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

Looking for a cool job in social gaming? Dir User Experience at Zynga http://bit.ly/i1SWNq

Race report and Pictures for SuperSeal Triathlon http://bit.ly/fS4i73

Race Report: San Dieguito Half Marathon

Here is my race report for my first Half Marathon this morning...

The overall theme for the day was "No Drama"....so to some this might not be a very exciting race report...you decide.

I had a good night of sleep so woke up at 5am rested and excited to take the day in hand. Another tip I learned (more from bad race experiences than forward thinking) is to get everything ready the night before, including the list of "what to do in the morning" as a step-by-step guide. Really helps....meant I didn't forget money, or my fuel belt....food was not good, bad stomach (this is a theme lately, going to have to assess at some point)

Drive to park and bus facility, got on the bus and got to the location. Again no drama. Put on bib, walked to start, and tried to keep warm (it was VERY VERY COLD!!!) which led to a last minute race clothing change.

Met some Geocaching / TCSD racing friends and stood at the start with them. Got the last minute race tips, listened to a gorgeous rendition of Star Spangled Banner, and 'Bang' the gun went off. Shuffled across the line and kept to the strategy.

My Race Strategy

• Run at pace I know I can take for most of the race (11 minute miles). 
• Pick it up at Mile 10 with what's left in the gas tank. 
• Run the whole time, do not do a race/walk approach in this race. 
• Drink my fuel drink at each mile marker
• Drink water at each station
• Eat GU after 1 hour. 

All completed successfully. Well except for the 'run the whole time'.....

I decided to turn down the BEER at Mile 1 and SANGRIA at Mile 3. I did see quite a few take it up though....

Race had hills and many people said "man this is a hilly course" and indeed it was up and down the whole time, but I have to say it HILLS WERE NOT BAD AT ALL. Perhaps my training has prepared me for worse than this, but Barrie's Wednesday hikes see more than this, my Hill repeat runs has more incline in 1 hill than most of the hills together. So I guess GOOD MARKS for me on this one. It just never really phased me.

So all was good until Mile 9.5 when I got a twinge in the knee. Crap! Typical that Nigel does nothing, has a bad knee and is fine whilst I train and do plenty of knee strengthen exercises and get the knee issue.

I got with what I got, try a lopsided run to take the weight on other knee but eventually at Mile 11.5 I have to stop, stretch it out, and walk it. Tried a knee brace but didn't help. Went into my mental funk that did not accomplish my goals on running the whole time, but you got to deal with these things...there were many people around that had walked in the race - either as strategy or not.

Did a "run a bit, walk a bit" for the next 1 mile but hurt more to start running after the walk. So at Mile 12.5 I turned up the music, put on a power song and picked up my pace. The pain subsided and I felt good so the final hill was a fun climb, passing many people up and seeing what I had left in the tank for the finish.

Final Results: 2:16:59 against my goal of 2:20 hours. Feel good. Knee got iced for most of day, feels sore but not broken, so got to focus on this.

My mile splits were fairly consistent with my plan. Not trying to go out too hard, and pick it up towards the end (more 9's than 10's) and adjust for the knee issue in Mile 11, 12.

Congratulations to the whole team that did a great job across the board. There were a few sub 2 hours in the pack - great running overall! 

On to the next race: Super Sprint Olympic Tri in March when the focus is to put the triathlon package together...

Preparing myself for the San Dieguito half-marathon tomorrow http://bit.ly/hkoqj2