Eight days - that is all the time that remains before we leave the Oceanside pier on our Epic journey. This past Saturday we completed the last of our structured training. Since I am passionate about cooking, you could equate this to making a cake. The first couple of months were all about making the cake. A lot of people want to be fast (the frosting on the cake) but fail to create a base upon which to build their speed. We spent several months preparing our bodies to absorb the specific training here at the end that will hopefully propel us through RAAM. The past couple of weeks we have begun to ice our cakes. It has really been exciting to watch all of the riders increase in strength, endurance and speed. The weekend workout was 6 x 30 minute intervals on our time trial course, Camino del Rey in Bonsall. I found that this workout turned into more of a mental struggle more than anything. If you did not stay focused, my mind would wander, my efforts would dip slightly, and I could come up with all sorts of reasons why I should stop after #4 and #5. Fortunately, having all the team there pulled me through. It ended up being 91 miles in 4 hours and 15 minutes. Each interval average was above 24 mph and they were evenly paced. Karla rode extremely well too holding a 20 mph average for all of her intervals. It also turned out to be a great day to try out Spiz again. We had used this during our shakedown run the week earlier. All I can say is that the stuff is the bomb. It is extremely palatable. You can consume 500 calories quickly with no sweet after taste. It truly lives up to its claims and the plan is to consume over 80% of calories during the ride solely from Spiz. I wish I could find a good way to use in triathlons however I do not like it unless it is cold. It is a dairy based drink (it contains whey protein) so it is not stable in heat like Gatorade or other eletrolyte replacement drinks. Spiz is just in a different class. Sunday we just went out and rode 67 miles enjoying life.
So the rider rotation was also formalized during the Memorial Day weekend. Karla and I have drawn the 6 pm to 12 am EST shift in the motor home. At first thought, I really wanted the 12 am to 6 am shift but I think we will do well with the assigned time. This means that we will be in the rider reserve beds from 12 am - 6 am. We should be able to get another hour or two of rest during this period in the dark. One the flip side, we will not sleep the first day since the motor home will not be able to follow us the first 6 hours. After 5 days of sleep deprevation, we have tried to simplify all the little things. We will always refer to the time in EST. Everyone will set their watches that way, the alarm clocks in RV, the clocks in the vans, etc. Anything to make it simple.
The rest of our weekend was filled with cooking and recovering. I am on a quest to copy Great Harvest Bread's recipes. I think I am close on the honey whole wheat and apple scrapple recipes. Good times.
Enough for now - oh and the training totals for last week
Bike - 390 miles
Run - 15 miles
Swim - nothing
Pete, aka Captain Punishment, had sent out an e-mail and said it was time to lay off the running. He didn't put my name in it but I knew I should focus on biking. I will pick the running and swimming back after RAAM.
What this is all about -
You may ask why are we signed up and trained for such a race. For our team, RAAM is not just a Race Across AMerica, it is a race to better our community. Our charity is North Coast Community Service (NCCS), which teams with 11 nonprofit organizations in San Diego County to make a difference in people’s lives. In the past 12 months, 5,500 NCCS volunteers have completed over 450 unique service projects. There is a broad spectrum of support which include the following: feeding and providing shelter for the homeless, assistance to a drug and alcohol recovery program, a home for people disabled by HIV/AIDS, support of military families by providing: financial support, home improvements, baby supplies, childcare, and counseling, outreach to nursing home residences, help to pregnant teenagers and adult women, help for homeless kids, and non-profit resale for foster children. This is just a short summary of the help provided by the organization we are raising money to support. If you feel compelled to join us on our journey and support making a difference in this world, you can make a tax-deductible contribution to our team. Please follow this link Support NCCS RAAM 2008.
Tuesday, June 3, 2008
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