Running in Oakridge, Oregon

Well, we are up in McKinnville, OR at the Hotel Oregon getting ready to head back to Claire's sister's house in Oakridge.  We went to a former employee's wedding last night up here.  He had worked for us from when he was 14 till, I think, around 18 years old.  He married his high school sweetheart. 

I went out for a run in Oakridge yesterday.  It was an awesome run of around 2 hours and 15 minutes.  I did most of my running in the Green Water Park.  I found a beautiful single track trail that ran up the side of a mountain.  I ran up hill for almost 45 minutes with my heart rate averaging around 175.  I then found a paved road to run down.  The downhill was the tough part, and my thighs are a little sore today.  My average heart rate was 154 for the run.  I was trying to take it easy, but when I get the chance to run on trails, I have a hard time keeping things contained.  

The Vineman is one week from today.  I am not putting any expectations on myself.  I jokingly told Claire I was only doing the event so that I could get a couple of extra days off at the shop.  I really don't know what to expect from the bike ride.  I only know that I want to take it easy.  I will try to keep my heart rate under 150 for the bike ride in hopes that I will have something left over for the run.  I am also going to focus on hydration, hydration, and hydration.

No brick tonight

Well, I had big plans for a nice short, hard brick, but, as A1 likes to say, "The Hub happens."  Claire and I went in to work this morning at 7, which is quite early for us.  We planned on getting off at around 4.  I planned on riding my bike home as fast as possible and then going out for a good fast run, but instead, we ended up working until 6:30 and not getting everything done.  Tomorrow evening we take off for Oregon for a couple of days.  One of our former employees is getting married and then we are visiting Claire's sister.  I will be taking along my running shoes, but I won't have a chance to ride.  Anyway, I will be well rested for the Vineman in 10 days.

11 Days to go

Well, I got out on a good 12 mile run on Sunday after work.  I had Claire drop me off at Analy High School in Slow-blast-apple and ran the bike path home.  It took me just over 1.5 hours.  I felt great the entire way.  I had run 10 miles the day before, so I was quite happy with the run.  I went out and rode 66 miles on Monday, taking it very easy.  I did the Vineman loop with a couple of extra miles down to the Lake Sonoma Visitor's center to get water.  I really concentrated on staying hydrated, which is my main goal for the Vineman.  I had thought about going out for a run afterwards, but Claire and I had just got done with a six day work week, and we knew that this week was going to be even tougher, so I decided that a nap on the back deck was a better idea.  We are off to work this morning 3 hours early so that we can try to get some work done before we open.  I hope to ride home and maybe put in a short run afterwards.  We will see how it goes. 

Long time no blog

Well, it has been a while since my last entry.  I will try to make it brief.  I went out two Mondays ago and almost didn't make it home.  It was the day that it got up over a 100 degrees here.  I went out first and did 63 miles at a 19.5 mph average.  I felt good the whole time.  I then put on my running shoes and took off for what I hoped to be a two hour run.  I ended up only making it 45 minutes.  I think I got a bit dehydrated.  This is no exaggeration, I weighed myself right before I took off on the bike and I weighed 13 stone, when I stumbled back in from the run, I weighed 12.5 stone.  

A couple of days later, Claire and I took off for Tahoe to camp on Fallen Leaf Lake for 5 nights.  I had big plans for some long rides and runs.  I was still a bit discouraged by Monday's brick and started thinking about not doing the Vineman at all.  Anyway, I didn't get out for any long bike rides, but instead enjoyed riding the bike trails with Mathilda in the trailer and Claire on her own bike.  I did go out on a couple of great runs.  Both of the runs consisted of running around Fallen Leaf Lake.  The first run I added in a run up the side of a mountain to Angora Lakes.  The first run was 2.5 hours and the second run was 1.5 hours.  I felt really good on both of them.  

While in Tahoe, I was pretty sure that I wouldn't do the Vineman, but after getting back to Sonoma County, I decided that I would do the race, but I would drop out if I got too uncomfortable.  Since then I have gotten in some riding to and from work, and a couple of hour runs.  I was planning a long ride for Sunday, but Claire and I will be heading in to work instead.  

The big lesson that I have learned from this is that a bike shop owner should not plan on doing full Ironmans during the summer.  The shop has been super busy and I have been unable to train like I would like to.  I shouldn't complain, I love my job, and a business owner shouldn't gripe about being too busy, but...  Anyway, that is all I have to say for now.

Commuting into work

Well, my first week of training has ended.  Four more weeks to get ready, or should I say three weeks and one week to taper.  Anyway, I rode home from work on Thursday, which was around 25 miles, and on Saturday I rode in and home.  I am feeling comfortable on the aero-bars, but have yet to really test them on a long ride.  We are off from work today and tomorrow, and I am planning a tough brick one of these two days.  It is supposed to get very hot here over the coming week, with temperatures around a 310 degrees Kelvin.  We will be heading to Tahoe Wednesday night for four days of camping at Fallen Leaf Lake.  I will get a chance to do some open water swimming and some long runs, but I don't know what kind of riding time I will get in.  

Morning run

I went out this morning and did an hour and 25 minute run.  I felt great.  Maybe a little sluggish from Sunday and Monday, but otherwise no pain.  I did the Scenic loop with a couple extra laps around Canyon while Claire walked.  My heart rate was lower than normal.  Usually when I do that loop I average around 150 BPM, but this time my average was much lower.  I did not try to push the pace, which probably made most of the difference.  Tomorrow morning I will get in a ride with Claire, and then hopefully ride home from the shop.  Right now I am enjoying a beer out on the deck before going in and working on dinner.  The shop has been crazy, busy, which I am not complaining about.  It is great to see more and more people getting into riding bike for what ever reason they need to.  

Back in the pool

I went for my first swim since The World's Toughest in May.  Before that I hadn't swum since the Vineman last year.  Anyway, I went to Ives Pool in Slowblastapple.  I swam 4000 yards, and felt okay.  I had a hard time getting my heart rate up because of my lack of upper body strength.  Every time I tried to go hard, my arms would get tired.  Otherwise I felt fine.  I timed myself for a 100 yards somewhere in the middle of my workout.  I did a 1:20.  It is hard to believe that I used to swim 25 seconds faster than that during practice, and that was when we were doing 20 or 30 of those.  I did a set of 50's at the end that felt pretty good.  Tomorrow morning I will try to get out for a run.  I will need to figure out when I can get back on the bike.