Week #3 - Almost half way...

Ahh, the end of another big week of training. 4 weeks until Canada. Last week ended up being just over 20 hrs and 15 workouts. This week ended up being 22 hrs in 14 workouts. Lots off biking and running over the last two weeks with a total of 435 miles on the bike and 89 miles on in the running shoes. For the most part the workouts have been feeling good. This coming week is a bit lighter and will allow for a little fishing. Next weekend is the Blue Lake Olympic tri. I'm anxious to see where my fitness is for this race after a light week. This will be my last race before IMC.

Other then that not much new. The sabbatical life is a good one. It does have me contemplating what I want to do career wise. Realistically I will likely stick with Intel for a while, but I think I will start to monitor the Nike postings and see if anything interesting pops up. I guess it never hurts to look.

In other news Jen and I made it out to see a movie last week. We saw Step Brothers with Will Ferrell. I would suggest saving this one for a rental. It would be perfect for a rainy day trainer ride. I think that's it for now. I hope to have an update soon with some fishing pics. I have yet to catch a fish on a fly rode. This could be the week! Stay tuned...

Tales From Penticton

Well, I've been in Penticton BC since Thursday. We rode the course on Saturday at a blistering pace (105 miles in 5hrs) then ran a total of 2hrs and 50 mins today. And did I mention the swimming? This has to be one of the best places on earth to swim. This morning was perfect! The water is perfect temp, calm, and clear and there are no sharks! I have one last swim tomorrow before I head back home on Tuesday. Overall it's been a really good trip. I've met some very cool and very fit folks here. The number of elite triathlete's in this town is amazing. We watched a "local" Olympic distance race this morning. Wow, these guys and girls are fast! But they know how to put on a race here. Prize money for the top 3 finishers and a really good announcer. It was the same guy that is known as the "voice of IM Canada". Overall a much different experience then say, a race at Blue Lake or Hagg Lake. I guess that's all for now!

Sabbatical - Week 1 Done

What a week! It started with spending a few hours at my Mom's house for her birthday. On Wednesday my Hard Top hoist was delivered by the UPS guy. Within 2hrs the top was off the Jeep and hanging from the ceiling of the garage.

Friday was spent at the Portland International Raceway with Rob P. We went to watch the Historic Car Races. The highlight was getting to ride in the passenger seat of a brand new BMW M3 for two laps around the track. It was $20 that was in support of a local charity. On the back side of the lap we hit 108 mph. It was amazing how fast it could take the turns. Rob was the VW R32 in front of us. Here are a couple pictures.

After that it was Bud Light and classic stock cars. I've always wanted to check these races out. It was a good day. I felt very manly!

Saturday was spent spectating at the Hagg Lake Triathlon where as usual the Ironheads kicked ass. It was fun to be out on the course and cheer people on. Sunday was my fly fishing class on the Clackamas river. No pun intended here, but I think I'm hooked. I didn't actually catch anything, but I had a few strikes, and that's enough to keep my coming back for more. It's cool to go do something new like that and notice things going on that have always been there but I've never noticed. For example when we first got there we had to check out what the fish were feeding on. This required us to flip over some rocks in the river and see what types of bugs were developing. Also, we watched what types of bugs were flying around above the water. Then the key is matching up a fly in your fly box to what is in the water. It reminds me of 8th grade science class.

Mixed in all of these activities there were of course a few workouts. Not too many this week because of Lake Steven last weekend, but there were a few. I did a 12 mile run on Friday morning before the car races and was able to avg a 7:30 pace with my HR in zone 1. My fitness is good right now. Next week I head to Penticton to train with Coach Scott on the IMC race course. I'm really looking forward to that. So, back to business! two heavy training weeks coming up. It's to focus more on resting betweens workouts. Of course I'll need to sneak in some fishing now and then... Fortunately the rivers are cold so its good for soaking the tired legs.

Lake Steven's

Lake Steven's Half Ironman was this last Sunday. We drove up with Rob and Erin early Saturday morning. We hit the expo... the expo was a booth to buy parking passes and a booth selling bike jerseys, that's it. We attended the mandatory meeting and picked up our packets. From there we headed out to the lake to get in a 30 min spin and drop off the bikes. As Erin and I were out riding my bike started having issues. It kept skipping between gears and the rear cassette was rattling. I assumed it was loose. When we got back I headed over to the local bike shop and had them take a look. Apparently I wasn't the only person with bike issues. The shop was SLAMMED. Total chaos! So I dropped it off and we went to get some lunch. I came back an hour later and it was more crowded then when I dropped it off. Even Sister Madonna (the 78 year old nun) was there trying to get her tires glued up. Fortunately for me my bike was fixed and ready to go. I took it for one last spin up and down the street before checking it in.
Sunday morning came early. We were up at 4 and to the race site by 5. I got everything setup and was ready to go by race start at 6:38. The water was warm and pretty clear. The swim start was a little crowded. You had to jump off a dock and tread water, but we were packed into a pretty small area. When the gun went off it took a few strokes to get some space. Once out I found the underwater rope that runs the length of the course. This was nice because you didn't have to look up to sight much. The down side was I kept running into to slower folks from the wave that started in front of me. Overall the swim felt good. I felt like I was actually racing it for the first half rather then just getting through it. After making the last turn I started to get tired and lost focus for a couple minutes. This definitely cost me some time. Once I realized and snapped out of it I picked it up again to the finish.
Through T1 and on to the bike was smooth, no issues. Once I got going on the bike I noticed my heart rate was still pretty high as it usually is out of the swim. I decided to focus on my watts and not to worry about my HR. As expected after about 20 mins it started to come down. I had heard this course was hilly, but wasn't sure exactly what to expect. There were a lot of short steep hills with a couple longer sustained climbs. Scott had given me power ranges to stay in when hitting the hills and this was key on this race. It was frustrating on the first lap as people would fly by me on the hills, but I always caught them on the flats. Usually once I passed them back that was the last I saw of them. The entire ride I kept coming up on team mate Jason K. I would get within 50 yards of him then we would hit a hill and he would take off again. This happened up until about mile 52 when I finally caught him. He passed me back right away and that would be the last time I would see him until the out and backs on the run. Overall the bike went very good. I got in all of my nutrition and my pacing allowed me to run better then I have in the past.
Off the bike my feet were numb and they hurt as I tried to run through T2. Once out on the run they warmed up quickly. The run went by really fast on this course. I had a bit of a side cramp for the first 3 miles, but it went away after I backed off the amount of water I was taking through the aid stations. At about mile 6 another team mate, Jake, caught me and passed me easily. I knew he was coming and I knew he is a much faster runner then I am, so I accepted it and encouraged him as he went by. Right after that another guy in my age group passed me as well. This sent me into a mini pity party. I was in a funk for about 2 miles before I got my second wind. I think I was between miles 8 and 9 when I decided to push it for a while and see what happens. At this point in the race I had not met any of my goals. I had not broken 2:30 on the ride, I had not swam under 32 mins, and I was likely not going to break 4:40 over all. The only remaining goal was a PR. I knew I needed to pick it up if I was going to do this. The last 4 miles felt outstanding. I pushed my heart rate into zone 5 and my legs wanted more. In the last 5k I managed to catch back up to Jake. This gave me that little extra boost I needed to push the last hill. I came in at 4:43:33. This was a 1 minute PR over Hula man last year. I think this course was much tougher though. Overall the race went very well for me. Except for the couple of little things I am pretty happy with how I executed my plan. As always though I wanted to go faster...
Props to the entire Ironheads team! Congrats to Kaytee as the overall female age group winner. Also congrats to Jake B on his 45 min pr, and Heather R with her 56 min PR! Also, thanks to Jake and Jason K for keeping me motivated out there. These events are so much more fun when you have that comradery and friendly competition. I am so lucky to be part of such a great group of people.

Free at last, free at last...

Well, off I go. I just finished packing my office (It's moving to a different area of the building while I'm out). My email inbox is down to two messages, it's typically over 30. I guess it's almost time to take the victory walk out the door. It still hasn't totally hit me that I don't have to think about work at all for 8 weeks. I think Sunday afternoon it will set in. I'm pretty focused on Lake Stevens HIM right now. I really want to have a good race. I'm ready for one. No excuses this time. I'm recovered, well rested, and feeling good. My swimming "feels" better. I think watching the Olympic trials has helped. The visual images in my head when I'm swimming of Michael Phelps hauling ass definitely make me feel faster. I hope to use this on Sunday during the race. That guy is a machine! I love watching good swimmers, it makes me want to become a better swimmer. I guess the same goes with the running and biking. I can't wait for the Olympics!

Ok, I'm outta here. I'll post a race report next week. Have a fun 4th of July!