Training Log - May 12-18

Monday: Nothing

Tuesday: Biked to work, Spin Class - Totals ~ 24 miles

Wednesday: Nothing.

Thursday: Biked to work

Friday: Bike to Work Day! 21 Miles

Saturday: 94 Miles. La Jolla to San Clemente and back.

Sunday: Bike cleaning day, short 9-mile ride afterwards.

Sunday Noodle - Solona Beach to Oceanside

A few of us did a little 36 mile ride up the coast from Solana Beach to Oceanside today. In the parking lot of the train station where we met, I started talking to another pair of bikers that had parked beside me. I was surprised to find out that one of the riders, Damian is a 4 time Lymphoma survivor and has been involved with Team in Training as both a participant and an Honored Teammate. He and his friend hooked up with us and rode the first 10 miles until one of them had got a flat tire. We split up that point.

It was a beautiful day for a ride up the coast. It was a very different experience riding this familiar stretch of road with a smaller group. We basically own the road during our Saturday rides by virtue of having so many riders. Not so with 3-4 riders. We encountered several other groups that got a little territorial and made it difficult for us to pass them. On the other hand, we had a couple of single riders latch on to our group without asking and drafted off of us. I had one guy sneak up on me, latch on without me even knowing he was there. I found out when I braked a little abruptly to his dismay. I didn't think I had anyone besides me. Whoops. I wonder what the normal protocol for this kind of thing is.

Purple Monster

I'm starting to sound like a broken record here, but today's ride set new personal records for mileage and climbing. The route was essentially the same as last week's ride with a few modifications. No Torrey Pines and the addition of a MAJOR climb at the end....but I'm getting ahead of myself.

I felt much stronger this week than I did last week. Getting a good night's sleep before a big ride is key. We did a total of 88 miles today covering a lot of ground. Take a look at the map of the route.










I don't have an accurate total for the amount of climbing we did but it was similar to last week so I'm thinking it is around 5000 feet.

Some of the route we covered today is part of the San Diego Century course. I find it amusing that there are some stretches of the road that have been named. I've previously written about "Stud Loop" and today we traversed "Three Witches", a series of three nasty little hills all in a row. The funniest named one was the famous "Purple Monster". This is a brutal 9-mile route along Scripps Poway Road up to Highway 67. The entire route is a long steady grind uphill. It would be hard on my best day but starting the climb after having already ridden 70+ miles seemed particularly cruel. But like everything else, it's complain on the way up and then revel in the accomplishment at the peak. Take a look at the team photo we took at the top.















Most people carry their spare tire in a little bag hanging from their bike seat, I've streamlined the process and carry it around my waist. Whose idea was it to have lime green jersey's anyway?

We spent over 8 amazing hours in the saddle today. I still felt strong when we rolled back into the parking lot. I think I'm ready for Tahoe.

Next week 95 miles, but mostly flat.

Training Log - May 5 - 11

Monday: Nothing

Tuesday: Spin class w/ Coach Phil. Starting to feel pretty blah. I think I'm getting sick. Foot started bothering me again which limited my standing climb. I decided to ease up instead of pushing it. I didn't want to risk aggravating it so close to the event. Did the equivalent of 15-miles.

Wednesday: Definitely feeling run down. Taking a night off from working out.

Thursday: Two faces of Mount Soledad with DJ. Was still feeling a bit under the weather but managed to muddle along and get it done. Need a good night's sleep tonight. 15-miles, 1,680 feet of climbing.

Friday: Shopping day. Dropped another bill on bike clothing. New gloves, gel-padded bike shorts, a couple of spare tubes and some bars in prep for tomorrow's ride. This sure is an expensive sport. I need to decide on whether to try and break the new shorts in during tomorrow's ride. We're scheduled to do something like 87-Miles so I'll be mighty uncomfortable if they don't work out. I may just take my normal shorts and have the SAG carry them around just in case so I can switch them out if it becomes a problem.

Saturday: Long mileage day. 88-Miles, 5000+ feet of climbing.

Sunday: 36-Mile Noodle Ride from Solana Beach Train Station up to Oceanside and back. Beautiful ride up and down the coast.

Sunday Noodle - Mission Valley Loop

Pretty sore after yesterday's ride but I decided to try and loosen up the legs a little and went for a late afternoon 15-mile loop around Mission Valley. Here's the map of the ride.









The loop took me down Texas, west on Friars then North on Mission Center which is a pretty steep climb up to Murray Ridge Road. Made my way through Serra Mesa, into Kearny Mesa then down past Fry's along the bike path by I-15, to Murphy Canyon through Qualcomm Stadium and the up to Fairmont for the climb back up Mission Valley to Meade and then back West to my apartment.

The climb up Mission Center road was a little more than I had bargained for being so sore but I was able to make it. Total were 15.25 miles and a bit of 1,000 feet of climbing.

Saturday Ride - New Milestones

Today's long mileage day starting with some exciting fund raising news. Our team has passed the $100,000 mark in fundraising!

The mission moment was delivered by a Leukemia survivor who started his cycling career after being diagnosed and going into remission. He described how the LL&S had personally helped him in his battle with Leukemia. As a rider, he said he knows exactly what we are putting our bodies through and the level of dedication and time that we commit to raise money and thanked us. He was very inspirational and even more inspiring is that he also rode with the ACE team today. Awesome.

We started in Poway and had perfect weather for the entire day. It was quite a contrast from the week before where I nearly got heat stroke. The planned ride for the day was a about 80 miles with an estimated 3,500 feet of climbing. Here's a map of the ride.













We made a couple of navigational errors while traversing Rancho Santa Fe that resulted in adding a few more miles to the overall totals. This was particularly funny since we were riding with Coach Rick, the guy who planned the route This irony prompted one of my teammates, Mark to post the following map which was his recollection of the route.















Too funny.

I made a couple of adjustments this week to try and deal with my nagging foot strain. I rode with a shoe insert that provided arch support. The experiment was a great success as I felt no strain the entire day. This is a big contrast from the week before where my foot was throbbing at the end of the ride.

One complication that I found is that my padded biking gloves appear to be at the end of their life span. The padding is gel and it has flattened out or something to the point where I'm not getting much benefit from them. Consequently, I nearly got a blister in the crook of both my hands between my thumb and index finger where I grip the "hoods". Time for new gloves.

Following is a photo taken of my climbing the inside trail of Torrey Pines State park at around mile 60.















I was still feeling pretty good at this point. We had a planned SAG (support and gear) stop at mile 70. I suggested that we just bypass it and get the ride over with as we had already been on the road nearly 6 hours and I just wanted to be done. After the climb we start heading back inland. About 5 miles later, I start bonking out. I get really really tired and really hungry. The SAG stop couldn't come soon enough. I got there nearly on my last legs and proceeded to chow down on a thick PB&J sandwich and drank lots of ic cold water. I felt better within a matter of minutes. We get rolling after a pretty long stop, nearly 20 minutes of rest. Around mile 78 we get to the last big hill of the day, which was Scripps-Poway road. It is a long constant grind of a hill which I couldn't believe we had to climb at that point of the ride. It seemed pretty sadistic. After a bit of grumbling we get it over with.

Thankfully the last few miles were all downhill which was a great way to finish up the ride.

Totals for the day 83.66 Miles 5,300 feet of climbing. The 5300 feet of climbing was just a wee bit more than the 3,500 feet we were told to expect. Hmm. Somebody needs to get their elevation estimator calibrated.

Got back to the parking lot, very pooped, nearly whipped but extremely proud to have survived. As an added bonus I reached a new mileage and climbing milestone on this ride.

Soledad Photos from Today

Here are some photos from the summit of Soledad Mountain. The first two are of me and the rest are some of my teammates.