i bike. i run.

I squeezed in a 40 mile bike ride on Friday. I headed out from my place through Crow Canyon to connect to Tassajara and then took Danville Blvd up north. I had no plan of where to go. I passed Rudgear and realized the bike lane soon ended towards South Main. Since I didn't want to go to downtown, I took a detour to Olivia and Lindsay's place. I soon turned around because I had no idea where I was going. I headed back and by the time I hit Bollinger I was way short in miles. I decided to continue to ride down to Dublin and then turned back up north. The ride wasn't easy as I again rode through a lot of headwinds. What's up with the winds this month?

On Saturday, I met up with Lynsey for her 19-miler. My plan was to do just 8 miles because I had to be somewhere later in the morning.. So she incorporated the John Muir 8 mile loop into her run. When I arrived at 7:40 am, I was tired, sleepy, and sore from yesterday's ride. Within 2 miles, I was in my groove. I finished the 8 mile loop and since I still had more than enough time left, I told Lynsey I could do another 2 with her. So I was able to finish with a total of 10.

Wind Resistance

After 8 days without running, I headed out to Harbor Bay Ferry Terminal after work. It was much cooler than the last couple days. In fact it was way windy. I think I did 3 of the 4 miles in fierce winds. I actually liked the challenge because I know in the long run, it'll make me that much stronger of a runner. So wind resistance is good. Finished 4 miles in 36:22 (9:05/mile).

Back to Reality

Coachella was awesome. Unfortunately I couldn't get any exercise in during the getaway, unless you count the calf workout I got for standing hours and hours on end. Today I had to get myself back to the workout routine. The swim was rough. Perhaps it had to do with the hot 90 degree weather at the time of my swim or all the junk food I ate. It was so hot that the typical moist paper workout plan I stick onto the side of the pool, had dried up and floated away. Fortunately I found it and reapplied it at the edge bend. The workout was so tough, I had to cut 300 yards out of the workout. Today's workout:

Warm Up:
6 x 75 LVL 2 (20" RI)

Main Set:
2 x 200 LVL 4 (20" RI)
1 x 100 LVL 6 (20" RI)
2 x 200 LVL 4 (20" RI)
1 x 100 LVL 6 (20" RI)
1 x 300 LVL 4 (30" RI)
1 x 100 LVL 5

Cool Down:
8 x 25 LVL 2 (5" RI)

Total yards: 2050 yards

Holy Headwinds Batman!

After work, I went out for a run with Rocky and Claudia at good 'ol Lake Merritt. Never have I ever encountered such headwinds. Much more fierce than the headwinds in Alameda Ferry Terminal. There was a moment where the wind caught my visor and almost snapped my head back. Still I pushed through it "because I can" as I thought of Brenda. Today marks the 2nd year since her passing. If you haven't already, go sign up for her memorial 5K run/walk this Sunday. It's sure to be a very special event.

Tired.

I do enjoy the flexibility of training on my own. I still have a schedule I need to follow, but it's so much easier to move things around. On Friday, I went for a 40 mile bike ride. I went from San Ramon to Livermore. While the ride was not challenging in climbs, the headwinds made for one tough ride. A good 75% of the ride was headwind. It's not fair pedaling your ass off on the easiest gear going down the steepest descent.

Unfortunately, I didn't properly plan for this ride. I was wanting to do something less in distance and had only packed enough food/fuel for 2 hours of riding. I ended up going 3 hours or so. I didn't have enough electrolytes to finish the ride and I surely felt it. About the last 5 miles, my quads were cramping like a mo-fo. Particularly during climbing, it felt like with each pedal stroke down someone was giving me a giant charlie horse on the quads. All I could say was "owie, owie." I didn't want to stop pedaling because I knew my quads would instantly lock up and I would be in much bigger pain. Meanwhile I was thinking how I was going to be able to run on Saturday. I finished the ride, but was very tired.

On Saturday, I met up with Lynsey since she was doing her 18-miler. I told her previously I would run 8 miles with her. Of course after Friday's ride, all bets were off. Fortunately we were running at a nice comfortable pace. Time flew and before I knew it, I was close to the 8 miles. I still had some fuel and was feeling great so I told her, i'd do a couple more miles. Somehow I kept going and ended up doing another 2 miles. By the end my legs were very fatigued. Still i'm amazed how I can make myself do more than what I had intended. Because it seems like more often than not, I end up doing less that what I had planned.

Me Swim For Long Time

I swam on Wednesday night and remembered how long some swim workouts were. It took me about an hour to finish this one. Mainly because the workout was so warm-up heavy and involved a lot of drills Still I managed to finish the workout even to the very last minute left until closing time. The workout:

Warm Up:
200 LVL2, 200 Kick, 200 LVL2 (20" RI)
150 LVL2, 150 Kick, 150 LVL 2

Main Set:
4 x (25 LVL4, 25 Side Body Balance Position) 20" RI
200 LVL4 Negative Splits 30" RI
4 x (25 LVL4, 25 Finger Tip Drill) 20" RI
200 LVL4 Negative Splits 30" RI
4 x (25 LVL4, 25 Distance Per Stroke) 20" RI
100 LVL4 Negative Splits

Cool Down:
100 LVL1

Total Distance: 2250 Yards

Back to Back

I think my body is getting use to back-to-back weekend workouts again. Saturday was the Calaveras bike ride. I went for 43 miles and the Calaveras climb didn't seem as long as it use to. Does that mean i'm getting faster or i'm no longer fooled by thinking each turn is the top of the summit? The lower back was all good. Rand, the Aria fit expert suggested I ease into the mileage and climbing. So I did and it paid off. En route to Calaveras I must have hit part of the Cinderella ride because a few of the female riders had asked if I was one of the Prince Charmings. Now i'm curious to know what a Prince Charming is suppose to do. The ride went well.

Sunday was the big Brickyard race. It was 8 miles of rolling hills. I equate it to the Redwood run. Still I had not done any hill training in a long time, so it was going to be interesting. The view was very scenic. The hills were tough. It probably would be something more fun to do on the bike. I jammed through the first 2 miles. I figured I was going too fast so I eased up the next 4 miles. By mile 6, my legs were heavy and tired. The miles seemed longer, but in actuality I was doing okay. I finished the 8 miles in 1:15:45 (9:28/mile). Here's the breakdown:

Mile 01 - 9:35
Mile 02.25 - 11:31
Mile 03 - 7:59
Mile 04 - 9:46
Mile 05 - 8:57
Mile 06 - 9:40
Mile 07 - 9:48
Mile 08 - 8:36

Served Again!

Seriously? Why is this speedy lady always in the lane next to me? Well she did her thing and lapped me so many times. Meanwhile I tried to do my thing. At one point, I thought I had finally figured out the proper swimming technique. It's a guessing game. I'm basically making up new forms to fool myself that i'm swimming correctly. I should probably hire a swim coach. Well I gutted out the swim lesson anyways. Tonight's workout:

Warm Up:
300 LVL2
2 x (50 LVL2, 50 Kick, 50 LVL2, 50 Finger Tip Drill) 20" RI

Main Set:
400 LVL3
300 LVL5 (20" RI)
300 LVL3 (20" RI)
200 LVL5 (20" RI)
200 LVL7 (25" RI)
100 LVL5 (20" RI)
100 LVL3

Cool Down:
100 Form

Total Distance = 1900 yards