San Diego or BUST

We are biking to San Diego.  WHAT!? Yes, you heard us right.  San Diego or BUST!

With that mind, we mentally prepared for weeks and the day was finally here.

Saturday morning we met at the Angels Stadium, threw our run gear, recovery and change of clothes into the truck and we were ready... ready for the next 80 miles to Solana Beach, San Diego.

As we took off out of the parking lot toward the bike path, we were all giddy.  full of excitement, nerves and crazy thoughts for what we were about to do..80 miles. and just as we get comfy in our saddles, Kelie "Crash" Anderson completely wipes out two lanes over.  She threw us all for a loop and was totally fine, in fact she finished waaaay before i did... but needless to say, i was nervous that was going to set the tone for the rest of the ride LOL.

For the first 15 miles along the bike path i was pretty much riding by myself.  i had caught up to a few and passed a few others, but for the most part i was solo.  i actually liked it, i got lost in my thoughts, sang out loud to myself, it was fun... but I also knew that the remaining 65 miles could get quite boring by myself.

 GoPro Pic of Bridge over Bike Path River

GoPro of bike Path

GoPro - End of Bike Path onto PCH

So at the "semi" first pitstop where Becky's awesome family was there to cheer us on, i hopped into the ladies room and then hooked up with Becky and Ashley for the remainder of the ride.  And to be honest, I am so glad I did.  It was so much fun, hysterical and nice to have teammates that are also friends along for the ride. It made the ride that much more amazing. -- So THANK YOU BECKIE & ASHLEY. :-)

Beckie's Awesome Family - Mom, Sister and Two Nephews

We headed out of Newport and Laguna, knowing Dana Point, San Onofre, San Clemente, Camp Pendleton and more were still on our radar.  We had some headway to make. But we were ready. We chatted along the way, I of course took pictures and videos and chilled out.  it was a beautiful ride.

 Dana Point - Just Before SAG 1

 Dana Point Just Before SAG 1 - Photo Bomb by Beckie

 Ashley & Beckie Heading out of Dana Point

With Beckie as our fearless leader, we left SAG 1 and attempted to make out our way out of Dana Point and on to the PCH.. Granted, Beckie nominated herself as our fearless leader, but Ashley and I did not mind, as we had no clue as to where we were going, LOL.  So why not let Beckie take the lead, right? What could possibly go wrong? Well... I am not going to lie, that may not have been the smartest move... She directed us right onto the 5 Freeway.

It was hysterical. Luckily, we caught our mistake early and were able to course to correct.  Strike One for Beckie. :-)

Continuing on our way, we all kinda zoned out and got in our rhythm.  It was relatively flat for the next 20 miles through San Clemente and the state parks, so that gave me a good chance to practice my aero-bars and get the feel of that position for a while and i liked it!  I definitely felt faster and of course was moving faster, but my body was comfortable in that position.  I definitely need to do a few more sit ups and planks, LOL.. as my "mommy guy" was hitting my legs at every turn of the pedal. .. :-)  but it was good, non-the-less.

 

50 Mile Marker within San Onofre State Park

Beckie, Me & Ashley

After San Onofre we were pumped.  We had passed the 50 mile marker and were heading into Camp Pendleton which would lead us right into SAG 2.  Camp Pendleton was pretty neat.  Very desolate. I am not sure what I imagined, but I am pretty sure it involved tanks and HumVs driving around.  That was not the case.  But it was pretty cool. 

 Camp Pendleton

 Selfie.... Obvi.

 Just Because it is Awesome

Amazing Thank You for your Service 

Army Gear Trucks in the Distance

Team Selfie

Love the wave for a still image.

As we continued on, we realized we were cutting it close to the cut off for SAG 2... we needed to be there by 12:45 in order to make with enough time to get us to Solana Beach for our run and pizza before taking the train back.  We hustled and luckily made it to SAG 2 with 5min to spare.  Clearly me stopping for photos every five minutes, LOL. did not bode well for our time, but we made it. While there, of course I snapped a few more pics and hit the ladies room, while Beckie attempted to reapply her sunblock. This would be Strike Two for Beckie -- although I would chalk this up to a personal strike for Beckie and hysterically amazing for us. :-)

This picture is soooooo amazing. I love it so much.

Another Selfie... Obvi... :-) 

Mile 63... we soooo close we can taste it.  17 more miles to go.  By this point, my knee is starting to hurt, but knowing we are so close, i just have to push through and i am so glad i did. Oceanside, Carlsbad, & and Encintas were beautiful!!

 8 Miles To Go.

Reminder: DO NOT GO ON THE 5 FWY! :-)

You cannot tell from this photo, but this Stop Sign is 4x larger than a regular Stop Sign.  It is MASSIVE

So close... Encinitas

So... we made it... FINALLY reached Solana Beach.  It was awesome!  Of course I was exhausted.  But it was well worth it.

I cannot wait for the next one!!

Solana Beach

 Training Buds... Me, Laura, Ash & Kelie

 The Invisible Man... or ME!  :-)

Can you tell we were tired? 

FINALLY ... ending the night with an Ice Bath... and man did my legs need it!

Rockin Teammates

This is just a fun post to show you my amazing teammates.  they are truly supportive and inspiring everyday.  

GO TEAM!

 Ashley after she lost the battle in a SPATTTER War

 Bally from Ironteam & Kelie

 Me & Jay

 Me, my AMAZING mentor - Chrystine, Kelie

Tina, Jay, Chrystine, Me, Kelie & Bucket

Conquering Mandy

I am so excited to recap this for you as i was able to see Billy Joel on May 27th.  It was such an amazing show.  he is by far one of my favorite musicians and i get completely lost in his music, all while singing my heart out.  it was amazing.  it was at the Hollywood Bowl and i took Jason & Mark for their birthdays and Liz was also able to join. Fun Fun Fun with Awesome friends.

Wednesday was a doosey.  We were "suppose" to ride up San V into the Mandeville climb... well, this "smart lady" bike Amalfi into Mandeville.  Lordy.  Now, to put this into perspective, Amalfi is a climb on its own, so to add in Mandy.. well .. this is hard.  Mandy's climb is 5 miles of a solid incline with the last .5mi super steep.  It was awful and it was mainly awful because I had never done it before so i had no idea when the end was.  Sure i looked at my watch for the distance part, but that didn't really help.  All I knew was they a massive gate at the end signifying that you at the end.  i swear at every turn i was straining my eyes looking for that gate.  then finally!!!.. AHHHHHHHH... it was like the clouds parted and it was there... as i push and pull to get myself to the top, I see Laura & Elisabeth there, cheering me on.  it was so nice to have teammates at the top and an utter surprise, since I had started later than everyone else.

Conquered Mandeville!

Amalfi & Mandy

 Sunset Transition Run - Santa Monica

 Sunset Transition Run - Santa Monica

Sunset Transition Run - Santa Monica

Thursday morning we were set to do Hill Drill Repeats on Amalfi.  I started off strong.  I made it 1/4 of the way up Amalfi almost to the steep stop sign, when OUCH!! the worst pain you can imagine struck my right knee.  I was baffled. I had not fallen or banged it, so WTF?  so i turned around and jogged back down the hill and made my way to PCH and up ocean, instead of finishing out Amalfi.  Man it is a zero fun pain.  Anyway.. I finished out my own loop that day and informed my coaches of what was going on.  They said, "sounds like classic runner's knee." .. so we are going to monitor it and see what happens.

On Saturday we had a BIG Build week.  we did a ride that is know as "Son of a Nasty Grade" as it simulates Nasty Grade that is part of the Wildflower race.  It was a SOLID 60miles. Not only did we HANDLE PCH with Canyons, but we ended on an Amalfi climb into Mandeville! WHAT!! i had to do it again??  The ride was gorgeous, but that ending was not at ALL what i had in mind.  It was tough, hot, i was running out of energy and of course, on those climbs my knee was hurting. Once we reached the top of Mandy, we were suppose to ride down for a mile and then do the climb again.  I didn't do it.  i thought about it, but my knee was killing and i weighed the pros and cons.. and that to me was a con.. so i did 59.87 miles instead and I am OK with that. :-)

On Sunday we had our OWS. I love it.  This was the 3rd or 4th time that we swam in the ocean and dolphins have literally been less than 10ft from us.  it was amazing that we have that and makes traing so much cooler! :-)  

 Jenna, Me & Chloe

Jenna & I

After the swim, we had to do a 12mi run.  Now since I had a "BTW" (Below the waist) injury, i did not have to run to Troll bridge and up into Amalfi. THANK GOD!  But I did still have to run the 12 mi on flats.  Luckily for me, Kelie and Jose were also injured and Jose was on 4:1 intervals.  Which to me was a heavensent, as I was in so much pain I could not wait until we got our interval break.  However, on the flip side, Kelie runs like Flash Gordon, so our pace was pretty good.  if it wasn't for the two of them, i probably would have walked the entire time.... the other good thing about running with them is they know how to have fun!  ... we cheekily stopped for an ice cream along the way. :-)

Jose, Kelie & Me

 Santa Monica Strand 

 Santa Monica Strand

Santa Monica Strand

The Bug

OK.. so first off, I apologize for the delay in updating this.  I have been beyond crazy, but that is still no excuse.

So.. Going back in time, just after my last post, I was heading to swimming when i was hit with a tummy bug.  no fun and to be honest, i probably food poisoned myself as i am just getting back into cooking, but either way, it was not pretty and and it set me back for three days. I missed swimming and then biking on wednesday and just when i thought i was ready for the run on thursday, my body informed me that i was not. :-(

Soooooooooooooooooooooooo... needless to say that week i was a little weak, but its all good.  i was able to get in our ocean swim that friday, kicking off Memorial Day Weekend in weak, but in style.

Saturday we had a bit of a tricky training day.  In order to get us set up for Vineman and actually Cozumel is the same way, we have TWO transition areas.  So we had to put all of our running gear in a bag and have it dropped off at OSV... so what we did was swam at Tower 26 and changed and biked 3 Amalfi Loops into 3 SV Challenges with 3 (1mi) runs in between each loop.  It was tough, but i managed to do each 1mi in 10 flat.  my time has really improved on that.

On Sunday our Recovery run was 7mi.  and i have to tell ya.. i am really liking my 8:1 intervals.  it was pretty great.