a 4 sport weekend

I started out the weekend the best possible way - for me - I went skiing at Alpental with my brother Kelly. There is soo much snow it blows me away. I have skied at Alpental for a long time and know all the details of the mountain but shoots are filled in, runs are less steep, the entrance to International is a breeze. But even with all the snow I felt completely at home on the mountain. I took a bunch of photos and video just to capture everything so I could take it home with me. Especially the little things like the sound of the chair lift and the amount of snow covering a band of cliffs on a run. Kelly was nice enough to take a video of me skiing :)

We skied half the day and really the only reason I left was so I had something left in my legs to run later in the day. I hope some day I feel the same way about swimming, biking and running but at the same time maybe I never will. There is just something about skiing and everything related that is so special to me.

Okay enough about how much I love skiing lol. In the evening after a bit of rest and refueling Kyle had to take his bike into Speedy Reedy so I talked him into running a 7 mile loop around greenlake - well a 6 mile lop with an added mile. It worked out really well he went easy and I went moderate to keep up with him. I love it when I get a chance to train with him - our athletic interests is what brought us together in the first place. In all we ran the 7 miles in 56 min and I felt really strong even though I had skied earlier and my legs were a bit tired to start. My calves were a bit tight so I wore compression calves to bed which seemed to help a lot because they were not as sore in the morning.

This morning while Kyle played with bikes some more I went for a swim - I was just happy it was only 2500 yds and not another crazy 2700 to 3000 one. Otherwise the swim just felt okay nothing really special just got it done.

Next up was a bike ride - again it was just Kyle and I. I did not really want to do 2:30 bike ride by my self so I sort of had to tag along with Kyle and his work out. He compromised and assured me he would go easy on me and not completely run me into the ground or leave me. We decided to ride out to Snoqualmie falls but to cut miles just ride out on Hwy 202 and skip going over the plateau and going through Carnation. He wanted to try and get 60 on his new bike and I knew that was not going to happen for me so depending on how he felt he could always add on miles at the end.
First off super bad timing going through Marymoor Park - traffic was horrible because Corteo Cirque du Soleil is in town and we were going through the park as people were coming for the midday show. It took forever and was kind of sketchy with all the cars. Once on 202 I just hung on to Kyle's wheel figuring it was safer for us to be together. It was relatively flat with only a few little rollers. It gave me a great opportunity to spend some time down in my aero bars and just spun - which my legs appreciated. We did not really have to climb until we got to the bottom of Snoqualmie falls. The climb was great - my legs were warmed up and just cruised up - even passed a guy :) I pushed my self a little harder than I expected but my legs felt so good. We stopped at the top and looked at the falls and all that.

Both Kyle and I were hungry so we decided to ride up to Snoqualmie ridge to get lunch and some coffee. I took this second climb nice and easy just spun the entire way. We stopped first at Starbucks then I was craving french fries so we went to a burger joint up there - took almost an hour lunch. Then headed back down. We planned on just going back the way we came but some bug got into me and I decided I wanted to go up the stair step hill instead. No clue why but I did and of course Kyle was game. He cruised up it crazy fast and I just took my time and did not push it to much. The rest of the ride home was uneventful -except that of course it had to start raining the last 5 miles.
I knew I was way over my scheduled time but I figured that in the end it would be good training for Hawaii.. I also knew I would get a reprimand from Coach at some point (and already did) but I was was enjoying being on my bike. I spend lots of time running and never feel like I get enough time on my bike especially since every time I ride I feel stronger. Yes I know I have a half marathon next weekend but in reality Hawaii 70.3 is important to and I will be good the rest of the week - I promise. Lots of healthy food, rest and mental training this week to get ready to race. In the end it was 55ish miles in 3:33 ride time and great confidence builder for me. I started strong and ended strong - and did not feel like I over did it.
I took an ice bath as soon as I got home, then a hot shower, put on my compression calves on again, and took a little nap. Had a good dinner, put my feet up for a little while and now off to bed to get some recovery sleep and dream of skiing ;)

moderate

It was just sort of an ok week nothing special - I got all my training in and everything but never really felt stellar. Just sort of got it done kind of week I guess. One of the goals was to get 3 work outs for each sport - so far I have 2 done sp I just have to get a swim, bike and run in this weekend.
Let see Monday I had off as a rest day. tuesday I ran at lunch and the swam 3000 yds - by the end I was a complete prune and was exhausted. Wednesday I rode to and from work - 5 min faster on the way in than the last time and 5 min slower on the way home because of baseball traffic. Thursday morning I had pilates with lots of jumping and worked on rotation a lot. In the evening I ran with 2 min hill repeated 4 times - I choose a good long hill for the repeats but the rest of my route was also hilly and shorter than I expected so I had to run in circles a bit to get the full 5 miles. I was so beat I could have drank a gallon of chocolate milk afterwards. Tonight I swam again - not quite as far but for the first time Coach had me do intervals - 200 in 3:45 and I could just not do it - I was 3 seconds over both times and I was going at full effort. I was just not really feeling it tonight.

Now what I am excited about is tomorrow I'm going skiing at Alpental with my brother. Alpental has always been my winter home away from home. I just love the place. It is where I always feel myself, I spent a lot of time with my Dad there, I met Kyle there, it has a very special place in my heart. And I have not gotten in very many days of skiing this year - of all years when they had amazing snow all winter. It may not be the best timing for my other training but I feel the need to go up and be in the snow.

Other thoughts these days is that Vancouver Half Marathon is next weekend and Hawaii 70.3 is a MONTH away.. Only a month!! I feel like I need more time to be more prepared. I don't feel ready even though I am way stronger than I was last year at this time but still.. Now I can't wait to go to Hawaii and spend some time in the warm sunny weather but I don't exactly feel ready to race. I want to be faster - way faster than last year. I was injured last year and had to walk almost the entire half marathon - so I feel like I need to prove something this year. So I have a month to get my head ready to race. I know my body is in way better shape and I can do it. I just need to get my head screwed on right.
The mental game is defiantly my greatest weakness - I have gotten better at staying confident during training but the stress and expectations of racing still messes with me. Vancouver will be a good test not only for my legs but also for my head. I know I can run faster I just have to believe it, stick to it and not give up mid-race.

Okay with that I'm off to get my ski and run stuff together for tomorrow. How does a ski to run brick sound :)

strong run in the wind

This morning may not have been my best morning but my weekend was actually pretty good. Well both Friday and Sunday I was supposed to get a ride in and did not but I'm letting it go. I'm working on a solution - most likely a CycleOps fluid trainer (I would have got one tonight but all local REIs were sold out can you believe it). Anyway so the bike thing should get better.
Saturday after doing house stuff - while the guys watched the Seahawks game and Colleen was on her trainer I went for an 8 mile run. It was crazy windy - it felt like I had a head or side wind for 6 out of the 8 miles which sucked. Otherwise my only thing was that my right foot was sensitive and kind of hurt most of the run. I'm not really sure what caused the flare up, maybe skiing but I'm not sure anyway. I'm pretty used to running with it and it never got higher than a 5ish on the 1-10 pain scale so no big deal. I was sort of pleasantly surprised by my time (I did not always stop my watch at stops either) - I finished the 8 miles in 1:09:44. So my run in getting faster :) About 20 min after the run my right foot really hurt - I had to limp it was horrible (7 out of 10). Luckily it sort of faded as the night went on. But still not a good sign.

My new Fischer Vision Zeal fat skies showed up on Friday and we managed to get them mounted by Saturday night so I had to go test them out Sunday morning up at Alpental. Kyle was still recovering from his Strep throat the week before so I went up by myself - not my favorite but I understood his reason and I really wanted to try the skis out. I left super early to beat traffic and get there before the lifts opened. It was snowing the whole drive up. Got in line took a few runs on the lower mountain before chair 2 opened up. The skis are good - sadly the conditions could have been better - it was 4 inches of power on top of crust/ice so my fatties were not the best. I sort of wished I had my race skis with me. Oh well they still handled pretty well on the groomed. Chair 2 opened and the clouds started to part as I headed up the mountain. It was perfect.The conditions were a bit better up top and I found some untracked areas which is always fun. After about 6 runs up top I got kind of bored skiing by myself so I did one last run down international and headed home for the day. All in all got some good exercise and I like my new skies (really look forward to skiing them on some softer snow).

Tonight since I could not get a trainer on my way home I went to the pool. It was way more crowded then I like but I felt tired and just wanted to accomplish something training wise today. So I got 2000yrds done - I managed to do six 100s each under 1:50 so I was happy with that since I feel so out of it.

last days of 2007

Yesterday I decided to ride my single speed to the west side of I-90 bridge from my house so that I could figure out my bike route to work. I could have taken my road bike but I was in no hurry and did not want to get it dirty since it looked like it would rain so I took the single. It was not the easiest ride to do on a single - it is pretty much rolling hills the entire way. Totally no big deal on my road bike with all its gears but on the single I was standing a lot to climb and I just could not go as fast even on the flatter sections. It took me about an hour to reach the west side on I-90 bridge. I had to take a picture to prove I did it :)
The ride back was pretty low key though I started to see other people out on their bikes. There was one really steep hill in the eastgate area that just plain sucked but otherwise the ride was not to bad. The worst part was my toes froze - I had toe covers but for some reason I did not put toe warmers in and by the time I got home they were ice cubes. I took a really long very hot shower and took a short nap. It was a good day :)

Today Kyle and I went skiing. It is so strange because we have not been free skiing in the last few years and last year we both were just burnt out on it - but both of us were really excited to go up and free ski on our home hill. We both pretty much grew up at Alpental skiing, we met skiing at Alpental, and the first winter we knew each other we spent all our time skiing together there. So It was really fun to go up and just go skiing to have fun. The day was perfect mostly sunny but still cold so the snow was dry (well dry for western washington). My new fat skis have not shown up yet so I skied on my "spoons" (slalom skis with really big tips). Kyle was nice enough to not rub it in that he had his fat skis and skied his new progressors (a cross between a gs and slalom ski).
We did not waste any time on the lower mountain and went straight up to chair 2 - who really needs a warm up lol. There was a bit of a line but nothing to bad (just always go to the far left - it is way faster).
We wound up skiing the top of the mountain most of the day. Kyle found a cliff or two to jump and we skied some of our favorite runs that even at the end of the day still have untracked snow :) Every run made me happy. It felt so good to be on skis again. I was surprised how good my legs felt - the first run my quads were a bit sore from my ride but after that it went away and I felt great.My form was good - I could have been more forward but I had to keep my tips from going under to much - I found my rhythm and had a blast. For our last run we skied all the way down via International and then Felsen.
When I was an instructor I would try and get 2 run tops to bottom non stop in during lunch (good memories). The entrence is always crap but the rest of it was good - really good coverage for this time of year.



I have to say it was really fun to do something that I'm good at - I mean I always feel like I'm so far behind on swim/bike/run stuff but skiing I have done since I was really little and now it is just easy and very natural. Maybe if I'm lucky someday I will feel the same when it comes to triathlon. It is also a nice plus that Kyle and I are pretty much equals at skiing so we can easily ski together - whereas he is much faster than me on a bike or running which makes it hard to train together.
I wore my garmin for fun and just let it run the whole time we skied. My heart rate stays pretty low - good base training - which explains why I always lost so much weight every winter.

In all the last day of 2007 was a Very good day.

2008 goals coming soon - I register for Vineman today :)

watch your step

The weekend flew by.. Saturday I went up to Hyak and coached skiing - though there was a mix up or bad planning and I really did not need to be there. Super annoying but oh well I could have run a 10k with kyle but whatever it was a relatively nice day... I had planned on getting a swim in afterwards but instead I fell asleep on the coach for 2 plus hours..
Sunday I did not bother going up to coach - so I tried to sleep in and then watched the Seahawks game - which was disappointing... My calves were/are sore and I feel kind of tired still. In the evening Kyle and I went swimming together :). The plan was to do somewhere between 1600 and 1800 yrds total depending on how we felt.
warm up 300
drills 200
300
200
150 x 2
100 x 3
50 x 4
Total 1800 yrds Total time around 45 min
I felt ok - kind of tired and I had a really bad headache. I averaged between 55 - 60 second per 50 yrds and tried to stay focused the entire time - no spacing out... After doing my main sets I goofed off and practiced flip turns and stuff with Kyle. It made my weekend to get to swim/workout with Kyle - we never get to spend enough time doing things together.
Hopefully this week I will really get rid of the last of this dumb cold and the snow/ice will melt so I don't fall again going to the mail box. I bruised my elbow and my hip (not fun). It is strange but I'm soo ready for warm dry weather again.

starting 2007 right

Friday I was bad and let the stress from not knowing the status of my job keep me from doing my workout. I kind of broke down and the only thing I did was have a massage - but I had no motivation to do much of anything else. I felt/feel bad about how sporadic I have been on my work outs lately. I should not let this other stuff get in the way esp since I have no control over it and I do have control over if I do my work outs.

I sort of made up for the missed work out by skiing on Saturday and Sunday - well more specifically I worked/coached for a ski race both days which involves being on the hill by 7am, caring gear, setting up girls and guys courses, maintaining both, resetting for second run, maintaining, then pulling everything down - no real breaks and you eat a lunch on the go. Saturday was giant slalom, it was super cold and the fog never really cleared, the courses held up fairly well considering the snow was so soft (not ideal for racing). I don't think I ate enough - I had a bad headache all day (like if I don't eat after a run). We got home around 5:30 or so and even though I had wanted to go for a swim to make up for Friday and to loosen up after shivering all day I fell asleep on the coach around 7p and was in bed by 9pm.
Sunday was slalom - always more work involved - the snow was so soft we had to put wood shims/wedges on all the gates just to try and keep them in the snow. I covered the last 20 gates or so of the hill - so if a gate came loose I ran up or down to it wrenched/screwed it back in and tried to make it stay that way. The girls courses held up ok - only the first 40 girls or so really even hit the gates hard enough to make them come loose. But the guys really beat up a course - the gates just did not stay tight no matter how many wedges I put in or how much I wrenched them in. So I would say Sunday was equal to climbing stairs from 9 am to 4pm in ski boots. I was actually surprised at how easy it was - I was able to run up the hill with out breathing to hard (I guess that is why I got to cover so many gates). Though by 2pm or so I was tired and had already taken my two gels, a bar and my lunch - but no headache :). I think the new Accelerade gels - helped keep me from getting a headache - not to thick, taste good and have protein. The good thing was all that running up and down kept me way warmer even though the temps were lower. But the bad thing was by the end of the day my feet and calves killed (from using my boot to bang in the wedges and ski boots are not really meant for running up and down hills all day). I was completely exhausted. I trided to stay up for New Years but fell asleep around 9pm - Kyle woke me up at 12 to say happy new year and we were both back asleep :)
Today I woke up not being able to walk because my calves hurt so I stayed in bed till 9 or so. I thought about swimming today instead of the planned 4-5 mile run but it bothered me so much to miss my work out on Friday, so even though it hurt to walk I went out and did a 4.4 mile run. I ran 2.2 miles down hill to my dads house and then 2.2 miles back up hill to get home. My calves did ok on the run down hill, but the bone spur on my heel was already raw and kind of hurt, my legs just felt heavy. The run back was very hard - it is a gradual long hill back and my calves and hamstrings just plain hurt but I kept going and kept my pace up as much as I could. My total time was 32.16.53 - 1st half was 14.16 and the 2nd was 18.00.53. Afterwards I stretched and had a smoothie. Even though I am tired and very sore I'm very happy I actually made it out and did my run :) In the future I'm not so sure about doing a run the day after skiing for 2 days straight.

coaching camp

My legs are definitely not ready for ski season. It did not help that my foot hurt pretty bad and my quad was a little weak. But I survived the first day - I don't know about tomorrow.
Notes: I need to work on keeping upper body down the hill, increasing angles, move hips and body more aggresively down the hill, use the tip of the skis to intiate the turn more. Make sure I push on the front through the intiation. Seperate stages of the turn more.

But what is important is that I have committed to coaching at least 4 days a month so either a weekend or two or coaching Wednesday night training (doesn't start till January-March). I think this should be ok, I need to figure out now when I definitely want to be off - for training/events or whatever.