OktoberFast Wrap Up

I realized last night (as I was destroying a plate of Tandoori chicken, ironically) that October is going to be a very light training month. I have to Taper for the OC Tri which is the 10th, then I promised my body and my wife to go light on the training this month to rest and finish a living room remodel. So my goal is to be at or below the weight I am on race day despite the decreased training load.

The above is the comment I left on September 30th in response to Big Clyde's post about the OktoberFast challenge.  Basically, my month was supposed to go down like this:

• Taper for the OC Olympic Triathlon
• Finish remodeling the living room
• Maintain (or lose) weight in light of a decreased training load.

How did the month end up?  Here it is in review:

The Taper - I ended up doing OK with my taper - twice (well, maybe one and a half times).  Regular readers will recall that I was all ready to go for the OC Tri, but managed to put the wrong cleats on my cycling shoes.  I didn't discover this little folly until about 40 minutes before the race start, so I had to drop out after the swim.  Obviously I was pissed, so the second I got home I searched for another race and found the Big Rock Olympic Triathlon the following weekend.  Though the second time around wasn't a full taper, I definitely took it easier than normal.  In hindsight, I think everything worked out for the best - I ended up doing OK at Big Rock.

The Remodel - Yeah....this one's not done.  I've been working on it, but I'm not finished.  I used to love doing this stuff, I'm not sure what happened.  I still have to install some light fixtures, paint and seal the floors.  This WILL be done by Thanksgiving; mid December at the latest.

The Weight - My weight is down by a pound or so, but it wasn't that much of a "challenge" due to the fact that my training volume didn't decrease too much.

Here is my training volume for the month:

Bike:	20h 16m 24s  - 362.79 Mi
Run:	11h 42m 55s  - 86.93 Mi
Swim:	9h 12m 08s  - 15880 Yd
Strength:	40m

It's a little over 41 hours.  My run volume is slightly up from September, but the bike is down by about 90 miles.  The decrease in the bike is mostly due to 2 or 3 days of crappy weather we had.  I'm not sure if this is a bad thing, but I really couldn't be bothered to ride in the rain pretending I'm racing in one of the Spring Classics.  Also it's nice to see I made it to the gym - once.

The cherry on the proverbial sundae was winning my age group at the Huntington Beach Distance Derby.  This certainly wasn't in my plan.  In fact I wasn't even registered for this race on September 30th.  But it was nice to win a piece of hardware for the first time. 

So it seems that though nothing really went as planned, I had a pretty good month.  Well, except for the living room.  I'm catching some heat for that and I probably deserve it.

Anyway, a big thank you is in order to Clyde for masterminding the challenge.  I also look forward to reading about how everyone else did with their challenges.

Orange County Olympic Triathlon

Unfortunately, the OC Olympic Triathlon website lacks good course maps so it wasn't until today that I got the info I needed to drive the bike and run course.  It turns out I've ridden most of the bike course before - about a year ago.  It's a rolling course with a 3-5% grade going either up or down the entire way.  These should be some good hills - they won't be impossible to climb and they will be fast going down.  The road surface is good and the scenery is awesome.  Should be fun.

What I didn't know anything about was the run course.  I drove what I could of it as much of the route is on closed bike path.  But on the parts that I could drive, I was none too pleased to discover the THE MIGHTY HILL OF DEATH at mile 3.  This half mile stretch of guaranteed pain looks like it averages what, a 13-14% grade?  I'm too tired to figure it out exactly, but clearly there is far too much purple for my liking.

This race is inland in the foothills of the Santa Ana mountains.  The swim is in a lake, so I don't have to worry about the surf, jellyfish, sharks or stingrays.  But I do have to deal with frickin' Mt. Everest.  I'm not sure I like this trade off.

That said, it is what it is.  It will be good practice for the Hawaii 70.3.

Good luck to everyone else racing tomorrow.

Prepping For The Off Season

Empty beaches again, at least during the week.

I know I shouldn't be focusing on the off season too much yet, being that October 10th's Orange County Olympic Triathlon is an "A" race.  It's not that I've taken my foot off the gas.  After racing Sunday I was back on the bike and in the pool on Monday.  And then I ran today.

So let's just say that I'm getting ready for the off season in abesntia.  I'm excited it's coming, I just can't go there yet.

My plan will be to take a break in October.  My body needs it, and I'm going to get kicked out of the house if I don't finish the living room remodel.  And then it's a late fall and early winter of running and swimming, with a weekly group ride thrown in for fun.

My eagerness to work on my swimming has been enhanced this by the addition of this puppy to the equipment arsenal:

Tyr Pull Buoy

Buying the pull buoy may be the best $7.00 I've ever spent.  My coach took a video of me swimming and I was horrified by what I saw.  My body was moving side to side like a water moccasin and every time I turned to breath my head was coming WAY out of the water.  I had no idea.

Then I tried the pull buoy.  Keeping that thing between my legs forces me to use my core more and keeps my body better aligned.  And now that I've seen what my head is doing, I am super conscious about NOT using my leading arm to push my head out of the water before I start my pull.  And I'm also focused on using body roll as much as possible to come out for air.  I wouldn't call it a breakthrough just yet, but it may be the start of one.  There is no doubt that I'll be using the buoy for thousands of yards in the next few months.

Dana Point Turkey Trot Start

Running is the other priority for me.  I want to get a half marathon under my belt before I start to ramp up training for The Ironman 70.3 Hawaii.  So I'll be doing the Surf City Half Marathon on Superbowl Sunday along with a few other races along the way.  One of my favorites is the Dana Point Turkey Trot on Thanksgiving morning.  I did it last year and it was a complete blast.  It's a super crowded race for sure, but it also has the spirit of a big group run with thousands of your best friends.

In February Hawaii training starts in earnest.  The race is June 4th, so I'll have to start a training plan right after the Surf City Half Marathon.  There's also a couple of cool local sprint races in the spring that I'll do as part of training.

What do you you guys have planned?