Peak Weekend and Training Recap

Posted by Matt

I've been an infrequent blogger (at best), but since we've entered the taper section of our training, it seems like a good time to write a recap of the training thus far. No crazy stories like Chen, but our training has been going pretty well. Overall, I have really enjoyed Ironman training, much more than I thought I would at the beginning (when it was interfering with ski season). It would not have been possible without my gorgeous wife Katie also participating and us motivating each other when times got tough or one of us had work or injuries interfere. 

Now, without further ado, here goes. I'll start with a brief look back at the training and then go into a bit more detail on the most recent "peak" weekend. 

All of the training

Here is all of my training, in 4 graphs:

A summary of our training to date based on our 20 week training plan. 

My biggest week was actually the week of the Primavera century, probably because I was also trying to make up for lost days from the weekend prior, which I spent skiing with a friend visiting from the East Coast. The 3 weekends that I skied were all down weeks in training, but they, especially the climb up Mt. Shasta, certainly added to my fitness despite not showing up in the spreadsheets. We had 4 main build sessions over 16 weeks, with one build having a "focus" week on each sport. I was skeptical of the focus week at first, but it mixed up the training a bit and allowed us to focus and gain confidence in each of the disciplines. The run focus week was by far my highest mileage running week of training in a long time, probably since 2009 since I switched to a "run less, run faster" approach to running. 

View from the top of Mt. Shasta. The view was worth missing a weekend of training. And getting to the view was worth a weekend of training. A win, win. 

Since I didn't post much during the training, I'll point out a few of the more notable workouts that I did:

• A few great rides in Marin involving the lighthouse, Point Reyes, and Mt Tam with various training partners. 
• a run up the stunning Montara Mountain with Mark N, concluding with a trip to the Hop Dogma. 
• The aforementioned Primavera century in Fremont which got us up to biking distance early in the training
• A nice bike ride and trail run in our favorite place of all - Tahoe. Training would not be complete without some solid workouts up there. 
• a terrific Olympic distance Tri in Folsom lake with Katie that I absolutely want to do again next year
• A big ride up Diablo from Oakland with Katie, Mark, Rachel, and Chen which really taught me the value of eating all of the things during the ride. Before this ride, Katie and I looked at the first hit on google (just like we did with our training plan) to try to figure out how much to eat while riding. It's a lot!
• A great weekend of training with Katie up in wine country over Memorial day featuring an adventurous open water swim in Lake Sonoma, a bike ride through Healdsburg, and a whole lot of running where I continued seeking out point to point runs (it was run focus week at the time). 
• The open water swim at Del Valle followed by 75 mile ride towards Hamilton with Chen, Rachel, Travers, and Katie
• A great 20 mile point to point trail run from HMB to Pacifica followed by a great, but challenging, 80 mile ride ending at our favorite Brewery the next day
• A fantastic 105 mile ride through Marin from Pacifica that ended with "FogAgeddon 2015" in which Katie and I still managed to go for a 20 minute run as it got dark about 8:30 with Kona when we got home
• Dozens of fantastic trail runs with our dog Kona, and occasionally, Katie. 
• I'm sure I missed a whole bunch of great workouts, but now on to the workouts that are most fresh in my head.

One of the great things about biking, you get to travel long distances and get fantastic views that is hard to get with the other sports. 

Peak Weekend

The July 4th weekend was perfect timing, giving us a 3 day weekend for one of the highest mileage weeks of training. Leading into the weekend, I was a bit behind on the training on the week for 2 reasons. First, I didn't step back that significantly the previous week, doing a Brick involving a 60 mile ride with Mt Tam followed by a 8 mile trail run with Mark on Sunday. So Monday, I took it a bit easy. Our Jetta also needed a new transmission, and with 160k miles, we decided a new car was in order. So 2 of my evenings this week were spent test driving and then buying a (new for us) 2011 Prius. So far it's holding up its bargain on good gas mileage, hopefully it'll last many years for its reliability reputation as well!

Friday

Back to the training part. I started the weekend off with a 6.5 mile trail run with our dog Kona on Friday morning. It was pretty hot, even in Pacifica, but overall, it was a relatively easy run, considering the 1150 feet of elevation gain. I followed that up with 40 mile ride, including San Bruno Mountain. It was a good mix of terrain, having some climbing, some flats by the airport, and then rolling hills to home by crystal springs reservoir. Overall, the elevation per mile matched what is expected from IronMan Canada, so it was nice to see my average speed (16 mph) would bring me in for the Ironman at 7 hours. I timed it so that I passed Katie on her long run about 75% of the way done, so it was great to see each other out there and give each other some support! 

Saturday

Saturday, Katie and I headed to Aquatic park for some open water swimming. We had every intention of starting early, but as co-Iron Men training partners dropped off  from joining due to their epic rides on Friday, we quickly reverted to our standard time of showing up an hour after we planned to. Nonetheless, we got 5 great laps in, for about 3300 yards. Following coffee's the size of our faces and a delicious brunch at La Boulange, our plan was to meet some friends at the beach in Pacifica to relax on the 4th. Not having a long run in for the weekend, I opted to run there from Aquatic park in SF. I love long point to point runs - it is really amazing the distance and terrain you can cover. It brings the best part of running and best part of biking together. The run was beautiful, encompassing Crissy fields, by the golden gate bridge, the presidio, Land's end, ocean beach by golden gate park, up through Fort Funston, on the beach for 2.5 miles to Mussel Rock Park, down through Pacifica, by Mori Point, and onto Linda Mar / Pacifica State Beach. It was a great last run for 21.7 miles total. It was cloudy throughout most of the run, but as I reached Linda Mar, the sun began shining. No matter how foggy Pacifica has gotten lately, it seems to be sunny in Linda Mar more often than not.  The rest of the day, we got to relax, enjoy the beach, and celebrated the 4th with traditional Burmese food. Who says you need to eat hot dogs and hamburgers on the 4th? 

Face-sized lattes.

Sunday

I was really excited about our bike ride Sunday, a loop from downtown Pacifica, down to HMB, up over the hills and back to Pacifica on Canda Rd and the trails by crystal springs. The one downside is the traffic on Route 1 by up to and down from Devils slide. We were aiming to start early to avoid the traffic, but Katie had some work to finish up in the morning so the departure slipped to about 10:30. So we had a bit of traffic on the 1 to and from Devils slide (Devils slide itself is a fantastic bike path since the tunnel went through, but we need some connecting paths so you can actually get there easily on a bike). Once we got to Montara, however, we were able to take side routes the rest of the way and avoid any traffic. I've done a lot of riding in the bay area, but the riding south of Half Moon Bay is probably my favorite. It's not terribly easy to get to (unless you're going upwards of 70+ miles, like we did on Sunday), but the views of the Pacific are absolutely gorgeous (assuming you have sunshine, which we did most of Sunday) and the climbing through the hills has beautiful creeks and soaring redwoods. And it seems that most other people don't really know about it as we generally don't see too many bikers or cars. It is highly recommended. We even got to bike into a headwind both ways for added difficulty while training! No, seriously, we had a stiff wind out of the SW as we made our way down the coast, but after our climb over the hills, the wind transition to the NW and was in our face on the way North as well. 

Meandering through the tall redwoods up to the top of Tunitas road, where we greeted with a steep, top of Mt.Diablo-like section on Swett Rd that was unexpected.  

When we got back to Pacifica (75 miles, 6700 feet of gain), we transitioned quickly and started our run. I felt great and decided to go for it, throwing down 7 miles at what I would have called goal half marathon pace - a pace I'd be pretty happy with on a normal day, nonetheless after a big ride and the day after a 20+ mile long run. I then cooled down with Katie to finish off the weekend. 

On the way back down to Pacifica. I swear it was sunny earlier in the day!

All in all, it was a solid 3 day weekend, 1.7 miles swimming, 115 miles biking, 36 miles running. This balance probably reflects my concern on the the race. The swim - I know I won't win any medals there but I'm pretty sure I will be able to finish it OK. The bike will be challenging and I need to be prepared and well fueled. In the end, however, it will come down to the run. 

Unfortunately, after this solid weekend of training, I was promptly rewarded with coming down with a cold, which is probably the real reason I have time to write this long of a blog post now. It's the 4th time in 12 endurance event tapers that I've gotten sick. But hopefully it is early enough, and with a day off work and now 2 days off training, I'll be able to hop back into the taper week training soon. Sorry, that was way longer than I expected to write, hopefully you all were able to take a break or two, and make it through that. I'm really looking forward to the race!  

Folsom Lake Race Recap (i.e. We're happy with the time so far)

Posted by Matt

I haven't been posting much lately, but a race recap is the perfect time to get back into it. So here goes...

On Saturday,  Katie and I competed in the Folsom lake international triathlon and aqua bike. I can't say enough good things about the race - it was fantastic. The race was relatively small,  (146 for the Olympic distance and maybe 200 people total), really low key, and yet very professionally done. As Katie detailed in her post, we showed up at 7 for an 8 am start, and had time to register for the race (yes, register day of), use the restrooms (and there was only 1 person in line for real bathrooms!), set up our transition,  and get down to the water (and  given California's drought, it was a long way down to the reservoir). At each of these checkpoints, our phrase was, "we're happy with the time so far," which really meant - "hey, we're going to make it to this race after all." Luckily, the happiness with times continued as the race went on. 

The Swim

Once we got to the beach, the water was clean and clear,  a very nice 63 degrees for a wet suit swim. The weather was equally perfect, 55 degrees at the start, warming to the mid 60s for the finish. I didn't have time for a warm up,  but managed to splash some water over me and get back on the beach for the wave 1 start. My goal for the swim was to be sub 30 minutes (a nice round number and a good goal considering my only other Olympic swim involved me swimming to an in water start as the gun went off and taking a wrong turn part way through - luckily a kind kayaker pointed me in the right direction - for 35 minutes). The swim felt like it took a long time. I'm not liking the implications for 2.4 mile swim when 0.9 feels long, but I'm not really a swimmer, so most swims feel long, really no matter the distance.  And overall I felt good, coming out of the water at 29:45 and hitting my goal! Next came the 0.3 mile run from the water to what should be the edge of the water if the lake was full and to t1.  Once I was ready to bike, it was 5:45 total for T1 with the run from waters edge.

Maybe the course felt long, because I can't swim in a straight line?
Or my Garmin 310 can't track in the water very well. Either way.

The Bike

The bike course was great as it had very minimal traffic on quality rural roads. It had rolling hills, climbing gently from mile 6 to 17 or so and then descending back to T2 for 1000 feet of total elevation gain. Despite it being a small race,  every turn had course marshals directing you the right way.  Throughout the course I lept frogged with 6 or 7 other guys,  generally catching up or passing them on the uphill and then getting smoked on the downs. Turns out,  I like uphill - in glad IM Canada will have a couple of those. I again had a round number in mind, hoping to beat 20 mph on the bike. With fellow triathletes around me to motivate, I beat that with some room to spare,  coming in to transition at 20.6 mph. And that included a short, but lovely section of dirt road at the very end to get back to transition.  Side note: I love taking my road bike on dirt roads so I actually enjoyed it (Katie, however, agrees to disagree about the the dirt road being fun).

Top - an excellent elevation profile for a fast bike.
Bottom - For the run - Yeah, I couldn't read the course website's text either before the race. 

The Run

My goal for the run portion of the race was to be able to finish strong. I wasn't sure how it would go, considering this was my first brick workout this year. Also, in all my previous triathlons, I have slowed significantly as the run went on for reasons including going too hard on the bike, not being in good run shape, serious heat, or starting the run off too fast. I had read that the run course was on single track trails,  but my previous experience with trails around Folsom lake (on the other side of the lake) was that it was relatively flat. These trails were beautiful, but decidedly not flat. My watch only registered 475 feet of gain,  but there were several short and steep climbs. The descents were equally steep, not allowing me to really regain time on the downs.  But, this is the exactly the type of terrain and trails I have been training on. So despite my pace being a bit slower than I had anticipated, I was in my wheelhouse. I started conservatively, but picked up my effort and continued strong through the finish. After the race, another racer told me,  "I thought I was running pretty fast, but you past me like I was standing still". The other racers were equally supportive on the course, I exchanged "great job" or other encouragements with everyone on the run course.  I finished with a respectable 7:04 pace for a final time of 2:33:20, an 11 minute PR over my previous Olympic distance race. 

Feeling good at the end of the run. 

Recap

We had a few goals for the race

1) Get a check of our fitness so far:

For me this race showed me that I'm right where I want to be. For swimming, it looks like I should get used to swimming longer, so I'll try to add some more open water swims and long sets into my training going forward. My biking has been feeling relatively good over the course of the training, so I'm going to keep doing more of the same there - biking to and from work once each week with tempo and sprint sessions thrown in now and again and riding long on the weekend. The run went well, but I think I could have actually pushed a bit harder. I haven't done many tempo runs recently, so I think I'll try to add some of those in to get used to running hard when tired. Also a brick or two probably won't hurt. 

2) Figure out if we're missing anything (particularly in regards to transitions) and get more open water race experience: 

Despite deciding to do the race the day before, we managed to show up with everything we needed, so huge win there. The open water swim went well for both Katie and I, so another success there. 

3) Inject some enthusiasm into our training - which has been suffering a bit the past 2 weeks with the step back week and then tough weeks at work for both Katie and I.

 In all regards, it was a huge success. Both Katie and I are really excited about the training going forward. We even pulled off our biggest swim yet (4400 yards) the day after the race and added a shake out run as well. Can't wait for the next challenge - which looks like Diablo next weekend! 

Bonus of a small race with awards 5 deep - podiums for both Katie (3rd overall in Aquabike) and I (4th in my age group)!

Running in the rain

Posted by Matt

I'm a bit behind, but I wanted to share my thoughts from a few weeks ago. My training certainly hasn't been nearly as extensive as our fellow bloggers, but  I was already struggling to find out where in my schedule to fit in all the necessary workouts.  But then Katie and I had a great training weekend, and I got reminded why I do events like this to begin with.

It was the rainy weekend of Feb 8th, but Katie and I woke up on Saturday to find relatively clear skies. Immediately, biking became the preferred activity and we headed out on the road. The ride didn't start well - debris from the storm closed the shoulder of our planned route, forcing us into the street and far too close to speeding traffic. Then, the rain restarted much quicker than anticipated. So we detoured,  we found a new route, and we explored our community. We found roads and neighborhoods that we hadn't seen yet in our 3 months in our new apartment. It wasn't a long ride by ironman standards, but it embodied the reasons I love to bike- you can explore places and see things in an intimate way that no other mode of transit allows.

On Sunday, we woke up to heavy rain.  I was excited...I had been looking forward to a trail run in the rain fore a long time. Splashing in the muddy puddles with my two favorite running companions (my gorgeous wife Katie and very eager dog Kona) exceeded my already high expectations. nothing too fancy, but a really enjoyable run. After a quick muffin baking session, we headed to the public pool. While not as adventurous as our previous events, we had a new workout book in hand. As a non competitive swimmer, I often struggle on figuring out what exactly to do in the pool. But with a clear plan in place, I had one of my best workouts yet.

While I enjoy following Chen's and Rachel's weekly workouts, you won't see my stats here (I don't even record the details myself). For me, training isn't really about my splits or the miles logged. It is about exploring the world in a new way,  having a little adventure (especially if it is with my wicked awesome wife), and pushing your body (and mind) at the same time. 

Basebuilding Fun

 Posted by Matt

For me, the winter's basebuilding is going to be all about fun training. The new year started out pretty good. Great Surfing session (I think that's a good substitution for a swim, right?) on New Year's day followed by a great ski tour (definitely a good substitution for a run), a fun day at Kirkwood (a halfway decent quad workout), and a "not-so-great but at least we got a work out in" ski tour, where we decided to start a bit too low and there really wasn't enough snow. But then I got sick and essentially missed the entire next week of doing anything at all. Being sick did help me realize why I sign up for things like this Ironman - each day of not working out made me more and more grumpy. Luckily, I'm back in a better health (and mood) this weekend, and I got a solid weekend of workouts in - 2 more days surfing, a solid night time trail run on the coast and beach, a quick ab workout, and a "warm-up" swim session at the local pool. We moved recently and discovered 2 public pools (and an ocean!) with great hours within a 10 minute drive from our new location - so that was a great find - no excuses for not getting swimming now! On top of all that, the Pats won a fantastic game against the Ravens and are onto the AFC championship! Not a bad weekend at all.

Kona's not impressed with the view of Lake Tahoe from the top of Powerderhouse.

2015, here we come

Posted by Matt

 

I somehow thought I would train relatively hard through December and the holidas. But then as excuse after excuse piled up as December went on, - I was still recovering from CIM in early December, work was really busy, there was lots do for the holidays - my training really tapered off. Going home to Boston for a week, I was welcomed by my cousin with a sarcastic, "Welcome to Seattle" and it proceeded to rain for a solid week, which just added another excuse to my list to keep the training low and the eating high. So it wasn't until after Christmas, that I finally got a good workout in. That came in the form of 2 fantastic ski days trying out telemark skiing at Okemo mountain. Telemarking, for those unfamiliar with it, is downhill skiing, but your heel is not attached. In effect, this is essentially constantly doing lunges as you ski down the mountain, and it was a blast. I'm hooked and can't wait to get a pair for myself (I was renting boots and borrowing skis in Vermont). I also got a GoPro camera for Christmas and made a short film of our days at Okemo, which you can see on youtube here:

 

 http://youtu.be/N3XPVSBE7dc

So now it's nearly the new year, my workouts are starting up again, and I'm feeling very motivated to gear up the training heading into the Ironman in July. That training, of course, will consist of lots more ski days (nearly every weekend that we can from now through April), so we'll have to make the most of short weeks and occasionally weekend to fit in the running, biking, and swimming so Katie and I will survive what we have in store for the summer. But I can't wait. Let's do this!

Katie Telemarking at Okemo

Challenge Rancho Cordova!

Posted by Matt

A super quick post, but we couldn't resist - the training was done, a half ironman must be run. And now with a very, very extended taper going into Challenge Rancho Cordova on Oct. 5th. And I dragged Katie in with me :)!  Hopefully the King Fire will go quietly into the night and not cancel another race. Wahoo!

Race Report: Bayshore Marathon

Posted by Katie and Matt

Now that we are walking a little better it is time for a race recap! Personally I can’t believe the race is over, I was so psyched up and nervous for this race that it seemed to fly right by. Well… not every mile, but overall I would say it seemed to be over so quickly. I really didn’t know what to expect from this marathon based on my training as I mentioned before so I was super happy to run with Emily the whole time and finish feeling strong with a PR of 7 minutes! I have to admit Matt was right, the weather was perfect, cool at the start, not too windy, basically cool the whole time, until the last few miles when it started to get a bit warmer but not too bad. We had a great cheering squad of parents and it was such a huge boost to see them at 10, 16 and the finish. Also with an out and back course I was able to see Matt (sooner than I expected of course) and give him a big high five. The course itself is gorgeous, right along the East Traverse Bay, great views the whole way and very gently rolling hills. Usually I whine about any sort of incline late in the race but this course really was gentle. I have been really focused on running by heart rate the past few weeks, especially as race pace was so hard to predict, running by feel and by heart rate seemed more reliable. My entire race plan (made night before) was basically to keep the first 2 miles at around 10 min/miles and then see what happens. Overall I think that strategy really worked out, this is definitely the strongest I have felt finishing a marathon so far and I was happy with my heart rate and consistent pace.

Pretty consistent! 

I think this has definitely been my favorite post-race day. Immediately following the race we got the usual food stuff, bananas, cookies, pretzels etc and then huge iced creams (Moomers was a race sponsor and let’s just say they were not skimpy with the free iced cream!). After getting cleaned up (the race provided showers at the high school) our first order of business was lunch. We made a beeline to North Peak Brewery which had amazing beers and food. Then we went back up the peninsula that we had just run on and stopped at two wineries. I know California friends, I can hear you cringing internally… well fear not, this wine was really good! We went to Peninsula Cellars which has a tasting room in an old converted school house, and Two Lads which is perched high up on a hill looking over the course we just ran. Back to our rented lake house, we enjoyed BBQ, more iced cream, and ended the night with smores by the fire. A perfect post-race day.  Spirits are high and we are already plotting our next race (and vacation). 

Post race Moomers!

North Peak Brewery

Best pizza ever consumed.

Relaxing back at Little Traverse Lake. Life is good :)

Matt's comments:

Every time I finish a Marathon or other endurance event, a feeling of Euphoria overcomes me. It's stronger, of course, if the time on the clock is under your goal time, but, even if not - as in Traverse City - it's still a moment of pure happiness. There were plenty of signs in my training that 3 hours was too high of a goal, but I ignored that in my race plan (starting out too quick for too fast of a goal) and paid the price by hitting a wall way earlier than planned.  Nonetheless, Traverse city has been one of my favorite marathons - it ranks as one of the most beautiful, if not the most beautiful courses, I've ever ran and we had a great cheering squad of family on the course. And of course, a truly awesome post-race experience, as Katie wrote about above. We got to see a gorgeous area of the country I probably would not have visited otherwise and learned that Michigan wine can actually be pretty tasty! 

I've been making a new training plan since about mile 23 of the Marathon - can't wait for the next one! 

Pre-race thoughts: Bayshore Marathon

Posted by Katie and Matt

Tomorrow Matt and I are running the Bayshore Marathon held in Traverse City, MI. We picked this particular marathon in order to run with my cousin Emily (who flew out to meet us in Santa Barbara, CA for my 2nd marathon). This race is a flat out and back race along the East Grand Traverse Bay. Weather for tomorrow looks to be chilly at the start (47F), which to me sounds REALLY COLD but Matt assures me that is "perfect running weather".

Obligatory starting line photo

My thoughts are definitely mixed for tomorrow. This training cycle has been a bit hit or miss for me. I was finishing my PhD through most of it which in retrospect was not a great idea and definitely caused me to miss a few runs. Naively I thought that training for a marathon while writing my thesis would be great...start writing, get stuck on some wording, head out for a run, and boom, brilliant idea comes to mind. In reality I just felt guilty when I was running, and stressed that I had missed too much running when I wasn't. I did manage to complete most of the long runs, and I am hoping that all that skiing we did this winter counts for some major cross training points!

As far as my goal for the race.. I would be happy with anything under 4:41 (my current best, at Santa Barbara in 2012). Last fall I finally broke 2 hours in the half-marathon distance, something I had always been close too but never quite there. For the previous Christmas, Matt had given me the gift of a personal pacer (and mp3 player) to finally break the 2 hour barrier that I had so struggled with. Best. present. ever! So based on that time, I had set my training paces to target a time of 4:10. That time is now definitely out of reach given how hard it was to hold the right paces on my long runs. Then I had taken stock and decided 4:25 would be a great goal (1 hour faster than my first ever marathon 5:25 back in 2009). Turns out I was severely anemic at the time and did not know… spoiler alert: running WITH hemoglobin (like I do now) is MUCH easier than running without (like I did in 2009). Unfortunately I think that goal might be out of reach at this point too so I've decided I will be happy with not exploding and hopefully a PR of anything.. 1 minute... 10 seconds... I'll take it! I am also really hoping to run with my cousin and best friend of 29 years Emily. We ran together the whole time in that Santa Barbara marathon in 2012, though we were both struggling with various injuries. Hopefully we are about the same pace tomorrow!

I mean how could I resist "everything good blended together"?

Everything good = espresso and vanilla iced cream!

 Traveling to Traverse City by way of the east coast means that I have been carb loading for about a whole week. First in Mass for a good friends wedding, then in NYC to see my sister (YAY BAGELS), then out to Michigan. Today we got to explore the Sleeping Bear Dunes National Seashore, which was really fun. The dunes are enormous, ~500ft max elevation. We did the "climbing dune" which is just like it sounds... you climb right up a giant sand dune and were rewarded with some amazing views. Matt had a great time log rolling down the dune on the way back.

View from the top of the Climbing Dune hike.

Nice form on the log roll!

Lake Michigan (or is this a tropical island?!)

Matt's pre-race thoughts:

I am excited to be running in a beautiful new location (although I may not agree completely with it's slogan "Most Beautiful Place in America"). The dunes and the Lake are picture perfect. We have fantastic weather lined up for the morning and will have a great cheering squad of my parents, Katie's mom, and Emily's mom out there on the course. We also have carb loaded very appropriately (see pictures below). I'm hoping those combine for a PR and a sub 3 hour marathon tomorrow. My training cycle was pretty good - life (and skiing) got in the way a bit so I did not hit the track as religiously as I had planned in the beginning of my training. I did manage to get four 20+ mile runs in - the last time I got that many long training runs in, I qualified for Boston for the first time back in 2009. My last 20 miler was at a reasonably brisk pace of my goal marathon pace + 15 seconds. I also successfully managed to fly near 10,000 miles in the last week and half and not get sick during the taper (which, despite rarely getting sick, I've managed to do for ~33% of the endurance races that I've done). All and all, I think I have about a 50% shot of pulling off my goal, which, for a Marathon, is about all you can ask for. Here we go!!!

A lunch fit for a marathoner

Official carb loading by chef Matt

Santa Barbara, how I miss thee

Posted by Matt

Colt, Kona, and I going for walk on the beach in Santa Barbara

Santa Barbara is my favorite place to run in all the world, hands down. I have so many great athletic memories from my 4 years in Santa Barbara  - I completed my first triathlon in Santa Barbara, trained for my first Marathon there (at the time it felt more like dragged on long runs by Chen - but in hindsight it was a great experience!), and qualified for the Boston Marathon for the first time at the inaugural Santa Barbara Marathon. And on top of that, it's absolutely gorgeous - with great views the ocean, perfect weather, and miles of flat trails perfect for running. Luckily, Katie and I got to return to Santa Barbara with Kona and Colt (we're watching Sandi and Will's dog as they head off to the Boston Marathon) for a good friend's wedding and got to spend time running on the bluffs and on the beach!

Kona running on the bluffs in Santa Barbara. Not that it needs to be said, but much cuter than a picture of me running. 

Good luck to Sandi and Chen in Boston tomorrow!