Back on the mountain bike

Well, today marks 1 week since the triathlon which means it's time to get off my bum and get out and do something. Since I think the Muddy Buddy race is mountain bike I thought it was about time to inflate the tires and get the dust off. I took a ride up the wash and up the Clamshell trail, 7 miles round trip but a much steeper hill than I've been riding the road bike.

On the way up I came across 4 deer walking through the neighborhood just before I hit the fireroad. There was more wild life as I came back down, I saw a bear rummaging through someone's trash can. By the time I turned around to stop and take a picture he had headed off into somone else's back yard.


Mountain ride felt good.

Hapkido Dodger Demo

Every year the Jan Mu Wan Hapkido association gets together and does a demonstration before an LA Dodger game and today was the day. Ethan, Junia and I joined a couple hundred students from the 6 schools around Southern California gathered today to go out on the field before today's game against the San Francisco Giants. We got to go out on the grass, it was way cool.

Here's some of the group waiting to go on the field.


Then we ran out to the third base foul line.


First everyone did a show of some basics. This included everyone from Little Ninjas up to black belt... then technique demonstration.

Here's Rog taking a black belt fall.


Grand Master Kim demonstrated the cane technique on the Dodger vision.


Master Connard took out Mr. Sullivan.


And the kids and I got our picture taken on the way off the field.

Who's your buddy?

I turned 40 earlier this year and my buddy Wade gave me tickets to see Tom Petty. The show was great fun, they played all the old stuff and put on a great show.... as much as we could see from up on the lawn. Actually the view was good and I was amazed at the sound. I remember seeing Dio at the same venue (Irvine Meadows now Verizon Wireless Amphitheater) back in '87 and the sound was muddy and unclear. Sound technology has come a long way in 20 years, we could actually understand what Tom Petty was singing.


So Wade turned 40 a couple of weeks ago, for him I registered the two of us for the Muddy Buddy race in San Dimas on Nov 2. The Muddy Buddy is a 5 to 7 mile bike/run race of teams of two and one bike. Teams take turns running and riding and then go through a big mud pit together to finish the race. Should be a good time.

More Race Pics

I got a few more pictures from the race.

Riding down PCH.

The turn into the parking lot, about 1.5 miles to go.


Headed up the beach.


Into the finish.

Race Day!

Today was the big day. Started out early and dark, I hit the road from home about 4:15am. By the time I got to Malibu I had to park 1.5 miles from the transition area and walk all my stuff over. A nice walk in the dark with a lot of other people.

Spent some time getting everything set up and organized. The only snafu was a contact lens that didn't want to cooperate, I thought I was going to be racing blind in one eye but got it sorted out during the pre-race meeting.

All 3000 entrants walked down the beach to the start line. The run it in waves based on age and gender so the mid-life crisis guys like me are not until wave 9 or so. Each wave starts 5 minutes apart.... so a 7:15 am race start actually was an 8am start for me.

While walking over I found Kerrianne and the kids. My brother's family and my buddy Wade's family came out to support and watch as well.


The water was nice and calm, I only had to dive through one wave to get out. 22 minutes later I was out of the water. I felt pretty good even though I got passed by some mid-life crisis women. (Apparently it's hit them harder than me and they have been training more than me.) I was even able to run up the beach.


Scott was there to help with the transition (he did the olympic distance race yesterday and the swim portion of a relay team today) so pulled the wet suit down half way, sat down and he pulled it the rest of the way off... slick. I put on shoes, helmet and gloves and was on my way for the 18 mile bike ride.


The ride went well for me too. There was one gnarly crash pretty quick out of the transition area where I saw a guy sitting with a bloody towel to his head, an ambulance was headed his way a moment later. I caught up with Keithrus at about mile 7 pushing hard riding his mountain bike. There were some places where I really got in the groove and felt good but I never really felt like I was gearing correctly on the hills. the last 6 miles were especially strong.

At the transition I struggled to find a slot for my bike, quick change of shoes, grab my hat and I was on the run. My plan was to take the first 1/2 mile real easy to make sure I didn't get cramps in my legs, pick it up a little but not push it until starting the return at mile 3. The strategy worked well and I was actually able to pick up the pace even more as I progressed through the last 2 miles.


While I was doing the run the kids got to do what Junia is calling her "triathlon", the Tot Trot which was a 50 yard run in the sand. Apparently it was quite a mob of kids, sorry I missed it.





The last mile I really picked up my pace (though for a real runner I'm sure it wasn't much of a pace) and finished strong. Everyone told me I didn't look completely beat as I came out of the finish chute.


Me and the kids all got finisher's medals for our races.


So, here's my race stats:
Swim: 22min 32sec
Transition 1: 3min 49sec
Bike: 1hour 02min 25sec
Transition 2: 1min 39sec
Run: 35min 49sec
Total: 2hours 6min 16sec

I saw hoping to get 2 hours but would have been happy with anything better than 2 hours 15 minutes so it was a success. also, I raised $1300 for pediatric cancer research at Children's Hospital Los Angeles, a big THANK YOU to those that donated in support of me.

Let's Go Bowling

Taking it easy so a little alternative training today... at least to start.

Ethan is now in the first grade which means Cub Scouts and there was a get together this afternoon at a bowling alley in Montrose for new kids to come meet some of the other scouts and leaders, so we went. Also my brother sent my name in as being a possible den leader so it looks like I'm getting roped in to that fortunately Ethan's buddy Jason's dad is into it to so we'll lead together.

Anyway Ethan got out there and threw the ball down the alley and had a great time.

And he took a video of me utilizing the kid's bumpers on the gutters....



Bowling was great fun and included hanging out with some of Ethan's friends from school and meeting the other Scout leaders... next week is the first Pack meeting.

After we got home and had dinner I went for a short run, 3.6 miles to the gym and back, while at the gym I did 10 minutes on the stationary bike and weighed myself... down to 222. That's 25 pounds lost since I started training in April. It feels good.

What was that?

So I've had some good recovery time after last Saturday's pre-run of the event. I did some hapkido Monday and Tuesday then tonight I went for a 4 mile run and it felt good. I actually felt like I had a stride and was able to comfortably hold an 8 minute/mile pace on the hilly roads around home. The body felt good and loosened right up. I never knew what a stride felt like but wow things just came together. Between this and riding the current on Saturday I really hope that wasn't my perfect run and it's all gonna go downhill from there for Sunday.

Ride the current

Another day training out at Mailbu. When we left the Valley it was already getting warm at 7am, as soon as we started dropping down on the ocean side of the hills we descended into the fog, thick fog. The plan was to start swimming at 8am but we couldn't see out into the ocean even as far as we needed to be, and the visibility wasn't much better up the coast highway to ride. Some o us joked about heading over for a work out at Starbucks. We hung out a bit and finally it was clearing up around 8:45 so everyone suited up and we headed out.

I remembered to start my watch when we started to swim and look at it when my feet were back on dry sand... 13 minutes. The ride went well and felt good, according to the bike computer it says I was rolling exactly 1 hour. I checked my watch when I finished the run and it saidy 1 hour 58 minutes. So there's a goal for next week, 2 hours.

Emily and I were discussing the 13 minute swim versus the 20 minutes last week, Scott felt he had to burst our bubble and point out that the current was going our direction this week. One can only hope it will work for us next week.

It was a great turn out this week with plenty of the team coming out for a last chance to get familiar with the course. It was encouraging to see the team jersey all over the course.

Other training this week included 2 rides to Santa Fe dam at 20 miles each. The Labor Day holiday and the start of school kinda messed up the lunchtime run at work. This week is supposed to be a light workout week so right now the plan is a light run or two, hapkido and a short ride on Saturday then early to bed.