At this time of year, I basically bonk my way back into cycling shape. Every weekend, I head out for a long ride where at some point, I will bonk and hang on for the finish. I then gladly put my running shoes on and go for a 3-4 mile jaunt and I say gladly because I'm all about training my body to run with tired legs. In fact, 3 of my 4 runs for the week are right off the bike. Yesterday's 80 mile ride was no different in that I bonked at mile 62 but it was different in that it was perfect weather. There is this ride in Marin called the Marshall Loop and you are lucky, if just once a year, you nail this ride when it's sunny and warm and NO WIND. Yesterday, we nailed it. And I saw other riders out there who had the same blissful look on their faces knowing that they too nailed the right day to do this ride. Today was another beautiful summer like day. It started with a 3600 yard swim where my body just did not want to get it's heart rate up but somehow I managed...even the 5 x 200 IM's. Then it was off for a hilly 2 hour ride followed by a 6.5 mile hilly run. In the past, I rarely ride back-to-back days but this year, I'm freeing my weekdays of training and loading up on the weekends. I find that I'm a much more pleasant co-worker when I don't have the pressure to leave work to train (and working out before work is not an option anymore as I'm too lazy). Thus, I swim-bike-run and do weights on both Saturday and Sunday. It takes me awhile to warm up on Sundays and I definitely feel Saturday's efforts. But after my swim-bike-run workout today, I stood in a park in the quaint town of Ross and said to my friend Erik, "Now this is what living is all about." The endorphins had fully kicked in and I was in that post workout euphoria; and that's when you start making sweeping statements like "how could I live any other way?" or "I'm so blessed to be living this lifestyle!" and bless this and bless that. This was also a huge racing weekend and there are some damn fast age-groupers out there. Allow me to introduce to you:
Rachel Ross,
Ian Mikelson, and
Charisa Wernick who finished 2nd, 1st, and 3rd respectively in their age-groups at Oceanside 70.3.
My teammate Nicholas Thompson did quite well in his first race as a pro. And then there are my teammates Jason Campbell and John Murphy, who are both in the 45-49 age group, who placed 1st and 3rd respectively going 4:28's. I am in awe of these two guys every time I train with them or see them race. When I think of these peeps, I get the overwhelming feeling that I'm not as good as I think I am. But I gladly will keep company with them and live vicariously through their efforts. Tomorrow is and active recovery day and the first day of my Spring Break so I'm down visiting the family and being a good uncle to the knee-biters, Collin and Avery.
At this time of year, I basically bonk my way back into cycling shape. Every weekend, I head out for a long ride where at some point, I will bonk and hang on for the finish. I then gladly put my running shoes on and go for a 3-4 mile jaunt and I say gladly because I'm all about training my body to run with tired legs. In fact, 3 of my 4 runs for the week are right off the bike. Yesterday's 80 mile ride was no different in that I bonked at mile 62 but it was different in that it was perfect weather. There is this ride in Marin called the Marshall Loop and you are lucky, if just once a year, you nail this ride when it's sunny and warm and NO WIND. Yesterday, we nailed it. And I saw other riders out there who had the same blissful look on their faces knowing that they too nailed the right day to do this ride. Today was another beautiful summer like day. It started with a 3600 yard swim where my body just did not want to get it's heart rate up but somehow I managed...even the 5 x 200 IM's. Then it was off for a hilly 2 hour ride followed by a 6.5 mile hilly run. In the past, I rarely ride back-to-back days but this year, I'm freeing my weekdays of training and loading up on the weekends. I find that I'm a much more pleasant co-worker when I don't have the pressure to leave work to train (and working out before work is not an option anymore as I'm too lazy). Thus, I swim-bike-run and do weights on both Saturday and Sunday. It takes me awhile to warm up on Sundays and I definitely feel Saturday's efforts. But after my swim-bike-run workout today, I stood in a park in the quaint town of Ross and said to my friend Erik, "Now this is what living is all about." The endorphins had fully kicked in and I was in that post workout euphoria; and that's when you start making sweeping statements like "how could I live any other way?" or "I'm so blessed to be living this lifestyle!" and bless this and bless that. This was also a huge racing weekend and there are some damn fast age-groupers out there. Allow me to introduce to you: Rachel Ross, Ian Mikelson, and Charisa Wernick who finished 2nd, 1st, and 3rd respectively in their age-groups at Oceanside 70.3. 
My teammate Nicholas Thompson did quite well in his first race as a pro. And then there are my teammates Jason Campbell and John Murphy, who are both in the 45-49 age group, who placed 1st and 3rd respectively going 4:28's. I am in awe of these two guys every time I train with them or see them race. When I think of these peeps, I get the overwhelming feeling that I'm not as good as I think I am. But I gladly will keep company with them and live vicariously through their efforts. Tomorrow is and active recovery day and the first day of my Spring Break so I'm down visiting the family and being a good uncle to the knee-biters, Collin and Avery.
2 comments:
WOW Kiet, you are a training machine! You are going to kick serious @$$ again this year!! Your teammate(s) ride with us every Wed, they are STRONG! Will you be at WF?
Dude, if you're lazy, that makes me lazy as well. 3600yds, 2hrs in the saddle and 6.5 run off. F-Me! That is a day. I don't think my ego can handle that incrimination, you gotta stop calling yourself lazy. You might send some real couch surfers to the nearest cliff. Thanks for the props bro. You racing WF?
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