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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