Cali 70.3

I put this race on my scheduled for a couple reasons. It is San Diego, California, Rick just moved out here, so it would be a great place to visit. Good to experience a race against some of the top guys in the world. Finally, I trained all winter and need an early season test to see where I am at, where I could use some work and I love to race. I left work on Thursday at 2 pm to begin the journey out here, I drove to Atlanta, to meet up with Matt Russ at Body Pros to do a VO2 max test. He also, looked at my bike fit and made a few minor adjustments. My flight was at 6am Friday morning. So, I got up at 4am to leave for the airport, got a bit of sleep on the plane, had a layover in Houston and then made it to San Diego around 11am PT. Rick picked me up from the airport and we headed to his house. Chilled a bit and then headed to the race site for the Pro meeting. Went to the meeting and it was the same old stuff, good info, but all things I could have read on in the athletic guide. I did a short brick workout and checked out the transition area and a bit of the course, then headed back to Rick’s. We went out for Sushi, which was not what most people think of as a pre race meal, but it was pretty good, lots of Sodium and Rice. Rick and Chris got all you can eat, which meant they had to get their moneys worth. We did not get back to the house until after 10pm, which was 1am east coast time. I went right to bed.

I got up at 4:45, alarm went off shortly after that. I grabbed a bite to eat, coffee, fruit, and peanut butter toast, then headed out at 5:20. Drank some Powerbar endurance and ate a Powerbar on the way. Got to the race site and made it down to transition as it was getting light. Got everything setup, and checked over everything one more time, then headed to the water with ten minutes to start. (no time to stop at the port-a-jon) We swam out to the start and waited a couple minutes towing the line. Finally, the gun when off and we started. I quickly jumped on someone’s feet, we settled into a good pace quickly and I felt great, as we turned the first bouy and headed out of the Harbor it started to get a little rough. Waves and bodies were everywhere. I got kicked in the face and had to stop and fix my goggles a couple times. We rounded the corner and headed back in to the Harbor and before I knew it the swim was over. I came out with the first main group; Andy Potts and another guy were a couple minutes up. I quickly made my way through transition without any trouble, I got on the bike and started out. I settled in and got my power tap working after a bit of playing with it. The bike out was good, with the wind at our back and very flat. After 15 miles I thought I had a chance at top 10, but that all changed about mile 25. A large pack came by and we headed back into the wind and over the hills. I stayed with the pace over the first couple hills, but the wheel I was on lost the pack. He was holding a good pace and I had already rode most of the bike with him, so I stayed, knowing I would blow up if I went with those guys. There were about 4 major climbs, which I had to shift to my highest gear and then still stand a couple times. At mile 50 Alex came by me, (Mac was in the pace that went by me at mile 25). I knew he would not put in much time on me in the last 6 miles. I made it back with the same guy I rode most of the bike with. We rode all the way around transition and came in the back side. We caught a couple guys right at the end and I passed them in transition. (I did not take time to put on socks or pull my shoes tight) I took off and felt great from the start. I was holding back a bit, as I felt like I was going under 6 minute pace and wanted to hold at least that the whole time. It was a two loop run course, so I could see the leaders and where everyone was. After I passed Alex, there was not anyone for a couple minutes. I wanted to run down Mac, but he was a good 4 minutes up and I was not gaining on him that fast. I stayed strong and just ran my own race. After the last turn around I could really feel a couple blisters. I stopped and tightened my shoes hoping that would help, but it did not do much good. I struggled in the last couple miles, mainly because my feet were beat up and there was no one to run down. Then in the last half mile, the same guy I rode with all day came by me in the dirt part. The difference between 22nd and 23rd was not worth sprinting for the finish and killing me for the rest of the day or two. I saw 4:19 as I crossed the line, not what I was hoping for, but the bike was harder then I expected. Now I have a couple days to rest up and have some fun.

Water Polo/Easter

Easter Weekend is always a big Polo weekend. UNC always has a Tournament. I signed up to play a few months ago after Murph and Drew both said they wanted to do it. Well, Drew took off to Jackson a month ago and it has not stopped snowing, so he has not come home yet. Murph had to impress the new Girlfriend and stayed in Charlotte to visit with her parents. But, I was not going to back out on my word, even though I had a 4 hour bike ride and a long brinck workout to do this weekend. So, I loaded up the car and headed to Chapel Hill on Friday night. Got into town and everyone was hanging out, drinking a few beers. They talked me into going downtown, I should have just gone to bed. We out and had a good time and got home at a descent hour.

Saturday morning we had a game at 9:20. We played NC State. We should have beaten them pretty good, but we let them get back in it and ended up winning 10-9. The first game started late, so we started late and therefore I was late to meet up with Richard for the ride. I jumped in the car right after the game and headed to Inside out in Cary for the ride. It was just me, Richard, and John and after a bit of a wait we headed out for our 4 hour ride. About an hour into the ride, Richard decides to do some intervals, 20 min at AT over geared. I did not want to kill my legs, so I just sat in, but Richard is a very strong cyclist and I had to do some work to stay on his wheel. After the ride I headed straight back to the pool for our next game at 4. We played U of Puerto Rico. They were a bunch of fast kids, but they did not have any subs. So, we swam them hard and then sloughed the hole. They could have played much better if they had some subs, but we won 9-5. We had the semi final game at 8:30, so we went to grab a bit to eat and a drink at a bar, to watch the basketball games. After a few drinks we headed back to the Pool. We were playing UNC Alumi (Boone County Outlaws), JP, my college coach was playing for them and had asked me to play with them earlier in the week. So, I did not think they would be all that strong. Well, I was wrong. They were old and out of shape, but they were still big and strong. They played much better as a team and they were getting tons of goals from the hole, where we just were getting offensives called everytime. Well, we struggle to stay in it, and the bad calls continued to get to some of our guys. Logan flipped after one very bad call and was ejected from the game and then from the pool. It was a bad call and everyone knew it, but gee, now we will not have him for the game tomorrow. In the last quarter I started shooting a lot, because the hole was not working. I got a foul at one point the other team knocked it away (which they kicked me out for earlier in the game) and I came up and shot it. They said I took too long to shoot and Jaun then screamed at the ref and got kicked out and then rolled for the game. What a long day. But, now it was not over. We went out for some dinner (again) and then went to the party. By this time it was passed midnight and I was beat. I headed to bed.

Easter Sunday, got up and went for a ride, did not get an early start as I wanted to, but I needed the sleep. Got in a 2 hour ride and then had to go play the third place game. We played the NC State Alumi team, which we would have beat if we had Logan, but it was just not enough without his killer outside shot, which is always good for a couple goals. We played good D and ended up coming back at the end, but we losing 6-7. We grabbed a bit to eat and headed out. I headed to Boone to visit with Charley. I got there around 5 and we went for a run at Bass Lake in Blowing Rock. It was nice to get out and losen up the legs. I ran 45 mins at close to a 6:30 pace, then did some strides and stretched out good. Then Charley and I headed back to her place for some dinner, she cooked up some Pot Pie. It was REALLY yummy.

The race season is coming up quickly

I am looking forward to another great year. This year I am going to be racing for the Sport Factory out of Atlanta. They are a great coaching service; with a long history of success bring athletes like myself to the next level. My coach is Brett Daniels and he will work with Matt Russ to develop a plan to bring me up to the next level at the 70.3 distance. From that “speed” I am going to try and build my endurance to maintain it for Ironman Florida in November.
I have updated my website a bit. It has been hard to keep it current, so I am going to try and just post everything here and not put it on the race report page. Here is a link if you want to check it out.
http://kevinalisska.googlepages.com/home

Brett has me doing a lot more tempo work. I am putting in a lot less miles, but they are all at close to race pace. My body is getting use to the workouts, just in time for my first race in California on March 29th. I did a good workout on Sunday, that was close to race pace. Then got off the bike and was able to run 5:45 miles, without much problems. So, I should be ready to set a new PR next weekend. I am looking forward to see were I stand agianst all the other Pros and see what I need to work in the coming months to get ready for Flordia. I am going to use my Power tap for the race, so I should get some good data to work with out having to wear a Heartrate monitor during the race.

It's time to focus!

I have been training farely hard all winter. I have put in several 30 hour weeks and still am feeling strong. I could put more time in training, but I still have a day job and a girlfirend, both of which I would like to hang on to. I planned a ski trip a few months back, thought it would be a good break and fun to get away. Well I did have a good time. But, I did not spend much time training the past week and now I am sick. My training has been the worst it has been in months and I have not been able to put in much time.

To put on top of the stress, I put on myself I decided to get a coach. Which I think I need, but it is going to be hard. He is not going to let me race every weekend or do other fun things like waterpolo tournaments and such. He is right, I need to focus in my training and racing. All my energy should be put toward training for an Ironman, not traveling the southeast doing a bunch of small races that are going to take away from my training a wear me out.

I still will get out and train with everyone as much as I can. You might see me more often, but I will not be able to join in the group workouts and other fun stuff. I am willing ot give it some time and see what kind of results, this much more focused training does for me.