I laughed at this. Because I know how painful it can be running off the bike. However, I didn’t really understand it until today. I did a four hour ride and a two hour trail run. The trail run was in El Morro canyon off PCH in newport. I didn’t realize this, but there are some SERIOUS hills there. We experienced 1700 feet of climbing, which forced the not too common run/walk…A LOT.

It was hot out. I took a break from the bike to drive with my buddy Cale to the trail run, and I was feeling good. We started off on a quick downhill followed by a steady ascent and then another descent. About 1 mile into it, we reached these very short 10-15% grade hills. The type that aren’t too bad if you did not ride your bike for four hours before. Well I got to the first one, started up, and nearly passed out. And not, hey, i was kinda tired, I may pass out. I was dizzy and had to instantly stop. Cale was still talking to me and I was nowhere near him. I walked up to hill where Cale was waiting for me, took a gu, drank some water, and carried on.

I got to another one of these short intense hills and the same thing happened. At this point, that quote popped into my head. On any other day, I’d have no problem with these hills. But after grinding away my legs on the bike for four hours, these were intense. At that moment, I was negotiating, not with God, but with myself. Can I move? Can I finish this run? Or will I quit? I hate quitting. And what about Cale. He drove me here. I don’t want to make him leave and cut his workout from 2 hours into 15 minutes. I could sleep in the car. But it’s hot. Is that a snake? Look at the beetle. Maybe I could just sit down here. Or sleep here. Would I get bit?

Seriously…all that when through my head in about 3 seconds. I didn’t know what to do. I negotiated with myself…take a few more steps. One foot in front of the other. You never know what might happen. Just get up this hill, get to another downhill, see how you feel. I did that, and things went well. Got to some steep inclines, slowed it down, drank from my WASP, and pushed on. I won the negotiation. I was able to pull myself out of the rut, and once I got about 30 minutes in, I was ok. I didn’t know how I would last two hours, but just over 2 hours later, Cale and I came off the trail (i did leave out the fact we got totally lost and ended up going on a 10% hill or so that last over 2 miles – it was miserable. We were conserving water – that’s how lost we felt. But once again, we figured out).

It’s scary how powerful the mind is. How we must negotiate with ourselves constantly. How some of us convince ourselves to turn back and others convince ourselves to move forward. I think there is a lot of value in applying this to life – to work, training, family.  Think positive. If things get tough, turn the impossible into small possible steps. There’s usually a way, just negotiate with yourself to find it!

In this recovery week, I did 7:45 of working out, with most of that going to cycling. Here’s the summary:

Four hours on the bike, 2 hours running, and not nearly enough time in the pool (with an hour of pilates). It was definitely a chill week, and one I needed for recovery and as prep for the hard three weeks coming up. The only thing to note in this week despite the ease was the trail race. This was my first experience running trails, and I’m not talking those 5 foot wide trails that are clear of rocks, trees and brush. These trails were single file, layered with ups/downs/rocks/brush/little mud/trees/etc. For the most part, very clean trails. But I have no clue how to run down a steep trail head with slants to the right and left and a small flat space down the middle with room to run foot over foot.

The experience was very difficult. I learned a few things:

1. I need to learn to run downhill, in general, and especially on tight trails
2. I need to move up in races. I’m getting faster, and I was held up the first 3 miles with slower runners. Not a big deal, but I would of enjoyed it more being upfront.
3. Trail runners are SO FRIENDLY! What an awesome atmosphere
4. As beautiful as the area was, it’s so hard to take in the views because I was so focused on not eating shit on the trail. Most of my focus was on the rocks two feet ahead. I want to learn to be able to trust my instincts and just run.
5. The host, Baz, is hilarious. So chill! I’d love to do his races again.

On that note, my upcoming week is the start of the build period. I plan on working out close to 12 hours a week for each of the next three weeks, which ends with a mellow week (that includes the surf city half marathon). Then I start the build period again, with the Tour De Palm Springs, a 100 mile ride in palm springs. I’m only 10-11 weeks from the Oceanside 70.3, and I can’t believe how that’s creeped up on me!

My schedule for the week (3 hours running, 6.5 hours on the bike, 2 hours swimming, 1 hour pilates):

• Mon: 1 Hour Run, 1 Hour Pilates (track work: run, interval, short, high intensity)
• Tues: 1 hour bike (short intervals)
• Wed: 1 hour run, 45 min swim (zone 1 run with an iwillnotbonk finish, evening swim)
• Thurs: 1 hour bike, 30 min swim (longer intervals on bike)
• Fri: REST
• Sat: 4.5 hour bike (endurance ride)
• Sun: 45 min swim, 1 hour run (short interval swim, tempo run)

If you want to check out my schedule in general, here it is:

Training Schedule Q1 2010

I love you, man: Slapping the bass!