Preview: Conquered a 100-mile bike ride and then ran too fast on the track and pulled my hammy. After a bunch of massage work to fix it, recovered enough for a long swim and to race next weekend. Read the full story below:

Cycling: Airey and I tackled a scenic 100-mile bike ride throughout San Diego County last week. The ride included a couple significant climbs to simulate the insane bike course I’ll face at Silverman. I was like a sponge and soaked up all the cycling technique Airey taught me. I already have way more confidence in my abilities in the saddle, but have so much work to do to prepare. I’ll continue to focus on building fitness on the bike, specifically with climbing and then introduce long bike/run bricks next month.

Track: 2x1200, 2x800, 2x400 with 90 seconds rest between sets. The workout was designed to produce negative splits. I was killing it until I pulled my hamstring on the last 400. Perhaps it was lingering fatigue from the 100-mile ride but either way, not good.

Injury: With the race in Chicago this weekend (see below), I was very worried my hamstring was too damaged to race. I went to see Haunani Chong for a sports massage on Wednesday and Saturday. She worked her magic on my injury which has helped my recovery tremendously. I strongly recommend her to anyone in the San Diego area: http://www.sacredreturnyoga.com/

Chicago: With my injury under control, I’m off to Chicago for the Accenture Triathlon. I picked up the bike box rental from TCSD this weekend for the trip and I’m starting to get excited. Stay tuned for a full-feature race review from yours truly.

Swim: Jesse and I hit the surf for a 2.2-mile open water swim this weekend. He’s training for Gatorman, a 3-mile open-water race and I’ve got Silverman in my sights for November (See previous blog post). The weather and conditions couldn’t have been better—it was a beautiful San Diego summer day. 

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Camping: The highlight of my weekend, besides the above-mentioned swim, was the car camping trip Marie and I took Friday night. We drove east to the Mt. Laguna recreation area, set up camp at dusk and ate dinner next to the fire as the full moon was rising. We were up super early as usual and caught the sunrise from the Sunrise Highway:

AC100: I got my pacing assingment from Eric Lee and I'll be supporting him for his final 25-miles of the Angeles Crest 100 Mile Endurance Run on September 13-14.

Recap: I'm hoping this hammy won't hold me back from a great race in Chicago. I'm planning on a solid race, but if my hamstring acts up, I'll pull back for sure. There's no use damaging myself for all the other events and commitments I have this year. None the less, it's my first Olympic-distance triathlon so I'm excited for the experience. Check in with me next week for the recap.

Preview: Back from a week-long vacation/cruise from NYC to Bermuda. I feel rested and restless after a week of doing nothing besides eating, drinking and sleeping. Watch the slideshow for pictures.

Vacation: The cell phone was off, there was no internet access and I didn’t even workout. I actually left my running shoes behind just to make sure I wouldn’t run around the jogging track on the cruise ship.

The highlight of this trip was quality family time, reminding me what’s really important in life. I’m grateful that it all worked out and look forward to the holiday season when we’ll all be together again.

Here is a brief slide show of some images from our trip to Bermuda:

Recap: The end of this vacation marks the beginning of Phase II (see next post).