Tinley's Adventures Training

A couple weeks ago in the  true spirit of the Tinley's Adventures Triathlon a group of women from the California Central Coast headed out from the coastal town of Cayucos for a mountain bike ride in what I call the Tour of Estero Bay which is basically a surf check along the coast with some hill climbs and off road single track thrown in. The group consisted of Tara Kulikov of Pinnacle Training Systems, Samantha Pruitt of Central Coast Tri Club, Emily Nelson CCTC and Danilu Ramirez CCTC. Along the way to keep it interesting we throw in some dive bomber push ups and stair crawls. This was a tough group and they wanted to go for the big climb right out the gate which is Hang Glider hill that averages around 12% for a little over a mile. The totals for the day were 28 miles of riding with 2800 vertical feet of climbing and under 3hrs of time. A really fun day of training and plans to expand on the ride with a mix of swimming and running.

wildflower clinic update

The Tri Season is just around the corner and hopefully your training is going well. I spent a day at Lake San Antonio with Tri Cal and a documentary production company last week that is filming the first 3D documentary about triathlon and was scouting camera locations for the 30th Wildflower Triathlon events. There will be 12 camera persons during the Wildflower weekend to document the event. Meredith and Collen from Tri Cal were there to support the crews and athletes during the day. Tri Cal also provided food and swag that was quickly consumed. The 30th anniversary hats and visors were hot items. With the Central Coast Tri Sport clinic coming up on March 10th it's a great time to preview and train on one of the great courses. Expect the water temperature to be in the mid 60's-Sorry! I was in the water 30 minutes and my feet and lips were numb. For the long course athletes we will be riding the entire bike course with a water stop half way at the North shore side. Tri Cal will provide Powerbar gels and Gatorade drinks that you will be using on the course race day. No one will be left behind but you should be able to hold around 16 MPH for the 56 mile bike ride. If there's time when we arrive back to transition we will run a short brick. For the athletes that would like to run additional miles after the break we can run a portion of the long course. There will be a bike transition set up for you to rack your bike. Be sure to bring your warm biking and running gear that you can layer off and a dry change of clothes. The weather forecast looks favorable but we will train rain or shine. The long course will be a sell out if you haven't signed up yet. This is going to be a great year your not going to want to miss. Keep it rolling.

wildflower 30th anniversity

It's hard to believe that the Wildflower Triathlon is celebrating it's 30th year on the California Central Coast. When I first went to the event in 1989 there was a relative small group of what we now call Triathletes. The Triathlon was then a side event to a spring festival that celebrated the beautiful lupin, Calif poppy and mustard grass flower colors over the landscape and around Lake San Antonio. It wasn't long before word got out about the challenging courses the great camping and how awesome the California Central Coast is. Tri Cal Events grew the weekend to a three day festival that included three races and 8,000 participants. On Saturday there is the Half Ironman or Long course and the sprint or mountain bike race and on Sunday the Olympic Distance course(.93 mile swim-25 mile bike-6mile run). The Premiere Event is the Long Course that is one of the most difficult Half Ironman races in the world and one of the most prestige. Every year the top professional and Age Group triathletes in the world test their self on this grueling course. The Half Ironman Distance consist of (1.2 mile swim-56mile bike ride and 13.1 mile run. The swim begins at the Lynch Boat ramp at the south shore of Lake San Antonio and is a out and back swim course. After exiting the water at the ramp the participants start their first ascent of the day running up the boat ramp to the transition area where they mount their bikes and ride south on a small asphalt bike path that turns hard right on to Beach Hill Road that is a very steep 1 mile climb up to the camping area that leads to the exit of the Park at mile 5. At the Park exit you head north along Interlake Drive for 19 mile that consist of rolling hills and if the wind is blowing it's probably in your face. This section of road is through terrain of road lined Golden Oak trees and the colored landscape of spring wildflowers. Interlake Road ends at the intersection of Jolon Road and the bike course turns right and heads south to Nacimento Lake Drive to mile 35. The road is relative flat with a couple gradual up slope rolling hills, but the difficulty along this road is it can be an awful head wind in your face and the heat begins to creep in. Once you arrive at Nacimento Lake Drive there's another hard right that heads west. The road has a few small short rollers but this might be the first time that the wind is at your back after 35 miles of riding. Five Miles up the road you cross a Steel Trussed Bridge that's a Little over one mile from the first left turn of the day and the beginning of a 5 mile 1000 vertical feet ascent up the signature climb named Nasty Grade that burns your lungs punishes your legs and tops out at Lake Nacimento Dam and turns right back onto Interlake Road headed north to the Park entrance still another 10 miles. There's awesome views of both Nacimento and San Antonio Lakes as you descend back down to Lake level. The heat begins be a factor as the wind tunnels through the rolling hills between the two Lakes pushing the afternoon heat back in your face. Finally back at the Lake Park entrance there's another right turn and another 5 mile climb to the Park Entry Gate and a steep descent back to the transition area at Lynch boat ramp. Once you enter back to the transition area your greeted by thousands spectators lined along the course and complete the grueling 56 mile bike ride.. When you finally dismount the bike your leg muscles are screaming from fatigue and your now about to pursue one of the toughest half marathon run courses there is. As you head out on the run you follow the Lake shoreline for a couple miles on relative flat terrain for the first couple miles until you reach Harris Creek Camp ground where you go off onto dirt trails along the Creek that begin ascending the hills to two steep 1/4 mile climbs that turns your quadricep and gluteus muscles to mush. Once over the top you drop into Long Valley a flat dirt trail for 1 mile and then back to ascending again for the next 3 miles through the camp grounds with applauding spectators and campers then back on to pavement to the 1 mile descent to the turn around named the "PIT" where you immediately turn around and head back up the hill for 2 more miles of climbing back out of the infernal pit to the finale 1 mile leg burning descent to the chute into the 13.1 mile finish and well deserved nutrition and hydration reload area . The Finish is right at the Festival area and the Music and Food vendors fill the air with sounds and aromas and you can enjoy some well deserved relaxation the rest of the weekend . The best quote I've heard to describe the punishment your body feels is "IT HURTS TO PUSH THE GAS PEDDLE ON YOUR DRIVE HOME"

Off season training

The tri season rolls around pretty quickly every year. It's important that you give your body some down time before you jump back into your training regime. Triathletes are reluctant to let go of that late season fitness and want to keep the training rolling. There's a number of great ways to maintain some fitness without prolonged linear aerobic sessions except for the barefoot beach runs. I listed 5 workouts that are short durations with maximum returns that will set you up for a new and hopefully healthy tri season.

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1. Strength Training -- If you haven't formed some type of off season strength training program it's not to late. There's multiple options to work on your over all strength and core. The off season is the time to work on your specific limiters and building strength for it. You should include some type of squatting & lunging with free weights to require you to engage your core. I would insert some type of lateral movement and plyometrics with some jumping moves. There's a variety of choices if your designing your own program on You Tube. If you don't want to go the gym route there's the home garage or just go to the local park or School and do the standard push up and pull ups on the playground equipment. Check out P90X, TRX, Kelly Sarrrett and Lance Armstrong sites on You Tube for great workouts. 2.Stretching , Flexibility & Recovery-- There's nothing better for great fitness than great flexibility. The injuries Begin to creep in when the muscles shorten up from prolonged use. Incorporate some yoga postures into your daily workouts for stretching and some type of rotation for back flexibility. Use the foam rollers and TP massage gadgets all over your body to floss the muscle fibers every time you get a chance. Do some type of inversion everyday for a few minutes to get the blood flow going the other way for optimum energy flow and and take the load off your legs. 3. Hiking--- If you live in snow country you could be snow shoeing or cross country skiing. Here on the Central Coast of Calif. in the winter there's an abundance of trails and mountain peaks that provide great day hikes that maintain fitness and is a great way to spend time with your family and significant other before the 6 to 8 hour training days roll in. 4. Paddle--- If you haven't had the opportunity to either Stand Up Paddle or Kayak ,your missing a great workout or just an adventure. The Stand Up Paddling is a full body workout that includes the core,upper and lower body. There are numerous outlets for paddling. My friend Buzz from http://www.toobs.com Boogie boards in Morro Bay CA. makes a unique board that can be transported in small spaces and is light. Paddling is a great recovery workout year round to supplement your training. 5.Mountain Biking--There's nothing better than off road bike riding to build strength. The MTB ride is 2:1 for energy expenditure over road riding and will help with your bike handling skills. Find some hilly terrain and spin up the hills seated to build power for those long rides on the tri or road bike later on.

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.