LaJolla- The Wrap Up
By Erika Lilley(Erika Lilley)
Actually, along the entire ride, there were tons of cyclists and it was easy to get around, even through the downtowns we

went through (like Leucadia). We ended up finishing the entire ride in about 3 hours, 15 minutes. …

Our big training day in LaJolla was Saturday. We woke up, and drove straight to the cove for a morning swim. The sky was super clear, and Laurie decided to join us to do some reading while we swam. There were lots of tourists and visitors at the cove, and some divers in the water as well. Coach and I decided that we would swim to the buoy and then go from there…

Since I was expected to reach the marker first, Coach said that she would swim past just a little bit and then start swimming back to shore. I could go on past the marker and just watch for time- to swim about 20 minutes out and then 20 minutes back. I figured that would give me exactly 1.75-2.0 miles or so.

We both had our new wetsuits to try on again for a longer swim than what we had last night, and so far so good. I really like the 2 pieces and I can’t wait to try it out in a race. I wore 2 caps as Monty suggested, as it was pretty cold (58 degrees). We began to swim and within 30 minutes or so, it was not my head or face that was starting to get cold, but my feet. My swimming was feeling awesome and I was wondering why I didn’t do more open water swimming, as I enjoy it so much. It was a great time and I was swimming fairly fast. Swimming on the way in was a bit slower, as we were swimming against a slight current, but it was still good nonetheless.

After our swim, we headed to the coffee shop for a sandwich and coffee. Then, we headed home and had about a 30 minute break before throwing out bike clothes on for our 56 mile ride. We were going to do the CAF course, which took us North, then slightly inland, back up NW, and then down the coast back to LaJolla. We expected a few climbs and it was pretty warm, so we knew that we were going to have to stop to get some more water along the way.

As we set off, we immediately noticed and appreciated the fact that we had bike lanes every street we turned off on. There were lots of cyclists out and it just made me realize what a bike friendly town we were in. Actually, along the entire ride, there were tons of cyclists and it was easy to get around, even through the downtowns we went through (like Leucadia).

We ended up finishing the entire ride in about 3 hours, 15 minutes. We didn’t necessarily think that we were going race-pace per se, but we were keeping a good steady pace the entire way and didn’t have too many stops. Nonetheless, it was a great workout day.