Getting Wildwood

I spend most Saturday mornings sitting in the saddle, climbing, cruising and pedaling around southern California on my bike. The distances vary, as do the locations. But the act of riding is pretty consistent.

Enter: Brett. Brett and I were TNT teammates together over two years ago when he lived out in LA. He's since moved to the midwest, but we've stayed in touch, and each time his work or family bring him out to SoCal, we make a point to see each other. Or, rather, he makes a point to see me, and I scramble to try and make time to hang out.



So with Brett in town this weekend, we took a hike up Wildwood Canyon in the foothills/mountains of the San Fernando Valley. Of course I could bump my bike ride (33 miles in 100 degree heat!) back a couple hours, and I am so glad I did. We spent 2.5 hours trailing up and down the mountain. Saw a deer, some lizards, and a lone tree at the top of one of the climbs.

I'm a creature of habit, intensely. But when I am goaded out of my shell and I change things up - like a cross-training hike - I am always glad I do it.

"It's fun to be a little bit different in the world, to make a few new trails of your own." -Dennis Weaver

Enjoy the pictures from Wildwood Canyon:

Snaps from this Weekend

Taper weekend had me working out 6 hours over 2 days instead of 9 or 10. Felt kind of weird. But some pretty pictures came from taking it easy.

Saturday: Planned a 60-mile ride in the morning before going into work, but a flat tire along a new route set me back. I changed the tire but neglected to thoroughly check for thorns, and there was one stuck in that popped my only spare. A very lovely old man came by and insisted on helping me. Alberto, thank you. I headed home with only 30 miles in my pocket. Ran a quick 5.5 tempo run before heading into the office.

Sunday: TNT practice took me 9 miles (8 run / 1 walk) and followed it up with a 17.5 mile ride up Mandeville Canyon with my friend and future St. George IM-er Louise.

No huge numbers to report. Will save them for this upcoming weekend. In the meanwhile, I'm logging sub-8 min runs regularly. I have some fire in these legs.

Pictures from my climb up Griffith Park to the Hollywood Sign








Top of the Mandeville Canyon climb

Santa Monica in Fog

Inadvertant Taper

A short, pictureless post is appropriate for this week - it's been insane at work and a bit busy in Team in Training world. Naturally, it's turned into a taper week because I haven't found the time to get as many workouts in.

I'm working the weekend, but can get in a fair amount of biking and running. Maybe some swimming! Hope to post some pictures this weekend!

I leave you with a comedic quote appropriate for Hollywoodland:

One of the symptoms of an approaching nervous breakdown is the belief that one's work is terribly important. -Bertrand Russell

Hope

The moment when you first wake up in the morning is the most wonderful of the twenty-four hours. No matter how weary or dreary you may feel, you possess the certainty that, during the day that lies before you, absolutely anything may happen. And the fact that it practically always doesn't, matters not a jot. The possibility is always there. ~ Monica Baldwin

Reminder: You Bring This Upon Yourself

There will be days in the future where I bitch and moan about my training schedule. I will whine about some part of the sacrifice. What I had to give up in order to achieve my goals.

That is when I will revisit this post. This is my choice. The pain. The glory. The test of what is truly inside of me.

The day after my birthday - the first day of the new year - I will return to Sacramento. And next June, I will return to the shores and streets of Idaho.

American River 50 Miler - April 9th, 2011:

Ironman Coeur d'Alene - June 26, 2011:

There is more to us than we know. If we can be made to see it, perhaps for the rest of our lives we will be unwilling to settle for less. -Kurt Hahn

Persistence

Your decision to be, have and do something out of the ordinary entails facing difficulties that are out of the ordinary as well. Sometimes your greatest asset is simply your ability to stay with it longer than anyone else.

-Brian Tracy

More Open Roads

I went running with my mother this morning and brought my phone along for some more pictures of Connecticut.

The Lake. It's still there.


Beginning of our run


Colors of summer along the way


Signs of old New England

I think that I shall never see
A billboard lovely as a tree.
Perhaps, unless the billboards fall,
I'll never see a tree at all.
-Ogden Nash

Back to LA this weekend.

Open Roads

I have taken a long holiday from Los Angeles and traveled back to Connecticut to visit my parents. The downtime have given me the opportunity to run and swim at my leisure along the roads and in the lake where I grew up.

When I grew up here in the 1980s and 1990s, the town consisted of 4,000 people and one stop light. Today, it's about 6,000 people and three stoplights - the two recent additions were not here last Decemeber.

A quiet, country town with its open spaces and leafy canopies - this is my gym for the week. I went on a recovery run with my phone and took some pictures along the route. My phone's camera could not capture the picturesque landscape as it were in reality, so these little pixels are all I have to share. Here it is: rural Connecticut.

The lake in our backyard- great for an open water swim


The Shady Running Route


The opposite side of the lake


Blish Park - the site of childhood sandcastle contests


The Marlborough Barn - the town's most famous landmark


Saddler's Pond and Local Store - New England at its quaintest


From the porch, looking up

"And this, our life, exempt from public haunt, finds tongues in trees, books in the running brooks, sermons in stones, and good in everything." William Shakespeare