Recent Pics

Here's some past due pics from last weeks Temecula road trip. We packed the Golf (yes it's not a Hummer) like champs - that's 3 mtn bikes in there. Good thing I don't ride a 29er. Now I've never been formally trained in engineering but surely MIT would let me right in if I attached this photo to my application.





Me doing some bike wave surfing in Oceanside. North Shore is next.





Here's Gulliver and I on the epic 3 River Crossing run.





Ran Bolder Boulder 10k yesterday. Not feeling very on top of the running at the moment but pulled out a 33:20 for 25th which was plenty good considering. Didn't have much of a top gear but felt strong, the overall fitness is there.
Two hard weeks of training from here then out to Alabama for Xterra Southeast Champs.
Quite sore from the race today since I haven't done much faster running. Swam 2200y with a 45min bike in the morning then swam 4500y this evening.

Swam with the Riptide crew at the Gravel Pond this morning. The water was perfect wetsuit temp on Wednesday night but was a bit colder this morning. Still nothing to complain about for May though. Swam 4400y there and then onto the bike for a 2 hr ride up Deer Creek Canyon. Felt a bit fatigued on the ride, going to have to take it easy tomorrow so I'm not completely wiped for Bolder Boulder.
Somehow I got poison ivy in Temecula. I've waged a lifelong battle against poison ivy and it has struck again. Somehow this time it's only around my thighs. How I have it there and nowhere else I don't know. Doesn't make much sense.
I got my worst case ever 2 days before flying to Germany. What a miserable flight. My arms looked like one huge open sore but at least I had room to stretch out since my people I my row thought I had the black death.
If I was president I'd put billions towards eradicating poison ivy. Poison ivy eradication would become the biggest industry in our land and what a fine land it would be.

Xterra results from last weekend are up here:
Xterra West Championship
I can't complain about living at a bad place to train - 7 of the top 9 US guys live in CO.
Swam a short team goals last night, 4 x 100y in 1:05 avg. Afterwards my left shoulder was quite sore though which has me worried. Hopefully it's just a one day thing although it's still sore this morning.
Wednesday night we swam at the Gravel Pond. It warmed up big time and is perfect for wetsuit swimming now.
I'm about to head out for a morning MTB ride after I tighten up some of the pivots on the rear suspension. Gotta miss the crit and swim tonight for my lil bro Alex' high school graduation.

Temecula

Just got back from Temecula, CA last night.
Amy and I were in the mood for a road trip so decided to drive to the race (1,000miles).
We stayed in Mesquite, NV while on the road. $34 for a decent room and I gambled a whole $1 which turned into $16. Huge night and to top it off Sammy A beers were only $2.
Got to Temecula and pre rode the course with Matt Balzer, it was hot out there but fun. Matt said I even rode over a rattler to top off the ride. Conrad Stoltz turned out to be at the campsite across from us. He was very friendly and gave Matt and I some tips for the bike course.
The race started a bit poorly as I got boxed in on the swim and had to half paddle for the first couple hundred. Once we got around the 1st buoy things opened up but by then the guys who I wanted to draft off of were long gone. From there I swam well on my own and ended up catching some guys going into transition. Swam about 2 minutes off the leaders which isn't bad for me at this point. Felt OK but not great on the bike and it was HOT. I had two water bottles and wish I had more. A few guys caught me on the trail, I felt a tad sloppy, need to get out on the mountain bike more. Into the run with Will Kelsay who thought we were in about 17th place. Top 12 got money so I got on it.
It was absolutely roasting and the course was brutal, out in the sun with horrible sandy hills. I wasn't running very fast but no one was so I was fine. Passed a few guys and almost caught Cody Waite at the finish but just couldn't get past him. Got my place and...13th. Solid but a bummer not to get into the money.

Littlefoot (litterally)

Littlefoot Triathlon was today.
Rode the bike over to the race since it was only a 15min ride. It was freezing on the way over, my hands were hurtin!
Got all set up and we were on our way. I always talk trash to Jocelyn about cracking her on the swim (I'll admit she's a far superior swimmer than me but once in a while I'll get lucky in the open water) and 100m into the swim I saw my opportunity. There were only 2 women in the race and they had orange caps so I pickup her outta the swim lineup. Onto her feet and I'm holding steady. Stayed put until 150 to go when the beach was in sight and I made a spirited move on her left. Pulled ahead just in time, jumped out and across the mat with 1.5 seconds to spare.
In all that excitement I almost forgot about the bike and run. A horrid transition it was (cough cough 1:58). I figured I needed a jacket and gloves since it was so cold and they took forever to get on since I was so wet. Finally I hit the bike, felt good from the start and got rolling. Passed a good amount of guys and was in 3rd entering the 2nd and last bike loop. Tired a bit the 2nd lap but kept going strong with with a couple minutes to go I finally caught Haven Barnes. Brandon Rakita had crushed the swim/bike and was out of sight in first. Haven transitioned better but I caught him back on the run and held the 2nd spot throughout.
The good: I worked the swim and bike very well which was my goal. Being a runner I like having fast run splits but I realized it's probably better to use my running background to go all in on the swim/bike and know that I can hold on and run good but not great. I executed that well today.
The bad: my transitions were terrible, need to work on those. Why put all the work into training if I can gain some easy time with better transitions.

Working away today and the woodworking fellas next door have an expo going on so they came by and offered for us to come over for some grilling at lunch - they won't be in business much longer after I finish my meal.
I hit the hurt on Wednesday - ran 70min to start the morning then to the pool for 2800. In the evening joined Riptide for a swim and I had to throw in the towel halfway through, I was cooked. Rested up though and came back for team goals Thursday (6x100y on 4min all out). Had a good set - 1:06, 05, 06, 04, 05, 04. Felt better than last week when I couldn't break 1:05. I beat Pete on one so maybe I have him psyched out and he'll just try to sit and draft off me during Sunday's Littlefoot Triathlon (there's no way he's going to do that).
If anyone needs some nice race wheels my old ones are up for sale:
Mavic Cosmic Carbone
Own a piece of history, these are the wheels that took me to a top 50 placing at the 70.3 World Champs. I fully expect some well to do restaurant owner to purchase them to put on display for customers. Surely they would be a BIG draw.
Sales are all over the place. Someone asked if the govt refund checks had an effect on us and the previous couple of days we had been selling a good number of skis a day so I thought "Ahh, that's why we're selling so many skis in May." But then we sold basically none the past 2 days so there goes that theory.
That's it from here. Racing this Sunday morning at the Littlefoot. Water will be less than 60 degrees and the race is at 7am so it will be frigid.