Hey Melanie. I got a question, I just did an off-road triathlon today, and it was a bad race for me not because of a mechanical but because the hills on the bike (my friend James (Walsh I think I saw him post on here one time) who won today says it's harder than the west regional course in temecula so yeah its pretty nuts) just killed me (3:12 today instead of 2:46 last year) I did a rest week last week and I was hoping to do fairly well today. It may have been the heat, it's been really hot in so-cal the past couple of days. ANYWAY my question is should I take another emergency rest week, because I'm trashed right now. I guess I'll see how I feel tomorrow. My plan had me at a swim focus week, then a bike focus week, run focus week, a peak week with a bunch of short fast super steep hill sprints on the bike and run, and then a taper week for temecula.

Hi Doug and welcome to the forum!

Umm, your question is hard to answer because I don't really know how MUCH training a "focus" means. All I can say from your post is that I don't read a lot of "brick" in your program and I feel like it is important to do some brick workouts specific to XTERRA.

That said, you can't start training again until you recover. Get massage, do some yoga and get ready to work hard again before you actually do work hard again.

The swim to bike transition is less important than the bike to run. You can fake it for a few minutes on the bike and then get into it but bike to run is VERY hard if you are not used to it. I would include some bike to run workouts that include some efforts at race pace.

I also think that doing some mountain bike racing before Temecula should really help. Being in So Cal you likely have some local racing you could take part in that I think would really help for the XTERRA. There is a big difference RIDING a mountain bike and RACING it, so getting some solid race efforts on the bike before Temecula could really help. Even if you do some race simulation stuff with buddies you will benefit.

Remember, the run in Temecula is straight uphill so your bike legs will be the most important on the day. If anything, that should probably be the focus for the first race. Focus on riding and run off the bike more.

My two cents, that are really worth nothing since I don't really know what your overall program is. (my disclaimer, in other words...)

sorry I haven't replied in a while, but here's my plan for this week:
monday: 2400 yds. swim with 15x100 on 20sec. at 1500 goal race pace (28 min. for me)

tuesday: 2500 yds. swim with 2x500 pull, then 8x100 pull w/paddles, then at 5pm I'll hop on the trainer for 1:00-1:15 with 3x12 min. hard at 50ish rpms then 40 min. transition as 15 min. flat, easy, then 5x30 steep hill sprints, 15 min. flat easy

wednesday: 1:15 easy mtb ride with 15 min. easy flat run afterwards

thursday: swim 2400 yds. w/20x50yds. all out sprint on 20 sec. rest, then around 5, another trainer workout (1-1:15 hrs.) with a couple of 1min. threshold intervals and a 5ish min. transition run

friday: long mtb ride early morning (2:30) with a hard 15min. transition run and then 15 min. of easy flat cooldown

saturday: go surfing in the morning, study all day, weight workout in afternoon (crossfit kinda stuff)

sunday: 3hr. road long ride with a 10ish min. transition run,

and next week will contain a fartlek-type run and a run hill repeat workout, long run on weekend, week after that will end in an mtb race at vail lake, and then taper. wow this was long what do ya think? Congrats on your sea otter weekend, I read that you took it out pretty hard in the short-track! I've never done one of those but they look pretty brutal!!

You look like you are covering all the _base_s while still having some fun. Could be a great plan. I would say that running off the bike is more tiring but more beneficial than fresh runs so a week of all "fresh" runs won't translate as well as a brick might. Other than that looks good.

Short track racing is great for speedwork. Plus it is really fun. Riding really fast is fun.

hey Melanie well thanks for all of the training advice. If you or anybody else you know needs any Temecula advice (i.e. good bike shops, restaurants, etc.) just let me know (I live there). Looks like its going to be pretty hot this weekend!!!