4 Months to Go

It's been awhile since my last blog update, and for good reason.  I've been busy, but also injured!  Thankfully I'm on the upside, but the IT Band issue never got better.  Despite still swimming and cycling through it, my run has suffered.  I've still been putting in light miles, but I started physical therapy, will get orthotics for my running shoes and will be back at 100% VERY soon.

The bike has improved drastically.  Two weeks ago I was in Santa Barbara for the week premiering my piece "The Remarkable Farkle McBride" for over 3,000 school kids.  It couldn't have gone better and we're looking at planning a family concert for the public in the fall.  With any luck it'll also go to other orchestras.  Exciting!  

The Orchestra

The Kids

During my stay I went on an EPIC ride.  I made it up the famed Gibraltar Road, despite having to catch my breath (and legs) 4 times.  I netted about 4,600 feet of gain in just 45 miles.  Killer.  The climbs have continued, as this last weekend I set a Latigo PR of about 57 minutes without standing up out of the seat.  Me and the crew added Piuma as well which was 5 miles of pure hell.  STEEP.  But I'm feeling more and more confident with my climbing - netted about 5,200 feet of gain in 75 miles.  France has 5,900 in 112 miles - so I'm very close!

Top of Gibraltar Road, Santa Barbara

Top of Latigo Canyon, stretching and waiting for my friends.

The bike fit I just got from Nate Loyal is phenomenal.  Great guy too - actually saw him randomly TWICE on my long ride.  Descending Las Flores (very steep) a motorcycle pulls up beside me and the dude says "How ya doing buddy?  It's Nate!"  Too funny.  He's asking me how the fit is, etc.  Awesome.

So I'm in PT, stretching a TON and getting better and stronger.  Can't complain.  Less than 4 months out, except for the run (which is coming back!) I'm feeling right on track.

*** If you'd like to hear a highlight reel of the orchestra piece drop me a line and I'll forward you the link! ***

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!)

First Latigo Climb

Last week I was up in Santa Barbara for the "SB Triathlon Training Camp." While the bike course was gorgeous, it was definitely a little harder (and steeper!) than I expected. Time to get some more hills in with just 2 weeks to go until my big race on the summer.

So I've been itching to climb the infamous Latigo Canyon for several months now. I still consider myself a novice cyclist, but I've definitely been getting stronger - I've been curious to see if I could handle it. The closest I've come before today is Encinal Canyon - which is shorter with a little less elevation gain. So here we go!

Anyway, I met up with my friend Jessica (who's weeks away from her first Ironman!) at Malibu Bluffs at around 7:30. We clipped in and headed North just past Zuma (Trancas Cyn Road.) After the warmup, we turned around and hit Latigo Canyon Road. Wow. It's no joke. Pretty steep at first, leveled out a bit, but all in all a pretty tough climb. I'm told it's 7 miles long and has almost 1900 ft of gain. About a half hour in I definitely started to feel it.



There's a nice little decent about 3/4 the way up, but I found that just took away my momentum! At times I was definitely missing the triple chainring which I just recently had swapped out for a more common double. (I basically lost the "easiest" gear, also known as the "granny.") Anyway, finally, almost exactly an hour after starting the climb I submitted. Jess is quite the climber - she finished a minute or two ahead of me and was barely challenged it seems! Plus she ran 20 or so miles yesterday! Bad ass. Talk about no joke - Ironman training = CRAZY.

So we hit Muhullond and eventually made it into Calabasas - tons of rolling hills on the way and it got HOT. A few hours later we took Malibu Canyon Rd back to the bluffs. Not recommended. Way too much traffic (including a tunnel) and extremely windy. Total time from start to finish 5 hours - but just 60 miles covered! The 5 hrs is not counting Jess's TWO flats (poor girl!) and the refilling water bottles at the park...I'd say we only averaged about 15 mph in the end, but TONS of climbing on the day. Next time....maybe...just maybe we'll add Piuma. Also infamous from what I hear.