Checked out the Ironman Tahoe course this weekend

I just got back from a scouting trip to Tahoe to check on the various parts of the course.  In reality, I went on a ski trip.  But I took the opportunity to scope out as much of the course as possible. I was able to drive most of the course, besides the closed off Martis Camp roads and the various surface streets in Truckee.  I collected GPS tracks for the legs from Northstar over Brockway Pass down to King's Beach, as well as from King's Beach through Tahoe City, past Squaw Valley, to Truckee.

I even took a minute to stand calf-deep in the water at King's Beach in an attempt to familiarize myself with the swim course.  At close to 40 degrees, I didn't stay for long.

And you could even say that by skiing for two solid days I was experimenting with my body's reaction to exercise at altitude.   But really it was just a ski trip.   But it was nice to see so much of the course and mentally get psyched about seeing it again 7 months from now.   This is going to be a big 7 months!

In terms of fundraising, things are going well.  I'm around half way to my goal.  The sushi fundraiser was incredibly successful and a few people have asked me to do another one in a couple months.   It wasn't very hard to put together so I may do that this Summer.  You can check my progress on my fundraising website.

We're now entering the "build" phase of training, so we'll be raising the mileage and the pace of our workouts.  So far we've been concentrating on the swim and the run and I'm up to 3,400 yards in the pool (race-day is 4,400 yards) and 9 miles on a training run.  (race day is 26 miles.)   The cycling mileage is still pretty light but I think/hope that's going to start building soon.  I'm loving the power meter and all the biking data that gives me.

Thanks for checking in!

Sushi Fundraiser!

I'm doing my first organized fundraiser and it's going to be FUN: All-you-can-eat sushi along with a guided sake tasting!

We'll be meeting at Truya Sushi in Santa Clara at 7:00 pm on Sunday, February 27th for a guided sake tasting, accompanied by all-you-can-eat sushi and other food. This includes Nigiri sushi, fancy rolls, etc. The cost is $100, payable to me directly. Erin and I have been eating at Truya for years and the owner is a great guy, so I'm happy to be able to put this together.

Monday is a rest day in our training calendar so I'll have a day to recover from all the sushi before spinning and core strength sessions on Tuesday night. :-)

As you can see from my fundraising webpage, fundraising is going well. I'm at $2,740, which puts me over a third of the way to my goal of $8,000. Thanks to all of my supporters for their generous donations, large and small. Every little bit helps. The entire Ironteam has raised over $60,000 so far this season, which has a big impact on the fight against cancer. (That's $60,000 in only two months!)

There's some prep involved at the restaurant so I need RSVPs by Wednesday the latest. Please let me know if you have any questions or are interested in attending.

My 2013 Calendar is filling up fast!

2013 is certainly going to be the most active year I've ever had, in terms of registering for events.  Here we are in January and already my calendar is getting full and I'm having to look out for conflicts and events that are too close to each other.  Here's what I've already signed up for: Feb. 2:  Louie Bonpua tri at Pacific Grove - Not sure if this is open to the public or a private Team In Training thing.

April 7th: SLO half marathon (possible)

April 13th: Wildflower practice weekend with TNT

May 4th: Wildflower Long course (half Ironman)

June 2nd: America's Most Beautiful Bike Ride (around Lake Tahoe, out to Truckee)

June 21st: Tahoe training weekend with TNT

August 4th: SF Giants Race (half marathon)

September 22nd: Ironman Lake Tahoe

So that's where I stand so far, in terms of events worthy of putting on the calendar.  This is going to be a great year, but a lot of travel...

New Year update

Happy 2013 everyone!   I hope the new year finds you well - it certainly has found me well.  2012 was a pretty good year overall, but was mostly a year to catch my breath and get my bearings.  (The new house, the toddler, etc.)  After a year like that I'm ready to hit the ground running and make 2013 a great year. 2013 brings the next phase of the house remodel, an Ironman, and who knows what else.  I started the year off right with a great bike ride this morning up Mt. Hamilton, and the day was perfectly beautiful, if a bit cold.  The last quarter mile of the ride had pretty solid snow covering both sides of the road.

Speaking of training, December was a great pretty good for exercise.  My Team in Training effort started off with a swim workout cancelled due to a storm, and I skipped a workout due to cold and rain, and missed some "On Your Own" workouts, but overall it was a strong month.  Here's a picture of my training calendar from last month:

As you can see, it was a busy month.

Fundraising also goes well, with over $2,700 raised against my goal of $8,000.  That includes five people (or couples) that have donated $200 or more!  Thanks to everyone who has donated any amount towards my effort to help find a cure for blood cancers.

Rolling with Power

Training starts this weekend and been taking it easy, in preparation for the work I am about to do.  I've been spending the time since the Giants Race resting up, working on the house, being a parent, etc.  Things that I won't be able to do as much after 4-a-week workouts start next week.  (OK, really 6 a week workouts if you count the "homework" we're supposed to do on our own.) I've also been studying a lot about endurance racing physiology, diet philosophy, and training strategies, as well as making a few investments in equipment.  The main book I have embraced is "Going Long" by Joe Friel, which talks about every aspect of training for an Ironman, with much of it specific to the first-timer like myself.  One of the main thrusts is to train smarter, AND harder.  (but foremost, smarter)

Part of that is pacing and balance of training load, and one large component of that is learning to use a power meter during training and racing.  The power meter lets you measure your cycling performance much closer to the muscular chemistry than Heart Rate does, and is a MUCH better guide than "Relative Perceived Exertion", otherwise known as "How You Feel".

Craigslist came through with a PowerTap last week, just in time for my training effort.   Thanks to the all the fitness lost to 3 months of downtime away from cycling I'm almost back at square one.  That means that I'll be able to track my training and improvements right from the beginning all the way through race day.  (After which I'll probably be so sick of all this I'll be ready to hang up the bike forever...)

I picked up a bike trainer as well since there's a weekly spin workout every Tuesday night for the next forever.  Using a trainer with the power meter is a great combination because otherwise, how do you really know how much of a workout you're getting in?   Since the resistance of the trainer is so arbitrary and you're not actually going anywhere, the only thing you have to gauge your performance is heart rate.  Using power zones is a much better way to get exactly the workout you're looking for, and track the results much more precisely.

So that's the summary from the last month.  Not too much going on on the triathlon front, just preparing for the impending storm.  Fundraising has completely stalled at 25% but you can expect me to pick that up once things get going again as well.

Kona Ironman on TV today

Sorry for the late notice about this, but the annual NBC coverage of Ironman from Kona airs this afternoon on NBC. (Check local listings, as they say.) The show is 2 hours instead of 1.5 hours this year because NBC thought that Lance Armstrong was going to be racing back when they scheduled this.  Doing the TV show in October instead of later in the year was also because they thought Lance was going to be racing.  Of course, after his doping problems he wasn't part of the race but we still get the longer, more timely tv show because of him.