The art of dodging tourists

Training this week was a bit spotty with the crazy hours at work, but I was able to take a nice ride down through the south bay today. It was an absolute beautiful day, which is great...unless you wait till after lunch to go riding. All the people of LA flock to the beaches which make for a very crowded bike path. Also, the roads get congested with stupid people trying to find places to park. But that all aside, it was a pretty enjoyable ride.


I bought some compression guards for my calves. They are suppose to keep your muscles in place and help prevent strain. I get really bad cramps in my calves, so I'm hoping these will help. Its quite the fashion statement as well.

I still have a couple more weeks of long hours at work and plan to fit my training in the best I can. The real training begins in February. Its gonna be exciting! We have our first get together pot luck dinner this Thursday for the Socal Collective. Should be fun!

Race Schedule Set!

My official training begins in a few weeks. I'm using the book "IronFit". Its a 30 week training schedule that will start on Feb 14th...awe valentines. Its been a trusted book by many triathletes for their first Ironman. Just started reading it, seems to be inline pretty well with the way I like to train. The book has you do a major race each 10 weeks. Each escalating in difficulty. So I think I have it pretty planned out.



Desert Triathlon: Sprint Distance March 5th
Wildflower Triathlon: Olympic Distance May 1st
Ironman Muncie 70.3: Half-Iron Distance July 9th
IRONMAN WISCONSIN! : Full Distance September 11th

So there it is. I was gonna do the Wildflower long distance. But my work schedule doesn't permit me to be ready for it. Plus after reading the book, It made more sense to do the Olympic. Muncie was a last minute addition. I was looking for a half Ironman during that time, and most of my teammates are doing Vineman 70.3...but I did that last year and wanted to try a new race. I found out that Muncie was just added to the 70.3 list, which is cool because most of my family is still in Indiana, so I get to drag them all out. So other than finding the best way to get my bike half way across the country, should be a lot of fun. It will be good practice for some Midwest racing before Wisconsin! I might even be able to convince my dad to run the sprint course! (hopefully dad you are reading this!)

First PCH ride of the year!

Had my first long bike of my training this year. The group I'm training with is called the "SOCAL COLLECTIVE". Its a group of friends from various Team in Training seasons, A few were apart of my season back in 2008-9. Anyhoo, most everyone is signed up for Ironman Wisconsin. It has been awhile since I've been able to be on a long bike ride. It felt great. It is also clear to me that biking is still my favorite event. As for the day, it was perfect. Sun was out, soft breeze...not too windy. We biked for 3 hours which ended up being about 50 miles. Nice easy enjoyable day. Afterword, went out to lunch with my fellow triathletes and scarfed down a bacon egg sandwich...after 50 miles...it tasted AMAZING...ha!

My first Post!

Woohoo! Let the training begin! More to come! Til then, this video pretty much sums up the next 8 months... (=