the Gem on the Central Coast

When I was in High School I started venturing with my friends to obscure and secluded surfing spots up and down the coast from our home break in Seal Beach. Ultimately it led to the Central Coast where we found quality uncrowded waves. This past weekend when I went to Scott Tinleys Adventures Tri at Lake Lopez in San Luis Obispo County it reminded me of those discovery days. The venue is located at a beautiful lake in the coast mountains near the City of Arroyo Grande. Though I participated in the inaugural Tri back in 2001 and quite a few other years I hadn't been back since they added the Long Course event two years ago. The event is run simultaneously with a Youth Tri, sprint and Olympic distance events. How Tri Cal is able to run these events like clock work is a tribute to there professionalism. The event was initiated by
Scott Tinley and Terry Davis to produce a user friendly event that wasn't heavily commercialized and low hype. It definitely has the feel of the older races when you could drive to the site, sleep in your car and register the next day and race. On Saturday the long course swim is 1.5 miles three loop course in the fresh water. The Lake level was the fullest I had seen it and made for a short run up the ramp to the transition. The bike course is right at 50 miles and starts with a short climb to the exit of the park, out along the Lake and over the Dam to Huasna Valley Road. The course then proceeds through a typical central coast back road lined with vineyards and oak trees and is an out and back ride with rollers and a couple climbs, a total of 4000 vertical feet. As you climb back across the Dam, right before you Head back into the park, there's a short 2.5 mile side road with more rollers that is an out and back to the park entrance and transition. The very challenging and safe course is one of the best I've ridden. The 2 loop run follows along the lake shore through the campgrounds on paving and a portion of dirt trail with a quarter mile up hill section that hurts, finishing up with a nice drop in to the finish line. After the race I visited with members of the Central Coast Tri Club at their booth right next to the the finish. CCTC had a large contingent of athletes racing Tinleys Saturday and Sunday on there home training grounds. On Sunday I paddled my stand up board for the swimmers doing the off road races and then went up to watch the off road sprint and extreme races. I was fortunate to be able to visit with Julie Moss that has been an announcer at Tri Cal races for sometime and one of our sports most gracious athletes. At the finish I was able to watch three of the athletes that I rode with at the Tinley clinic that Tri Cal and Samantha Pruitt from CCTC sponsored a couple weeks earlier --Nick Goodman,Ted Weisse and Victoria Perez all completed there first Tri and were excited to do there next race,Wildflower! Johnny Cerrito won the Terry's Toughest Competition from Kain Performance even though he was about 14 minute's late to the swim start of the off road race. A great week end of racing at the Gem on the Central Coast.

bring it on!

The Triathlon season is full tilt now. Some of us have already completed some "A" races and there is still a load of top notch races this summer.Tri-Cal still has the meat and potatoes of the race season coming up. If you haven't competed at one of the Alcatraz races,Pacific Grove or Tinley's there is still slots for these great races. You can always count on the best produced and race proven events. If you go to www.tricalifornia.com registration and in the promotion box enter DSINCLAIR where you can receive a $25 dollar discount to any of these events. To prepare for these events Tri- Cal will be supporting a free training Clinic in Cayucos CA. on August 14th. This event will be the Inaugural Cayucos-Multisport Olympic Distance training Clinic. This Clinic will entail two swim loops around the Cayucos pier and a 26 mile out and back bike course to Cambria and a 10k run up Cayucos Canyon and finish at the Beach pier. For those training for a sprint distance you can cut the distances in half. There will be added challenges in the transitions and the course will be supported with all the great nutrition and hydration products that are on all the Tri-Cal race courses. The swim support will be provided by local surf shop GOODCLEANFUNUSA.COM. Go to their web site for the up to date weather and surf reports. If your training for a longer distance on Saturday the 13th there will be a open self supported 80 mile bike ride up Hiway 1 to Ragged Point one of the most beautiful routes anywhere. Be sure to sign up early as these events will fill up quickly. Go to the Tri-Cal Blog for more information.

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changing up!

OK we're on our way to a new season and hopefully a successful one. Your following your training plan or coach with all the workouts designed to progress you to a PR for that A race you signed up for a year ago. As you go through the base phase to the build phase to the peak phase somewhere in there we get tired, burnt out or we just flatten out and wonder why the enthusiasm is fading a little. If your like me you have a family, job responsibilities and priorities that let a little air out of that PR or infinite slot your pursuing. If your in for the long haul your going to need to mix it up a little to keep the fire burning. Going through our progressions and build for the season our bodies adapt to the stimulation and we need to change it up to charge the motor. One way is to switch your training to have active recovery days that your not aerobically beating yourself into the ground. A couple of great workouts that energize your body and can include your family is Stand Up Paddling (SUP)and good old hiking. If you haven't tried paddling yet your in for a amazing surprise. You'll not only work muscle groups that you've avoided but you'll have a smile on your face that sometimes seems to slip away with the rigors of training. The Stand Up Board craze has gone main stream . It can be a pricey investment but a great training tool. You can rent them pretty reasonably at surf shops or local sport shops . Check www. goodcleanfunusa.com in Cayucos or at www. toobs .com in Morro Bay ,CA. Buzz builds a custom soft board that is less that 7 ft. that you can fit in the back seat of your car or SUV. You can carry it around for those days at the beach or lake when the weather is perfect and you want to get into the water. Another recovery day you might want to try is to go walking or hiking at your local park ,trail or community path or better yet go beach combing and take the family along. You'll be amazed how invigorated you'll feel taking a day to step back and recover now and then. If your plan is to live the multisport life your going to need to throw in some options just encase you end up in the sport for forty or fifty years. See you on the roads.

jump start

PrologueThe Holiday season is behind us! It's time to kick start the early season training especially if your doing the spring classics like California or Wildflower. I've been dabbling with various rides & runs through the fall & winter in some incredible weather along the California Central Coast. I scheduled a 5 day block to put together the signature rides and runs at Cayucosmultisport.com that are my favorites and fire off the season. I started this block on a Thursday morning. Day One---The signature bike ride is up State Route 1 from Cayucos. You can do variations of distances but my favorite is up to Gorda. The ride starts through a pass between coastal hills and the Town of Harmony and up past Cambria and San Simeon along the Coast to Piedras Blancas light house. The ride is basically flat with a short climb into Cambria. Thirty miles in past the light house you begin to climb towards the mountains that jut up from the Ocean. My plan was to ride the flats at AT and hold form with around 90 RPMS and stay in the aero bars. Once you arrive at the mountains you climb up on to the Perch that winds along the Coast for the next 90 miles to Monterey . The first spot you pass is Ragged Point that has stunning panoramic vistas as you ascend or descend high above the coast wrapping around the ravines and cliffs. The weather this day was an amazing 70 degrees and clear and sunny. Once at Gorda ,fifty miles from Cayucos, I headed a couple more miles up the road to Treebones Resort.I refueled with an PB and avocado sandwich I make for nutrition and headed back to Cayucos. You have to climb your way back out again until you drop back down to the flats where I like to do a couple of tempo efforts of 10 miles typically with a tail wind. When I arrived back in Cayucos I decided to skip the brick run and get dinner ready. The total for the day was 103 Miles and 6:30 hrs. and a slight sun burn. DAY TWO---I started out with the brick run I planned to run the day before. The run began at sunrise on the beach and I had to maneuver some rock tide pools as the tide was dropping. I stayed steady and focused on maintaining form on the firm packed sand. Ran out 2-1/2 miles and headed back. The weather was shaping up to be another sunny and clear day as I headed up Old Creek Road on the bike. From Cayucos to the top of Old Creek is 9 miles with a little under 2000 vertical ft. and the last mile around close to 7% grade that travels through eucalyptus ,oak and avocado trees. From the top you have a couple options. I went East up over hwy 46 down in to the vineyards of Paso Robles and rode through the Oak tree lined roads and hillsides of vineyards. I rode back up Hwy 46, up over the summit and the long descent to hwy 1 back to Cayucos. When you crest the summit there is an awesome view of Estero Bay and green velvet mountains that surround it. Total 64 miles 4:24 hrs biking--5 miles running. DAY THREE---- Today was the long easy run on the beach and over the creek crossings to Morro Bay rock and back. Worked on holding form for the 13 miles and 2-1/2 hr run. When I got back home I loaded up on nutrition and went out for a hour of SUP surfing. DAY FOUR---Started the day with a four mile beach run with 3 x 1/2 miles at tempo pace. Gathered up the bike gear and headed up Hwy 1 to San Simeon along the coast. Rode the return ride with some steady efforts with the last 10 miles with a group that had made the 100 mile ride from Monterey. Finished up with a :30 minute brick run on the beach. Total 47 miles and 2:42 hrs 7 miles running. DAY FIVE---One of my favorite training days is a bike ,run ,bike workout. The bike I ride is one of my older bikes that has toe clips on it so I can wear some running shoes and not be limited to bike shoes. The ride is south to Morro Bay along the coast and around the Harbor bike path to the MB Rock and turn around and ride through the Embarcadero up to MB State Park around the estuary to the back bay and up into Montana De Oro State Park to the ranger station. There you lock up the bike and head out on one of the many trails. I ran on the bluff along the Ocean cliffs for a couple miles then went inland to the rolling hills. If your training for Wildflower Long Course this is your run. I ran around 5 miles and then back on the bike for a TT back to Cayucos. It was a balmy 77 degrees by now and sunny and clear. Total- 40 miles biking & 5 miles running. Finished out the day and week with a massage at Savi in San Luis Obispo that afternoon. The total for the 5 days was 254 miles biking--30 miles running--(1) surf session and 22 Hrs of training. By no means was this a Epic effort but a good start to get your body ready for the season ahead. All the days were done solo with my ipod and great weather. I plan to expand on these and put some group efforts together as the season progresses . Check out cayucosmultisport.com if your interested in exploring the California Central Coast. Remember the best protocol for training is the one that gets you out the door.

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