Alameda Runners – Get After It!

I have my events planned for this year.  I will be peaking in August for a Shasta Summit century followed by the Folsom International Triathlon two weeks later.  Then I will transition into marathon training for the California International Marathon.  I will rest up for a few weeks then The real work begins.  Training for a half Ironman next year.

This year I am building up my base for the half Ironman.  Next year I will be working speed for the Vineman in July.  It usually sells out fast so I want to be ready to do the Napa Valley Vintage Triathlon in May.  I prefer to do the Vineman because it is in July.

I like to take a break from cycling usually from October to February.  If there is a big triathlon in May, I will have to go ride my bike when it is cold out.  I like to maintain a base where I can train for a half Ironman in two months.  To maintain that type of base, I swim and run year round.  I also like to do a lot of cross training.  I can maintain a lot of strength and stamina by training twice a week in each discipline as long as I build strength through cross training.

I do a lot of different things throughout the year to maintain stamina and build strength.  I like to use bands for low impact training that holds each repetition for a 5-10 count.  I do every type of ab workout that I can think of.  Ab work is boring and painful. The more variations you can come up with, the more you are likely to do.  If you get lazy with the abs, you will pay for it on the really long (3 hours and up) efforts.

Be patient with your base training.  There is a good chance that it will take two years to build up a sufficient base to do a half Ironman.  If you are patient, the less chance you will have of getting injured.  Staying injury free is the best way to achieve your goals.  As you are building up your base, you will have to sacrifice one day a week for your long events.

I train for a 3 hour international distance triathlon and I spend 6-8 hours training on Saturdays during the summer.

I am in no hurry to transition from run to bike and bike to run.  It is all about building the endurance on a strong body.  I have my 2010 training schedule posted here.

As I transition to half Ironman training, I will add more details of my training.

We went back to Sausalito to tackle the hills again.  We have no reason to run in the hills other than the pure joy of running there.  It makes think about doing the Point Reyes 25K.  Point Reyes is a very hard run that you get nothing for finishing the run except the possibility of poison oak.  You also get a huge sense of accomplishment.  We had a lot of fun this week running along the hills.  My photo blog can be found here Saturday run photo blog.

We are ready for the Oakland half marathon.  We got out for a 12 mile run in the hills today.  The hills made us work a bit harder than usual.  The views from the Sausalito hills are beautiful.  I think we are going back again next week to go deeper into the hills.

Pictures can be seen here:  San Francisco Run.

Saturday morning long run.

Here is how Ted’s morning practice goes.
Up at 8:00 A.M.
Make a batch of “Ted’s Terrific pancakes” ™ an Read more… »

Welcome to Alameda runners   A site for Bay area runners who primarily run in the East Bay.  I live in Alameda and primarily run in Alameda.  I also run in Oakland, Emeryville, Berkeley and San Francisco.

I see a lot of the same people every week on different runs.  It seems there are a lot of people all over the bay area who like to run at the same time.  We often say hi to each other and sometimes stop to chat.  This site is an effort to bring people together and share routes, events and recipes.  A lot of us are rather fit and it is interesting to see how other people manage a similar lifestyle.

Ted