February 2010 – Runs, Rides, Family, Friends and Toys
Hello Friends!
The month of February, though short, was full of great training. As far as my training and preparations for the Rock n’ Roll Marathon coming up in June, my mileage in my running shoes has been going great. From all of the tips that I’ve received from my cousin Roland Castro, a Oceanside Physical Therapist and avid marathoner and from XX1090 teammate and ultra marathoner Alex Hamlow, I’ve added more hill training on and off the road into my marathon training, including one day of strength training per week which includes lunges, squats and resistance training.
Also, from reading about how plyometrics can assist in both running and riding, I’ve added a Kendo workout once a week, which combines a lot of short burst lunges and movements to help with the fast twitch muscles. It also helps to keep my shoulders, back and core strong, not to mention keeping me from losing my Kendo muscle memory.
This month, we were paid a visit from Becky’s sister Missy and her husband Scott Michie. The Michies are always a lot of fun, and I’m glad to have them as
my sister and brother-in-law. They’re both active like us, which makes it fun to include them on runs and rides. As eating out is part of entertaining our guests, we went to all kinds of great restaurants like L&Ls Hawaiian BBQ, La Quinta Grill in Chula Vista, Pizza Port in Solana Beach as well as a number of restaurants that Missy and Scott don’t have back home in chilly Chicago. To offset the massive eating we were doing, Scott and I made it a point to work out everyday they were here and we put in 12 miles of running, a fun mountain bike ride and some hiking with Becky and Missy in Torrey Pines as well!
Scott and I headed out for a local mountain ride at the Sweetwater Canyon reserve on one of the days they were here. Unlike some of the local city riding they do in Chicago, this marked Scott’s first official mountain ride, so he was pretty 
amped to head out on the trails. Luckily for us, the rain stopped just a couple days before, and while the trails were still damp and even riddled with puddles in some areas, we still had an awesome time. I treated Scott to some delicious fish tacos at Lolita’s Mexican Restaurant in Bonita right afterwards and he agreed that San Diego’s Mexican food is unreal. Big thanks to Mark Estrada for letting me hold onto his GT Avalanche for Scott to use on his ride.
While the road riding has been tapered back to rides only on Saturday and Sunday, I’ve still managed to meet up with some great 
friends for rides in and around San Diego County. Last week, Patrick Moneda, Edson Bandoy and I ventured out on a road ride from Mission Bay to Encinitas and back for a total of 50 miles.
While the trip wasn’t anything extraordinary, with hills and routes that we’ve all gained confidence on from doing a number of times, we were all watching the forecast all week to check out the status of the upcoming rain that was scheduled to hit San Diego. So, there we were, the three of us making our way up from Mission Bay, through Pacific Beach and onward to La Jolla, cutting through UCSD on our way to Torrey Pines. On the road towards Encinitas, I had a chance to ride next to familiar faces as, after all, I was on QMDC turf as a lot of the Qualcomm Riders live in and around the North County all the way up to Oceanside. Friends like Radio Joe Weickgenant and Joe Da Rosa either passed by heading in the opposite direction or rode next to the three of us along our way!
So there we were, plowing through 3/4’s of the ride as we made our way up the inside Forest Reserve track of Torrey Pines, when the rain came crashing down on us all the way from La Jolla, through Pacific Beach and down to Mission Bay. There were moments where I couldn’t even see out of my sunglasses and had better visibility without them on. This, of course, was a “Catch 22″, as I couldn’t see while riding behind one of my buds, as water, dirt and mud was flying off his rear wheel and into my face and eyes:)
We couldn’t help but just laugh at the ridiculousness of it all, trying to ride through water and mud, while trying to keep a pace fast
enough to get out of the rain, and at the same time not going too fast where a costly mistake could lead to an easy crash. As we made our way back to our cars, we had to snap a couple of shots of the rain and mud that sprayed up our bibs and jerseys. It was, by far, the wrong day to wear all white:)
So, the last ride that I did with my cousin Eugene last month, where we rode with the SWK Riders and Mira Mesa Cycling Club marked the last ride I’ll be doing with Eugene for the next couple months to a year as Eugene got accepted into the Academy for Corrections and Rehabilitations and after a 4 month Police Academy-like training, will be working at the Correctional Facility in Salinas, CA. While he brought his newly SRAM Red’ed out Trek Madone with him, I imagine he’ll be super busy with his new job and his family and I surely wish him the best in his new and long awaited career, after working at Performance Bikes since college.
As a parting gift and the result of having a great aero wheelset in the Spinergy Stealths with the white PBO spokes that he popped
onto his brand spanking new Fuji D6 Time Trial bike, Eugene hooked me up with the stock aero wheelset that came off his D6, which I happily popped onto the Bailey. While they’re certainly heavier than the Mavic Ksyrium ES’s, by far, they’re great as a training wheelset and absolutely fly on the flats and downhills, which I found out quickly on the descent at Torrey Pines!
Along with the training wheelset, I also finally adapted to the better technological advancements in cellular phones and picked up an iPhone 3Gs, which I was at first hesitant to try out, but am certainly glad that I did. Along with having access to my e-mail account and Facebook account, I also have the ability to update this website at my fingertips, am completely addicted to “Words with Friends” and “Chess with Friends”, and picked up the “Lose It” app, which allows me to obtain a stronghold on my diet as I get to input the food and exercise that I put in everyday. ”Lose It” lets me know how my diet is going, how many calories I can eat and how much weight I need to lose to reach my goal of 150 lbs. So far so good, I weighed in at 156 today, but that’s completely weakened after a 16 mile run. We’ll see if I can shed off the weight by June for the RnR!
Hope all is well with you all, that you’re training is going strong, that you had a great Valentine’s Day with your loved ones and that you keep your goals going strong. Until then, stay tuned for my next update for March 2010!
-BB