let the weekend fun begin!

Training this week hasn't been as epic as I hoped it'd be for my last big week going into O-side. Workouts are a bit of a struggle and I even skipped/rearranged a couple sessions--just a couple!--when I wasn't feelin it. I've put in some solid hours and am pretty much on schedule, but I've also listened to my body. Really, there's no significant fitness left to gain a few weeks out from a race, but you can definitely dig yourself into a hole if you don't play it smart.
.
I swam a 1.2-mile time trial on Tuesday after reading a great article by Matt Fitzgerald and realizing I hadn't swam that far non-stop since November, oops! Unfortunately, I can't say the swim TT was the highlight workout of my week, ugh; I think my a.m. Wednesday ride takes that honor (minus some DOMS from Tues back squats). It was just one of those perfect rides with an eternal smile and lots of pain & suffering. Toward the beginning of the 3-hr *sunny* adventure I tested out what I was capable of on the Santiago Time Trial course: 11 miles, with the first 3 all uphill. It's a route I've done countless times on my rides, but I've never timed myself on that specific stretch. I had fun and I'll probably do the TT next time they have one.
.
Right after the TT at Irvine Lake. Note the jersey. Since Gran Fondo got rained out, I made a point to wear that new top-dollar jersey and make the ride my own little GF. Looking at this picture also makes me think it's time for a new helmet.

-----------------

Other big news relating to our RAHA Tri Team came out this week. The Bahati Foundation Pro Cycling Team, which is under the RAHA Sports umbrella, announced this week that Floyd Landis is on the team. Pretty cool! I met Floyd in 2008 (?) at the Dana Point Grand Prix (doubt he'd remember) and have always liked him despite the BS he's faced.
.
Tonight is the Pro Team Launch Party up at the Nokia Theater in LA, so Lauren, Tatiana, Sara, me and our guests will be VIP-ing with the crowd. Should be fun. I'm not one to be into "VIP club scene" parties, but when you throw in pro athletes, top executives from big cycling companies and sporty people, then sign me up! I'll be sure to take pics and tell you how it goes!
.
On Saturday afternoon, I'm heading to San Diego yet again with my mom. (Anyone want to do dinner?!) We're running the Xterra Black Mountain 15k Sunday morning... a race on significantly tired legs, hmmm. Let's just hope a freak storm doesn't ruin this race too! But the weather is pretty darn nice right now, so I think we'll be good to go. In fact, the weather is so nice (like almost in the 70s) that I actually ran in just a sports bra (and shorts of course) for the first time all year today! I have to even out that swimsuit tan--my back is like 6x darker than my stomach. I also tested out a special surprise that came my way... sockless, laceless & sexy Zoot shoes.... Anyways, hope everyone has some fun stuff planned for the weekend. Enjoy!

Ideal SoCal Winter Weekend

When it's 80º F on January 3, I know I'm living in the right place (except, I am jealous of Maggs and them trunking it over in Hawaii). Still, this weekend was as perfect as I could imagine. After Friday's big swim (about 4k total I think) I ran an easy 5 miles... saving it for Sat/Sun, as I got a last-minute call to ride with the newly formed CSU Fullerton Tri Team. It was my first time riding on that part of the Santa Ana River Trail, and I was stoked for a change of scenery from the usual routes.

Most the group at Weir Canyon...
There were riders of all levels, and about two packs formed. I hung in the front group, even spent some time pulling the guys. Raaar!

The craziest part of the ride was the wind. Riding out (toward the mountains) we faced THE WORST headwind I've ever been in. Scary almost. The one stud rider of the group (to my left in the pic) led through most of that, and my HR got pretty high as I tried to hang on his wheel. He's training to do the 12 Hours of Temecula MTB Race solo this month, so I eventually had to accept him breaking away from us.

We regrouped at the turnaround (picture) and the the real fun began--riding back with the tailwind. Almost effortlessly going mid-30 mph range, a blast.

The ride ended up being 25 miles, and being that I'm back in training mode, that wasn't enough for me. So later in the evening I hopped on the trainer. Probably the most fun I've had on that stupid thing. Normally, I hate the trainer--so mundane, so... boring. But I DVR'd Universal Sports' Ironman World Championships marathon and watched Kona 2005 during the ride. Every time a commercial came on, I'd run upstairs to do pullups (on the Iron Gym) and situps. After that, I had my fill for the day.

Sunday the weather was summer-like. Love SoCal! I took full advantage by heading to the trails, and I even got some tan lines! However, my run did me in. Anytime I run El Moro (10 miles with ~2,100 ft elevation gain) it's tiring, but Sunday, I fell into a coma on the couch for like 2 hours after my post-run meal.

I'm no longer doing the Xterra Crystal Cove Race (@ El Moro) due to its cancellation then a re-scheduling conflict (they made it the same day as C-Bad half), but I will be doing the Xterra Mission Gorge 15k Race instead on Feb. 7, so El Moro is still a good (& close) place to train. I read that Mission Gorge is ~1,600 ft elevation gain.

Anyways, while running El Moro, I ran into 623Tries. I randomly met Amelia in 2008 and am so thankful I've been in touch with her ever since. She's just a good person all around. She had knee surgery last year and is just getting back into all her sports, so it was awesome to see her in action. Even though... I was lost in my music and would have missed them had they not stopped me.
PS - I only wear a running belt on long trail runs where I have no means of getting water. I really can't stand wearing that thing. In fact, the one I'm wearing is my dad's. I don't even own one.

So Sunday marked the end of my biggest training week in a while for swimbikerun. Biggest thing I noticed: Now that I'm constantly on the go again and adding volume, I need to start treating my "during workout" nutrition accordingly (doing just fine on the pre- and post-eating). I felt a little bonky toward the end of the El Moro run. 'Tis the season of glycogen depletion.

XTERRA Trail Race: Holy Crap

What a way to end the year. December 13 marked six months since my knee surgery, and I celebrated the next day with the Xterra 15K Crystal Cove Trail Race. Killer! I've been running the trail, El Moro, for a couple of months now in anticipation of Xterra mayhem, and I knew it was a difficult run, but nothing compared to race day... for several reasons:

They changed the course due to construction. Coming from someone who's been running the planned course, the altered version was way more difficult -- the first 3 miles, that is. I also heard the trail had about a 4,000-foot elevation gain in total and the 15K grew to over a 10-mile run with the change.

It was freakin freezing. 38 degrees when we arrived, low 40s when we started, and a frigid ocean breeze keeping it chilly.

The runners were gnarly. Xterra races clearly attract a legit group of athletes who know what they're doing! In fact, I think I was the youngest female out there.

I went into the race with the mentality that'd I push myself to finish on top. Things didn't work out how I planned. Ha. But I was able to pull off 11th female out of 100+ women and first in my age group (but my AG was a very insignificant group, so that's not that impressive, ha).

My mom, who also raced, and me with our AG & finisher medals:

The Race:
My mom, dad and I got to the race super early, about 5:45 a.m. for an 8 a.m. start. Why so early? It wasn't just to get a good parking spot in that small lot :) My dad was a volunteer, how cool! So while he helped set up aid stations and whatnot I hung out half asleep in the Ford F150. The frigid temp didn't help my enthusiasm. That wait sucked. I would have rather started in the dark at 6. I'm in the back here, about 6 a.m., looking tired and mean in this pic:

Finally, after bathroom breaks, food and warmup laps, I was antsy to GO! I placed myself at the front of the group this time (given the disastrous Turkey Trot start), and with the countdown so began the burn. Pure uphill for the first mile, as about 50 or so people jetted far out beyond any level I could run. Then the detour. Ouch. Right turn downhill, and down we went and went... I knew going down that far was bad news cause it meant we'd have to run up more than 1,000 feet to get back to the main trail.

As expected, that uphill lasted forever!!! No mercy, lots of pain. I was so happy to reach the top, which happened to be where my dad's aid station was. He frantically got some pictures of me:



At that point there was about 10k to go. At least I knew what to expect for the rest. Not that knowing the course was comforting: all a gradual uphill grade and hill climbs with only a few breaks. It doesn't really ease up until about the last few miles; and even that consists of steep rolling hills...uuuppp annddd ddooowwnnn...until the last 3/4 mile of pure decent.

Honestly, at any moment through the run I could have easily given up cause it just plain hurt. Even taking Saturday off didn't seem to matter. I kept thinking of excuses to stop and then I'd counter that with excuses to keep going. Mental strength was my saving grace. Not that I finished as well as I wanted to, but I at least didn't stop or walk ever.

I also tried to keep an eye on the other women racing. I felt somewhat high up in the pack, but I knew a handfull passed me and I'd never catch them. (I later found out that one of those top women happened to be a fellow blogger, Beth, who ended up third overall. I met her and her boyfriend (I'm guessing) after the race... congrats guys!)

Once I saw mile-marker 7 I was stoked, almost done! I sprinted hard on the last decent and was able to pass a couple of women to put me at 11th. Felt a little naseous at the finish, but still powered down some drinks and food. About 20 minutes after finishing, I became freezing cold... thankfully I had a cup of coffee waiting for me in the car, still hot.

I waited for my mom, who ended up third in her AG. We all stuck around for the awards, and I got some more food with my parents -- they had a great breakfast for us, even fresh scrambled eggs!

Getting my medal...

Mom, dad and me...

I'm so glad I was able to get three races in this year. Six months ago, I would have never thought that'd be possible. Especially this Xterra craziness. Geez!

Now, it's time to focus on IMCA (oh yea, and a half-marathon in a month, ha).

Elevation Gain on Runs & Rides

Look at the first two miles of this trail run. XTERRA doesn't mess around. I signed up for this 15K race at El Moro in Crystal Cove State Park -- one of seven in XTERRA's current SoCal series -- before I had run the trail. Ha, that was smart. I have my work cut out for me if I intend to finish with a respectable time.

After "running" this loop for the first time, I declared I'd run it every weekend up until Dec. 14 -- race day! That's cause I had to slow down and walk some of the uphills, grrr. However, on round two, which I did last Sunday, I was able to run the whole thing (minus one trail detour I made on mistake). And that was after 52 hard miles (hill repeats) on the bike the day before. Making progress ... that's what matters.

Another thing about this trail that makes it amazing: It overlooks the Pacific Ocean, which not only offers breathtaking sights, there's a nice sea breeze as you run. ahhhhhh... Here's a photo of the scene (not my own; courtesy of mountainbikebill.com):
You can kind of get an idea of how high up you climb, given that you're looking at sea level -- where the run starts.

On that note, I've been going crazy wanting to know how much elevation I gain on my bikes and runs. I'm too poor at this point to run out and buy a GPS, so I searched the Internet hoping someone's created a site that I could map out my rides/runs and see the elevation, as well as check out future races that don't provide that info (i.e. Catalina Tri)!

Well I found that sight: HeyWhatsThat.com. You can personally map out your path of any ride in the world and it tells you your elevation gain, grade of the hills, distance, etc..... great for all us without GPS luxuries!

By the way, El Moro is very popular for mountain bikers, too!