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Don't play with dead snakes is Jim Barksdale's rule, so why is this entry in "ironman training". Well, that's because I encountered some dead snakes this weekend at Lake Berryessa, another weekend with the IronTeam. It's funny how tempting it is to actually play with dead snakes. If I hadn't heard JB's saying, I probably would've checked those snakes out.

I left for Lake Berryessa on Friday around 7pm. I got there at 10:30pm but should've gotten there at 8:45, 9pm, it was a bad night. The next morning we did roughly a 2 mile swim in the lake (we started at 7am). The swim was fun, 3 loops around a couple buoys and this one weird structure. After the swim, we went on an epic 92 mile bike ride that was over 7500 feet of climbing (Ironman Canada for example has a little over 3500 feet of climing over 112 miles). The bike ride was very beautiful with hawks flying about, vineyards, a couple dead snakes (deer, rabbit, etc), a dog chasing after me, several creeks we had to cross on foot, a tunnel, a downed motorcyclist that had to be helicoptered out of the area, lots of climbing, long descents, and a bit too many potholes.

When we got back, I ate my ice cream, we had a very nice dinner (hamburgers, potato salad, berries, pie), and there was even some entertainment our very own stand up comic on the team.

The next morning, we went out for a 2 hour run. I cut it a bit short, there was some waffle, bacon, and eggs that was calling for me back at the cabin. After that, headed home and didn't get lost this time. Awesome weekend.

Much to lucky to be part of lots of great teams over the years.

So much for recovery week last week (well, ends today). Next week is back up the pyramid with Week 33 of Ironman Training. This coming week supposed to be doing 8700 yards of swimming, 100 miles of bike riding, and up to 22 miles of running. Joy.

Yesterday was a good bike ride: Claremont Ave, down Wildcat Canyon, Three Bears, up Wildcat Canyon, and up South Park Drive. Going up South Park to end a ride really sucks but I actually started to use my core muscles to push through to the top. The difference is amazing when you shift your power to your hip flexors, stomach and back from just your legs.

I got my bike tuned up this Wednesday and it is nice. The gears were all degreased, the brakes aligned, the tires trued, and my computer fixed. So this Saturday it was a joy to ride.

Went off and did crazy 95 mile bike ride, here's the route (kinda) via Google Maps.

We started at the Sports Basement in the Presidio, over the Golden Gate Bridge, down into Sausalito, up Camino Alto into Fairfax. We went up White Hill? and then up some other hill into Nicasio Square. At that point it was 28 miles.

I went with Kamal to do a 30 mile loop which started with this one hill, up and over till we got to Marshall Wall. Now Marshall Wall is a bitch of a hill and there's even chalk marks of "Go Tyler" for Tyler Hamilton on the road. It's just long and steep but with very beautiful views at the top.

So down the other side of Marshall Wall, passed by Hog Island Oyster company, over to Point Reyes Station and then back to Nicasio and back to San Francisco. 95 miles is a long way to go and wasn't really up for it but I felt pretty good. I guess there was about 8,000 feet of climbing involved too, possibly more. Kamal says 10,000 but that doesn't really matter to me.

I have 2 1/2 hour run tomorrow and then recovery week in Cancun, Mexico! Haven't been able to train much during the week because of work but it sure is nice to be able to know I have a good enough base to take on a 95 mile bike ride on a whim.

Well my foot feels like it's back. If you bike for four hours one day and run for 2 hours the next day, then one can assume your foot's healthy. I had stubbed my toe in the pool plus ran in some new shoes a little too long. That screwed me up for a bit and I haven't been running.

Anyhow, last Saturday's bike ride was pretty brutal. Up Claremont ave, a 40-45 minute climb, over to 3 Bears (1.5 hours), up Wildcat Canyon (25 minute climb), and up the nasty South Park Drive (20 minute climb). My 2 hour run on Sunday wasn't all that except that I almost wimped out in doing it at all. Ironman Canada is five months away (in August) so still plenty of time.