I am in the process of moving to Southern California (Encinitas) from New Zealand.
In the past I have been a keen triathlete with three Ironmans under my belt and heaps of halves. More recently, I’ve been too busy to train regularly so not in SoCal shape by any means but keen to at least stay fit and make the most of the new environment.
I would LOVE to get any recommendations for training. Swimming, Biking and Running? I’ve seen the massive peletons of cyclists rolling through the waterfront towns on weekends and it blows my mind how many there are. Have also been thinking about getting into gravel or trail riding as I will be a bit nervous on the roads there (especially coming from a country that drives on the left).
there is some really good gravel trails east of Solana/Encinitas, starting around Lake Hodges and heading out further east to Ramona. l live just south of LA and have been down there a bunch. i’m sure there are solid road group rides. PCH is relatively safe in SD county just due to how many cyclists are out there.
There are also nice wide, painted, (separated from the road in some places) bike lanes through Encinitas and Leucadia. You have to be a bit careful going south to avoid the surfers and dog walkers who sometimes cruise in the bike lane along the beaches, but going north, it’s great. It’s also pretty easy to get some climbing (and different scenery) if you go inland a bit. Elfin Forest is a good one to check out.
Running along the coast is always great…you can run in pretty much a straight line for miles and miles, and have an ocean view for most of it. Of course there are infinite paths you can take inland, but why would you want to?
For open water swimming, there are tons of groups that do organized swims all up and down the county. If you’re on Facebook, join the San Diego Open Water Swimming Group…they have a nice list of all of the organized swims that happen during the week, and it’s a great place to get connected to other folks who want to swim in the ocean or bay. A few of the groups I can think of off the top of my head are Tri Club San Diego, One With the Ocean, and Swim Open Waters.
Best of luck with the move, and enjoying the Southern California sunshine!
Encinitas YMCA is a great pool and gym- and affordable. Good masters program Mon-Fri 6a and 12 and Sat and Sun AM
Gravelstoke - for gravel rides/routes
Rouler for rides as well
Swamis is the big group rides- weekday and weekend - A or B ride depending on fitness and its spicy
Feel free to reach out if you have other questions, I live in Encinitas
I lived in Encinitas from 1998 to 2000 (moved from Vermont and moved back to Vermont but had lived in SD in the 70s). I was dealing with knee issues and had both knees scoped so was mostly riding on the coast hwy up into Carlsbad. Used to love cycling and looking at the ocean. I lived a couple block from Moonlight Beach. Lots of surfers and I didn’t know how to swim back then. But I used to take walks recovering from my surgeries on the beach when the tide was lower. I loved it back then. Now I wonder if I could have run on the beach.
With all the training suggestions, I’d love to go back some day to do the Oceanside 70.3 in April. We did Indian Wells 70.3 a month ago and flew into SD. So much has been filled in with development and traffic is still insane. But would like to come back again as I’ll always have a connection to Southern California.
Swimming - depending on where you live, you have choice. There are two pools on the coast YMCA and Solana Beach boys and girls club. Both have solid masters swim programs. Just north in Carlsbad is Alga Norte which has more options if you swim solo and well as masters. They also turn the pool to 50 meters regularly. Then of course there is the Ocean. There are open water swims virtually every day of the week out of Encintas and Solana Beach.
Cycling - It’s abundant. There are bike lanes everywhere through all coastal towns. The group rides are plentiful. It all depends on the distance and terrain you want to ride. You can ride the coast for flat but beautiful rides and if you gain access to the Marine Base, you can ride to San Clemente and back which is over 100K. In Oceanside from the coast you can turn east on a bike path and then choose your hills to get home. You can make that ride as long as you want it. There is lots of Gravel and of course one of the original gravel races, Belgian Waffle is here. You will not get lonely on the trails.
Running - I challenge, you are moving to one of the best places in the world to run. Much like cycling, the coast highway is the general choice of those who run. You will not go wrong if that is where you choose to run. However, from Encintas you can run a single track trail {bikes are not allowed} east that opens up to the most beautiful wood chip trails you will find. Just south in Del Mar you can pick up a completely different kind of multi-use path that is dead flat. You can access both from your home if like me you live in Cardiff or you can drive a short bit to parking to access both. Neither are difficult trails and your standard road shoe works fine. If you prefer trail running where a trail shoe is better, it is not that far away and not flat at all. We did a birthday run a couple years back. We got dropped off the the San Pasqual Valley, Escondido at a trail head. We ran home all on trails. It was a 50K run.
I had assumed there would be awesome training opportunities, but inside info is really valuable and has got me excited!
We’ll be in Leucadia for a few months while we look for something more long term and I won’t have my bike until our shipping arrives. Oh well, I’ll try and get out and enjoy the running in the meantime.
Possibly one of the more redundant things that I’m bringing will be my Kickr Bike. I have almost exclusively ridden that over the last year but am anticipating it may be less useful in SD!
