I received an email from my friend Peggy, the Grand Masters triathlete from Santa Barbara who kicked butt at her seventh Kona Ironman last year. She didn’t send pictures because her kids have yet to teach her how to use a digital camera, but I thought this story was pretty funny.

hi, from new zealand again.  i’m down here getting ready to do the ironman on saturday.  as i write this thursday morning, it’s early afternoon wednesday for you on pacific time. 
" i got down here sunday and did the usual: got a car, meandered down, came to the same low-key lodging about four blocks up from the race site.  all is well.
       this is the fourth time i’ve done this race, and the town is small enough that it’s easy to feel at home.  and very familiar with everything.  last night, as i had friends over to dinner (first timers), i decided i’d better drop the familiarity and get to serious contemplation of race particulars.  i think an IM week usually goes like that for me: great fun, doing this and that, on vacation, to a certain extent.  then i realize that the race is actually in two days and i need to get all details done. 
   an interesting new thing this year is that NZ is in a panic over the spread of some lake and river growth.  and since lake taupo is the biggest, but also their prime sport fishing lake, they’re on a big push to circumvent lake infection.  so each of us had to have our wetsuit dipped in bug killer.  it smelled like mega-lysol.  this turned out to be somewhat of a show.  a dept. of conservation (like a ranger, i guess) did the deed, but with a good deal of panache.  he was about one step short of being a circus barker, and ended each suit dipping by asking if the owner of said suit wished to see pictures of the offending growth….which he had, laminated, right at hand. 
     one thing missing this year is the annual parade of nations, normally done on thursday afternoon before the pasta party.  i don’t know why, but it’s probably an activity with waning interest and involvement.  and, too, after the wild wind storm of 2006, with a move from on-site event tents to events being about 3/4 mile away in a building, i guess the logistics were not going to work out.
     the weather’s about like home, so far.  there’s some rain expected race day, but it probably won’t amount to much.  as long as it isn’t a torrent and/or happens in town (on the bike) where there are several turns, it’s probably fine.  maybe even good as a cooler, since it can get pretty warm and humid out on a long stretch of highway that has a forest on either side.
      after the race i’m planning to do a trip on the top of the south island, on the abel tasman coastal track, and i’m still trying to get those details in order.  just when i think i’ve got it one way, i find out contrary information and have to reconfigure.  i’m currently on plan C.  it’ll all be fine….i just need it done today.
that’s it for now.  all’s well, i’m looking forward to racing.
peggy

In the past I’ve added capital letters to Peggy’s letters, but I am learning to appreciate her protest.

I desperately want to celebrate being home in my own space and the fact that right now my schedule shows no trips until April. The problem is, I have done that same celebration twice now, and every time I do I end up leaving within a week.

I have a new plan: focus on the negatives of being home, and I’ll get stuck here.

1. My room is a mess. In fact, my bag from Hawaii is still sitting partially packed because the space in my closet is filled with all the winter training clothes I had to buy to survive here.
2. It is 20 degrees colder and far more wet than any other place I’ve visited.
3. All that winter clothing adds 10 minutes to the prep time for a ride.
4. My cat puked on my bed while I was gone, and nobody came into my room to see it because there’s a suitcase blocking the entrance.
5. If I’m home I don’t have an excuse for missing class.

Still, a few nice things are hard to ignore.

1. My Family is here
2. I can cook for myself
3. Next to the puke is my kitty, and he’s pretty cute. Maybe even worth cleaning up after.

It’s Friday afternoon. I’m sitting in the Las Vegas airport waiting to board a flight to LA.

Matt Lieto and I arrived Tuesday, which was the first of three sporadic and busy days, tied together only by morning trips to the gym, meals with the K-Swiss marketing staff, and the background noise of slot machines.

I wanted to gamble a bit, but with $10 minimums at the black jack tables the stakes were too high for me (If I don’t know I can win, I don’t like to bet on it). Thursday night while waiting for our dinner companions I put a dollar into a $0.25 machine, and ended up winning $2.75. That’s right, I stuck it to the house!!!

I took my sister’s advice and took my bike up to the red rock park. I have been once before in 2005, but the natural beauty of the place is stunning. The rocks have sharp lines of red, white, and maroon, and the peaks surrounding the red rock valley were dusted with snow. Climbing to the top of the 13 mile park loop I was glad for the incline because it let my eyes wonder from the road and appreciate the scenery. This was one of my best rides of the year; I just wish somebody else had brought a bike to share the experience with me.

Like I said, I’m heading to Los Angeles for the weekend. I was originally going back to Seattle today, but I decided to visit the K-Swiss headquarters in Westlake Village, near Malibu. Tomorrow I’ll be able to ride my bike to Balcon Canyon to watch the tour of California come through. That should be awesome. I’m heading home on Tuesday, just in time for my night class.

Here’s the elevation profile and google map of the ride I did. It was a top three ride for 2008 (once I got out of the developments). Just click on the elevation image to see it full size. Basically, I went up to 4700 feet, then came back down. The way back I averaged over 30 the entire time.

View Larger Map

Because I’m in California, I missed the time trial I was signed up for today. It’s tragedy, but I was able to get my mind off of it with a great trail run in the Santa Monica Mountains.

Brian Davis has been largely absent the last few months from the commentary on this site, but today I sent him an email to see how the Frost Bite Time Trial went. I was expecting a short-but-sweet “fine, but it would have been more fun with you…” or even a “it sucked, you didn’t miss anything” but instead I lucked out with a full race report that I am publishing here without consent.

Hahaha.

I spun a bit too much out of the start and was moving around on the
bike too much (partially because I was out of shape and doing the
“Davis Wriggle”, and partially because I’m pedaling cubes). The race
seemed interminably long, punctuated occasionally with brief rays of
hope. I was getting frustrated by the time I got to the sign declaring
“200m to turnaround”. Relief washed over me in waves. I began pumping
afresh. My heart rebounded.

Now, we’re both swimmers. We know how long 200m is. It’s a distance
burned into your muscle memory.

I pedaled a hell of a lot longer than 200m without seeing a flagger or
a cone in the road or a single [fricking] indication that there was any
such turnaround. My heart, again, sank.

Shortly thereafter, I whistled past a bunch of signs that match the
ones at the start: “Bicycle race 200m ahead”. Then, two guys coming
from the opposite direction (and visibly pissed) screamed at me “TURN
AROUND! THE TURNAROUND IS BEHIND YOU!!” So I flipped around a decent
distance back and started pumping furiously. I passed the guy who had
shouted loudest (an older guy) and then retraced my tracks back to the
“turnaround”, an unmarked section of road only identified by the
bewildered faces of the oncoming cyclists passing through.

The rest of the race was a throbbing pain-fest that was surprisingly
fun. I definitely negative split the thing (still not knowing how 9
miles feels on the legs). I think I averaged around 23mph over the
course distance.

I had words with the race organizer (along with 50 or so others) and
will probably be given credit for the extra distance by ranking people
by speed, not time.

Beyond all that, it was a very pleasurable experience. I didn’t take
nearly as long to recover (meaning I hadn’t blasted my legs enough)
and I know I could have gone much, much faster with a little training
and power work (I could pedal in lower gear forever, but my quads were
cramping hard any time I got into my highest gear). I guess that means
more Cougar climbs…[Anytime bro, I'm always up for a good hill climb -ben]

I was the confused newbie with my number sideways and my headlight
still attached to my helmet. I could have used your guidance, but I
made due.

Kisses,

Brian

Coat, Computer and Camera.

That’s what I forgot in the back seat of Ivette’s car when she picked Erik and I up from the airport yesterday. The computer made it hard to publish the post I wrote about Vegas, and the camera would have been nice to have today as I watched the Tour of California come charging up an 18 percent grade hill as if they could care less that a 500 foot clif was in their way.

Without being able to download the route from my Garmin 305, I really can’t tell you where we went, but it was an awesome ride with very few stoplights, wide roads, and very little traffic. Oh, and it was also 65 degrees in February (a cold day in SoCal). We rode out from Erik’s house, where I’m staying, which was about 30 miles to Balcom Canyon where we joined a thousand other spectators in waiting for an hour to see the pelaton come through. It was worth the wait, but by the time we climbed back on our bikes to head home I was freezing.

And that is how the missing coat ties in.

update!!

Here’s the map and elevation and a pic of Catya, Erik, me and Phil:

View Larger Map

I left my computer in somebody’s car yesterday, and the post I had written about the World Shoe Association trade show is saved on it. My post formatting and image adding software is also in that car, so in the interest of not leaving everyone in the dark I’m going to settle for picture free unformatted posting.

I’m in Westlake Village, California. I was originally going back to Seattle from Vegas, but decided to join Erik from K-Swiss for the weekend. Monday I get to go to the K-Swiss headquarters, take a tour, and get a lesson on how shoes are made. I’m pretty stoked about the new K-Swiss performance line after seeing a sneak peak of the new shoes and clothing that will be hitting specialty running shops in a couple of months.

Today we’re riding up to see the tour of California come by. I’ll take some pictures, and hopefully later today I’ll have my own computer back so I can post them.

I’m in Las Vegas right now for the World Shoe Association trade show. I’m staying with Matt Lieto, and getting a chance to meet the crew at K-Swiss. I was hoping me and Matt would get a chance to ride up to the red rock national park, but it turns out I’m the only one that brought a bike. Does that make me an over-packer, an optimist for thinking I would have a chance for long rides, or is Matt just smart for having checked the Venetian’s website to see that they have spin classes?

It’s been a tough week of training. I ran more miles at higher intensity than I ever have, I continued my streak of high volume swim training, and I still managed to spend half my training hours on the bike. I have been looking forward to taking tomorrow off since last Tuesday.

I am sore and tired, but I’m still training well. While riding yesterday I kept watching my heart rate monitor hoping that my heart rate would be abnormally high, which would indicate that I was not fully recovered. Unfortunately all it told me is that I needed to suck it up and train hard. It was almost enough to make me feel sorry for myself, but then I saw a note from Aaron Scheidies. it said:

Aaron: hey bud

Just so you know that I am blind…

I hit a parked car on my bike yesterday

You see, no matter how tired we may be, at least we’re not losing teeth on the trunk of an invisible parked car. (Aaron says he ok, but the car is in the shop for repairs. I would remind him that riding solo is pretty dangerous for a blind kid, but it falls on deft ears).

Just one more 90 minute run, a short bike ride, and then it’s epson salt bath and Trigger Point Massage ball time! It feels good to be healthy, and it’s awesome that my body can handle all the added training time.

I’m sitting in my room watching last night’s episode of Lost with my legs up. This is the best part of morning workouts. What makes today particularly nice is that I am sipping on Clif Shot Recovery Hot Chocolate. It’s awesome for cold weather training. I get to rehydrate with hot cocoa!

Yesterday I went to the Institute of New Medicine to develop a full body recovery plan. We started with a thorough health history, and then had acupuncture for the first time. In total I spent about three hours for my first visit. Now William and Peter (Acupuncture and Oriental Medicine) will do some metabolic tests to figure out which nutrients I need, and will look at my food journal to help me decide which foods I should be eating to promote quick recovery and optimal performance. Chris Lieto and Peter Reid are both clients, and when I told Chris I was going he said, "They are the best in the Biz". He travels to Seattle a couple times a year to visit them, which makes me feel lucky to be so close.

Acupuncture is awesome. I laid on my back while being prodded with needles, then I relaxed for 20 minutes before having the needles removed. By the time I left I was in a complete daze from the experience, which lasted all through my MCAT prep course last night. It was like a massage of my inner Chi.

After learning the drum part of this song, I find myself actually asking the question. I don’t play drums, but Loren just got this great video game called Rock Band. It comes with a fake guitar and fake drums, and is pretty much Dance Dance Revolution for people that don’t actually want to stand up (most Americans, though I attribute it to the fact that my legs need the recovery). Loren picked up the guitar immediately, but it’s really just buttons instead of frets and a toggle instead of a pick with no strings attached. It’s not exactly going to teach you to play the guitar. The drums on the other hand are rockin’. You have a base drum pedal and a four drum setup along with wood drum sticks. I cannot claim that playing this game will teach you to play the drums, but the coordination is the same.

That was a tangent. Every time I visit the bay area I really enjoy myself and it’s hard to keep from extending my trip indefinitely. I love Northern California. I also tend to leave here in much better fitness than I came with. In ten days and the help of my friend Bob Placak I was able to bring my swimming back up to a competitive level (I’m swimming really fast), I put in some quality miles on the bike, and, although I’m still building base, my run is as fast and effortless as it ever has been. I can’t believe it’s only February, and I’m still just getting back into regular training.

Regardless, I’m headed back to Seattle so I don’t overstay my welcome in Tiburon, and so I can go to class and study for the MCATs in April. Ah yes, the great Northwest. If it rains at any of my races this year, I will be well prepared.