Day 21 - The Hospital...

After a second attempt at running,this one in Enumclaw, the pain was enough to send me to the hospital. I'm writing this as I wait to be seen by a doctor. The American hospital system has some nice facilities... TV, private rooms, lots of staff.

After a 3 hour wait (yes America, it's the same on both sides of the border), I was X-rayed and poked and prodded.  Diagnosis (from my discharge papers): Severe contusion and abrasions to left hip and lower leg.  X-ray images do not show signs of fracture.

The doctor cautioned me that running could increase inflammation in the area.  Not recommended.  But I have US National Duathlon Championships in 2 days!!

At 11pm when discharged I ate at Jack in the Box. I could have eaten my shoes!!!!  What an athlete!!

What's the green frownie face is for?

Awake at 7pm

Not so much at 10pm

Contusion - yummy!!

Day 17 - 20 more Santa Rosa and travel back to the north west

After Sea Otter I made my way back up to Santa Rosa for a couple days of riding and a little running. The rides in Santa Rosa are just fantastic. Isolated roads with little traffic. I even managed to find roads that are in great shape. The running didn't go so well. It seems that the crash in the sea otter crit is causing some trauma to the left hip.

After a great morning ride I hops in my ride and sped up the Eugene getting close to the race in enumclaw.

A store in Medford.  I'm scared!!

Beautiful views near Sonoma Lake

Bridge across a valley

Day 10 - Camarillo Duathlon 5th Place Overall

That hurt!  They all hurt!

I raced the Camarillo Duathlon today.  It was a typical set up of two 5k runs sandwiching a 31k bike.  The weather was very un-California like today.  Or at least how I hoped it would be like today.  We raced in about 15 degree weather with fog and light rain. Like the June Gloom of Southern California only colder.  Start time today would be 8am.  The warmup combined with the 1 hour drive from LA meant a 5am wake up call this morning.

Start Finish Line and Transition Area

The race course is flat.  Totally flat.  Should have made for some PBs for me in the run but until I get the results I'm not quite sure what I ran both 5Ks in but it looks like 19:50 and 21:40.  The Bike was around 49min add the transitions for a 1:31 total.

Results were better then I recalled!! 19:14, 48:53 and 20:30

http://results.active.com/events/2013-camarillo-duathlon-3/olympic

Two things affected this race for me.  One was that I lost track of how far I had actually run and thought the run that I was pacing for 5k might actually be 7k.  So I throttled back a bit.  It wasn't until I finished the first run that I knew it was only 5k.  Crazy!  I just botched my distance calculations at the turnaround.  The second was that the light rain made the asphalt like a skating rink.  I could not believe how slippery it was.  The corners were a gong show on the second lap. People were slow or going down; a lot.  A bit sketchy on my little Argon Rocket.  Thank God I kept the rubber side down!!

Finishing and Happy to do so...

All in all I ended up in 5th place overall.  There was some conjecture that some of the racers didn't complete the entire bike course.  Not sure about this amongst the top 10 finishers but I do know some cut the course short. There were no officials or timing mats on the bike course.  Very easy to do one lap of the lollipop course.  Just have to see what happens with the official results are published.

A good day for me.  I ran and rode my plan. Best of all My Mom, Brother John and Sister In-Law Mercedes were there at the finish :)

My Mom and I at the finish

Day 2 - Wenatchee - Apple Capital Duathlon

A great way to prepare for a race is to have a wicked sleep and that's just what I did. Woke up plenty early and started to prepare. Drove down to Confluence Park assembled the bike and went out for a very Leading Edge like running warm up. A few obviously fit characters I noticed doing the same thing. One woman was very serious about her preparation. I should take notes as she crushed this race taking first place. As for me, all systems go but with such a hilly course this is gunna hurt, lots!!

The First Run

Fairly uneventful first run. I ran my plan to a tee. Watched the pace on my Garmin watch and kept it within the limits. The hills were tough at race pace but I finished with a 20:25 5k. Not bad for me. My run to bike transition however took over a minute for some reason. No idea why... I finished the run in 5th spot and crawled out of transition in about 10th.

The Bike

Hopped on the bike and the first thing you got to do is climb out of the river gorge. Not too bad but a 100m climb to the roadway. I hammered the bike. I knew that it was my chance to make up some time. No one passed me but I passed about 8 riders just on the way out. There were some grades on the hills that approached 12%. It was a little difficult on the TT bike but I guess it worked for me. I came off the bike in 3rd spot (although I thought I was 4th).

The Second Feeble Run

The second run is the same course as the first. I did not feel very well on this run. The legs were toast!! I kept my eye on my watch. Somehow I was keeping it under a 5min pace. I thought I was in 4th so I just looked for people my age on the turnaround. No one within about 500m. So, I just kept the legs going. I was like prey waiting to be caught. I kept a 4:30 pace but I was sure that some of these guys have more than that in them. I was seriously hurting. Finally the 1k marker appeared. Time to pick it up?? Not a chance. The legs have one gear today. At 500k I looked back. Wholly crap... No one in sight. OMG!! I can't believe that no one caught me on the run!! I finished and assumed 4th place. It wasn't until another finisher came and congratulated me on my 3rd place that I knew. Yahoo!! I came 1st place in my age group 2nd place male and 3rd overall. Yikes!!! Great start to a race trip. Then I hopped in the car and drove to Portland.... Stiff. Beer in Portland was great.

2013 USA Race Trip - Day 1 - Wenatchee WA

Day 1 - Wenatchee Washington

Warm up for the Apple Capital Duathlon went great except for being lost most of the time. If there's one thing that can be said about the course is that it's hilly.  Mostly gradual but some zippers in the lollipop portion (turnaround) of the bike that will bring the speed down to something glacial. 

The course for tomorrow will be 5k run, 26k bike and another 5k run.  The run has.. A hill or two.  Probably about a 75m climb during each 5k.  It doesn't look like too bad of a course except that its on. Paved trails and that could crowd things up a bit. The bike basically does a slow climb for 5k, goes downhill for 5k and then climbs steep to the turn around point.  Oh yeah!  i almost forgot about the wind. It was frickin windy. Really frickin windy! All I can say is that I hope it marked well.  I was lost the whole time...

The town...it's small. Quaint. Nice riverfront area with sculptures and paved trails, great for running. The roads are fairly good for cycling. A bit roughed up from the winter. Very courteous drivers. I however would not recommend riding a bike on Wenatchee ave just off the highway. It freaked the drivers out!!

Beer and sushi for dinner tonight and we will just see what happens tomorrow...

Sorry...  No pictures today. Some tomorrow.