Ain’t No Mountain Si Enough

This past weekend, my friend Matt Hollingsworth convinced me to run with his team in the Mount Si Relay.  I wanted to get in some good tempo efforts on the run leading up to Wildflower and the relay let me do a 6-mile effort and a 7.1-mile effort about 2 hours apart.  I was feeling rather beat up all day after only getting 6 hours of sleep on Thursday, Friday and Saturday nights.  (Yes, I know that 6 isn’t all that bad by regular-people standards but I’m high maintenance.  When I’m training a lot I need to sleep a lot!)  Luckily Heath, or team captain, had brought plenty of snacks to keep us fueled throughout the day.

I probably ate half a bag of Baked Cheetos.

I had some difficulties with my first run.  Heath was running before me and his leg was cut short.  The organizers had given us a note outlining the last-minute changes but all of us had neglected to read it.  So I was warming up a hundred yards away from the exchange point when Heath ran in.  Oops!  Then I followed a runner who was running a different leg of the relay and lost another minute.  Double oops!!  Hopefully I’ve used up all of my mistakes in a more casual race and I’ll execute better at my major races.

Matt and I figured out a great way to transfer momentum when doing a relay hand-off.  Think about the Madison exchange in velodrome racing … or think “ring around the rosie:”

I would run it at top speed and loop arms with Matt, spin around in a circle and fling him off in the general direction of his leg of the relay.

After the race we took advantage of the weather (70+ degrees!) and scenery for a team photo-op in front of the race’s namesake, Mount Si.  From right to left, ultra-runner Stephanie, team captain Heath, yours truly, Matt Hollingsworth and Dan Haffner.  Matt, Dan and I had run this race together once before a few years back.

Thanks to my brother Matt for the fashion influence that led to me wearing pajama pants post-race.  Thanks also to my mom’s friend Sarah for the pants!

Keeping it Weird in Austin

Even though this winter has been a bit drier than normal in Seattle I jumped at the chance to spend 11 days in Austin, training more and working a reduced schedule remotely – basically the same approach as last summer’s Boulder trip.

I’ve been feeling a bit flat on a lot of the workouts.  I got dropped on the Austin Tri-Cyclist taco ride last Saturday, although I hope that a part of that was sleep deprivation from my early flight the day before.  My Sunday ride felt pretty weak, too, but it was hella windy out here so maybe that had something to do with it.  Even with the wind, the weather here in Texas has been fantastic.  Sunny every day and high temperatures in the 80s more often than not!

I was quite disappointed to learn that Barton Springs is closed for annual cleaning for the entirety of my trip.  They actually closed three days before I got here and they’ll reopen three days after I leave!  I did two swims at Deep Eddy – a *long* one with a wetsuit and a short, frigid attempt on Monday morning.  62 degree water + 58 degree air == a short swim!

I had a nice ride on Wednesday morning on one of my favorite loops: Southwest Parkway – 71 – Hamilton Pool Road – Old Fitzhugh – 290 – Nutty Brown – South MoPac, more or less.  I was unsure of my legs during the warm-up hour but once I hit the first interval I felt good.  It was fantastic to roll out at 7:30 AM under sunny skies with just arm warmers & leg warmers.

My running has felt flat most of the time but I had a surprisingly strong effort last night.  About 8 of us left the shop at 6pm expecting to run 7.5 miles easy … George suggested 7:00/mile pace but Pat Darragh and I were probably the most guilty offenders in pushing the pace just a little bit harder.  Heh… We whittled the group down to just three – Pat and me and Tim Sandfort, who I raced with at the Age Group Worlds in Madeira in 2004.

As expected, a lot of great eating has occurred on this trip – Rudy’s BBQ, Tacodeli, Havana, Taco Cabana … of course a stop at the flagship Whole Foods … but I still need to find time for some Amy’s Ice Cream and a bit more Tex Mex.

One tough part of “camping” in Austin as opposed to Boulder is that there are both an upside and a downside to knowing a bunch of folks in town.  It is great to see everybody and to catch up a bit but I haven’t been sleeping as much as I should.  I’ve kept the beer to a minimum, actually cutting it out completely after Monday, but my recovery hasn’t been quite what I’d like.  I am probably not eating enough.  I am getting some large meals in but not enough smaller in-between meals and snacking.  Maybe I’ll go find a snack right now!

A Three Hour Tour

Chris: Rather than just drive back from yesterday's race in Portland, Ben Collins and I decided to drive to Tacoma and then sail his 27-foot Catalina "yacht" up to its new home in Ballard.  Unfortunately there hasn't been much wind and the boat only has a 5hp motor.

Ben: See, a boat's speed is a direct function of several things, the length of the boat (larger boats can go faster than smaller boats), plus the amount of power that goes into propelling the boat forward. The problem that Chris is introducing is that an absence of wind has forced us to rely on a one cylinder 35 year old diesel engine that I was unable to start until about a week ago. Well, it starts now, but about a half an hour ago smoke started spewing from the cabin of the boat, and Chris started acting a little loony.

Chris: and that's why we're stranded here watching the lights come on in downtown Seattle.  But let me go back to how we've been underway for seven hours and have only made it to the middle of Elliott Bay.  You see, when we have run the motor today (sadly, most of the time) we were only running it at about half power.  Ben was concerned about gas mileage and we were a bit short on gas.  But even after stopping to refuel at Des Moines, we were still puttering along at maybe 3 or 4 knots.  I made the joke that one of us should get out at Des Moines and walk and we could see who gets to Ballard first.  Sadly it now appears that would have been an easy victory for the walker.

Ben: I was just explaining to Chris that he should never give up an opportunity for a good story. This, however, is not why we both neglected to charge our cell phones last night, or why I left my GPS in the car, or why around 5pm we decided to say "screw it" and kick this bad boy into gear. No, sadly enough, we set out on our adventure that we would get my new (very used) sailboat from Tacoma to Seattle in under six hours and with as little effort as possible (aside from a few tacks and some sailor lingo). At this point, I'm just thankful it hasn't been raining yet.

Chris: the weather has been so nice today that I'm shocked at how few other boats we've seen out here.  We saw maybe ten boats on our way up and now we just see each ferry as it almost runs us over.   I suppose that's what happens when you're adrift in the middle of the ferry lane.

Ben: no seriously though, the last ferry to com by was REALLY close. As in museum voice distance. Wait, Seattle Traffic is calling me on the radio (our cells are dead, did I mention that?).... brb... ok, the vessel assist is on its way, and now Chris and I are taking turns doing a periodic signal toward the boat, and typing in the blog. OK, my turn.

Chris: neither of has ever gotten Vessel Assist before.  We were wondering whether the Chucklehead Factor of needing Vessel Assist is greater than the comparable factor for roadside assistance.  Vessel Assist is rapidly approaching now.  Gotta go.

Post scriptum ... a few pictures:

 
Ben blogging while we wait for Vessel Assist. It was a lot darker out than it looks in this picture.

 
a blurry shot of the Seattle skyline at dusk ... the boat was a-rockin' from some ferry wake

 
This ferry got a lot closer to us, but my cell phone battery died before then

 
Alki Point at 7 knots

sweet Mazatlan video

Here is a topic that is much more upbeat than injuries, at least depending on your perspective.  My friend Kim took this fun video of the swim start at Mazatlan.  I like that you can hear a bunch of spectators laughing in the background each time a wave hits us.

http://picasaweb.google.com/whitekg/Mazatlan/photo#5201204037400001714

Old Man Winter

The highlight of my last week of training was the Recycled Cycles Racing Team's training camp in Bellingham.  We planned to get in a long ride on Saturday and another long ride on Sunday but the weather didn't cooperate.

Saturday was one of my coldest days ever on a bike.  We started in a cold rain with 35-degree temperatures.  About 10 miles in it started snowing and soon we saw half an inch of accumulation on the roads.  We celebrated this turn of events by riding on a dirt road that was littered with potholes…  About 20 miles in, I still couldn't feel my hands and so I tried to get fresh gloves out of our team van.  I couldn't even put the new ones on.  I wasn't riding hard enough to get a good training effect and that I was getting a bit loopy from the cold so I decided to do the smart thing and get in the van for awhile.  I didn't make it back out onto the road.  About half the team (the tough guys) rode their bikes back to RTs while the wimps thawed out in the van.  Check out some fabulous pictures of the experience on the Recycled Cycles Racing blog.

Sunday was much better -- 33 degrees but dry and partly sunny.  The wind was ferocious at times - we got lots of practice riding in echelons.  I rode conservatively for the first 40 miles and then started taking extra pulls in the second half of the ride.  After riding along the Canadian border - literally a few feet from the Great White North - everyone was happy to turn south and ride the tailwind back to the 'Ham.  Mike Brown and I had some nice attacks and counters between miles 60 and 70, and I felt great almost the whole way.  All the spirited riding finally caught up to me around mile 75 but Rookie and I cruised back into town at a moderate pace and all was well.

Summary for the week:

• 5 swim sessions - 20500 yards
• 2 bike rides - 100 miles
• 4 runs including two track workouts - 31 miles
• 2 strength sessions

cascades edge

This morning I raced in a local olympic distance triathlon - Cascades Edge.  This was my first triathlon this year that didn't require an airline ticket.  It's always fun to race locally with friends and family all around.  The weather was cold and wet but I put together my usual combination of a strong swim/run and a reasonable-enough bike to take the overall win. 

They had to change the run course after a heavy rain made the original course too dangerous.  The new course was four loops around a lake on a dirt trail.  There were a few mud puddles here and there - it was like Bridle Trails without the horses.  I felt really light on my feet today and really flew through the four laps.  Fun times.  Both of my parents came to watch the race as well.  They took some pictures so I'll try & post a few one of these days.

Right now I am wathcing the Hy-Vee World Cup in Des Moines.  Rasmus Henning looks like he's going to hold off the charging Javier Gomez and Bevan Docherty.  Greg Bennett may end up in fourth - his wife won the women's race!  I've gotta give Ben Collins a call and see how this morning's age gorup race went.  The results aren't online yet.

Training Summary

Thu 14 June: Seward Park Crit plus riding there & back

Fri 15 June: 40-minute lunch run with Mike Daly and John Sweeney

Sat 16 June: short swim-bike-run & equipment check... it's good that I still did this despite it being a lower-priority race as I ofund that one of my rear-wheel set screws was sheared and I had to go find a replacement.  Luckily discovered this issue at 11am and not 11pm.

Sun 17 June: race