Not to worry. I did a 6 mile bike ride yesterday. And today I did my own triathlon: 1500 meter ocean swim in 45 minutes; 3 mile run in 23 minutes; later in the day 14.8 mile bike in 1 hr 6 minutes on a hilly course. Tomorrow I will swim laps at the pool.

Anyhow, I do need to sign up for events and put together some more training. And I’ve finalized my events up through March 2010. Here they are:

Aug. 2, 2009 (Sun) 5K Paws for Cause

Aug. 16, 2009 (Sun) Hansen Dam Triathlon

Sep. 13, 2009 (Sun) Oxnard Splash-n-Dash (I think the long course)

new -> Sep. 27, 2009 (Sun) Mighty Mermaid Triathlon Santa Cruz (olympic distance)

Oct. 11, 2009 (Sun) Long Beach Half Marathon (completes my California Dreaming award)

Nov. 7, 2009 (Sat) Catalina Triathlon

Nov. 26, 2009 (Thu) 10K Turkey Trot at Dana Point

Feb. 7, 2010 (Sun) Surf City Half Marathon – I think I have to do this every year. I’m a legacy runner for this race.

Mar. 7, 2010 (Sun) Napa Valley Marathon

Mar. 21, 2010 (Sun) Los Angeles Marathon

Apr 23-34 (Fri-Sat) Ragnar Relay L.A. (Santa Barbara to Dana Point)

OK, so I have to get my credit card out and start registering for some of these. And tomorrow I’m going to have to hunker down and start writing my training schedule for at least through November 2009. That is always so much work.

So, from no events to 9 events. Really, though, I’ve been thinking about most of these for a long time. Just hadn’t committed to the registration and written out my training plans. Working on it, working on it!

9 Camping-Friendly Races

As Active.com says about this list:

9 Camping-Friendly Races: Save money on your next race by trading the expensive hotel room for a cozy campsite. Here are nine races–under $100–that have camping close by. Your reward: Beautiful scenery and more stable bank accounts.

See the link above for more details and the list of locations.

Other interesting products also mentioned…

Endurolytes tablets.

Nuun. electrolyte beverage.

The nuun looks really interesting. I will want to try that too. 

The athlete I was following says she takes GU at miles 5, 10, 15, 17…and 20. Plus some of the saltsticks tables (3 per race) and nuun. I don’t know how she can eat that much GU during a race, and that late in the race, too! I  usually take Clif Bloks at miles 4, 9, 13, 17 and then that’s about as much as I can handle. I have trouble after mile 20 digesting anything. Plus, my understanding is that carbohydrates eaten after mile 20 don’t even get processed in time to do any good before the end of the race. GU makes me nauseous.

For marathons and extra long training runs, especially in warm weather, I had been using the margarita flavor of Clif Bloks, because they have a much larger salt component. It has seemed to work, but these other products look interesting and I will try them out.

VALLEY CREST HALF MARATHON

Here’s a race review by someone who ran it

Quadrathon’s Blogspot: Valley Crest Half Marathon

Seems like a challenging event. Plenty of uphill/downhill…