4/21 - 4/28/2013

This week was all about active recovery from the race on sunday. I was just trying to keep a good amount of volume while making sure I was recovering from day to day. It ended up being a lot busier week than I had anticipated and I was pretty wiped out mid week so I took it easier than I had planned, but with Wildflower less than a week away the last thing I want to do is push it and not be rested enough. Although it is really hard for me to accept the low workloads I am trying to keep the faith and remain hopeful that being fully recovered before a big event like that is more important than satisfying my mental need to work hard.

Swim 12,000 yds
Bike   6.25 hrs
Run   14 mi

USA Productions Silicon Valley International

Even if I were not improving at all...even if I never did well, what I am most happy about is that my enjoyment of the sport of triathlon has improved dramatically over the past year or so and that has meant more to me than anything. This weekends event highlighted many of the reasons why that is and it was such an awesome experience. On sunday I raced the Silicon Valley International Triathlon put on by USA Productions, which takes place at one of my favorite venues Uvas Reservoir. The lake is tucked up in the foothills west of Morgan Hill and it is a beautiful area. The lake is clean and warm and the surrounding area is beautiful with windy scenic roads.

I rode over with some friends in the morning and we got there earlier than expected which is always a relief to me because I always seem to run out of time on race morning. The air was a bit chilly pre-dawn but I had gotten so much prep stuff done the night before that I was set up and ready to go warm up pretty quickly. I went out and jogged a couple of miles with some buddies of mine and did some drills to loosen up my legs and warm up my lungs. This is a relatively local event for me, coming from Santa Cruz, so it was fun to trot around and see a bunch of familiar faces and catch up with people. I got my wetsuit on early and went down to the water to get in at least fifteen minutes of swimming prior to the start as I take a long time to feel warmed up for swimming.

The water was perfect temperature, not too hot for a wetsuit and not cold enough to be at all uncomfortable. I swam out to the first turn buoy to get a look at the course and conditions and then swam back to the start. They had the Elites starting with the first age group wave, which was fun because I got to start with a bunch of guys I knew and we all had a couple of minutes to joke around before the start. 

At the gun we all jumped on the gas pretty hard and there were six or eight guys charging all spread out to the first turn, there was a little bumping and nudging but nothing too bad. At the first turn I was third around behind Yuta Sano who was smashing everybody then Brian Anderson was swimming just ahead of Yoni and I. The group stayed like that for the rest of the way and we all came out within fifteen seconds. 

Yoni flew through transition and was out first, I was about twenty seconds behind him and could see him a little ways up the road. He is on really good form and had stellar performances at collegiate nationals the previous weekend so I was stoked to have him in sight. He started off fast from beginning and I followed the pace all through the rollers that follow the lakes edge. We traded off setting the pace on different sections of the course which was awesome because we kept the pace high and pushed each other. Yoni definitely spent more time setting the pace and at times I was just trying to hold on and keep him in sight. There were some changes to the bike course this year and I loved the new route, the roads were all in good condition and there are some great sections where you can really work and keep the speed high. 

We came into the second transition together and I had a really quick switch into my running shoes and got out onto the run course with a little bit of a lead. I started out trying to keep my feet light on the ground and keep my tempo high and figured I would kind of wait and see what Yoni was feeling like and if he would catch me. I knew there were some strong runners back in the field but figured we might have a good gap on them because of how hard we rode on the bike. Yoni passed me about half a mile into the run and went by moving another fifty meters up the road but after that the gap stopped growing. He was just inside of ten seconds ahead of me but was running strong and I just tried to keep pace with him. In the third mile he looked like he was dropping his tempo a little and I tried to push the hills a little to bring some of the gap back. After the turn around it was clear that we had a big gap on the rest of the guys and so I focused on trying to slowly bring him back. Every time I picked it up a little though and got some time back I had to ease off and recover some and the gap would go back out. 

Inside the last mile I realized that there was nothing I could do to bring him back and I just tried to stay smooth into the finish. 

It was a great battle and I loved being able to actually battle the whole way. It was a ton of fun to race and also to get to hang out with a group of such awesome people for the day. Everyone raced well and I am stoked to be a part of such an enthusiastic and fun community of people.

4/15 - 4/21/2013

This week was all about maintenance, eating healthy, getting enough sleep and just touching some fast efforts to keep the body awake but fully recovered. With Wildflower being two weeks from this saturday everything is focused on being fresh and fast for that.

This weekend was perfect timing for a tune-up race and the Silicon Valley International happened to fall on this Sunday which worked out really well. This race is held at UVAS Reservoir in the foothills just west of Morgan Hill and is one of my favorite venues. The lake is excellent and comfortable to swim in and the course is beautiful. This race is also part of the USA Productions series that my team works with throughout the year...they put on a super fun series of events in the greater Bay Area which always have great food and music afterwards (doubly awesome after a hard race).

Should have a race report to follow soon.

Swim 15,650 yds
Bike   7 hrs
Run    21 mi

4/8 - 4/14/2013

After a couple of hard weeks I held on as long as I could and then shifted into some active recovery work. The next couple of weeks leading into wildflower will be all about ensuring that I am fresh and recovered from what I am doing and maintaining the feeling of speed in all the disciplines. Not much to report but I will try to get some fun pictures or video to keep things interesting.

Swim 12,500 yds
Bike   7.75 hrs
Run    14 mi

4/1 - 4/7/2013

This week was hit and miss. We had a lot going on so I knew that I would miss a few sessions and was prepared for that. I did miss a few but I was also feeling really run down this and my best guess that the disgusting volume of crazy rich food I ate at easter brunch totally screwed my system up. The sessions I did get in though were really good and I put up some surprisingly strong numbers. Finished the week off with a beautiful ride and amazing run and was reminded of how grateful I am to be able to live and train in such an amazing place.

Swim 14,000 yds
Bike    8 hrs
Run    30.5 mi