium so I can use it to plan.  If you haven’t used TP before, and are interested in having good analytics of your training as well as a platform to plan all aspects I highly recommend it. 

That concludes the update.  The next blog should be a race report from Oceanside in about a month.  Until then a whole lot of swim, bike, run, eat, rest, and repeat!  Oh, and somewhere in there work and wifey time.