Big Kahuna Triathlon 70.3 (1/2 IronMan)

Alright, the next challenge is lined up. I just signed up for the Big Kahuna Triathlon taking place in Santa Cruz on September 11th. It’s a 1/2 IronMan distance meaning a total of 70.3 miles and the breakout is 1.2 mile swim, 56 mile bike and 13.1 mile run.

This will probably be the final triathlon for me this year. The plan is to take a break from triathlons until January 2012 when the big training push for the IronMan will begin.

http://www.firstwave-events.com/races/Big-Kahuna-Triathlon-Santa-Cruz-CA.aspx

Santa Barbara Long Course Triathlon

Early morning start, as always for races. I got up at 4.45am. We are staying at a BnB and the host put together a special breakfast of yogurt and home made granola for me. Delicious!

I biked the 3 miles down to the race start and got there just about when they opened at 5.30am. Set my stuff up, sat down to chill for a while, watched the sun rise and got a bit more nervous about swimming in the Pacific Ocean when I saw somewhat significant waves.

I started in the second group at 7.06am. Hit the water and the first thing that struck me was, I have never swam in saltwater before. I think the swim went ok. Maybe not all that fast but I did go reasonably straight, did not stop to catch my breath and did not get kicked. Got out of the water and immediately felt that my calfs were cramping. Bad sign. Made it up to T1 and took my sweet time. I didn’t want to run with bike shoes and the cramp so I walked out of T1 and got on the bike.

Luckily the cramp didn’t affect the bike ride that much. I started off a bit slow just to be on the safe side. The cramp started to gradually go away. I think I got hit with a time penalty for drafting. I guess I’ll see when the final results are up. A pretty significant hill at the end otherwise just a few smaller ones (if you compare to Berkeley and Orinda). I think my watch showed around 33 miles, not 30.

T2 was fast. Changed shoes, helmet off, visor on and away. Started the run a bit slower just to be careful with the calf cramps. Fairly gradual uphill during the first 4 miles. Stayed around a 8.30 min/mile. At mile 6 I still felt good and started pushing. Passed lots of guys (in my age group . Was doing around 7-7.30 min/mile the last 3-4 miles. The heat was pretty brutal at the end so a lot of the water went on my head instead of in my mouth.

I had lots of fun. I’m not going to say it was easy but I know I can do more and better. Will look at a 1/2 IronMan in 2 weeks. We shall see…

Thanks to my lovely wife and parents for the great support!!

Carbo loading with pite-palt

Palt

This week is a bit slower. Did an 8 mile run on Monday, 26 mile easy bike ride yesterday and an easy 4 mile run today. The plan for tomorrow is to do around 45 min of easy swimming in the slightly salted pool around the corner from my house. Friday will be a complete rest day.

My parents are visiting and they brought a mix to make my favourite dish, pite-palt. Just now managed to down 5 of them. Not a personal record but that should be some serious good carbo loading since it’s basically made of flour and potatoes. Then you eat it with plenty of butter and pair it with a glass of cold milk.

Got my bike back and did another triathlon

The problem with my bottom bracket clicking sound ended up taking most of last week to fix. They couldnt quite pinpoint exactly what was wrong but took it a part, greased it and put it back together and now it seems to be ok.

Because of this I did not really do any biking at all last week. Switched over to focus a bit more on swimming and managed to get a 12 mile run in also.

I had an early morning start on Saturday to go do the third tri. It was another tri-for-fun so not that serious of a triathlon but still a lot of fun. I was a bit slower on this one compared to the one last month. The swim went better this time. Unfortunately my watch was dead so I didn’t get a comparative time for the bike and run. But I think the bike was pretty similar to last time. However it was a bit more windy this time so a bit tougher. The run was definitely slower and for a very specific reason. I had a pretty bad side-stitch and also had a bit of cramping sensation at the end so I slowed down a lot. I have a the Santa Barbara Long Course Triathlon next weekend and didn’t want to cause and major problems before that.

This triathlon was also the first one for my wife. She was awesome. Started a bit further back in a start group after me. Kept pushing through the swim even with not that much swimming beforehand. Passed some people on the bike and finished off with a really string run. Great job!!

This week will be a bit of a tapering week for the race on Saturday. Will probably do a few easier swim sessions, at least one easier but somewhat long bike ride and a few runs.

Not the best bike ride, or?

Yesterday was the 7th day of consecutive training. No rest since last Friday. On top of that I did a bike/run day on Thursday. So when I set out for my bike ride I expected my legs to not be all that cooperative.
However the legs felt ok, the bike not so much. A very loud clicking sound from the crank-house. I stopped at one of the local bike shops and asked for advice. Probably is a ball in the bearing that has come lose. Happens all the time with carbon frame bikes apparently. No problem to keep going at least. Only that I had to listen to a clicking sound for the next ~2 hours. I actually don’t know since I ran out of battery in my watch. So that was the next problem. I’ve been promised Sports Basement will fix this for me before next weekend.

In addition to that I almost hit 2 cars on different occasions that pull out in front of me. That hasn’t really happened to me all that much before.

I did a ride over the hills to Orinda and back. Coming down from the hills on my way home I hit every singe stoplight possible. Stop and go, stop and go, repeat many times.
So I have no stats since my watch died. But given the training load I’ve had this week I felt awesome. I might regret saying this here in writing but I feel well prepared for the long distance tri (1 mile swim, 30 mile bike, 10 mile run) in Santa Barbara in a few weeks. So all in all it was a crappy bike ride that felt really good. So good in fact that I followed it up with an easy 4 mile run.

Today I’ll take a well deserved rest day, eat som crayfish and get back at it with a 12 mile run tomorrow.

Helmethead

Did one of my standard hilly 20 mile bike rides today. It was pretty hot. Lots of sweating. My legs were a bit sluggish after to 2k yd swim this morning.

Long hair, lots of sweating and wearing a helmet results in this.

High volume week

Jumped right back to pretty high volume of training this week after the slower vacation week. Got 86 miles of biking, 2 hours of swimming and 24 miles of running in. I’m feeling pretty good right now about the long distance tri in Santa Barbara in a few weeks. Need to keep up the volume during next week and the week after. Then it’s time for tapering.

The weekend was tough. 40 miles on the bike and a 5 mile run followed by a 9 mile run on Sunday. Definitely needed today’s dinner to refuel. Tuna steak with mashed potatoes and a mango salsa… with wine off course.

Early start tomorrow morning for some swimming.

International Beer Day

La Fin Du Monde

Yes, it’s international beer day today, www.internationalbeerday.com. So therefore I am going to take a break from training and drink beer. Actually, international beer day or not I would have taken a break anyways. The last few days has been pretty busy and pretty packed with workouts also.

Yesterday I got a hilly bike ride in and then in the early evening tried the local pool. I have never been to the Temescal pool before strangely enough. It’s basically 4 blocks from the house and was actually really nice. They have lane swimming between 5-7 pm and it wasn’t that crowded. It was a bit strange to swim a 100ft (33 yd) pool as I normally swim a 25 yd pool. It also felt very different in the water. First of all I think the water was a bit too hot for my comfort, I like it a bit cooler at least when I am working out. But I also think the water was a bit salted. Gave me much more buoyancy that in the pool I normally swim in. Felt kind of easy and nice actually.

I was also accompanied by my wife to the swim. This was basically her first swim for workout purposes. She did awesome! Covered some serious distance in the ~45min we swam. Triathlon next?!?

I’m taking a rest day today because the plan is to do a long hilly bike ride tomorrow morning and then a shorter easy run in the afternoon followed by a longer run on Sunday. So tonight I will be in couch mode enjoying  my La Fin Du Monde. Happy Friday!

A week of vacation

Went to Chicago and Michigan for vacation last week. Lots and lots of fun in both places. More social activities in Chicago and more relaxation in Michigan.

Managed to eat a lot of really great food and didn’t really end up working out all that much while in Chicago. Went out with the goal of running 9 miles one day but only got to 3 before I had to stop with cramps in my right quad. Not sure why. It was really hot that day but I shouldn’t have been all that dehydrated. Anyways, I ended up walking the 3 miles back. This cramp then came to bother me the rest of the week and flared up some while running.

Came to Michigan on Tuesday. Managed to get a short run in on the beach (in Vibram Fivefingers) and a 30 min swim in Lake Michigan. The water was 77F so really no need for a wetsuits but I wore it anyways just for practice.

Then got a run and a swim in on Thursday and Friday also and a swim on Saturday. Not that long sessions of anything but at least something. The swim on Friday was interesting. It was pretty windy and hence the waves were pretty big. Excellent training for the Olympic tri I’m doing in a few weeks in Santa Barbara where the swim is in the Pacific Ocean and will probably feature some waves.

I decided to not care at all about nutrition and diet during the whole trip. Lots of food, drinks, candy and cookies resulted in a 9 lbs weight gain during the vacation period. I’m working hard to offset this during this week with a plan of two workouts a day. We’ll see if I succeed…

Also picked up my bike today from Sports Basement. I had it in for a tune-up while I was gone. Can’t wait to get out on a ride later in the week.