Being that running isn’t my strongest activity and that I have been suffering quite a bit with the long runs, I didn’t expect to do anything special on this run.  In the past, I tended to average the 10K in about 66 minutes or about a 10:40/mi pace.  But on this race I was feeling pretty good and I paced myself with some slightly faster runners.  The end result was that I maintained a 9:33/mi pace and completed the 10K in 59:53 — my first time completing a 10K under an hour!  It was great to set a new PR!

The course started at the east end of Los Pensaquitos Canyon, and we rode inland to Pomerado, then north to Rancho Bernardo. Then a cruise through Fairbanks Ranch, and back to Los Pensaquitos by taking the 56 bike path.  A fun route with some rolling hills.  

It was drizzling at the meet-up point.  We debated if it was going to burn off or get worse, but Trent decided that we will go ahead with the ride.  The roads were somewhat slick with a light misting so we had to be extra careful and avoid the paint whenever possible.  At the second stop light, I ended up with a slow-motion-can’t-unclip-fast-enough fall because my chain came off the sprocket.   Not a great way to start the ride, but it was the first time that I had fall this season.  Once I got my chain back on and checked over everything, I was back on the ride.

Once we were a little bit in-land, things dried out a bit.  It would have been nice but we managed to get stuck at nearly every stoplight on Pomerado.  Once we crossed back over to the west side of IH-15, we into the drizzle again which stuck with us for the rest of the ride.

After the ride, we hit the trails for a run.  Goal was 60 minutes or more.  Since it was drizzling, it was cool and made for a nice, but somewhat muddy run.  

In all, just over 41 miles with 2500′ of climbing on the bike in 3 hr 9 min and 6.2 miles on the run in 1 hr 10 min.

Bike: Elevation versus Heart Rate

Run: Elevation versus Heart Rate

Ran almost 7 miles along Lake Hodges.  It was a typical warm and sunny San Diego afternoon so I was looking forward to enjoying the quiet but scenic route. Recently the the new pedestrian/bike bridge over the lake was completed, so it is now easy to get to the north shore of the lake from Rancho Bernardo park.  Wanting to check out the bridge, I made my way to Bernardo Summit.

Most of the trails on the south side are wide and mostly dirt, but heading up Bernardo Summit was rocky and narrow.  It was a good climb, and I went up about 600′ up before I hit the halfway point of my run.  Next time I will go longer and head up to the top — if I can find the correct trail. My pace was slow on the way up, 12.5 min/miles, and I am not really fond of hills.  

The way down was much faster, I cruised down at at < 10 min/mile pace, which is great for me.  It might have been a bit too fast as near the bottom, my foot caught a rock and I fell forward.  Nearly a full face plant, but I managed to break my fall with my hands with only a few scrapes.

Getting ready

Time for the start

Out of the water

Transition to the bike

Run transition

Strong finish!

After everyone completed the practice tri, we all had a nice breakfast put on by the Coaches, mentors, and support staff!

Post-tri breakfast and pre-Wildflower talk

Around noon I decided to head out for a ride up the coast. I did 28 miles in 2 hours, going from La Jolla Shores to Encinitas and back. I wanted to go to Carlsbad, but there was the Encinitas Street Fair going on, so I cut my ride short.

Torrey Pines State Beach

The weather was a little bit cooler than it has been,  but it made for a great run.  Off the trails, the view of the ocean was incredible. Torrey Pines is such a great place to run and bike.

The group started out at a fast pace, but things settled into about a 10 minute mile.  That was a bit too fast for me, so I dropped back and settled into about a 11:30 minute mile.

Made my way down the hill to the bottom, and then turned around and made my way back up.  At the top, I continued to where we started and forgot to make a second pass on the trails.  My mileage ended up being only 5.65 miles instead of the 7 miles that everyone else did…

My fitness is getting better and the run felt ok overall.  My HR remained high while heading back up the hill, but it is not as dramatic as it has been on previous runs.

So tonight I forced myself to get out and get some miles in and skipped spin and swim.  I completed a base building run of just over 5 miles in 56 minutes giving me an average pace of just under 11 minutes. I was able to maintain a fairly steady pace for the entire run though again my heart rate crept up towards the end as I became more tired (though it was slightly up hill!).  I am going to need to kick it up a bit over the next few weeks.   

Run profile

Tomorrow is a team run and I am going to set another goal of 5 miles but I also don’t want to kill myself before the hard ride on Saturday.  There are just not enough days in the week to get all the training in and allow my body the time it needs to recover…

Go Team!

Conditioning my body to run after a long ride is still something that I struggle with, even after training a number of seasons for triathlons.  It does get easier, but it still takes time for me to get get adjusted mentally and physically.  If I am not too tired from the bike, I seem to transition into my run pace after about a mile, but when I get beat up on a ride, my struggle seems to go on for many miles.

I took a number of pictures, but I did not get them uploaded yet due to lack of time.

I will get back on track on Wednesday with Spin and Swim.  Tuesday night I am going to run.

I also look forward to these breaks to catch on all the things that pile up during the week and to spend time with friends and family.  I am not really competitive and I typically finish an event around the middle of my age bracket so these recovery days go a long way to keep me in balance with work and personal life.

Tomorrow we have “brick” workouts — bike rides followed by runs.  These condition our bodies to transition from biking into running as there is a tendency to feel like a pretzel after riding a long distance.  Depending on which team I train with tomorrow (olympic or half), I will either be doing short brick “repeats” or a long 35-45 mile ride followed by a 20 minute run.

Either way, it will be a good training day if the weather holds up.

We also got word that our first ocean swim day on Sunday has been postponed until the following Sunday.  I was really looking forward to getting into the ocean though the water temp is only in the mid-50s.  Oh well…