On Saturday we faced the “Great Western Loop” twice! It was warm and very windy thanks to the Santa Ana conditions.  I wondered if our coaches made special arrangements to have the winds delivered!

The goals were to treat this like how the bike portion of IMNZ would be.  Two loops, with

Ready to tackle the Double GWL!

minimal SAG stops.  Carrying enough nutrition and hydration on the bike turned out to be an interesting problem to solve.  Recently I switched to Hammer Perpetuem Cafe Latté (protein and carbs) which really seems to be working well for me as it has a, so I setup 2 bottles of 550 cals each, and had two ready in my “special needs” bag for the half-way point.  Also had a bottle of Cytomax (carbs) and a bottle of plain water to ensure I had enough hydration.  Throw in a dozen electrolyte tablets and 8 SportsLegs to balance the heat and in the event that liquid nutrition wasn’t working for me, I had Cheez-its, RedVines, and Fig Newtons stuffed in my Bento box

The ride was very tough mentally and physically!  The first loop was difficult enough but the winds really picked up during the second loop making the long uphill climbs feel like I was attempting to ride up a wall.  I elected to use my new Cervelo P2 which isn’t geared the best for this much climbing and I was grinding all the way up both loops.  I persevered, faced the wind demons and made it through the hills.  My P2 was an advantage on the flats with the winds and being aero saved my legs a bit.  And with all that climbing up, the downhills were a blast and the scenery was beautiful!

A long and slow 90.2 miles and 8200′ feet of climbing later, I was relieved that it was over.  It seems I had enough nutrition where I didn’t bonk, but I probably should have taken in more fluids due to the heat, winds, and very low humidity.  The ride was excellent conditioning for the race!

I expected to be very sore and uncomfortable on the run, but surprisingly, I felt strong, without much soreness.  I was still tired from yesterday’s training so keeping my HR down in zone 2 was tough.  I settled into a 13:40 pace and my HR floated between high zone 2 and low zone 3. I could have slowed my pace down, but feeling as good as I did on the run, I decided to stay at the 13:40 pace. At a 13:45 pace, I am looking at 6 hours to complete the marathon distance portion of IMNZ, a time that I am very comfortable with. The route I took also had about 800′ feet of elevation gain, so my HR would have been lower if I ran a flatter route.

Coach Ginger suggested that I skip the hills and instead ride the coast as I was breaking in a new bike and that I was recovering for a sinus infection.  At the first SAG stop at about mile 20, I told her that I would go up to the bottom of Lake Wohlford Road and see how I felt since everything was good so far.

The ride out to Lake Wohlford was great.  Bike was smooth and comfortable and I felt great.  At the base of Lake Wolhford, I decided to give it a go, and headed up.  Took it nice and slow and paced with teammate Grace.  Kept heart rate fairly low and just took it easy on the climb up.

Hills, yay!

I ended up committing myself to the rest of the ride once I went down from Lake Wohlford and through Valley Center past the Indian casinos.  At the SAG before Coal Grade, I chatted with Coach Steve and Coach Ginger and I decided to give Coal Grade a go. Wow! The first part of Coal Grade was tough.  Teammate Jay said it was a 12% climb and it was a serious challenge on the P2 with the gearing that I had.  I ended up standing for that section of the climb and my heart rate climbed into mid zone-5.  The climb was definitely working me.  The rest of the Coal Grade climb was a more reasonable 6-8% grade.  It felt good to reach the top. From that point, only about 30 miles (mostly downhill) left on the ride and I was still feeling comfortable.

I made it back to Solana Beach after about 6hr 44min of moving time and more than 5500′ of climbing that my Garmin 305 reported.  Other team mates recorded more elevation for the same route, so it was more likely closer to 6500′.  I felt surprisingly good after the ride.  But I still had to follow up with an 60 minute transition run.  The P2 was fantastic and after the grueling ride, I felt so much better than I did on my older road bike!

I did the run at a decent 13:12 pace and felt that I could have run more than 60 minutes.

Ride and run profiles:

Thinking I was on the road to recovery, I was looking forward to getting back into training after New Years.  Unfortunately, my father passed away on New Years’ Eve after a long battle with a terminal disease Multiple Systems Atrophy (MSA).  I travelled back east to be with my family during this very difficult period. My father was a great man and I miss him dearly. I am sad he won’t be able to follow my progress during Ironman New Zealand.  He is much of my inspiration for attempting such a difficult challenge.

While back east, my infection was clearing up so I did manage to get a few good runs in.  No bike or swim, so I am a little behind on that.

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I have logged over 1400 miles riding and running.  And over the past month logged about 20 miles swimming.

We now have about 5 weeks of fairly intense training left, then we start tapering in February.  Only 2 months away from the event!

The workout was Cabrillo Repeats: meeting at Liberty Station, riding up to Cabrillo National Park and then riding up and down to the tide pools on the west shore line six times.  Then ride back to Liberty station and do a 45 minute transition run.  Made for a fun elevation profile and about 3K of climbing over 32 miles.  The most fun was going down the hills where I hit a maximum speed of 40 mph.  Too bad IMNZ isn’t all down hill!

The transition run was pleasant and very flat.  I was able to maintain a decent pace while keeping my HR in zone 2 and I was able to keep it fairly consistent over during the 45 minutes.

The daily schedule challenges, balancing 3 different aspects of life (as well as trying to find time to sleep whenever possible) only serves to remind me how fortunate I really am.

The challenges I face are by my choice.  I can choose to do something or not.  There would likely be consequences if I skipped training or decided to take a break from work.  But the choice still remains.

While on my long 60 mile ride this weekend, I had ample time to reflect on everything going on in my life and then think about those that have been robbed of any choices.  Our honored team-mate, Dave Orlowski, for example.  He didn’t have a choice about cancer.  He doesn’t have a choice to battle his disease.

My father is in a similar place.  He was robbed of choices when he was stricken with Multiple Systems Atrophy.  The life he worked so long and hard for is no longer his to enjoy.

So when the different aspects of my world collide in a spectacular manner, I reflect on the fortune that I have a choice whereas those that I am honouring through my journey to Ironman New Zealand do not.

A winter storm had passed through the day before so it was a bit chilly in the morning.  Broke out the arm warmers, jacket, leggings, and full fingered gloves for the cold weather. Nice amount of climbing, about 4200′ over 45.5 miles of distance and some good grades so it was easy to stay warm going up the hills.  Going down, it was quite chilly but very fast and fun!

For much of the ride I was able to keep my HR sub-lactate on average but it did get a little high on some of the steeper climbs.  Felt good when I did the transition run that followed so I worked the ride at just the right intensity.

The team also was fortunate to be joined for the ride by our honored teammate Dave Orlowski!  Dave introduced himself to the team as many of us haven’t met him before. Dave shared his story, including completing the very first Ironman on February 18, 1978!  In January 2010, Dave was diagnosed with Chronic Lymphonic Leukemia.  Though Dave is battling cancer, it hasn’t stopped him from pursuing challenges and he has completed 18 Ironman competitions.  He embodies everything we are doing as a team and individually — raising $500,000 to help find a cure for blood cancers and completing Ironman New Zealand!

Riding with Dave made a great ride an exceptional one!

Now for the general ride profile: