Rematch with China Camp today.
Did some stuff I didn't feel up to the first time. A lot of the stuff that looked crazy to me before looked pretty tame today, but some of the new stuff was either gnarly or skinny and the tension level was still a bit higher than it needs to be. This was pretty much the full, good stuff loop.
18.4 miles
2800 feet of climb
2hr54min moving time, 4hr02min total time. Stopped time seems a bit high. Made me wonder if the app calls anything below x mph "stopped" but after looking at the data, not so much. But if anyone needs the lat/long of the porta-potties, let me know.
The track:
The data:
[You can tell the elastic in the heart rate strap has had it. Flat bits in the graph mean no new data for a while because the monitor isn't held against the skin.]
Saturday, October 29, 2011
Saturday, October 22, 2011
Waterdog, Belmont CA
Today's ride was at Waterdog Park in Belmont.
Park map looks like hya:
The track from the ride looks like ya:
Note that the track covers almost everything in the park proper. Just one segment of Chapparal got left out where we turned off to other connecting trails. [The lake loop trail looked like it was underwater. We passed on that too.]
It's an interesting trail system tucked into a tight space, closely surrounded by neighborhoods. Not unlike Joaquin Miller in Oakland, some of the perimeter trails run right along lines of backyard fences. You may smell more than one barbecue as you ride.
Lots of fall line stuff. Not too many ledges or high risk features. Lots of short hard climbs. A very up and down place with hard pack topped with loose crumble. Really made me wish I had remote lockout for the suspension.
A couple trails have good long hairpin practice zones. Like this one (Finch) we did up and down.
Today's ride was 12.3 miles, which required repeating some sections.
2100 ft of climb.
2hr02min moving time
2hr40min total time
Average heart rate for me was 144. Probably because we exited on a fire road with a long easy decline.
And yeah, don't believe Google Maps when it tells you where the park entrance is.
Park map looks like hya:
The track from the ride looks like ya:
Note that the track covers almost everything in the park proper. Just one segment of Chapparal got left out where we turned off to other connecting trails. [The lake loop trail looked like it was underwater. We passed on that too.]
It's an interesting trail system tucked into a tight space, closely surrounded by neighborhoods. Not unlike Joaquin Miller in Oakland, some of the perimeter trails run right along lines of backyard fences. You may smell more than one barbecue as you ride.
Lots of fall line stuff. Not too many ledges or high risk features. Lots of short hard climbs. A very up and down place with hard pack topped with loose crumble. Really made me wish I had remote lockout for the suspension.
A couple trails have good long hairpin practice zones. Like this one (Finch) we did up and down.
Today's ride was 12.3 miles, which required repeating some sections.
2100 ft of climb.
2hr02min moving time
2hr40min total time
Average heart rate for me was 144. Probably because we exited on a fire road with a long easy decline.
And yeah, don't believe Google Maps when it tells you where the park entrance is.
Sunday, October 16, 2011
Skyline trail in Napa ain't bad.
Today's track looks a little something like this.
Moving speed was a bit slow but you want to save a little something on the easy bits here as the tricky bits require short bursts of power.
One tricky bit was so tricky, that even when I dismounted and tried to walk through, I slipped and fell and did a nice shin-grind across the top of a knife edged rock. Like so:
Words may have come out of my mouth at that moment to express the sensation, but they probably don't bear repeating here.
Elevation chart with workout data hyar:
Short story: 2 hrs moving time, 30 minutes stopped. 1800 ft elevation. Average heart rate for me was 144 which is a bit low (let's do another loop!) but peak was 184 and there is no shortage of peak effort spots in this park.
This guy drove us all there. He don't need no suspension, or clipless pedals.
Moving speed was a bit slow but you want to save a little something on the easy bits here as the tricky bits require short bursts of power.
One tricky bit was so tricky, that even when I dismounted and tried to walk through, I slipped and fell and did a nice shin-grind across the top of a knife edged rock. Like so:
Words may have come out of my mouth at that moment to express the sensation, but they probably don't bear repeating here.
Elevation chart with workout data hyar:
Short story: 2 hrs moving time, 30 minutes stopped. 1800 ft elevation. Average heart rate for me was 144 which is a bit low (let's do another loop!) but peak was 184 and there is no shortage of peak effort spots in this park.
This guy drove us all there. He don't need no suspension, or clipless pedals.
Thursday, October 13, 2011
Breathing right.
As opposed to breathing correctly. And as opposed to breathing left.
One thing that stood in the way of my swimming sans snorkel for a long time was an apparent inability to get my mouth out of the water long enough for a breath. It took a while to figure out that this problem only happened to the right, which unfortunately was the side I always tried at first.
Once the switch was made to the left side, the progress came. Now I'm sort of plateaued speed wise, so it seems like a good time to work on addressing technique issues.
This was strangely difficult to get around to. Getting in the pool and not having a distance/speed expectation to live up to is not the normal MO. After warming up for 200m it was time to see if I could breathe right at all. Rotation to that side is a bit unreliable, and my form was terrible, but there was finally enough base of experience to keep moving. Swam 800m breathing only to the right.
Success. Needs a lot more work over the winter, but having done something once is a big confidence builder, and a little confidence goes a long way.
One thing that stood in the way of my swimming sans snorkel for a long time was an apparent inability to get my mouth out of the water long enough for a breath. It took a while to figure out that this problem only happened to the right, which unfortunately was the side I always tried at first.
Once the switch was made to the left side, the progress came. Now I'm sort of plateaued speed wise, so it seems like a good time to work on addressing technique issues.
This was strangely difficult to get around to. Getting in the pool and not having a distance/speed expectation to live up to is not the normal MO. After warming up for 200m it was time to see if I could breathe right at all. Rotation to that side is a bit unreliable, and my form was terrible, but there was finally enough base of experience to keep moving. Swam 800m breathing only to the right.
Success. Needs a lot more work over the winter, but having done something once is a big confidence builder, and a little confidence goes a long way.
Sunday, October 2, 2011
Scott Tinley's Adventures offroad sprint triathlon
Today, I was leet (my competition number is as you can see 1337), and I knew it would be a good day.
This is how good of a day it was:
Men 40-44 Results
Sort by bike. Amazing. 2nd in group. 12th overall. This has not been my experience in triathlon so far.
Sort by run. Even more amazing. 3rd in group. People were definitely passing me on the run but I guess none of them were in my AG.
Sort by swim and have a nice laugh.
At least this time I got in the water 5 minutes before the start and was acclimated when it mattered. The really alarming thing was how the 66 degree water felt warm compared to standing around in the cold morning air.
Said swim seemed a bit long and I made it longer by sighting badly a couple of times. First I swam way off course between the turnaround buoys. Then I swam to the wrong side of the pier next to the boat ramp and had to make a couple of 90 degree turns to go around it. In my defense I was swimming in a straight line towards the exit arch visible behind it! Probably swam an extra 50-75 meters.
See the course for yourself:
Then with about two steps to go before the leaving the water behind, I slipped on algae and fell and did a snow angel in 10 inches of water before getting up and jogging slowly into transition. All together that's enough reason to think I could easily do better if I do this event again. On that note, the hill-climb + road sprint + offroad sprint trio seems sort of appealing as a concept for 2012. I'd certainly get some sighting practice.
Overall results if you want 'em.
Overall Results
Have to be a jerk and say that I beat Scott Tinley!
There's no GPS for the swim leg, because I was a dummy and forgot to push the start button on it as the race started. So it went with me on the swim in my cap for no real reason, except to slow me down a bit more in first transition. It was a pretty slow on overall but this is all in fun right?
Bike track:
Data tells the story:
On the first loop there was a lot of traffic and the single track was narrow. If you got to the side of it you were in soft sandy soil and tall grass. I think I passed 3 guys when they toppled over on climbs and I had to swerve around them. There was always someone to chase on the first lap, and it was hard to carry speed down the hills. Once we hit the fire road my roadie training showed itself and I was motoring past people who would have been really tough to pass on the single track.
The only drama was in the water crossing in Camp French. On the pre-ride I did last weekend, there was a way to ride over some rocks on the left and avoid the foot deep water in the middle. This weekend I arrived at speed expecting to see the same thing but there was a fallen branch covering the rocky line. Tried to go around it but drilled a big rock and stopped up short. Got a foot down but took a handlebar end to the thigh. That left a mark.
On lap two the trail was a bit more clear. I was saving it a bit more on the climbs so I'd have some energy left for the run, but letting it fly on the downhills. There was still some free time out there by laying off the brakes more. And I bombed the deepest water in the crossing without incident. Both laps were 28 minutes and change. GPS said lap two was 10 seconds slower.
Run track:
Data for show and tell:
Not bad. Had no real feel for how fast the pace was at first. Calf muscles were tight for the first half mile or so as usual. Just worked on picking my feet up as much as possible. Once the legs were loose and breathing had settled down I tried to stretch out the stride whenever I could. The hill at the end hurt and I tried my "I'm still looking for the escalator" joke on three people and only one of them deemed it worth comment.
Overall sub 9:30 pace is pretty good for me with hills at the end of a near two hour effort. All in all the effort level here in this 100 minute event was about the same as the 65 minute sprint in June. Not really sure if I had any such gameplan today but it worked out.
Missed the podium by less than a minute. Will this stick in my mind in future when I'm thinking about transition strategy? Perhaps.
This was the first time camping at an event.
It was good in spite of my concerns going in that it could be crowded or noisy. It was mostly racers nearby and they were toes-up by 10pm. The last family with kids within earshot was in bed by 10:30. After that it was just me sipping a beverage and tending the fire with a stick.
That and checking the stars. Nice dark sky around Lake Lopez. Could see tons of stars around the teapot asterism in Sagittarius. Could see different colors in the stars that make up the W of Cassiopeia. Saw three meteors. Wished I'd brought some binocs. Jupiter was by far the brightest thing in the sky and it is fun to check for its moons. The V of Virgo was clearly visible even before it had cleared the treeline.
This guy and his buddies were making noise all night, but I wouldn't say it detracted from the experience.
And this guy wanted to join the party but a kind soul moved him off to the side of the transition area so he would not get squished. My hand for reference:
This is how good of a day it was:
Men 40-44 Results
Sort by bike. Amazing. 2nd in group. 12th overall. This has not been my experience in triathlon so far.
Sort by run. Even more amazing. 3rd in group. People were definitely passing me on the run but I guess none of them were in my AG.
Sort by swim and have a nice laugh.
At least this time I got in the water 5 minutes before the start and was acclimated when it mattered. The really alarming thing was how the 66 degree water felt warm compared to standing around in the cold morning air.
Said swim seemed a bit long and I made it longer by sighting badly a couple of times. First I swam way off course between the turnaround buoys. Then I swam to the wrong side of the pier next to the boat ramp and had to make a couple of 90 degree turns to go around it. In my defense I was swimming in a straight line towards the exit arch visible behind it! Probably swam an extra 50-75 meters.
See the course for yourself:
[Click to see a bigger image]
[Straight out to the orange buoy near center-image, then over to the other buoy on the right way out there, then back to the arch. Hey, the sun was in my eyes.]
[Straight out to the orange buoy near center-image, then over to the other buoy on the right way out there, then back to the arch. Hey, the sun was in my eyes.]
Then with about two steps to go before the leaving the water behind, I slipped on algae and fell and did a snow angel in 10 inches of water before getting up and jogging slowly into transition. All together that's enough reason to think I could easily do better if I do this event again. On that note, the hill-climb + road sprint + offroad sprint trio seems sort of appealing as a concept for 2012. I'd certainly get some sighting practice.
Overall results if you want 'em.
Overall Results
Have to be a jerk and say that I beat Scott Tinley!
There's no GPS for the swim leg, because I was a dummy and forgot to push the start button on it as the race started. So it went with me on the swim in my cap for no real reason, except to slow me down a bit more in first transition. It was a pretty slow on overall but this is all in fun right?
Bike track:
Data tells the story:
On the first loop there was a lot of traffic and the single track was narrow. If you got to the side of it you were in soft sandy soil and tall grass. I think I passed 3 guys when they toppled over on climbs and I had to swerve around them. There was always someone to chase on the first lap, and it was hard to carry speed down the hills. Once we hit the fire road my roadie training showed itself and I was motoring past people who would have been really tough to pass on the single track.
The only drama was in the water crossing in Camp French. On the pre-ride I did last weekend, there was a way to ride over some rocks on the left and avoid the foot deep water in the middle. This weekend I arrived at speed expecting to see the same thing but there was a fallen branch covering the rocky line. Tried to go around it but drilled a big rock and stopped up short. Got a foot down but took a handlebar end to the thigh. That left a mark.
On lap two the trail was a bit more clear. I was saving it a bit more on the climbs so I'd have some energy left for the run, but letting it fly on the downhills. There was still some free time out there by laying off the brakes more. And I bombed the deepest water in the crossing without incident. Both laps were 28 minutes and change. GPS said lap two was 10 seconds slower.
Run track:
Data for show and tell:
Not bad. Had no real feel for how fast the pace was at first. Calf muscles were tight for the first half mile or so as usual. Just worked on picking my feet up as much as possible. Once the legs were loose and breathing had settled down I tried to stretch out the stride whenever I could. The hill at the end hurt and I tried my "I'm still looking for the escalator" joke on three people and only one of them deemed it worth comment.
Overall sub 9:30 pace is pretty good for me with hills at the end of a near two hour effort. All in all the effort level here in this 100 minute event was about the same as the 65 minute sprint in June. Not really sure if I had any such gameplan today but it worked out.
Missed the podium by less than a minute. Will this stick in my mind in future when I'm thinking about transition strategy? Perhaps.
This was the first time camping at an event.
It was good in spite of my concerns going in that it could be crowded or noisy. It was mostly racers nearby and they were toes-up by 10pm. The last family with kids within earshot was in bed by 10:30. After that it was just me sipping a beverage and tending the fire with a stick.
That and checking the stars. Nice dark sky around Lake Lopez. Could see tons of stars around the teapot asterism in Sagittarius. Could see different colors in the stars that make up the W of Cassiopeia. Saw three meteors. Wished I'd brought some binocs. Jupiter was by far the brightest thing in the sky and it is fun to check for its moons. The V of Virgo was clearly visible even before it had cleared the treeline.
This guy and his buddies were making noise all night, but I wouldn't say it detracted from the experience.
And this guy wanted to join the party but a kind soul moved him off to the side of the transition area so he would not get squished. My hand for reference:
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