Good Transition Work!

TRILAB WORKOUT
SWIM/BIKE BRICK
Swim: Same route as last time: ~ 2/3 mile in open water
Bike: 10.03 miles in 33:46 minutes.
Aspeed: 19.2
Max speed: 24

Yay. Phew. Swim course was same as last week but I managed to navigate correctly! Had someone to follow, yes, but also just stayed more aware: where the sun is, how the current is going, etc. Had to exaggerate the “swim to the right” thing which that beach seems to work against—it pushes you out to sea. But also sighted frequently and stayed the course…AND…I was second out of the water and FIRST overall after the bike. So I did really fucking well! Finished pretty far ahead of Eric and Peter, who was struggling hard after the long swim. Eric also is not a great swimmer and had trouble with his transition. Funnily enough, my transition was very smooth and fast.

You DO get a sort of “drunken monkey” feeling out of the water…your legs don’t work, and you’ve been horizontal so long that the blood has to work to go into your head. But despite that, my transition was strong! I think that all the windsprints I’ve done over the weeks—starting YEARS ago, actually, have helped a lot…with quick recovery. And all the full-body weight training stuff helps with redistributing bloodflow. For whatever reason, I had no real problems with transitioning. But I definitely need another bottle of water to spray down my feet! And I DON’T need socks, and I probably won’t wear a shirt.

Bike ride was solid, by the way—a good 10 mile sprint. Some sense of what those sprint tris will be like.

1:00 Minute Intervals

6:45-8:15 AM

LONG SWIM/RECOVERY RUN
Pool swim, SCAQ workout again; easy 25 minute run on treadmill.

Easily was able to keep my 50 intervals at a minute. I don’t know if this pool is smaller or what, but my times were really great…I did 300 meters in 5:30 with very little effort, A sprint 100 meters in 1:25, a full 10 seconds better than my pace from a couple weeks ago. Seems unlikely somehow that that could be, but I don’t know. I am doing all 3 disciplines more often. Anyway, felt good—had a kickboard for the first time and did that in lieu of the drowner kick exercise prescribed by SCAQ. Also practiced getting in the groove with my sighting, doing a couple of breaststrokes with every lap. Got better and easier. Certainly easier than the version that GG showed us during the ocean swim weeks ago. Good work.

25 minute boring recovery run. Treadmills are just plain boring. Oh well…day off tomorrow. Maybe hike or another run with Margreta this evening, but tomorrow off for sure. Saturday: Swim/Bike brick! Hurrah! Gotta stay straight!! Very important. And can’t hang around too much afterwards. Gotta get back by 10:30 for sure. So it’ll be a good push. Nice 3 day effort! Then long run/recovery bike on Sunday.

New Race Distances?

LONG BIKE

Distance: 19+ miles
Time: 1:29:23
Route: From lower Griffith (at Western) West on Hollywood to Nichol’s Canyon; up and over to Mulholland; down to Cahuenga, Barham, Forest Lawn, Griffith Loop up and over past observatory, back down the hill to my car.
Avg. Speed: 12.8 mph (hilly!)
Top Speed: 37 mph (the Barham Hill is fun!)
AHR: 124
MHR: 145
Comments: Good ride, as always. Nice route—recommended by my Doctor. Not actually that much longer than my usual route—only 5 miles over it—but fun. Nichols is a nice climb, though I saddled it the whole time up to Woodrow Wilson, which connects Nichols to Mulholland. Then the Griffith climb was a little easier, since I know it pretty well by now—spent a lot of the time out of the saddle on that one. Fun course, definitely…the long rides are fun and at times challenging—I certainly like climbing hills, that’s for sure. Getting stronger in the pins…keeping HR down, gearing way down and just spinning up. Must continue to work on Time Trial, flat stuff, though certainly the best routes I know are hilly. Bike chain came off once! May need to get a brief tune up before I do the race.

Question: will I taper for this race or no? I’ve been saying, oh, I’m going to train through it, and maybe I will…but I do want to do well at it.

Almost had a heart attack when I saw distances for the race: 1000 meters, 40 km, 8 km, until I realized that that was for a different, longer course race than the one I’m doing. Thank god. Considered dropping out at that point!

Tomorrow: swim swim and recovery run. Should I return to the ocean? I suppose, ideally, but I don’t like to ocean swim without company. Check LA Tri club for a possibility? Hmmm…Alternative (more practical) SCAQ or alternative workout in pool followed by 25 minute treadmill run, easy. Or outdoor run, easy (preferable). No problems…then Friday off, a Saturday brick and a Sunday long run/recovery. Bike. No Scott on Sunday (that I can remember) so I’ll be able to put in a good one in the AM.

Swimming STRAIGHT

FAST RUN/RECOVERY SWIM

Warmup+core: 15 min
Run: Warmup, 5 min then 2 2 min sprints, 2 1 min sprints, 2 30 second sprints, 1 1-minute sprint, separated by 2 min rest, 3 min cooldown. (total 1/2 hour, level 3-4)
AHR: 140
MHR: 161
Swim: 1000 meters in 50-100 meter segments. Drills for days, as planned: one arm, bilateral, fist, catchup, kick with board, sighting, eyes closed underwater, sprints. Sprinted 50 meters in 40 seconds! Not sodding bad.
Total: 1/2 hour, level 2-3
Yoga cooldown: 10 minutes
Total workout time: 90 minutes

Good workout. Sprinted FAST in that pool! 40 seconds for 50 meters is not freakin bad. Swimming straight is pigging imprinted on my body—I DO it. I just…I don’t know what happens in the open water. I know that when I get panicked I lose my line a bit. So on the Sat swim, that’s part of what was happening. Must learn to reset. Ease off. Then restart, swimming right. (and RIGHT, if need be).

As for the run: also good. Felt strong—not too long, pushed it, thought, high-intensity. Good work.

Tomorrow, long bike, new route. 20 plus miles, lots of hills. Hurrah hurrah.

Recovery

RECOVERY BIKE
RECOVERY RUN

Biked a little, easily, out to the running track, jogged 3 easy miles with Margreta, then rode back. VERY easy. Good workout…maybe 10 miles overall on the bike…nothing special at all. Loved it; just what I needed at the end of this week.

NEXT WEEK (after Monday off)
Tuesday: fast run: sprints, etc./recovery swim (lots of drills—sighting, one-arm, eyes closed underwater. Bilateral breathing) ESSENTIAL! No worries about endurance here. Just get straight.)
Wednesday: Long bike
Thursday: Fast swim drills. Maybe ocean. /recovery run.
Saturday: Swim/bike brick (long swim, fast bike) -- with tri club.
Sunday: Long run. Recovery bike.

SIGHT SIGHT SIGHT!

TRI CAMP
LSD SWIM (2/3 mile—approx 1/2 hour—lots of waiting)
LSD RUN (1:04)

Open water workshop. Here’s the thing: I HAVE TO SIGHT, I HAVE TO SIGHT, I HAVE TO SIGHT!! I’m a good swimmer, but I’m screwed if I don’t take my time and learn to look ahead of myself, get a good grip on my surroundings and stay straight!

If I’m going around something counterclockwise, I’m going to go to the outside so I can see other swimmers. If I’m going clockwise, I’m going to go to the inside for the same reason. MUST LEARN TO SIGHT. It’s a pain because I like to get into my stroke groove, but I’ve got to get my awareness up. That’s my one stumbling block on the swim and possibly on the whole race.

Long run, did half with company, half without. Some along the water’s edge. Generally pretty good…though tired towards the end. The 2/3 mile swim was after a run/swim/run exercise that was sprinty in quality. SO it was a good workout overall! But, FUCK ME, I’ve got to learn to swim straight! I’m going to fucking swim with my eyes closed in the pool, do one-arm drills and everything just to learn to do it. I’ve GOT to fix this problem, NOW! Lazy bastard.

Fast Swim/Recovery (Fast) Bike

About 1:15 all told…

Swim workout consisted of practicing in and outs in the ocean, swimming short distances (25 meters and less) in the ocean for 45 minutes or so. It was an acclimation thing; I didn’t really try to go that far or that fast; just body surfed a little and tried to get used to the motion of the ocean…Heidi and Kate came along. HR got up a few times, definitely, but was not as diligent about watching that as I was about just trying to get used to the sea. Form pretty good; kind of freaked out about the idea of paddling around in the ocean, man!

Later did what was supposed to be my recovery ride, but turned into a 25-minute tempo ride, really hammering on the pedals, around the neighborhood. Just did 7.17 miles—took me 23:56—five laps around 5th and 4th between Arden and Van Ness. Averaged 18 mph, even with all the necessary stopping and slowing.

Deserved day off tomorrow!! So what I have left is one more bike, really recovering, a long run, and my long swim, which I’ll do with the club. Then Monday off again. Good work this round! Don’t feel too exhausted! I think I’m progressing well.

Base is Built and No Calf Pain

LSD BIKE

90 min or 2 hour effort, depending if you count the insane descent from the top of Griffith all the way home, interrupted by a trip to Roscoe’s with Chuck C. About 26 miles. AHR about 125; MHR 150. Felt pretty good. Stayed seated most of the back climb, took it pretty easy, though I was pushing it to make my appointment with Chuck…anyway, a good effort, right where I wanted it—and didn’t have trouble pushing through the hour mark. My base is officially built! Tonight I will most likely be doing a recovery run with Margreta—probably a walk-run effort of about 3 miles. Really easy pace.

Good news: even WITH the brick yesterday and the long ride today, no calf pain! Hope I’ve really licked it. Love that the body adapts. Am moving into tough workout territory: lots of doubles, lots of good pushes, leading up to May 15 effort. Another 2-3 weeks, then tapering off the final week before the real thing.

Excellent Workout

FAST RUN/RECOVERY SWIM

Run: AHR: 141
MHR: 165
Time: 28 min
5 min w/u run
2 min sprint, 2 min rest X 2
1 min sprint, 2 min rest X 2
30 second sprint, 2 min rest X 2

Swim
Time: 35 minutes
Drills 50 yds, fisting, catchup, bilateral breathing (harder than ever), sighting (a huge pain). 50 yard Sprints @ 42 seconds. Total yardage, about 800. A recovery effort with some hard work sprinkled throughout. Stroke still feels fucked up.

Overall: excellent workout. Did core work for the first time in awhile, functional w/u and yoga cooldown. Felt good…90 minutes of workout, overall.

Getting into Cold Water

4/16/05 Saturday
TRIATHLON LAB SESSION
Ocean Swim/Recovery Run

Learned how to enter and exit the water; used my new wetsuit for the first time (which I had to buy but got for a SONG; I’m going to see how the H2O one works and decide if I want to just send it back!). Exhausting! Very tiring, and tough to get acclimated to that cold, cold water. Wow. Hard. Did it in relays: run in, swim out 50 yards or so; swim back, run out, tag the next person. Did it just THREE TIMES and was SPENT. Spent a few minutes body surfing, which I got better at, but still have to work on a lot to get down pat. Ocean swimming is hard; will take some getting used to before I can fully relax. Must spend some time—maybe outside of class, even, working on it and getting so I can do it well.

Recovery ran for about an hour afterwards with a group. Felt good! Ankle/calf okay. Recovery pace, ran about 5 miles or so.

4/17/05 Sunday
Bike
Biked for about 1:13 at 130 AHR, 153 MHR around my area, to downtown and then back towards La Cienega. Early Sunday’s a good time for it! Roads are nearly empty for probably the only time during the week. Completed about 18.5 miles in that time, giving me about 45 miles of biking for the week…not bad! Would like to be up to 50 on a good week, but I got close.

Will run with Margreta another 3 miles tonight—recovery pace again. Good. Probably will take tomorrow off then swim/run on Tuesday, bike on Wednesday. More swimming on next Saturday, so, will have to be prepped for that, organize the week to allow for that. Would like to do a pool swim and an ocean swim before next weekend. Maybe run with one, bike with another?

Monday: off
Tuesday: pool swim/track run brick
Wednesday: bike, long
Thursday: ocean swim/bike brick
Friday: Off?
Saturday: swim ocean/bike or run
Sunday: bike/run brick

That would be nine workouts , 3/discipline at all 3 efforts.

Lights on Los Feliz

BIKE WORKOUT
LEVEL III-IV
54:53
AHR: 130 (70%)
MHR: 153 (82%)

Uphill 1-min sprint intervals up the West side, down the East side of the Griffith Loop. 6 intervals: four going up the hill (after a 15-min warmup); then two on the flat. Nice job, generally. Got around the loop in about 7 minutes less time than usual (when I’m spinning; I stood for most of those intervals), even though lights on Los Feliz were killing me.

Rest Day

Opting to take today off. Body feels and looks good—pumped. But a little sore, definitely. I think I could probably hack a workout today, but I want to stay juuuust ahead of the overtraining ghoul. And I think today is an ounce of prevention. Working out 4 days in a row should definitely be a rarity; 3 days is about optimal, especially since I tend to go pretty hard every time I’m out there. The last three days have been LSD Swim, Mid-Range BIKE w/hills, FAST RUN. SAT I’ll have my swim drill day, so FRI and SUN I’ll have to fit in a long run, a fast bike, and perhaps another long ride. Maybe tomorrow will be my long ride and Sunday will be my long run and fast ride. Or tomorrow will be my fast ride, and Sunday will be my long run, and I won’t do a super long ride this week, though they are very fun, aren’t they? OR…I could do a long ride that also has sprints WITHIN it. How bout that? That could be fun. Anyway, I don’t know exactly how I’ll plan it…running tomorrow is probably a bad call as I’ll be SAND RUNNING on Saturday. So maybe a long bike is in the cards tomorrow. Most likely…should I swim as well?

I am doing a semi-recovery run tonight when I train Margreta, and I shouldn’t discount that just because it’s at a relatively easy pace.

Anyway, going to enjoy the day! Lots of Kate time, I think!

Sure hope I get my wetsuit soon…otherwise it’s freeze my toes off day in the ocean…

A Month Out

6:45-7:30 or so

SPEED RUN
Level 3 workout
AHR: 128 (68%)
MHR: 155 (83%)

Warmup + 5 min easy jog
4 X 1 min. sprint at 80% or so, followed by 90 second rest.
1.4 mile jog cooldown
Yoga stretching. 7 min.

Good workout there…not too long. Damn leg still fucked up. Don’t get it…was sore this morning, warmed up into the workout. Was not bad during the run. But it’s messed up. Maybe it’s a muscle pull? What does that mean? What kind of rehab does it need? Weird. But glad to be doing some speed work; I think it’s good for me at this point.

Found the MEN’S HEALTH Tri workout program in their book. I’ve been looking for a program that’s right; one in COMPETITOR said ride 50 m/week, run 20. For a sprint distance! That seems like a lot—it must be for experienced folks. I’m pretty aware of my body and when it’s going too hard and when it’s going hard enough, and I’ve been playing that edge pretty well throughout, my leg notwithstanding. The program in MH indicates that I should swim and run on the same day, then bike alone on another day. The distances they suggest are fairly doable; usually under a mile for the swims, then intervals for the run and bike distances. I’ve been freewheeling the last couple of weeks, really just throwing it together, despite my obsession. Now that I’m a month out from Andrew’s TRI #1 (wow!) I think I’ll probably amp it up, get a little more structured about it. 3x/week of each discipline. The program allows for the fact that you can’t kill yourself every day…with my 5x/week sked I’ve been pushing hard every workout.

So what to do this week? Another swim on SATURDAY coming up…maybe I’ll swim/run tomorrow (THURS) and bike on Friday—intervals this time. Swim again on SAT with the group, then maybe my long, easy ride Sunday. Or if I want tomorrow off, I’ll do a bike/run brick on FRIDAY, with bike fast and run long, and then a long bike on Sunday. See how I feel…I’ve gone three days sans break so far, though I feel okay today. Also possible: long bike THURS tomorrow, long run FRIDAY, fast bike SUNDAY. Monday should be off regardless—I want to start the new-old program on Tuesday the 19th. That’s the night of that lecture I wanted to go to anyway.

Where to Look...

6:45 AM-8:00 AM

BIKE
Standard w/u, core work, cooldown.
Dist: 13.66 miles
Avg. Speed: Around 13 mph
Time: 1:02 (?)
Top speed: 32 mph
AHR: 123
MHR: 141

This was the Griffith Loop again. Pretty manageable! Certainly easier than it’s been in the past—I knew what to expect more. Heart rate stayed pretty low, as you can see, though the descent, of course, threw it off. Speaking of, I’m getting better at descending! It’s a matter of looking HIGH UP—as far down the curve as you can. Always look at your path, not at the obstacles (ie, the edge of the curve, with the long, dangerous plunge). Look at where you want to go, not where you DON’T want to go. A life lesson? Eyes on the Prize, right? Not on the hurdles. So, yes, anyway—I did a faster descent.

AHR also thrown off by all these friggin’ gates that they have up now! Good god. They’re repaving—which is excellent! Above you can see how mad I am about the shitty state of the roads out there. But I had to walk my bike around all these pigging gates, which sucked hard, slowed me down, and pulled my HR down a lot.

The other day’s brick was TOUGH, definitely. That day I AVERAGED a HR that was my PEAK HR today. Now, my HR is getting lower as I build aerobic power, but that’s a testament to how hard I was working the other day. Anyway, feeling back in form today. Next time I do that loop I SHOULD add a trip or two up and town the flat track along the river. For time trials’ sake. Fast fast. Maybe my second ride this week will be time trials mostly…

I definitely feel like today’s volume was very much in the realm of my strength and speed right now. Not an exhausting workout at all. If it weren’t for my damn leg it could have been a brick…R soleus sore AGAIN, L also a bit. Not too bad after the run, but I’m trying to be conservative. Yesterday I did some running with Margreta—easy, light, but again, felt the pain. Weird. It’s muscle soreness, but it’s so localized and extreme. You would think it would be getting better as my running-specific strength improves, but it doesn’t seem to be happening!

Anyway, good ride today. I’ll check on my leg tomorrow morning and either take the day off or do a run on it. Warming up is key…easy run, increasing in speed gradually. Don’t really think I should swim, but who knows? Maybe an easy one with some biking or running as well? I’m improvising.

9 AM Workout

SWIM
1600 meters in…33:58. Boo.

Well, I was feeling a little like not training today…not too fresh. Also worked out late—like almost 9 AM, which is when I’m usually long since done with my workout. So I was feeling sluggish, heavy, slow. Hadn’t really eaten, either. Lesson: don’t work out so late! Or skip the workout altogether when I’m feeling so slow. The Saturday brick was a pretty tough workout, and this, which was intended as a benchmark, was SLOW. Must check last 1-mile time…hang on…

Yup, the last mile swim I did, on 3/15 (wow, a long time ago!) was completed in 32:22. That was before all those SCAQ drills and miles yards! I’ve been putting in LONGER swim workouts, focusing on form, etc…and I lost 90 seconds in the swim. A shame.

Actually, when I think about it…It wasn’t that bad. 90 seconds isn’t significant. I failed to warm up, I hadn’t eaten, I hadn’t warmed up. Plus mentally I wasn’t there either: I was worried about an email I’d received about Gina ordering my wetsuit and how I’d gotten her in trouble by mentioning it to Lloyd, the triathlon lab owner and manager. AND my second 800 meters was completed in less than 16 minutes, so that 800 meters was on pace to beat my last best time. So I’m okay.

Lesson is WARM UP. And EAT or GET UP EARLY ENOUGH TO GET BREAKFAST by 7:30-8:00 or so. That will help.

Don’t really know how to organize this week: probably to a brick tomorrow—bike + run…maybe the Griffith Loop again. But I want to do some speed running this week and some speed biking too.
Tuesday: long bike
Wednesday: long run
Thursday: swim
Friday: bike/run brick: both for speed
Saturday: swim w/LAB
Sunday: bike. Long or hard.

Will also be running REALLY periodically for maybe 5 k or so now and then as one of my clients wants to run a 5k and I’m working with her. So I’ll have short runs for awhile in addition to my regular runs.

Hardest Workout Yet

7:45 AM- 9:30 AM or so

RUN/BIKE BRICK
Time: 1:24:22
Dist: 13 mile bike in 40 minutes, Avg. Speed 19.7 mph; 5.2 mile run in approx 45 minutes. Quick transition. Total time is above.
AHR: 141 (75% mhr)
MHR: 154 (82%)

This was done along Westchester Parkway, the place where we’ve worked before. At last, the R ankle/calf was not so much a problem! I felt it, definitely, but manageable through the end. Paced myself on the run, for sure, in order to avoid the pain, and managed a nice negative split, completing all 5.2 miles. Still doing about an 8 min/mile pace; not bad, not great.

Definitely feeling competitive with a couple of these guys, Eric and Peter, who’ve been my rivals from the beginning. The good thing is they’re a little better than I am—Eric’s faster on the bike by a fair amount, and Peter’s probably a little faster than I am at both. Tough to keep up with them. I was foiled early on by a chain derailment, which took about a minute to fix…probably a reminder not to get so damn caught up in the testosterone of it. But that was a GOOD BIKE effort for me! Averaging almost 20 mph for 45 minutes is pretty damn good. And the HR at 141—75% of mhr—is pretty good. So I’m happy. I was hoping to keep pace with those guys today—but maybe it just ain’t going to happen! And that’s okay. Just have to keep my own thing going, keep steadily improving. Don’t let comparing get to me. I mean, there are guys out there who would SMOKE both Eric and Peter, so I’m not going to let it get to me. No, really, I’m not.

The main good news today: calf was manageable; plus, a 1.5 hour brick at a kick-ass pace! That was impressive for me. Hardest workout yet, I think, in terms of intensity and time. And I’ve worked out now 4 days straight. So, not sodding bad.

Tomorrow: maybe I’ll go to Trilab and look at my cadance/power output, get the bike fitted finally?? I’ll have time, after all…as for a workout, maybe another bike, easier and slower this time? Or maybe a day off…I deserve one at this point.

Don’t really know my plan this week for working out…I like doing an LSD of each sport alone on one day; then another swim and a bike/run brick with some speed work in there. That’s a five day plan right there, though I’d like to do another bike day…must keep progressing on the bike.

Good work!

Thinking and Swimming

Swim? Off? Sat is a brick with run bike so I’ll either bike or swim.

Actually, as it turns out, I did the full SCAQ swim workout again. Fuck, my form is totally off—thanks to Gina, et al, I feel completely at sea now. I did get all 2000 meters in, and kept on pace throughout, but now I’m thinking so damn much when I swim. It’s tough. Took me about an hour…started and finished in the normal way, though my core work has been suffering lately.

Tempe

Run: LSD, approx. 6 miles—correct dist unknown.
AHR: 132
MHR: unknown

Ran flat alongside a nicely manicured lake in Tempe, where Heidi’s doing this conference. Neg. split it. Felt sluggish at first, but warmed up. Amazing how long it can take! R calf a little tight—ran on grass when I could. This am (Friday) I feel it a bit, too.

Afternoon, I did a level one for an hour or so in the pool: nothing focused, just playing. Stroke actually felt okay! Did a few easy drills for fun. Just trying to get comfy in the water and play with Kate a bit.

Hotel Pool

Swim: drills and some distance
1/2 mile of straight swim; lots of drills, some 50 meter sprints.

Hard because it was on a hotel pool—no exact distances—and I hadn’t brought my goggles. So eyes stung me and I switched to drills. Not bad, but not great either. Pool was short—probably 2/3 of a normal 25-meter, and having no goggles or black line was a pain, though the lack of a line was probably a boon. A 45-minute level 2-3. Had to keep stopping. My form still feels really awkward.

Biking as Warm Up

Bike Run Brick: 1:03
AHR: 137

12 mile bike ride, 3 mile run, mimicking longest sprint distance for both that I plan to do this season (if I do it: It’s Catalina Island, though I think that’s a hilly race—today I rode on flats almost exclusively). Felt good to go back to back—flowed nicely. I actually think that biking is a decent warmup for me for running. Little soleus pain, but minimal…on run that is. Biking doesn’t seem to bother it that much. Was glad that I cranked out the distances in just over an hour; think I succeeded in a neg split. Good work, though. Good workout!

Swim Form

SCAQ Swim workout, done as indicated. A good workout, though the cold-swim instructor fucked with my form so much that it seems like a struggle now! Used to feel easier! Now I’m unsure of everything as she told me that I’m screwing almost everything up. Hopefully it will settle down. Doing intervals on the clock pretty well now; did 100 meters in 1:35, three seconds faster than last time, so new form is probably helping even though it’s a pain.

Open Water Workshop

No data taken on HR. Drills on sighting, etc.
LSD Bike: 30 miles in 2.03 hours
AHR—can’t remember. 130 or so

Got introduced to open water today. VERY cold. VERY. Instructor sort of annoying; talking a lot and not keeping us moving. Workshop was only an hour long or so—probably less—one-arm drills; sighting drills (I lurch to my right; my left is definitely stonger). Bad workshop overall. Was freezing and couldn’t really hear or understand commands or focus very hard on my form while I was freezing to death.

Bike ride (on my own) was MUCH better: 30 miles along a nice path in from the beach that I think goes all the way to the 405, following a body of water that goes along a concrete paved deep, wide trench. Went on and on. A good ride—also went along the beach (Long Beach?). Good ride. LSD. Encountered serious headwind at one point that slowed me down. Boy did it; my return trip was about 14 mph whereas my out trip was something like 19! Just hit the aerobars and geared down. My front derauler is malfunctioning—doesn’t go on the big blade. So it was good for cadance work, which is coming up. Now 80-90 feels comfortable, I can get good speed at that cadance and keep it up. The big blade should really be for downhills. I’m glad.

Anyway—lousy swim, good ride.