Tapering Day 3

Today didn't start exactly how I'd anticipated it would. I had plenty to do; I needed to get my bike re-adjusted in the case and repacked, I needed to repair a small tear in my wetsuit, do my last swim, pack my luggage, make some notes for Ryan and Erin who were watching the dogs for the week and finish up a bit of work. But I woke up to a test message from Jeannie that Katie had had some seizure activity and was taken to the hospital in Barrie by ambulance. I jumped in the truck and headed to Barrie. On the way I called Jeannie to see what exactly had happened and it wasn't as bad as the text message had made it out to be. She hadn't had a seizure but activity that usually meant a seizure was going to happen and she panicked and called and ambulance. When she's alone and has a seizure she goes into panic mode and calls an ambulance and I can't blame her. I tried calling her while driving but she didn't answer so I texted her (I know, bad, but hell my kid was in the hospital)and she got back to me that she was still at the hospital but was OK and had a friend with her so I shouldn't drive all the way to Barrie. I told her to call me as soon as she could and turned around and headed back home. I started getting my tasks done; packing my bike, got some work done and then went for a swim. Short and easy. I did 500 m at a fair pace but my left calf was feeling a little tight and I was afraid it might cramp so I stopped and got a pull buoy so I wouldn't have to kick anymore. I did another 500 m and man I was fast. I wish I could use a pull buoy during the race. After the swim more tasks; I went for a haircut, repaired my wetsuit, wrote out my notes and packed my luggage. So the training is done, my tapering is done and all that's left is a quick run and cycle on Friday and the race on Saturday. I've had a few bumps and obstacles along the way but everything seems to be on track now. Just 3 more sleeps.

Tapering Day 2

Well after talking with Chris he set me straight on my tapering. Back off and go easy which is what Justin and I did tonight. Justin came over after work and before tearing down his bike we set up the trainers and did an easy 30 minute spin and even though we weren't working hard we still brought on a good sweat. Afterwards I showed Justin how to disassemble his bike and fit it into his bike case nice and securely so the gorilla baggage handlers can't damage it. We put in the appropriate bubble wrap and foam wrap, deflated the wheels and placed them in the case and closed and latched it up. And just in case the latches came undone during transport we put on a ratcheting strap to keep the whole thing together. I helped him carry it down to the front door and then we went back to get the rest of his gear. Now I would have thought that Justin was a pretty sure footed guy. After all the guy has been training for this Half Ironman, has been cycling and running and swimming but apparently he has trouble with stairs. We were carrying the last of his gear down the stairs and next thing I know it looked like he was sliding into second base. He'd grabbed the railing just as he went down and for a few seconds he was just hanging there holding on to the railing with one hand and his gear with the other and not wanting to let go of either. I was pretty sure he was OK and held back a laugh but I couldn't hold back a snicker. Look at it this way Justin, you got any potential crash out of the way and now you're going to rock the race.

Tapering Day 1

I'm not sure if I have this tapering thing right. At the end of the day I felt tired and sore. That can't be right ... can it? The day started with a doctor's visit to go over the results of my stress test last week. They did an ECG and took my blood pressure and then I had my consult with the doctor. We talked about why I was there, how I was off my training for 10 days and when I started again I got a bit of chest tightness and how my family doctor wanted me to go through these tests just to be on the safe side. He was a little confusing in how he spoke to me. On the one hand he said I had heart wall thickening and stiffness but like it was a bad thing and then explained that the heart is a muscle and like any other muscle if it's exercised it will get bigger which wasn't a bad thing. Then he said that I had a slow heart, again like it was a bad thing and then explained that athlete's in top shape have low resting heart rates .... a good thing. Finally he said I had athletic heart disease. What? Disease? Well not really a disease but more of a condition or syndrome. It's typical for athlete's who train a high number of hours per week to develop an "athletic heart". His concern was that this was a physiological condition and not pathological. In other words, this condition has developed because of my training and not because of some true disease. He cleared me to race in Miami but suggested I get a heart ultrasound when I get back again, just to make sure. I'm not worried but I booked an appointment anyway. In the afternoon I went for a short easy run, 5 km at a 5:30 pace and in the evening I hit the pool for a swim. I tried to maintain a quick pace but kept the distance down to 1500 m as part of my tapering but at the end of the day I felt tired and my muscles were sore. Tapering isn't supposed to feel like this is it? Maybe I should take it easier tomorrow and Wednesday. I don't know, I'll have to talk with Chris tomorrow to get his input.

I'm all but done training

This was it, my last real training session prior to Miami and the weather didn't cooperate so it was inside on the treadmill. It was wet and cool outside so I turned up the heat and tried to get the temperature high enough to simulate the warmth that I'll likely be racing in. I got it warm but not really hot like it'll be in Miami, especially if the sun and humidity are going to be a factor. So I ran for an hour and a half but not at a hard pace. I just wanted to get the time in and was also a little concerned about stressing my groin with less than a week to go. It held up pretty well and I only felt a little soreness near the end of the run so it looks like it'll be feeling as good as it has all summer coming into the race. I don't put much faith in the speed and distance readouts on the treadmill so I'm not sure how far I actually ran but based on my intuition it was probably in the 14-15 km range. A good last run for me. All that's left now is to start tapering. A couple of short easy runs, a short easy spin and a couple of long easy swims. It'll all be done by Wednesday and I'll have Thursday and Friday off to rest up.

I got dropped ...

... on the bike by both Chris and Justin. This is the last weekend before Miami and today was Justin and my last brick before the race. As he often did Chris joined us for the ride. We only planned on a 50-60 km ride and these rides are pretty much not too difficult and don't take much out of us but today I worked my butt of to keep up with Justin and Chris while both of them seemed to be cruising. Why? Well it all comes down to the bike. Since returning from California a couple of weeks ago I still hadn't unpacked the P3. My first week back I was still feeling sick and didn't feel like unpacking and assembling the bike and once I started feeling better it was less then 2 weeks to the race and again, I didn't feel like unpacking and assembling for a couple of rides only to turn around and disassemble and pack it again. This left me with my road bike as my only option and I know the light aero wheels and carbon frame and aero position on the P3 make a difference when riding but geez I didn't think it was THAT much of a difference. How much of a difference? Well heading up York Durham just north of Bloomington we hit a climb that starts out gradual, gets steep then levels off to gradual again. It's not long but it's not short either. I took the lead there and climbed the hill out of the saddle the whole way and I wasn't sure but I think I opened up a bit of space between myself and Chris and Justin. At the crest of the climb I geared down and started pedaling strongly on the decent thinking I should be able to stay ahead. Ya right. About a minute into the decent Chris pulled up next to me and as I was pedaling like crazy he was COASTING! He wasn't even pedaling! WTF? Now that was pathetic and to punctuate it, later in the ride on another decent coming down McCowan Road, Justin did the same thing. He pulled up next to me, coasting while I was pedaling away and said "It looks like you're working pretty hard Nick". The whole ride I struggled to keep up and I was happy when it ended. Now Justin and I were going to run and I was going to exact my revenge on him. Well I thought about it but it wasn't his fault I was on my road bike ..... but I would make him work anyway. Justin had to get back home pretty soon so we shortened up the run a bit and did only 7.5 km instead of the closer to 10 km we originally planned on doing but I tried to keep up a bit quicker pace than Justin normally runs. I think I tired him out but considering it was a short run and the last real brick before Miami it was needed.

More doctors

Today was my stress test and my only objective was to have the technician look at me like "Why are you having this test?". I got to the clinic and they wired me up and got the test going. They started at a walking pace with a slight incline and increased the incline and speed every 3 minutes. I went through 4 increases and was at a good running pace and fairly steep incline and my heart rate had reached 150 but with my max at 163 I wanted to go 1 more increase before stopping. Just then the technician said that I had to stop, that they had more than enough data. Oh well, I did the test and my doctor will be happy. I'd also made an appointment with Dr. De Finney for today to work on my groin that had gotten sore after Tuesday's treadmill run. It was still sore yesterday but felt great today but I figured a couple of sessions before the race wouldn't hurt. So I got hooked up to the muscle stimulator, got laser therapy, active release massage and stretching done and I'm hoping it won't be an issue during the race. So after all these doctor visits it was time to train. I needed to get on the bike but with the weather pretty cool it would have to be inside on the trainer ... Yuck. And to make things worse I haven't unpacked the P3 so I'd be on my road bike. No aerobars, a stem that's too long so I'd be way stretched out and a geometry that would fatigue my legs. Time to stop whining and start riding. I only got an hour in but it was good for my legs to be spinning again. One week from today we'll be winging our way to Miami.

I had to open my mouth

Today was my followup with the doctor and I should have kept my mouth shut. He asked how I was feeling and I told him much better and I should have stopped there but went on to tell him I got on the treadmill for an hour yesterday and that my chest felt a little tight and heavy. To me that was just an after effect of 1) recovering from the pneumonia and 2) not having done any training for 10 days. To him it was a series of key words; chest, tightness, exertion. He told me he wanted me to undergo a stress test considering Miami was coming up. I looked at him kind of confused thinking "Really? A triathlete that's been training the way I have?". It was precautionary and he had no doubts that the test would show nothing but thought I should go through with it anyway. So I got scheduled and I'm going to have it tomorrow morning. I decided to do my own stress test however and when I got done at the doctors I went home, changed into my running gear, leashed up Kona and headed out to "stress" myself. I ran 8 km at a 4:54 pace which considering I hadn't run in a while was pretty quick and not having felt any discomfort other than the normal feeling of running at that pace I declared myself fit. When I talked to Ryan and Justin later and told them about it they promptly said I was "reckless" and laughed. Newsflash ..... always have been, always will be. But seriously, I knew there was nothing wrong and so did the doctor. Later Justin came by and picked me up to head to Stouffville for a long overdue swim. It had been 2 1/2 weeks since I'd swam and with just over a week to go I needed to get back into the pool. We did 1500 m and it wasn't as bad as I'd thought it would be and it was good to have Justin there pushing me. He's a stronger swimmer than me and I swam hard to keep ahead of him. I knew he'd be catching and lapping me eventually but I wanted to make him work for it. I was happy with my time and another 2 or 3 times in the pool before heading south should be enough.

Couldn't wait for the doctor

I haven't blogged anything for a week but that's essentially because I haven't done anything for a week. As per the doctor's orders I stopped training in order to let this pneumonia I had get better and hopefully get at least 1 week of training in before Miami. My doctor's follow up is tomorrow but I couldn't wait till then so since I was feeling much better I decided to get a run in. At first I was thinking I'd run outdoors but I spoke with Justin and he had a good point, I should do it on the treadmill this time. It made sense. I didn't know if the cooler air might have an effect on my lungs if I wasn't 100% over this thing and I could also just stop if I needed to this way. So I set up the treadmill and started easy. After about 10 minutes I stepped up the speed a bit and everything was feeling good. I wasn't going very fast but at least I was going. At 15 minutes though my chest started to feel a little tight. Nothing bad but definite tightness there. I kept going but at 40 minutes I decided to stop for a couple of minutes and then started up again. The tightness didn't completely go away but it did lessen and I ran another 20 minutes for a total of 1 hour. I ended up running 10 km, a 6:00 pace, but in real world running probably more than 10 km. I always seem to work harder on the treadmill for the same results as outdoor running. I was happy to get back to training and I'm hoping the doctor doesn't do something silly like put the kybash on me continuing. I have 1 week left of training and this would normally be part of my taper but I'll have to cut the taper back to 3 or 4 days.

Back from California

It was a long day. Tammy had a 7:00 am flight from LA that I dropped her off for at just after 5:00 am and then headed back to the hotel for a few more hours of sleep before my flight later in the afternoon. We'd made the 7 hour drive from San Francisco the night before and got in after midnight and tired. I'd picked her up at LAX on Saturday and we went to SF for the weekend and to watch the Chargers play the Raiders. So I got a couple more hours of sleep and then headed to the airport myself. I dropped off the rental and took the shuttle to the airport, got my boarding pass and baggage tags and went to drop off my luggage. The TSA inspector took a look at my bike case and told my that it wouldn't fit in the scanner and they'd have to open up the case and do a manual inspection. He said that they'd probably have to cut off the rope and straps because they really didn't have the time to undo them. Firstly, LAX doesn't have a scanner large enough for my bike case? Even Buffalo has one that fits it. Secondly, no one is cutting anything off my case. These guys are nothing more than arrogant high school drop outs that think they can bully and scare people. I told the inspector that there was no need to cut anything. I'd remove the rope and straps for them to inspect inside and then tie it all up again. So then he told me I couldn't be around when they inspected it. Right, I was going to let them open the case, move everything around and just let them half assed close it up again and hope nothing would break or fall out once the baggage handlers got their hands on it. I asked for his supervisor and he went and got him. When he got there I explained to him that I had no issues at all with them inspecting inside the case but I wanted to make sure that after they were done that the bike was packed properly and the case tied up securely again. At least the supervisor wasn't a jerk. He said I could undo all the straps but once the case was open I couldn't touch anything. After they were done I could tell them exactly how to pack the bike and wheels and once the case was closed I could strap it up again. So I undid the straps, the supervisor inspected inside and tried to move things around as little as possible and once he was done asked me how I wanted all the pieces positioned and covered by bubble wrap and foam and did it all for me. He closed the case and I then locked it and strapped it up. Thankfully the supervisor wasn't a jerk like the first guy. Going through security was painless, I got to my gate and sat and read a new triathlon magazine, Lava, for a while and when boarding started I waited till everyone had gone through and I joined the end of the line. I see no point in jumping to the front of the line like everyone else wants to only to sit in my cramped seat with no air conditioning while everyone else is boarding. So as I got onto the plane and turned down the aisle I looked up there was Howie Mandel. He had that same big grin just like he does on TV, all the time. The flight was uneventful, we got in a little late, I picked up my bag and bike case and called the handler that was tossing around the oversized baggage an idiot but got no response from him. I was feeling miserable and looking for some confrontation but the gorilla was just interested in how far he could toss strollers, car seats and bike cases. Sleep was non existent Monday night. More sweats so my first order of business was seeing a doctor on Tuesday. With only 18 days to go I really need to get over whatever I was suffering from and get some decent training in and be ready for Miami. I got in to see my doctor and first thing he did was to start listening to my lungs .... for longer than I thought he should be. He asked a few questions and then told me he was sending me for chest x-rays. He said I probably had some bronchial pneumonia and that if I had any intention of racing at the end of the month I needed to shut down my training because that was the only way I'd get over it. Well this totally sucks. My 2 most important weeks of training blown away. I'll be seeing him again next week and with any luck he'll give me the go ahead to start up again. It'll give me about a weeks worth and might be just enough to get me ready.

Images

Here are some images of my race, training and goings on while in Southern California.
    

Registration for the Los Angeles Triathlon

















Tech support. These are the pro's technicians and they were giving free tech support.

For those of you following Hell's Kitchen, here's the entrance to the LA Market where the winner will be head chef at.

 And here's a look inside. I wasn't all that impressed but what do I know about food and restaurants? And no I didn't ask who the head chef was.

The Staples Center where the LA Kings and LA Lakers play was the finish line for the LA Triathlon


















The HILL. I know it doesn't look like much but this picture doesn't do it justice. I had to run it twice during the race. That hurt.

The Walt Disney Concert Hall. Nice architecture for the run turn around point. Think they were trying to distract us from the pain?














Tuesday's ride up the famous US Highway 101. This was just south of Solana Beach where I raced in July.












I was planning an open water swim on Wednesday. I went to Mission Bay first that's protected from the ocean waves but they'd put up no swimming sign. So I went to La Jolla Cove. This is what I saw. I wasn't about to swim in these waves alone.

I was thinking that this is what I'd rather be doing considering how I felt fighting this cold.

Thursday's ride was a long loop through the canyons. This was on my way to 1800' of elevation gain.













And this was looking back down from where I'd climbed.

My long run at Lake Miramar. It's an 8 km loop around the lake which I did twice.

San Diego Training Week: Day 5

Well it's all done. My week of training in Southern California is complete and even though it wasn't exactly what I'd hoped it would be it was still productive. The weather didn't co-operate till late in the week and besides that I wasn't able to put in the intensity or volume because of being sick. Today was my final session, a long run out at Lake Miramar. It's a man made reservoir but you wouldn't know it from looking at it. It has a paved 8 km path that runs around the rim of the lake and I was planning to do 2 loops. As with the rest of the week I wasn't feeling 100%. My legs felt heavy and tired from yesterday's ride and my lungs felt tight and I didn't feel like I could get a good deep breath. I began the run and thought that it didn't matter how much it hurt, this was my last training day here and I had to complete it. The lake's shoreline isn't straight but instead it's jagged with all kinds of little inlets and lagoons so this made the run a little more interesting. This is a popular spot for runners, cyclists and roller bladers and there were plenty of them out today. I did a counter clockwise loop first and when I got around to where I'd started I turned and did the second loop in the opposite direction. Anything to try and make the second half seem different. I felt uncomfortable for the entire run even though the route was pretty flat and my pace was slower than usual, a 5:16 pace. I obviously still haven't recovered but I've got the next 3 days off and hopefully can get back to normal for my last 2 weeks before Miami. I know it sounds ridiculous but after months of training I'm having thoughts of not being able to finish the race based on how I've felt this week. I hope that's just the cold talking.

San Diego Training Week: Day 4

I'm feeling a bit better today but definitely nowhere near 100%. Today was the ride I'd been looking forward to since I planned this trip and now I was wondering if I'd be able to enjoy it. The weather had also come around and there was no threat of rain, the sun was shining and it was warming up so if nothing else I'd have a nice day to ride. I was also intending to run after the ride so I packed all my riding and running gear into the truck and took off. I headed inland, towards the hills and canyons and after a bit of trouble with my GPS I arrived at the starting point. I started out and the first thoughts were that it was a bit of an effort pedaling. I was confused because even though I wasn't feeling best I was on a bit of a down grade but I could only maintain 28-29 km/hr. The other thing I kept thinking was that I shouldn't be on a downgrade, the entire 1st half of the loop was a climb. Well maybe it was just a bit of a downhill before it started to go up. This kept up for 8 km and I was really confused so I tried an experiment. I stopped pedaling. If I was going downhill I should continue to coast. As soon as I stopped pedaling though I started slowing down significantly and came to a stop. Wow. Talk about deceptive. All this time I thought I was going down when I was actually going up. I got to the first turn and now the grade became apparent. I was definitely looking at UP from here on and as I went further it seemed the grade just got steeper. This was absolutely small ring territory. I continued for another 13 km of climbing and arrived at a spot that looked like it might be the high point of the ride because the road started going down from there but I wasn't at the midway point of the ride yet. I figured that it was probably a bit of downhill and I'd encounter another climb at some point but the climbing to this point had sucked a lot of my energy and feeling how I was I didn't want to get further out and bonk on another climb. I decided to turn back and add some mileage at the bottom of the descent so I turned back and headed down. What I hadn't realized was that the wind was at my back on the climb and I'd be heading back into it while descending and it turned out to be pretty stiff and tossed me around a bit. I didn't take a single pedal stroke for 5 km and was on the brakes the whole way. I'm going to have to check my brake pads to see if there's any left. When I got to the bottom, a LOT faster that when I got to the top, I turned onto another road to try and add about 10 km of what I assumed would be flat road to the ride. I don't know why I assumed this but needless to say, it wasn't flat. In fact, I encountered 2 short climbs steeper than any part for the initial climb. I only rode for 5 km and turned back (again, 3 km of no pedaling and on the brakes) and headed towards where I'd parked. I did 55 km total and averaged 25 km/hr but for the most part I was probably riding between 13-14 km/hr. At some points at 10 km/hr and under. My legs were sore but this was a good opportunity to get them running. I was originally thinking 10 km but that was before I got sick so 5 km would be my limit today. Anyway, I was planning a long run for tomorrow. I ran out along the same route as I'd ridden, this time knowing I was running on an upgrade even though it still didn't look like it. At the 2.5 km point I turned around and came back and I ended up with a 5:06 pace but I felt pretty bad. Usually as I finish my run I recover really quick but this time I had to sit down and wait it out. I felt weak and dizzy and I may have been a bit dehydrated too but mostly I think it was from the cold. I guzzled down some Gatorade and sat on some steps for a few minutes and then packed up and headed for home. This is a ride I'd do again easily and would really enjoy it if I was feeling well.

San Diego Training Week: Day 3

Today's plan was for an open water swim followed by a run. I haven't been able to kick this cold and was feeling crappy but I had to get out and try to get something done. I grabbed my wetsuit and running gear and headed for water. I wanted to swim in Mission Bay where I've swam before during the Mission Bay Triathlons and figured this would let me avoid the ocean coast and waves and tides. When I got there though they had posted No Swimming signs. Apparently the rain during the week had stirred up "stuff" so swimming was a no-no. Ok, well I decided to head to the coast and see what the situation was there. I drove to La Jolla Cove and it wasn't pretty, the wind was pretty hefty and the water seemed angry. The waves and breakers looked pretty nasty and swimming alone and not being familiar with rough water swimming I wasn't about to chance getting out there. So it was going to be just a run. I got my running gear on and was hoping to get 10 km in but I'd have to see how I felt. I started running north along the cliff overlooking the cove towards the town of La Jolla. I really didn't feel great and the best I could do was maintain a 6:00 pace. And this was on a slight downhill. I ran past the cove and hit a steep uphill into La Jolla which I did slowly and then continued through the town and on to Torrey Pines Rd. which was a long descent down to La Jolla Shores. All I could think about was that I'd be climbing this on my return. I got down to the shores, a long beach, and ran to the end where I had to take a break. I was at 4 km and with the exception of a short uphill the run so far was all downhill. Not good. I took a short break and started back and it wasn't as bad as I'd expected. I made it all the way back up to the cove and had a 5:50 pace for the 8 km run but at this point I had to just be happy with what I could do.

San Diego Training Week: Day 2

I woke up this morning coughing and hacking and thought great, another lost day. I looked outside and there was sun, although it would be short lived as the forecast was calling for showers starting shortly. Even though I wasn`t feeling great and the weather was touch and go I felt like I had to get something in today but I hadn`t brought any clothing for rain. After all, as the song goes, `It never rains in southern California`. So I took off to one of my favourite store here in San Diego, Road Runner Sports, where they have a clearance centre that prices are drastically reduced. I found a cycling jacket for 50% off and stumbled across a pair of CW-X tights at a fabulous price and thought these would be great if I wanted to stay warm on either a ride or run. So with gear in hand I headed back to the house and packed my bike and running shoes into the truck and headed for the coast. On my drive from LA to San Diego I`d scoped out a possible route that had a starting point not too far from the house so I drove to it. I parked in a lot at the Torrey Pines State Reserve which is in the Carmel Valley right on the coast. I started getting ready while watching huge waves crashing the beach and thought that Chris and Justin would love to be here right now. As I mentioned, the reserve is in the Carmel Valley which is right between cliffs to the north and south and this is typical of this area as the terrain varies from high cliff to beach to cliff all up and down the coast. My planned route was to head north for about 25 km and then turn around and head back but first I wanted to attack the huge climb south from the beach and then turn around and head north. Chris if you want to train on climbing this is one of the places. It was a 400 foot climb over 2.5 km and you can see the elevation graph on my Garmin Connect page. Even though I wasn`t feeling 100% it felt good to be riding and I didn`t mind the grind. At the top I turned around and prepared to ride north along the famous US 101 highway. I headed down the climb I`d just come up but had to maintain my speed because I could have easily hit speeds unhealthy to my body as well as I`d realized that the there was a pretty healthy crosswind coming in off the ocean. Once I got back down into the valley I started pedaling but kept it easy. I was still lacking energy so this was going to be more of a tour than a training ride. My mini tour de California. Of course being in  a valley you come to the inevitable climb out. I hit the climb up into Del Mar which wasn`t nearly as tough or long as the first climb but was still enough to get me working. I rode through Del Mar, descended back down to sea level and then back up a climb to the North Bluff Reserve. This was just on the outskirt of Solana Beach where I was in July for the Solana Beach Sprint Triathlon. I continued through Solana Beach, past Fletcher Cove where the race swim was and down into the San Elijo Lagoon and rode past Las Olas Mexican Restaurant where Tammy, Cassie and I had lunch after my July race.  I climbed out of the flats of the lagoon and into Cardiff by the Sea and on into Cardiff. Up till then the roads had been great. Biking is huge in this area and everywhere you`d look you`d see riders, Almost every road has nice wide bike lanes but as I was leaving Cardiff and heading into Encinatas the lane disappeared and the road got pretty rough. No worries though as I was only planning on riding another 3-4 km and then turning around and just then .... smack .... I hit a raised crack in the road. A few seconds later I felt it, the unmistakable feeling of my tire flattening out and mushy handling. I`d flatted. Ok, no big deal.  I stopped and pulled my bike over and off the road and began the process of changing my tube and the whole time I was thinking ``Do Not pinch the new tube against the wheel rim and put a hole in it``. I`d done that in the past and I only had 1 spare with me today so I was in no hurry and was going to take plenty of care. Well all went well and it seemed like I`d installed it without pinching but the real test would be after I filled it. So I took my CO2 cartridge and screwed the inflator head on to it and ``pppfffttt`` some gas escaped. I put the cartridge to the stem and ............... nothing. Again ............... nothing. CRAP. The cartridge had emptied. Now people, I know it seems like a lot of crap has happened to me on this trip and I know you guys must be thinking no one`s this unlucky but I swear, I`m not making this stuff up, its all happened. Anyway, there I was standing around holding my deflated wheel in my hand and I was going over the options in my head. One, I could start walking back to the truck about 20 km down the highway. No I don`t think so. Two, I could start walking and looking for a bike shop. That was very plausible as I new that Nytro Bikes was somewhere in the area. Or three, I could wait for another rider to come by and ask for help. Well no sooner than having gone through the possibilities when I saw a rider approaching from the north so I ran to the road and flagged him down. I`m pretty sure that seeing me with my wheel in my hand he knew what was up. I asked if he had a spare CO2 cartridge and luckily he was carrying 3 so he gave me one and this time I screwed the inflator head on very quickly so the gas wouldn`t escape. I pushed the head onto the stem and yay, the tube inflated. I offered to follow him to the nearest bike shop and buy him a couple of cartridges but he said no problem and continued on his ride.  I turned and headed back towards the truck while looking for a bike shop to replenish a tube and cartridge and about 5 km along I came across Nytro and popped in. They had everything I needed but when I went to pay, all I had was my debit card and they didn`t take it. Come on! We`re living in the 21st century! So I left empty handed but I knew B&L Bikes was in Solana Beach about 10 km from there. When I got there they were very helpful but didn`t take my debit card either but there was an ATM machine in the bar next door so I went and got cash to pay. I picked up a couple of CO2 cartridges and a new inflator head and a new tube. Unfortunately the longest stem length they had was a 60 mm and I need an 80 mm but they threw in a valve extender so I threw that into my tool kit as well to have in case I have to ever borrow a tube from someone. If that were ever the case I would think the chances of another rider carrying an 80 mm stem tube would be low. I was only a few km from the truck now so I finished up the ride thinking I`d try to follow it up with a short run but just as I was descending from Del Mar into Carmel Valley it began to sprinkle. So far it has not been a great training week.

San Diego Training Week: Day 1

I`ve been to San Diego several times and in all my travelling here I`ve never encountered rain. Especially in October which is usually gorgeous. Well today it showered and rained and training day 1 was a bust. Regardless of the weather though I am now firmly entrenched in a head and chest cold and training of any kind wouldn`t have happened anyway. I spent most of the day laying around but I did get out to purchase a pair of goggles to replace my lost ones in hopes of an open water swim later this week. I hope I start feeling better by tomorrow and can get a ride and run in.

LA Tri Race Report

It was a 4:00 am wake up call but only because I couldn't sleep. I'd set my alarm for 5:00 am, I only needed 15 minutes to get ready and it was a 15 minute bike ride to the race start from where I was staying. It would be easier riding there rather then trying to deal with parking so I specifically looked for a place to stay fairly close to the race. All I had to do was get my tri suit on under some shorts and a t-shirt, grab my new transition backpack, jump on the bike and head off. I had some time to kill now so I went through my gear to make sure I had everything but apparently I didn't do a good enough job of that. More on that later. I couldn't wait around any more so I left a little early and you would think that at 5:00 am there wouldn't be a hell of a lot of life going on. But this is Venice Beach. I started my way down toward the beach boardwalk and I was passing people coming from who knows where. When I got to the boardwalk it was about a 2 km ride to T1. I saw skate boarders, people walking dogs, one lady rummaging through waste bins and a couple of guys having a "bath" in the sinks at the public restrooms. This is one strange place. I got to T1 and searched for my wave's setup area and luckily it was right next to T1 exit and this would make it easy to find when I came in from the swim. I racked my bike and opened up my transition bag, set things up, grabbed my litre bottle of water and then wandered off to check things out. First I wanted to see where T1 entry from the swim was and once I located that I figured out the best route to my spot. Then I headed to body marking and from there I made my way to the pro's transition area. This race is fairly high profile and included today were Javier Gomez, the 2010 ITU World Champion, Matt Reed and Greg Bennet. This sport is great. What other sport can you compete in the same competition as professionals? In July in Solana beach I was in a race with Scott Tinley, a 2 time winner in Kona. I went over to drool a bit over the pro's gear and in case you're interested Chris, Gomez's setup is a HED rear disc with an H3 front. Sound familiar? A little more wandering around, I hit the Port-O-Potty and headed over to watch the pro men's start. After that I went back to my spot to put on my wetsuit and get down to the water to do a warm up swim but first, another visit to the Port-O-Potty. You can never pee too much before a race. I made my way to the water and just kind of hung around till about 20 minutes before my wave start at which point I wanted to get in for a short warm up swim and then get up to the start line. I asked someone what time it was and at 8:15 I got on my cap and goggles and headed into the water. Ocean swims are way different than lake or river swims. In a lake the water is usually calm unless it's pretty windy and in river you may have a bit of a current but in the ocean you've got the tide, surf, waves and swells. Well here we had all of these. The tide seemed to be coming in which made it a bit of a chore walking out, the surf would smack you which pushed you backwards several feet and just beyond the surf the waves would break and swamp you. And once you got past the breakers you'd have to deal with the swells which often obscured the buoys so sighting was touch and go. Well I never made it to the swells. I got crushed by a wave just as it broke and while it didn't do me any damage since I was ready for it, the wave ripped my goggles right off my head. OH CRAP! I looked all around but nothing. These things were gone. I was about 15 minutes away from starting so I busted my ass out of the water and ran back to transition and here's where my earlier comment of not doing a good enough job of checking my gear before I left the house became apparent. I brought 2 pair of goggles to LA but as I rummaged through my bag I couldn't find the 2nd pair ... they were back at the house in my luggage. DOH!! What a dope. What to do now? Beg, borrow or steal came to mind. So I immediately started asking people if anyone had an extra pair and finally one guy said he did and pulled them out for me. You gotta love triathletes. Some guy I`ve never met before hands me his backup goggles and likely doesn`t expect to see them again. He was starting in the wave after mine so I would probably come out of the water before him so I asked him which spot was his, where was his bag and told him I`d run by and drop them off and thanked him profusely. I charged to the swim start and got there with just a couple of minutes before the start. The horn went off and we all raced down the beach and into the water and it was so powerful it felt like I was battling my way through gel. Then the surf, a couple of big waves that I dove under and came up on the other side and I was off swimming. Geez, I was already tired but I got into a rhythm and headed towards the first buoy which would be a left turn. I got there and made my turn but a few minutes later I realized I was kind of swimming alone. I`d been trying to sight often but the swells made it difficult to get a good view so I stopped and took a look at where I was. Well I guess I hadn`t made a tight enough turn the buoy and I think I was swimming out to sea. Yikes! I made a course correction and made my way back towards the line of buoys but again, the swells gave me problems and I stopped again to do a check and I saw that I`d swam past the line of buoys and was swimming towards shore. This was supposed to be a 1500 m swim but I think I managed to turn it into 1700 m. So I made up my mind that I would swim back towards the line of buoys and find another swimmer and rely on his sighting. No way it would be worse than mine. I managed to get next to another guy and I just swam at his side through all the rest of the buoys and everything was fine until at about 800 m one of my calves tightened and felt like it would cramp. So I stopped kicking for a bit and when it felt better I started to kick again. Then at about 1200 m both my calves just about cramped. The water was cold and even though my wetsuit kept me warm my calves must have been affected. I`d cut 4 inches off the legs because I was having trouble getting the suit off and my calves were now partially exposed. Well I stopped kicking entirely for the rest of the swim because cramps were the last thing I wanted with the bike and run still to go. While the wetsuit kept me level in the water I`m used to kicking to help with balance and it just felt strange to swim without moving my legs but I wasn`t about to risk cramping. I got around the last buoy and swam towards shore and just as I got to where I could put my feet down I looked behind me to see where the waves were so I wouldn`t get hit from behind by one. Too late. I got swamped by a monster wave and got knocked under the water and for a couple of seconds I didn`t know which way was up. But luckily my feet hit the bottom and I stood up and got my ass out of the water as fast as I could. Read this: http://www.presstelegram.com/breakingnews/ci_16248551 about the number of swimmers needing rescuing. My time was 38:30 which sucks for a 1500 m but not bad for about the 1600-1700 m I probably ended up doing. I ran into T1, ran by where I think I was supposed to drop off the goggles and threw them into what I think was the guys bag but if not I`m really sorry dude but thanks for letting me use them. I got to my spot and removed my wetsuit which after being cut, came off really easy. I threw it and my cap and nose plug into my bag and closed it up and had it ready to be picked up for transport to the race finish. They told us that anything that was on the ground around any bag would not get picked up so it was important to get everything into the bag and secured. This is where my new bag really came in handy. Check these out to get an idea of how it works: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N8e-hUGsOBQ, and http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b8CCJboaF2E. Socks, shoes and helmet on and away I went. The bike course started at sea level and ended uatto about 135 feet in elevation. The 1st 16 km were a very gradual grade and I was able to maintain a pretty good pace but I felt more tired than I should have on a road like this. The last 24 km were an 8 km loop that we did in, out and back in and it wasn`t as flat but more gently rolling. Even with feeling like I was working too hard for the pace I was keeping I ended up with a 1:12:02, a 33.5 km per hour average speed. I ran into T2, found where I`d been assigned my spot and got out of my helmet and bike shoes and got on my runners, grabbed my number belt and visor and raced out. Most of the morning had been cloudy but with about 5 km to go in the ride the sun came out and it was starting to get warm. I find that coming out of T2 for the run my adrenaline gets going and I start out way too fast and that was the case again as I looked at my watch and saw that I was running at a 4:30 pace. I didn`t want to be doing that so I yelled at myself to `slow down, slow down` and even though I felt like I was crawing I was still running at a 5:00 pace. Even this was a bit fast at this point but I felt good so kept that pace going. The run was a 2 loop 2.5 km course shaped like the letter `L` with the lower part of the `L` only about 500 m long and the rest about 2 km long. The first 500 m was flat but once we made the turn it was an upwards grade for about 1.5 km and then we hit `The Hill`. That term is an understatement, it was a Wall. It was about 60 feet of gain over the 1st 1.5 km and then 70 feet of elevation gain over about 200 metres. That hurt. It killed my legs temporarily and obviously smacked my time but I wasn`t going to walk it. I shortened my strides, slowed up a bit and leaned into the hill and plugged away to the top. At the top it was a short run to the turn around at the Walt Disney Concert Hall and back down to finish the first loop. Going down `The Wall` still worked my legs because it was so steep I had to `brake` all the way down. But once I got to the bottom it was a downhill run and I was able to pick up my pace while still recovering. My second loop was a bit easier and after climbing the hill I was able to steadily increase my pace as I ran the last 2 km into the finish line at the Staples Center. The race was a bit tougher than I thought it would be but I think I was verging on a cold. I`d had a bit of a sore throat the previous couple of days that I`d hoped would disappear and it did but it must have just been a pre-cursor. I caught the shuttle back to Venice Beach and rode back to the house where I showered, pack my luggage and gear into the truck and took off for San Diego. After getting to Tammy`s mom`s house I unpacked everything I went a grabbed some food and by 9:00 pm I was hammered tired. This was way unusual for me but I crashed and slept for a while but I was up in the middle of the night with first chills and then the sweats and aches and a headache. I figure I`ll take today real easy and try to get over this and get into training starting tomorrow and build through the week with some riding, running and swimming on Tuesday and Wednesday and a long tough ride on Thursday and a long hard run on Friday. Well that`s the plan.

LA Tri Pre-Race Report

I got in late last night, 10:30 pm Pacific time so my body was thinking 1:30 am Eastern time and it would be at least another hour and a half before I got to my rental. My first concern was my bike, did it make it to LA with me and lo and behold, Air Canada got it here with the rest of my baggage. Next thing on my mind was food. I hadn't eaten and even though it was late I wanted to get a small salad and maybe some cereal on my way from the airport. I found an all night grocery store pretty close and pulled into the parking lot and saw a group of ... umm ... let's say scary looking gents loitering around the entrance. I almost turned and drove away but I was too hungry. I figured if I looked like a wuss I might encounter some hassling but if I looked kinda crazy they'd leave me alone. I wasn't exactly sure how I'd go about looking crazy but I sure wasn't going to look like a wuss, so I just made a beeline for the entrance and didn't slow down till I got inside. Ok good, but I still had to get back outside and to my car. I found my salad, some cereal and some water, paid and practically ran to my car ... in a non-wussy kind of way mind you. I found the rental house, got the key out of the mailbox, let myself in and got out my food. To me it was 3:00 am and I wasn't going to be awake much longer so I ate up and crashed. This morning I was up at 7:30. I had a lot to get done so I started by unpacking the P3. Now normally this is a painless job but not so this time. I got the seat post and seat installed, the pedals and the bars but my first challenge was getting the damn rear wheel installed. The horizontal drop outs make it a pain. I struggled with the chain position and the cassette but I finally got everything lined up and fitting. I put the front wheel on and it looked good, ready to test ride. I took it out to the street and got challenge number 2. I rode a bit and found that I was not able to get into lower 2 and upper 2 gears. What the? This shouldn't happen, all I did was remove the rear wheel to pack it and then re-install it. So without trying to figure out why it happened I did a quick tune on the rear derailleur and I was back to having all 10 gears available. I'm a little concerned though because shifting is often not bang on after a tuning, it needs some more farting around with but I'll just have to live with what ever happens during the race. For now it was shifting fine. Ok, bike done. Now it was time to head to registration. With this race being a point to point bike segment I also had to take and drop off my T2 bag with my running gear so I packed it with my shoes and visor and left for registration. I decided that I'd follow the actual bike route from T1 so I could get any idea of what the route looked like. The first 16 km were essentially a long fairly shallow upward grade. No hills or climbs but definitely a slow rise. The last 24 km were on a road that we'd actually have to do 3 times. It was approximately 8 km of very gently rolling roads to a turn around, back along the same road for 8 km and a second turn around to finish the last 8 km and into T2. I got to registration and parked at a lot about 1 km away. The registration took place at LA Live. This is a sports and entertainment complex which includes the Staples Center where the LA Kings and Lakers play, the Nokia Theater, the Grammy Museum and world class hotels and restaurants. For those of you that follow Hell's Kitchen the LA Market is located here and while I did go in I didn't order anything. Anyway I made my way to registration, got my kit with my bib and stickers to put on my helmet and bike, got my timing chip and cap and dropped off my T2 bag. Then I got my goodie bag. This is by far the best swag bag I've gotten from any race. Not only bars and gels but also a couple of bottles of Powerbar Perform, Powerbar Pro 03 Recover, my t-shirt, a towel, Lava magazine, a power shake mixture, a small box of Wheaties Fuel cereal, Clif Shot Blocks, 2 packets of Lift Off and a tube of Aquaphor Healing Ointment. Nice. From there I went to take in the course talk which was pretty basic and then to the expo. I hate the expo. Well not really, but it always means I get to drool over stuff I want but can't get or I end up getting stuff which costs me. Today it cost me. I've been looking for a transition bag but one that wasn't just a backpack. Well I found it. It is so technical it makes my head spin. It's by a French company called Gyst and rather then trying to describe it it's easier to just visit gystconcept.com for details. Anyway, I got it, the backpack 1-10 model. Next on my agenda was to look at the run route. The run is a 5 km 2 loop route which until the time I saw it, I thought was flat. Not so much. So it's 2.5 km out to a turn around, back for 2.5 km and repeat. It's a gently rising first 1.5 km and a flat last .5 km with a .5 km long wall that needs climbing in between. Let me tell you, this thing was hard to walk up! If I was riding up it on my bike I might be tempted to use my small ring up front! This is not going to be fun, it's going to hurt. I walked the 2.5 km out and back and then got into the car to head to see the swim start. I figured that I'd go back to the house first though to get my bike and ride there. I was planning on riding to the start in the morning so I wouldn't have parking problems and I wanted to get an idea of how long it would take. I got to the house, grabbed the P3 and off I went ..... for about 10 feet. Something was rubbing. I didn't have this when I test rode the bike this morning, what was going on? The brakes? I checked them, no. Could it be a tire on the frame? They looked ok, I spun the wheels and they spun freely. WTF? I checked a little closer and it looked like it could possibly be the rear tire was too close to the curved seat tube and may have been rubbing when I sat on the bike. So I pulled the rear skewer out to adjust the limiting screw in the dropouts and HOLY CRAP, the one screw looked mangled. What the hell happened? No idea but here it was 4:00 pm the night before the race and now what? Well in theory the skewer holds the wheel in place, all the screws do is set the distance for the wheel to the seat tube. I made a few adjustments, eyeballed the straightness of the wheel and locked it in place. It all seemed well so I rode down to the beach to look around and time the trip there. Only 15 minutes, not too bad. I got back to the house and I remembered that Triathlon Lab was in the area so I jumped in the car, got out the GPS for directions and took off. I made it to the store just as they were closing and explained my situation and they told me they didn't have any of the screws but also confirmed that once the skewer locked the wheel in place the screws didn't do anything. While I was in the store I asked if they had any in-line shift adjusters that Chris has on his shifter cables and the techie pulled out a couple and handed to me. No charge. I think he may have felt sorry for me and my mangled screw woes. I didn't spend too much more time in the store because I was starting to drool again and got worried I'd start spending money so I headed back to the house and had one more thing to do before trying to relax. I got out all the gear I'd need in the morning and at T1 and packed it into my new transition bag. Race day tomorrow.