San Diego County Fair 5k

I despise the Fair... in fact I have been once.  It goes in the same category as Disneyland etc.... but this is not about that- is about the fact I went to the Fair this AM ( to run a 5K)

Yes so the good news on the non injury front is I have zero pain!  zero.... so the green light to ramp back up. This was my first week of running with some efforts.  Garmin is on, pace is slow, but that is okay well not really but I am pretending to be patient.  Last week coach messages me "can you find a 5K?"  Oh boy...  yes.

Of the few I found, this on made the most sense.  1- close by 2- affordable 3- Saturday (ideal day)  So I signed us up for the SD County Fair 5K.

Turns out it was a freakin blast.... pace was not a blast, it was well slow, but a benchmark. John beat me and I am really pissed and I am happy he had a good race.

Race started at 8, we arrived at 7:30- parking was a cluster.  It was as if Tempo and Zen were in charge (aka not the sharpest tools in shed)  But we got in and parked and lined up.

The start was through the gates the horses run through - it was awesome!  Off we go down the straightaway on the track just like the horses in my brain anyway.  From there we ran through the entire Fair - infield, garden section, aisles of alarming food, rides, carnie games, hot tubs, back on the track, beer garden and finish.  Course was a bit short 2.9 miles.  Really low key.... no chips, no awards, just run!

#vineman training 100 degrees in Ramona 

We loved it-  we got 2 free Fair tickets and free Miller Light- neither of which we used. We were in the car by 8:30 headed to Leslie's for breakfast and then an 80 mile ride!  Hills, heat, tempo efforts....

Fun days....living the dream- 

Tempo and Zen go to Fiesta Island

Zen (aka Newton)

Tempo (Leslie's lab) and Zen (my lab) are sweet, happy and well dumb labs. We love them dearly and often make fun of their brain(less) power.

We often refer to not so smart people as Tempo and Zen.

So my coach (kinds sounds like I am comparing him to Temp and Zen - but I am not) who I trust wholeheartedly and do everything he says generally, told me to "get used to power tests"  Once a month- like it or not.   Well for me it is not, but well I do what he says most of the time anyway.  

Temp (aka Einstein) 

So when TCSD posted a monthly TT I thought aha, better than doing this mind numbing, killer  awesome test alone, why not do it with company.  So I emailed Leslie and said "lets do a TT"

Seemed like a great idea on paper...and even like  it might be fun.... until the day approached and I was tired.  But I loaded up my bike and stuff and picked up Les and out she rolls with her aero helmet and race wheels. Duh.....its a TT, maybe that would have been a good idea.  Oh well-  race wheels on Yakima roof rack, no go.  Rear wheel off, training wheel on, car packed and we sit in the awesome I5 traffic for 45 minutes.

Arrive and Fiesta Island- don't you just love that name.  When I see Fiesta Island I see a barren round island over a landfill and think of suffering in circles. Lot's of F words come to mind and none of them are anything like a fiesta.

I digress, instead of parking where we normally do, we drove around the island- who drives around Fiesta, what the hell ?  So we decided it was course recon. Go Tempo and Zen

We unload and I'm not really sure what transpired but Les' hands were black and her bike was too were completely covered in grease, but she is prepared  with hand soap  and a bottle of raspberry seltzer water.  "here zen, pour this water on my hands"  " okay tempo"  raspberry seltzer spewing all over like it was champagne on a podium.  We are now standing in raspberry seltzer mud.   20 minutes or an hour later we get ready to roll and Les' wheel will not turn, as in it does not fit.  Seriously, it fit before we put it on the rack.

This is what I did NOT look like 

Hey Tempo call to bike shop.  We can see the mechanics laughing at these dumb triathletes... says undo the skewer and pull the wheel out a bit. Um okay, as if it may fall out?  Yes. than tighten it up.  Okay Tempo do it. What's the worst thing that can happen, wheel falls off and you fall down.  Still wanna do this?  yes.  OK.

As we are warming up tooling along chatting as if we have not seen each other in a month  I remember I am supposed to be doing 30 sec pick ups- all out to "get ready"  Off I go and I glance down to see how high my watts are and they are at an amazing 0.  Yes 0 watts, crap, no power for the power test. No worries, reset "find my power meter"  and yeah we have watts.  On we go. Next pick up is even better holding 550 watts. Yes me and Lance!
Next pick up is 0.  Now I am realizing that there is a small  or a 100%  chance my battery is dead.  I suggest to my athletes that they carry an extra battery in their tool kit for such matters.  Wish I listened to me.

So we check in, line up and Les and are next to each other, ready to race.  We are laughing hysterically at so many stupid things I am afraid we will miss the "epic" start.   Every 30 seconds 2 people go off and we are next.  Ready, set, go!  and Les's wheel locks up.... Ok see ya.

3 x 4 mile loops  all out.  I drop in aero and go.  Settle in look down and see 0. Okay this is for "fun" .... I have to say it is better than doing it alone or even with 1 person - at least you have people to try and pass or guys in skin suits and a disc blowing by you at 27mph.

Here is how it went down... 1st loop is good, feeling strong and having fun- so glad I am doing this.   2nd loop starts as " i can do this, just hang on and then in an instant I am like holy crap I am not even 1/2 way, I may just die"  I am watching HR, since I don't have power, and am trying to keep it up.  OK 2nd loop done, yeah, 2/3 of the way, awesome, crap there is no way I can do another lap.  What is that noise, wait it is me, what kind of noise is that coming from my lungs... geez who is making this island longer, when will I finish, wait here comes a car, can I draft off the car?   Is that cheating? yes but the dang car is afraid to pass me so he is drafting off me, is he sucking me back, is that why I am going slower?, I can't do this I might die, arg my HR is dropping, no, pedal harder... hey I see the finish line. That was fun :)

It was fun to "race" sort of and all said and done glad we did it.  Rolled back the raspberry seltzer mud pit to "Joe" in the 1990 explorer, high, combing his ratted hair asking if we heard about the wiener dog killed in Coronado.

Off we go, dropped Les off and gave her my wheel as well as her's..... home at last.

How to train 20+ hours a week and manage 2 jobs

• First your job must be somewhat flexible in the hours you need to be accessible, on the phone, present 
• You must be willing to work at 4am and 11pm (if you are riding your bike for 3-5 hours in the middle of the day) you have to "pay the piper"  There is still work to be done, so making the time is critical.  Having a spouse that understands you will work many evenings is really helpful. As is not owning a TV. 
• iPhone is mandatory, maybe a droid will work, but I know an iPhone definitely works

• set special ring tones for urgent calls - this way I never miss an important call and don't get off my bike for a solicitation call. This changes for me, depending on the project or who I need to speak with. So I am constantly changing based on the day or the project. 
• VIP email.  Again I make the key people VIP so when I check my phone and see 81 emails I don't need to scroll through them all, I just look at VIP and reply as needed 
• Siri  read my email (  thank you Jen)  this is new to me - but yesterday I put in  headphone and asked Siri to please read emails and away she went.  
• Flexibility - sometimes a workout has to move if an urgent call comes up 
• Apps- I have office and adobe on my phone to review docs if necessary
• Laptop in the car if out for a while, in case I need to edit, review or do more than the iPhone can handle.  Either pop in a Sbux or use my personal hot spot to log on and go.  

In some ways I am working all the time but with really generous breaks!   I don't mind working weekends or nights to have the schedule I do.

Flexible schedules also allow for more travel!

Yes this does not work if you are required to be in an office, but we create our own work environment.
When people say I am "lucky" to have such flexible hours - I say yes, but luck was  small part of it.  I left the corporate world 9 years ago to become a contract employee and build my own business with HPN Global.  I prospected, lived on a limited budge, dug and built a business on my own time. And 4 years ago I started coaching.  So both my businesses are self created and self owned.  I wanted a flexible lifestyle and with that benefits are huge!  

You are in control of how you live your life!!  

This weeks adventure

Definitely in a sweet spot right now.... logged 2 hours 20 min of running last week.  No garmin too afraid to see the pace but I am feeling less like a baby giraffe.  Fluidity is coming back and form feels decent.

En route to Boulder with a stop in Denver for some real work and than some solid training at a D3 Multisport camp.   Boulder is easy for me, as my sister lives there with a sweet guest apartment. So I can move in, work, train and be in a new environment.   I have a lot going on with my other job so there will be a lot of early morning calls, working on the phone but I can make it work. It's what I love about HPN Global - I can work from any where and can set my own hours- as long as I am willing get up at 4 and work into the evening, I can get it done.  Coaching is the same I can do it from anywhere and at any time.  Reviewing workouts in the evening or early morning, updating scheudles etc can be done at any time.

I am very nervous really excited to run with my coach this week so he can asses my run form.  Okay to be totally honest I am worried, I am very insecure about my running, even when I am in top shape, so to be not in shape is scary.  It's funny when someone watches me swim or ride  I am not worried.  When I receive feedback I embrace it and put the the changes to work.  Running, where I need the most feedback, I fear it.  I think this is because when I get the bike and swim feedback, I can put it into action fairly easily, where as the running I feel I try and try and still the form is not right.  Ugh :)

Not really sure what this is but well just
seemed appropriate

Human nature is to work our our strengths because it is fun and easy.  Why do  most triathletes swim the least, it is their weakest discipline (and many will argue the shortest and Ironman is not won in the swim.  True but it can be lost.)  Lost as in if you are going for a podium slot if you come out too far back you cannot make it up, if you are going for a PR and are not in good swim shape the 2.4 mile swim will tank you- use up too much energy that you will be looking for at mile 20 on the run )

In any case....the run.  Front and center for me.

It's funny I was a runner for years, prior to finding triathlon.  I was not self conscious I just ran and was happy with what I did until I became obsessive and started the cycle of injury"   I was never a great runner so I did not get hung up on it.   Now it is my run that is holding me from achieving the next level in triathlon.

Right now it is physical as I am building back but a big part of it I know is mental.  So along with build back my run and using the data to show what I can run off the bike, I have some mental skills to work on.  We always have something to work on and that is what I love about sports in general but triathlon especially as there are many "opportunities".  So many goals to set.  My short term goals are getting to run 1 hour, long term goals are back to the mile repeats really I did not just say that.   In all seriousness those painful, f'ing  repeats started to build my run confidence.

I've had a few people ask me why/how I got "so hurt", 11 weeks not running hurt.  And even why did I let my coach do that. When an athlete gets hurt it is their fault 100%- even if the the coach said suck it up, run through the pain-  it is still your responsibility to listen to your body.  That little voice or that loud screaming voice that says, this is too much, I don't feel right- is one you MUST listen to.

As a coach there is NO way I can tell how you are feeling, I can use metrics to see that you maybe tired, on the edge but I cannot tell from TP if you are feeling a twinge or something that is not right.  You as the athlete need to say "im tired, x does not feel right"  And then we dial it back  A few of my athletes that are really pushing it now are seeing this and getting it. They are saying "im baked and worried about the weekend"  "totally flat in the water, feeling run down"  "hr would not raise"  "hungry all the time and not sleeping well"   With this feedback we take  day off or change an interval bike to a spin and ofen  2 days later they are crushing 7+ hour days.  This is the $$$ if they had forced that wed or thur workout, we risk injury or a sub optional long day.

So back to me, this is all about me, right.   Why/how did I get injured.  No one issue

1- ran San Dieguito 1/2 in Newtons- epic error.  Calves were seriously worked - as in I could not really walk worked.  Did not get this worked out immediately and calves were compromised.

2- new bike fit and my saddle was tilted down a bit which put extra pressure on my calves when biking.  When I was riding aero and working had I was using my tibilais anterior muscles which was a new sensation. More stress on the calf/shin.

3- solid running block.  I was on the edge and I could feel it. Just walking around I was sore, a misstep here or there and I did not feel right.  I sort of raised my hand to coach and we dialed it back a bit.  Here is big mistake. Instead of I'm a bit tired"  I should have said "I'm worked, my body is not right and I am worried about getting hurt" Clear message of recovery week needed

4 - my back fired up- sign of fatigue and this lead to compensating running for the severe back pain.

5- timing- with Oceanside looming it was the last solid week of running and my thoughts of if I can get these 2 runs in I am good to go.  WRONG  If I had skipped those 2 runs, I probably would have been able to race Oceanside and definitely St George.

6- the run I felt the twinges of pain were a sign. the hard run OTB was not right, pain and compensation.  the final 10 miler where the pain was prevalent and I just finished it  UGH to turn back the clock

7- Newer relationship. My #1 goal is to improve my run, so the idea of calling my new coach and saying I need a break was hard.  The fear of  "how will you get faster if you don't do the work", he will think I am a wimp.  Long term coach/athlete relationships trump here as you are past the "impress the coach " phase the the coach, the coach knows the athlete well, sometimes better than they know themselves.  This is why many consistent athletes work with the same coach year after year.  If you have a good relationship, stick with it and you will be consistency working together to fine tune, focus on weaknesses, improve in all areas etc ...  You are past the understanding personalities, what motivates an athlete, what their life stresses are etc.

So yes more fun on deck!