Here’s last week’s training:

MON - 15 mile “time trial” ride. Just trying to go full out for 45 minutes or so.

TUE - 1200 yard swim. Can’t remember my time.

WED - Ran 3 miles. Took around 30 minutes and felt okay. I just don’t have the stamina yet for a faster or longer run.

THU - After work ride up Mt Diablo, the 2nd tallest peak in bay area. I went alone and this was my first time up. I was about a mile from the peak, but it started to get dark. Here’s a description of the ride from the Chain Reaction site.

FRI - rest

SAT - Did a personal sprint distance triathlon to see how I’m feeling and to work on my transitions. Total time was 1:25:21.

- 1000 yd swim (20:25)

- T1 (3:12) I had to put on a jersey and had some problems with bike computer

- 10 mile ride (28:10 approx – bike computer issues)

- T2 (2:37) Ran inside to get my hat and a Cliff bar

- 5k run (30:54)

Felt good the whole time and no residual soreness in my leg.

Had great ride this Saturday to the top of Mount Hamilton – the tallest peak in the bay area. I hadn’t done this ride for a few years and I wanted to see how my conditioning this year compared to my first time.

Well… it felt a lot better this year. I started out the day not feeling 100% but decided to just keep going as the climbing began and turn around when I felt like I was done for the day. By the end of the ride I still felt great and made it to the top easily.

Here’s a picture from the top from a few years ago:

Total mileage was right around 60 miles with 4500 ft of total climbing. Nice. Here’s a description of the ride from Chain Reaction bicycle shop.

So what has my training been like? Here’s what a typical week looks like (I’ll start listing my weekly training starting this week):

MON - 1500 yards swimming (.85 miles) I swim this is around 30 minutes. I’m still swimming most of the distance using breast and side stroke (left and right side). My crawl is so bad still that I get winded just swimming 100 yards straight. It is getting better however (less leg kick and more efficient grab with my arms) that I’m hopeful that my times will speed up and I’ll use more crawl in my race.

TUE - 20 mile “time trial” bike ride. I’ve been averaging right around 20 mph on these rides (you do the math for the distance). I’ve use the streets around the neighborhood as a time trial course. This will be similar to the course in my race because it’s pretty flat and there are a lot of turns and u-turns.

WED - 3 mile run. (10 minute miles/2 min run 1 min walk) I still am working up to a full run after going through the therapy on my IT band. Run is definitely my weakest area now and I’m concerned about going too hard and hurting my leg.

THU - another swim day or shorter ride.

FRI - Depending how my leg feels, I’ll run again.

SAT - Long bike ride. I’ve been doing 30 – 60 mile rides, just depending on how I feel and what my bike partners are up to. These are slower rides to just build up base endurance and comfort in the saddle for 2 – 4 hours.

That’s a typical week!

I’ve been going to physical therapy all summer (about 16 sessions) where they’ve been working on my Iliotibial Band (ITBand). This is connective tissue that runs from your hip across the outside of the knee.

For me, I have pain or weakness in the middle of my thigh and right under my hipbone.

I got to choose which physical therapist to see and I picked Bodymax because they did physical therapy and sports conditioning and training – I knew I needed help with my running form.

For treatment, they use deep tissue massage to release any scar tissue which can cause tightness as it attaches to the underlying bones and muscles. This “massage” can hurt – a lot. They then use ultrasound on the sore spots which brings blood and oxygen to the inflammation.

After the treatment, they would bring me downstairs and put me on the treadmill to work on my running form.

I worked up to running about 10 miles an hour at a 8% grade (but I only had to run that for 30 seconds or so). The therapists and trainers there were excellent and my form and leg are much improved.

On with the training!

So what has been happening since May?

Well…

I’ve selected my next major race

I’m going to race in the Bethel Island Triathlon on my 4oth

birthday (SEP 25). This is an olympic distance triathlon so it will be

a little longer than my last one.



SWIM BIKE RUN

Napa Valley .5 mile (.8k) 17 mile (27k) 4 mile (6.4k)

Bethel Island .9 mile (1.5k) 24 mile (40k) 6.2 mile (10k)

The pros will run a race like this in 1:45 to 2:00 hours. My extremely hopeful goal is to finish close to

2 hours 40 minutes. I’m hoping for a breakdown like this:



SWIM BIKE RUN

35 minutes 1 hour 10 minutes 59 minutes

Okay, so this doesn’t account for any transition time, but I think you know what I’m trying to say.

More information about the race is available on OnYourMark Events.

DAVE RACE RESULTS!!!

Swim 1/2 mile – 18:00

Transition 1 – 6:20

Bike 15 miles – 48:09

Transition 2 – 5:20

Run 4 miles – 38:39

Total Time – 1 hour 56 minutes 31 seconds

#239 overall out of 500 participants

In comparison, the guy who won my age group and came in 4th place overall had these times:

Swim 1/2 mile – 12:23

Transition 1 – 2:29

Bike 15 miles – 41:25

Transition 2 – 1:18

Run 4 miles – 26:02

Total Time – 1 hour 23 minutes 38 seconds






See a quick photo album for more commentary and pictures…

I’m really happy with the way the race went. I was able to just relax and enjoy each part. I had good energy through the whole race and came away feeling like I could have pushed even harder.

My original goal was to come in under 2 hours and I did that even with over 10 minutes of transition time (I’m probably the only one that ran to their motel room for a quick potty-stop because of a bit of over-hydration during transition 2).

I’m so glad that I was able to prepare well and feel great on race day! Thanks to everyone who has been supporting me for the past few months as I got myself ready to do this.

Here’s this week’s activity log:

Quintana Roo Ultrafull Triathlon Wetsuit

Bought the wetsuit out on Craig’s List and am trying it out this week.

MON – Got out the wet suit and swam over at the cabana club pool. The first comments from people were, “Oh, I think the pool’s warm enough, you don’t need that.” FUNNY!

The suit fits me decent, but it seems like it could be a little longer and a little less tight in the shoulders. I think my big butt takes some of length out of it.

When I was done with the swim, ran 3 miles.

TUE – Went back to the pool in just my tri-shorts and swam 1/2 mile. My stroke is still horrible and I can’t sustain a crawl for more than 2 or 3 laps. My side stroke and breast stroke are terrific, however. :> Guess I’ll be alternating during my swim.

WED – 4 mile run. Time was just over 38 minutes.

THU – nada

FRI – Ran without any music. Instead I used a 5/1 (run/walk) setting on my watch to see how I’d do. Ended up running a 37:30 for 4 miles. Not a bad time for me.

SAT – Went for a long ride today – out to the top of Calaveras and back – a little less than 50 miles. Felt very good, but was overall tired at the end. Flatted on one of the decents and had to use my new Innovations Ultraflate Plus CO2 pump for the first time. I only had one cartridge, but it worked just great:

Here’s this week’s activity log:

I’m really nervous now. I stunk last saturday out on the course and the race is in 2 weeks.

MON - Went for my normal run – GUESS WHAT?? I stunk!!

I’m actually happy about it. It means that my poor performance last saturday wasn’t really me. I must have some kind of virus or bacteria or something bothering me. I couldn’t even run a mile this morning.

TUE - nada

WED - nada

THU - nada

FRI - nada

SAT - After that little break, went for a 4 mile run. Felt a little rusty, but overall it wasn’t too bad. I guess I’m over whatever I had. YES!

Here’s this week’s activity log:

Trying to take it easy this week. I plan on going with Song out to Lake Berryessa to do a test race out on the course.

MON - 4 mile run.

TUE - nada

WED - 4 mile run.

THU - nada

FRI - nada

SAT - Drove out to Lake Berryessa with Song to try out the ride and run part of the race. It was a pretty hot Saturday and we didn’t get out on the ride until noon.

Anyway…

I stunk.

Totally.

We started the ride and I pushed hard on the first hill or two and quickly ran out of gas. I have no idea why. Just did not “have it.” I then had a screw come off my front derailleur as I was shifting down to my inside chain ring and my chain jammed completely.

So…

For the rest of the ride I could only use my smaller chain ring and my larger gears in my rear cluster. In other words, no using my granny gears on the climbs and no using my big ring on the descents – the worst of both worlds.

Once we finished the ride, I didn’t feel like running at all. But, I put my shoes on and started off… walking. A lot of walking. Not much running. No gas.

Here were my times:

Ride (17 miles) – 53 minutes

Run (4 miles) – 51 minutes

Well, at least that sets an easy benchmark to beat on race day!

Here’s this week’s activity log:

MON – Wanted to see how I’d feel running hills. Did a 4 mile run on hilly Foothill Ave and felt great. I did it right around my normal time (38 – 40 minutes) and felt good. 50 push-ups.

TUE – Sat around on Carmel beach all day – very tiring!

WED – Did my normal 4 mile flat run. My knees were a little sore. I think I won’t do a lot of hill training before my run. I can do the hills without a problem – just don’t want to wear out my knees before the race. 45 push-ups.

THU – nada

FRI – nada. Stayed up late this week doing taxes. Still recovering.

SAT – Didn’t feel great today, but ended up training anyway. Went for a 4 mile run that took more effort than normal. Then went on a quick 20 mile ride. It was pretty windy, but didn’t have a headwind most of the time.

Rode down to Sunol and back. Averaged just over 19 mph. Felt better than running.