Dan Litwora's Blog (8)

Guess what folks, it's 6am. That means I'm runnin'. 45 minutes easy. It actually helps get the legs going after yesterday's follies. If you don't recall: Yesterday I found new intensity zone called "Mucus". Some breakfast and then I get ready for today's ride. It's a 25 mile easy warm-up and then a 28 mile staggered start road race that will take us up and over the last range of hills/mountains before the Pacific. Sounds nice. And then a 25 mile ride back. Again, the 25 miles is needed to get… Continue

The usual. 6am wake up and off for a swim. Another 3300 in the books. Swimming actually feels good and Matt and I did 100s on varying intervals. I'm finally getting this flip turn thing down but the water, again, is thicker than the water in Illinois and I don't set any speed records. Breakfast. Lots of it. The schedule calls for an "easy" 100 mile ride. Easy means a more or less steady pace without accelerations and hammering. That's what's written on the schedule. I know that it isn't going t… Continue

6am. 45 minute run. No turkeys. Breakfast. On the bikes for an EZ ride. The first 25 minutes could best be described as not pedalling. Then we form a paceline and we're rolling pretty good. The group decides that any hill should be conquered with 450 watts of "EZ" power. The intensity zone within which 450 watts falls is not called Easy for me. Brian Haas refers to it as "Ape Shit" I think. I back off and catch back on after the climbs a few times then I see the 2K line which means (multiple… Continue

The mountain didn't worry me too much in the morning. But agreeing to swim with Gordo and his crew certainly did. Again, the 6am wake up. Coffee a snack and off to the pool. "The workout today is 19 x 200 on a pyramid interval with some warm-up and cool down. Total 4400 yards." That would be my longest swim of the year. Not by much, but still. The water got thicker around the 3000 yard mark. Swam 2:50s mostly with varying amounts of rest. Food. Change. Faster than yesterday. Borrowed a Trek… Continue

Woke up around 5:45, got some coffee, and my roomate Mark and I went for a run along Alisal road. As the old guy with the stick promised we saw a wild turkey. Sizable. Enough for 8-10 people with some fixins and a nice black bean turkey chili. Easy run. 54 minutes. Maybe just short of 7 miles. Changed and ate. You just read those words. I did it that fast. Threw my leg over Il Giggolo and off we went for the warm up for the 5 mile Time Trial. A 5 mile TT. How cruel is that. Harder effort than… Continue

6:25am: 60' Easy run. Saw more bulls than cars. Nice morning, a little foggy. I ran up Alisal road past the River Course (from Sideways) and the road pitched up slightly. It's really green out here. On my way back I saw a walker and he stopped me. We talked turkey. Literally. He wanted to know if I had seen any wild turkeys. He usually does he says. He has a thick dutch accent. We go our seperate ways and agree we're likely to see each other on the same path again. It's the best road--for "na… Continue

Sunday -- Training: 60' ride to get the legs used to moving again. Saw Sauls and Noda coming down the road. Turned around to ride with them not expecting to have to ride VO2 Max Intervals. Sauls is a motorbike and Noda shows no signs of slowing down. I take a pull, get behind Noda again and I'm horriffied when he flicks his elbow for me to come around. One more pull. And then I pull the plug. The hard riding stops and we ride a paceline and tempo to Los Olivos and back. Nice ride. Changed q… Continue

Rolled in to the parking lot yesterday and I see Dave Noda, and one of the first things he says is: "The mechanics have spent all day on your bike." "Umm, why?" "They said it was a mess, dude." "Hmm" Now, I'm thinking, where is Il Giggolo and what are they doing to it? New cables, housing, adjust the brakes, a little grease on the hub and the bar tape gets re-wrapped. I'll be able to stop! A half hour later I was on my bike riding down roads that far exceed the pleasure (riding at least)… Continue