Built for Speed

Had a slightly below average week in terms of working out. Got in one run, one bike and one session in the weight room but took off Thursday and Friday.

Highlight of the week was seeing Chrissie Wellington speak at Coastal Sports on Friday night. I received an e-mail on Thursday afternoon from Coastal saying that Chrissie was going to be doing an interview with Bob Babbitt and that it was open to the public.

I went over right after work and met up with Kebby and our neighbor Stephanie. Chrissie walked in about 20 minutes early without much fuss. It didn't take more than one look to tell that she was "cut from different cloth" so to speak. She was taller than I expected, quite tan (especially for a Brit) and her legs looked like they were made of cold rolled steel! No kidding, her calves looked like they were going to explode off of her legs. Her arms were thin and muscular and her back was absolutely shredded.

She and Bob sat down in front of the crowd and went through a 20 minute interview. Have to say, she was very very impressive. While being humble and funny, there was no doubt that she was also quite confident of her abilities. Interesting enough, she said that she doesn't train with a power meter or a heart rate monitor. I'm sure the polar and srm reps were pretty disappointed to here that!

A positive for me was that the interview left me so motivated that I was able to drag my but out of bed today and actually get in a swim. Let's hope that I keep the momentum and get in a decent ride tomorrow.

Big Bear

Headed up to Big Bear with Kebby and the dogs this weekend. This was the first time that I'd been up to Big Bear and was surprised at (1) the beauty of the place, (2) the altitude (over 7,000 feet) and (3) that it could snow in early October.

We checked into the cabin in the dark and could tell that the temparature was dropping. Not a huge deal since we had plenty of cold weather rides on the Silver Comet in Georgia. But...when I woke up in the morning to get everything ready, I literally stumbled on the stairs when I looked out the window. I stared dumbfounded at a blanket of white! First snow of the season...what luck! Especially since the forecast called for clear.

Since it was a fairly light dusting, we decided to head into town and explore. We'd ride later in the afternoon. First stop was Starbucks and then we headed over to the local bike shop to hang for a while. The shop (Big Bear Bikes) was the epitomy of a local shop. Kinda messy, bike parts everywhere and a couple of really laid back dudes working. I was wearing an Ironman hat and one of the guys asked me which races I'd done. It felt good to tell him that I did IMAZ in April and was signed up for CDA in June. He kidded me that triathletes have to pay double since they were generally faster than him. The best part though was that roadies had to pay triple (because of attitude...not speed). Seems that most of the bikers in the area rode the proverbial "fat tires".

After lunch, the snow had pretty much melted away and we saddled up for a ride. It wasn't a barn burner in terms of distance but the altitude, the wind and the 9 to 14% grade made me feel like I had at least done something. We ended up riding for just under an hour.

After knocking out a tail light on the jeep when I slid down the still iced over driveway, we headed back to Starbucks to watch the end of the Hawaii Ironman on the computer. Really cool that Chrissie Wellington and Craig Alexander won. I couldn't think of two better representatives for our sport.

We finally called it a night around 10:00 pm (wow...talk about partying) and headed back to the cabin.

Uneventful drive back to San Diego Sunday. Let's hope for a solid week of training this week.

Short Run

Got a quick 2 1/2 mile run in this morning. Kebby went for a ride but I felt like I needed to get some shoe time on the pavement.

Back at it

Took yesterday off for recovery. Legs were a bit tired from the ride in the hills. Got up before work this morning and hit the weight room. Nothing too intense but at least I kept some momentum from the weekend.

I still plan on officially starting my training in November. Will probably sign on with Sergio at San Diego X training. He has partnered with Chrissie Wellington's coach and offers an interesting training program that is lighter on volume and has you go by feel (I think).

Some of the details can be at Ironguides.net.

Head for the hills!

Got in a good ride near Pine Valley this morning. Kebby, Steph and I made the drive in-land to the mountains and climbed Mount Laguna. Started in Pine Valley and began climbing immediately. 15 Miles of climbing at about a 6% grade did a number on the legs. Total ride was 30 miles.

Oh...and the picture is the bike start at Ironman CDA. Has nothing to do with the ride today. Of course it does scare the shit out of me. So I guess that's good.

Family in the house

Mom and sister came in from L.A. (Los Angeles...not Lower Alabama) last night. They left this afternoon and we basically spent the time eating and talking. No working out going on today. Lots of desert and coffee though.

Hope to make up for it by getting in a good ride on Sunday though.

That's a wrap

Well, I'm closing the book on the week of training. All in all I'm satisfied. Got a short (3 miles) run in on Thursday and a 35 minute bike ride in on Friday. Had another session with "Stretch to Win" trainer Friday afternoon.

Family coming in town tonight so will probably be a light weekend.

Still, since I'm really just getting ready to train, I'm feeling pretty good about the week.