A Nice Long Weekend (and a long blog)

For the past several years on the long Thanksgiving weekend I've had to travel to Chicago for a tradeshow on Friday. It is so much nicer to stay home and enjoy the weekend. And a long weekend it was in more ways than one.

Thanksgiving day started off with a nice Rancho run with Nicholas and Charles. the Booths caught Nicholas and me at the top of Rogue. We went up the backside of PG&E then added lower Wildcat up and over for about 10 miles. Then I went to join the Ironteam for a ride up Altamont and a few other hills. T-day dinner did not include any gorging at all thank goodness.

Friday I started off running at Rancho again and wanted to get some mountain points as well as a long run done. I'm one of the folks doing the "Rancho 500" - check it out at rancho500.com. I went up the backside of PG&E again and came back down then went up it again. I was planning to then do upper wildcat and the up and over on the lower part. But the up on lower wildcat, while short, just kicks my ass. So I went up PG&E again. Then decided to repeat it a 4th time and just head back to the parking lot by going down Rogue. I did 19 miles and got 48 points.

On Saturday Big Al talked me into doing a ride with him in the morning. But I needed my Rancho fix so I went out before the ride and ran about 8.5 miles. The ride was up Stevens County Rd to the out and back which was pretty doggone cold. That canyon is so shaded the temp dropped at least 10 degrees from the start. From the out and back we then went up Mt Eden and got warm then returned to the start after doing the backside of Mt Eden.

Karen and I went wine tasting in the afternoon. We usually go up to Napa/Sonoma but decided to forego the drive and stay locally. We went to David Bruce and Byington on Bear Creek Rd above Los Gatos. We hadn't been to either winery and was pleasantly surprised by both of them. David Bruce makes excellent pinot noirs and Byington makes a wonderful blend called Alliage. Of course we sampled and bought some of each. Then we headed to Ridge at the top of Monte Bello Rd. Ridge makes really great zinfandels - can you tell I like the deeper reds?

Well, since we were at the top of Monte Bello and I had my running shoes with me - Karen dropped me off at the top of the road and I ran down the Black Mountain trail into Rancho. It wasn't quite as much fun as I thought it would be. Incredible views from the top but a very steep downhill trail. And I took one wrong turn that was about a half mile detour. Then it started getting really dark. I was dreading another after dark ticket from the rangers. Finally made it into the parking lot about 40 minutes later than I told Karen to expect me.

Sunday I met up with a few folks to do PG&E backside once again. I wanted to get about 20 miles in so I would hit 300 for the Rancho 500. So I went out before everyone else arrived and ran 7 as a warm up by myself. Changed into a dry shirt, refilled the water bottle and took off with Glenn, Mark and Michael. Glenn and Mark gradually pulled ahead so Michael stayed back with me. Went up Rogue and up PG&E then back down. I needed to get some more hills and mileage so I did lower wildcat up and and down the switchbacks to the farm. Refilled the water bottle then headed back to go up the switchbacks. By this time it was starting to rain a little bit. Thankfully the switchback trail is mostly covered and protected from the rain. Went down to the top of the creek, did the bypass to the far parking lot then back to the start. Total of 21 miles to end the weekend right at 300 miles for the Rancho 500.

Everyone else was finishing up at Peet's so I still went and got my recovery latte.

All in all - a very nice, long weekend.

But I am a bit tired.

A Very Good Weekend

For the Fall Tri team I had also signed up to do the Treasure Island International distance tri. TI was one week after I did the 1/2 IM in Phoenix. I was feeling pretty full of myself when I signed up for TI.

As I woke up at 5 am on Saturday morning I was thinking to myself - I could be at home warm and snuggly next to Karen in my own bed. When I set up my transition area I was thinking I could at home having a latte trying to decide which football game to watch. I started wishing I hadn't signed up for TI.

The water temp was about as good as it gets at Treasure Island - about 60 degrees. Actually pretty comfortable with a wetsuit. None of that painful numbness in the feet or hands. I thought I would swim about a 30-35 and ended up at 33. Out of the water and into T1 feeling pretty good after wishing I hadn't signed up at all.

The bike route at TI is just downright pathetic. Lots of 90 degree turns and the most uneven pavement of any triathlon anywhere - small potholes, large bumps that extend all the way across the lane and uneven areas where someone tried to patch the holes. I decided I would just take it easy, push it when I could and try to stay upright. Some of the turns got congested but overall most folks were looking out for each other. I was hoping to ride about a 1:15 and ended up at 1:18 averaging 18.9 mph. Best of all - no flats, no falls.

Off to the run. As I got into T2 I looked at my watch and saw that with an hour run I'd be right at about 3 hours which was my goal time. After my run in Phoenix at a 9:41 pace, I was thinking I could do this if my quads behaved. I went out at an easy pace trying to run a negative split. The quads were feeling fine so I tried to pick up my pace a bit. I was about at 14 minutes to the turn around and was pleased with that time. It meant if I could keep it up I'd run about a 52 minute 10k.

There were lots of TNT folks at TI since this was their main race. I heard my name called out and gots lots of support from my team mates and coaches. When I reached the turn around on my second loop I looked at my watch and saw I'd be well under an hour so I picked it up a bit more. I was feeling very strong and the quads weren't bothering me. Finished the run at 49:46 for an 8:01 pace. I was really happy with that pace after doing a 9:41 pace last week.

My overall goal was to be under 3 hours - I ended up at 2:47:54 good for 10th in my age group out of 25.

I felt great about my finish and realized that I'm a pretty average triathlete. I tend to never be in the top finishers but the I'm not in the bottom either.

Today's Ironteam workout was a recovery day and everyone is looking better and better. I felt so good I went out to Rancho to get some more miles and mountain points for the Rancho 500. Did 13 miles with lots of hills and no quads acting up.

All in all - a very good weekend.