That's a Wrap + Why I'm so Sore!

Sunday marked the end of my second 3-week training block/build of 2010. The second was way better than the first. I pushed harder, got that much closer to puking during a few high-intensity workouts and survived a little longer on a couple key rides, runs and brick sessions. As a result, I saw some numbers that made me happy. Except for swimming. It seems that as volume increases with bike/run, and in general, my progress in swimming is plateauing a bit. But, thankfully, I have some new knowledge and ideas to help get results I want in the pool (more on that later).
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Valentine's Day was the icing on the cake for the big training block, and if it hadn't been for the HOT sunny weather and my love of the outdoors, I don't know if I would have stuck to the plan of a.m. long, hilly trail run & p.m. ez/mod 2-hr spin. Part of me just wanted to lounge around and rest.... But there was no way I could miss out on the gorgeous day. So (with El Moro/Crystal Cove still closed) I ran at Whiting Ranch, which just reopened Saturday since the SoCal storm mayhem we had recently. All the mud and trail destruction became a good excuse to make the first 1.5 miles "easy" as not to eat sh*t. At about mile 2, you hit the big hills, Mustard & Dreaded, which are killer hard even at a walking pace. Here's a picture from the base; the actual "top" isn't even in sight:I swear I almost broke down in tears because it hurt so bad "running" up. But once at the top, I rested, chatted with hikers and got inspired to run back down to the base and do a repeat. Crazy, but glad I did. I ended up passing two dude runners who looked very fit and about my age on my 2nd jaunt up; we struck up convo at the top. One is a marathoner-in-training, the other a former competitive cyclist. At that point I was hurting, but I knew more hills were coming. So I asked if they wanted to run with me knowing it would keep me motivated, plus it was their first time on the trail so I could play their torture tour guide. They were all about it. So I ran. They followed. We tackled the next big hill, and I made it up with a HR max of 185. Now that's work, but it felt awesome to crest the top.... I credit the guys for helping me to push; they were like my V-day surprise! In a weird, painful way.
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Then the downhills finally came, with lots of fun and technical single track where good footing is key to not rolling an ankle (learned the hard way last year). The marathoner almost held onto my pace the whole time, but I got an edge in the last couple miles where it flattens out... somehow the speed in my legs turned on--I think it was thoughts of a yummy lunch that awaited.
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All in all... that 9 miles of running--with 2,100 ft of climbing--put me at nearly 30 miles for the week and just about 90 miles within the last 3 weeks. (I'm currently training 14-16 hrs per week.)
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After some refueling and moaning/laying on the floor, I got my butt in gear for the ride. I told myself to just take it ez and not overdo it. After last-minute planning, I got in my intense long-ish and very hilly ride (w 5-mile t-run) on Friday with my boss, who's a freakin stellar athlete.... translate: OUCH for me! That was my "big one" for the week, so Sunday it was just about spinning and enjoying the outdoors some more. Surprisingly, 2 hours in the saddle went by really fast and I felt better after that then when I started.
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But today I feel like I got hit by a truck. That's largely in part due to a full day of Jessi Stensland's MovementU clinic on Saturday. She had us doing tons of AWESOME functional movement exercises that are perfect for dynamic warmups and overall body maintenance aka developing a body that's balanced, resilient to injury, healthy, strong, well-aligned and, most importantly, a performance machine.
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If you haven't heard or seen Jessi's MovementU, I highly recommend attending one/checking it out. It's a full day, but don't think about it as if you're "losing" training hours; rather, you walk away with more knowledge to boost your performance that, in my opinion, beats missing a Saturday's 4-5 hours of sbr-ing. Plus, you're moving and being active the whole day with Jessi, and if you're like me and haven't been doing these functional exercises, then I guarantee you'll be more sore than 4 hours in the saddle leaves you! I swear!!
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Not to mention, she serves some excellent food, too. All homemade by her. How does she do it all?! I have no idea... but I can guess that it's her dedication to an athlete's well-being.

The MU crew (including some of my CSUF Tri Team friends!!)....

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Last but not least... I said on FB/Twitter how I got to spend Valentine's with my one true love, the sunny outdoors. Ha! It's true, though... beautiful days spent outdoors in nature are all I need at this point to keep me happy and sane.

Back on the Trails

I hate finishing a workout covered with muck after road biking--car exhaust, street grit, nasty pollution. However, I love finishing a workout covered in dirt from nature--fresh mud, creek water, mountain dust, that sort of thing. Unfortunately, the latter doesn't happen that often for me. But it did today!

These socks perfectly express my feelings :)

My friend Stuart and I went mountain biking at Whiting Ranch, a trail that I'm very familiar with from countless trail runs and mountain biking waaay back in the day... but it's been a long time since I rode it. Like years long. I borrowed my mom's mtn bike because I think my old outdated Diamondback has seen it's day and would be a hazard to ride. Here's a peek at our sported-out garage. We somehow have equipment for just about every sport/outdoor activity imaginable fit in there--thank my dad for MacGyvering that one.Anyways, speaking of hazards, I'm also known to be a charge-hard kind of girl, and, thus, a hazard to myself (why I don't dirt bike anymore), but that wasn't the game plan for today. I sucked up my pride and told Stuart that I'd be "taking it easy" because I REFUSE to get injured so close to Vineman. He's a great all-around athlete and a lifeguard (he kills it swimming, so jealous!), but he doesn't do much mountain biking either, so all was good. Just a fun ride.

As soon as we hit the trail my heart starting racing--a combo of nerves and adrenaline. Like my recent rejuvinated love for surfing, I immediately felt that old love for mountain biking building within me. I had a grin from ear to ear and wanted to go all out but held back through some of the initial technical single-track stuff. And as much as it hurt to do so, I even got off my bike and walked through some super-deep technical sandy parts saying, "It's not worth it!"

Whiting isn't anything too gnarly at all (in fact, when we were done I was like, "OK, either let's do that again or I need a real workout). But, there is one infamous hill, Mustard Hill, that's a decent climb. When I was younger, I was rarely able to make it up the whole hill without stopping or walking. But today, no problem. Right up. My level of fitness is definitely in a whole other realm. After Mustard, I took us up another climb, Dreaded Hill, which wasn't long enough! I wanted more suffering! For a guy who doesn't ride bikes often, Stuart rocked. But I still beat him, just barely :) We chilled out at the top a bit and took in the view. My next adventure on the list--riding up that big mountain right behind me, Saddleback.
After the little break, it was all downhill from there. I guess my concept of speed is jacked up from all my time spent on the Felt TT bike because according to Stuart I was "flying down." It didn't feel that fast to me... I maybe maxed out in the 20-something mph range. But I felt confident and in control, so what the heck! It was a blast. Especially the curvy downhill single-track stuff (is that proper mountain bike jargon?!). After our ride we chowed down some killer sandwiches at a local deli, Bagels and Brew. I swear, mainstream sandwich shops just don't compare to the little hole-in-the-wall mom and pop places in my opinion. A swim followed later on. I'm working on not crossing over at my midline so much, thanks to some great advice from Mike at SPI. Hopefully this will start shaving off time; I've already noticed slightly faster 100s when I do it "the right way."

On the Training/Racing Front...

Nothing too exciting to report, except that I've been taking things up a notch and am hanging in there, especially that I'm able to recover quickly from intense workouts. I attribute good nutrition and early bedtimes to that. Check out this study on the importance of sleep. It's amazing how many workouts I fit in the last few weeks without crashing and burning, sometimes three a day now that I'm doing Crossfit. And, I of course take a recovery day when needed, as painful as that is. (But lately off days have included surfing or some sort of activity.)

I did an 80-mile bike and 35 minute t-run last Saturday and was curious to see how I'd perform after an already hefty training week with no rest. I faded at about mile 60, but got a second wind and did pretty well overall, I think there was like 8,000+ feet of climbing according to my Garmin. Ouch! Surprisingly, the t-run wasn't so bad. Sunday's run, though, was another story. (Crappy.)

I think I'm most stoked on my new love: Crossfit. I'm doing about two a week now and am hooked. It's so intense you want to puke, but in about 10 minutes it's over. And it's incredible the amount of work that is done in that time. It's not your typical strength-training routine, Crossfit does laps around a regular weight-lifting session! I'll leave it at that.

So next week I'll taper a bit for the SD International Triathlon on June 28, then a couple more intense weeks and then time for Vineman tapering. Feels like just yesterday I was getting ready for IMCA.

Time flies when you're having fun!!!

And oh yea, I'm now in the market for a new mountain bike. I'll have one by the end of '09 for sure :)

Kona Ironman World Championships

Well she did it again: Chrissie Wellington is amazing. What an athlete, what a great attitude, what an inspiration -- can I be her?? The girl got a flat, stopped to pee, etc., and still was the women's winner at 9:06.23, about 15 minutes ahead of second place (huge gap!). Not to mention, she finished less than an hour after men's champ Craig Alexander (8:17.45) and did it with a huge smile on her face.

I had planned on doing an a.m. ride Saturday, but live Kona coverage had me tied up until about 11 a.m. I had butterflies in my stomach watching everyone getting ready before the race. I can't believe Chrissie and Maca sat down for a quick prerace interview (poor Maca in the end, though).

The swim start of an Ironman is amazing. There's nothing like watching the water go from a calm sea of bobbing heads to a frenzy of thrashing white water. Andy Potts rocked that swim! Once he went into T1, I went on my ride, which ended up being the Santiago-Plus Loop, for a total of more than 40 miles and lots of hill work, including my beloved Modjeska Grade Road. Here I am at the top after my HR was back to normal:


Those pictures honestly don't do Modjeska justice. It's less than a mile, but it's crazy. Try it!!!

After chowing down a post-ride meal and letting that settle, I pushed myself to the gym for a swim. I hate the pool at 24-hour fitness (or any gross indoor pool for that matter), but I just wanted to knock out some laps ... I did about 2,200 meters (with a 14-minute 800). That's decent for me at this point.

Coming home for dinner and watching the Ironman finishes was a great treat after a hard day. And even as hard as I pushed myself, knowing they were working out all that time (with no lunch breaks, etc.), is truly inspiring!!

SUNDAY: YOGA & RUN

Got in an hour yoga session Sunday at 24 Hour Fitness. I need to do that more. Man, am I tight and not very flexible in yoga standards! That definitely should be in the routine for all triathletes. I also did a little weight-lifting, but the highlight of the day was my run:

I ran Whiting Ranch (about 7 miles of hills, hills and more hills, then downhills, yee-haw) in just over an hour. Then, the best part: I ran home (4 1/4 miles)! I only stopped when a stoplight stopped me. It felt good and definitely was a confidence booster considering I could barely run at all this whole year with the knee injury. On that note: If you can run on dirt/sand, do it. I ran on concrete and asphalt for so many years, I swear that contributed to my knee problem.

Iced both knees when I got home and enjoyed a classic steak-and-potato dinner. I was asleep by 9-something. What a weekend :)