« July 2006 | Main | September 2006 »
August 26, 2006
21 Days till Tahoe
3 Weeks till Lake Tahoe
I had a pretty good training week this week – lots of soreness after our killer bike ride on Sunday, so I took Monday and Tuesday off. The interesting thing is, I still woke up at 4:00AM – even though I had decided the night before to not work out.
Wednesday I got up early and did an 8 mile run – longest run I’ve done for a while. This was a “psyche� run for me – to prove to myself that 8 miles is still no big deal, so that on race day I know, deep in the back of my brain, that 6.2 miles of hills in Tahoe will be a piece of cake.
Thursday was an early morning bike ride around Durham – I think I must be the king of double A batteries – between my battery powered front headlight, the battery powered rear light, the battery powered headlamp for running and my battery powered radio, it seems that I am either changing batteries, or thinking about changing batteries.
The whole battery powered lighting system is somewhat of a pain. But, that pain is more than offset by the crisp, fresh morning air, the stillness, and the spectacular sunrises I am treated to.
Friday was a mile swim at Beyond Fitness in Paradise with my wetsuit – at least no real strange looks from anyone there, as there was only one other person in the pool at 5:00 AM. I have to say, that the Beyond Fitness (and Café Today) staff are fantastic. Even though I am not even a member (thanks for the guest passes, fellow Town employees) the people behind the counters recognize me, talk to me, remember my crazy breakfast order (plain bagel with turkey, dry, and a large coffee) and are really friendly.
Once out of the pool, I dried off, rinsed off my suit, and jumped on my mountain bike for a quick ride down and back up Honeyrun Road. This ride just keeps getting easier, the more I do it. I remember this spring, before the Wildflower – when I headed up, I was always focusing of pacing, and trying to conserve energy so that I did not have to stop too many times. Now, I actually found myself “in the zone� coming up, not even thinking about the bike ride. I made it down, and back up in about 64 minutes – which is almost 10 minutes faster than my time when I started this routine back in June.
Saturday was a quasi rest day, only about 2 hours of my son KICKING MY BUTT in tennis - three sets straight!!! Sunday was really good brick workout, with a 26 mile bike ride, then a five mile run. Of course, then we went back out to play some more tennis, and I was able to avenge my losses from yesterday.
I found a very cool blog in my internet travels – the story of a young lady that is on the final leg of her training for Ironman Wisconsion. She is a fantastic and fun writer, so take a look here http://www.throughth3wall.com/
Posted by Dennis at 08:13 AM | Comments (0)
August 20, 2006
4 Weeks till Lake Tahoe
Had a good week this week – was able to do several good bike rides, as well as a couple of good swim workouts.
Started out on Tuesday with an early morning bike ride, Wednesday with an early morning 6 mile run, then I took Thursday off. Friday was a 7 mile hill run in Paradise, then Saturday was the longest swim of my life – 3000 yards at In Motion Fitness. I wore my wetsuit, so that I can get better accustomed to having it on. This 1.7 mile swim took me just over an hour (1 hour, 3 minutes to be exact). Swimming just keeps getting easier and easier!!!!!
Sunday was a bike ride with one of my Durham friends – we did a repeat of the 53 mile Table Mountain loop I did last week. Even though this was a little slower paced than I’m used to, it still was a great ride. Very little traffic, and always lots of stuff to look at and talk about.
This was my last week of building mileage in the various disciplines. From this point forward, I will gradually taper down the amount of training, and increase the intensity of the sessions. This should put me in the best possible condition to do well in Tahoe.
By the way, my workouts with the Durham Masters was pretty shortlived - it seems last weekend some idiots decided to vandalize the pool - so now it looks like our pool is closed for the season. Thanks a lot, who ever did this!!!!
Posted by Dennis at 03:08 PM | Comments (0)
August 13, 2006
BRICK
BRICK
The Random House Dictionary defines a brick as a “Rectangular block of clay, hardened by heat, and used for building or paving, etc�.
When a triathlete refers to a “Brick�, they are talking about a workout involving two or more disciplines at one time. One of the more common Brick workouts is a bike ride, then run. These are done to get their body accustomed to the stress of the bike ride, followed almost immediately by a whole new set of stresses during the run. Ask any triathlete what their first “brick� felt like and they will remember the pain, the cramping in the quads and calves, and feet that felt like lead. Eventually, as you do more and longer bricks, they become increasingly easier as your body is accustomed to the new types and levels of stress.
Today was my biggest brick workout scheduled before my race. I purposely timed it at 5 weeks out, so that any muscle damage would be fully recovered by race day. I attempted to come as close as possible to replicating what race day will experience – but since we are a little short of big hills in Durham I had to improvise. I started from Durham, went into Chico, then up Honey Run Road. From Honey Run, went down to Neal Road, refueled with water, then headed up the Memorial Trail way – to the top of town. From there, I crossed Skyway and went up to the top of Magalia. This was likely about a 2200 foot vertical gain, about 1000 feet less than I will experience in Tahoe – but it was the best I could do while keeping the total mileage down to a reasonable level. From Magalia, it was a quick trip back down the Memorial Trail, then down Neal Road and back to Durham. The trip was a total of 48.8 miles (almost double the race distance), with an average of 15.1 miles per hour, a max speed of 31.3 miles per hour, and a total saddle time of 3 hours and 13 minutes.
Once at my house, I timed myself – took me a total of 51 seconds to get off my bike, remove my helmet, gloves and bike shoes, and then put on my running shoes, earphones, visor and reload with water and a Red Bull – and I was off running. I did my usual 5 mile run route – again no hills like I will see in Tahoe, but I have been working those into my normal weekly runs in Paradise.
Run was fairly uneventful. It was warmer than I would have liked (90 plus degrees) but the run went pretty well overall. My run time was 47 minutes and 32 seconds, which is pretty good for me following a significant bike ride.
Posted by Dennis at 01:37 PM | Comments (1)
August 11, 2006
5 Weeks Till Lake Tahoe
With only 5 weeks left to train for the Tahoe Triathlon, I have been working out at least once every day. I joined the Durham Masters Swim group, so have been able to fold a morning swim into my daily schedule. Last Sunday did a killer ride out to Butte College, along Wheelock Road, to Oroville, the up Cherokee Road to Table Mountain. That is the steepest road I have been on in Butte County, and for the first time, I was able to make it to the top without stopping (on my very high geared tri-bike). I did this same ride in March, in preparation for the Wildflower and I had to stop 3 times to get my heart rate back in check. Did a couple of early morning bike rides (I use my mountain bike for the dark-thirty stuff, have it all set up with headlight and flashy taillight).
I was able to get in an 8 mile run early one morning, and one brick workout (bike then run).
Today at Masters I wore my wetsuit, and concentrated on doing a “race pace� swim, of 2500 yards (50 laps). My time was just a little of 53 minutes, which I was pleasantly surprised with. Using that pace, if I add 10% to compensate for waves and the altitude of Tahoe, I predict I should still be to trim almost 10 minutes of my swim time from last year.
Tonight I did a short ride of 12.5 miles around the neighbor, and a quick pace – averaged 18.6 miles per hour.
I have met some friends that call themselves the Chico Mtn Bikers – they are a great group of guys that get together and ride a lot!!! Actually one of the guys rode the wildflower with me earlier this year. They mainly are knobby tire guys, but a few of them have “seen the dark side� and have started doing some road riding as well. They have a pretty cool website, with some great action “Helmet Cam� video of a couple of their rides. Check it out here http://www.chicomtnbikers.com/
Posted by Dennis at 09:30 PM | Comments (0)
August 04, 2006
Lake Tahoe Triathlon - What's Next?
Training for me must have a purpose. If I do not have a goal, a race, or some other factor motivating me, I find that my training consistency, as well as my training intensity suffers. My next big race is just 6 weeks away, the Lake Tahoe Triathlon (www.laketahoetriathlon.com) This is an Olympic Distance event, which really “ups the ante� with respect to the training volume and quality I need to put in place to complete this event. It will consist of a brisk 1.5 K (0.93 mile) swim in Lake Tahoe (around 62 degree water temperature, a 24 mile bike ride from the Lake, up to Brockway Summit, down to Truckee and back over the summit (over 3000 foot elevation gain) and then a 6.2 mile run around the hills of Kings Beach.
I did this event last year, and the swim nearly killed me. By the time I got out of the water, I had most, if not all the symptoms of hypothermia. Once I thawed out from the swim, the bike ride tried to finish me off – the last 3 miles of climbing up Brockway Summit the second time, with a 15% grade and a headwind really made it tough to keep moving. I ended up walking with my bike the last ½ mile or so, as my quads were wiped out, and with my high geared bike, I simply couldn’t pedal any further. After the swim and the bike, my strategy for the run was “just keep moving�. I did, and ended up finishing with a time of just a little over 4 hours. Even though I was totally exhausted, my quads were shot, my calves were screaming at me, and my stomach was unhappy with being bounced arournd on the swim, crossing that finish line was one of the more significant moments in my life, and I will remember that momemt for the rest of my life.
My strategy this year hopefully will allow me to shave a significant amount of time off my total. I finally bought a full triathlon wetsuit (to replace the shorty “water-ski� suit I used last year). This should help with the hypothermia, as well as reduce my swim times, with its increased buoyancy and vastly improved hydrodynamics.
I’ve also bumped up my swim training yardage, and just recently started working out with the Durham Masters Swim Group. This has really helped increase both my frequency of workouts, as well as the intensity of the workouts.
Lastly, I have continued to push both my cycling and running fitness. I started a few months ago doing Honey Run Road in the afternoon, after work, at least once a week on my Mountain Bike. I’ve added additional hill workouts to my running routine, as well as weekly track workouts (speed work), as well as shorter distance early morning bike rides.
Posted by Dennis at 05:22 PM | Comments (0)