Biking in Napa...no whine and no wine

I've been asking and scouting a bike route local to me in San Francisco city that is a flat long ride.
I need to get more flat rides in for similar terrain training to IronMan Arizona....which is flat flat flat....

Someone from SF Tri Club mentioned the Silverado Trail in Napa so I decided to give it a try today as a 50 mile bike ride.

Driving took close to 1 hour, so this needs to be a weekend drive (perfect for the upcoming Memorial long weekend I think!) and there are soooo many roads to explore for great biking....so very happy we came here.

The map isn't great but gives you a sense on it's location...between Napa and Calistoga and on Highway 121 parallel to Highway 29 (the main road for wine tour traffic).

The goal was to ride a 50 mile distance...but then I had to ask myself to set the details. This was harder for me...I'm not the fastest biker but trying to get faster. I also am trying to build up endurance and distance as will need to get to 112 miles in November.

What can my body take and not bonk? How much can I push myself to feel good but also be realistic?

I decided that I've wanted to get an average pace of 17mph....just a target I heard many people in IronMan say...so a good place to start. My average has been more in the 14-16 range so knew this was a goal I had not accomplished, and could be a stretch, but a first goal to set.

Here are the results with some notes for my future reference:

• Great that I was below 3 hours, I expected a 3.5 hour ride
• Heart rate was in the cardio zone of 160-170 for most of the ride
• Average moving speed above the 17 mph goal. woo hoo!

It was a great ride overall. I felt great, my legs felt able to keep going, and I was especially happy with the rolling hills - I have had to slow down on hill climbs to a slow slow pace but this time there was only 1 hill I went below 10 mph. On others I actually practiced increasing my speed...and what a rush that was!

I drank my IronMan perform drink for nutrients and ate 1 bag of Cola chews at the half-way point (man they tasted good!) and then decided to do a negative split going back....legs went into gear and I felt like I was flying!

There were points I felt tired and slowed down...but when ever I saw the speed dip below 17 I told myself to pick it up and keep moving....and I did!


Graphs show the details below, some points I'm noting for myself:

• Speed: happy to see that negative split seen in higher speed on return half
• Speed: standard variations in speed from hills and stop lights and pee breaks...but a good visible average in there at 17-18 mph
• Elevation: higher than I expected overall and most was in the form of rollers through the ride, added a good element of practice to not reduce speed
• Heart Rate: sticking around 170 area....will look to reduce this over time as I build up endurance and get long slow rides in..reasonable target in a 6 month time frame?

Finished the ride with a great feeling and achievement that i pushed myself and got a new goal.

T-Run: keeping up the practice for a t-run after the bike....just 10 minutes...but OUCH...shooting pain in the knee....which just leaves me going "oh crap!"
So a new action item to find a doctor in my new city and see what options I have....I'm staying positive (or naive!?) and believing I'll get to a place I can run again...by IronMan...

A change of mindset

I've spent the past few weeks working things through my mind....time to share


I was really proud to have finished Wildflower, it marked a halfway point for me as well as an achievement and a proof point that I can do the IronMan.

At the same time, I was left with a sense of disappointment in myself.
The rest of the team and group are all much better athletes than I am...and have shown great progression in the past few months. Very proud of them all.

I turned that lens back on myself and realized I was not thinking about the IronMan as a chance to "compete" but rather as a "chance to finish and cross the line" and I've been vocal that my happy target is "16:30 hours".

But somehow, after seeing the rest of the team finish well...seeing my glorious "bottom 5 % result"....and especially after seeing the photos of me from Wildflower....a shift occurred in my mind.

I'm 32 years old and physically able and fit to be able to do this thing....and yet I'm "just looking to finish" and happy with "bottom 5%"?

I guess the competitive gene in me woke up and said "WTF!"

I also was just not happy with the photos....I want to LOOK like I'm an IronMan and not just cross that line for a medal.

The heavy legs and spare tire around my middle that shows up on every single photo from every race photo I get has finally got to the point of me saying "it's got to go!"

So I have made the mental switch....and suddenly feel alive...awakened...with a new purpose

#1 Signed up for p90X and I'm 2 weeks in. I lost 6 pounds (although expect that to come back in muscle) and feel fitter. My 2 recent bike rides have seen improvements...though not sure I can claim 2 weeks of cardio/strength training for that yet?

#2 Committed to more biking. Running is out due to knee (that I have to keep moving forward to fix) so even more reason to increase biking... finding a rhythm here but using all options I can to make it work from spin class, indoor trainer, and outdoor biking on new trails. I'm aiming for double bike rides on the weekends....2 weekends have proven this true.

#3 Announce this new mindset to the world (or at least publicly in this blog). Quite scary as I have to be held accountable to this now....but I guess thats' the point.

Looking forward to the next 6 months of training...and the New Lucy it brings.

Wildflower Long Course Triathlon Race Report and Photos...3 flat tires!! http://bit.ly/mzrM0T