t-5 days till steelhead 70.3

and i'm done. my legs are done, my arms even hurt, there is something pulled in my chest and it hurts when i breath, my head is tired, i'm done. this past two weeks have been physically and mentally trying on ole' liam.



my body is not going to know what to do this week with reduced training volume and intensity. i'm not fully tapering for steelhead, but just ensuring that i can race on saturday.

we fly out friday morning. im psyched, its time.

body-shock!

Dude, when i started my run today it was so humid it was foggy out. Misery. I got the workout done, and my body felt good, but it was so hot my body temp was through the roof, and was very uncomfortable.

Gearing up for steelhead 70.3 for the rest of this week, it will be a nice to have a little reprieve at the end of the week, then hammer out the half im on the shores of lake michigan. these past few weeks have been a good little bump in the intensity of my training. i started a strict/specific training regiment during thanksgiving 2006 for the 2007 season, which landed me at half ironman 70.3 oceanside, california(march), usat national championships in portland, oregon(june), now steelhead(august), then itu world champonships(september), and hopefully finishing up november 14th in clearwater, florida at 70.3/half ironman world championships. believe it or not your body gets used to the consistent massive volumes of intensity and time that triathlon training is constructed of. months go by, and you need to throw a wrench in your system, and almost shock it. that is what janda did to my training schedule starting in july. it has been painful, tiring, mentally tough, but absolutely exciting and another rewarding experience training has brought me.

jasper chewed up one of my roommates shoes this afternoon while we were running, not cool. jasper is literally in the dog house right now.

Jasper. Curious about why his dad is always in lycra?

This week has been intense. I am definetely happy friday is my active recovery day. There is not much more i could handle at this point. With a long work week and training, it has been a long and tirning week, but i got it all in. Houston is still a rainforest, and poor jasper is missing the park.

the things we do....

Early Afternoon:



I had an epic ride. I know that sounds a little intense for road biking, but it really was awesome. My legs just rode at an intensive level for nearly two hours as if they were made to do so. I really felt great, and the time flew by.

Mid afternoon:

I decided to take a little break, and do my six miler in the evening. I caught up with one of my favorite people in the whole world, for a while u know who you are. It was great talking to you. I have USCG duty this week, so my schedule is a little shaky...i got a phone call about a little collision in the houston ship channell, and my training/eating/sleep schedule just got tossed.

Late night:

After ensuring the situation was secure, i got home around 1045pm, and hit the trails for my run. Feeling like i should be asleep, i drudged through. if my coach is reading this, he is probably pissed(duty week). about 4 miles in i got something in my mouth. it was either a large bug or a baby tree frog, im still not sure. i softly escorted it out of my throat and i believe it is still alive. yuk. i finished my run shortly before 1130pm, and thought to myself...the things we do for this sport...

Hay in the Barn

These past two weeks have been very good. I continue to put hay in the barn, and make effort-ed deposits into my bank. my legs are heavy, and tired, but they will be ready for my final withdrawal at itu worlds.

My legs feel better, after introducing some resistance training into the workload. at first it was a shock, but now it is a regular pain i have gotten used to enjoyably enduring. my legs have not been as used up as they felt last week in a long time. which tells me something, a lesson learned, we must always change our training up to manipulate our systems into continual growth. i hope its working, but i think it is.

sunday was the webster duathlon # , the last in the series. a sprint race down in the random pastures of texas, offering a 2 mile run, 12 mile bike, and 2 mile jaunt to the finish. i knew my bike had been improving, and the regulat guys would be there, so i was going for the win. Janda
(my coach)had warned me that i would be tired, and reminded me it was a training race. he was right, the gun went off and i immediately got in the lead pack with heavy legs, then a high school runner started to make the pace. it was then just him and i, and i was going to let him keep it, bc i was feeling it. knowing he would probably die out in the bike, and the regulars where behind me, i let him take the lead.

i got to the transition, and ran out with my bike directly into a newspaper photographer, and she geared my rear derailleur down, so when i hopped on my bike the chain was stuck! i got off fixed the problem, lost a few seconds, and got out on my bike. the toop loop course was nice and flat, but had a steady head wind on one side. i felt strong, but the wind hurt. one of the local duathlon savages passed me at mile 5, and i stayed with him, until his pedal fell off! i was kind of bummed bc i planned on pacing him form the ride. i was once again feeling the lactic acid and toxins attempting to repair my muscles from the hard week. i got off the bike averaging 23.5, ill take it.

when i started running there was 2 people in front of me. i knew right away, that my legs were not the way they usually are. my quads felt like they should look like norman stadlers', but they don't. i pressed on, passing a guy and continued to close the gap with the leader who averaged a whopping 26mph on the bike(duathlete). he ended up beating me by 40 seconds, and my running pace was 20-30 seconds slower than usual!

at first i was bummed, bc the win would have been nice, and i think i could have gotten it if my run was normal, but this is good stuff. my training is working, and i am getting there. my legs will be fine on the real race day, and my run will be there, this race tells me, my bike will too.
so fire tired trained legs, i feel good with the 2nd place finish, and time of 54:50.

A full week of training lies ahead, as well as a full week of uscg duty(10 days in a row!) then i will recover up for steelhead 70.3 and see what damage i can bring to the shores of michigan.

i hope everyones training is going well. a big kudos to all the sweet people from sugar cycles road team that competed or supported the duathlon this weekend, it was a fun day, the pancakes being the best part. oh yea, if anyone finds sugar tri shorts on 45 north, they are mine :)

That which does not kill you, will only make you stronger!

So im back full throttle, with a new focus on developing power on the bike. This was definatly the most painful training week in a while. which is good = its working. janda (my coach-see his blog at http://www.jandariccimunn.blogspot.com/ ) is really tuning me up for worlds. my legs feel so heavy, yesterday at work i almost fell up the stairs 3 times.



introduving alot of short burst intervals and some weights is really going to help my cycling. the weather has also sucked this week down here in texas, so the motivation to get poored on was low. this helped - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MIl5RxhLZ5U if you are ever lacking the drive for a workout, or think a trainer is a better option then dealing with the elements, watch this clip. totally motivating... i have the webster duathlon this sunday 2/11/2, so i hope my legs get a little lighter before then.

who's doing the webster du?

ITU Worlds Slot -

Mondays usually suck, and as i strolled into work today, I throught - man Mondays suck!
I walked around the office for a few minutes busting balls and conducting my greetings, then I figured it was time to reintroduce my brain to my cubical. EMAIL. As I looked down the inbox list, I saw...work, work, work, junk, junk (sometimes the same thing), work, funny, work, USAT....SUBJECT....Congratulations! I got a roll down slot for ITU World Championships in Hamburg, Germany. I had an off race at Nationals, and didnt secure a slot, but got the roll down. Sweet.....So for the next two months, I will live in pain, so I have a good race day in Germany. Im ecstatic!!

TEXAS HEAT IS BACK !

Holy crap it is hot out today. With the past few weeks of rain, i almost forgot how hot Texas summers are. It is hot here. I went out for a 7.5 mile run today at high noon during my lunch break, and it was painful. My legs felt great, but my heart felt like it was going to explode out of my chest, and roll down the street resembling a fried egg! I think that has to do with the corn muffin, and two egg and cheese on a bagel i ate shorty before the run. I hate that feeling. It was 92 degrees, with a 102 degree heat index!

i felt good when it was done, i jumped in the pool and got back to work ;( my body heat was so high, i didn't want to eat for over eight hours. this evening, i got in a nice 90 min spin, and now it is time to chill in the commune. tuesdays aren't too bad.

speaking of my spin, i need to mention cadence. a couple months ago, philip from sugar cycles saw my bike on top of my car. it was the first time we met, and he remarked on how i was a typical triathlete with my gears all the way down my cassette. as he giggled, he asked what my cadence was? cadence? i had no clue, what do i look like, a roadie? i don't draft!
it turns out, after we put a cat eye double wireless computer on my bike, that my cadence was part of my bike split problem.....

i was averaging high 60's for my tempo pace!! killing my legs, and just pumping lactic acid through them, with no chance of flushing it out. how could i ever accelerate when i was getting passed if i was already lactic and pushing only 67rpm? so, i learned about cadence...

you need a high cadence to be able to ride/race fast. like 90-95, this will allow you to accelerate and be much easier on your legs. especially for triathletes that can run, your legs are used to a quick lactic turnover, so whip up your cadence! another thing i learned, you need a cadence meter. my coach prescribes certain cadences, and i thought i was following it correctly. WRONG, you need a meter.

in other news, it feels good to be back rolling with training....i got back to work this week. i had a week of taper, race, and then a recovery week to rest the body after a long 6 week cycle, and i was losing my mind. i was so bored the other day, i went grocery shopping. i am excited to back into the swing of things this week.

full week...keep training...

tour de france begins.......in england??

so, whats the problem with the french?

tour de france and they go to england for the important and popular prologue? i think it is cool as hell, its historic and fun to watch a huge bike race in London. i just feel a little bad for the french, their own tour, and...... Americans have won it for 8 straight years, and now England gets to celebrate the beginning of the race.

are they giving up? the french have sacrificed their own tour?

will we be racing in russia on bastille day in a few years?

come on france, get your damn race back. you have paris, the alps, the pyranese, and a beautiful country. i know we've pretty much covered it all during past years, but we wont remember, we were drunk. make it the tour de FRANCE.

what the hell do i care. kona will always be in kona.

Tour de france # 1 @ sugar!

Oregon

beer, an alternate carbohydrate ?

chau, my roomate, a.k.a pinkgurugal (see her blog its hilarious), and I got done with a long week of work, training, and normal everyday life drama. i trained and went grocery shopping, and chau snorkled throughout the texas floods......

....and got a solid track workout in. so, its all over, life was on slow motion for a few, and there was no better way to enjoy this strange idleness than with a cold beer (chau might have had 3?)....

life is good in the 007. we both need to be up early for bike rides and work, but you know what....you can sleep when your dead. its important to relax a lil' every once and a while, unwind and realize how good we have it. remember folks, carpe diem.....sheeeeeeet!

we need some sun

i thought i would never say this, but houston needs more sun! it has been raining for weeks. it feels like boston here ( a warm bosotn). either way, i have gotten used to the consistent texas sun, and i want it back. if anyone finds it, let me know.

this week i am taking it pretty easy, and just throwing down some quality miles in all three. this weekend, we're gonna put some miles down on the bike. saturday at sugar, and sunday in the "hills". let me know if you want to join. i hope the sun will come out.

today, some quality time must be spent with jasper. the lil blond furball is begging for a long park session. a good run with jr, and a swim is in order as well.

by the way la fitness' pool is awesome, and only $30/month. i went there last night and was totally impressed.

the tour de france begins tommorow in london ! so everyone whould ride with sugar in the morning and hang out at the lounge for the prologue. should be fun.

nationals - race recap

1st off. Oregon rocks. what a beautiful state. it reminded me of maine, but with a real west coast attitude, and a little hillier. what i liked most of all was the daylight hours: the sun rose at 5am, and didnt set until about 9pm. it is an outdoursman/womans dream.

well i should have known it was going to be a tough course, when i arrived at my buddies house last thursday night. they live on, (what would be a mountain in most places, but they confirmed it was just a hill) this absolutely beautiful "hill". my flight arrived in portland around 11pm, and i quickly got a cab, because my buddy and his wife were out of town that night. getting a cab was an experience all alone. he was the only russian cab driver in the city, who had no idea where he was going. a 30 dollar cab ride quickly turned into a 50+ ride. as we climbed this monstrasity of a "hill" where the Oregon Health and Science University and Hospital is located, i though, uh-oh? put it this way, this hill is so steep they installed a $75million tram to bring people up and down throughout the day. so, we finally found the house, and i nestled into a cumfy bed, not to wake until 9am!

so as i wake up, and start thinking how badly i need coffee, i found the kitchen, and holy crap a view. their porch looks out on the city of portland, the columbia river, and the mountain range containing mt hood, mt st helens, and mt rainier. amazing, as i fight the caffiene headache, i think to myself, "of course, i forgot my camera" so i built my bike and ventured down the ravine/road to get a cup of coffee. after almost getting killed by a box-truck, i stumbled upon about thirty starbucks and local bean-ettes on 23rd street. i hung out had some unbelievable coffee, a few bagels, a beer, and some pizza. i needed the carbs. then i ventured back and took the tram up the "hill", in order to save my legs for the race, of course. so as i cruise up this tram, filled with doctors and med students, clad in my sugar spandex, i got a few looks. but, my face looked weirder as i stared at the incredible face of mt hood. it was so impressive, it almost looked scary.

my buudies wife, erin, came home, and told me that jimmy was still on duty(uscg) and might not make it home until after the race. i was totally bummed, and kinda felt bad, because now his wife was like quasi responsible for her husbands friend whome whe never met. haha. we had a great time. we went out to the packet pick up and the transition to drop the bicycle off. as we drove out to the course, and her car was whining going up the hills, i thought 1) i might be screwed, 2) has pancake flat texas really got to me, 3) i need to get back to boston.

as we arrived to the transition, all i could think about was how it was the most beautiful race site i have ever been to, hagg lake. this picture was taken in early spring, imagine everything green. it was a really cool place. so, as every other athlete was duct-taping bags to their drive trains and saddles, i dropped mine in my spot and went down to see holw cold the water was. it was perfect.

we ventured back to portland, and she made me an awesome seafood pasta dinner. thank you erin. it was awesome. as i went to bed kinda early, i was thinking, and then passed out, i never do that, especially before a race. i slept awesome, weird.

race morning: 5:15am, and im up, and were out the door, and looking for the first starbucks. we found one, and i got my fix. we arrive, get on the bus to the transition, and it was freezing. not texas. in highnsight, i should have probably warmed up more because of the temperature. the scene was busy, and i decided to leave my shoes off my bike, because of the hill leaving transition! so, let's swim.

the swim was a deepwater start, and i felt ready. i found the guy to draft off of (he ended up swimmimng sub 18 for the 1.5km) with that said, i couldnt stay with him for long, and probably started to hard. my first length of the rectangular course was crampy and slow, but my length back felt good and rythmic. my t1 was okay, it wasnt real quick, but i got out of it, and got on my bike. holy crap...

so, there is a half mile peice of the course that's flat, that was nice, but the rest was either up or down. the two loop course was a battle for me, i just didnt have the legs to crank up those hills. i've been riding the flats of texas, and it was a shock to the system. by bike split was 1:08, for

the 40k, and it was too slow. i will tweak my training, and ride local overpasses over and over, hopefully preparing me for hills. at first, i was really disapointed, but i have accepted it, and now i know what i need to get better at. and i will.

i had a great dismount, and cruised out of t2, and forgot my race number. i ran back, and pulled it out of my bag, and through it on, a total rookie move. haha. i started running, and my legs were heavier than usual, and damn! the run course was on the bike course, hills.
i finally got into a rythm around mile 3, and started passing alot of people. it wasnt my usual pace, but noone passed me. i finished with a run split of 37:15 for the 10k, and a total time of 2:10 something. i missed team usa by about three minutes. i obsessed about the shouldas' and couldas' for two days, and thank you erin for listening to me. but the truth is, all the shouldas', couldas', and wouldas' wont get me a cup of coffee and a donut. so, i will move on, get stronger, and faster. crossing the line is the best part of the race, but we cant forget the miles in between.

thank you erin and jimmie laird for having me at your place, and driving my ass around all weekend. portland rocks! thanks to everyone for your support, expecially sugar cycles and janda ricci-mun.

nationals - i need bigger legs

well, it was hilly. hillier than i thought. there was probably half a mile of flat on the bike and none on the run.

so...i got my as kicked on the bike, and i couldnt make it up.

i was really dissapointed and still am, but there are good days and bad days.

so, i will move on, and try to get bigger legs and learn to be able to hang on the bike with the best.

i need to be able to ride harder, and that is what this sport is about. progress, and turning your weak points around.