Hardcore Jogger

I always figured triathletes in general were hardcore, and even gave myself a pat on the back for doing the Muddy Buddy in the rain on a cold day, but there's a whole level of grit and determination that I don't think I really comprehended, as evidenced in this story out of Arizona from the AP:

PRESCOTT, Ariz. – Authorities in Arizona say a jogger attacked by a rabid fox ran a mile with the animal's jaws clamped on her arm and then drove herself to a hospital. The Yavapai County sheriff's office said the woman told deputies she was on a trail near Prescott on Monday when the fox attacked and bit her foot.

She said she grabbed the fox by the neck when it went for her leg but it bit her arm.

The woman wanted the animal tested for rabies so she ran a mile to her car with the fox still biting her arm, then pried it off and tossed it in her trunk and drove to the Prescott hospital.

The sheriff's office says the fox later bit an animal control officer. He and the woman are both receiving rabies vaccinations.

Time to Feel No Pain

Went for a run with muddy-buddy Craig today. I lasted about 3.5 miles (at a really great pace) when my left knee was hurting so bad I could only walk. This knee has been diagnosed with "runner's knee" and it's pretty much at its worst at this point. Therefore, I'm going to shift to swimming, stretching, walking and resistance training for the next couple of weeks in the hope of giving my legs a break so I can ramp up in December and really hit the training in January.

Tri-and-a-Half-lete

My buddy Craig (one of the six people who happen to read this blog) and I are going to race through the mud at the Muddy Buddy race on 11/2 in San Dimas. This entails alternately riding and running a mile, then going over (or through?) obstacles, then doing it again 6 times, culminating in a run through a huge pit of mud. Then we get washed-off with fire hoses. Sounds fun right?

Right. Except, of course, for the part about riding a mountain bike, which I have, but haven't ridden in the mountains! In fact, I've even put on "smooth" tires (knobby on the sides, smooth down the middle) to make road-riding more comfortable (of course, this was long before acquiring an actual road bike).

In preparation for this dirtfest, Craig and I headed up to Mulholland to ride 3 miles to the Nike missile monitoring base and back. Of course, when Craig said "3 miles" he really meant "4.6 miles, mostly uphill, through sand and gravel." Well I did it (with only a bit of whining). I didn't get mountain biking at all until we hit a long downhill.

As my daughter would say, "OMG!" What a blast! The downhill rides made it all worth it: it felt like skiing and even sounded like skiing! I was riding just barely in control at times, getting up to 20mph at some points. Too much fun.

Now I just need to get a shock absorbing fork for the front of the bike, switch the tires back to knobbies, and I'm good to go!

We are going to DOMINATE the Muddy Buddy!

Weekend Recap

What a weekend!

Saturday we did a "brick" at Griffith Park: 9 mile loop, including a monster hill, then a 15-minute run. Nothing to it.

Sunday we did an 800m swim at Zuma (same as the race should be this Sunday) then a 12 mile bike (short of the 18 on race day). Everyone packed-up to go eat something, but I stayed and ran 5 miles (end-to-end of Zuma) - no stopping and with 6 sprint intervals! The new shoes were a smart move as today I'm really not hurting too much.

Of course once everything was done and I was ready to go, the car wouldn't start! So as I waited for AAA to give me a jump, I practiced bike mounting and dismounting. I'm still not comfortable with the flying cowboy but I picked up a little speed with the skateboard mount.

Today is a rest day - if by "rest" one means cleaning and lubing their bike, which was called for on our schedule. 30 minutes and it was done.

This week is a "taper" week - light exercising, no workouts that really tear your body up, so that we're ready for the race on Sunday. Tomorrow will be a 5-mile run, Wednesday a coached swim, then a rest on Thursday, a very light all-around workout on Friday, and then it's race weekend!

I just planned out the next three months. I'll be competing in the "Day at the Beach" triathlon on 10/12 at Hermosa Beach, in the Muddy Buddy race on 11/4 in San Dimas, and if we don't have anything else going on, the Turkey Tri, also in San Dimas, on 11/30.

Run - Run - Run - Walk - Dang!

Went for a run at Balboa Park today with high expectations of completing 7 miles without stopping and with 5-8 sprints thrown in. At mile 2.5 I started walking. Ran a bit, then walked, and that's how it went all the way back to the car at mile 5.

What happened? I think I'm just plain tired out. I worked-out a decent amount over the weekend. Even though I took Sunday off, I still walked with my wife up some hills for 45 minutes. Yesterday was the monster bike ride. Saturday was the 6 mile run. Coupled with the fact that we started after 10am and it was pretty hot, I just didn't have it in me.

Also, yesterday you may remember that my right knee was hurting. Today it started up again at about mile 1.5. I think it's time to rest my lower body for a few days - which works out because, as a triathlete (grin) I can go swimming instead!

Mock Tri

The Mock Tri on Saturday went VERY well!

The swim was in the form of a short loop, where we had to get out of the water, run back to the entry point, and swim the loop again (twice total) for a total of about 700 yards (a little shy of the actual Malibu Tri amount). The first lap was tough, I didn't warm-up for it. The second lap was much better. I used the wetsuit and while it was much better than before, it still felt constrictive. I'm now thinking that wearing the tri-top under the suit is part of the problem. I have two suits en-route to try out that are sized a bit differently, so we'll see if those help.

My practice on the bike mount and dismount paid-off handsomely as my T1 time went from over 3 minutes to just 27 seconds! It was no problem riding without socks and with sand in my shoes. I did put on socks for the run though. My T2 time was very short as well (I'm guessing under a minute). My Timex Ironman Triathlon watch didn't survive the day though - it got some water in it and died a very slow, painful death (it's now on the way to Timex for warranty repairs).

The run was difficult in the sense that after the first mile my blister, sore calf, and sore right hip started hurting, so I was hobbling along (smiling all the way though). I managed to run the entire 4 miles without stopping. Made a new friend: guy named Brian from the Westside team - we ran together for a couple of miles before one of the women started getting close so he took off - me, well, she passed me, but only because I just couldn't go any faster at that point.

I completed the whole thing in 1 hour 58 minutes - much better than my goal of 2.5 hours! I felt great afterward and the TnT coaches and mentors had medals for each of us and a carb spread that was like a holiday dessert (which I'm starting to figure out is why nobody seems to lose weight in this program).

All in all a great time and a great experience - I am so looking forward to the "big day!"

5 Miles......YEAH!!!!!!!!

Today's training update is brought to you by.....my left calf. Ouch!

Grabbed the kids, a couple of bikes, a lot of water, and off we went to Balboa Park for today's run.

Goal: flat run, 4 miles, with two 1-minute sprints.
Outcome: flat run, 5 miles, with two 1-minute sprints and 1 30 second sprint

If that weren't good enough, I ran the whole thing - no stopping, no walking!

And as a bonus, my daughter, age 8, completed the whole 5 miles on her bike, no (literally, none) sweat!

Vacation Training

Vacation...Training...Vacation...Training... and so the debate went on.

We went to Laguna Beach for the weekend, and I was debating whether I was going to take the weekend off and really relax or try and get some training in. The argument was settled when I realized I actually like swimming, biking and running, so into the car the bike and tri bag went.

Saturday we drove down and hung out at the beach. Finally screwing up my nerve to be the only person on the beach in a wetsuit and yellow cap, I got dressed and headed out. I swam from one side of Main Beach to the other and back, out past the surf, and it was great. The water was very clear, the suit adjusted itself accordingly, no panic, and I was able to swim just fine! I was very happy.

Sunday morning while everyone was still dragging themselves out of bed I got dressed, wheeled the bike downstairs, and set off for Dana Point, about 8 miles away down PCH. I ended-up going all the way through Dana Point to hit my turnaround at just under 10 miles. Somehow though, on the way back, I ended up on an end-segment of the freeway. That was entertaining, trying to move between off-ramps and the breakdown lane, until the freeway ended and I was back on a normal street. Scared the sh*t out of me.

Sunday afternoon, after lunch but before heading out, I donned the wetsuit again and repeated the prior day's swim, albeit a bit faster, and with that our vacation came to an end and we drove home.

I was especially psyched that I could handle the waves and the wetsuit (from f2r.com) and the suit kept me nice and warm.