Sunday, January 10, 2010

LA 13.1 marks the end of my hardest training week.

Wow.  Ironman training is no joke.  I'm in a build month, so hard work almost every day.

This week included run intervals, a short tempo run, two swims and two bike trainer workouts (intervals.)  Not to mention a 90 minute "easy" run, two strength/core workouts and the biggy of the week - a 4.5 hour bike ride that included climbing Latigo Canyon.  Damn I'm exhausted typing this out!  And my "real" work has gone well on top of it - so I'm happy to say that the training is actually making me MORE productive (My concert piece for the SB Symphony is nearly complete!)  I need to be busy this time of year as January is hard for me.  (More on that later this week, it relates to the loss of my dad.)

Anyway, I woke up early to head out to the inaugural LA 13.1 race.  The plan was to do about 20 minutes of warming up, run miles 1-3 in upper zone 2 (easyish) miles 4-11 zone 3 (medium) and miles 11-13.1 in zone  (hard.)  I stuck to the plan and while it was tough on tired legs I have to say it was -slightly- easier than I thought it would be.

I saw a lot of my friends as it was an out and back (most were ahead of me!)  My friend Roxanne from the LA Tri Club caught me at mile 9 or so and we ran together for a bit.  She wanted to walk the water station so we said goodbye, and I slogged on.  She again caught me at about mile 11, when I was supposed to turn it up!  Man I was dreading it.  But it was just 2 miles, and I've gotta say I was pretty proud of myself for finding the rhythm.

We came through the finish line at around 1:59 - an effort I'm proud of.  I made my dad's "gorilla face" at the line - can't wait to see the photos.  About 13 months ago I ran the City of Angels Half and it took my absolute maximum to finish in 2:03.  And that was with rest.  Very happy with my progress.

After the race I ran into some more friends and then decided to go soak in the ocean for a bit.  The water was pretty cold, but after about 5 minutes up to my knees I realized "oh sh*t."  It was a tradition for my dad and I each winter to run into the ocean.  And here I was.  I didn't really have a choice, so I went for it.  I played in the waves while yelling "Ba-fute-sai" (it's a silly game we invented.)

All in all a good day - I'm looking forward to tomorrow (Day Off - of training that is!)

7 comments:

  1. Sounds like you are doing great with the training. Keep working hard! Awesome effort out there today. Enjoy your rest day.

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  2. You're turning iron by the week. Isn't it great to see hard work pay off at the finish line?!?!

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  3. I'm anxious to see the gorilla face.

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  4. Great race report. Congrats on the LA race. I can imagine the scene with you running into the water. Bravo! Oh, and good luck with your concert piece.

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  5. Great job out there Cody and it was great to see you for a brief second! :) You are getting so crazy with all the training. Following along is so fun! Great work!

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  6. That's y'all. As coach Rom says "Work works." Haha! Gorilla face pics hopefully soon.... :)

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  7. Good catching up with you, looks like all that training is really paying off.

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Film composer moonlighting as a runner, cyclist and triathlete