Malibu Triathlon Training: Day 19

July 29
While I was feeling the love of the Crazy 8's/Curly Q loop, I needed to step up my distance if I wanted to stay on pace with my training schedule. With just a little more than 6 weeks until the Triathlon, I didn't want to divert from the plan and find myself gasping for air at Mile 16 on the day of the event.

Since I had pretty much maxed out on what I could do with the Curly Q route, I decided it was time for yet another new map. For this one I took my very first training route (which was a shade under 4 miles) and added an extension. As you can see, this new route includes an out-and-back section, which I've said I don't really like. But since the entire Triathlon ride is exactly that, I thought it might be a good idea to at least work a few out-and-back rides into the mix. Also, I discovered one of Valencia's cyclist-friendly trails -- paved and nice and wide -- running all the way along Newhall Ranch Road out to Interstate 5.

I've driven along this route dozens of times, but I never realized it has a slight incline. Mostly because I don't have to pedal my car to make it go. It's a fairly gradual climb, but there's just enough uphill to make your legs wonder what the hell they did to deserve this drawn-out punishment.

Luckily, after the turn around at just over the 4-mile mark, the annoying incline becomes a smooth and relaxing downhill run. My splits for Miles 2-7 were all within 23 seconds of each other, which means ... well, I don't really know what it means. But I do know my pace for that stretch was about 4:23, and I like that. It means I've still got a long way to go to hit my target pace (4:00), but it shows signs of improvement.

The final tally wasn't quite as impressive, but I raised the bar for total distance (9.5 miles) and was able to maintain a 4:45 pace. In general, I was happy that I had passed the halfway point in terms of distance, but by the same token I had ONLY passed the halfway point. It's going to be an interesting 6 weeks as I try to more than double my current distance in time for the Triathlon!