2009 Wrap-up, LA 13.1

As 2009 draws to a close it's time to take a (quick) look back at my second year in the crazy world of endurance sports.

It's been a great 2nd year with many PRs, and new accomplishments. From 2 10ks, to 2 half marathons, 3 full marathons, 4 olympic distance tris, a sprint relay (swim, run) and one long course tri I don't think I could ask for much more. (Exhausted just thinking about all this...!)

Next year will be VERY different - it's really all about Ironman France in June. So far all I've got going is LA 13.1 on January 10th (more on that in a sec) and the Solvang Century Ride on 3/13. Not sure what else at this point, but all I can think about is 6/27! (Ironman!)

I'm pretty sure I just completed my longest training week ever in prep for my big race next year. I'll be having MANY 13 hour weeks in months to come, probably getting near (or over) 20 at some point....crazy. And thankfully I've finally figured out how to manage my time. It's actually increasing my productivity (work wise) to do two workouts a day.

Finally, in spirit of the holidays, I've got a free registration to the LA 13.1 race on 1/10.

http://www.131marathon.com/13_1_Los_Angeles.htm

It sounds like an awesome race. First comment gets dibs! :)

Thanks for reading, happy holidays and enjoy this little holiday card. (Click to enlarge)

SB Marathon Weekend

So as I prob mentioned I planned to race SB way earlier this year, but then things changed with my Ironman aspirations. SO...instead of running the full 26.2 I decided I'd bike the marathon (twice - out and back) on Saturday and run half on Sunday as a relay (with my cool -- and fast -- cousin Josh.) And not to mention two screenings - which were to be honest a bit thrown together but really successful!

Drove up Friday night, crashed at mom's. Woke up at 6:45 and was off on the bike by 7:10. A bit of a tangent, but the bird watching is CRAZY this time of year. Saw white tailed kites, red tailed hawks, kestrels and even a northern harrier. Gotta stick in this shot that I took a few weeks back...

Anyway...the marathon start is just 1.5 miles from the house - and right across from Ellwood - my favorite place in the world and where my dad is now (ashes.) It was COLD (for me.) But the course is amazing. Goes by my favorite stretch of SB twice:



Made my way towards the waterfront, and encountered the nice hill (which I've tackeled before) at the 23 mark. Man, those poor runners tomorrow I was thinking! Met up with a cool local cyclist named John and chatted for awhile about tris, local climbs in SB (I'd love to do a fair amount of training up here.)

The way back was nice and easy - kept the heart rate pretty low and mellow. At my second time by the starting line I decided to test the many outhouses by relieving my bladder (did I mention I went through 4 full bottles of Perpetum?)



All in all 54 miles covered in about 3:30. Man would I kill to run ONE marathon in 3:30. Someday...maybe.

Off to the expo, where we screened the film to a nice audience and I did a little speaking. Then off to the Pasta Party where we killed time for a bit, and showed the film again! This was one of the nicer showings we've had. It was a captive audience, the lights were dimmed, very effective. And 3 veterinarians came up to me after and introduced themselves - all runners. We had a great chat (my dad was a vet.)

Early rise on Sunday (5 AM) battled traffic to the start since we had to go around.



Just made the gun, which was delayed due to the traffic. Off I went for the first half, my cousin, mom and her boyfriend to a few points around the course to cheer. What a gorgeous day. Started cold, but I felt like I had a nice rhythm, keeping the heartrate nice and low (in Zone 2) and easy 10 minute miles or so. Met some great people along the way including a marine in his 2nd marathon, a girl from Colorado doing her first and some Texans! Fun chatting with people, although I felt a bit guilty knowing my day would be over much sooner than theirs. Made it to the exchange:



My cousin took off! He's very motivated and is capable of being quite fast, I'd say. We caught him at a few spots and he was basically passing everybody in sight - running at about 8/mile where I had put him with the 10/mile crowd. Fun for him!

I waited patiently at the 26 mile mark and we sprinted to the finish together. Awesome. Note the contrasting expressions - he worked HARD!



Total time 3:54:xx. Wow. There's the sub-4 I'm dreaming of - but I only did 2:13 of it! Josh made up a ton of time. :)



Got to hang with the super cool race director June for a minute:




Had a great time cheering people on at the finish, etc. That's such a blast. Especially when you get above the 4:20 mark or so - that's my crowd. I'm all for being goal oriented, etc but a lot of the sub-4 crowd are all business. I'm in this for fun, personally. While time is often important to me, it's often those more mellow runs that are sometimes more fulfilling. It's great to watch those "age groupers." Love it. It doesn't get old seeing people delighted with the payoff of hard work. What an awesome weekend - and it was all for you, Dad.

The Last Few Weeks Have Been...

Great! I battled a sinus infection a few weeks ago and unfortunately that really put the brakes on my "base training." Even with the infection (well at the tale end of it) I did my second ever stand alone (ie not w/in a Oly Tri) 10k. I had planned to do the "Race for Research" at Dockweiler Beach as a fitness test of sorts to determine my Max Heartrate as well as Lactate Threshold. (I won't get anymore technical than that!) The race also had personal relevance for me - being for Brain Tumor Research. Honestly I was kinda dreading it as I knew it'd be tough! It was like death for almost an hour...I ended up coming in around 52 minutes (+3 min from my PR, oh well) but averaged 190 and maxed 205! Crazy.

SO.....my new zones are much more forgiving meaning I can run and bike just a bit harder during this base period. That's great news as I've still been having a tough time with keeping slow. I'm just now starting to incorporate a little speed (like 5x1 minute hard, etc) but it's still mostly pretty easy. But I'm loving the nice relaxing paces of running and biking now. Just enough to get that oh so friendly endorphin rush post workout.

I've also been getting back in the pool lately and shockingly...enjoying that too. The only thing I'm struggling with is the strength workouts....Sheesh those suck. Can't win em all! :)

Breaking news is that we'll be screening "Running for my Father" at the Santa Barbara Marathon in a few weeks! I'll be doing the first half of the race with my cousin who's doing the second half. And being my hometown we're definitely dedicating this one to my dad. More soon.

A Month Down, 8 to go...and MEB!

It's been an interesting month. First of all, it's absolutely FLOWN by. (just like this year...NOVEMBER?!)

My training thus far has been largely unremarkable. I've been working on keeping my heart rate low. Real low. Supposed to go less than 145 running, 130 cycling. Easier said than done! But the trick is to get my body burning fat instead of carb. It seems to be working. I started off running at about 12+ minute pace. Yuck. Literally had an old man run beside me and ask me if I was "starting out." Now I'm no speed freak, but that was definitely humbling. That was earlier this month - I'm now able to do 10:30 or so at the same HR. Hopefully I'll just keep improving. Still, I find it very frustrating to keep the pace slow. Running used to be my outlet, but now it's definitely a burden! But it's for the best and I know long term the payoff will be huge.

Cycling has been a different story. I've been LOVING the new bike - the titanium goliath made by Serotta. It's a bike that would be way out of my league ($) had I not got it used from my dad's old doctor! I also find it easier to keep the heartrate down since you can coast, and it just feels like cruising. Nice.

Went on an epic ride up in San Luis last weekend - to Avilla Beach Pier, then inland to the wine country. AMAZING. I was the "manic cyclist" up there - always smiling! I can't imagine living there...probably some of the best cyling in SoCal.

Yesterday went another beautiful ride down here in LA with LA TriClub friends yesterday.

All and all, status quo and I look forward to Month #2 of "Base Training."

And WAY TO GO MEB! That was amazing seeing him win in NYC today. Huge for this ultra cool dude who my buddy Billy and I met in Houston. (He won that race too!)

And on a random note, here's by pup Henry dressed up as a Pumpkin!

Week 1 and Change...

Well it's been an interesting 10 days. Working with my new coach Rom Levitsky, he has me doing pretty low intensity stuff, all in the "fat burning zone." So low heart rate stuff. Less than 145 for running, 130 for biking....basically equalling about 12 minute miles on the run (!) and 14-15mph on the bike. Yikes....but it's for the greater good, so I'll stop complaining! I even had an old man (in his 80s?) ask me if I was just starting out the other day! (Yes, I looked that slow...)

To be continued...

A Big Announcement...yes it's in the 100s...

OK, so it's official. I'm bailing out of my winter races (SB Marathon, Houston Marathon) in favor for a bigger race. One that will take about 9 months of training (for me.)

No it's not a 100 run - those people are even nuttier than me! Still guessing? Well check out the video - I hope you get a giggle...or two...or 140.2!

Malibu Triathlon Race Weekend/Report

What a blast the last few days.

Friday: Drove up to SB to pickup my new bike (well, new to me.) My bike has had all sorts of probs the last few weeks and I had an opportunity to grab this beautiful titanium Serotta for cheap, so I took it! Unfortunately as many have said, don't change ANYTHING the day before (or of) a race. Opps. Took 3 emergency trips to the bike shop to get it fit correctly for me...long story...anyway, ended up camping 5 miles North of Zuma at Leo Carillo with my LA Triclub friends Tina, Mo, Byron and Roxanne. What a blast.

Saturday: Olympic Distance. Swim went great. Didn't wear a watch at all this entire race - my perceived effort experiment. Final swim time would be 28:51 - a PR! Cool beans. The bike, despite being excited about my new steed, I had decided to take very easy - in hopes of having a strong run. This is my 4th triathlon and I have yet to have a run that I'm proud of. It was a little odd honestly....it felt like recreational pace, but I stuck to the plan. The run...well it felt like SHIT! I tried not to go out too fast, but mile marker ONE seemed far! Uh-oh. I suffered, but I tried to keep moving at a consistent pace. I was hoping I'd low to mid 8 minute miles...but had no idea until I got my splits. Turns out I ran a 53:28 - almost exactly 8:30 - so I'm stoked. Final time: 2:45:53. About +1:30 from my PR for an Oly, but I'm happy. I had a great time the rest of the day hanging out with friends, getting my hair cut (? yes they had a booth for that) and a free massage! Julia didn't make the trip (hates camping) but came up to visit with Henry and we had dinner - that was cool.

Sunday: I was planning on doing the swim portion of the "Classic" distance with the Paramount Tri Team, but got a last minute call to also run the relay...so another day of racing! Yay...We started with the celebrity wave which was kinda cool and funny. It was just a 800 meter swim so I decided I'd go balls out. I've never been so aggressive running into the water - every man for them self! Getting out to the buoy was complete mayhem. But I finally found a rhythm and just wondered if I could hang on. A few short minutes later I rounded the last marker and headed in. Not sure about my chip time, but when I got out of the water my watch said 12:xx (couldn't read it!) After the 50 yard jog up the beach I stopped it at the mats - 13:01. I'm stoked with this. And I think the current definitely helped me out! An hour later I was off for the 4 mile run on my other team. I was hoping to do around 8 minute miles, which I quickly realized I was not up for. Then about a mile out had a bit of a surge. Final time on the run 32:00 - hurray! Funny too - I almost caught Mario Lopez right at the line! I should be right over his shoulder in his finish photos! Hung out some more with friends and the Paramount Tri Team (Awesome brunch btw at the event) and headed home to the wife and dog.

What a fun weekend. Thanks for reading.

Oh, and a silly little video I made of the elites coming through on Sunday.