Santa Barbara Training Weekend Recap

Rain, Mud, Wind, Waves, Wild Times in SB!

The KP Santa Barbara Training Weekend had it all! Good training, tough weather conditions, slick roads, mud slides, torrential rain at times, but a very fun time was had by all! The training weekend started with a run workout on Friday. The workout was just a shake out run after the long drive down to SB. After the run, we had a good group go do the Masters Swim workout at the Los Banos pool. It's a great pool that runs 50 meter long course all the time. After the swim we met at a nice Italian restaurant for a group meal. Thanks to Rob DiNapoli and Jody Gold for setting up the dinners. We were lucky they didn't run out of food! After dinner it was off to bed for most, as Saturday was a big training day.

Saturday we had scheduled an ocean swim workout for 8:00AM and everyone came out ready to go. The problem was the rains had filled the rivers, which dumped right into the ocean about 100 yards from our swim sight. The water quality was in question, so we opted to do a short run on the beach instead of the swim. After a nice breakfast of pancakes and coffee, we met for our long ride of the weekend. The route we choose was the same route we had done last year, going south down the coast to Ventura , then inland around Lake Casitas and back into Santa Barbara . Best laid plans, but due to the rainy conditions we had to take a couple detours. We left with a group of 29 on the bike, with everyone intent on putting up with whatever was thrown at us. We ran into a road block within the first 5 miles, which made us take a nice, hilly detour. All was going great, until the rain started coming down and we hit the first big decent of the day. Joe Tuazon went down in the rain and was lucky to not go off the road and into a ditch. Luckily Joe was OK, but his ride was over. Jody went with him to the hospital, where he was deemed fine and the two would later come out and provide some much needed SAG support.

After regrouping we made our way down the coast to Ventura , rain, or no rain we were a determined group! The group split going down the coast on Hwy 101, with a lead group of about 10 forming. The group was working well in a paceline, with everyone taking good pulls. Sarah S. and Tami R. were awesome in this group, showing fine form early in the year. Coach Sharoo was also showing signs of good form after being pregnant most of last year! A second group formed and chased until we got off the road onto a bikepath in Ventura. We all met up at the store in Ventura at about the 30 mile point of the ride. After a nice potty break and a quick bite, we were back on the road. We didn't make it far, when we ran into a huge mudslide that crossed the entire road. After determining it was to muddy to cross we turned back and returned the way we had come. We were at the 40 mile point. The sun had actually come out for a while and we all got to dry out a bit. After negotiating a mud bog for the second time on the bike path, the group split up again going back up the coast. The lead group was content to sit on Coach Pete's wheel as he pulled the "Kain Train"! Just as the lead group made it off the freeway, a huge rainstorm decided to open up on all still out on the road. It was pouring rain and as Kim H., Eric V. Jason C. and others can attest, it got a little crazy riding on the freeway in a full downpour. We were now 60 miles into the ride that was becoming an Epic Adventure, with rain coming down harder than ever! After a little let up it was back on the road for the final push home. Coach Pete got to lead the way, with lots of hangers on and we made it back for a solid 75 miles in tough conditions.

No rest for the wicked, as we now were off for a 20-30 minute run off the bike. Eric V. and Coach Pete were out front, with many others joining in as they came off the bike. It was off to the hot tub and then on to dinner at El Paseo in downtown SB for a fun team dinner! All who still had energy to burn, then made it over to Mel's for some after dinner drinks before going to bed to rest up for Sunday's workouts!

Sunday morning the weather was still pretty bad and we started our longer run in the rain. It was still a beautiful day in SB, as we ran south to the Biltmore Hotel, then back up the coast toward Stearns Wharf . Two Santa Barbarians, Jason Calvillo and Eric Ventry were determined to work over Coach Kain. They held a pretty good pace for the first 30 minutes, then stepped up the pace in the final miles just to be sure their Coach got a good, hard workout! The final mile of this 1 hour run (9 miles) Jason C. put in some huge surges to dump his Coach, which led to both Coach and athlete running a 5:41 mile. Eric V. was close with a 5:50 . The KainIron group just kept going and put in a solid 1.5 hour run. Great run along the coast by all!

After the run, we had a nice breakfast, then still had one more workout on the book. The weather was not going to permit the scheduled La Cumbra Peak climb, so we road north to UCSB. We now were down to 12 die hard athletes, of which Jason C., Eric V., Kim Potter, Evelyne Guillouet, Mary Vidovich and Rob DiNapoli, along with both Coach's Pete and Shari had done all the workouts for the KP Training Weekend! These athletes we will call our "Santa Barbarians"! The final ride was a fun one north to UCSB, then back through beautiful Hope Ranch. The wind coming back down the coast was unbelievable! We were pushing very hard in an effort to hold 14 miles per hour! The next storm front was on its way in! After a good high five all around for a great weekend of training it was off for home.

Thanks to all who made the KP Santa Barbara Training Weekend a success! We got in some great training, met some new people, didn't let the weather ruin a fun time and had a blast!

Here is the list of those who completed every workout, our Santa Barbarians !!!

Workouts completed:

Friday-2/18/05

Saturday-2/19/05

Sunday-2/20/05

Totals (roughly) - Swim - up to 2 miles

 

Santa Barbarians:

Females:

Male:

 Great job to all who made it to SB! Looking forward to warmer weather in 2006!

Thanks,
Coach's Pete + Sharoo


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