When in doubt go to Vegas.

This past weekend I took a quick trip up to Vegas to see my parents new house and just get away from things in LA. During the quick trip was able to stop by some of the great places i used to eat at and had fun hanging at but overall it was great trip with some great fun.

First went down to Fremont Street and had lunch at Hennisses, its a good bar with some good food. Then later stop in at the Las Vegas Triathlon Club meeting and see some great people, like Stef and of course the notorious Formulaic. After hanging out for a while and talking, I decided to purchase some new training gear so I ordered up a new bike jersey and triathlon shorts representing LV Tri club!

After the tri club meeting we headed over to Forms house to whip up on him on the Wii. After a couple of quick games of tennis I see where his time is being spent as I didn't even get time to think about returning the ball with his Pete Sampras like serve! We then continued to play all the various balance games and set new records but for some crazy reason Formulaic's Mii seem to have every record! HEY, we were playing under his Mii the whole time. Very clever Mr. Form.

On Sunday I just went to the book store, watched Bangkok Dangerous, and chilled at my parents house, oh and a late lunch before leaving to drive back in the 60mph winds! I did pick up the Inside Triathlon Ironman Issue with Craig Alexander on the cover. It's a nice mag with great pics.

Now let's talk about some training. Last week I was able to get in a few runs and some speed work on the treadmill, running 400s and 800s, yuk! Then I was able to get a short but super up hill ride on Friday out near the Famous Mullholand Drive. Let's just say my avg. grade over 4 miles was 7.8%. It was a zig zag of nothing but uphill and I got to use my early bday gift, 12-27 cassette, it works! So although last week was not as stellar as I had wanted it to be I did accomplish something I had not done in a while so I feel good overall.

rockon`

Living in LA...

Living in LA has proven to be a good thing other than the cost of things, does that make sense? I mean the weather is great, the beach is nice, the traffic sucks, and of course there stars, movie premieres and high speed get away car chases. Really what I mean is after last weekends dealing with the stars and getting back to training I thought it would all be back to normal but it can get better.

First the training: This week was great. I got some good runs in, although they were short I felt very productive. I completed 2 workouts which were also productive. Biking proved to be a little off this week, even after getting a new cassette. So that leaves swimming. As a matter of fact I was back in the pool on Thursday with a new swim coach! I was a little nervous getting back in and not being able to do anything but as I kicked off the wall with the coach telling me to swim 50m so she could see what I was doing or not doing, I actually felt pretty good. You know it’s been 7 months since I was last swimming, can you believe that? Since Cda!! WTH, JT!! Well after a few 50’s I got some instructions and technique corrections and next thing you know I was over 500m. After a few rounds of kicking and doing some 100’s I was finished with 1300m! Holy shit! I cant believe I actually swam that much and didn’t feel totally wiped out. I am glad to be back in the pool and feeling good.

On the weekend I didn’t get my long bike done due to some bike malfunctions that need to be addressed but not really an excuse. I did get a 5k run done at the Mt. Sac Cross Country trail. The trail has a few killer hills and gradual inclines and a nice overall terrain. Its actually the training course for a fire department and Mt. Sac who are ranked high on the cross country circuit of things.

Anyway, the cool thing was I was invited by John Molina, who is a recently signed professional boxer. This guy is very humble, laid back, respectful and a bit of a comedian but takes his training and workouts very seriously on his road to becoming a World Champion. He is preparing for his next fight on Feb 6th, 2009. which will be aired on Showtime, so tune in. I had dinner with John and Danielle on Friday night (which I burned my arm on the stove while helping make chicken) and we were talking about running on Sat. so he invited us out to come run with him. As we started running I could tell he was going to run way faster than I can so I told him to go ahead and I would follow along and that is exactly what I did. I followed from a distance as best I could even though at times John would wait up for me he would still drop me like I was walking. No worries though as I know I could out run him in any long distance stuff, haha! Sorry John. It was a great run and it really opened my lungs up and set a good High HR for me to set some zones with. The overall course took me 33 mins which wasn’t bad considering the hills.

After resting up later Saturday,hooked back up with John and Danielle and went to watch a movie, Notorious, as well as another movie on Sunday afternoon, My Bloody Valentine 3D. It was great to hang out with them this weekend and see how John prepares for his fights in a different training aspect than us endurance athletes. He works for cardiovascular endurance but also explosive power and short bursts of speed. I believe you will be seeing John at the top of the boxing world in the near future!!

This week I will be back in the pool, on the bike and doubling up on the road miles as I need to work on that run, esp. after taking a beating from John on that short run. He really gave me a different type of inspiration to train and focus.!

Rockon’

Paul Blart:Mall Cop (Kevin James) Premiere.

I went to the movie premiere of Paul Blart:Mall Cop staring Kevin James at the Mann's Village Theater - Westwood, CA. I love this guy!! King of Queens totally rocks. Anyway, he was riding the segway up and down the street and slapping hands before the movie.

Once inside the movie I had to sit by myself due to the ticket arrangements but that was no big deal. The movie was funny and of course I recommend it cause I like Kevin. After the movie I was standing by the door and all the stars were walking out, (a lot from King of Queens cast) Leah Remini, Gary Valentine, Nicole Sullivan, and Peter Dante, along with others from the cast of Mall Cop and of course Adam Sandler.

As Kevin walked by I grabbed his shoulder and said Hey Kevin, great job on the movie, As I was shaking his hand. He said thanks! I appreciate that. I said I love your Doug Heffernan stuff!! He then goes.. hey...thank you.!! ( in the Doug Heffernan character!) IT WAS SO AWESOME!

I wish we could have taken cameras but they were pretty strict on that so no luck there. Adam was really low key, he sign his autograph and actually ducked out the side door. I guess he didn't want to steal the lime light away or something. Leah looked totally hot!

Anyway it was a super cool time and I am so glad I got to meet a couple of my favorite actors!!

Hollywood BABY!!!!

rockon`

New Year, New Training, New Times...

Hello fellow bloggers! It's 2009 and good to see ya out there. Since Christmas and New Years I've had a couple of training days, enjoyed my time with friends/family and the TV! I've even had time to read some good training stuff and get ready for the now, new year!

I have started on my training plan for a few different tasks: 1) training for a couple of 1/2 marathons and building up to a marathon with good ol' vegas buddy, Formula-ic as he builds towards his 1st Ironman, as it's a race to see who get's the finish line first, Form or baby. Are we taking bets? It is Vegas ya know..And SWTrigal will be at the starting line too!!..2) training for increasing my biking performance, which means taking on a century ride or two this spring, one of which is with.. yup, you guess it, Formulaic!

Of course there is going to be a triathlon in the mix and that will be 70.3 Rage! I said I would not do it again last year and I'm heading back for more. It's really a great course and challenging and as I meet SWGirl last year on the course and a few other New Mexico Outlaws, I will be once again be meeting up with some others.

RAGE is about 13 1/2 weeks out so It's time to get a little more focused and stop with the lackadaisical training methods. CoachLiz is helping me along and will be sure to bust my chops if I don't get it going.

Last year for IM training I took it serious but could have done better. This year for IMCZ I will take it a lot more serious as I want to improve my overall time in all events! So that mean's I have my work cut out for me. I am actually starting to look forward to the hard grueling workouts and see the sights around California.. so let it begin!!

rockon`