Days 6, 7, and 8

Sorry for the intermittent posts. The internet access here at the Yucca Inn is occasional at best. So I thought I would combine the last couple of days into one update. On Wednesday we took a break from the pool and rode from the hotel out to Joshua tree to do a 50 min TT. The goal was to hold Zone 4 watts for the 50 mins. This for me turned out to be 285 watt avg for the 50 mins on a road that had a slight grade on the way out. It was an out and back so it was hard to hold a low cadence on the way back and still keep the watts up. It was also at about 4500 ft elevation so my breathing felt high but my heart rate was only in mid zone 2. Later in the day we did a 6 mile steady pace run also from the hotel.

Thursday: After a morning 3500 yrd swim the plan for today was to ride out to Idyllwild. The first 15 miles of this 100 mile ride consist of about 3500 ft of climbing. The avg grade felt like it was 7 to 8%? Not sure exactly, but it wasn't terrible. The hard part was the 40 mph wind gusts that were hitting us head on and sideways. There were 3 different instances where I was slowed down to less then 5 mph and almost went into the ditch. Once at the top those of us that made it waited for everyone else. After about 20 mins of waiting we knew something was up. With no cell service where we were we Mitch rode back down a little. It turned out that everyone else decided not to continue on because the conditions were not safe. This was totally understandable since I am one of the largest people here and I almost got blown over multiple times. So those that weigh 70 lbs less then me could have easily been blown into traffic or off the road. So one of the coaches went back down and got the van and we loaded up and rode from the bottom of the hill back in and around Palm Springs and Palm Desert. Ended up with just over 50 miles total. After the ride some did a quick 30 min transition run. Then a stop at Rubio's for fish tacos!!

Friday: Another morning swim of 4500 yrds then an easy 25 mile ride from the pool. We were going to head out to the north valley area (I think it was north) and ride by all of the wind mills. There are 3000 wind mills out there. So I guess it would be a surprise that it was a bit windy out there. Once out of town on the highway the wind kept getting stronger. We lined up in a single file line and were taking turns leading 2 minutes at a time. We did this for 15 minutes and only made it about 2 miles. We decided to turn back at the point when I was leading. I was generating 300 watts and going 6 mph. When the gusts would hit I would slow to 2-3 mph and almost fall over. Going back however was well worth the effort to get out there. On a flat road I was coasting at 42 mph. We traveled the two miles in a couple minutes. It was rad! After that we just cruised around town. Then we ran for 40 mins at race pace. It was another hot day, about 83 degrees. Yesterday felt like it close to 90. It's going to be hard to transition back to low 50's when I get home. Here are a few pictures from the last couple days:

The top of the climb on the way to Idyllwild:

Chill'in at Mith's before after the Joshua Tree ride on Wednesday

The windmill farm:

Day 5 - EZ Day

Another 8:30 am swim. More technique work today. I can really feel improvement based on the feedback I've been getting. After the swim was a 60 min run with a 1 minute pick up to zone 3 heart rate every 5 minutes. It was 82 degrees and sunny. Felt good starting out but about 15 mins in the heat started to raise my heart rate a bit. I backed off the pace a little and was able to stay within my ranges for the workout. I think over the course of the run I managed to average about 7:30 min per mile. After the run in was bbq for lunch then back to the hotel for a nap and laundry. Oh ya, and some blog updates too.

Day 4 - Hot and dry!

This morning was an 8:30am 4k yrd swim at the Palm Springs pool. Did some threshold 100 repeats with the coaches watching. I got some great feedback on my stroke that I think will help me tremendously. After the swim we headed out on a 4.5 hr ride. The course was flat, hot and flat. It was a perfect practice ride for the race. It gave me a good chance to get in my aero bars and try to maintain a constant power range. I kept it easy though knowing that we have a lot more riding to do. Everything is going and feeling good though so far. I feel like I am starting to get some what acclimated to the dry hot climate. Today was 85 degrees on the ride but it never felt intolerable. We'll see how the run goes tomorrow in the heat.


In unrelated news... On the way back to the hotel tonight we got rear ended in the van we ride around in. It wasn't major, but hard enough to leave a large dent in a pretty thick steal bumper. The worst part is as we pulled over to get the guy's info he took off. So we took off after him but couldn't keep up. We managed to get his plate number and called it into 911. I'm not sure if they've caught the guy yet, but the CA hwy patrol just called my cell to get my account of what happened for the police report. Exciting stuff.

Here is a picture of the pool.

Day 3 - Joshua Tree

Sunday morning was up early and on the rode by 7:30. It was a relatively short drive to the park. What a strange (in a good way) place. The landscape looks like something you would see in a roadrunner cartoon. We parked and hit the road running. We ran on paved roads for the first 40 mins before turning off onto a dirt road. This part of the run was at about 4000ft. At the end of the dirt road we hit a trail. It was steep and very technical with mostly loose rock. It was a lung burner to the top of the hill (about 5000ft). Once there the view was amazing! Unfortunately I didn't carry my camera... But the Perkins' did. Once I get them I'll post them. After taking in the scenery we headed back. A few of use pushed the pace n the way back down. It was one of those runs where one wrong step would have been a bad fall of a sprained ankle, but it was too much fun to resist. The run ended up being just over 2 hrs. Here's a few pictures from after we finished.

Later in the day we did a 2 hr, 30 mile ride up into the hills behind the hotel. It was a pretty tough little ride with the short steep hills and the headwind. On the way back Chris V. took a detour and 10 mins later rolled into the motel parking lot with a KFC drumstick in his mouth and a box of fried chicken stuffed in the front of his jersey... I'll have to post the picture of that too once I get it.

Here are some other pics:

Let the camp begin

We arrived yesterday only to find a large bright sphere in the sky that made my eyes hurt. I think it's called the sun? Ok, I guess that's not fair. It' been pretty nice in PDX the past few weeks. But the warmth was foreign to me. Low 80's with a light breeze. We went straight from the airport to the local pool for a swim. It's so nice to swim outside! We did a good 3500 yrd group workout. Felt great. Then headed to Yucca Valley to the hotel. Yucca is about a 30 min drive up the hill from Palm Springs. I think it's about 2000 ft higher in elevation so the temp is about 10 degrees cooler.
Home sweet home. We are staying at the Yucca Valley Inn. It is a "rustic" motel. It has a lot of character. Here is a picture from my doorway. I took this yesterday
and it is still there. Good stuff. Click on the pic for a full size view. Last night was a tasty dinner at Mitch's and back to the hotel for bike assembly and bed. By the way, the bike made it safe and sound. For those that didn't know the Isaac is too big to fit in a conventional bike travel box. So... Dave at Athlete’s Lounge had to make a custom cardboard travel case. It worked great. The only issue I faced was the teasing from the other Iron heads as my "ghetto" bike case rolled down the conveyer at baggage claim.

Today was a 67 mile 3.5 hour ride with the local bike club. It was a good ride of about 60 to 70 people. Three of us got split up from the rest of the campers and ended riding with the slower group. The plan was to ride with the A group for a more challenging pace and course. It worked out though. After about 47 miles we met back up with the rest of the group and continued on. We rode up a nice 45 min climb to a lookout on one of the sounding hills. It was a great view... Right after ride was a 35 min transition run. What a shock to the system to run in mid 80's and sun. My heart rate was pretty high. I think it was a good reminder what AZ will likely be. Tomorrow morning is a 2hr 20min run in Joshua National Park on some trails that lead to an abandon gold mine. Then a 2 hr ride in Yucca Valley later in the day. Stay tuned...

4 cans of Pabst, 1 mile, and Superman equals...

The beer mile! Saturday night was my first ever attempt at the beer mile. I have to admit I was expecting the worst. For those not familiar the format is 1 12oz beer then one lap around a 1/4 mile track, repeat 4 times. There were 11 men and 4 women competing. The first Pabst went down smooth until I started running. I think I burped all the way around the track. I was a little disappointed with my time (7min, 31 sec). I was about 15 seconds off of what I thought I could do. But I definitely under estimated how challenging it would be to chug a beer after sprinting a 1/4 mile. It's hard to breath and drink at the same time! It was fun though, the winner (Jay) did it in 6:22. Oh, and Superman came in 3rd (that would Dave E in a Superman costume). It always sucks to get beat by someone in a costume! Oh well, Dave's fast, so that takes a little of the sting off. At least he wasn't wearing a fairy costume (probably next year).

I was a little concerned going into this because I had a 2hr 40 min run scheduled for Sunday morning. SO my plan was to purge after the race in hopes of by passing the after effects of 48oz of beer in 7 mins. Can't say I didn't try! I even stood next to others that were honking their brains out and I couldn't get nothing to come up. Within about 10 mins I could start to feel it. I had a good buzz for most of the evening but hit the water hard (and the pizza). Was in bed by 11 and up by 7am on Sunday. Feeling tired and little hung over Jen and I headed to Forest Park. I managed to squeak out 21 miles in 2:42 and felt surprisingly good. Headed home for a hard nap and a 4500 yrd swim later in the day. Tough swim, 4x1000 IM race pace with a little warm up and cool down. Half way through I was invaded by a beginner swim class of about 15 people. It was chaos all round me. It reminded me of the scene in Caddy Shack when the caddies invade the pool at the country club. Total anarchy for about 20 mins! People in t-shirts trying to do the butterfly. Some dude in an American flag print Speedo. I guess it was good practice as I tried to stay focused on my form and pace. Saturday was a 70 mile ride with 2x25 mile race watt intervals. Rode out to Sauvies and did them there. Ran into one pretty good shower, but only the one. Rode with some Ironheads I came across on the island for about 30 mins. It was a pretty good ride overall. Totals for the week:
Bike: 146 miles
Swim: 16200 yds
Run: 44 miles
Total: 18hrs 21 mins
Friday I fly to Palm Springs to start the CPC camp. I think it is going to be a very rewarding week of training! I bought a new camera yesterday and I' taking my laptop so I'll post pictures and updates regularly.

I thought this was Oregon?

Everyday I am amazed at the weather... I know that any day now it's gonna turn to crap again, but I think I've been taking advantage of it as much as I possibly can. Last week was a recovery week, which was much needed. After my Tuesday night 18 miler I was toast. With a lot of sleep and only a couple light workouts I was good to go by Saturday. I rode with the Perkins' from their place out through Sherwood, Newberg and Aurora. I love that ride because we get to ride the Canby ferry. It never gets old! Amazing weather, upper 50's and sunny with no wind. Did 3.5 hrs and 60 miles with a hilly t-run after. I had planned to get my swim in the afternoon but we ended up at the vet. Murph pulled a tendon in his shoulder. Based on how much pain he was in I thought he tore something, but fortunately that was not the case. So after some x-rays and a lot of waiting we came home, ate and went to bed. Sunday was a 11.5 mile temp run in 1:20 with some zone 4 and zone 5 intervals at Forest Park. Felt great, and again the weather was outstanding! Finished the day with an ez spin to the pool on the single speed then to my Mom's. Looks like there is a few more sunny days in the week ahead...
Bike update: The new ISAAC frame was last seen in Hodgkins IL on the back of a UPS truck. Should be here by Wednesday.
That's all for now, it's Thin Mint time. I was ambushed by those damn Girl Scouts outside the grocery store this afternoon! I'm trying something new tonight though. Take a Cookies and Cream Skinny Cow and open it up. Place two thin mints inside and put it back together. I'll let you know how it goes.

When are you too old to throw a temper tantrum?

After a great weekend of riding on the new Isaac I was cleaning it up last night. I had plans to throw the race wheels on it and snap a couple of pictures to post. That's when I found it... A 3 inch crack down the back of the seat mast. "Son of a bitch" I believe is the first words that came out. My first instinct was to throw myself on the garage floor and spin around in circles while crying hysterically. Kind of like I used to do as a child when my mom wouldn't buy me Fun Dip at the grocery store. Instead I took a deep breath and calmly called Jennifer out to the garage. I needed someone to validate that this crack was real. It was. I do have to say that I stayed pretty calm the rest of the day. I was pretty concerned about how this was going to play out. I was scheduled to do the Jack Frost TT this weekend, so I knew that was out. Also, the Yucca valley camp is less then 3 weeks out. That was the biggest concern. I knew that Athlete's Lounge (Larry) would take care of me though. Just like I thought I was in AL when they opened this morning and Larry had a new frame on order and my old bike being torn down within 15 mins. If all goes according to plan the bike should be ready by early next week. I am so grateful to have a good relationship with such a great shop! If this was Gateway Bikes I would have gotten F'd in the a-hole for sure!
As for the last week and weekend, training is on track. Saturday was the 'Big Brick" which was run/bike/run/bike/run. Total of 15.5 miles of running and 61 miles of riding. Sunday was an EZ paced long ride which ended up being just over 100 miles in 5:35. This week is all recovery starting after my 19 mile run tonight. But even that is EZ pace. Everything is feeling great (knock on wood). I'm even starting to enjoy the swimming!
What else is going on besides training and bike issues... Today is Murphy's 8th Birthday!! He is an old man. Yesterday he got to go to Hagg lake to swim and run in the sun. This was followed by a walk to Starbucks and nap in the front yard while I washed the cars. Here he is with his Birthday present.

What happened to last week?!?

All of sudden last week is over. Where did it go? It's a blur! Like I mentioned in my last post I don't want to get hung up on hours or distances covered in training, but last week is kind of an exception. In this case the time and mileage were the result of a great week of training that really helped me realize where I am in my progression. Also, once added up I realized this was the most training I have ever put in in one week. So the fact that I was able to run 15 miles yesterday @ a 7:15 pace in zone 2/3 and feel really good after a 27 hr week is a big step for me. The whole weekend in general was a big mental boost. Saturday I was up early on the trainer then out the door by 7:30. I met up with a couple of Iron heads and we hit the hills. About an hour into the ride my bike started shifting on it's own. I pulled over to check it out. Grant circled back to find me. We pulled the rear wheel off and the cassette feel off the wheel. With some MacGyver like thinking Grant was able to get me up and running enough to make the 12 miles to Athlete's lounge. Along the way my front derailleur cable pulled loose. Also my rear wheel became so out of true that it started rubbing on the frame. Needless to say it was a long 12 miles. Once there though Larry fixed me up and I was back on the road in 30 mins. From there I was able to finish up my ride for a total of 7 hrs and 123 miles. Did I mention the weather? Oh the weather. It was amazing how nice it was, mid 50's, no wind, a little sun. It was a GREAT ride! Totals for the week:
Swim - 10500 yrds
Bike - 280 m
Run - 50 m
Total Time 26:52
16 workouts
The first half of this week will be recovery focused. Wednesday will be the first bit of intensity with some Z5 hill repeats. This Saturday will be another funky workout that should mix it up a little. It's a 40 min run/2hr bike/40 min run/2hr bike/4o min run all back to back. Then a 5:45 ride on Sunday. Right now there is hope for another dry weekend... Just over 3 weeks until the Palm Springs camp. After that it's less then 4 weeks until the race, I can't believe I may have survived the winter!! Spring starts on April 5th for me this year (The day we fly to AZ for the race). After that the weather can do what ever it wants in Oregon and I won't care. At least not until I have to start training again for Canada (or Kona?).

Life as a "normal" person

Last week was a good recovery week. Actually did some things that normal people do. We went to a movie, the auto show, and bowling. It was nice to get out and do social things that didn't involve working out. Bowling was an adventure. We checked out Grand Central Lanes with my Aunt and Uncle. It is a newly renovated bowling alley that is now a restaurant/bar/bowling alley. The lanes have big leather couches and coffee tables to put your beers on. It is a very cool place. The crowd on a Saturday night was mostly mid thirties and after 11:00pm everyone is hammered! We got there about 7:30 for our dinner reservation and were told we couldn't get on a lane until 11:30. So through out dinner we continually hassled our waiter and the girls running the bowling lane reservations. My Uncle was able to get the waiter to hook us up and we were told at about 10pm that the next available lane was ours. Some how in the all of the confusion we went from the "Thompson Party of 4" to the "Norm Thompson Party". Apparently at Grand Central it's all about who you know, or who they think you are. As it turns out our original lane reservation was called (to my cell phone) at 11:45pm. So to summarize, it's a very cool place to bowl, but if you go on Friday or Saturday make sure are ether with or pretend to be someone famous.


Now back to reality... This could be the biggest volume week I've ever done if everything goes right. So far I have 4.5 hrs done with 23.5 to go. That's right, 29 hrs total! I think I am going to be able to get most of it done, it's the 7 hr ride on Saturday that will be the biggest challenge due to the weather. We'll see what happens. But like Dave C. says, "No one cares what your log looks like." He's right, big deal if I throw down a 29 hr week if I can't buck up on race day. It's your race results that count. For that reason I'm not hung up on reaching the magic number as much as I'm focusing on quality workouts. If along the way this week I need to make adjustments based on how I'm feeling then I will do so. I think that's one area I am starting to get. Making those key workouts count and keeping the recovery workouts light. I am much more aware of how I'm feeling now and I have enough confidence to allow myself to recover even if it means missing a workout here and there. I think the plan is working. I did a threshold run today (3x10 min zone 5 w/ 4 min rest) and was able to avg a 6 min pace. This is about where I was going into Soma, but the big difference now is my HR. Before this pace produced ~175 HR avg, today the avg was at 169. The hardest part right now is not being able to race. I have this fitness, I want to go use it! Winter sucks, I can't wait for the season to pick back up in a few months so I can see if my times improve at all.