Dipsea Trail

The Dipsea trail lacks mercy. That thing eats you just as bad as the Newton Hills in the Boston Marathon - and it's only 7 miles!!!

Some background on Dipsea:

-The Dipsea Race is the oldest foot race in the US.

-It has a 2,200 ft elevation gain.

-You climb 688 sets of stairs (one way).
-One of the climbs has been named "cardiac hill", another one is "suicide hill".

I got up at 6:50 on Saturday AM (ew) and rode to Mill Valley to meet my friend. After 15 miles on my bike, we stowed it away in his jeep and started the trail. My friend has a reputation for getting us lost on the many Mt. Tam trails. He did not disappoint this weekend.

Three miles off course - we run PCH down to Stinson Beach. Which was beautiful, and I saw a dead shark on the beach, so that was cool too. We found Steep Ravine, jumped on it, took it back up to Dipsea, because I didn't want to miss any of those 688 sets of stairs. By the time we got back to Mill Valley, we were broken. Officially owned by Dipsea. And I still had to ride home. Luckily enough, Tony offered to drive me to the bridge so I wouldn't be forced to climb up from Sausolito.

4.5 hours of running & biking = mass consumptions of food & drink.

Contemplating the Work Out

Something I've struggled with the last three years is recognizing when to stop because I'm walking the fine line of over doing it and recognizing when to stop complaining and just keep on going and endure it. No one feels good having to quit or stop a work out (as I did last night in swimming, and jumped out at 1 mile). No one feels good when you're injured because you over did it either.
I took a look at my training log -

(8/16)
Monday: 1,000 yds - drill & form focus
Tuesday: 7 mile run, 25 min elliptical, 60 minute weight lifting
Wednesday: 4 mile run, lite weights, 22 mile bike ride
Thursday: 3600 yds
Friday: 10 mile bike ride
Saturday: 56 mile bike ride
Sunday: 14 mile run (I ran straight to the smoothie cafe at the end, then walked home)
(8/23)
Monday: Rest
Tuesday: 1800 yds

I think I could have kept going to 2500 yds last night, but there was no way I was making it to 3600 pain free. And not a muscle burning pain - a I need to take it easy for 10 days or else risk injury pain.

Tonight I plan on doing my new 22 mile loop. Here are some great motivational quotes for when you want to quit but need to endure the burn:

"Training is what you're doing while you're opponent is sleeping in"

"Suffer the pain of discipline, or suffer the pain of regret"

"Pain is temporary, pride is forever" (my fav)

"No marathon gets easier later. The halfway point marks the end of the beginning."

And let's not forget "Swim 2.4 miles, Bike 112 miles, run 26.2 miles .... BRAG FOR LIFE!"

Argyle is so In.

This is kinda funny, because it was so unintentional. Apparently my bike outfit, is a big hit. Cyclists, runners, drivers in passing cars, walkers, etc .... are all telling me that they love what I'm wearing.

A few weeks ago, it was frigid & freezing in San Francisco - big surprise. I haven't purchased tights yet and I only have shorts. I just know from past experiences it's not a good idea to have knees uncovered & seriously it'd just really suck going downhill in 50 degrees. And then I remembered! Yes!

My argyle leg warmers! They cover my knees and lower thighs, and I can easily slip them on and off! Brilliant!

I swear to God I average 2 compliments a ride with these things. And everyone says, "Those are great! Where'd you get them?!" HA - um $2 at a Chinese hardware store in Russian Hill. They're left over from Halloween.

But apparently, a big hit. So unexpected.

City Views

The view you're looking at is from part of last night's ride. And yes, it was actually this clear out. It was sunny in San Francisco yesterday - who knew sun even existed in this little 7x7 city. I was beginning to think SF was turning into a little Seattle. I actually had no intentions on riding last evening, I was going to visit the Zynga peeps (awesome folks who feed the markers of Farmville) after finally going to the bike clinic. Apparently Mike's Bike's is having its megasale and due to high volume of shoppers, clinic was closed.
I did go over to the shop and have them help me with my tires though. As stupid as this is, it's true, I could not successfully pump air into my tires. Neither could my room mate. In fact, the more I tried, I kept letting more air out. It was like, dumb & dumber fix a bike. Hopefully today's lesson at MB's sticks.
With my tires finally firm & pumped, I set out to Crissy Field. I don't like crossing the bridge after 2 PM and the only reason why is because of the winds. So my new thing is to climb up to the bridge, then climb over and up in the Presidio, and coast down to Sea Cliff (pic above). Today I decided to keep going and went up to the Legion of Honor -- I wish I had a digital camera to show everyone how amazing the water, mountains, and bridge looked. Don't be too jealous though because I was swearing and cursing up that hill.

After Sea Cliff I went down Point Lobos road, past the Cliff House, and coasted down by the beach for a bit. Had this not been the nicest day of the summer, I would have froze. Then up to Golden Gate Park, the Pan Handle/Haigh, up to the Castro, then back down the mission. You can see my route here:




Ended up being a great ride that I will for sure repeat. Also made me realize how spoiled we Californians are. Through out the 22 miles of hills and roads I saw the Pacific Ocean, Golden Gate Bridge, Golden Gate park, historic Victorians, Redwoods, San Francisco Bay, the skyline, Headland Mountains, and some crazy characters in the Haight... Made me truly appreciate living on the west coast & decided that the incredible living fees of the Bay Area are worth it if I have access to this every day.

Lake Tahoe or Bust

It's been almost a month since starting physical therapy. Contrary to the original diagnosis, it seems like the pain I was experiencing in my hip & knee came from muscle imbalance (no tears - thank God) and lack of core engagement. It's been a bit frustrating, I had to significantly cut back on strength training because my lower back was so sensitive. But my core is a lot better and I'm a lot more comfortable.

Along with core improvements, I've focused on long rides. The Lake Tahoe three day triathlon is fast approaching. The 2.5 mile swim will be on Friday, the 72 mile ride on Saturday and on Sunday I will run a half marathon (I dropped down from the marathon). I'm excited, but I'm dreading it too.

The ride will be start at 6,000 ft and will go up to 6800, and then back down to 6000. Do you know how hard it is to breathe at this altitude? Your lungs burn when you climb. To help prep for this, I've been riding with a small 10-15lb backpack. It's not the most comfortable thing to have on your back, but at least this should help stimulate altitude. I've never raced before on the bike, and I've never ridden in a large group either --- so, yea, I'm kinda nervous to do this on the lake circumference with open roads.

The swim, I just have no idea what to expect. I don't know how many people are doing the 2.5 mile distance, or what it's like to swim in altitude. Does it make a difference? I have no idea. I'm just mentally going into it that it's going to suck and that I am just going to have to deal with it for 90 minutes.

I've actually done the half marathon before. And I think I compared it to a full marathon. But I did it in fall 2008, when I was still a newbie to racing and was averaging a 2:20 half (sans altitude). Around mile 6, you hit Hell Hill. Every few feet, you enter a new realm of hell. I remember Purgatory from 2008 as the worst part, that was when my lungs really started burning. And I thought, my God, this really is hell, they weren't kidding. However, the views are beautiful.

I'm looking at this weekend as sort of a triathlete bootcamp. Altitude training is supposed to be a great way to train for endurance events. It's also a way to get an idea on what to expect in cycling competitions - the one area where I've never competed.

It's funny, when people hear that I'm doing a IronMan, they always say, "you must be a big triathlete"... and are very surprised to hear me say, "actually, I've never done one". I don't think that I can really count Tahoe as a tri either since there aren't any transitions and it's spread out over three days. To be honest, my first real tri - will probably be a half IronMan this spring!

Goal Alignment

I started my career in technology by working for a human capital management company. Translation: I worked for an HR software company that did performance reviews. Part of my job there was to learn about goal alignment, goal wizards, goal cascading, etc. The overall point was, the company has 5 objectives for the year and the tool helped you figure out how each employee could help achieve these objectives. The goals were broken down to responsibilities by department, then to the teams, then to the managers, then to each individual employee. Goals were cascaded & tracked with the our software. I honestly thought we were the lamest software group (technology content wise) and thought it was amazing we ever sold business, because come on, who needs this?

But it's true - you need to break it down sometimes to get to that big goal. After looking at the IM course and skimming over past women's performances in Lake Placid, my goal is to cross the finish line somewhere between 13 - 13:20 hours. Here's my breakdown:

Swim: 1 hr 15 min max

Bike: 6 hr 3o min max

Run: 5 hr max

Plus twenty minutes or so to complete transitions.

All areas listed above need specific training to meet those times (hopefully run will be 4:30, but we'll see, I'm forecasting 5 hours as of now). Strength training, speed work, hill work, open water training, double setting, core strengthening, stretching, proper nutrition .... these all need to be taken into consideration to meet the objective.

For the remainder of the summer I hope to focus on my weakest areas: consistency on the bike & core strength.