Solid day in the books...

This morning I set out to do some serious climbing on the road bike and climb I did. My guess is I got in somewhere around 12,000 feet of climbing on 3 major climbs. The plan was to meet up with Reto and the Stanford Triathlon Team about 1:45 into my ride but I missed them so I rode pretty hard trying to catch them and didn't manage to meet up with them until 3:30 into my ride. I met up with them at the top of the last major climb, west alpine. My ride was 4:30 and I was pretty beat after it.
We rode back to Stanford to drop the bikes off and do our run. Reto let me know that we were running about 2 k at tempo, which didn't seem too exciting given the state of my legs from my time on the bike. We both pushed through and managed to get in a good tempo effort and then we cruised the rest of the run. After the bike and run we got in the pool for a super mellow swim to loosen up.
So, a long, very good day of training done and in the books. I am super beat but it feels good to have knocked it out.
Oh, I didn't see one stoplight until 4 hours into my ride and when we got back to the cars I had only seen two...now, that is good riding. How people can think it is normal to go on a ride and stop at 40 stoplights is beyond me!
No pictures today...I only had room in the pockets for food =) I will tell you that there are some amazing views in the Santa Cruz Mountains...if you watched the Tour of California you have an idea of the type of roads and terrain I rode today.

Good day

The morning started early as we headed to Stanford to run a transition clinic for the triathlon team. It was a good clinic and Reto and I managed to get in a little swimming in the wetsuits.
After the swim and clinic we got some grub and then took off for a "company ride" in the local mountains...my first ride on the new machine! I think it is at the UCI weight limit...seriously, it is really light!

He showed me a killer climb...one that I am sure we will throw down on in a little while =) Yes, that is a challenge Reto! I love the mountain roads here...tight, twisty, steep, free of traffic, and tree lined.


--View from the top

When we got back it was time to cook up some pizza, have a beer, and build our Skinfit display racks. I thought it was going to be a ton of work but it wasn't too bad...good thing b/c we are both pretty beat.
This weekend will be a busy one. Tomorrow is a swim, long ride, and run. Then on Sunday we will have a Skinfit booth at a local 5k (I might end up running it b/c the coach says so...we'll see about that =) ) and then we will do some other light training in the afternoon.
I will keep you posted as the weekend progresses.
Have fun out there!

Ride the ride...

Life is full of adventures. Yesterday, I woke up, jumped in the car, and did my run in PQ Canyon...a solid fartlek run that put me in a good frame of mind before my long drive up to Northern CA. After getting my morning workout in and fueling up I set off to Laguna Hills to get my new Cannondale Super Six road bike...it is an amazing bike and I can't wait to ride it!
Why haven't I ridden it? Well, my truck decided to blow smoke out of the heater vents and leak an enormous amount of coolant. Not exactly how I wanted to start my 10 day road trip...I am going up to Los Gatos for a 5k where we will have a Skinfit booth and then I am off to Arizona to represent Skinfit with a booth at Trifest. So, in Ventura I decided I needed to get the rig fixed and I dropped it off at a service station. The guy told me I need a new heater core and it won't be ready until noon the next day.
So, not really sure what to do in Ventura for the night I managed to get in touch with some old friends that I haven't seen in years. I rented a car and drove up to their place in Montecito, we ate a great dinner, and caught up on the last four years...sometimes things happen for a reason and I will just say that my truck having issues made my visit with the Bazzani Family meant to be. Great times in a beautiful place!
I hope to have my truck back by noon today so I can be on my way. Reto and I are doing a transition clinic for the Stanford Tri Team friday morning and we have plenty to do to prep for our first Skinfit booth!!!
On the training front things are good. After Reto's swim analysis I am feeling good in the water...I actually swam 3-4 seconds per 100 faster (a couple days after the analysis and with some drill work) just by making the changes, which is crazy but true (that is 45-60 sec faster over 1500!). I got in a good strength ride up Mt. Soledad and a couple good runs. Today, I have a hard run and mellow swim scheduled, which I will do here in Montecito.

Stay tuned as I continue my adventure and we get to marketing Skinfit. Skinfit is growing right in front of our eyes and it is really cool to see. We are getting more and more orders and things will only get better once we start attending races. Pretty sweet to see your hardwork paying off...I mean, Skinfit quality speaks for itself but we have certainly poured a ton of work into getting to this point where we will officially start to market our brand at events.
Have fun out there and ride the ride!

The days fly by...

The last week has been pack with training, Skinfit work, coaching and some fun.
I feel like I have been so busy, which is good but I am always having to do something right now...what happen to relaxing on the couch ;) Seriously though, things have been busy and it is all good because it means we are selling Skinfit (really stoked this is starting to take off!) and my coaching business is flourishing. Oh, and I am getting pretty fit with some solid workouts in the books.
I knocked out my first couple hard runs last week, which felt good. I was so sore but it felt good to really suffer for the first time in a little while. I have been doing plenty of strengthening on the bike and I am feeling much stronger. Swimming was on the lighter side last week because of the increase in intensity on the run and bike. I did get in a few drill sessions, which are always helpful.
Reto came into town this weekend and we had some good times at the local bars/restaurants. Plus, I was lucky enough to have him go to the pool with me and we worked a lot on my stroke and I now have several drills to work on. I already feel an improvement from the work we did...seriously good stuff he has me doing and I am certain I will be swimming faster (I already am.) For a while I have wanted to go swimming in the bay, which is 100 yards from my front door so today I convinced Reto to go out there with me. It was a great swim...we swam from the beach behind my house, out around the Bahia Hotel to Ventura Cove, and then swam the string of bouys to get a feel for distance (Our guess is it is just under 200 meters to one end of the bouys). So, basically, I can throw on my wetsuit, walk 100 yards to the waters edge, swim around the point to the bouys, knock out some hard 400's, and then cruise home logging about 3-4k...perfect! I plan to do this often...if anyone out there wants to join me let me know!
This week is packed with more workouts and I am heading up to Northern CA for several days (we have a Skinfit booth at an event up there) before heading out to Arizona for Trifest. So, a lot of travel on my plate over the next couple weeks....not my favorite thing but I will take it without question over a desk job =) I am just loving being my own boss!
Alright, back to work. Have fun out there!

Back in action...

Jess and I got back to S.D. Monday night. A long drive but one I am getting kind of used to these days. In fact, I will be driving back up north early next week and will be gone for another couple weeks doing events for Skinfit.
Yesterday, I started back with serious training after a recovery week. I feel good after some downtime...fresh mentally and physically. I did my first hard run with some max HR testing. It felt good to really push myself as I haven't done so in a while. Of course, I am insanely sore from the work on the track...I haven't been struggling like this in a while, which is to be expected since I haven't run that hard in a long time. After my run, I did a recovery swim with some drills and I felt surprisingly good. I wrapped up my day with some time on the trainer. Overall, a great day of training. I am back at it today with a full day of workouts and then tomorrow is fairly mellow with just a swim and some core work.
On another note, Skinfit and 53x11 Coffee are partnering up this year. We will have a Skinfit booth at several California events this year and at everyone of these booths we will be serving 53x11 Coffee. We are really excited about working with 53x11 and we think it is a partnership that both companies will benefit from. In addition, Matisse & Jack's is also on board with us and we will be providing tasty treats at our booth for all those interested in Skinfit. So, we have quite the lineup planned for our scheduled events this year...come by our Skinfit booth, checkout the best sports apparel on the market and grab some 53x11 coffee and a matisse & Jack's snack. We think you will leave our booth loyal to all three brands!
Our first event is the Jenny's Light 5k in Los Gatos and then we are heading to Arizona for Trifest. You can always learn more about our Skinfit plans, happenings, etc. by following our blog.
Have a good day out there and have fun!

A day of rest...

Today is another day off for me before returning to full-blown training tomorrow. It has been a good rest week and I am sure today will be another relaxing day (we are heading to SLO to rehash some good'ol memories from our college days!).
This week I got plenty of rest, met up with friends, drank plenty of local wine and beer, and spent some quality time with Jess and family. I managed to get in a little bit of training to keep the body loose and the muscles firing but the main goal was REST physically and mentally. Mission accomplished and now it is time to get back to work! Tomorrow I will start to incorporate some harder workouts and I am excited to see how my body responds.
My guess is we will head back to S.D. tomorrow after some early morning training. I think the weather might be a little better down there or at least not so cold =)
Hope all is well out there. Have a good day!

FYI-I will try to update my blog more often moving forward. A lot will be happening in my life over the next several months so I want to keep everyone updated. You can also follow me on twitter (which is linked to my blog) to get updates throughout the day. A bunch of exciting stuff with Skinfit, coaching and training/racing!

Good times!

Yesterday was a day off from training for me so Jess and I set out to do some beer and wine tasting on the central coast. Always good times and yesterday didn't disappoint!

--That is one BIG beer!

Luckily for us, the Firestone Walker Brewery is only about 5 miles from where we are staying =)So, we went over there first to "brainstorm" where we wanted to taste some wine.

--They were bottling, which was fun to see.

We decided to head over to Jessica's old place of employment, Robert Hall Winery. We still have close friends working there so it was great to catch up with the old crew and see all the work they have done. We spent a while there so it was actually the only winery we made it to yesterday =) We were told that there is a really cool new place in town that we should go checkout so we went over to "level 4" to see the new hotspot. Fun place but we didn't stay long as we needed to back for dinner with the fam. As usual, a huge meal that tasted amazing! After dinner we just hungout and watched a movie. So, overall, a great day off and good times with Jess, family and old friends.

--Perhaps the wine affected my aim ;)

Today I have some light training on tap and some more rest. Happy friday! Have fun out there.

For sale

Thought I would post this for all those loyal followers of my blog...it is also listed on ebay. If your interested let me know....just leave a comment on the blog with contact info.

This is my full-carbon Elite Pro Joule road bike. It is 55cm and was built in 2007. I absolutely LOVE this bike but I have to sell it and I am bummed to see it go.
-Easton EC70 bars (with flat top)-carbon
-Easton EC70 stem-carbon
-Easton EC90 superlite full-carbon fork
-Chris King headset
-Dura-ace cranks (175), shifters/levers, brakes, rear and front derailluer (10 speed)
-Thompson seatpost
-Specialized Toupe Ti143 saddle
-Dura-ace front wheel

-Even comes with a Powertap Pro (I have the computer interface and software). This Powertap is several years old and is the wired version...works great!

Like I said, hate to see this go but it needs a good home. I have ridden it for the last two years, it has never been crashed, and rarely seen the rain or wet roads. One thing to note is that it does have my name painted on it near the seatpost...it is very small and you can easily cover it with a sticker or even white electrical tape.

The SLO life...

Today brought a bit of a change in weather...sun and now snow! Still a little chilly but blue sky and nothing but sunshine.

--Nothing but land
I just had a ride on the schedule today and, honestly, I had an amazing time. Traffic free, country roads (that have been very well maintained lately...way to go SLO county!), friendly farmers, and, above all, nothing but the quite sounds of nature, which is just what the Dr. ordered. I even turned the ipod off just to enjoy the "silence" of the day. I left the casa around 10:00 and set out to ride peachy cyn...an awesome road that actually reminds me a lot of the riding that I did in Tuscany years back. A little bit of climbing and some fun, twisty roads.

The whole ride I was thinking to myself that this is what I have been craving and needing. There are certainly perks to being in S.D. but my heart (and Jessica's) is certainly in SLO. I love the slow pace and the friendly nature of the people. People are just so happy here and genuinely appreciate being able to call this place home. Deep down this is my speed and I pretty sure we will be calling this place home once again not far down the road.

The rest of the day I am relaxing, visiting some friends, doing a little work and getting the pup some exercise with that amazing invention, the tennis ball. Some more training on tap tomorrow but more than anything this week is about recovery. This is the perfect place for me to realize what I love about the sport, to get TONS of sleep, and to generally be relaxed and happy.
Hope all is well out there. Have fun!

What?! Snow!?!

I am sitting here in Atascadero (San Luis Obispo North County)at my folks place and it is DUMPING snow! Seriously, I came up here to train and to get away from the hectic scene down south. I think the snow is very cool and it is certainly a change of pace, just not sure if I need this much change =) I am seeing a trend here...everytime I leave San Diego and head up north I get stuck in a snow storm. It's not like I am traveling to Tahoe or something. I am basically on the coast (as the crow flies the ocean is only 10 miles away)and I am not at elevation. Hmmmm, not sure what this means but I am going to roll with it.
So, nothing I can do except enjoy the novelty of it all. We are only about 1000 feet up so pretty low snow levels but in about 5 minutes I can be 1000 feet lower and just be getting some light rain. Truthfully, I really wanted to get in some good riding up here but it looks like I will be confined to the trainer this week (the exception being tomorrow as there is sun in the forecast). I am sure people are thinking that I can ride in the rain...well, I certainly could but I rode in the rain so much when I was in college I am kind of over it and, honestly, it just isn't worth it when I have such a flexible schedule these days.

This is really the PERFECT place for a training camp. The house is isolated and away from busy roads, crowds, etc so I am surrounded by complete silence. The bed and house is amazingly comfortable so I can completely relax when I am not training. As far as training goes, I have a sweet 50 meter pool within 5 min., AMAZING traffic free roads where I can ride for 5 hours (with a lot of climbing) and only see a handful of people and NO stop lights (okay, a few stop signs), in the house there is a treadmill, weights, stretch cordz, hot-tub, and the list goes on.
So, aside from this snow I am in a training mecca and I am looking forward to putting in some work.
I took the weekend off from training. The past 3-4 weeks have been filled with training and I needed a mental and physical break. So, today I am feeling much more refreshed and ready to roll.
I hope all is well out there. Have fun!

New Skinfit blog post

There is a new post on the Skinfit blog...check it out!

Getting it done...

The past few days have been packed with training. Okay, well, Wednesday was a little light with just a noon masters session...I switched some days around b/c I was feeling pretty tired after Monday and Tuesday. Thursday, I woke up early to try and beat the rain, which I did. I got in 3 hrs on the mountain bike and followed that up with a fartlek run off the bike. I felt really good on my run. All the core work, strides, running drills are paying off. I haven't done any really hard running/workouts but I feel pretty smooth and light on my feet, which is good since it is only February. After a little grub I got in a strength session and capped off the day with a massage. So, a very solid day yesterday. Today, I logged a morning masters swim and I will do my long run later this afternoon after some rest and work.
This weekend is kind of up in the air as the weather isn't quite cooperating. It looks like Sunday will be fairly nice so that will likely be my long ride day (with a lot of climbing) and Saturday will be another masters session and a hilly endurance run.

I am excited about next week. After my ride on Sunday I am heading up to San Luis Obispo for a week long training camp. I love it up there...the training is amazing (especially the riding) and it is beautiful. I have been itching to get away from "city life" and there is no better place than San Luis Obispo...no crowds, quiet, beautiful scenery, great accommodations, friends, family and the list goes on. Jess is going to join me up there next weekend just in time for Valentine's Day.
That is all I have to report from S.D.
Have fun out there!

Nice weather and good training...

Training has been easy with such killer weather. After a solid Monday with time in all three sports, I set out for another day of training on Tuesday. I started my training day with a swim at the Coronado long course pool...a little over 3k with an emphasis on drills/form. Then after a little work I knocked out my run along the bay. It was a run centered on more drills and strides...basically, a warmup before I did my strengthening. I am starting to get some running legs, which feels good.
Today I am hitting noon masters for a little dose of sunshine =) and then riding some local mountain bike trails for a few hours. It will no doubt be a good day.
I am itching for a little roadtrip up north for some different training. Not 100% on this but I have the itch so we might make it happen.
Enjoy the day and have fun!

The weekend and a great monday...

--Not a bad view

This weekend was kind of weird in terms of training.
On Friday, after a swim in the Coronado long course pool(so nice!) with Jess, a trainer workout and my first tempo transition run (I was moving pretty good...kind of surprising), my buddy Tom and his wife Amy came out to S.D. and stayed with us.


-View from the pool deck. Makes the workouts a little more tolerable...just a little bit though ;)

On Saturday morning, Tom and I got up at 5am and drove up to meet James so we could carpool up north for our long mountain bike ride. We planned to get in 4 hrs or so with tons of climbing. After about 2 hrs of climbing and then some descending we had to call it a day b/c James' bike "exploded." Well, kind of "exploded," but either way it basically stopped functioning. So, our long ride turned into a not so long ride but we did get in 2 hrs of climbing, which was solid.

-Tom at the top of the first climb
Then Sunday turned into a my day off. I was really tired so Jess and I just sat around and then caught the superbowl. A mellow day for sure! I planned for a day off today so I just flip-flopped sunday with monday.
Today I got up bright and early and knocked out a good masters session and then Tom and I head out for a mountain bike ride with plenty of low cadence climbing. In about 30 min I am off for a run on the bay and then Tom is heading back to AZ. So, the past few days have been fun and I did manage to get in some training.
This week is loaded with workouts and I am looking forward to it.
Well, off to enjoy some more sunshine along the waters edge =)