A week of training in Seattle

After a pretty darn successful Sunday race in the Rainman Triathlon, I got back to work – and training on Monday.  That included a relatively straightforward swim of a tad over 3,000 yards.

One interesting thing is there are far fewer full size 50m pools in the Seattle area than in the DC area, not sure why exactly, but just a random observation.

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Tuesday brought more sunny skies in the normally rainy city of Seattle (I’m allowed to say that, I was born here and grew up here…I know the truth), and while I had a bike workout on my schedule, it was not out in the great outdoors.  Instead, it was on a trainer.

But, I had meetings going late in the day, followed by dinner meetings later on.  The solution?  Bring the trainer with me in the rental car.

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From there I drove the 10-15 minutes around the bottom of Elliott Bay to Alki Beach – where I’ve biked and run to before – and then setup shop.

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(In case you’re wondering why I have the HED race wheel on the trainer, I brought it out for the race – and didn’t bring a secondary tire for just a few days of general use.)

You really can’t ask for a better location than the city skyline in the background.  Plus, I got to watch the never ending stream of Ferry’s carry commuters home…right off the front of my aerobars.  The only concern I really had would be if the trainer somehow failed, as I’d be propelled straight over the rocky edge and into the bay.  Which…would probably be humorous for everyone but me.

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Wednesday brought even more sun.  And what better way to take advantage of it than a 10 mile run during lunch?  I had just barely enough time to squeak in the run, leaving right from the conference parking garage, and then out along the waterfront.

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But…Wednesday workouts were not over.  Nope, upon arriving home (at my parents house north of Seattle), my Dad was just mounting his bike to go for a ride.  Somehow I thought that ride would be about an hour, fairly easy.  It turned out about 3 hours including more stoplights than I could ever keep track of.  We went pretty much everywhere.  We found creation…and we rode all over it.

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We also found a giant chicken, with an egg (also giant).  Clearly, that required a picture – though, it’s a bit small due to being cell-taken.

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The only problem with our particular plan (aside from not having one), was that we didn’t consider the effect of lighting.  Thus, around 3 hours after we started, the sun went to bed.  And we were still a number of miles from the homeland.  So we called in re-enforcements (Mom), to come and pick us up.  Meanwhile, we wasted time in the parking lot of a local store.  Shopping cart races may have been contemplated…

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Moving along to Thursday…

Thursday was simple.  Just a bike.  On a trainer.  Indoors.

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All except for the part on the instruction sheet that said ‘Magic’.  It turns out that after I followed the magical magic section, the only magic was how much effort I had to expend…and that wasn’t very magical at all.  It kinda hurt.  I don’t think I like Magic.

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So with that, I’ll be catching a flight later this morning back to a land without Mountains and Oceans…Washington DC.  Have a good weekend all!

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10 Comments

  1. I know you travel all over the world with your bike but to you pack your trainer and travel with that as well or is that a trainer you bought and just leave up at Mom and Dad’s place?

    Whoo Hoo for sunny days! I hope it will be sunny when I go back in June and run the marathon with my brother.

  2. Hey Liz-

    Actually, the trainer is at their place. I have a little trainer (I call it little red, from Performacne Bike), but they also have two more powerful trainers (the ones pictured), which is what I used this time. Little red is a trooper, but it doens’t compare to these two from a resistance standpoint.

    Also, normally I just my bike that’s out there (I have an older Fuji Road bike), but because of the race, I took out a bike.

    Have a good weekend!

  3. Bob

    Whatever a magic is, you don
    t get much rest between ’em.

  4. Your parents’ place is in Kirkland? There is a great and fairly new masters program at Juanita High School (SCY but still it’s good). Where did you swim?

  5. Well, at least you have some 50m pools. There’s only one 50y pool I know of in Orlando but it’s only open during summers and in the afternoons when it’s super hot out, not good for lap swimming.

    Good for you bringing your trainer. My hubby has 3 of them (one in DC, home and Omaha).

  6. What type of bike box do you use when you carry your bike around?

    Hey, it would be interesting to see what and how you pack your bike :)

  7. Hey Bob-

    Nope, only two minutes between. :-/

    Hey Courtenay-

    They’re up in little Ole Mukilteo, so I swam in North Seattle on my way home from downtown. Seattle has a few indoor facilities that are city owned, so just did that one.

    Hey Blog-

    I use a Performance Bike box. But…it sucks…really bad. I determined this was actually it’s last trip. I’ve been thinking about putting something together on how I pack. Though, I don’t pack it as well as most do. I’m a little more lazy there. As for the Perf Box, the issue is that while the shell is fine – the hinges/clips/straps/etc, are all crap-components, and have easily broken (everything) in just the last three years. Sad panda.

  8. Brucelan

    Talk about misunderstandings…

    When you came back from your training session out on that cliff, you mentioned to me that “the scenery was awesome”. For some reason, I thought you were speaking of all the young, fit women that run over there. But you were really talking about the Seattle skyline?? My bad.

  9. I’m surprised that you are using your trunk to hold your bike. I have the same car and can fit my bikes in the back seat, which saves the trunk for other stuff.

  10. Manu

    How beautiful can life be ?
    Living in Washington DC, parents living at the Westcoast…
    I can only dream of it in the very faraway Belgium !