TorreyPines, that is…
Today we hit the infamous Torrey Pines hill for some strength work and practice for the elevation profile for Wildflower. A wonderfully perfect day it was, sunny and warm, with a nice on-shore breeze.
Climbing Torrey Pines
Torrey Pines is a wonderful and popular hill to ride in San Diego. Many pro and amateur athletes have made the trek up Torrey Pines as part of their training. I have made the Torrey Pines climb many times in the past and it is something that I seem to enjoy more now than in the past. Much of the climb is simply mind over matter and keeping focused on climbing to the top.
As I was working with the Wildflower Olympic team today, the goal was to complete at least 4 repeats — a decent amount of climbing for the day. The Wildflower Long-coure and Vineman teams had an easy ride up the coast instead of focusing on the hills.
Unofficially, I am acting as photographer for the team. I might need to get a helmet-cam for some good action shots… Take a look at the photos from today’s training!
Go Team!
I am off in London for the week on business travel. I am going to skip the swim sessions and the run but I hope to get a run or two in while on the trip…
Today I am mentoring with the Vineman team and we are heading up the coast for a 35 mile ride. The course is from Carmel Valley to Carlsbad and back, along Pacific Coast Highway. I always love riding the coast, though there are some places such as Del Mar and Encinitas where there is a lot of traffic to deal with.
We completed the ride in just over 2 and 1/2 hours — a decent pace and distance for today!
Go team!
It was a nice run tonight. Almost 4 miles and I feel great. The air was cool but not cold, no rain and generally very pleasant.
We had a good turnout from the team tonight as well — it is great to see everyone working so hard!
Go Team!
So I switched over from using Google’s Blogger to WordPress. I am impressed with the flexibility and how easy it was to get going.
Yesterday I did both a bike ride and a spin. They have different goals and impact and the training profiles are vastly different.
On a normal ride, the speed (blue line), elevation, and heart-rate (red line) vary greatly, while during spin, we focus on cadence and strength using interval training. I enjoy the rides more than spin, but the constantly changing elevation in really skews my heart-rate.
Go Team!
Feeling the need to get some mileage in on the bike, I went for a ride with a co-worker during lunch. We rode from the office, down to the coast and back, just about 15 miles in the 60 minutes we were out. A good place to build the endurance.
I felt pretty good after the ride, though I did drag a little for the rest of the day at work. I made it down to La Jolla High School to go to the swim session and decided to do Spin with the team before the swim.
It was a good spin with Coach Keith and it really worked me hard. This was the first spin class I have been to in more than 18 months! The joys of high-cadence drills and ILTs (individual leg torture) rapidly flashed back into my head. Forty-five minutes of spin was tough!
A pleasant surprise was seeing one of my old coaches, Gurujan show up for the spin and swim. He is coaching the Lavaman team this season.
I ended up wimping out and not getting into the pool. I was tired and cold so I took a few pictures of the team and then went home after everyone started the swim drills.
I was wiped out by the time I got home. I guess the nearly 2 hours on the bike took a greater toll than I expected. I have a long way to go to get up to the level I need to be at for Vineman.
My appreciation for what Alfred (and others fighting cancer) has to face was only further re-enforced. The struggle they face is so overwhelming! I had the option of skipping swim because I was too tired, Alfred doesn’t have the option of skipping Chemo or seeing the doctor…
Go Team!
Brrr! It was really cold tonight. Or at least cold for San Diego. A cold front blew through over the weekend and today it was 52° tonight and the winds were blowing like crazy. Not as many showed up for practice tonight as expected, but then again, it was a bit cold.
Instead of the drills, I focused on re-building my base and slugged out 650 yards before I got too cold and tired.
Most of the motivation I have for trying to complete the Vineman 70.3 comes from our honored teammates. For this season, it is an honor to train for Alfred Duron, who this past December, found out that is he has lymphoma and is Stage IV. Stage IV is the worst it can get – it means that the cancer has spread to multiple organs or parts of the body. For many, it is a death sentence. But Alfred’s spirit is strong and his determination to conquer the disease is great. I am honored to support him and the other 50,000 people and their families that will have to face some kind of blood related cancer. As I get to know Alfred better, I am humbled by his strength and determination — and his positive outlook. I hope that my time, energy, and fundraising for Team In Training will make the impact that Alfred needs. So please make a tax-deductable donation and help me make that impact!
It has been fairly stormy this weekend but the gamble to move the bike to Sunday afternoon seems to have paid off. It turned out to be a fairly nice day, though a bit windy and slightly chilly (for San Diego).
The olympic team was doing some short loops to practice passing and changing gear. We were supposed to do five loops, but I ended up doing six. Total mileage was only 11.05 miles, however, so that means that I am short at least 10 miles from what the Vineman team was doing today. I am going to have to make it up somewhere — maybe at spin class on Wednesday.
Go Team!
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