The A and E Show

Catch Up.... Ketchup?

2011-03-01T18:31:00.000-07:00

It has been awhile, sorry. I think the last time I (A) blogged was right before the Steamboat Springs Stage Race over the Labor Day weekend. Gulp! What happened to my regular updates? I guess life got in the way! That was a full bit of time with a 4-race holiday weekend with the GS Boulder ladies in Steamboat, then a ½ ironman race the next weekend at Harvest Moon (great race by Without Limits Productions) where I PRed and finally broke my 5-hour curse with a 4:40 and change, followed by a hot and dusty cyclocross race on weekend #3. At the start-line for the cyclocross race, I just had to laugh at the wide variations in racing venues over the past few weeks.

Anyways, this update is supposed to serve as a catch up. So, here you go:

Steamboat Springs Stage Race: I did well and had fun racing my bike. I went in without enough points to upgrade to cat-3 and came out with an automatic upgrade after accumulating lots of points over the 4 races. I started with a win in the prologue TT, was second in the circuit race and had the GC lead by 1 second, raced a good road race with my biggest GC threat where we rode together until the final climb and then she threw down the move I had planned to make, and held on to 2nd in the GC in the crit by finishing in the pack. To top it off, most of my teammates had great races, too. Lorna ended 3rd in the GC! Unfortunately, we did have a teammate in a very scary crash. Jennica is a trooper, though, and is planning her come back, as a cat 3, at the Gila in a few weeks.

Harvest Moon Triathlon: This race was so fun! I got to sleep in my own bed (too many years of Ironman has made that a novelty!). E was my race sherpa. My swim was solid, my bike was solid (may have had more to give, but really wanted a fast run). I had some very slow transitions (this used to be a strength, but I guess I’ve gotten soft) but otherwise a great race. I was spot on nutritionally, made one quick potty stop near the halfway of the run, and finished 3rd overall woman behind Sonja Wieck and Mandy Mclane. I got a chance to work on good run cadence and just focus on motoring along. The best was the finish line: a slip-n-slide to dive into! Anyways, I think my old half-iron PR was 5:09, so a 4:40 was an awesome result (Sonja and Wendy were neck-and-neck a good 10 minutes in front of me, so there is always room to grow!).

Cyclocross: E has already posted some pics and blogged about his season. This was an interesting year for me in ‘cross. I was playing with the big girls this year as I took an upgrade to cat-3 at the end of 2009. They are fast! There were plenty of highlights (3rd at state behind two fast riders from Hudz-Subaru) and lowlights (scary course preview crash an hour before my start that had me frightened and cramping, where I finished 30th of 33 racers), and lots of good been and friends along the way. I met some new friends (fast ladies out there, tough, too), and really got a chance to push my comfort level. Riding my bike on dirt scares me. A lot. But I’m slowly getting over that, learning skills, trusting my bike, AND remembering how to push my body to new levels of pain (from physical, aerobic exertion, not crashing, lol!). I was a blast chasing Margel, Karen, Lisa, Amanda, Melanie, Lorna, Melissa, Kat, Nicole, Sara, Erin, and all the rest of you around and around the course each week. I’m already excited for the 2011-2012 season.

Everything else: Since cyclocross ended, work has really ramped up and has taken up most of my time. We had a good break around Christmas, which we spent in Coloradothis year, just the two of us. The highlight was lots of yummy cooking, baking, and a few trips into Grand County to ski. E and I did sneak in enough training to prepare to race the Mt. Taylor Winter Quadrathlon. We love this race, and always think of it as a good gage of our February fitness since we have done it so many years now. That race report will be coming next, but I’ll lead into it by saying we both had good races this year, but “I want to go faster!”

2011 blogging plan: don’t hold me to it, but I have a plan to get over my lazy blogging habits: posting once a week at a minimum. Consider this the update for 2011 Week 9.

Ketchup: this was really just a play on words, and a check to see who would read this whole thing. Sorry if I kept anyone hanging.

Cheers!

2011 Thoughts

2011-01-16T13:49:00.002-07:00

We're a couple weeks into 2011 and I (E) didn't have any new year's resolutions, so I'm at least good there. For the next 50 weeks, I'm really not sure what will happen.

For the last 6 years, we have been signed up for an Ironman at least a year in advance. Without any definite races on the schedule, this year will be a bit different. We are already looking towards getting to Minnesota in July/August which was difficult to do in the past due to Canada and/or Lake Placid. We are planing on doing the awesome Mt Taylor Quadrathlon in a month and racing cyclocross next season (Madison in January?).

But, with new "freedom", comes new opportunities. Road biking, mtn biking, and running are all possibilities. Personally, I don't have any desire to swim, but A hasn't ruled out tri's. If I/we focus on road biking, there are a number of short stage races that we might do (Salida, Glenwood Springs, Deaddog, Steamboat). If we do mtn biking, it would mostly be for cross reasons as bike handling and dealing with difficult terrain is still the biggest weaknesses for both of us. Running might be the only option if work hours prevent a decent amount of biking.

So, what will 2011 bring? I really don't know, but it should be fun to find out.

Cross-tastic

2010-12-13T21:00:00.000-07:00

The weekends for the last few months have been filled with cyclocross. Since my last post, A and I have done 12 more races (11 for Amber). The big one for each of us was the State Championships this past weekend. My goal was to win the 35+/4's on Saturday with a back-up plan of racing in the 4's on Sunday. But, before we jump to the end, let's recap the rest of the season.

Aspen Lodge Cross:

Easily the most technical course we encountered this year with very short speed sections, high speed turns, sand that skilled riders (i.e. not me) could ride and lots of cornering. The start was critical as there was very little opportunity to pass. I got off the line well but slid out in the first corner which dropped me way back. After that I took additional risks that caused me to hit the deck a few more times. Finished 38th. A almost didn't even start her race after crashing hard in her warm up and causing her leg to cramp bad. She ended up racing, but wasn't her day.

Blue Sky Cup:

The next weekend started at Xilinix for the second race there. The race actually started really well, but the proverbial excrement hit the air moving device on the 2nd lap when I slid out and dropped chain. Then I went off course twice. The final nail in the coffin was a crash going over the bunny-hop-able barriers (the ones that Amber is wisely running over in the picture below). That one really hurt. Limped home in 56th place.

Boulder Cup #3 at the Bowl of Doom (aka the Bowl of Death):

The next day, I was excited for this one as it was at the course that we ride every Wednesday morning for hot laps. Race went okay, but not feeling great (fatigue and lingering cold from trip to England) and ended up in 15th. Really like the picture below of Karen taunting Andy with Cowboy Bob and Amber screaming at Andy. I could write more about CB, but you need to show up at the BOD ride to find out more.

Colorado Cross:

Race at the Rez and not really notable for anything. I think more fatigue was setting in and I didn't race as well as I thought I could. Didn't help that some dude pushed me into a hay bail on the first lap. Anyways, 18th.

Boulder Cup:

New course at Flatirons Mall that looked like it would be just another grass crit, but turned out to be pretty tricky. Unfortunately there was a bad corner early in the race that was a total cluster for a lot of the races. Course that I should have done better at (esp since I stayed upright), but really fatigued and finished 20th.

Schoolyard Cross:

Tried the 35+ open to see how fast that group is. It was fast, but wasn't focused at the start and not a great effort.

Alpha Cross #2:

Took a bit of a break after Schoolyard and got a bit healthier. Really excited for Alpha Cross as it suited my strengths with long power sections and little rest. Second line call-up, but crappy start had me in the mid-twenties going onto the grass. Moved up quickly though as most of the course was wide. Navigated the few tight turns pretty well and was in the top ten. Almost got onto the main chase group, but the effort to move up wore me out a bit. Kept the gas on and took a digger on the 2nd loop that dropped me behind two guys I had just passed. Kept pressure on and re-passed them, but they hung close. Moved up a spot or two for the last couple laps and finished in 5th, my best result by far. I also knew by the announcer's call that I wasn't loosing any ground on the leaders as I heard him call out the lead of the race at the same point each time. No pictures of my race, but Amber is kicking butt in the picture below.

Cyclo X:

The next day was a new course at the Union Reservoir put on by our former CU triathlon teammate Lance No Pants. Short course with a fair amount of speed sections, but with a fun trip through the BMX course each lap. I got up to the first line and got a good start and was in tenth or so going onto the grass. Which was good except I had to coast a bit behind the others and proceeded to have my chain drop on the bumpy grass. Stop, lose a lot of spots and fix chain. Really my fault for having my chain keeper too far away from the chain. I was able to move up a bit, but taking some poor line to do so which cost me speed in the corners. Kept the gas on and moved up pretty well, but not expected much out of the day. Dropped chain on 3rd lap as well. Lovely. Anyways, fought the good fight but expected to be in the mid-teens to low twenties. Surprised as anything to get 7th on the day (with 6th coming back to me quickly). Lance had chip timing which showed that my lap splits were just as good as the podium guys except for the two dropped chain laps. Great race to give me the confidence to go for it. No pictures of my race, but here is one of Amber giving it.

GMSV #2

So same course as the first race of the year, but opposite direction. And instead of starting way back in the field, I had a front line call-up. Started really well (I like grass starts) and 5th going into tight section. Moved up to 4th on the first uphill section and latched onto the top three guys. Saw a chance to take the lead on the grass section with barriers and went for it. I took the lead in part since the next section had a lot of turns and I was worried I would loose ground there if I was following. Kept the lead through the finish line, but took the 1st turn too hot and went down. Dropped all the way to 7th or so, but the group was mostly together. Moved up due to crash in the lead group, but a couple of guys got away. Moved up to fourth, dropped to fifth, moved back up to fourth, got my brake stuck in my wheel like J Pow did this weekend (but i made a really slick move to kick it back into place), and finished in 4th. Really not a great course for me due to all of the turns, so I was stoked by the result. Again, no pictures of my race, but one of the lovely wife.

Boulder CX #4:

The next day was a new course at a big park in Westminster. I fell in love immediately as there was a ton of grass and hills. My goal was simple. Get out and hammer it. I was a bit disappointed that one of the guys that had been crushing it the last few weekends was upgraded before the race, but a big field again. Super start off the line and was third going onto the grass. The guy in second let a gap open up to the Ryan H (who had gotten a couple of podiums recently), so I moved up to close it up. Got on Ryan's wheel and stayed there a little bit until a long grass section where I took the lead. Kept the gas on until the downhill where I recovered a bit. Kept the lead through the technical section at the lower part of the course and hammered up the pavement back onto the grass and got a bit more a lead. The guys behind me kept getting fewer and fewer, but a few stayed within 10 to 20 meters. I could tell one guy (Dan M.) was moving up well and closing the gap. He finally caught me with just under two laps to go, but I was able to stay on his wheel pretty easily. I stayed there and watched him on the lower section to look for any weaknesses. I went around him before the finish line with a lap to go, but he stayed close. We swapped the lead back a forth again on the upper section and he took the lead when I almost missed a turn with my head down (oops). I stayed on his wheels through most of the downhill section, but let him gap me a bit since he hadn't taken a good line on one of the sections on the previous lap and I got back on his wheel in that section. Waited until nearly the end to make my move, but went hard, got around him and kept my lead to the end. Man, it fun to win. Jeeze, it nearly killed me. Again, no pictures of me, but the wife is better looking anyways.

State Championships:

Like I alluded to earlier, my goal by the end of the season was to win the 35+/4's at State's. Coming off a string of top five finishes and my win the previous weekend, I knew I had a chance, but depended on the course, conditions, and competition. Since State's was two days, I signed up for the 35+/4's on Saturday and the 4's on Sunday as a back-up plan in case something didn't go well on Saturday. A and I both "raced" the warm-up race on Saturday morning to get a look at the course as they really limited the times you could warm-up on the course. Learned a few things like it wasn't worth trying to ride the sand section and there were speed sections thrown around the course but often had tight corners immediately after them.

Front line call-up, but bad start as I missed clipping in and was probably in 2oth going onto the grass. Didn't panic and started picking off riders through the first section. Got through the sand section and surprise, the course changed from the practice race. Now, we had a section full of turns that I hadn't seen at all. Kept my position through there and luckily, no one was gassing it at the front. Moved up in the next few sections and got into 5th or so, but had some close call to get there. On the next straight section, I went full gas and went to the front. Got a small gap, but a couple of guys hung close. I took the high barriers section poorly (all day) and they got even closer. Stayed on the front for a little over a lap, but not able to drop Ryan H and Dan M. Let one of them take the lead after the high barriers and stayed with them. From there it was pretty much a three man race. We moved around a bit between ourselves, but I don't think anyone wanted to kill it on the front. I tried to go to the front a pick up a bit when another guy closed on us, but he was too strong and bridged on heading into the final lap. I thought my spot on the podium was gone when he went to the lead after the sand and only Dan got on his wheel with Ryan between myself and them. But, then the new leader had to stop and dry-heave in the twisty part. Go figure. So, it was back to Dan, Ryan and myself to duke it out and frankly, I was worried as I was toast. They slowly got a bit of a gap on me and were about 10 meters ahead with 300 m or so to go. That's when Ryan tried to get around Dan on the high side of the loose section and slid out. Like that, I moved up to 2nd. Quite happy with that. It's too bad that Ryan crashed out of the spot, but I played it safe all race to avoid that kind of issue.

State's Day 2:

Really wasn't planning on racing since I had a great race on Saturday and felt like crap on Sunday morning, but wanted to see what the speed difference was between the two groups and had raced the 4's last year and had a crappy State's a year ago. So, I raced.

Four line or so (no call up points for me, so luckily I had signed up during the week as it was then based on registration number). Much better start than the day before and was again 15th or so going onto the grass. Moved up, but two guys went off the front early. Eventually, one guy passed me a few laps in, but passed everyone else but the two guys off the front. Ended up 4th.

With that, I hit 20 upgrade points, which is the cut-off for automatic upgrade.

Now to the 35+ open.

It's Cross Time

2010-10-11T17:36:00.002-06:00

We've gotten back into the cyclocross groove. 3 races in the past 4 weekends.

New for this year is a Redline Conquest Team ('09 frame) that I built up in a 1x10 configuration since it is pretty rare to shift up front while racing. A's got the same frame but with the usual 2x10 set-up. Also, we switched to tubulars for racing.

Since A moved up to the women's open race (vs. the women's 4), I've aged myself up to race the men's 35+, cat 4's so that we don't have to wait hours between our races. The only issue with that is the size of the fields. Okay if you have a call-up, but asking for trouble if you can't get up to near the front.

First race was a bit blah after slidding out early and having some mechanical "discoveries" with the new bike (like I didn't tighten my shifter enough). Started well (20th or so going to the narrows), but lost a lot of spots when i wasn't on my bike. 47th or something. First race under the belt and moving on.

Second race (Boulder CX#1) was up in Longmont with my sister and brother-in-law as spectators. Call-up's based on last years points (none for me since raced a different cat), the bike clubs that set-up and the course, and then by random last digits of your number (no luck there either). So, I found myself near the back huge group, but I lined up on the side to try to get around as many people as possible on the climb up the paved road up to the narrow section through the woods. Man, it hurt to get up there but managed to get to the woods in 25th position or so. Spent most of the race moving up a bit, but did a nice cartwheel due to a little ditch. 19th

Third race (Boulder CX#2) was in Broomfield and a sold-out field of 120 riders. Thankfully, they did call-up's based on CX#1 and I got a second line spot (behind the first guy that lined up). I got a really good start and was in 10th or so getting to the narrow sidewalk when i got pushed into a schrub that caused me to slow down and loose some spots. Recovered pretty well for rest of the first lap. On the second lap I felt horrible and lost a number of spots. Felt better each lap after that and finished in 16th (outsprinted at very end). Best result that I've had at cross.

Up next, the Colorado Cup races start which means needing to do well early to get call-up's for those.

If you are thinking that I'm making too big a deal of the call-up's, check out this video of yesterday
http://vimeo.com/15719170

Women's Ride

2010-08-19T10:51:00.002-06:00

As Ironman training has wrapped up for me for the year, I am finding time to do some of the things I have been waiting all summer to do. Wednesday nights, that means joining the local Women's Ride leaving from North Boulder. Oh, what fun!

Last night was my second showing, and it was a good one. Nine of us rolled out from the Bus Stop just after 5:30. The ride was started this summer to let local women, from various teams and abilities, meet and try and ride fast with each other, further developing the local women's racing scene. The purpose of this weekly ride is to ride hard, practice your attacks, sprints, counter attacks, etc. all within the company of a bunch of fast women cyclists. Most of those who turn out are category 3 and 4 racers who have raced at least a year or two, but all women are welcome. That's a good thing for me and my developing cyclist-legs. Yes, they even welcome triathletes! In fact, last week there were two of us tri-sport types, and we both did fine.

This ride is run as a drop ride, meaning show up ready to ride hard and be ready to work your tail off to stay with the group if needed, or ride home on your own if you get chewed up and spit out the back of the group. They are not waiting for you at the next light if you fall off the back, you can chit-chat but at your own risk of missing the next attack, and there are no hard feelings if you're the one up front pushing the pace and blowing everyone else away. That's not to say that the ride is anti-social or unsafe. We keep it friendly, but push each other as we are able and ride as hard as we can (of course, in the pack has its advantages and allows you to adjust your personal intensity to some extent, if you can stick with them!), and you always have the option of trying to cover an attack or sit up and block, just like in a race situation.

This all boils down to just the kind of suffer fest I need to start sharpening me up for the 4-day stage race in Steamboat Springs over Labor Day. And, oh, did I suffer last night! I think it was definitely harder than the week before, the attacks just never seemed to stop!

We modified the route yesterday a tad as some of the county and state roads are currently being chip sealed and are at various stages of fresh oil, tar, and gravel. We rode up 36 to Neva, then 63rd, jogged to 65th, turned right on St. Vrain Road, and rolled into Hygene before tacking on a baby-Box loop up and around Highway 66. The attacks were frequent, and I did my share of initiating them, but my legs were loudly protesting too much effort. Twice I was off the back and dropped hard, but both times I willed my way back to the group. We stopped on the return through Hygene for fresh water (it started hot last night!), then headed south on 75th to Neva/Niwot road and retraced our path to the Bus Stop. I lead the pack up Neva and covered attacks up until Highway 36 was in sight, but my legs were toast by the time we reached the small climb up to the highway, and I soon found myself spit out the back again.

Ahead were 3 of my teammates and 2 other fast chicas, and behind me were two more who joked that they were not connected to anyone who had stolen my legs for the night (where did they go???). As we rolled back into town, I caught Tasha and Lorna, but the other 3 were out of sight off the front. Fast!

What a great night! It was beautiful out there, not just because of the lovely Front Range scenery, but because of the healthy dose of Fast and Hard that we kept throwing at each other. And we even threw in a little double pace line on Highway 66 just for kicks. Good stuff!

I rode all the way back to the start then turned for home, turning on my two headlights and rear blinky tail light as the daylight was fastly fading. I took the ~4 miles of downhill and flat to try and spin out the legs some, but still needed ~30 minutes in the NormaTech to flush them out well enough to sleep last night. There is hope that my legs are making a return from Ironman Lake Placid! Yeah!

Ride on (and join us next week, if you're a local chica)!
-Amber

P.S. One of the night's highlights was getting home and having dinner waiting. E spoils me! On the menu was home made fried rice with odds and ends from the fridge, including veggies from our CSA allotment, yum! Fried rice was the perfect accompaniment for fried bike-legs!

Weekend Update

2010-08-16T15:56:00.002-06:00

What a weekend!

Our planned ride to Estes Park through Glenhaven was aborted at ~2 h. E's legs were protesting the thought of 100 miles and lots of climbing on their first real bike ride back after IM Lake Placid (this one has been rough on us). Even the promise of cinnamon rolls was not strong enough for them to come around. So we turned for home when we saw the oil on the road(freshly applied for this week's chip-seal work up by Carter Lake) and enjoyed a tail wind (had been riding into a strong NNE head wind) for the return. We both figured a flatish 60 mile spin was a good start for our return to bike fitness. And the original trip was only postponed for a few weeks, not cancelled. I still need me some cinnamon rolls (and I love that Big Thompson climb)! Maybe we'll recruit a few other crazy folk to join us next time....

Then it was off to do some cooking, baking (zucchini bundt cakes are now filling the deep freeze), dinning (thanks for coming over Beth and Keagan!), and bike building. Sunday saw more of the same, with a side of yard work and laundry thrown in for good flavor. Now the cherries are all done for the year (our tree gave us close to 4 gallons this year!) and the last of the BIG zucchini are shredded and all baked up into breads and cakes.

In the end, I was tired and sore, which seems odd since training was so "light" this weekend. Must have been all that baking!

-A

IM Lake Placid Race Report: A's version

2010-08-13T10:24:00.017-06:00

As E already relayed, we had a nice trip out from Denver to Burlington, VT (who knew that tons of other people would be trying to catch the parking shuttle at 4:30 in the morning?). The 6 am flight was a bit rough, but we were prepared with homemade meals, and a ~2pm arrival was a nice treat (flying East is always a chore from Denver, but this was better than our usual red-eye into NYC where you leave at ~midnight and arrive at 6am, the perks of traveling to race, not for vacation or business!).

A nice late lunch on Church Street got us fed a decent, bigger meal, then we pointed the rental car North and West and headed for the ferry crossing of Lake Champlain. Our plan was then to drive in and preview ~1/2 the bike course, from Ausable Forks all the way to Lake Placid as we made our way over to our lodging in Saranack Lake. Heavy rain challenged this plan, you couldn't see much, but we got a sense that the area was green, pretty, and somewhat hilly. Once we found NCCC (North Country Community College) we had some trouble finding check-in for the dorms. Eventually we backtracked and parked near a building with "Visitor" parking spots, only to read a sign with directions on where to go to check in (back out towards the entrance, then left, right, left over the RR tracks, right, and first building on the right. No we did not get it right on our first try, but by our 3rd or 4th try we found it!).

As we moved in, we learned that our accommodations were a bit more rustic than we anticipated. Luckily, we were able to just roll with it. We unpacked our clothes into the dresser and headed out for a quick run to loosen up and shake out the travel, then found dinner and a grocery store (bought bars of soap and contemplated a cheap shower curtain).

That was Wednesday. The next couple of days we settled in, laid low, and got ready to race. We had 2 GREAT swims in mirror lake, picked up our bikes from TriBike Transport, rode the only flat miles of the course to spin out the legs and make sure the bikes shipped fine (between Upper Jay and Jay), and read and rested. I was sleeping well (not the case before St. George), we were fueling well (cutting back on fiber, still no coffee for me until race morning), and all signs were good. The only small hiccup was my watch dying (I use the timer to remind me to eat and drink on the bike) during our second Mirror Lake Swim. I swung into the expo, though, and picked up a new one at the Timex booth (I may have paid too much for it, but it sure was convenient to just stop in there and get a new one right away).

This trend continued race morning. We woke early (4 am, I think) and tried not to make too much noise and wake our suite-mates, Tommy (from Long Island) and Rob (from 'Jersey). A breakfast of pop-tarts (no fiber), banana, juice with carbopro, and coffee (no coffee maker or french press, so some Starbucks via thingies from the grocery) and we were out the door. Rob had shared his secret parking spot with us the night before, so we headed there and got pretty close to transition. Then we got body marked, did a warm-up hike out to the special needs drop off spots, and headed back to transition to add nutrition to the bike, pump up tires, apply body glide, and turn in our dry clothes bags. Somewhere in there I lost my swim cap, but I easily picked up a new one on the beach.

Once we were fully in our wetsuits, we headed into the water, swam a tiny bit, then floated over to the shore opposite the beach to stand and wait a bit for the pro start before finding our spots. We ended up in the middle, ~3 people back from the banner (start line). It was a beautiful morning, a great day to race! Off in the west, a tunderstorm cloud was building, but it was also sunny where we were.

The cannon fired and we started to swim. This swim is 2 loops, a short beach run in the middle. The course is a long, skinny rectangle and the buoys are set on a cord that runs the length of the course, a meter or two below the surface. The whole way out to the turnaround on the first loop I spent passing people. I was to the right and just out of sight of the cord, but tracked well due to the total number of people also tracking off that line.

Part way down, my right hip flexor started to cramp. Uh-oh! I ignored it as best I could and swam on. The return of that first loop went smoothly, but I began to notice some rubbing under my right armpit. I was in my sleeveless wetsuit and the leash for the zipper was caught up in there. I fixed that during my beach "run" (more of a walk for me as I was fixing my clothing, and I still forgot to look for my split time on the clock!) and all was good for the second lap. Except now it seemed like everyone was passing me, not the other way around. I swam steady and strong, but added a left calf cramp to my right hip flexor stiffness/pain and got a small nick in my nose from another racer's watch (I think that was my only real contact during the swim, pretty good for a 2700+ person start in a tiny lake! At that point, though, we were almost done and I decided to just chill a bit, there was no reason to get hurt too early in the day). My 1:04 was an OK time. A tad slower than the 1:00-1:03 I was hoping for, but in the ballpark. My sleeveless wetsuit is easy to strip and I was soon carrying it and running down the road toward T1.

T1 was as quick as I could make it (on with the helmet, race number and belt, socks and shoes, sunglasses, and a swipe of chamios butt'r) but the long run on the road from the lake to the Oval makes this a slower T1 than some. I had a much smoother mount than at St. George, and was soon flying through town and out onto the course.

The first loop of the bike went well and I finished it right on target for pace and effort (both perceived exertion and heart rate, but I was only glancing at this every so often and getting "real time" readings). E passed me early in the first loop, after Keene I think. We ended up staying close to each other for ~10 miles before he moved on ahead. My nutrition was spot on for the whole bike: 4 powergels, 1 bottle of carbopro-nuun with ~200 kcal, 4-5 bottles of Powerbar Perform drink (really like that stuff, goes down easy and worked well for me), and 4-5 bottles of water in the front aero bottle with The Right Stuff electrolyte concentrate added (this was the key to good nutrition for me, I think, 4 doses of The Right Stuff). Oh, and 1 gasX. I meant to take 2 of the 3 gasX I was carrying, but lost my 2 spares somewhere out there on course. My second loop on the bike felt good, solid, and strong, and I hit a faster speed on The Big Downhill since it was less crowded this time (just over 55 mph, I think), but I lost a bit of focus on the climb up from Wilmington and gave up a fair bit of time (7+ minutes!) there unintentionally.

As I rode back into town that last time, I was focused on a fast T2. I had decided to ride with my road shoes, not my tri shoes, so I was not able to get my feet out and leave my shoes on my bike (I tried, wasn't going to happen), but I was still able to run in them, grab my bag off the rack thingy, get into the right change tent, swap shoes, socks, and headware, and get out in ~2:30. What I forgot to do was pee. And I had to GO. Luckily, I have skills, and before the first aid station (at 0.4 miles, I think they said) that problem was gone. All this might explain why I said nothing to Lisa as she cheered for me on the way out of T2 (thanks Lisa, I was just in the zone, and it wasn't even the run zone yet!).

I quickly settled into my pace on the run. I felt good. After my pee, and a gel and gasX, I was flying. Comfy, steady, on target. I was happy. I was making my dreams come true! This feeling survived until I was back in town and nearing mile marker 10. Kerrie had just passed me looking strong (on her way to running the fastest run of the day for the female age groupers) but I knew something was off with my tummy. I had been taking in a cup of drink at each aid station and using the icy sponges to stay clean and cool, but my lower GI was off having its own raucous party. And the party was OVER. A quick (1:33 or so) pit stop in a non-locking porta-potty and I was back, running very strong, and cruising uphill and into town. Justin Daerr passed me on his way to the finish and I used him to pull me up the hill, through the second turn around, and then to slingshot me off into my last run lap.

I started my 2nd lap and felt strong and solid. It was time to hold onto that feeling and start creeping up, faster if I could. I held steady until mile ~18, then noticed my hands and fingers start to get tingly. It was odd. Odder yet was my response: I just settled in, on auto pilot, and got it done. I started taking cola at each aid station, and upped it to 2 cups of drink, too, so that was at least 3 cups per aid station. My tummy felt great and stayed that way until the finish (this is a MAJOR victory for me, first time in 7 ironmans that the nutrition was spot on). I started having to walk the aid stations, though, so that I could grab all those cups before I got to the other end. I moved onward, but in kind of a blur. And I guess I was in full-on shuffle mode here, not really "running" anymore.

But I was not aware of any of this. I was getting it done and was just unaware of how much I had slowed. The final 8 miles were a blur. That is really all I remember. I came back into town, climbed the hills, got a big smile as I saw E heading for the Oval and the finish as I headed out for the final turn around, and then joined him there myself. Here are some screen shots of the first and second loops of the run. You can see my potty stop, and then how pace slowed with ~8 miles to go, and where I walked the aid stations.

Lap 1 of the run... see my potty stop at mile ~10?

Lap 2 of the run.... what happened with 8 miles to go, and can you see where I was walking the aid stations?

In the end, I PRed the race by 49 seconds and PRed the run (for an Ironman) by ~2 minutes but missed my goal times (total and for the run) each by ~16 minutes. That's a lot. Could I have made that up all on the run? Not sure. Am I frustrated? Yes. Am I still oddly pleased at that race I have, the effort I gave, and the outcome? Yes. Do I have any clue what happened and why? No.

I was really ready to run a 3:40. Trained and ready. It was not a reaching goal, not a pipe dream, it was doable, oh so very doable. In the end, though my nutrition finally seemed spot on, I was likely under fueled on the run. I had planned to use race drink as my sole source of fuel, but had neglected to think about dosing using their cups. I probably was not getting enough of anything. And the gel I grabbed, off the table after some hunting and gathering, with 2 miles to go was too little, a lot too late.

After finishing, I was exhausted. And Sore. All over, everywhere. I saw E, bust still used my Volunteer Catcher to walk over to the athletes food area and sit. 1 bottle of water, 1 slice of pizza, 1 ham sandwich, pretzels, grapes, 3 cookies were consumed while we sat and chatted with Kerrie and Kau. Then I changed into better clothes, and we went to the car to drop off gear and grab the wheel bag. Next was a trip to tribike transport to drop off the bikes, then we headed onto the run course to cheer for people. We swung into the Lake Placid Brewery, but the wait for a table was over an hour, so we went to their tent out front and bought a hamburger and chips to share, and 1 beer each. Then we headed back to the dorms and chatted with our room mates (Rob had a good day cheering, but Tommy missed the bike cut-off and was trying to cope with his first DNF). As usual, I slept very little that night due to being sore everywhere.

The next day, I was still sore all over! Deep breathing was impossible (so was deep sighing, like when the 3rd and final Kona slot rolled to 4th place and she took it, I was 5th). And laughing? Not an option.

We had a good morning in Lake Placid before rolling out and heading to Plattsburgh where we had a room booked in an awesome B&B (it was Eric's birthday, AND this was halfway back to the airport). It was so relaxing there! We ventured into town for dinner, then picked up a pint of banana fudge ice cream for dessert, which we shared in their mosquito-proof gazebo.

The next day we took the ferry over to VT, drove down to Burlington, and spent a few hours roaming Church Street and the lake front. It was a nice day, but HOT, so we didn't walk too much or too fast. Our flight wasn't until after 7 pm, so we had time to kill. We wandered, then lunched at the Vermont Brewery, then went to the used book store, then wandered some more. In the end, we went to this "museum" called the Outdoor Gear Exchange and looked at a lot of things made in Colorado. I enjoyed Burlington, the state of VT, and the Adirondacks very much, and would love to go back there again. It was a great trip!

One final thought: I am not sure why I am so troubled by missing my goal times, and the Kona slot. I had a great race. I was fairly steady loop to loop. I nailed my nutrition, before (can anyone say breakfast for dinner???) and during the race. The weather was PERFECT for me, definitely not too hot like it can be at Canada. I am plagued by some of what Kerrie says, here, yet for me some of it IS about the journey, and for me, I get to share the training hours and miles with my family (and my best friend, E). Yet I missed my goals, and that is very hard (for my ego) to swallow and move on.

I guess the conclusion I am reaching is that Ironman is just not for me. I did well, learned lots, and had fun preparing and racing 7 of these things over the last 5 years, but I am just not as good at this as I want to think I am. I can run a good open marathon, I can rock an Olympic distance tri, I'm a good skier, and I can hike with the best of them, but this Ironman thing, not so much. That's OK, next year's race still sold out before lunch the next day, so there are enough others out there to keep this thing going! And I am trying to tell myself that this is not giving up, it is moving on to something else. Work with me here.... and come along for the ride if you wish.

-A

A free Forerunner 310xt?!

2010-08-05T12:16:00.004-06:00

So, my Ironman Lake Placid race report is coming, but I'll give you a little preview: my Garmin (the Forerunner 301) worked great during the race, but did not want to download to the computer for analysis until yesterday.

I was pretty frustrated about this. So frustrated that I started pricing out a new wrist-based training device. I've been ooogling the Timex GPS Global Trainer and the Garmin Forerunner 310XT. While trying to decide which would best meet my needs, I have been trying to compare how the two "watches" are similar to and different from each other.

A great resource in this regard has been the reviews done on Ray Maker's blog. His review secion is here. He does great, indepth reviews on all sorts of tri-geek gadgets, and today he posted a new product giveaway: a Forerunner 310XT. I was so excited, I just wanted to share the news with anyone who happens to read our blog (and by so doing, also earn an extra "golden ticket" for the giveaway). So get over there, check out his blog (updated near-daily and always a good read), and get yourself entered into the giveaway if you want.

In other news, we are enjoying our Colorado summer, post-Ironman. We have been doing a little swimming back in the pool, but except for last Sunday's hike, have avoided applying excessive amounts of sun screen and have yet to create an overabundance of water bottles.

Happy Summer!
-A

E's Lake Placid Race Report Part 1

2010-08-04T18:46:00.004-06:00

Pre-race:

We headed to the northlands of New York on Wednesday before the race. The 6 am flight out of Denver was a bit rough, but got us into Burlington, VT (the Boulder, Austin, or Madison of Vermont) by mid-day. Losing 2 hrs of time zones and having a connection meant any route would take the good part of the day. We were on the same flights as some of the WTC folks which should us got into the VIP stuff, but somehow didn't pan out.

Anyways, from Burlington, we took a ferry over to the state of New York (the short one as the weather wasn't conducive to sightseeing), which meant our day included planes, boat, and automobiles (not quite the same as planes, trains, and automobiles). We drove half of the bike course (Ausable Forks to Lake Placid) in the rain. The village of Lake Placid itself is a bit of a tourist mecca (reminded me of Estes Park), but we kept going to our accommodations in Saranc Lake. Our accommodations were the dorm rooms at North Country Community College. NCCC, I've lived in dorms. I've stayed in dorms. Dorms were a home of mine. NCCC dorms, you're no dorms. More like nice prison rooms. But, they were the cheapest option by a New York mile (Same as a regular mile, its really just the minutes that are different).

Looking back, if we had know that there was a kitchen in the main building before the last day, we wouldn't have been so disappointed with the kitchenette (microwave and mini fridge). If there was soap anywhere, we wouldn't have been so disappointed. If there was a shower door or curtain, we wouldn't have been so disappointed. If we hadn't gotten the smallest room in the suite, while the two other individuals who stayed there each got a bigger room, we wouldn't have been so disappointed. If our room wasn't right next to the bathroom with its jet engine toilet, we wouldn't have been so disappointed. If the sheets weren't so thin that the plastic mattress felt clammy as hell, we wouldn't have been so disappointed.

But, it was away from the chaos that was the village of Lake Placid and the other guys in our suite (Bob and Tom) were nice.

On to Thursday... Picked up bikes. Got the wristband. Swam a loop. Biked the flat section. Ate dinner at nice BBQ place with live music. Went back to prison, I mean the dorm rooms.

Friday was a bit of swimming, time at the expo, and going to the athlete's meeting.

Saturday was the normal day of freaking out, dropping bike and bags off, and early dinner. For dinner we tried the Beth method and went for a breakfast at HoJo's (one of two restaurant only Howard Johnson's). Worked pretty well, but wouldn't recommend anything but the breakfast there :).

Sunday (aka Race Day)

We headed to Placid, parked and headed to transition. Body marking had no wait when we showed up (we'll be body marking at the Boulder 70.3 to return the karma). The special need bags drop off was a workout in itself as it was like a thousand million miles down the road. Okay, maybe not that bad, but still a bit of a trek. The rest of getting the bike ready when pretty well. Sunscreen application was next and then it was time to head over to the swim start. A lost her swim cap (actually in her bag), but got one at the swim start. I think we got in the water before the pro's started but memory ain't so good no more. After the pro's went we moved into position (near the middle, a few rows back).

Swim:

The plan I had was to swim wide of the line on the way out for the first lap, work to the line around the turn around and follow the line for the second half of the first lap and the whole second lap. For those not in the know, the line is a cable that runs the length of the swim course about 3 to 8 feet underwater (visible the whole way) and the buoys are connected to it. Since nearly everyone wants to swim on the line, I thought it would be suicidal to try to swim the line at the beginning, so we started in the middle. But, the peep's that started on the outside thought they should get to the line right away and I felt herded to the inside right away. Anyways, a few moments of near panic on the first section as it was crowded as anything. Got to the line at the turn around and followed it in. I probably hit about 20 of the little buoys, 7 of the big ones, and the line a few times (when it was shallow) throughout the swim, but at least I swam straight. I came out for the 1st lap of the swim in 33 or so and knew I was on a good pace (for me). The 2nd lap was still entertaining as I got my cheek kicked hard once and pummeled a bit trying to stay on the line. Second lap must have been about the same time as the total time was 1:06:16. Best IM swim time by a couple of minutes. Not surprising as my pace in the pool has been improving (right in time to stop doing triathlons...)

Oh, time to make some dinner. To be continued.....

A's NY reflections

2010-07-30T11:56:00.004-06:00

Hi All! E and I had a great trip to NY and VT for Ironman Lake Placid. We were well prepped for the race and had a great trip. The end, with a B&B stay and then wanderings around Burlington, VT, before our flight home even felt like vacation! The vacation extended a few days here in Boulder as I finished my reading from the plane and am trying to get back to "normal," whatever that is. So nice!

So...... After 7 tries at the iron-distance, I set a small PR (49 seconds!), had my highest placing in my age group (5th), and had a well-executed race where I really have no excuses or interesting happenings to report from the swim, bike, or run. I was excited to have a race where I felt like I gave it everything I had to give.

Unfortunately, I did not earn a Kona slot, and I also missed my goal time, by a lot, so my emotions are a strange mix of elation for a race where I felt I went hard, took risks, and used up all my resources, frustration at the missed Kona slot and final time/place, and confusion at what I could have done differently since my prep was awesome and I thought my execution went pretty well. Maybe I'm just not as fast as I want to think I am? Anyways....

We are moving on now after 5 years of ironman racing. No WTC or ironman in our future for now. I am a bit lost on how to cope without a race of this magnitude to prepare and train for. I know I will need a focus soon, but don't feel rushed to find "what's next" just yet.

This was not meant to be a race report, that is still coming, just a quick update to say we had a great vacation, and I had a good race but one that has me searching for something new to chase. Hopefully that something is a good challenge, but also something I can achieve and find some satisfaction in. The road has been fun to travel on so far, let's see what's around the next bend!

-A

Lake Placid Reports Coming Soon...

2010-07-28T17:01:00.002-06:00

Sunday was the race.

Monday was packing up, going to the award banquet, and heading out of Lake Placid (to a wonderful bed and breakfast at Point Au Roche).

Yesterday was spent visiting Burlington, VT and flying back to CO.

We finally got back to the Peoples Republic of Boulder this morning at 1:30 am. Sammy the cat was quite happy to see us and kept head butting and licking us as we tried to fall asleep.

It is a strange feeling not being signed up for an Ironman (at this point last year, we were signed up for Canada in August '09, St George in May '10, and Lake Placid). Strange but freeing as well.

Anyways, we'll have our race reports up soon. I hope.

Peace Out,
Eric

Canyons

2010-07-06T16:55:00.001-06:00

This topic has been stewing in my brain for a few months. In that time, it may have lost some "spicy flavor" but likely also gained a few extra "ingredients." It all started back in March/April as we were preparing for Ironman St. George. One of our scheduled long bike/runs was a ~6 h ride, with climbing, followed by a 60 min run. We decided to drive the 7 miles to Lagerman's Reservoir so we could run right after on the glorious dirt roads that cut through the farm and ranch country up in Boulder County. A quick detour to recover our forgotten helmets (we rarely drive to bike and, well, just forgot to load them into the car) we mounted our tri-bikes and were rolling north to Masonville and the Rist Canyon Loop just beyond.

The trip to Masonville was fairly routine (honestly, I do not remember much of that part after 2.5 months, so I'm just assuming it was routine, E may need to correct me). We rolled up to the 1 stop sign in town, turned right, and began the loop. The first part was familiar as it is part of the Loveland Lake to Lake course, but then we took another left turn onto the first dam for Horsetooth Reservoir and headed into uncharted territories. This started me thinking about all the canyons around us and how many of them we have ridden.

The area around Boulder has many riding opportunities, but we are situated in a place where the plains meet the mountains. That means that, when riding, you can choose flat/rolling, or you can climb a canyon. We have ridden many canyons in the Boulder area. For the first few years, we mostly only rode Lefthand Canyon. I have ridden Lefthand Canyon in all weather, and at all times (I still remember my first solo ride there, it was the day before the Bolder Boulder 10 km run). It has some peacefullness to it, possibly due to the familiarity bred from repetition. The grade changes some here and there, but it is all mild until the last mile before Ward. There you turn right and start to CLIMB! Lately, we have continued on, climbing past the Peak-to-Peak Highway to the fee station for Brainard Lake. And we have been doing time trials from Highway 36 to Ward for the past few years, too (not yet this year, but we'll see what July brings). My first year here, I also roller skied this canyon at least once a week (sometimes twice) all fall. We have even run on this road now, too (though we turned at Olde Stage to get steeper climbing).

Sometimes we'd take the spur off Lefthand Canyon up to Jamestown, but only a few times have we been past the general store in town, and only twice have we ridden Super Jamestown in its entirety. Lately, the Jamestown route has been our after-work-during-the-week time trial (though again, not yet this year). From 36 it is 8 miles and a good gauge of fitness. This last Saturday was our second trip up past town all the way onto the dirt and beyond and it was much easier than I remembered, likely a combination of better fitness and better bikes (and bigger rear chain rings with 27 teeth).

We also tend to ride up St. Vrain Canyon, Golden Gate Canyon, and Big Thompson Canyon (sometimes with the turn at Drake to include Glenhaven, sometimes without.... mmmmm, cinnimon rolls in Glenhaven, mmmmmm....). Golden Gate is often only once a year (pain to ride to the start from Boulder), but the others are common additions to our riding menu. We only descend Boulder Canyon, and only ~once a year (too much traffic, limited shoulder, traffic is FAST), though we do use a few miles of it to get to the start of Sugarloaf and Magnolia roads.

We have never ridden Coal Creek Canyon (hmmm...).

And until this year, we had never ridden Rist Canyon. The closest we got included use riding up Stove Prairie Road, not knowing where we were, and turning around right at the Junction to Rist Canyon Road.

I like new things. Very much. Especially new experiences. Needless to say, I was EXCITED to ride up Rist Canyon. When the day arrived, however, it was less than ideal. I was up before 2 am to go in to work and assist in a critical process step on the production floor. I thought I might be home by 3 or 4 am and get some more sleep, but it was after 5 am before I did get home, so we decided to eat and get rolling (this low sleep may have contributed to the forgotten helmets....). Then the wind started howling. By the time we dropped off the last Horsetooth dam and hit Bellvue it was whipping out of the West. Which meant a headwind as we climbed up the canyon. The canyon starts pretty narrow and twisty. And you climb up. After a while you think you might be nearing the top as you pass a side road on the left with ~50,000 mailboxes at its mouth. And you keep climbing up. Up a bit further the road shifts left and the surface changes and it rougher (chip seal?). Still not the top. Still climbing up. Then you pass the Christmas tree farm, a U-cut place. And keep climbing. Then it seems to open up a tad, you start to go down hill (what the heck?), and if you are lucky, the gale-force winds are now drifting snow across the road in drifts that extend past the centerline. Then it actually starts snowing! Still you climb up, past fancy ranches, past hand-hewn log fences, up through steep swichback. Onward you climb. I gave up multiple times (there were too many false tops for my wind-frazzled, sleep deprived psyche) and was a pile of mush when we did crest the top. A quick pee in the bushes and well-earned Snickers bar (Almond, yum!) righted my spirits and we remounted our bikes for the fun descent down Stove Prairie Road to finish the loop back to Masonville. Then we retraced our path from the morning, battling the wind the whole way back. Once at the car we skipped the planned run in favor of sleep. The run was only an hour and the wind had extended our bike more than that amount of time past what we intended, anyways (all for a mere 102 miles!).

Then a few weeks ago (June 19th, to be exact), we met our friend Karl to ride this route again. This time we climbed up Stove Prairie Road and descended Rist Canyon. My whole mood towards this place changed (Stove Prairie has been my favorite road to ride from home ever since the first time on it, but Rist Canyon was too brutal for me to do much more than shudder each time I thought of it). It was so green up there! We intended a 6 h ride, but had a beautiful, tail-wind assisted ride up Stove Prairie that got us up to our turnaround point much faster than anticipated, and it was cool and green and we did not want to leave, so we continued on to Rist Canyon to make a loop out of it. Going down was FUN and very fast (20 minutes, not the 2+ hours we climbed in April). The whole ride was grand, simply grand. I will conceed that that may be partly due to the Karl-supertrain that pulled us back to Longmont from the Conoco station on Highway 34 in ~1 h. I just tucked in behind in my aerobars (I never draft in the aerobars, but...) and Karl was so smooth, steady, and straight that I felt safe and fast. I like going 23-25 mph with ~ 120 watts of effort!

The canyons here are beautiful and challenging, and make for some great biking.

-A

E's Quick Update

2010-06-16T05:28:00.005-06:00

Where to start? Well, A gave a brief update a week ago. Since then, we had a nice evening out on the town for our anniversary, had a soggy weekend of training, and nicer weather for the work week.

Over the weekend, our plans changed as biking the Flagstaff, S
ugarloaf, and Magnola route again didn't seem like the best idea in the rain. Instead, we got a run, shorter bike, and a swim in. A and I sharing the wall lane while swimming wasn't the best idea as we clobbered each other, but only once. The run and the bike weren't too bad in the light rain.

On Sunday, we met up Jennica and Luis from our bike team and headed out to do some shorter (but still steep) climbs around Boulder. Lee Hill/Deer Trail, Jamestown, Olde Stage (backside), Wagon Wheel, and the start of Sunshine. We had off and on rain
until Sunshine when it finally stopped for good (still no sunshine though). At one point, I commented on how I felt like I belonged on a poster like one of those soaked kittens with a cute saying...

After the ride, A and I went for a little run and then the infamous all you can eat pasta at Gondo. It had been years since we had gone there for it (first time at latest location) and although it is good pasta, we won't be back until we forget again the pain afterwards. Actually, I wasn't too bad as I couldn't put down as many rounds as A.

The weather turned for the better after all of our workouts were done and by the work week it was pretty nice. We got in a nice little ride last night that was a bit rough on the lungs and legs. It was a new one to us and I'm guessing Jared had fun dreaming it up.

Looking forward, we've got a bit of a long run this evening on tap and nice looking weather for the weekend. After that, a weekend in Wyoming for a bike race. And then more Ironman training. And more Ironman training. And more... sorry, you get the idea.

Peace Out,

We are alive ..... just very busy

2010-06-09T14:14:00.002-06:00

It has been awhile, sorry! Here is a quick recap:

Hugo (bicycle) Road Race: Hot, windy, and not such a great day for either Rydholm. We both got dropped from our race packs before the first water stop at mile 40 and got to solo the rest of the race (78 mi total). I rarely use the word, but this race, this year, was Epic. Definitely a character builder and fitness enhancer, though.

Superior Morgul Classic (bicycle omnium): this was 3 days of racing over Memorial Day Weekend. It was interesting. The first day was the street sprints. I advanced to the seeding heats, then pulled a rookie mistake and started that heat in my small chain ring and was under powered. In the consolation round (final heat) I finished last for 10th place (2 no-shows, point went 12 deep). E had even worse luck and broke his chain in the first few pedal strokes. He never even got to cross the finish line, which was a huge bummer. Saturday was the crit. I had an OK race and got to play around with riding around in circles in the pack. I did some things well, some things less well, and learned a lot, ending 9th at the tail of the pack sprint finish. There were some strong, fast women racing! E had a bigger field to contend with, and ended up getting lapped by the leaders about half way through, which ended his race. Sunday was the return of the Morgul-Bismark road race after a long hiatus. I raced 2 loops of the 13 mi course, E raced 3 loops. I made a move the first of 3 times up The Wall and got away with 2 other racers, but could not hold their pace on the backside of the loop and was soon riding solo in 3rd. Then the chase pack caught me with ~1/2 lap to go, and I ended up at the back of the sprint pack up The Wall the final time for the finish, ending in 8th. Each race earned us points in the omnium, where I placed 7th. E laid down a solid effort, but lost the pack in there somewhere and ended up tired and cold. Our planned 1:20 hill run was delayed waiting over 2 h for results (and protest period) and was eventually postponed until early on Monday (Memorial Day) morning.

Memorial Day: Awesome run up and down Left Hand Canyon, Olde Stage, and Red Hills Drive. Awesome breakfast of homemade yeasted waffles, awesome massage with Katie, and fun BBQ at Tate and Paola's.

Last weekend: A Boulder cycling tradition on Saturday: Flagstaff, Sugarloaf, and Magnolia. Mountains-1, A-0 (E beat the mountains, I did not. Ouch.) Then yard work, and a yummy home made dinner of hand made (homemade) pasta and shrimp. Sunday was a run, bike, swim and another yummy home made dinner.

Garden: Holy lettuce! I was a bit ambitious this spring during planting, I guess. We are eating well now.... lots of yummy salad. EVERY NIGHT. We have spinach, chard, a spicy blend, and black sampson (like a green leaf, this one is very prolific). I thought we could not get lettuce to grow in our beds, boy was I wrong.

Cottonwoods: it is time. They (seeds/fluff) are everywhere. It looks like it snowed in our yard. And the car gets dripped on with a watery sap, then the fluff sticks to that, making for a furry car. Classy. I may give up on vacuuming for a while, but I'm not sure I can stomach the results.

Roof: needs new shingles. Let the bidding begin! We are currently getting quotes, and then we'll get to see what happens when we pick a contractor.

Anniversary: Yeah! 9 years as Rydholms, ~13.5 as the A & E show. Wow! and yipee!

Return of the Hugo

2010-05-21T09:21:00.002-06:00

Bike Wars and The Hub Strikes Back were other considerations for the title. Tomorrow will be the second time that A and I head out east and do the Hugo Road Race.

The first time was back in 2005 and it our first road bike race. Back then, we had these silly notions that a long road race (~65 miles (The course is longer this time at 78 miles. )) would be easy, since we were triathletes. This was even before we started doing Ironmans, so our longest time spent on a bike while racing was 56 miles. We didn't really know that a strong sustained output means very little when you are in the middle of a pack. Fortunately, we were used to riding with packs, but not packs that go very slow for a while and very fast the next moment. Anyways, getting ahead of myself.

So, we drove to Hugo, get our numbers, warmed up a bit and headed our separate ways (don't remember who started first). Since we weren't on a bike team, I felt a bit surrounded by all the team kits.

The race started and everyone settled in for the first bit at a pretty mellow pace. I at least knew to ride in the first part of the pack in case it split. What I didn't know is how easy it is to move from the front of the pack to the back of the pack, if you're not paying attention. I swear I went from 20th place (good) to 85th place (not good) in about 5 minutes. 85th wouldn't be all that bad if the pace was steady, but we had a nice accordion effect going on over every little rise. At one point we went by a crash that had occurred in the one of the groups in front of us.

I think I was able to move up a bit before the first turn, but it didn't matter much as I was not ready for the sudden acceleration up the first decent sized hill that occurred there. Instantly, I was losing ground. By the top, I was able to get up to better speed and started gaining on the main group. A few riders were able to get on my wheel and after a bit we started working together towards the group.

And then, the back of my bike started making bad sounds with lots of friction. I stopped and tried to figure out if I had broken a spoke. Nope, the spokes were fine, but three of them had come out of the cracked hub. I looked at my computer and realize I was half way into the race course, lovely. I also hadn't seen the follow car (which had stopped for the earlier crash). So, I started walking. About 10 to 15 minutes later, the follow car came up and I was able to get another wheel. With the new wheel, I headed back by myself, getting passed occasionally by other groups. Felt pretty lonely. I ended up 90th out of 92nd, so much for being a studly triathlete.

A ended up 10th out of 20 or so. She dropped chain at the first corner and lost the main group on the climb.

Now (five years later), we're headed back to Hugo. A little bit faster and a little bit wiser. Still expect to suffer, but hopefully no broken hubs this time.

Peace Out,
E

Deer Trail Road Race report

2010-05-18T10:37:00.003-06:00

This last Sunday, I did something a little crazy: I did a bike race only 2 weeks after an ironman. In my defense, the plan was to get in about a 2 hour ride of moderate intensity anyways, I figured I could sign up for the race, ride in the pack, and work for my team mates as needed, either pulling, attacking, or blocking.

There were 6 of us SW4 (senior women, category 4, beginners) racing for GS Boulder Trek. Four of us live in Boulder. I have a station wagon that fits 4 people and a rack on top that can take 4 bikes, so I volunteered to drive. The plan was for the other 3 to all meet at Tasha's house, I would pick them up there, and we would roll out at 6 am since we had ~1.5 h to drive and an early start time. I have been avoiding coffee to try and fix any potential problems with not sleeping after my IM St. George race week was so out of whack, but decided to have a travel-mug's worth today since it was a race. Good call! E makes the BEST coffee, it was perfect. It made the early timing of our plan seem very manageable.

The plan got a little interesting when I was ~5 min late (still the first to Tasha's house), then discovered that the 4th bike tray on the roof rack was stuck and didn't want to secure latch onto the last bike we were loading. We had just gotten a new tool kit for the car, but it was still so new it was zip-tied shut. Then as Tasha was getting me the kitchen sheers to work on the zip-tie removal, Ninety, the cat, escaped from the house and hid under the neighbor's car. The three of them coaxed Ninety out with some string and a few cat toys while I "persuaded" the skewer lever to turn and tighten with a crescent wrench. Then we loaded up and rolled out, only ~10 min later than planned.

As we left Boulder, Tasha called Jacqui, who we were meeting at the next exit. She was driving solo to the race and we figured we could send one of us over to ride with her to enliven the ride. Soon were were pulling into the Conoco station, our meeting place. Jacqui was not there yet, so I topped off the gas (I had this weird sensation that we were driving way out into the boonies and should have a full tank of gas to start the trip). Still no Jacqui. Virg ran in to use the restroom. Still no Jacqui. I went to use the restroom. Still no Jacqui. Shortly after that, though, she rolled up, we redistributed passengers, and we were off. The rest of the drive was uneventful.

Once we got into Deer Trail, we followed the signs to race parking, then snagged two spots on the street, right up-road from the start line. A foot race for the two porta-potties ensued between Tasha and Virg, but neither won as both potties were occupied. I was the last of our group over to the toilets and by the time I got there, there was quite a line. It was moving slowly, so I ended up standing there for about 20 minutes. A query of the other racers informed us that there were more toilets a few blocks away at registration, but only another 2, so I hung out in line. I was getting ancy though, I still had to register, pin my jersey, dress, spin out the legs some and try to warm-up, and get to the start line early.

I eventually made it to the toilet, was quite productive thanks to the long wait, threw on my kit, quickly got through registration, pinned both my numbers on with ease, and discovered I had no race socks, just pre- and post-race socks (long, wool). Our parking neighbor lent me a pair (what a sweety, thanks Jen, you are a great stranger-turned-new friend). Then I threw on some sunscreen and headed to the start area, there had not been time to warm up! Ugg.

At the start, we rolled through town (about 3 bocks, including one 90 degree turn), bopped under the interstate, then headed out to the course. The course is a big L-shape and we were riding the bottom line of the L first heading East, then turn back and do the back of the L heading North, then turn back and repeat the bottom of the L, ending about 4 miles from the corner of the L after a third 180 degree turn around. All of it is pretty good road surface, but filled with rolling hills. And it is open prairie, so there can be great wind out there too.

E raced here last year and told me that his group still was in a big pack at the first 180 degree turn, causing him to have to slow enough for the turn that he had to unclip from a pedal. He warned us to try and be at the front for that first turn to avoid the same thing from happening. Jacqui and Lorna took that to heart and made a small break from the pack once we got out on the main roads. The pack let them go for a bit. I was sitting dead center from front to back and tucked away on the right. Soon I was ancy to get closer to the front so I could cover any attacks and see how everyone was riding. I had no thought of getting to the front of the pack with my girls up there off the front, but I also wanted to be up closer to the front and where it was more open and safer. Soon a small gap appeared on my left and I merged into the middle line, then again out to the left when a slot opened. With a bit more work, I was sitting 3rd row back on the left - perfect. We had a slight tailwind and were rolling along nicely.

There was a solo attack that we let go. She was soon absorbed back into the pack, and Jacqui and Lorna remained in front. Then a girl from Pro Design moved and the leaders moved to cover. Before long, we caught the two GS Boulder girls out front, but they seamlessly swung into our group. We rolled along. Somewhere before the first turn the pack split and I was in a group of 10-15 (we had a field of 53 starters) at the front. Our group would change leaders, some of the taller and bigger girls were naturally coming forward on the down hills and the better climbers would lead the uphills. I took a few pulls at the front to do my share, but was not in the mood to do too much work yet. Then when the first turn came in sight, I put in a bit more effort and made it to the turn first for a nice, clean swing around the orange traffic cone.

I looked over my shoulder and realized I had intentionally dropped the pack coming out of the turn. We were now going down hill so I soft pedaled and let them catch me. I did not want to do too much work yet, and we had a bit of a headwind in front of us. As we rolled onward, I tried to pull, then back off. I found myself working on the front more than I wanted, but the legs felt pretty good, so I went with it. After one of the harder uphills, Jacqui rolled up on my left and asked how I was doing. I felt pretty toasted at that exact moment from the small climb we had just summitted, but I panted out "I'm doing OK" and we rolled on.

The bit right before the corner of the L is a false flat that is actually downhill. I was pulling here and very aware of the fact that we were going pretty slow. I felt good, and no one wanted to come around as the wind was shifting to the north and I was providing a great block to anyone wanting to echelon off my rear wheel. To minimize this, I was riding right in the very middle of the road, but there was chatter of feeling great and not having to work going on behind me. I figured I'd pull to the corner, get through that cleanly, then let the others take their turns (I had just been in front for my "turn").

We made the turn and I tried to fall back. This sort of worked, but I was always near the front somehow. I was good at finding excellent draft pockets, though, even off of the tiny girls, and I used them fully. Then, as we rolled along with no-one really committed to working and trying to keep the pace up, I glanced over my shoulder and saw that the follow car was right behind us, and behind them was a chase pack of another 10-15 girls. We were about to get caught. Virg was in this group and it sounds like she had then echeloning and working together as champs. She soon rolled to the front of our group and tried to get the same system working, but either no one got it, or no one cared enough to take their turn and the front and use the power of the group to battle the leftish headwind (NNW) that was slowing us down. It was a bit unorganized.

I took a self evaluation and realized I felt good, I was riding strong, and I might have a shot at placing well by the finish. So much for helping out a team mate for this race! Sorry guys. I began to plot where/when I should make my move to try and drop the field. I knew my advantage would be in a longer lead out rather than a field sprint, so I figured I should go somewhere before the last 90 degree turn and last out-n-back, so with about 13-15 miles to go or so.

As I mused on this more, we rolled up to the second (of 3) 180 degree turns and I executed it the same way as before, only this time I put my head down, stood up, and made a small surge before the turn to get some clean space on the road to do the turn.

A glance over the shoulder after the turn told me I had a gap, and in a split second I decided to go for it and see if I could hold this all the way to the finish. A few things told me this might just work: 1) I felt really, really, good and had been able to cover any moves made already by the girls in the race, 2) we now had a tailwind, so riding in the pack became a smaller advantage to me being out front solo, 3) they were NOT organized, 4) I had Jacqui and Virg in the pack and knew they would not work to catch me, 5) I had 20-22 miles to go, that is about an hour of hard riding, I can do that! I was also testing them to see if they would try and work together and chase or let me go. If they caught me, then the game would change, but if they didn't, I was free to ride hard, stomp the hills, use my weight on the downhills, corner cleanly, and hope to high heaven that I did not blow up.

One girl did bridge up to me, but the pack seemed to let us go. I pulled her for a while, then she took a pull, then I went to pull again and dropped her. She was breathing very, very hard, so I let her go. The draft had been nice, but waiting for her would only get me caught. I used the hills and tailwind fully and tried to find a line with less bumps (this was the only bumpy section of the course). I also knew that the finish would be into a cross-head wind, so I tried to save something back for that section, where the pack would have an advantage on a solo rider.

All was well until about 2 miles before the last 180 degree turn when I saw another solo rider approaching. She caught me quickly and then just kept going. I was fading slightly , missed her wheel, and she was gone. She did re-light my fire, though, and I stepped on the gas and tore it up to the finish. In then end, I was ~1.5 minutes back from the winner and another ~1 minute in front of third. Two more small packs (4th through 7th, then 8th through 11th) rolled in about 1.5 minutes later. Virg ended 8th, Jacqui was 13th, and Tasha, Lorna, and Janey were back a bit further. All in all, it was a great day for GS Boulder SW4s and GS Boulder overall (another 2nd and 8th in the SW1-2 and a win in the SM4).

We rolled back into town, changed into dry clothes, checked results, picked up awards (3 random bottles of beer and a single Lara Bar), and tried to get milkshakes at the Dairy Hut, but they were closed. We wanted to support the town for hosting the race, but weren't up for waiting for Brick Oven Pizza, so we hit the grocery section at the gas station then headed back to Boulder.

Once I dropped everyone off, it was time to start thinking about our second, easy ride for the day. E and I spun up to Niwot and then out onto 95th. It was a great evening ride, the mountains were gorgeous and from up there you get a great view, and the legs needed an easy spin.

We had been planning an easy spin into town to check out a new pizza restaurant, Basta, but decided to BBQ some chicken at home instead and then go out on Monday night. This was a good call since Basta is currently closed on Sunday's, according to their website. In the end it was a great idea, though, very, very yummy! We'll be back, and next time it will likely be by bike.

-A

Race Report Follow Up

2010-05-12T15:50:00.003-06:00

Hi. I forgot a few things yesterday. Here goes.....

Thanks!

Thank you to those who read this blog! Your interest and support is priceless. Thank you to my parents and to Sunny, the first two phone calls I got after finishing. It was great to talk to you 3 and share some thoughts and feelings while they were still fresh. Thanks for your love, your support, your belief in me (and E), and your understanding at how silly I must have sounded after nearly 12 hours of movement. Thanks to my two sisters, too, who were interested all along the way and kept me grounded in reality with your phone calls, emails, and facebook updates. Thank you to E, my love, my biggest fan, my supporter, and my training partner. It was neat to share another IM (training and the race) with you.

Thanks to coach J for keeping us focused and getting us to a May 1 IM after a snowier-than-normal winter, while keeping us challenged, and full of joy at the lifestyle this sport has given to us. Thanks to Kerrie for the neoprene caps: no ice cream headache for us during the swim. Thanks to Wolfgang and Curt (and my awesome lanemates) for good challenging swims every week. Thanks to Izzy-dog, a great run partner.

Things that went well:

Clothing/shoes/gear: I wore my new 2XU tri shorts and Oomph top (lots of compliments on the green stripes during the run) and they worked great all day. Full sleeve wetsuit (duh!) and neoprene cap (little bit of neck chafage from one of these, but not noticeable until the day after), speedo vanquisher goggles: all worked flawlessly. Regular bike shoes with toe covers and smartwool socks (slower than tri shoes, but my bike shoes are more comfy and that mattered for a 112 mi ride), aerohelmet, big Rudy Project sunglasses (the mono-lens, but good optics and wind protection), cheap socks as arm warmers, knee warmers, and gloves: I was bundled up and less aero, but never overheated nor got too cold, I was just ready to get down to work and ride my bike. I shed the gloves, arm and knee warmers, and changed socks for the run. I also wore my Nike Lunar Glides (training shoe, not racing flat, but a good call with the pounding downhills on that course). Visor, fresh sunglasses, and fuel belt and I was ready to rock the run. I really liked having my hands free as I often carry a hand-strapped water bottle for water and ice if it is hot.

Bike: my bike (Javelin Lugano) rocks right now! It fits well, rides solid and fast, and is comfortable. I was geared well for the climbing and was able to descend in the crosswinds with no issues. All thanks to the great fit from Ryan Ignatz and Colorado Multisport! Wheels were 50 mm rims, no disc and rode well on that course.

Peeing: It is an ironman, it happens. I peed once in the water before the start, once during the swim, 4 times on the bike, and once while running. Now you know.... And now you know why all volunteers wear disposable gloves at an ironman.

The finish line: crossing it is amazing (a bit of a blur this year, but very satisfying), but coming back to it after a shower and some food and watching the people who finish near midnight is awesome. I always get very excited for them and a bit emotional at the whole experience. This time was no exception.

Nutrition: Carbopro-nuun (concentrate) for calories, water on the bike and run courses, and some addition of nuun (regular concentration) to my front aerobottle during the bike. 2-3 salt capsules on the run and one cup of Gatorade with less than 3 miles to run. Worked the best yet of anything I have tried, but there is some room for improvement here....

Things that still need work:

Nutrition: Despite following practiced timing for water and calories, I still had a bit of a sloshy/gasy tummy at the end of the bike and start of the run. This held me up a bit every now and then as my run pace slowed to allow me to maintain control of my innards without using a porta-potty for a pit stop. It all ended well on that count, but I want to run without the water-belly someday. It is just weird to hear yourself sloshing. Weird. I also want to not gain multiple pounds during an ironman. Yup, MULTIPLE pounds. This time it was only 5.5, not the 8 I saw at the last two IM Canadas and IM AZ (April 2008), but that is extra weight to lug around AND calories/water that is not getting to my muscles. I was getting into a bonk the last 2+ miles of the run, yet I had gained a little weight during the day. My stomach was acting as gate keeper and had decided to close down that boarder crossing for the day. I have tried everything osmotically possible to keep it processing fuel and fluids, and was regularly peeing throughout the race (a good sign of progress), yet I still was fighting this frustrating problem. After I finish an ironman, things start to work again and I will have to pee every 30 minutes until my system is back to normal (a few hours, normally). This year I was back to normal sooner, but still, I need to figure this out and fix it. Any thoughts? Anyone? I'm doing about 200-250 kcal per hour with ~24-30 oz of fluids (normal strength nuun mostly or straight water) on the bike, same calories with 1-2 cups water at each run aid station. This is not excessive.

Race anxiety: I'll be honest, I think I'm fixing this, but I'm not so sure that is true. I never, ever had a problem with this until I was doing my second IM in 2007 at age 29. I have been racing since middle school and at a high level since high school and college with no problems. In 2002 I raced age group worlds in Cancun, no problem. Since 2007, all "big and important" races will cause me a moment (or longer) of panic. I am sure that is why my sleep was disrupted for so many nights before the race this year. I even slept poorly our last night at home before our trip even started. This time the whole thing was subtler than some of my full-blown panic attacks of the past, but it was VERY annoying, seemed to streach on FOREVER, and was not conducive to good race prep. Self-talk of "it is just a race" and "getting nervous only makes it worse" and "RELAX!" did not change anything, not for a moment. Any help on this one from blog-land? How do I get my confidence in check (and not get cocky) so I can keep from being my own worst enemy?

OK, I knew I forgot a few things yesterday as soon as I hit "publish post" but I think that's all for now. Let me know if you have any suggestions for my "needs improvement" items...

-A

A's race report: IM UT 2010

2010-05-11T16:05:00.001-06:00

Where to start? After all, this is an ironman race report, and an ironman is a fairly epic day. Then again, it is also just a race (sorry, just started to read Three Cups of Tea and it is hard to take a silly race to seriously with that as a counter reference). Anyways...... I'll make this a race report to me, again, so I can continue the learning process.

This race I have had trouble sleeping, and only got one good, solid, over-7-hour night of sleep in the 5 nights before the race. I was feeling fresh and fairly rested, but was slightly unnerved by this unusual turn of events. It is something I'd like to prevent in the future, and may even consider OTC sleeping pills if it happens again. Normally, once my head hits the pillow, I'm sweetly dreaming nearly instantly.

Race Morning:
Anyways, when the alarm went off at 3:30, I was not as fast to rise as I might be with better sleep, but soon I was dressing in my chosen race apparel, sloshing on the first layer of sunscreen, and donning my warm, warm, warm warm-ups while downing some instant oatmeal, coffee, and apple juice. I pocketed a large banana and a peanut butter packet, and grabbed my transition bag, which was already loaded for the 4 drop-offs I needed to make: special needs bike, special needs run, T2, and stuff for T1. Luckily, I also remembered to stuff my wetsuit in there the night before, it had almost been left neatly hanging in the closet.

We got onto our school bus, got a seat together near the front, then were moving out into the dark morning on the ride out to Sand Hallow State Park. I was a bit wound up and the chatter of the other passengers was making me a bit nervous, but soon the bright lights of the transition area came into view and we were unloading into the cold morning air. Bathroom, air in tires, bottles/fuel on bike, more sunscreen (including sharing some with a QT2 girl and Beth) and it was time to shimmy into the wetsuit and drop off the morning clothes bag. Then we joined the other racers and moved towards the beach.

As soon as we were able (shortly after the pro start) E and I waded into the chilly water and swam a few strokes away from shore. It was cold, but we soon adjusted and swam some more to further acclimatize and warm up. By the time we had 5 minutes to go, we moved to the second row of starters, all the way out to the left, by the blue kayak. All was well until the guy next to me decided to tread water using a breast-stroke kick and clobbered me with every whip of his feet, I moved left and avoided him. Then the cannon fired and we were off.

The swim: 1:06:14
The course was a counter-clockwise rectangle. My swim was uneventful for the first two sides of the course, but then I seemed to want to veer right (outside of the race course) on the 3rd side. There was also a light chop here coming from the front/right side during this section. By the time I was nearing the island we swam around I had to pee, but try as I might that did not seem likely to happen. Then, as I rounded the island and was leaving it for shore, I was finally able to find some relief, and warmth in my suit, as my bladder relaxed enough to empty itself.

T1: 6:29
Up the carpeted boat ramp, through the wet suit peelers, grabbed my bag, and fast baby steps on my Popsicle feet into the women's change tent. It was already crowded! I glanced at my watch somewhere in between setting out my socks, shoes (already wearing their toe covers), helmet, and glasses and saw 1:11. SLOW! Oh, well, time to try and force the tight knee and arm warmers onto my wet skin and get moving. I got a volunteer to help in the tug of war with my clothing and she even helped me don my full-fingered gloves before I stuffed my feet into my bike shoes, clipped on my number belt, and tossed the aerohelmet and sunglasses onto my head. Then I was running toward my bike. The volunteer there to grab it for me was not ready, but since I was the first bike on the rack, right by the isle, I just grabbed it myself and kept moving. After the mount line I tried a flying mount (practiced all fall during cyclocross) but only managed to knock off my rear water bottle, which I needed for later on. I retrieved the potential escapee, mounted successfully, and rode onward.

The bike: 6:25:38
I got on the bike and started to motor. I felt good, but very chilly in my still-wet race top and shorts. I was safely and legally passing lots of people, and trying to get in some liquids. Soon I found my rhythm and we were out of the park and onto the roads into Hurricane. I tried to settle in and find a strong steady pace since were were in for a nice hard bike ride and I wanted a chance at a good run afterwards. E passed me while we were on the frontage road to I-15 at about mile 20 of the bike (right before starting to climb up Red rocks Parkway). This was earlier than expected, but I had a slower-than-normal swim, so I tried to not let it get in my head and just tried to keep him in sight along with a girl from my age group that had just passed me and was keeping speed with him. They slowly pulled away from me, though, and soon I could not spot E's race suit up ahead. She would come back to me, he did not. Onward we motored.

I was fueling well and my the aid station in Santa Clara I was dropping bottles and picking up water to fill my front bottle and mix into the rotation with my concentrated nuun-carbopro solution. By the time we were passing the village on the Indian reservation I had to pee again, and luckily there is a downhill right after that where I was able to do so.

The remainder of the first loop and the entire second loop were not too eventful. I survived the 4 cattle guard crossings in each loop, picked up a bottle, or two, of water at all but one aid station each loop, took in the right amount of calories every 30 min, got warmer, got chilly, got warmer again, did not grab my special needs bag, and bombed that lovely downhill as fast as I could. We did not race on the disc wheels, and that was likely a good call with the crosswinds on the decent, but the rest of the course could have gone either way, nothing was very, very steep or excessively bumpy (I did not like the bumpy patched sections, but they were no worse than CO-36 between Boulder and Lyons). The most interesting parts were 1) when an older male racer passed me going uphill and exclaimed "you make the scenery even better," 2) climbing the steep, but short, hill after Gunlock and having another racer say "this must be the wall" to which I replied "Oh no, no, no, just wait, the wall is loooonger," and 3) looking at my Garmin at one point and trying to do math which had me figuring on being lucky to break 8 hours on the bike (I biked slow, but not THAT slow).

T2: 3:33
The end came quicker than I expected and I ended up leaving my shoes on my feet and running with them into the change tent. My volunteer was awesome. I tried to pick up my bag of gear as I was running through the isles of transition bags, but she already had it and carried it for me into the change area. I forgot to take off the knee warmers before tying my shoes but was able to bunch them up and get them off in one quick motion. I decided to run in my training shoes (Nike Lunar Glides) and to tie the normal laces rather than using elastic race laces because they fit better and don't move that way. I grabbed my visor, fresh sunglasses, fuel belt with one concentrated bottle of carbopro-nuun, and ditched the heart rate monitor and strap since they weren't reading and since I didn't want them for the run. Then I was off and running.

The run: 3:58:36
I had some goals for the run: run the whole thing (no walking), nutrition (and no potty stops), and set a PR. I did all 3! I also wanted to run between 3:30 and 3:40, that did not happen this time, but I gained some major confidence which will roll with me into the next race where I hope to tackle this last goal. I started out thinking of light feet and finding a rhythm for the first 2 miles. Then I just kept plugging away. At the turn around on the first loop, I felt good, and just focused on holding steady back into town and running, not shuffling. I was hot most of the first loop and grabbed plenty of ice-cold sponges at every aid station and drank a cup or two of water at each, too.

At the ~11 mile mark, as I was heading into the Ford Inspirational Mile for the first time up in the golf course parking lot, Sully (Eric Sullivan) passed me on his way to the finish (and an AG overall win) and proclaimed "today, we are LIONS!" With that thought in my head, I soldiered on, strong and fierce.

As I moved through special needs at ~12.9 miles, I grabbed another fuel belt bottle and left the extra clothes. At the halfway point, you swing intoxicatingly close to the finish line as you run a circle around a round-about in the road, then you head back out for lap 2. All was proceeding as planned, and a quick glance at the watch told me that if I held the same pace, I'd break 4 h and PR for the run. With that happy thought, I found my focus and began to slay the final lap of my marathon and my ironman. It hurt. A lot. There were times when my sloshy stomach slowed me a bit, but as soon as I could, I picked it back up. And my body, and mind, let me do it this time. I started to get COLD and stopped taking sponges. I considered the chicken broth, just for warmth, but passed that up in fear of botching my still-working-just-fine-thank-you-very-much nutrition. I passed a lot of people out there, and was passed myself by faster racers, too. I saw E, Beth, many of the women's pro field, Sandy Cranny, and offered encouragement and cheers where I could. And I focused. I knew I was moving much slower than I had hoped for, but I was moving, and did not stop once, not one step, to walk and let my tummy settle. I ended up taking in 2-3 salt pills between miles 18 and 23 as I noticed some crusty residue on my clothes, and I felt good, just tired and sore up until mile 24, then I was getting really cold, tingly, and my arms got stiff and my hands stopped working.

Just before mile 24 I grabbed a cup of Gatorade, then nothing more for nutrition until after the finish line. The turn and hill up to the loop in the golf course parking lot was not too bad the last time through, but the decent back to Diagonal Road and the long straight away to Main Street were PAINFUL. I was progressing to zombie status and knew I needed to get to that finish as fast as possible. I was glad Diagonal road was all a gentle downhill and I tried to pick up my feet and float down hill as fast as I could. The turn onto Main Street was blissfully sweet as the finish line was now in sight and the grade became steeper, almost letting the road propel me there with no more effort required. As I headed into the finish chute, I pumped my fist twice in triumph of a race executed as planned. What JOY!

Total: 11:40:30
After crossing the finish line, all I wanted was a massage. My lower calves were trashed and my back was uber-tight. My catchers asked for my t-shirt size and I said "small" which has worked 5 times before, but this time they were giving out synthetic-fabric shirts that are sized smaller than the normal cotton ones and a small is really, really, really small. I think it is women-specific in cut, so I should probably have a large. This one might be going to my nearly 2-year-old niece for dress-up, as it won't fit on any adult I know. Then I walked on towards massage and food. I got on the massage list and grabbed two pieces to cold pizza (I thought it would be hot, it was not, ugg). Then I spotted E and I melted. The day was done. I was tired to the core (and wondering how all my gear was getting back to our hotel, a mere 3 -4 blocks away).

We eventually made it to the hotel, dropped our stuff off (and made a mini-tornado in our room, at least that is what the evidence suggested), showered, and headed to Nielsens for Frozen custard Concretes before they closed. Best. Post-race. Food. EVER. Especially the chocolate-almond concrete (like a DQ blizzard, but WAY better). Then we headed back to the hotel and I napped lightly while E puffy-panted in the NormaTec MVP.

He told me I was 7th in my age group, less than 12 min out of third, and I started to get sad. Could I have gone harder? Should I have biked faster? Could I have "given it" more on the run? Luckily, I have one more chance to go for it at Lake Placid in July.

It has been over a week now and my recovery is going well. I bounced back faster than average for every-day-feeling-good kind of activities, but still detect an endurance cap on my run and cycle fitness. My swim is going well (maybe even faster than before the race?) and the run/bike are coming around, I just feel no need (nor have any need) to go very fast right now, at least for another few days.

And that, my friends, summarizes my race pretty well, right down to the after-effects of elation, then self doubt, then motivation to go "no holds barred" and give it my all at Lake Placid in a few (10.5, but who's counting) weeks.

Finally, St. George was a great town, with great people, for an Ironman. We have planned to take a break from Ironman for a bit after 2010, but both agreed that we would be willing to race here again. It was fair, hard course, and we both felt that we have some unfinished business with the course and want another chance at the challenge it offers.

E's IMSTGUT race report

2010-05-04T13:01:00.003-06:00

First off, everything on the 5287 different things you could buy with the IM logo on it called the race Ironman St George Utah. So, IMSTGUT seems like a good acronym for the race.

Leading up to the race, the weather forecast looked great. Barely no winds (<10 mph) and a high temp in the mid 60's. Honestly, I was hoping for snow to freeze all of those from warmer states.

Pre-race went pretty well. We got up especially early due to the required bus ride out to the swim start and had breakfast in our room although our motel started their breakfast at 4 am just for the race. We then walked the couple of blocks from our motel to the buses. The bus ride was mellow and we had plenty of time to get the tires pumped up and the sunscreen on.

Once the pro's went off, A and I headed into the water although we first had to break through the ice. Okay, it wasn't that cold, but it cold enough that I needed a few minutes to get my breathing to be normal. We waded out towards the start line and could see a lot of people hanging out on land. We could barely hear the announcer but the 15 minutes between the two start seemed to take about 30. Eventually, we got a warning that the start was imminent.

Swim: 1:09:55
The swim started pretty brutally, but that is to be expected. In a couple of minutes though, it cleared up around me. I enjoyed that for about another minute until it got very congested again. That was the general theme for the first half of the swim. The worst was when somebody's watch or something cut my foot. Fortunately my foot was half numb from the cold and it didn't hurt much later, but it still hurt like hell at the time. Also got a good kick to the goggles, but was luckily a glancing blow. Sighting to the first turn was pretty easy, but then we turned directly into the rising sun. That section was pretty short and then we turned onto the longest section. Felt pretty good for the first part of that section, but then got into a funk. My goggles started giving me a headache, my head was too hot, my feet were too cold, etc. Made my way past the island and to the final turn. I tried to start kicking more, but having numb feet didn't help much. Got out and saw the timing sign say 1:24 or something. I really hoped that it was still on the pro's time (which it was). So, another 1:09:XX swim. 415th place for the swim suggests that it was a "slow" swim since I have been in the 600's or 700's for similar times at Canada. Going to the excel spreadsheet shows that A has been 268th for the swim at IM AZ '08 with a 1:03:11, 261th at IM CA '08 with a 1:03:35, and 236th at IM CA '09 with a 1:01:3
and 263th at IMSTGUT with a 1:06:14. I'm going to stick with it was a slow swim.

T1: 6:39
That was one crowded change tent. Putting on disposable arm-warmers (cheap socks from Target with the toes cut out) was slow, but handy.

Bike: 6:03:48
The bike starts with a nice little cruise back into town. I passed a lot of people and got passed by some people. I was surprised to see A on the way into town, but she said that she had a bad swim. The last thing you can do on the first 25 miles of the race is fall asleep. The road is bumpy, there are about 72 turns and the speed differentials between the riders made it pretty interesting. Once out of town and onto the country roads, I settled into my pace. The road surfaces on the climb were pretty bad, but the scenery and varied slopes were good distractions. On the steep little climb up the reservoir, I noticed one guy really struggling to get any turn over and informed him that he was still in his big ring. His reply was "Just trying to stretch out the legs." Yeah, right. At the pie shop, we got a nice little tailwind and much better roads. At the volcano, we got a nice little downhill. The crosswinds kept me pedaling for increased stability (hit 49.8 mph at one point).

Got back into town to start the second loop and felt some soreness in the legs, so I decided to back it off a notch for the second loop. I think the winds picked up a bit, but still wasn't too bad. The second loop went by very similar to the first except the field was even more spread out. Very little drafting observed, but even less officiating. There was a little group of guys ahead of me that were switching off drafting and even crossing the yellow line with a official watching them. Still, much better than at Canada. The lack of traffic on the roads were a nice change from Canada as well.

The downhill on the bike was a little more sketchy as there were riders on their first lap who were taking it nice and easy on the descents. Headed into T2 by taking it pretty easy.

T2: 4:06
T1 was full (at least 100 guys?), 2 guys in the change tent in T2.

Run: 3:51:54
Tried to stay relaxed for the first climb out of town. Picked up the pace on the rolling section at the top of the course but still kept it under control. Hit a little energy low about 4 miles in, but got some calories in and felt better pretty quickly. Hit the turn around and headed back.

Of the two little side loops, the first (and shorter?) one was worse as you just run up to a parking lot and head back out. The other at least is on this cool little trail.

Didn't expect that the uphill on the way back as hard as it was, but the downhill into town was fun although the legs were hurting pretty well by that point. Hit the turn around in town and headed back for round 2.

On the second loop, it was nice to know that the higher of the two mileage markers applied. There were a lot more "runners" on the course which wasn't a problem most of the time. I did get a snarky reply when I asked two guys to move over when they were blocking the way on the first side loop, but I let it go knowing that it wasn't worth giving any reply. Felt pretty good although I had a few more energy lows and started to slow a bit.

Fully ignored the pain heading back into town for the last time and picked up the pace. Finished all alone as there was a minute between the guy in front of me and a minute to the next guy.

Finish: 11:16:23
Well, it wasn't a PR so it must be bad. Just kidding. I'm proud of the effort I gave and raced decently well. Maybe I should have been more conservative on the first loop of the bike, but I don't think it would have changed my time much. I fueled well. I hydrated well. I thanked a lot of volunteers during the day. I raced honestly. I finished. On to Lake Placid.

E' quick update

2010-05-03T06:09:00.002-06:00

A and I are on the way home from the race. In general, we are both satisfied with how things went and are excited to get ready for Placid. Both of us thought that we would come back to St George, if we get back into IM racing. Not sure how many actually started, but since only 1634 finished, the course isn't for everybody.

Brief thoughts:

The swim was cold and I again swam a 1:09:xx. The bike course was hilly and pretty technical from the 4 cattle guards, many turns, rough surfaces, and cross winds. I went out with a stronger effort on the first loop thinking that the way back into town would be good rest, but the legs didn't feel that good at the start of the second, so I backed off a bit. For the run, tried to maintain a steady effort, but had a couple of lulls in energy. Slowed a bit on the 2nd loop, but finished well.

Although I have my issues with IM branded races, the finish line near midnight is something worth being a part of, so A and I went back after cleaning up and having frozen custard. It was great to see the crowd still there after such a long day.

Anyways, we're on the way home and I couldn't sleep anymore because of my legs, but A is up now, so it is time for some breakfast.

Peace out,

Live from St George, its pre-race day

2010-04-30T17:00:00.000-06:00

Ah, Ironman insomnia. Actually, this isn’t quite real insomnia since I just couldn’t get back to sleep during my nap. A on the other hand can’t sleep well at night, but is terrific at napping.

Folks, tomorrow is going to be tough. But, if the latest weather prediction holds (winds below 10 mph), it won’t be as bad as it would have been the last few days. The winds when we got here reminding me of the planned 6 hour ride to Rist Canyon that turned into an actual 7.25 hour ride about a month ago. At least the ride will be very scenic for however long it takes.

After the random intro, lets start with the swim.

The swim is out a Sand Hollow Reservoir. The single loop course starts in a protected area, but will get choppy with any significant winds. It is supposedly around 59 degrees so A and I keep flip flopping on wearing our neoprene caps. I’m usually better at CCW loops (due to my right sided breathing) and swimming has gone well so, I hope to break my streaks of 1:09 swims.

The bike starts with a ride back to town of ~22 miles. There were a couple of longer climbs that reminded me of riding around by Carter Lake. In town, you start the first of two laps. The laps start with some in suburb riding like at the Loveland Lake to Lake. It will be a bit congested, so patience will certainly be needed. After that section, we start climbing on the back highway roads. Some of the roads aren’t in too bad of shape, but most are pretty rough.

Oh, and there are 3 cattle guards that will likely be covered tomorrow, but have A freaking out. On our ride on Thursday morning, we turned around just after the first one when a cow got a bit testy as I tried to ride by and started running besides me and then cut in front of me when I slowed down. I was trying to picture how to explain to everyone that I didn’t race because I got run over by a cow.

The climb is pretty varied with some small descents to some bigger hills. Nothing too crazy though. (Say, like Rist Canyon on a windy day). At the pie shop, you get onto a must nicer road, but still have to climb for a bit.

At the volcano (hopefully dormant tomorrow), you get to go down. Coast back to town and do it all again.

The scenery on the bike varies from old black lava fields, snowy white mountain vistas, green valleys, and red rocks. We’ll put up some of the pictures from the drive the other day.

Then the run. There are a couple of billboards promoting energy conservation on the bike (two of them are exactly the same about 200 meter apart). Good thing to remember on the bike since the run will be brutal. I’m actually looking forward to it since it will favor the skinny little runners over the big bad bikers. I may not qualify as being in the first category anymore, but I certainly don’t fit in the second. And it isn’t just the climbing that will be difficult, the descents are going to cramp many quads. I think my heartrate went up 10 bpm just writing the last paragraph. Pace will mean very little, just keeping the feet going and catching the person in front of you (assuming you aren’t leading).

The trip back to the hotel is going to be rough as well. Not as long from the finish to the Tiki Shores in Canada, but all uphill here.

All that for another t-shirt.

Peace out,
E

Haystack Time Trial

2010-04-18T04:09:00.002-06:00

Yesterday was the Haystack Time Trial. Our cycling team, GS Boulder Cycling - Trek, hosted the race. This meant we got to race AND volunteer. Volunteering was harder (always is, it seems). E and I were working registration. E worked a split shift because his race started at 12:34. I raced in the morning and worked in the afternoon. Registration was busy, but was a great volunteer job.

The race went well or me. I started out hard after a good warm-up. So hard, in fact, that the rear wheel (disk) skipped a few times as I was charging off the line and getting up to speed. I'm pretty sure that is not what you want to do.... Anyways, I quickly settled in and just tried to hammer the whole thing.

This year the course was shortened due to road work (a bridge was out, not negotiable course change!) and the part chopped off was a gradual uphill. So we were doing 12.1 miles, with a decent negative elevation difference. The course is usually a box, this year it was mostly 3 sides of that box. Going East is the part where you drop down a few hills, but this was also the portion with a headwind this year, tempering the pace some. Luckily, for me, the rain held off until my race was finished (the team time trial races were a sloppy mess, but everyone seemed to have fun and most stayed safe). I rode well and posted the fastest time for my category, I won!

Then it was on to volunteering. That went well too.

Now, my mind is still at registration, though. It should be sleeping! Usually I am a great sleeper, but tonight all I want to do is help people get their race numbers.... Might have something to do with the 6-8 servings of coffee (I didn't realize it was that much until now, I was just trying to get warm post-race, but we had ~16 oz at home, then 2-3 more 16 oz at the race. Wheeeee!). I think I'll shut down now and try for a bit more sleep, I want a good go at the bbrbrb on tap for today.

Train safe, and happy Sunday!

Amber

April Updates #1

2010-04-16T14:16:00.006-06:00

Yikes, what happened? Seems like it was just yesterday that I wrote our previous post.....

Well, my excuses for lack of blogging are 1) work and 2) Ironman training. E will have to post his own excuses. Despite these two big "time sinks" soaking up all my blogging time, I have had plenty to write about, just no time to jot it down. Those theme-based posts will have to wait though, in lieu of pure news updates, 3 weeks is a lot of time to catch up on! Here goes nothing.....

At the end of my last post, I walked into the production area and my work project began. That day I was at work from ~8 am until ~5:30 am the next morning, then home to sleep a few hours and back in by 1 pm. That was Thursday-Friday. Saturday, the process was on auto-pilot so I snuck out with E for some Costco shopping, other errands (including the purchase of a stove-top esspresso maker, woo woo!), and a quick 2 h bike ride (glorious! but about all I could last for with my limited sleep). By the time Thursday rolled around again, I was mostly back to working day-time hours and getting 1-2 calls at night. Which was good because we had just done the longest-run-before-Ironman on that Wednesday after work. The run went well and the body felt strong despite the crazy-work-sleep-eat hours I had been holding. Recovery included a good session in the NormaTec pants after the run, but I still had my normal "cramping legs preventing me from getting good sleep" that night. Thursday night was much better for sleeping.

The Saturday right before Easter I was at work from 2:40am until ~5 am, then we headed straight out for what was supposed to be an enjoyable 6 h on the bike followed by a 60 min run. We planned a hilly route for the bike, loaded up the car, and headed out. The rest of the ride will be fully captured in a future post (look for the one titled "Canyons") but the quick summary is: it was windy and the wind soon made the whole ride an epic adventure. Truly. Epic to the point of a strong, ~100 mi ride spanning 7-7.5 h. The run was set aside and I headed home to sleep.

Easter came and I headed to church for the early sunrise service. It was short but meaningful. I headed home and we had a nice breakfast of homemade waffles, then hit the yard to plant the spring crops (lettuce mix, spinach, chard, and peas). We split an Avery Salvation as we finished turning the beds, planting the seeds, and doing some other random tidying and yard work, yum! Then we got in a mellow bike ride and run.

The next week got even more normal at work, and had the usual mix of swim-bike-run. Saturday brought a 112 mi, self-supported bike TT (actually ended up being 114 mi). E was looking so strong! I was good for ~25 mi, then slowly started to lose my mental focus and would get dropped by E easily (I was trying to stay close but sit totally out of his draft pocket, per USAT/WTC standards, and ride my own ride). At the 40 mi mark he turned back to find me and I made the decision to stick to his rear wheel like glue. It may have meant that I did not complete the workout as intended, but I still rode strong, tried to stay close and not draft when possible (there was plenty of wind to "catch" if I staggered my position from his slightly) and got really worked. Then we headed straight out for a 70 min run with 20-30 min of climbing to stimulate St. George some. This will be our last long bike before the race. I wore my brand-new tri shorts for both the ride and run and they performed charmingly.

This Wed. brought the last long run. We went after work and got a later start than planned. As we ran, the sun sank lower in the sky. We finished as dusk was fading into twilight, it was beautiful and ended up being perfect! We stayed to the dirt trails and roads north of Boulder. It was a glorious, glorious night to be out and running. No wind (!), warm, peaceful, and relatively quiet (busy trail heads, but we chose non-populated trails). A freshly grilled steak, quinoa salad leftovers, and a splash of red wine made a great end to a wonderful evening (yes my legs were throbbing, but some time in the NormaTec and some time on the foam roller quieted them enough for me to sleep, and the evening was just a special, almost magical time spent in a beautiful place with the man I love). The only thing that would have been better would have been more sleep between the 8:05 pm end of the run and the 6 am swim the next morning.

This weekend will bring a bike time trial. Our club (GS Boulder - Trek) is hosting the race so we get to race (yeah! haven't raced since Mt. Taylor) and work all day. We are hoping for no rain (only a 20% chance) and no wind. Come out and race the Haystack TT or TTT if you are in the area. It will be fast since some bridge work has shortened the course to 12.1 mi. Vvroooom! Then Sunday is a birthday (mine) bike-run-bike-run brick. Got that? A bbrbrb.

All told, it has been busy around here. We are well, happy, healthy (amazingly), and actually got seeds planted before the end of April. More gardening and yard work remain, but they will wait until after ironman #1 is done for 2010. Also, I am very, VERY excited to race in St. George. It is an excitement that has been slow to build, and has been muddled by the magnitude of work and training loads, but it is here and it is still continuing to build. Yeeeeee haw, let's race! (and let's see how taper goes, always a bit of a gamble).

It is also spring here now, here are the signs of spring: the apple tree is about to bloom in front of our house, tulips and daffodils are up, and, my favorite, the peepers are peeping from all the swamps, ditches, and anything looking remotely like standing water. I love those little frogs and their welcome to spring each year.

Happy Friday, happy Spring!
-A

A’s Training Week Recap

2010-03-25T16:02:00.003-06:00

A week ago E and I got in a “test set” on the bike trainers inside. It was after work and it was appropriately hard as each interval kept getting shorter and was supposed to be all-out and fast. Then we ate dinner and when I headed for bed, E headed out to work. He didn’t get very far as our second car, which hasn’t been driven much, wouldn’t start. I was floating in and out of sleep, ignorant of all of this, while he cleared space in the garage (which we had just tidied the weekend prior, thankfully) to push the car in and hook it up to the battery charger.

The next morning I woke to a full-blown spring snow storm, grabbed Izzy-dog, and headed out for a tempo run (3 min at ½ marathon pace, 2 min at 10 k pace, repeat for a total of 30 min in a 60 min run). It was dark when we started and very quiet. Slowly we watched the wintry day unfold as our run progressed. The footing was wet, but not too sloppy and not yet icy. It was a great run. Our loop took us over trails and neighborhood roads we are well acquainted with, it felt like running with a comfy familiar friend. The paces were challenging, but do-able. The only thing missing was E. On our last effort we were cruising around the Twin Lakes and spotted one of the elusive neighborhood owls – always a treat. Then it was off to work for me. Thankfully the car started on the 3rd try, it would have been a sloppy bike-commute.

During the day on Friday, the storm ended up dumping a bunch of snow, but the temperature never dipped much below 30. E drove home at ~10 am after working all night and said the roads were awful, but by the time I headed home around 5pm, things were quiet and slow but very drivable. The next morning we woke up to 7 F with 14.7 inches of fresh snow and plans to hit the trainers for a 2.5 h over-under LT set.

Less than 9 min later, E was on the phone with work and we soon realized he was going to be heading in to work to deal with a problem that came up overnight. We sneaked in breakfast first at Dot’s Diner in NW Boulder, but the planned Costco trip (to make up for last week’s uber-fast spree through the store for essentials) would have to wait. I was probably going to be on my own for the day, without any new movie or TV show DVDs from Costco for my bike ride, either. I got some laundry started in the washer, did a few other chores, then started to prep for the trainer ride. As I was filling my water bottles up at the kitchen sink, I looked outside and saw the brilliant sun on the snow. It was only ~37 F, but they were predicting highs in the 50’s for the day. And it was sunny. I made the immediate decision to ride outside that day on the cross bike. I figured the over-under sets would work fine on the road, and the cross bike, especially on the road, would handle any residual road-gunk (sand, water, etc.) from the storm just fine.

The decision to ride outside was one of the best choices I have made in a very long time. The roads were clear. The sun was strongly shining. The air was fresh and clear (no brown cloud!).What I chose to wear, however, was one of my worst recent choices. I donned a buff for the head/ears, a long sleeve undershirt, fleecy bib-knickers, low socks, mountain bike shoes, and a fleecy team jacket. It was sunny, and supposed to get up into the 50’s. I was all set and I looked good, but soon was freezing. Luckily, I grabbed my overmitts for the hands, but the bare skin on the legs was causing my feet to freeze. I had been too lazy to throw a waterbottle cage onto the bike, so two jacket pockets were being used for bottles. The third pocket was used to hold my phone and other goodies that I always carry, including a bit of food. This left no room for my “spare” tights, which I left at home. At ~ 50 minutes, I stopped and put hand warmer packets in the toes of my shoes, but there was never enough air flow there for them to really start heating. At ~ 90 minutes I stopped at a park to use the unheated pit-toilet and spent a few moments in sun with each shoe off rubbing my toes and massaging the blood back into my feet. Then it was off to hit the intervals, which went well. Afterwards, I was thinking about the Clif recovery hot-chocolate waiting in the cupboard at home as the temp had never risen much above 40 F. That and a few cups of tea and I was back to normal. The rest of the day was spent making cookies, starting a batch of granola, and washing more laundry.

Sunday I did a mini triathlon. Again I was training solo. The big item on the docket was the run of the day, but before I could get to that, a swim and bike needed to get done. I got organized, which took longer than expected, and headed over to Flatiron Athletic Club, which would be my transition zone for the day. I jumped in the pool for a 40 min straight swim just in time to complete the effort before Jane Scott’s Master’s class would start. The 40 minute straight swim can get boring but I did my best to spice it up by imagining myself swimming open water back in Sullivan Lake in NNWW Washington state (that is not a typo, Sullivan Lake is about as North and West in Washington state as you can get, roughly 10 miles from both Canada and Idaho). I also broke it into 300 m segments, which were taking roughly 5 minutes each, before I’d check my running time on the watch.

Then it was out of the pool and into bike gear. This time I brought tights and overbooties for the legs and feet. I was dressed perfectly for my preferences, even though this day I saw many more riders than on Saturday, and many of then wearing shorts or kneewarmers only with some exposed leg (I was the only fool with bare skin the day before, even if it was less than 8 inches per leg). I tooled around to the east and south of Boulder, areas we rarely ride. The fresh snow made all of the mountains look very spectacular, it was a beautiful ride. It did have some tempo pieces, though, so not all at “Scenic Sunday Drive” pace. I also included and interval up The Wall, made famous in American Flyers and a bit of recon on the bottom dirt section of the Koppenberg Circuit Race course which is scheduled for this next weekend. It was smooth and firm and rode very well and fast with the cross bike, at least up to the first wooden bridge where I turned back around. Then I got to ride downhill Marshall Road, to the west. This has to be one of my favorite roads in the whole county, it is peaceful and scenic.

Soon I was back in Boulder, off the bike, and changing into running gear. The weather was getting very nice, but I had only packed running pants for the day. I ditched my undershirt and ran in just a long-sleeve technical t-shirt. Armed with 24 oz of drink (carbopro and nuun) I headed east and south back towards the Koppenberg course. This time I inspected the top portion. The paved road was sandy, but is chip-sealed, so most of the sand was trapped in the chip-seal and not moving around (this should make it pretty safe for the bike race). The dirt portion on the top was slightly damp, but firm and smooth, not tacky. I was doing 20 min race pacing, but paused the 2nd effort to do some course inspection of The Hill. Goodness, it was slick. I was off on the side (it would be the right side if you were coming up the hill) in the “grass” but it was all I could do to not slip and fall and get sucked into the mud forevermore as a fossilized triathlete. Off on the left side of the “road” portion there was a full-bore river raging, draining all of the snow melt off the mesa top. Even though the roads were drying out nicely, the hill was a soupy, gloppy mess. I carefully picked my way back up to the top, then found a sturdy weed to dig the mud out of my treads before resuming the run. By the end, I had a stellar run in the bag. The day brought ~ 5 hours of solid training, but I was pooped and in need of some more fluids (24 oz was maybe half of what I needed for that run, oops!). A full Nalgene bottle of drink, 24 oz bottle of water, and a 15 minute sauna later and I felt like $1,000,000. One thing of note: I had my first road-rage trash hurled at me when a red-neck pick up truck threw their gas station soda pop cup at me. It was a Big Gulp, I think. They must have sensed my need for more fluids! Luckily their aim was poor and they missed their target: my head.

Once home E and I swung out for a nice dinner at Café Blue before he headed back to work at ~6:30 pm. Once I was on my own, I called family, walked Izzy, used the NormaTec, and finished making the granola before hitting the hay.

Monday we carpooled in to work. I was planning to start up my big project at work, but was delayed due to the equipment needed more cleaning. I biked home from work and then headed out for an easy run with Izzy. It was windy, but warm and nice to be outside. My body was starting to feel the work form Sunday. All Sunday I felt great. Strong. Fit. Etc, etc. Monday was a challenge. Things were tight and sore, but it the way that lets you know you worked hard, not in an injured way.

Tuesday I headed off to swim while E got some more sleep (he worked most of the night again). Then another major storm blew in, this time dumping 11.6 inches of wet, wet snow. I was supposed to get in some hill climbs on the bike, but the weather was not going to allow that. I kept trying to talk myself into simulating the efforts on the trainer, but there was no hiding the fatigue in my body. With many folks out sick at work and with plenty of work stress from my about-ready-to-start project, I decided to skip the bike or wait for another day. E and I took a much needed night to cook together and veg a bit on the couch.

Yesterday my project’s start was again delayed, so I headed home at a normal time, while E was still at work working on a newly surfaced problem, and took Izzy for the Long Run of the week (short this week, it is a rest week). I could have used a bit more clothes, and headlamp by the end, but it was another really, really good run. And no fatigue (I think skipping Tuesday’s bike was a good call, even if it was a hard one to make, I don’t like to skip workouts AT ALL).

Today the plan at work was to start bright and early at 7am. I begged off being here until after the swim. I figured get in a little “me time” when there would be other folks to cover that part of the start and then I’d be willing to be here as long as it takes to get things rolling along today. A snafu with a newly installed piece of equipment had us trouble shooting most of the morning. But now we are back on. It’s go time, and, well, I gotta go. Later.

E's About 7 Weeks Out to St George

2010-03-16T20:22:00.003-06:00

With just under 7 weeks to St George and less than a week until some big projects start at work promise to lead to some crazy times at the Rydholm household. But, we'll manage. We hope.

We've switched some workouts around due to potential work constraints and that led to the longest ride of the year this past weekend on a beautiful, classic Colorado kind of day. Our longest swim of the year (5.1 k) was done under skies that went from partly cloudy to completely overcast on Sunday morning.

The biggest challenge of the weekend was getting most of our Costco shopping done in 10 minutes after finding out that the store closed much earlier than expected.

For me, the most humorous point was hearing A through the wall ask Josh whether he dislocated her shoulder when we were at Tri-Massage.

Time to make dinner for A...

Eric

The next phase of Progression

2010-03-05T16:16:00.002-07:00

February has now ended, and with it the Olympics have opened and closed, the last glass has been raised for stout month, and another Mt. Taylor Winter Quadrathlon has been completed. We got in a good block of training, and enjoyed life.

Now March is upon us and it seems like more than just the flipping of another page in the calendar. Our workouts have more purpose and focus (and are longer in duration!), and free time is getting tighter as both E and I have work obligations ramping up. The athletic focus is Ironman St. George. The work focus is projects that will finally be going Big Time, requiring us, the engineers, to provide technical support to the other staff running the manufacturing-scale equipment (this is just a little stressful, but also exciting to see our projects move into their next phase of progression).

All this has me thinking. Actually, it started a few weeks ago after Mt. Taylor and while the Olympics were still going on, I just haven’t had time to sit and reflect enough on it yet to get something composed enough to post here, but I digress.

Anyways, lately I have been thing about progression and growth. It fist started after Mt. Taylor was done and I noticed the close groupings of my finish times. Each year has its own story (the first year when I was only a few months out from peaking for agegroup worlds in Cancun, the year I got food poisoning AND forgot my bike shoes, the big-headwind-on-the-bike-down year, the “let’s try the ski up with no skins” year, the year of the new bike, etc.) yet all but 2 of the 7 finishes have me finishing within an 11 minute span that falls between 4:41 and 4:52. And I really want to be consistently under 4:30, which I have only done once, and just barely. Despite this fixation on a 4:30 finish time, I have not significantly changed my training, preparations, or mindset going into the race since year 2 (the goal year 1 was to finish and scope it all out). I want to “play with the big girls” without doing the work to move up to their level.

And that, my friends, is the problem: I keep putting the same “variables” in and expect a different output back.

I am a smart and intelligent person. I would never expect to use the same ingredients in a cooking recipe and get a tastier result. I would never expect to run the same chemical process at work and have a better yield or faster cycle time. Why, then, am I expecting to show up to Mt. Taylor with a good fitness base but no real hill climbing work, no snowshoe races, no change in training volume, effort, or composition (ratios of hard, easy, long, etc.) and expect to magically be 15-25 minutes faster than I always have been? Since the mountain is not getting shorter, less steep, or closer to Grants, NM, the only way I will race faster is if I get stronger, faster, smarter, or fitter. None of these changes come from wishing for them, they come with harder and smarter training.

This was a rough realization for me. I honestly had been thinking why can’t I break out of this mold and race faster at the Quad? I did the same things I’ve done every other year, and…… Oh. Yeah……Right. Guess it doesn’t work that way, does it. Well, shoot!

I’m only thankful had this little self-awakening before doing the next 2 ironmans, for that is something where I am also no newby yet feel like I have not yet reached my fullest potential. And so, with this little gem of knowledge re-learned, I continue on my athletic journey. A journey with a jam-packed 2010!

To keep focused and on track as this busy year progresses, I need to stay keenly aware of the fact that it doesn’t get any easier. The training, the personal choices and sacrifices needed to reach a challenging athletic goal all get harder to do as the bar is raised to a higher, better, faster goal. Exponentially so. Just to achieve past success takes a bit more effort, so any improvement will always require lots of creativity and hard work.

With that sobering, thought, I am ready to proclaim I AM READY. And I don’t mean maybe.

I am taking rest and recovery seriously this year (that almost seems like I’m showing my age, but faster, longer, harder doesn’t cut it anymore, I am no longer a twenty-something…..). I am making true efforts to make our healthy diet even healthier (tonight’s crock-pot dinner of red cabbage, sweet potatoes, apples, vinegar, and summer sausage is colorful, from scratch (except for the sausage), and anti-oxidant rich). I am willing to get on the trainer any night the schedule says to (we finally made peace sometime in February, the trainer and I), but I am also trying to hit target workout times right on the nose, no extras. I’m getting good sleep. I’m scheduling regular massage and supplementing that with good home-care. And I’m dreaming big, excited by the challenge, ready for the journey.

This brings me to my second reflection point of February: why I am an athlete and why I race. I started thinking about this during the Olympics when a high-school friend from long ago mentioned on facebook that she has the hardest time watching the Olympics, or any sporting events, because she finds it heartbreaking to watch people’s life-long dreams shattered in a split second if things go wrong.

While I think she has a point (there is no do-over in the Olympics, no insurance that if you Try Hard you will have Success, no assurance that you won’t get hurt), I also think she has completely missed the point. When an athlete shows up to the Olympics, or to any major event for them, they don’t bring their B-game. They bring their A-game. Something they have thought about, dreamed about, trained for, sacrificed for. Along the way they have grown and changed, shaped by the challenge before them. If the stakes are high enough, they might be a bit nervous, but also in awe of the opportunity they have had to grow, change, challenge, learn new things about themselves and what they are mentally and physically capable of, and now humbled by the opportunity to compete and further test and challenge themselves.

Yes, only one person wins the Olympics. They do not give out finisher’s medals, you have to be top-three to get hardware there. While everyone stating each competition might feel they are worthy of a medal, only 3 people will come away with one. And that can be heartbreaking. But rarely is it will-breaking. Even in defeat, we saw Olympians who were gracious, honorable, and continuing in their journey of learning and self discovery. And when it matters most, like at the Olympics, is when we give the most of ourselves. Todd Ludwig’s performance during the first Nordic Combined race was a classic example. This man had come out of retirement for these games because the US had a chance to finally medal in a sport where they have long lingers at the fringes. During the race he worked hard at the front while the lead pack drafted off of his efforts. In the final sprint to the finish, he ended up forth and was clearly frustrated that he had no medal to show for his enormous effort. Yet his teammate, Johnny Spillane, had hung with him and earned the US its first Olympic Nordic Combined (silver) Medal. And now the bar has been raised and more work will be needed to compete with the best in the world....

Bottom line? This is not a pony-ride, folks. You don’t expect to put in your penny and bob up and down for a few minutes while the music plays, and then have that very thing happen. To dream big, to risk big, is risky business. It can be very rewarding. It can be very disappointing. But, to me at least, it is also very life-giving. Taking that risk is hard, but the journey is oh so very worth it.

Here’s to hoping you all have something worth taking the risk for. Dream big….
-A

E's - 9 weeks out to St George

2010-02-26T14:38:00.004-07:00

Swim:
Expect for my still banged up hand, swimming hasn't been too horrible. Some more volume and I'll be fine.

Biking:
It is definitely possible to train for an early season IM when you live in Colorado, but it means checking the weather constantly to see if your long bike is going to be inside or out. Fortunately, the snow we got yesterday didn't amount to anything and tomorrow should be outside.

Otherwise, we got finished with season 3 of Alias this morning on the trainer. I think we are considering getting some of the 24 seasons to get us through March and April. Which seasons are the better ones?

Run:
We hate the treadmill and don't mind snowy trails or roads (except for the possible hand injuries), so the weather hasn't affected our run schedule. It does mess with paces, but considering how hard the St George course will be, I think strength will rule over foot speed.

Nutrition:
Stout month is almost over. General nutrition should improve after that.

E's Mt Taylor Quad 2010 Race Report

2010-02-20T18:30:00.001-07:00

So, I've been a little melodramatic on FB about A beating me at the Quad. She has beaten me pretty consistently over the years at the race, but this time I had a real shot. But, I was stupid. I'm getting ahead of myself, so let's start at the beginning.

The Mt Taylor Winter Quadrathlon. Quite simply, 42+ miles of pain and suffering. Although it takes roughly the same time as a half ironman triathlon, the nature of the race is much different. Simply put, you bike, run, ski, and snowshoe from the town of Grants, New Mexico to the top of Mt Taylor. Then, you turn around and snowshoe, ski, run and bike back to Grants. The elevation gain is 4770 ft to the top, starting at a not quite sea level 6500 ft and going to a lung busting 11,300 ft. So, unlike a triathlon were your goal at the start is to pace yourself evenly for the whole race, at the Quad, it starts hard, keeps getting harder, gets even harder, gets freaking hard, gets easier, gets a lot easier, gets harder and gets ?. And you have 6 transitions as well.

Okay, timeout. So far, I've just listed good reasons to NOT race. Why do the race? First, it is the "Ultimate Challenge" according to their brochure. Second, the volunteers are the best. With all of the different transitions, you send up your equipment for the run and ski/snowshoe the night before and then when you get to each transition, the volunteers try their best to get you going to the next leg as fast as possible. Third, the whole feel of the race is awesome. For someone who has gotten tired of the hoopla (and cost) associated with WTC/NAS races, it is really refreshing go to such a homegrown race that is very affordable. And finally, where else can you do a Quadrathlon?

Timeout over. The day before, you send up a bag of running stuff and anything you might want for the bike down to the first transition. You also send up your skis, your snowshoes in a backpack and anything you want for the run down to the second transition. You have to bring your snowshoes up with you on the ski as they can't readily bring them up.

Race start is at 9 am, which is pretty late for us. We got a bit of a run warm up in after getting the bikes ready. Last year, we got some flats while biking to warm up, so we didn't feel like risking that too much and spun around just to check the bikes out.

The bike starts out going up a little hill. I started right behind Amber in the second row. A doofus in the first row almost took us out when he stopped pedaling and swerved left while tightening his toe clips. After that little scare, we got situated into the main pack. Like all of the legs uphill, the bike starts with some elevation gain, but ends with the steep stuff. Once we were out of town, it became really clear that there were going to be tough headwinds for most of the bike. A and I lost the front group after a bit but were able to stay together and draft off each other and a few other guys.

- We interrupt this post as A got her race report out first. So, if you have managed to get through hers and the first part of mine, you have shown enough endurance for the race. But, I'll leave out some of the planned details from now on since she had them. Now back to the post -

Near the top, Jenny S caught back up to us and A did a nice job of jumping on her wheel. I got dropped.

T1 went pretty smoothly and I wasn't too far behind A coming out of transition. I felt pretty good and tried to have a decent turnover. I passed A and ended up going back and forth a bit with Jenny S until it got steep near the end of the run. A was just behind me.

During T2, I got interviewed. I was in good spirits and answered four or five questions. Off to the ski. Started trekking up the ski course and my head was really warm, so I took off my hat and easily put it in a back pocket on my jacket. A bit too easy. Hmmm. Crap, I forgot the backpack with the snowshoes in it. Stupid interview. Head back down the trail. Go by A. Ski around the timing chip mat. Yell for my bag. Get my bag. Take off my poles. Put the backpack on. Put on my poles. Go back out of transition. Head back up the trail. Not sure how long it took, but a crappy way of losing time (and getting passed by A). Rest of the ski was brutal, but at least my legs didn't cramp like normal.

T3 was okay. There is nowhere to sit easily to it always a bit of a pain to switch from ski boots to snowshoes. Up the snowshoe is a hard grind, but is pretty short compared to the run and ski. I saw A in her windbreaker up ahead and wondered how she could wear it without overheating. She saw me without my windbreaker and wondered how I wasn't freezing.

At the top, the call out your name and the woman there asked if A was my wife. I answered yes and said something about catching her.

The snowshoe down went pretty well. The snowblown steep part was a bit difficult. Mind you the last time on snowshoes was Mt. Taylor last year, so some practice couldn't hurt.

T4 was a mess. My area was on a hill and I nearly fell over a bunch of times trying to get my skis on. The ski down was pretty quick, but I did fall once due to the soft conditions.

T5 went fine. I caught one guy on the run, but otherwise it was down right lonely out there. I kept hoping to see A up ahead but she put more time on me on the run.

T6 went smoothly. I had to convince the family helping me that I didn't need a bunch more clothes for the way down. During the decent I actually stopped and tighten the axle of my front wheel as it showed a gap that freaked me out. Otherwise the ride was lonely. Usually, there is a team or two that catch me on the bike as they start an hour behind, but none this year. Almost did get hit by a car that turned into the coned off lane, but there was room in the driving lane to swerve around them.

Well, that's the recap. Not sure about my feelings of the race. Some good parts - felt strong even though we didn't train for the race or taper at all, some bad parts - mental mistake with the snowshoes. Overall, I guess I'm pleased. I guess.

Hope to see YOU in Grants in 2011.

If it snows for IM St. George, we'll be ready......

2010-02-20T15:33:00.004-07:00

Today's work out was a toughy. Originally, it was just supposed to be a 4 h (3.5- 4.5 h, to be precise) group ride. Then a 4-day snowstorm moved in, and for safety reasons, it looked like the 4 h group ride was fast becoming a 4 h trainer ride (in hind sight, the temps warmed to just above freezing and the cross bike on the roads probably would have been some good, sloppy, safe fun, bit that was not how it was looking on Thursday). On top of all this, E found out he had to work on Saturday, and thought it would be an 8 am start, so I was going to get to do this solo.

I started freaking out at the thought of riding my trainer, solo, for 4+ hours. Eek! I know there are folks out there doing this kind of thing, but I was overwhelmed by the thought this time around (I think my record is 3 h, but I was in a bit better condition then and had the summer olympics to occupy me, where here the winter olympics coverage would not start until after noon).

Anyway, I emailed coach J and asked what I should do. I mostly wanted to know how to occupy myself on the trainer for 4 h and what to focus on/think about since a "group ride" it was not. What I got back from J was something completely different:

90 min on trainer with 2x20 min at ironman watts

60 min run, building into ironman pace

60 min on trainer with 2x20 min at ironman watts

30 min run, at ironman pace.

This all looked like an abbreviated version of Linsey Corbin's super duper birthday workout from last week. And while it was not 4 h on the trainer, it had me intimidated. About this time, E's work schedule changed, giving me a partner for at least part of this suffer-fest... I mean "growth experience." If we got up early, on a Saturday, that is.

The alarm went off at 5:15 and we were on the trainers not long after (quick breakfast and some drink/gel prep). The legs were stiff and heavy after last night's high RPM/big-gear work. A 30 min warm-up helped get them moving, but that first 20 min piece of ironman-watt work was tough. I was also struggling to get comfy on the bike as my current saddle position feels ready to launch me off the front, requiring a lot of arm, back, and glute strength to stay put.

Soon enough the first bike portion was finished and we were trading sweaty shorts and t-shirts for long-johns, poly-pro tops, jackets, hats, gloves, and screw shoes for the first run. E's hand is still bothering him from his fall a month ago, so I got to hang on to Izzy. We all headed out the door and quickly were settling into ironman-pace (a bit slow from a true pace perspective with the soft footing from the fresh snow, but the effort was in the right spot). Then, right at 15 min into the run, the strangest thing happened (again). I say again simply because it became the norm last year during our bricks for this same thing to happen to me.

No matter how long the bike, 2.5 h, 4 h, today only 1.5 h, the same thing always seemed to happen on the run, and like clock-work, it always seems to hit at 15 min into the run. It is kinda-like a bonk, the legs get heavy and numb, I get groggy and have trouble focusing, there is a very strong desire to lay down and nap, and my hear rate falls off at least 10 beats per minute. I feel helpless when this happens. I try and focus on "quick feet, quick feet" but usually it does not help. Usually, at this point, I take a gel and start to feel better in ~15 minutes. Today, I let E go, then I started to panic, got the gel out of my pocket, but just held onto in in my hand.

At about 22 minutes we met a runner and dog who was off-leash. Izzy sniffed noses and then something switched and they were going at it, having a bit of a tiff. Izzy was "protecting" me, keeping herself between me and the other dog, but that made it very hard to get them separated. The whole thing spiked my heart rate pretty well, but didn't last long. Izzy and I continued on our way, but E had turned back to help us out so the whole family was running together again. And I felt fine. Totally normal. Groggy-heavy-numb feelings were gone. I put the gel away again. I kept a steady, strong sustainable tempo for the rest of the run. My heart rate rose to "normal" for this type of effort, and it felt challenging but sustainable, like an ironman training run should.

What is going on? As this has happened before, often even, I am pretty sure it is not all in my head but is physiological. I also know that I can't will it away by focusing or thinking happy thoughts. But today, I finally saw a glimmer of hope, realizing that if I keep moving and wait it out, it goes away and I can get back to business as usual and run strong, on pace, and with good turnover. Without any gel or calories. Now I just need to figure how to prevent it in the first place.....

The rest of the workout was tough, but not too eventful. E got called in to work right about the 3 h mark (after the 1st ironman-watt segment of the second bike portion) so I continued on solo from there. The last two bike efforts were mentally tough. I am not sure if I am just tired from last night, or what, but I couldn't help wondering "how in the world am I going to ever be able to hit target watts for an entire ironman bike? 20 minutes is tough enough!" Hopefully today helps some growth and development down that pathway, May 1st is coming fast!

The same running phenomenon hit me again during the second run segment, but not until 18 min and not until after my heart rate had risen to "normal" levels for the effort. It took a little longer to work through the second time, but everything did come around again eventually. Two good snow-runs in the books!

Izzy was filthy when we finished, so she got toweled off quickly. Then I jumped in the shower, grabbed some leftovers to heat up, and plopped down in front of the TV for some olympics recovery time in the NormaTec. Unfortunately, the men's 30 k pursuit did not air then, like I had expected. I did get to see some interesting arials prelims, but had to wait 3.5 h for the pursuit. It was good motivation for getting the weekend chores started while I waited.

Happy Weekend!

-A

A's race report for the Mt. Taylor Winter Quad 2010

2010-02-18T11:47:00.005-07:00

I win, I win! I got my race report posted first! No pictures yet, but lots to read. Enjoy (if you have the time to sit a bit and read all this!)

Even though this blog post is a race report for the 2010 Mt. Taylor Winter Quadrathlon, it is written mostly for myself for next year and the years to come. This year marked my 7th year racing The Quad. Each year the packing and prepping seems to get easier to do, yet there is always an underlying sense of urgency and anxiety to get everything done at home and in Grants, NM, before the race. This year things went very smoothly, so I though I should blog about it sooner than later and help keep the “things I need to remember for next year” fresh by the time next year rolls around.

First, though, before I start writing myself notes, I should probably explain what the Mt. Taylor Winter Quadrathlon is for anyone unfamiliar with this fun, tough, unique race. The race can be done as a soloist, pair, or team of 3-4 people. The soloists race always starts at 9 am on the Saturday before Presidents Day in February. Racers bike 13 miles from the Grants, NM, Chamber of Commerce up the canyon for 13 miles to the end of the pavement. Then you switch to running gear and run 5 miles up to the start of the ski. Here you again switch equipment, grab your backpack with your snowshoes, and ski up 2 miles to the snowshoe start. From there it is only 1 mile more to the top of Mt. Taylor, where you get to turn around and do everything in reverse back to Grants (the ski down is the only part that is a different course, for safety).

2010 marked the 27th year of the race. It is an El Nino year, so the mountain had lots of snow (snow-packed for the whole run and beyond, a first in the years I have done it since 2003). As usual, the race volunteers were the best part of the day, but the tough course and long standing race history make the event very special, too. Grants is a smaller town, about 1 hour west of Albuquerque on I-40, and The Quad is a big event for many of the folks in town. And it shows. Where else can a $65 entry fee get you support for a 42 + mile race, gear schlepping up and down a mountain, an all-you-can-eat spaghetti feed the night before hand, a $7 meal voucher good at most restaurants in town (El Cafecito!!!!), Subway sandwiches after the race, and pretty affordable hotels right in town? The main race coordinators work hard to get people to come do this race, yet still keep it grass-roots in feel. It is a gem.

Anyways, back to the 2010 race report….. This year we started the packing the weekend before with assembling snowshoes (running shoes already bolted on), skins, ski boots, extra gloves and hats, wheels, bike shoes, and random gear bags lining up in the spare bedroom.

Here is what finally went up the mountain:
in bag #1 (bike-to-run): light weight racing shoes (lunar racers) with screws, visor, stretch-gloves, water bottle;
in bag #2 (run-to-ski): ski boots, ski gloves, water bottle;
in bag #3 (run-to-ski): skis with skins on, poles;
in bag #4 (ski-to-snowshoe): snowshoes with shoes attached, hat, extra socks, extra gloves, lightweight wind pants (just in case) and a gel;

wrapped separately for the way down:
in bag 2 (ski-to-run): different screw shoes (heavier, dry), run socks, gloves, visor, wind breaker, vest;
in bag 1 (run-to-bike): buff for the head, vest;

Then I wore triathlon racing shorts (some compression, light weight pad), tights, long smartwool socks, a camelbak shirt with a 64 oz. reservoir, short-sleeved poly undershirt, my new heavy weight GS boulder jersey, and a buff for the head and cycling gloves (full finger) for the ride. I also carried 1 gel, 64 oz (6 scoops) of carbopro in water, over mittens, and a light weight jacket. I used regular bike shoes and put on my toe covers. I rode the road bike, no aero bars (they might be good to have, but this is my lightest bike) with race-wheels and sew-ups.

This year the race started off at a good clip and I lost the lead pack before the 4 mile mark (at the prison). My legs were just not feeling capable of catching back on, and the group easily split and broke free out front while I was left worrying in their wake about my fitness. Only two women made the break, though, so I was still sitting OK, with a lot more racing left to do. Looking around, I saw my friend B. Hunter and my wonderful E right with me. We worked to bridge up to the leaders, but only B made the jump. In the process, though, we caught the second place woman, J. Smith, and towed a couple of gents along for a bit. Up front the pack was starting to splinter as the climb began. I had L. Isom, lead woman, in my sights, but never could close the gap, and as the climb continued, she slowly pulled further away. Things moved along, ebbed and flowed as the climb continued. Luckily, E and I were racing at a similar level this year, and I was able to use him for a good draft as we had a steady headwind to fight as we climbed the ~1800 feet to T1. In the last mile or so, J. Smith reappeared and woke me up a bit as I grabbed her wheel for the final ride to the top of the bike portion of the race. We finished in a small pack of 4 (2 other guys got swallowed up in the final push) with E a mere 15 s behind us. Time for bike up + T1: 1:00:44.

On with the racing flats, visor, a swish from the water bottle, and I grabbed a handful of my stretchy gloves and took off. The timing mats have me 1 s up on J. Smith, but she soon moved in front of me and never looked back. I was contending with cold, stubborn feet who did not want to wake up. I focused on a staccato tempo as I tried to be light and airy for the next 5 miles and ~1200 feet of climbing. I figured my feet would come around by the ~2 mile mark where there is a water stop. This is where things usually start to feel good (right before it starts to get steeper) but they never did. Not even when the guy wearing the “barefoot shoes” passed me. Instead, my calves both started to feel stiff and numb. It was a very interesting sensation. I plodded on, though, and hoped that my inability to feel anything was a blessing in disguise since I would never know if I should be in pain and suffering (then again, my lungs and upper legs had plenty of suffering going on, so I guess I was in the thick of the race either way). Oddly, though the run portion seemed much loooooonger than I remembered, it also seemed less steep. The camelbak was only sloshing a little and provided easily accessible, readily absorbed nutrition. Soon I was making the final approach into T2 with E and J. Smith both still just in sight (a relay team member waiting in T2 shouted out that I was only a few minutes out of 2nd). Time for run up + T2: 54:07.

I found the volunteer who had grabbed my bags and brought them to the benches, so I plopped down and started switching my run shoes for ski boots. Glove switch, hat switch, another swig of water and I was ready to clip into my skis and continue marching up the hill while strapping on my poles. A few meters out of transition and up the first few bumps of the climb and I saw E turned around and headed back towards me. He had forgotten to grab his backpack with the snowshoes and had to head back to T2 to retrieve them. Onward I plodded. This year, the snow had already been tracked into grooves by the skiers before me. I simply did my best to march along in their wake. I was approaching something of a kick-and-glide even with the kickers skins we had on, especially on the few flat or even slightly downhill sections. Next year, though I need to be more careful with my skin placement so that less overlap hangs off the sides. They may even need to be trimmed. And they definately need to be mounted farther back, with the fronts no further up than "C" in "RXC" on the Kestles.

Most of the uphill ski is steep. And uphill. It is also mostly through some beautiful trees. Onward I staggered, then crossed the first meadow. Next I was passing the “Quad 20” road sign (Garmin said 19.99 miles), then out through the second meadow, dashing through the last bit of trees, then breaking out into the sunshine with only Heartbreak Hill in front of me. By this time, no one had passed me on the ski, no one was really insight in front of me on the ski, and a few snowshoers who were on teams (they get to hike up from the start of the ski) were all I had for company. My legs were burning, my glutes were fried. Getting up that hill was not sounding like a good idea, but it was the only way to continue on, so it was what I did. One ski after the other. Often I was able to step straight ahead, but at times it was too steep for that, so a herringbone step was required. Then, after a good long haul, I neared the top of the climb, glided over the ridge to transition, and was quickly changing gear for the snowshoe. Time for ski up: 39:16.

Off with the skis, boots, poles. Off with the skins (fold those onto themselves and toss into the snowshoe bag). Snowshoes went on quickly and were just as quickly cinched using my lace toggles. Then I was off. My plan is always to run the flat part of the snowshoe and power hike the steep part. This year that was a struggle, and I even walked a few steps a couple of times on the flat section to get my camelbak hose in my lips. My legs were heavy and tripping seemed eminent. I was getting tired, but knew this leg was my best bet for getting nutrition in. The flat seemed to be more of a struggle than normal, but it was also very soft from all of the new snow. And it was very uneven. Then came the Edge of the World. I turned down the shot of J. Daniels and hurried on past the volunteers in their party attire to the steep part, the climb up. Quickly I pulled out my wind jacket and threw it on over the top of my other clothes. I even put on the hood. The wind was blowing here and I was sweaty and wet from the rest of the climb, so I knew the windbreaker would be key to a good decent. No one was in sight in front of me and there was a gap (back to E I think) behind me, so I only had my thoughts to keep me moving up, up, up. The track here was “groomed” by snowmobiles and was often rutty and off camber. And if you looked down and studied the snow a little bit, you could see the hoar frost thickly covering the ground. Time for T3 + snowshoe up: 25:11.

A few more big wind gusts and I reached the top, went through the timing chute, grabbed a Dixie cup of water, paused to drink it and discard the cup in the trash, then started the free-fall-descent-on-snowshoes of the steep part. I love that feeling of riding your tails down a steep powdery hillside. This trails was again “groomed” by snowmobiles so it was a bit grabby with the cleats in some places, but it was still magical. The last two years they have made the steep up and steep down of the snowshoe two different routes. This has plusses and minuses. I like the new trail down. I like it a lot. But I miss the chance to see everyone in front of and behind me, to look them in the eye, to wish them good luck, to scope out the competition. Soon enough my magical free fall down the steep powder hill ended, I was back at the Edge of the World and facing head-on traffic from all the racer nearing the top of the mountain and the halfway point of their race. Many were wobbly-legged (as was I, still). That, combined with a trail that was more rutted and deformed than normal made for a few interesting passes and near collisions. In the end, catastrophe was avoided (at least on my watch) and I was back to my skis ready to change gear once more. Time for snowshoe down: 10:10.

I picked the snow clumps off my socks, changed gloves, stuffed my feet back into my ski boots, threw the snowshoes into the backpack and then onto my back, then grabbed my poles and clipped into my skis to start the glide back down the mountain. Once moving I strapped my poles on. Again, there was no one in sight as I began my descent. Soon, I would see I was the next racer to follow a snowcat groomer as he kept moving down the hill. The wind was swirling fresh snow onto the trail and he was trying to keep a track open. At the first tight corner, after crossing the meadow, he pulled over and I zoomed by. This year I carried more speed into the turns, but the snow was also soft and slow, so my time was comparable to year’s past. Near the bottom, in the whoopty-whoop section, I passed two racers. I caught another in transition, but he soon motored past me on the run down. Time for T4 + ski down: 17:24.

In transition I threw on my shoes, grabbed a handful of stretchy gloves, threw on my visor, took a swig of water, and shot off. Unfortunately, as I was now a human popsicle, I was still wearing my wind jacket with hood. The visor slipped on over all of this easily enough, but the extra jacket and hood nicely hid my ski hat that I was also still wearing. As I started to thaw, I pulled off the jacked and stuffed it into a back pocket, and only then discovered my hat. I knew I wouldn’t need it for long, but the easiest way to carry it would be to keep wearing it, so I did just that from most of the run down, until it got flatter and warmer and was just too much to leave it on my head. The run down this year felt good. I focused on feeling light and having quick turnover with the feet. I was very happy to have chosen my racing flats for the trip down, too (I had a second set of screw shoes that were beefier, more of a training shoe, that I thought might be well suited for the greater impact of the steep sections in the initial portion of the run. The Lunars held up well, though, and were awesome later on when things got flat and the legs were feeling heavier and tired. Feet held up OK, too, only a few blisters that likely would have happened in any shoe. Time for T5 + run down: 39:39.

Into the last transition. My bike was WAY down at the end (women get the low numbers and are racked at the start of the transition on the way up, which is the back of the transition on the way out. Both the first and second women were late to register and got high numbers, so were racked at the other end from me. Of course, by now, they were so far in front of me that I never saw them, but technically they had less running to do since riding in this transition is allowed). Anyways, my nice boy-scout volunteers convinced me to throw on a vest (didn’t hurt, but cost some time probably) and a head band (buff). Then a change of shoes, donning of the helmet, and I was off. I took the upper curves cautiously after Roger’s spill from 2008. The road was in good shape, though, and I was soon cruising through the flatter parts, thankful for no head wind this year. I was trying to discern if it was a tail or cross wind all while going as fast as I could. A few times my compact crank set-up had me maxing out with no more gears to shift into, so I just spun as fast as I could. I felt OK now, but really, really, really wanted to get done with this race. I had not looked at my watch after the top of the hill and had no idea where I was at, time-wise, I just was ready to stop moving for a bit. The entire bike down, I saw no one, again (this was very strange all day, as I usually jockey around with a few guys and start to know who’s who. No teams even passed me, this may have been a first). Back in town there were a few head-wind sections as we jogged our way back over to the chamber of commerce (wind was definitely from the west now), then I crossed the finish line. Time for T6 + bike down: 34:44.

Total race time for 2010 was 4:41:12 and good enough for third woman. A hearty 8 min from second and 17 min from first. E was the next finisher, 7 min back.

Total times from year’s past:
2003 – 4:42:48
2004 – 5:05:31 (food poisoning and forgot bike shoes, used run shoes and home-made toe straps)
2005 – 4:44:39 (major headwind on bike down = major bonk)
2006 – no snow, we did not race
2007 – 4:52:35 (no skins, bad, bad decision)
2008 – 4:44:02
2009 – 4:29:26 (break through year, great race)
2010 – 4:41:12

This year was strong, but the fresh snow made it slow. Clothing was good (changed gloves a lot but never changed socks). Nutrition was good (has been a problem). We also did not train especially for this race or taper for it at all. We trained right through it. And as a test of fitness….. I think we’re fit!

From coach J: “Wheww! Glad this one is done and you were strong and no worse for the wear. So great that you were able to hit 3rd without any focus on this event besides being in good general conditioning which you certainly are. …and think of all the sports energy you still have to put into your St. George Training. Be pleased!”

Be pleased…. I think I am! Until next year. Then it will be off to break 4:30 again, or maybe even 4:20….. until then, stay tough!

Uff Da

2010-02-06T18:42:00.002-07:00

Uff da (can also be spelled uff-da, uffda, uff-dah, oofda, ufda, ufdah, oofta or ufta) is an exclamation of Norwegian origin that is relatively common in the Upper Midwestern states of the United States. It roughly means "drats," "oops!" or "ouch!", especially if the "ouch!" is an empathetic one. In Norwegian Midwestern USA culture, "Uff Da" translates into: "I am overwhelmed." It has become a mark of Scandinavian roots, particularly for people from North Dakota and Minnesota

Yep, that pretty much describes the day. A chilly bike ride, a tough 50 min uphill/ 45 min downhill run with too much traffic, and then a short swim to end it took up most of our day today. We got a bit later of start than normal as we thoroughly enjoyed Stout Month at Mtn Sun last night as we tried to give Charlie and Tina some advice for the Mt. Taylor Quad next weekend. We even ended up buying two of the "I heart Stout Month" t-shirts. The bike wasn't all that terribly cold until we descended from Jamestown. As usual, warm on the way up, cold on the way down, even with more layers on. Then onto the run up Boulder Canyon to Four Mile to Poormans. Normally, there isn't that much traffic, but normal is at 7 or 8 in the morning. At 2 in the afternoon, lots of traffic. People, I know you live on the roads and know them well, but it doesn't make them your very own race course. The downhill is normally a lot faster but the icy trails slowed things down. Especially after my fall two weeks ago on an icy trail. Finally the swim, which was blessfully short (1500 m). We actually got a little sun during the swim, but when I say a little, I mean it. About 5 m of the pool was in the sun, while the rest was in the shadows from the next-door condos. But, it was our first swim in the light in a while. Although my hand is still messed up from the fall (still 9 finger typing and such). Wolfgang's advice of taping my fingers together is allowing me to swim. Normally, I'm not a big fan of swimming, but it was really annoying not to be able to do something. Wow, maybe I should break this into a few paragraphs. Nah. Now it is post out of order triathlon. A is off getting a massage. I am getting my legs squished by the NormaTech.

Next Saturday brings the Mt. Taylor Quadrathlon in Grants, NM. We have actually now lost track at how many times we have done the race. Who wouldn't love spending a good chunk of the day biking, running, skiing, snowshoeing to the top of Mt Taylor, snowshoeing, skiing, running and biking back to Grants. Hopefully we can both avoid bike issues (broken spoke 2 years ago and flat tires last year). The snow has been plentiful, so hopefully the ski down isn't too icy. My record is 4 (or was it 5) crashes on the way down. A snowplowed that year, didn't crash, and ended up with the same ski down time.

That's enough for now.

-E

One more thing

2010-02-04T21:10:00.001-07:00

Anyone know how to get single workouts out of Garmin Training Center on a Mac? I'm willing to settle for an export into excel. Everything I have tried so far exports the whole history into one large, un-usable file.

Thx

Just sayin'

2010-02-04T20:32:00.002-07:00

It has been awhile since we posted a blog update. Not really sure why it has been so long, we have been busy with lots to write about. Then again, we have been busy..... Just sayin'

Last weekend we were up at Devil's Thumb Ranch for the Governor's Cup 30 k skate ski race. It was a fun time and a fast day. E did not race since his hand was bothering him still from a fall on the ice while running the previous Sunday. Instead he helped with ski prep, ski selection, and race super-fan cheering. I felt very special. The next day we had a fabulous morning classic ski before heading down to Denver for a baby shower for another A & E who we have been friends with for over 10 years. Great food and visiting were had by all. Really, really good food!

And that was the start and end of our 2009-2010 ski season.... Just sayin'

Before that we have been working (lots, but not more than normal), got out for a 4 h cyclocross ride on the flatter dirt roads in Boulder County, got a new storm door to cut out some of the front-door drafts, and, well, did lots of boring married people stuff like that.

January was a return to swim-bike-run with some ski thrown in for good measure. Was good to get back into the routine, especially since IM St. George on May 1st seems pretty close these days. Izzy-dog has liked the return to more of a run routine, but not the fact that most of our biking is on the trainers (they freak her out and she goes and hides on one of her many doggie beds). The swimming has been..... slow..... but the skiing was great. Really, really great. We got in a fabulous classic ski at Eldora (!!!!?) which is usually thin in the track and squirrly at the beginning of January, then a skate the other weekends after that. All should be good prep for my favorite February race: Mt. Taylor Winter Quadrathlon on Feb. 13th.

We have been cooking some great food, including a batch of Chile Verde, a butternut squash lasagna with hand-made noodles, a cabbage-tomato-bean soup, baked ziti...... you get the point. Next up: tackling the 18.5 lb squash we brought back from my aunt and uncle in MN at Christmas time. I'm thinking chunking and roasting will be a project for this weekend.

Well, that's about all here. Seems to be near bed time. Today marked our first treadmill run in a long time (like nearly 2 years). It was not pretty. Let's say that me vs. treadmill had the treadmill out ahead. I think it is all mental and welcome the chance to throw down in the future since today I somehow just let it pass by. I got all the physical stuff done right, and got in a good workout, but, well...... it was not pretty. Just sayin'

'Til next time, train fast, train honest, train smart, and have fun

-A

It's snowing!

2009-12-24T11:04:00.002-07:00

I love a good storm. I am too much of an optimist to fully acknowledge that this might mean a delay to some of our plans. Right now, I'm just in love with the snow. It is white, fluffy, and not very cold here.

Perfect.

I think last night brought us ~6". We are in a lull in the storm, and snug inside getting ready for Christmas Eve Dinner, so it is easy to have warm fuzzy thoughts about our weather situation. All of that might change if family can't make it here to help eat the 13 lb turkey and 4 lb of Christmas cookies. And a change could be in store if the storm picks back up tonight and tomorrow like they are predicting.

Until then, we'll keep getting ready for What's Next.

So far, that has meant washing the dog (Izzy was a bit, well, filthy. Not good for guests ad petting, which just seems to be part of Christmas) planning When We Start What with the cooking, putting the final touches on the wrappings for gifts, shoveling the steps, changing out the shower curtain (it was time. 'nuf said), and making sure we can get to church for the family program at 4, I think E will come, too.

Next up: a fresh snow Stomp. Walk seems too normal. Ski and run are going to be hard until the groomers and plows catch up with the new snowfall........ I must admit, my hopes and wishes for new snow did not account for the possibility that new snow would mean a change to training. I'm trying to stay flexible, but too much snow to ski was not what I had considered. Ah well, I still love all the white stuff!

Merry Christmas!

Vacation

2009-12-23T07:51:00.003-07:00

Hello blog. Long time, no see. Sorry 'bout that......

E and I are in MN on vacation. We are splitting the time between our two families, which are about 3 h apart by car. We start with the Rydholms then move on to the Hofstads. All has gone well so far. The drive was loooooong, but uneventful. The roads were dry until Des Moines, then just wet not icy. The winds were either absent or steady, no gusts. The stops were few and brief. The only slight disappointment was lunch (we normally pack food but did not get to that in time so we ended up at a Hardees. I used to crave their burgers (mushroom and swiss!) as a kid, but I have much higher standards now and was just.... disappointed. Nothing was bad, it just wasn't good. And the fries were cold.)

Since our arrival, we have been busy skiing (Murphy-Hanrehan! My first time! What a neat set of trails. Snow is good, but bring the rock skis), running, shopping, cooking/eating, even went to a movie (The Blind Side, good stuff). Last night we cooked up some dinner and headed to my sister and brother-in-law's house. It is neat for me to see my little sister all grown up, and it was a fun time to sit and visit some in person.

Today will be a run, some visiting with E's dad and Bonnie, and prep for Christmas Eve dinner, which we are cooking. It will be turkey, mashed potatoes, Fiona's green beans, and fresh, made from scratch biscuits. Today we start the turkey brine, but are trying a dry brine for the first time. Oh, and waiting for the biggest snow-storm of the past 30 years to hit. That might be a kink in our plans of travel to the Hofstads on Christmas day, but we do have the snow tires on, you never know what'll happen. We'll try and turn a new leaf with the blog and be better with updates for 2010. Or at least during this vacation. Maybe even post a few photos.

Merry Christmas, everyone!

E's cross race 1

2009-10-25T19:22:00.004-06:00

Our first cyclocross of year (my first ever and A's second ever, although first on a cross bike) was a couple of weeks ago now. We had some family visiting but we still dragged them on a cold, wet day to Broomfield to race in Boulder Cycling's 2nd race.

We had just gotten my bike and ordered a bike for Amber, so we would be sharing mine. Fortunately we ride the same bike size and almost identical seat height, so fitting isn't an issue. Unfortunately, A's race was immediately before mine which left me unable to 1) pre-ride the course (kind of key for cross racing, but...) 2) to practice clipping into the Candy pedals that we just put on the bike (this turned out worse than #1).

There are a few new skills to learn for cyclocross that we just don't practice while swimming, road biking, running, or Nordic skiing. Oh sure, some triathletes work on flying mounts onto their bikes, but since we focus on long stuff, we just don't. And not many triathlon courses (road tri's at least) put barriers in your way. Or had sand on the bike course. Or off camber grass sections.

Naturally, we would have been practicing these skills before racing, but more naturally we started racing first. Kinda like the swim of my first triathlon. I did get a bit of practice dismounting and re-mounting while commuting, but did get a good scrap from falling on the gravel path from an unsuccessful dis-mount.

Anyways, we showed up to the race with the tiniest bit of practice for me and zero practice for very nervous A. A and I signed up and then got her on the bike for about 10 minutes of mounting and dismounting. She then pre-rode the course a bit and got ready to race. I walked around a bit to see some of the course and heard from A that there was another set of barriers on the far side of the course. Shortly after the start of her race, I went to change and ride the trainer a bit to warm up.

With a bit of warm up in, I went back to the start line and watched A finish. She was worried that the rear wheel was flat, but she thinks that during 65% of her races (the other 35% being ski or run races). I got the bike and headed to the start.

I got lined up pretty far back, but was fine with that since I didn't know the course well. Starting a race with 60+ cat 4 guys can be a bit sketchy and having that race be a cross race just adds to that, but the start seemed pretty well controlled. I had one foot clipped in, but had some trouble getting the other side in until we were near the first set of barriers.

The 1st set of barriers seemed very tall the first time around (pretty tall the rest of the time, but not as bad). I just ran through the first sand section based on earlier observations and rode the second section. I didn't worry about getting clipped in during the sand section, but started to get annoyed when neither side would clip in. We had a pretty mild section of path and grass until the next set of barriers during which I got passed by a few guys that I had just passed while riding. This would become a familiar theme of passing people while riding and getting passed back over the barriers. Skills, I need skills.

Over the barriers and through the woods (actually there were only a few trees) I continued to struggle to get my feet clipped in. It took almost all the way to the start/finish line to one side in. On the s turns, my lines were terrible. Too much speed going in, too wide and slow going out. Skills, I need skills.

On the second or third lap, I had a nice little slide down the off camber grass section. It might have been fun except for the facts that I was racing at the time and it knocked my chain off. I eventually had a bit more luck clipping into my pedals, but still spent at least 70% of the race with one or both sides not clipped in. Maybe that's why your not supposed to race on new equipment.

The rest of the race was pretty uneventful as I only hit the ground one other time on a slippery 180. The 45 minutes of racing went by very quickly and I was soon done. Many lessons learned, but it was a lot of fun.

Cross Action

2009-10-20T07:45:00.002-06:00

Yo,
We haven't wrote for quite a while, but we finally has something worth blogging about. The awesomeness of cyclocross!

Well, that sentiment is somewhat tempered by my hip which too the brunt of a crash (not the only) on Sunday. But, this morning I told A that I felt like I got kicked by a small horse, which is an improvement over yesterday when I felt like I got kicked by a frigging Clydesdale.

Last year, A suffered through a very snowy cross race using my mountain bike. Not good times. She was pretty convinced that her life you be complete without every doing another cross race. Fortunately, I was able to convince her to try again and in the course of the last two weekends, we've done three races. We're hooked. More details on the races and photos to come.

Home in Boulder

2009-09-04T21:15:00.002-06:00

Our last day in Penticton was well spent, and I (finally) tubed the canal. It was wet and relaxing. I missed a splash/walk in the lake, though. I missed it badly. I almost considered trying to go for a lake-walk in the dark, but didn't want to risk stepping on anything unseen.

We almost didn't make it back, I wanted to stop and stay a while in Bozeman. I love that town. But we cruised back into Colorado around 3:30 on Wed. afternoon and hit Boulder about 2 hours after that. Since then we have unpacked (I think most everything, by now), eaten great pizza at Protos, and ridden to work both yesterday and today (my feet are protesting cycling shoes, but the legs are loving a low-key spin). I also did a quick check of MSU's webpage, but there are no faculty openings for chemical engineering......

Our drive back had us spotting a moose, driving through a forest fire (very close to the road!), slurping huckelberry milkshake and enjoying the countryside unfold. Flying would seem easier, and is definitely faster, and though another day in Penticton would be a slice of heaven, I like the sense of place that comes from watching the terrain speed by out the car window.

The pets seem to like having us back. they had excellent care from their pal, Beth, while we were out, but they also seem happy to have us around again. I'm already trying a new trick with Izzy at meal time. And the cat wants to cuddle at the worst times, like when I am asleep. She makes up for it with her cuteness and boundless energy (currently, she is running labs of the house, made possible by our two staircases).

Chores have included unpacking. laundry, calling around for a new windshield (we hit a rock just right in some Montana road construction and now get a new windshield), reassembly of The Good Bike Ditto, etc.

This weekend brings the Farmers Market (our first time this year, in Boulder) by bike, followed by breakfast out, cleaning for upcoming family visits, yard work (see mention of family visits), and hope that my stomach might finally get right. Should be fun! Happy weekend!

-A

A's race report: IM Canada 2009

2009-08-31T07:24:00.002-06:00

Note: I am reflecting on this after writing it and realize it is more highlights and reflection than a race report, but it is my blog and that is what I needed to write right now. Also, it seems a bit dreary, and I am a tad disappointed in the overall outcome of the day, but as I state below, I have a very positive feeling about the fight I fought, too. A final warning, this gets long.....

It is now the morning after and my legs won't let me sleep, so I thought I'd start to write a race update. Yesterday was my 5th Ironman race, and my 4th consecutive time here in Penticton. E and I showed up ready. The most ready we have ever felt. It was almost scary how ready I felt. Our training had been a bit lighter than normal earlier in the year due to work overloads for both of us, but since June it has been business as usual. Only harder. And faster. And I was responding well to that.

With that preface, I'll state that I am pretty disappointed with my race yesterday. After my 4 previous attempts at this distance, I lined up at the start line ready to rock it. Especially the run. I have been dialing in a new nutrition plan, updating the race wardrobe, and was excited to give my best effort. Which I did, it was just not a 3:30-3:45 run, it was a 4:09. In the end, it was my stomach that did me in. Canada has a single out and back run, and by the turnaround at Christi Beach I had stopped in about 10 of the 12 port-a-potties dotted in through the aid stations. Finally emptied out, I got down to the business of running and had an OK race from there in, but the damage was done and I never hit my goal paces even after I found my legs.

But I'm getting ahead of myself. Let's start back with our departure prep on Monday when I was chopping veggies for dinner (enough for leftovers on the road the two nights we were traveling, too). I did a good job of slicing my left index finger, right through the nail. This limited some training last week, but being taper, I think that was fine. By Friday I had stopped wearing a bandaid (I hate how soggy they get after you wash your hands a few times) and had the thing super-glued together. The drive up went smoothly. We broke it up into two nights (Casper, WY, Tuesday after work, and Spokane on Wed.). We got in on Thursday and settled (groceries, cooking, visiting with friends, etc.). Friday we spent a bit of time training to flush the legs and check the gear (just a swim in gorgeous Okanagan Lake and a spin up Green Mtn Road for ~35 min) then it was off the feet. Saturday we prepped gear, took a turn through the Farmer's Market on Main Street, found Ivy, Cathy, and Michael, and dropped everything off at the race site. All week, I slept well and felt only mild race anxiety. Mostly, I felt calm and ready to rock. And confident that I could.

Pre-race on Sunday was uneventful, save for the huge port-a-potty line, but I'm glad I waited to use that. E and I seeded ourselves well. I got an OK start, but spent a bit of effort clamping my middle finger onto my index finger to try and save my nail which was flopping now (so much for that super glue). That lasted until the first turn of the swim (we do a single triangle, ~1600 m, 400 m, 1800 m) when it fell off. My swim at 1:01 was a PR and on target (I wanted a 1:00 to 1:03). TI seemed to take FOREVER, as I had to do a few things twice, but the clock doesn't make it look too bad.

The bike started well. I quickly settled in and got to business. I wanted (and think I was easily capable of) a 5:30-5:45, so my 5:50 is puzzling and a bit disappointing, but I felt spot on for the effort I wanted to give, and occasional heart rate checks confirmed my effort was appropriate (though that data is a bit muddied by the fact that the strap was unhooked on the right side and only the shelf-bra of my top was holding it on, and then, only sometimes making contact with me). There was some wind, some heat, some smoke from the nearby forest fires (no smoke in town the days leading up the the race, it moved in during the bike) but nothing really intense, at least by itself. My nutrition went well (only carbopro 1200, nuun made on course from their water, thermolytes, one tums, two gas-x).

T2 was also uneventful. I finally fixed the HR strap, yeah! Got my brand new compression socks on (bought at the expo, so very new) and was off. I took a mile to try and settle in. Felt pretty good, but was already off pace. I decided to let the legs settle for a mile or two and then bring it down to what I had planned on. But by mile 3 I was running for the toilet, and that continued for almost every mile until the turnaround. I was able to run strong after each stop, but they were costing me precious time. My nutrition kept going well (on the top half, at least). I never got dizzy or low on energy like I have when using powergels in training. I just never really ran. I shuffled. Or sprinted for toilets.

All in all, it was close to what I had hoped for, but still.... wasn't. Overall, I have a positive feel about the race. I fought a good fight. I never gave up. I was patient, showed courage, and tried to find joy in the day as it unfolded. I gave what I could, then dug deeper and gave more on the run when it got tough out there. But..... I guess I thought this year would be different. I'd finally come in and race to my potential. I'd be a "competer" not just a "completer." I'd RUN. Not shuffle, not survive, but run, mix it up with the big girls, get to go up for an award, whatever. Maybe, after 5 tries and one sub-11 h (not this year, this was my first non-PR Ironman) it is time to find a new sport, or go back to Olympic distance races, or something. Maybe. First, we have St. George and Lake Placid to do in 2010, though. Maybe I'll learn to emulate my idols by then. Marit, Kerrie, Jenni, what're your secrets?

Now: coffee, maybe a trip to roll down (would 3 slots ever make it to 11th?) and a final "vacation" day before tonight's banquet and we pack up to roll out tomorrow at first light. I think I might finally float the canal......

With patience, courage, and joy,

E's Late Night Update

2009-08-13T00:12:00.003-06:00

So I'm up late due to an issue at work and I've updated my training log and read other's blogs, so I'm left with having to write a post.

Since I last wrote, A went to Minnesota like she wrote about, I got in a slight bit of an accident with a car while biking to work, we did the longest swim workout I've ever done, and observed a little 5430 long course action during our bike on Sunday.

It was pretty quiet around the Casa de Rydholm the weekend that A was in Minnesota, but I managed to get some neglected housework done since I took Friday off to bike a few hours and run a few more hours with A before she left and had shorter workouts for the rest of the weekend. Hopefully she doesn't want to ride her road bike too soon as I took off the cables and bar tape to move her handlebars up to where she wanted them. Most likely that project won't get completed until after Canada.

The rest of the week was busy after A got back with training and that whole work thing. On Friday, I had a guy drift into me while I was biking to work. Luckily the only damage was a bent rear wheel.

On Saturday, we headed to the pool for a long swim. 5.1km swim to be more exact. I was actually a bit excited for it since the last time we had a 5 k swim scheduled, the weather forced us to shorten it. It took a while (almost two hours) for me to finish, but I felt good to get it done. A had added extra 50's in middle to keep at about the same point as me so she went an extra 300 meters (crazy girl).

After the swim, we headed to Pekeo Sip house for some Americanos, Deli Zone for some breakfast sandwiches, the auto parts store for a headlight restoration kit (huge improvement for the Subaru) among other stuff, and the Styrofoam recycling place. Then, we headed out on our bike ride which included some climbing up Lee Hill.

On Sunday, we headed out early for our long ride. We started on the 5430 long course route but knew we should have around a 15 minute head start from the pro's. We were amazed on how much glass and debris was on the road as they obviously didn't sweep the course this year. Just before we were about to leave the course as it made a turn, Tim O'Donnell passed us with a photographer following along side of him. We then proceeded north to Masonville and headed back south. We got back onto the course for a few miles on 75th after most of the people had finished the bike, but did pass a few racers. It was kind of nice to have police officers controlling traffic for us. We headed through the town of Niwot to add some distance and I managed to get double flats. I thought I had just flatted my front wheel and A thought I had just flatted my rear wheel, but in the end, I had done both. I fixed my rear wheel and A fixed my front wheel and we finished up our ride.

We then headed back to Niwot to use the track to run a bit at our goal paces for Canada. It was warm but we survived and then went to Dairy Queen for dipped cones.

Since the weekend, we've been busy again with work and training, but it would be weird if it wasn't the case.

3 days in MN

2009-08-04T16:10:00.003-06:00

This will be quick, but then so was the trip. I spent last Friday doing my weekend IM training with E so I could fly out that night to Minneapolis. First I biked for ~3 h, then did a near-3 h run, caught the bus to DIA at 2:50 pm, plane at 4:50 pm, and shuttle-van at 9:00 pm (new time zone) before meeting my dad at the park-n-ride at ~11:25 pm. Murmurs of a family tri-relay filled my head as I drifted off to sleep.

The next day, I woke to the cutest alarm ever, my new 8 mo. old niece who I was meeting for the first time. I headed out to the country roads for a walk with her (looking cute in the stroller), her parents, and my other sister, Beth. There the plans for the race were fleshed out, as I secretly wondered why the 3 of them were all on one team.

Throughout the morning my amazement and love for my family grew and grew. I was amazed that my cousin Joe was able to single handedly delay a 10 am sharp start to ~noon. I was awed at how each family unit (my dad and his 4 sisters each had a family member participating or assisting in awards and finish line paraphernalia) really got into the idea of racing each other, helping their team, and having fun with the sport. And despite all the banter and small talk, I could sense an excitement and curiosity at the craziness that was about to ensue. Between finding toilet paper and ski poles to mark the finish, discussions over how to size the winners crown when we didn't know who it should even be sized for yet (this was critical for sticker placement), and efforts by a least 3 people to get all bike tires filled with air, their was a steady banter and energy filling the air.

Right before noon, Joe and family arrived and final instructions were given before a prayer for safety was said. Then all of the self-proclaimed non-athletes headed out to their starting areas to wait for their team mates.

In the end, I anchored the final team as their runner. I got to see the exchange of speed and excitement between all other bike-run pairs. And after I crossed the finish line is when I really began to be thankful for the family I have. Only on of them had ever done a triathlon before, but there was already talk of "well, next year I'll......" as plans for training and race strategy were hatched. And there was plenty of warrior stories floating around, too. The moment when my sister was almost finished with the bike and her pedal fell off. The moment my Dad was about to pass my cousin while flying down one of the rolling hills and his chain fall off. The disbelief of those waiting on shore as the 2nd place swimmer was so befuddled by how to navigate a large patch of weeds that his lead was lost to his sister as he elected to go around while she went straight through the middle.

I hung around the finish until the crowd dispersed as another rain shower moved in, then I headed out for another 30 min of running to get in my hour for the day. A quick shower and it was time to set-up for Grandma's birthday party (the triathlon relay was in her honor, a first annual they are saying....). Kids were running around the yard and through the house, turkeys (3!) were frying, potato salad and from-scratch baked beans were being finished off, and the 3-layer chocolate cake was waiting for the celebration.

The on-and-off rain prevented the annual wiffle ball game from commencing, but we did get treated to some wonderful singing by Joe and Em, and a poetry recital from my cousin's middle child, Wesley.

Sunday was breakfast, church, and a visit with Grandpa at the nursing home. I think the highlight of my year was having Grandma try to explain to him who I was and to whom I belong, only to have him respond "I know!" in a voice loud and clear enough for all to hear. He was tired, though, so we moved on to get some groceries and prepare dinner for the crew back at the farm (they brought grandpa out for dinner, later, so the visiting continued).

Sunday was a rainy, sleepy day that was spent inside visiting. Not my favorite type of day at the Farm, but the motivation to get out for a swim or bike or run, or walk when it was 58 and drizzle was not high. Instead we watched my niece try and crawl. She is very, very close, but not quite there yet.

After dinner, my youngest sister and her husband had to head back to the Cities for work and school. My parents, niece, other sister, her husband, and I then headed for the cabin on the south shore of Lake Superior. I got to have the sweet sound of the waves send me of to sleep. The morning brought a walk on the beach, a few bald eagle photos, a wonderful breakfast where I was introduced to June berries (yum!), and a contemplation of a swim in the lake.

Right before lunch time I did pull on the wet suite, cap and goggles and swim out a ways along shore. Then I noticed one of the eagles checking me out, thought of Wesley's "Food Chain" poem from the night before, loudly shouted "I am not lunch!)"and turned back for our beach.

After lunch we packed up and headed back to the farm. My mom and I loaded my cousin and cousin-in-law into the Forester and drove down to Minneapolis so they could make their connections before heading to my youngest sister's house to meet them for dinner. I had not seen their apartment yet and they have been there for ~15 months now, since their wedding. It is small but cute and cozy, just like a newly-married couples home should be. Then we got a short bit of sleep before heading to the airport again, this time for my 6:xx am flight.

When I bought the tickets, this early departure seemed to make sense since I could maximize my time in MN and still get a full day at work, but by this morning, it seemed like sheer craziness. I had a great trip. I had been very worried about taking a weekend off" at this point in our IM Canada build, but in the end, I think I made the best of a balance of family summer-time and training maintenance.

Then I saw the workouts I missed yesterday and today (we get workouts monthly and this was my first glance at August) and panicked. It seems like I missed a lot! Too much ??? Time will tell if this was a good idea or not, I guess. I did have fun, lots of fun, I just hope none of the time and effort already spent in preparation for the IM were wasted with some family down time and travel. Too late to worry now, time to focus forward. August 30th seems very, very close right now. And I am excited to go to Penticton to race again.

-A

Oh, a shout out to Whitney, a swim mate, for her Vineman full course win repeat! Wow! Way to go!

...

E's Quick Update

2009-07-30T12:48:00.002-06:00

For a quick recap ...
No racing since Mt. Evans, just a bunch of training.

Before Mt Evans, we both got FUEL testing done. That consisted of lactate threshold testing, carb vs fat utilization, and VO2max testing. Neal at BCSM thought it was pretty amusing how close the numbers were between the two of us for the LT portion. His first statement was "Well, I can see that you guys train a lot together." Not surprisingly, A's VO2 max put mine to shame, but I won for better fat utilization. So, we'll call this round of testing a tie.

One run turned "interesting" when we were supposed to hit certain paces and our Garmins were in disagreement over what paces we were holding. In the middle of the run, I was trying to convince A that she should be running way faster, while she thought she was going way faster than her assigned pace. We had to be reminded by the coach that we should know our paces without the silly gadgets.

Last weekend (after a late evening at some friend's house) we had a bit of a ride up to Estes Park via Big Thompson canyon. Previously, we've always taken the canyon all the way to Estes, but this time we decided to try the side road that goes through Glen Haven. We'd heard that it was pretty steep, which turned out to be pretty accurate. Most of it wasn't steep at all and absolutely gorgeous. After Glen Haven, the road turned towards the sky and I was wishing that I had my compact crank and road bike instead of the normal crank and tt bike. Oh well, we took it as steady as possible and made our way into Estes Park.

Descending Big Thompson canyon on a Saturday in July is not fun with all of the traffic and it started to rain which made it even worse. Eventually we made it out alive, headed back to Boulder, and made it back without getting more rain.

Oh, and it was my birthday on Sunday. A and I: had a crappy swim, made some great waffles, went to Harry Potter 6, had a happy hour meal at Bloom, grilled up some steaks at home for dinner, and had a backyard fire. Nice day. I also set a personal record of facebooking that day.

Peace Out,
Eric

E's Mt Evans Hill Climb Race Report

2009-07-22T19:08:00.002-06:00

Okay this will be short.

First, you start riding your bike at an elevation higher than you live at (7500 ft). You then proceed to climb 6600 ft over 28 miles to the top of Mt. Evans. You try to ride with others in your category for as long as possible, but in my case that was only for 5 miles. You may almost catch your wife who started in front of you, but she may see you behind her and speed up (or slow down less) the last mile and you never do catch her. At the top, you are cold and tired, so you turn around and bike down. You experience a head wind on the last section that requires a decent amount of effort to get through. If you're smart, you drink beer afterwards (I am smart) in town.

Fortunately, for the effort, you treat yourself to a dinner and a half at Mountain Sun with plenty of beer.

Peace Out,

Eric

Mt. Taylor Quadrathlon race report

2009-07-20T20:10:00.000-06:00

I am sitting here wondering where to start with my return to blog-land and figure that a belated race report is a good place. This past February, E and I headed down to Grants, NM, for the 26th annual Mt. Taylor Winter Quadrathlon. As usual, we had a car loaded with bikes, run shoes (with screws for the snow and ice), skis, skins, poles, and snowshoes. New this year, we brought with some other Boulder athletes and shared our hotel room. It was good to share the race experience with new companions, but it was a break from the tradition we had kept for the last 5 times we have done the race.

Friday we left Boulder early, drove to Grants without issue, picked up our materials at registration, and dropped off all of our gear for legs 2-4 at the fire house before settling into the hotel (away from the 24-7 rail road tracks) and then heading back to town for the complimentary pasta feed. A few last minute bike prep steps back at the hotel, and we headed to bed.

The race started Saturday at 9 am and we made it there in a single trip (years past have seen us rushing back to the hotel for timing chips, forgotten medication, etc. I do not know why, but this seems to be the one race where I can forget something vital and cause a ruckus race morning). We arrived at the start early enough to get great parking spots and with plenty of time for a good bike and run warm up. Unfortunately, as E already mentioned in his post, we had enough time to find some glass on the road's shoulder during our warm-up that led to some drama pre-start.

I didn't know it until I was trying to drop off a few last minute things at the car and ride to the line, but I was getting a flat front tire. I sprinted to the start, found E quickly, told him what was going on, and swapped wheels with him while he made a bee-line to the race mechanic's tent. I was able to stall the starter long enough for E to get the tire changed and head back over to the start. Unfortunately, E now had no spare tire, which cost him later as he had a slow leak in the rear due to more glass.

And with that, the gun was fired and the field was off. We all rode in a pack through town and out towards the county corrections facility. I was with two of the top women, but soon saw a pack breaking off the front and worked to bridge up to them, leaving Lisa and Keri close behind me, but out of site. At ~ 9 miles they reappeared and passed me as we flew down the only down-hill in the first leg and then started the steepest portion of the climb. Lisa was gone in a flash. Keri lingered a little longer due to shifting issues, but was out of sight by the time I moved into the first transition (T1). A few other strong riders (women) where there this year, and I entered T1 in 5th place for the female soloists. Just in time to miss the dirt and debris getting kicked up by the helicopter trying to land next to T1!

I was in and out of T1 quickly, and soon passed my nearest rivals. This year I made some strategic shoe choices for the run that had a positive impact on my race, and I was zipping along nicely through the early rollers and up the steeps. It was a beautiful day for a race. My nutrition was going well, and the legs and lungs were feeling OK, considering we were climbing ~1200 feet over the 5 mile run.

I entered T2 in 3rd, but knew I had a few women close on my heels. I took a final swig from my hand-held water bottle that I carried for the run, threw on my skate boots, clipped into my skis, swung my bag with snowshoes onto my back, and started to quickly walk out towards the timing mat at the end of T2 while strapping my poles on. The amazing volunteers were still loading my rejected run equipment into my bag as I transitioned from trudge to shuffle and skied out of sight.

The ski is always steep and painful at the Quad. 2009 was no exception. By now my muscles are screaming for oxygen and any motion feels like you are engulfed in lactic-acid derived quick sand. I fought on, driven by the thought that the race leaders, the women I emulated, and my own time goals, were within reach if I could stay focused and drive steadily onward.

At T3 I saw the men's race leader leaving to start the ski down as I was ripping my skins off the skis and shoving my feet into my bolted-on run shoes on the snowshoes. As I ran along the flat portion, I saw Brian Hunter ahead. He had passed me on the ski up and we would continue to jockey back and forth for the next 40 min or so, spurring each other on. I had a gel. Declined the whiskey but took water at the edge-of-the-world, and somewhere in there put on the light weight windbreaker that I had been carrying in my jersey pocket since the start. This jacket was a life saver, and the decisions to wear it was one that eventually propelled me to a great total race and 15 min PR (after having 4 of the previous 5 years all be within ~5 min of each other). Keri and Erin were not as fortunate. Both eventually were pulled off course by medical due to potential hypothermia. The winds were brutal at the top of the mountian and we were all very wet due to the efforts we exerted to haul ourselves up the mountain. My jacket (an awesome find at Golite) packs down to a lump smaller than most supermarket apples and weighing less than its volume in marshmellows (its small and light) and had been out of sight and mind until I needed it and quickly remembered having it and threw it on mid stride. Then I passed the Edge of the World and started to assend the steep section that would send me to the half way point distance wise, also known as the top of Mt. Taylor.

At the top I paused briefly for a 2 second look at the view, then followed directions and started down. This year they sent us down a different way than we went up. It was a very fun section to descend, but I missed seeing where everyone in front of me was like I could when the top used to be an out and back.

Before I knew it, I was back in transition trying to stuff my feet into my wet ski boots, attach my boots to my bindings, and plop my snowshoes into my backpack for the ski descent. As I started to shuffle off I was still trying to jam my hands into my poles. I had a few close calls this year when my skis got caught in a rut or when I was maneuvering around other racers on some of the tight hairpin turns, but I made it down in decent time with no falls. Near the bottom, in the middle of the whoop-do-woos, I shot past Keri, much to my surprise. After that section there is a short up and then flat-ish section where I always skate. I pushed on, worried that Keri was just behind me. She is strong and has multiple wins here, and she can run!

By the time I made it over the timing mat and into transition, the volunteers had grabbed my gear bag, removed my skis from my feet, and were directing towards a bench where I could sit briefly and prep for the downhill run. On with my shoes, run hat, and handful of gels, and I was off. Unfortunately, I'd forgotten to grab my water bottle in the rush. That ended up not being too much of a problem, but having it with me would have been better. Part way down, after turning off the steep road onto the flatter road and getting ready to cross the second cattle guard, a headwind picked up and nearly blew my hat off. I pulled it loose from my ponytail and stuck it in my race belt. The last bit of the run is rolling and gets ugly. I always think this is the hardest leg of the race because I'm starting to tire, ready to be done, and assuming all is downhill, but it's not. The last mile has noticeable uphill sections and lots of flat that seems to go nowhere. Regardless, keeping one foot in front of the other seems to get one through this part and on to the bike.

The bike down this year was uneventful. The headwinds picked up throughout the bike, but by now I almost expect that (unlike 2005 when I was on par for a significant PR and expecting a 30-35 min decent, only to go 50 min and nearly bonk since I had not grabbed food and expected to be done much sooner). I crossed the line in second place, a major accomplishment! I chatted briefly with the radio station announcers, tuned in my chip, drank copious amounts of gatorade, then turned back to find E. He wasn't too far behind, but was further back than I expected. I soon learned that he had also found glass during our bike warm-up that left him with a slow rear leak. A number of stops to top off the tire with CO2 got him to the finish, but he had ridden the last bit up at the beginning while standing, cautiously descended the steep parts at the top on the way down, and had to stop at the top of the little climb during the end bike to refill.

The rest of our acquaintances drifted in and we learned that Lisa had won, Tom was done in excellent time, better than expected, and both Eric and Keri got to ride down together in a cop car after the medics pulled them off course for hypothermia. We used our meal ticket to have lunch with Keri and catch up on her latest adventures. I think this lunch at El Cafecito was my favorite part of the trip. Keri is a neat person, and we really only see her at races, often only at Mt. Taylor. And the food at El Cafecito is AWESOME, true NM cuisine.

Then it was back to the hotel to start cleaning up, packing gear, packing the car some, vegging out, etc. We headed back in to town for awards that night, then hit the hay. The next morning we ate breakfast at the hotel, then said goodbye to Eric, loaded Tom and the last things into the car, and turned towards Boulder. The 2009 Mt. Taylor Quad trip was done, but we'll be back next year. You should join us in Grants, NM for the race, it is one of a kind and a true gem.

E's weekend recap

2009-07-13T05:53:00.003-06:00

Not surprising, but A and I had a busy, but productive weekend. Since, we are "racing" up Mt. Evans next weekend, we needed to get some climbing in, so Jared assigned a trip up to Brainerd Lake. Fortunately, we got out the door pretty early and missed most of the onslaught of riders that we later saw in Lefthand Canyon as we were descending. I was glad to see so many people out riding on a nice day, but it would have been a bit tricky working our way through them as we did our workout.

A let me lead up to Ward, where we filled up our water bottles. After that she took the lead and put the hurt onto me as we headed to Brainerd Lake. She later asked if she had been going too slow, which is funning since the normal sign of showing that someone is going too slow is not to fall back 30 yards (or meters for any Canadian readers).

The descent was nice except for a dude that apparently didn't like getting passed as he almost ran into A who was on my wheel. Dude then passed us back and flew through the residential area, which opened a gap to us. Sure enough we could have easily caught him back on the lower section, but decided not to play games with him as it would have been hard to drop him with our compact cranks. Anyways, we made it back home and went for a short run.

After lunch and a nap, A and I tried to un-neglect our yard for a while.

Sunday started with a crappy swim for both of us, followed by a run in Eldorado State Park.

We ran from the park to Walker ranch via a pretty hill trail. Once at Walker, we were met with another big hill. We then turned around and hit all the hills in reverse. The trail was difficult, the weather was warm but overcast, and views were amazing, which all made for a very nice run. Hopefully the legs rest a bit today as I'm getting a FUEL test done tomorrow.

Post-run, we got some shoes at Solepepper and then dined at Efrains I. Lunch prompted the second nap of the weekend. We finished the day doing more house chores and dinner.

All in all, a busy, but good weekend.

A's BSLT race report

2009-07-02T20:40:00.002-06:00

I have been busy at work this week, reading other's blogs and BSLT race reports, and writing my own 20 times over in my head. The bottom line is (and I feel qualified to say that. As an engineer, I know what a bottom line is) I am very, very disappointed with my race.

Despite an 11 min personal best time at this distance, I do not feel I raced to my current physical potential, and that just doesn't sit right with me. Somewhere along the way, my abilities have expanded, and subsequently, my expectation also rose. Unfortunately, I had not taken the time to evaluate that in much detail before the race, so I merely wanted to "race well" without any way of quantifying that during the race. I didn't help when others who I knew there seemed to be having "rock star" races (kudos to all of you, you rock!).

But, I'm getting a bit ahead of myself. Let's back up to our Boulder departure. We have raced BSLT two other times and thus learned that there is NOTHING to do in Lubbock, TX. So, I "smartly" decided we should leave mid-day Friday rather than sun-up Friday and break the drive down into two days. What I did not think about was the fact that we could not get into our hotel in Lubbock until ~3pm on Saturday. At 3 pm we also had to head to the race registration hotel to get our Trakkers units which we were helping to demo during the race. By the time we got our Trakkers and had a good visit with Armando, we didn't get back the hotel to get bikes built until nearly 5 pm! And then they needed a quick test ride, we had more race prep, and we had to cook dinner yet (a perk of our hotel suite was the kitchen and more control of our pre-race dinner, but this meant more time/work, too). By the time we laid down to sleep, I was pretty worked up. My tight neck knot combined with my racing mind meant ~1 h of actual sleep.

At 3:30, though, we rolled out of bed and started to eat breakfast, dress, and get the last minute race prep done. I consolled myself with the thought that I was ready to race. I was prepped physically and less-than-ideal sleep was not going to significantly interfere with what I had come to Lubbock to do: which was RACE FAST and beat this 70.3 mi distance. I was ready. No excuses.

The drive out to the lake was pretty uneventful, but we were both aware of the weather and how it might impact our day (wind was howling and there was some consistent lightning to the North). Once parked (which took much, much longer than normal) we donned our headlamps and rode down the hill towards transition. Set-up was quick, though I modified where I put my helmet and glasses due to the way my bike was swaying on the rack from the winds. At the last minute I shoved my run shoes into a random plastig bag E had rescued as it flew across transition. That ended up being a great thing later when my shoes were some of the few to start out dry. Then a quick zip into my borrowed long-john (thanks, Billy, it worked great!) and down to the beach for a wait and some splashing around.

I found Jenni, but not Cathy as Jared had instructed (I hear she is a good open water swimmer...... !). Before I knew it we were filing over the first timing mat and lining up at the water's edge. As we ran into the water, I looked for fast feet. I missed the leaders, and a few fast solo swimmers in the middle of the field, but soon settled in behind two women who could site well, swim strait, and were close to my pace. Now I just had to follow without hitting them. Too much, at least. On the back side (the swim is a long rectangle), a faster white-cap passed us on the right. I moved to catch her feet, but never quite got into her draft before she was gone. In the end, my swim was 2 min slower than last time (2007) when I lead my age group (but had a great draft off of an older woman), but it was sounding like everyone was slower than normal, leading to the conclusion of a "long" course.

Off to the bike. My T1 was a mess as I tried to get a heart rate monitor strap on while wearing a 1-piece swim suit. This proved difficult and useless, as I never, not once, looked at my heart rate during the race. At least I won't do that again!

I had my shoes on and fastened before the first steep hill, then down the back towards the lake's dam (all within the first mile) where I promptly ejected both drink bottles. This was all my fluids and a good portion of my calories, so I turned to retieve my water-electrolyte bottle resumed racing, thought better of it and turned to retrieve my glucose bottle. Both had damaged lids and had lost most of their fluids. This would be interesting, but I had 7 gels on-board the mothership and headed out to start my race, hoping to snag another water bottle soon.

Immediately, the bike felt smooth, strong, solid. Then I realized that was due to a sweet tailwind. We did the first 180 degree turn-around and faced the headwind as our payment for the free-ride. But with all the earlier racers in front of us (we were the 8th wave, I think) there were plenty of people to pass and use as wind blocks.

Before I knew it, the bike was done Honestly. It was a good bike for me. Very good. Finally! I am starting to feel like I'm playing with the big girls out there. The bike has been my weakness in year's past. I even got to "play" some when Jenni passed me at mile ~45 (right before the last turn-around, where Kerri has passed me every other time we raced BSLT) and I let her go a bit before reeling her back in for good (for the bike! that girl can run!). The last bike was wet from rain, and transition was soaked, but my dry run shoes and socks were waiting and I was soon off on the run course (after being tackeled by a volunteer for trying to run down isle 1 instead of isle 2).

And that is where my race frustrations began. I was soooooooo ready to rock this run. I even wore the race suit for it. My legs just did not get the memo. I ran a steady pace, but it was 45-60 s slower per mile than planned. By mile 3 I had peed twice and was congratulating myself on good race nutrition (my normal problem with BSLT is nutrition issues). But by mile 8 I was talking myself into a pit stop for my gassy, sloshy tummy. And then, as I was reaching for the door to the porta-potty as the current occupant exited, a man, heading the other way (so he was only at mile 5) jumped inside right in front of me! I was incredulous. Seriously? Yeah. So I stood outside pacing and whining... "Sir, please hurry up!"....... "Sir, go, go, go" ...."Siiiiiiiir!" It was rude, but I was now despirate as I had mentally committed to this pit stop AND I was watching the women in my race run by me as I was stopped. I was able to run again (opposed to the iron-shuffel I had embraced) after my pit stop. But I never really was able to turn it on all the way with my tummy remaining unsettled. A 1:48:xx was 8-10 min slower than the plan, but I ran the whole thing which was not a given. And my pit stop was not quick (4 min? 5?).

I crossed the line and told a changed and clean looking E "I think I quit." Afterall, who wants to keep training and working hard towards goals that just seem so ellusive. A more honest reflection, after some time has elapsed, has me conceeding that I never really gave myself a chance. Our training volume has been low so far due to work obligations adn "life issues" consuming our training and recovery time. On top of that, I went into this race wanting to "race well" which I guess meant to break 5 hours (I was a high 5:09) at this distance, have a solid run, and maybe be close to a Kona slot. I was feeling pretty far off the mark in all 3. But I had never set those goals up pre-race! At least not difinitively. This race was a good eye-opening experience for my Canada: I need concrete goals. Time based goals. And I need to state what those goals are clearly, now, before thetraining ramps up and LONG before the race cannon fires. I need to state what I want. Which I am not very good at doing. In anything.

I trust the training. I always have. Now it is just time to focus that training so that I have the race that I am capable of. Even if I don't know it yet.

It was a good learning-experience race (which I guess I still needed, even after 11 years in this sport). It was also an awesome chance to race against some of the best women in this sport and to meet a few amazing tri-bloggers that I admire and read as often as I can. You guys rock! It was an honor to race you!

Now, time for dessert!

E's BSLT race report

2009-07-02T14:38:00.002-06:00

So, this first sentence has be re-written a few times.

I'll start with the good: I broke 5 hr in a half on a tough course and difficult conditions. I executed my race well in terms of nutrition and pacing. I'm stronger on the bike than I have ever been before.

But, the bad: My fitness isn't where it was 8 months ago before Halfmax. My run was slow. My swimming sucks right now.

The reality: I have time before Canada to get my fitness back, but the next month and half are going to be seriously hard.

Backing up to the beginning, A and I left for Lubbock on Friday at noon. We got to Lubbock on Saturday morning after spending the night in Dalhart, TX. Although we got everything done that we needed to, not getting into town until Saturday morning caused more stress than necessary. By the feel of it on Saturday, we were in for a hot race on Sunday. At one point, I dropped my hotel card underneath the car and had to put a hand down on the asphalt to get it. Bad idea as it hurt for the following 30 minutes. Anyways, went to bed expecting a hot and humid race.

Race morning after the alarm clock goes off, A asks me if I knew how many floors the hotel had. I answered that I didn't know, but was curious about why she asked. Turns out that between pain in her shoulder and race nerves, she couldn't sleep and walked around the hotel and found out there were three floors. Uh, oh, I thought. We get out the door a bit later than we wanted which caused us to hit the traffic parking at the lake. We did get a brief warm up run in, but I didn't get any swim warm up. I've learned that I need at least 10 minutes in the water to loosen up. Instead, I got 30 seconds.

The swim was pretty uneventful and slow, no clobbering of A this time as she started 25 minutes after me. Although it has always been my biggest weakness, my swimming has been really crappy recently. On the bright side, I started swimming better this morning and the next two months should allow for consistent training. Turns out the swim was a bit long this year, but in the past it has seemed short.

T1 went quick (2nd fastest in age group) which was helped by racing last weekend.

The bike was interesting. It started with my right foot getting stuck underneath the insole of my shoe. I was able to make it up the first hill out of transition that way and while biking at the top before the first downhill. At the damn on the first downhill, my drink bottle ejected out of its cage, which I stopped and retrieved. Luckily it was intact, which wasn't the case for A when she lost both bottles. After that, I enjoyed the cross/tail wind and tail wind until the first turn around, when it became a tough headwind. Headwind became into crosswind and crappy road when the course turned to the east. We got tailwind again when we headed south towards the next turnaround, which gave headwinds again. Then east again, the north, then south, then west, then north, then west, then south, then west. On that second to last west, it started to rain. At least the wind died down then, but it still was pretty annoying. In a stroke of sheer brilliance, I opened my mouth up to hydrate from the rain. In a second stroke of sheer brilliance, I realized that north Texas rain may not be the cleanest and I closed my mouth. Eventually made my way back to T2. In the end, I had a really good bike. I went at a pretty comfortable pace and had the 65th best split of the day, with having to stop at the bottom of a hill to get my bottle

T2 wasn't the fastest, since I had put my shoes in a plastic bag, but doing so was so worth it as they were nice a dry.

The run. A disclaimer of sorts, is that I was a runner before being a skier or a triathlete. As such, if I hold any pride, it is in my running. Two years ago at Lubbock was my first solid run in a long course triathlon after two previous half ironmans and two ironmans. In 2007, I ran a 1:45. Not fast by my standards, but solid. Since then, I've run 3:40 into stiff winds at IM Canada. Again, not blazing, but solid. My goal for Canada this year is a 3:20 marathon. I was expecting to be able to do a 1:30 - 1:35 at BLST, mostly based on the training last winter as running training has suffered over the last few months. But, on Sunday, the best I could do was 7:40 miles which gave me a 1:41 and change run split. I didn't waver on that throughout the whole run, but it hurt the pride not to be able to go faster. As I was coming to the finish line, I was using my watch to try to figure out what my overall time was as I didn't start it with the swim. As I went just past the 5 hr mark according to my watch before the finish line, I got pissed off at my swimming and running. 30 minutes later, I learned that I went under 5 hr by 49 seconds. It really didn't hit me as an accomplishment as much as thinking I was over by 30 seconds felt like a failure.

So, where does that lead me to:
1. I still race to train rather than train to race. I love workouts. I love hard bike rides up canyons, runs where your legs are feeling that they will fall off, but you still are maintaining pace, swims where you do a 200 at a pace you previously keep for a 100.
2. I need to work my butt off if I want the kind of race that I expect for myself at Canada.
3. Triathlons aren't easy. It sounds simple enough, but you can't miss the training (BSLT '09) or the execution (Halfmax '08) and expect to do well.

Peace Out,
E

So much to say.....

2009-06-23T21:47:00.002-06:00

It has been a while. A long, long while, since I have blogged here. Life has been very busy for E and I. Mostly good stuff, some drama, but for now, not public. At least not bloggable. If that changes, you will know, I'll ensure it.

Anyways, I think I owe y'all at least 4 race reports (more good stuff!) and lots of "life updates," etc. Unfortunately, I only have 8 more minutes inside the NormaTec "pants of pain" tonight and most of that time will be spend eating ice cream with E. Then it's off to bed. Gotta rest up for bike-to-work day tomorrow (I think I might be capped at only 3 breakfast stations) and it is also pre-race week, BSLT on Sunday.

BSLT. Sounds like something you should eat! Bacon, salmon, lettuce and tomato? Nope! Buffalo Springs Lake Triathlon. For those interested (dads?) you'll be able to follow along real-time this time, as we will both be demo-ing Trakkers units. If you want to follow along, go here: http://www.trakkersgps.com/beta .

That's all folks! At least for now. I hope to be back with more updates soon. Swim-bike-run safely and enjoy Summer!

-A

E's L2L recap

2009-06-22T09:33:00.003-06:00

Time to get this blog back going as triathlon season is upon us in full force. Before this weekend, we hadn't done a triathlon since the Halfmax in October, so racing on Saturday (Loveland Lake to Lake), volunteering at the 5430 sprint (aka Ironman 20.5), and tracking our friends at IMCDA (I hope Amanda get her heartrate issue figured out soon, congratulations to Marit, Kerrie, and Glenn for great races) really made it feel like triathlon season started the same weekend as summer.

The main thing on the agenda was the Loveland Lake to Lake triathlon. It's a relatively small race (623 finishers), pretty much Olympic distance (30 mile bike) race that we've done off and on since we've been in Colorado. Last year, my race felt really good and I just missed breaking 2:30:00 by 5 seconds. Training has been pretty inconsistent recently, but I thought I had a good chance of taking a few minutes off of last year's time based on my improved bike fitness. We actually didn't sign up for the race until last Monday, by which time it was pretty expensive, but we wanted to get a race in before Buffalo Springs next weekend.

The swim was pretty uneventful. A reported to me (during the bike) that I had clobbered her when she passed me on the swim (she started 4 minutes later). In my defense, I was just trying to get drafts off of the sides of the passing women and not trying to get on their feet as I thought there might be people already drafting there. There is a pretty long run from the water to transition, so I stripped the wetsuit off on the way. My time difference from last year's swim of eight seconds was probably due to me stopping and picking up my swim cap that I dropped during the run (its a nice gold one, if it had been pink, I would have left it).

T1 was pretty quick as I already had my wetsuit off but I did take a few seconds to put my race number back in my pile of stuff after I had kicked it away from my stuff.

Starting the bike, my legs felt like crap. The first part of the bike is a lot of turns as you leave town. I caught sight of A up ahead in her bright red birthday suit (Sunny gave it to her as a birthday present). I eventually passed her and heard about my prior clobbering (or was it pummelling) of her on the swim. On the long, grinding uphill, A repassed me and pulled away by a bit. The mind was willing, the lungs were working hard, but the legs would just not deliver more power. At the top of the slow climbs, I started to gain again on A and by the steeper, shorter climbs, I passed her again. From there it was a fast trip back to Loveland from Fort Collins due to a nice tailwind.

For T2, I didn't plan ahead much and wasted a few section by putting on my number before my shoes instead of grabbing it and putting it on during the run.

Somewhere on the bike I must have lost my feet as I had no feeling in them for the start of the run. Unfortunately, they came back angry and weren't feeling good for the first two miles. I also seemed to have lost my turnover somewhere and that never came back, so I was stuck at less than full race pace. I saw A near the turn around and she had a pretty good gap to the next woman, but with there were other age groups that started behind her. The way back felt a lot like the way out, without any real turnover. At least I never got fatigued from the effort, so if I might have found my pace for Buffalo Springs next weekend. I managed to hold A off to the finish, but with my 4 minute head start, she beat me by about 3 minutes. I gained a minute from last years time, but considering I never felt good this year versus feeling great last year, I'm not too dissappointed. I really ready to give it again next week.

The post race food was very, very good. The awards were just a bit delayed. I missed out on getting a souvenir glass by one place as they had awards four deep and I was fifth.

Amber ended up with about a minute and half lead over the next woman and almost making enough to pay for her entry. Her biggest gains have come on the bike (3.5 minutes better than last year), but she also dropped time on the swim and run.

Next stop is Lubbock, Tx.

Getting worked by Amber on caffeine

2009-04-09T08:24:00.003-06:00

There are a lot of crazy athletes in Boulder who swim at Flatirons Athletic Club, but most of them are too lazy to swim at 6 am. Well, maybe they just aren't crazy enough or don't need to get to work by 8. We can't even claim to be there every time, but most of the year we are.

Anyways, its a pretty small group that shows up every Tuesday and Thursday at that time to work out with Wolfgang or Kurt. As a small group, there are usually only four lanes going. The fastest lane recently has been occupied by the Finangers and whoever can keep up with them. Next is usually Amber's lane which numbers between 1 (solo Amber) and 4 (on a busy day). Most of the time she is the lane leader. Next is my lane with 3 or 4 people, which I have been leaded recently. The last lane usually has 1 or 2. Compared to Sunday's workout with at least 6 people per lane for all 6 lanes, our workout is tiny.

The Plan
Since my swimming has been going well, I decided to move up to A's lane today. But, Kurt removed the cover from all of the lanes and her normal swim buddies went to the lanes with my normal swim buddies, so I found myself all by myself with A. Oh, boy. My hope had been to hang on by drafting off the second to last person, but I've never been able to draft off of A for long. To make matters worse, I wanted coffee this morning before the workout and so A had a mug of it as well. We've only had coffee before the swim twice before and A has noticed the performance enhancement that it give. So, not only did was I alone with A, I was alone with a caffeinated A.

The Workout
The warm up went fine, although A took the full rest assigned and I took less to keep up.

Then, Kurt gave us the main set. He started by telling us that it was a 200's day, to which A responded "Great, I love 200's". Red alert, red alert. Kurt told us "4 x 200", okay not too bad, "then 4 x 50's with kicking ...", good, some recovery, "then 3 x 200" uh, oh, I think I know where this is going, "50's again" here it comes "2 x 200" yep, we're going to be doing 10, "50's and then 1 x 200", I hate it when I'm right some times. Then, the timing discussion started and I deferred to A as I was the interloper in her lane. She gave Kurt a range and luckily he picked the top end of it.

The first one went well as it always seems to go and I got 5 seconds rest. After the second, I got 3 seconds rest. After the third, I had to immediately start the fourth. I skipped the first 50 to get some recovery and A told me she was getting 24 seconds of rest after each.

The next set started okay and I got 5 seconds rest after the first. I blew up on the second and missed the interval by 10 seconds. On the third, my goal was to keep A from lapping me. She was at the flags by the time I flipped at 150 meters, but at least I made that goal. I missed the first 50 and skipped the second.

For the third set, I geared up with paddles and buoy and made the intervals for both.

For the last one, I was determined to make it my fastest and I beat my goal time by 1 second. Still 16 seconds slower than the caffeinated A, but there is always next week.

For now, my plan is to only swim with A's lane once a week until I can complete the entire workout as given. Maybe next time, I'll substitute decaf for her.

Peace Out,
E

Future Adventures

2009-04-05T09:30:00.000-06:00

I started this post a while ago, so some of it is a bit dated...

Over at the Daily Espresso, Lars had two recent posts that got me thinking. The first was his post on some of the adventures he has had including his ride from Canada to Mexico and Emily and his races at the Xtreme Norseman in Norway. The second post was a link to a triathlon training camp in Sweden that traverses the length of the country.

I've wanted to do the Norseman since first heard about it a few years ago, but our annual pilgrimage to IM Canada has taken the summer Ironman role and the Norseman is a difficult race to coordinate for since you have to have your own support crew, including someone to finish the race with you as it is up a trail to the top of the mountain. And we don't have enough vacation. And we took a trip to Sweden and Norway a few summers ago, so we should go somewhere else. And the swim is freezing, since it is in a fjord. And it doesn't have qualifying slots to Kona. And, all that doesn't matter since I really want to do the race.

Its not like Amber and I haven't had some cool adventures (weeklong backpacking trip in Montana, the trip to Sweden and Norway (which for the first half we didn't know the driving laws), our IMs as they really are adventures, ...). But, it is easy to get complacent.

We keep going back to IM Canada for a number of reasons. The course is awesome. And our Wisconsin friends are always there (Jim, Janine, Wolfie, etc.) And its hard to get into, so if we stop going, we may not get in again And we have a nice room at the Tiki Shores (took us three years to get into there). And we like the peaches. And, all those reasons shouldn't matter if it is keeping us from trying something new.

Mt. Taylor is a different as it really doesn't keep us from trying something else and suggesting otherwise would get me in deep trouble with A.

So, here is a list of adventures I want to have and why. The next step will be to figure out when.

Xtreme Norseman triathlon: it would be supremely challenging race in a country I want to explore more.

Ironman Lake Placid: I didn't like Ironman Arizona's multiple loops as the scenery got boring. I don't think that I would get bored with the scenery in this upstate New York gem. Our plan is to try to get into 2010.

Kona: 'Nuff said.

Challenge Wanaka: this is a new addition, but they claim it is the most scenic Iron distance race. The pictures they have would support that claim. Also, it is in New Zealand which holds many adventurous opportunities.

Boston and New York Marathons: I really don't have any desire to run a marathon by itself, but the history and courses of these two races really intrigue me.

Mt Evans Hillclimb (bike version): I've bike up Mt Evans before and plan on racing up it this summer. Not many races finish at 14,000 ft.

Iron Horse Bike Race: We're signed up for this year. The race won't be a huge adventure, but it takes us down to southwest Colorado for only the second time. The only other time was when Amber did the Imogene Pass Run and we drove straight there and straight back. Hopefully since we will be there the whole weekend this time, we can see more of the area.

TransRockies Run: 113 mile, 6 days, and 1 partner. Only 12% on paved roads or paths, the rest on dirt trails or roads. I know who I want my partner to be (the wife). If you're interested they are 75% full for this year. Get on it. Unfortunately we'll be in Canada.

Italy: Not a race, the country.

Alaska: 'Cause it is the home of Sarah Palin. Actually, for the backpacking, kayaking, skiing, and other outdoor adventures. And it is where A was born.

Late addition - Ironman St. George: After I started drafting this, they announced a new Ironman in St George, Utah in May 2010. After some deliberation, A and I signed up. The best part of the course should be run with its hills.

Lonely Ride

2009-03-28T15:50:00.003-06:00

Unfortunately, we didn't take a camera with us for our ride today. Our current cell phones don't have cameras since they are that old. But by Tuesday or so, we will be geeked out with Blackberries, so we can always have a camera with us.

Back to the ride. It was beautiful with all of the snow, the roads were mostly good with only snow chucks occasionally to deal with, and no other bike riders. For the first time that either Amber or I could recall, we rode Hwy 36 from Boulder to Lyons without seeing another rider. We finally saw another rider at 2 hr and 13 minutes into our ride at 75th and Hwy 66. I'm guessing that people either thought the roads would be bad or were waiting until later for it to get warmer. The nice part of riding when it was still a bit chilly was that the roads were dry as everything hadn't started melting.

The ride itself was pretty uneventful. A and I just wanted to spin the legs for a while as we are unsure if the Koppenburg is still happening tomorrow. The main uncertanity about tomorrow is whether the dirt road and hill can be cleared in time. If so, it should stay decently frozen in the morning for A's and my races. Reports from this morning make it sound pretty iffy though.

Time to go watch some basketball,
E

Ironman St. George

2009-03-24T12:43:00.003-06:00

After a week sitting on the fence (not literally), A and I signed up for Ironman St. George last night. It used to feel weird signing up for a race a year in advance, but that's become standarad practice for Canada. This race is just over 13 months away (May 1, 2010).

When I initially informed A about the race, her immediate response was to sign up. Then, we thought about it some more and thought maybe we shouldn't sign up. Then, we thought we should. Then, we thought we shouldn't. Then, we signed up.

Last year, we weren't completely prepared for IM Arizona in mid-April (birthplace of the blog) and this will be only two weeks later, but I think we've learned some things to be better prepared. Also, last year we knew that we had Canada in August, so we didn't want to burn out with training in March (we saved that for July). Our plan right now is that St. George will be our only IM in 2010 as afterwards we will move onto other adventures for a while.

We drove through St. George last year on the way to and from the Halfmax in Vegas and thought the area looked nice. We probably would have look around a bit closer if we knew we were going to race there. We're most excited that its close to Zion Nat'l Park and Bryce Canyon.

So, if anyone wants to hang out in southwestern Utah next spring, let us know.
-Eric

Not Trying To Ignore You

2009-03-14T18:27:00.002-06:00

Really, it's not you. It's us. We've been busy.

For a while we were too busy to train much. We were able to keep active by biking to and from work, but not much else. I (E) told a friend about our lack of training and she was concerned about how A was dealing with it. A's got to train as it is her nature. I'm a bit more able to go with the flow mentally, but my body doesn't adjust well as my back and legs start to cramp up with no training.

The last two weeks have been marginally better, but not by too much. For example, we missed Tuesday morning's swim so we we made it up with swim last night. Just 3.5 days late.

I ended up biking on the trainer today even though it was a beautiful day since I'm on call for work. A got out for a nice ride and then we ran together for 30 minutes. We should get a nice run in tomorrow morning.

Later,
E

Pre-blogging backpacking trip to Montana

2009-03-02T20:08:00.004-07:00

I was trying to organize the office when I came upon a topo map from A and my backpacking trip to Montana from about 10 years ago. We captured some of the things that were happening during the trip on the margin of one of the four maps that covered the area we were in. The trip was seven days in the Lee Metcalf Wilderness Area, about an hour south of Bozeman, MT. We were coming from sea level and the trail started around 6000 ft. The elevation combined with our 50+ lb packs made for some tough days. Since, I haven't finished my "future adventures" post, I thought I'd share our trip recap from then.

Note: We didn't start writing stuff down until day four so the first three days are a bit light. Stuff in parenthesis are my new comments.

Day 1: Lots of climbing
Good views
Moose tracks at lake (not the ice cream, actual moose tracks where we camped)
Lentil stew - good (we wanted to remember which recipes were good)
6 miles
3000 ft up

Day 2: Up to Beacon Pt by 12:30 - tough climb, tough downhill
Saw fishermen on day hike at top (we didn't see anyone the first day so they were the first people we had seen)
Windy but spectacular on Indian Ridge
Walked along river in afternoon
Burritos for dinner - too many beans (I'll let you draw your own conclusions)

Day 3 -Down + Up (Amber takes over writing)
Early start, long day
Multiple river crossings. (she hated some of the river crossings with a 50 lb load going over a log)
No people, many signs of moose
Cheesy Spicy beans and ricey for dinner - good but bland (luckily we had little debbie brownies for dinners, good fuel for the cold nights)

Day 4 - Up down up down up down
Saw Lone Mt + Big Sky ski area.
Saw two groups of people/horses after a beautiful lunch @ Summit Lake.
Saw 1st wildlife - marmots
Camped @ Mirror Lake next to a party of 4 + across from 3 more people. (Group next to us had a huge Tibetan mastiff named Ziegler. Felt safe from bears with him around)
Will take a rest day tomorrow.
Curried veggies + rice for dinner - BAD (we built a fire and burned the rest of it)
Saw shooting stars - Had small fire (mostly to burn the food)
Briefly in Bear Basin

Day 5 - Rest Day
Left camp at noon
Mirror Lake to explore
Climbed up half of Blaze Mtn (I got freaked out and needed to go down)
Ate lunch overlooking camp + fly fishing school - lots of traffic down below
Climbed down + played on boulder field w/ big rocks (size of houses rocks)
Tomato paste gone bad, so spaghetti dinner was without - stole dried tomatoes from chili
Had bid fire - borrowed axe
Next time dried sauce + smaller pasta (I think the spaghetti wasn't easy to deal with)

Day 6 - Amber slept in, still on trail by 9:20
Walked down, up + over - hard day
Saw hikers leaving Spanish lakes - 1 large group + group of 4 w/ dog, 3 people on way up pass, + 2 people, 3 lamas, + dog near top.
People (naked?) camped @ Lake Solitude (maybe they took the name literally), so moved on to Jerome Rocks Lake.
People on far side of lake, but barely saw them.
Mushroom Barley Medley soup for dinner - good! (especially w/ rye crisp)

Day 7 - On the way out
All down.
Pretty trail, easy + flat toward end, soupy in middle.
Saw day hikers near trail head.
Ziegler (the Tibetan mastiff) + owners passed us on the trails (they were on horses)
Got picture of Pioneer Falls. (not sure why this was a noteworthy picture)
Cleaned up in river, got muffins in Bozeman, + hit I90 to Billings.
Ate at Country Harvest + Buffet (really crappy food, but it was the quantity that mattered)
Skies are hazy.

Not Yet for A's Race Report

2009-02-18T21:23:00.002-07:00

This is E. Don't know about you, but I'm still interested in what A has to say about her experience at the Quad. Sure we talked a fair amount about it on the drive back, but there are somethings that you forget about until you start writing.

Unfortunately as soon as we got back, A started working long hours at work (>12 hours a day long). Currently, I'm waiting for her to get back from going back into work to turn off the cooling to something or maybe it was turn off the cooling to something. Once she gets back, we get to have fresh baked brownie. Hmm, brownie.

My legs have recovered pretty well from the race, but my mind might need a bit more break before the training picks up again. Not due to the race as much as the stress from trying to get everything ready for the race while working crazy hours. Well, this post isn't going anywhere interesting...

Good night,
-E

E's Quad Report

2009-02-15T21:07:00.007-07:00

What a bittersweet race.

Pre-pre-race
The prep for the race went very well, but didn't go into it feeling all that fresh. Stayed injury free and mostly healthy, but had to spend a serious chuck of time at work two weeks before the race (85 hours in 7 days). I also scrambled it assemble our Javelin Amarones in time for the race. I got them ready in time for one test ride for each of us before the race. Fortunately, I did a good job getting them ready and they were ready to race.

Pre-race
Travel to Grants went well. We turned in our stuff, went to the pasta dinner and got to bed early. Race morning went smoothly as we didn't have to make any emergency trips back to the motel (it's happened twice before).

As I've had extremely high heartrates at the start before, I wanted to get a good warm up in to avoid that. A and I headed out with Erin for a bit on the bike course to show her the way the route goes through town. Although they had swept the road, the bike lane still had some glass in it that we rode through. We wiped our tires and didn't think much of it. We headed back to town and A and I got a little bit of a run in. Once we got back to the bikes, I got ready and headed to the start line

Bike Up, well not quite
As I'm lined up for the start with a few minutes to go when I hear A yell out to me that her front wheel is flat. I get out of the pack in a hurry and go with her to the bike mechanic that is there to support the race. He freaks out a bit when we tell him we have tubulars, but he gets it together and starts to get the tire off. I give my front wheel to A and tell her to it. It wasn't completely altruistic since she has been in the money the last two years and it could be pretty costly for her to miss the start. The mechanic gets my spare (only spare) onto the wheel and pumps it up quick. A had gone back to the start and had them wait for me.

Bike Up, part 2
Even with that fun, the race start went pretty smooth. The front group started fast, but I just tucked in behind and was able to get a pretty good draft. Drafting is allowed on the bike up, but not the bike down. There was some movement back and forth and at one point A went by, but I still felt pretty good. The 13 mile bike climbs an overall 1800 ft with only one minor decent at mile 8. Coming into that I tucked in behind Erin, but got dropped by her going down the hill. I thought that was bit odd as I probably weigh 40 lbs more than her.

Well folks, sometimes you get lemons and sometimes you get lemonade. This time I got lemons. I realized that I was losing ground due to my rear tire going flat (the front was the issue at the start). I had two CO2 cartridges, but didn't have another spare tire. The options I had were 1) call it a day and head back to town 2) ) use a CO2 cartridge on the way up and risk having only one on the way down 3) ride the rest of the way up on the flat and hope that I could get A's spare or at least have only a slow leak and keep my tire somewhat filled with the two CO2 cartridges. My immediate choice was #1 and I sprinted up to Erin to have her tell A that I flatted out if/when she saw her.

Well folks, I decided to at least try to make lemonade from my lemons and decided to keep going. I rode the last 4 miles standing up to keep as much weight on the front end. I lost some serious ground over those miles, but I made it to the top. I actually ended up finishing the bike with a guy that was riding a 30 year old Schwinn. It will be a good dichotomy to see the one week old bike versus the 30 year old bike beside each other when the pictures come out.

The first transition went pretty quickly as I switched shoes and grabbed some drink for the run. Time for bike and T1 was 55:36. By the time I left transition, I was 2:20 behind Amber.

Run Up
The run up went pretty well. Its 5 miles with 1200 ft of elevation gain. The start isn't very steep and has some short downhills. Most of the elevation gain comes in the last 1.5 miles.

I tried to ease into the run as my legs were felt all of the standing up on the bike. After a bit, I was able pick up my tempo, start taking down some calories and catch some people.

My second transition went a bit slow as getting ski boots on is never that quick and I took a gel. My run time and T2 was 50:56, which was nearly 4 minutes faster than my previous best. Amber was a minute even better than that and was out of the transition before i even got there.

Ski Up
The ski up is always brutal. It may be only 2 miles long, but you get to climb 1200 ft with a really steep section know as Heartbreak Hill. As an added bonus, my quads always cramp up during it and almost always at the same spot on the course. This year was no exception and on cue they locked up. Fortunately, I'm sort of used to the pain by now and kept going. On Heartbreak Hill, a guy going up to the snowshoe start from a team (teams start an hour later than soloists) told me that if I caught a few more people that I could get into the top ten. He enjoyed my response that I was just trying to catch my wife.

The ski section gets timed by itself and it took me 37:33, which left me another 15 seconds behind Amber. That was a little slower than last year, but the snow was much softer this year, so I'm happy with it. Now I just need new quads.

Snowshoe Up
One mile and 600 ft of elevation to the top. During the Superbowl, I finally got our shoes mounted directly to our snowshoes. It might not be a huge difference, but they at least felt a lot lighter on the way up. The first half is pretty mild, but the second half is very steep and very exposed. My guess is that the winds on that section were at 30 mph, but that might be conservative. Fortunately I brought a windbreaker along and that helped a lot. I had just passed one guy without a jacket or hat who looked half frozen, but was at least still moving up the hill. After the race, he said he had been considering hiding behind a tree, but realized he would have frozen. I did see Amber up in the distance at one point but she was minutes ahead. The uphill snowshoe and T3 (ski to snowshoe) took me 22:26, which was my best by 3 minutes. A had an even faster 21:35. The whole uphill took me 2:46:15, which was exactly 4 minutes behind A. My time was 18 minutes better than my previous best, while A dropped 5 minutes from her previous best.

Snowshoe Down
The snowshoe down went a different route this year for the steep section, which I didn't push too hard as I didn't know what to expect. The downhill snowshoe took me 8:41 which was a whole 8 seconds faster than A, but she had already left for the ski. T4 seemed to take forever as I had to take off my skins and pack up those and the snowshoes.

Ski Down
The conditions for the ski down this year were really good. There were some tricky sections but for the most part I was able to just point my skis down the hill and hope for the best. T4 and the ski down took me 16:58. A did it even faster in 15:46, but some of that time was due to the fact that she had taken her skins off a the end of the ski up. Which of course means that her snowshoe up was even faster than mine.

Run Down
T5 was slow as I took another gel, drank some water from the tiny Dixie cups, and got my shoes on. The run felt pretty good for most of it. I really pushed first half hoping to get within shouting distance of A, so I could get her spare tire, but never saw her as she was 5 minutes or so up on me. The last part of the run is pretty brutal as it is part uphill and your legs are used to running down. T5 and the run took me 40:52, another leg PR by a minute. A just kept getting farther ahead and ran a 39:39.

Bike Down
As I got to my bike, I confirmed that A's bike was already gone as it had been racked opposite of mine. I got out my first CO2 cartridge and filled up my tire to see if it would hold. Fortunately it did and I got my shoes changed and helmet on. I took the first part of the bike really slow as it is steep and twisty. I was worried about both the back wheel holding air and whether the front tire's glue was set. A few minutes down, I stopped and checked the back tire and it was still holding up pretty well. On the straighter sections I was able to get my speed up a bit with more confidence. At the top of the one uphill, I stopped and used my second CO2 cartridge to refill the back as it had gotten really low again. That lasted me until I got back into town when it was getting low again. As I couldn't see anyone behind me (two guys had passed me already), I took it easy through town to the finish line. A had started back on the course to find me and I slowed down to find out how she did. My T6 and bike down took 48:51, but I was more relieved than anything else to have gotten down the hill.

Overall, the 2009 Mt Taylor Quadrathlon took me 4:41:36, an 11 minute PR. I want to guess what kind of PR I would have had without the bike issue, but that won't do me any good. 6 of the 8 legs were also PR's. Ironically the bike up was one of them, but we had a nice tailwind for that and our new Javelins are awesome light and stiff. I ended up in second place in my age group and picked up a nice chuck of nambe. This year's lesson is to be prepared for flats (multiple ones).

Amber was a rock star with a 13 minute PR, a sub 4:30 finish (4:29:26), PR's on 6 legs, 2nd place for the women, and 10th overall. She was actually worried before the race that her fitness was suffering from her work schedule and since she wasn't keeping up with me during runs and bikes. I'll let her fill in her race details, but I'm so proud of her effort.

I'm off to find some new quads.
-E

A Bit of Mt. Taylor Prep

2009-01-31T22:02:00.003-07:00

A and I got the pleasure of riding and running with our coach (Jared) today for a little Mt. Taylor Quad prep. To some up the day in three words: He destroyed us.

Fortunately, I think we will recover pretty quickly as today's workout was more bike focused than run focused like the race will be.

The ride started easily enough as we met up on the flat roads between our houses. It soon turned a bit more difficult as the winds picked up and Jared picked up the pace.

Once we hit Lefthand Canyon, Jared gave A an assignment and wanted me to stay on his wheel. Trying to stay with him was the hardest workout I've done in a while. I lost him for good with about 2 miles to Jamestown.

After re-grouping at Jamestown, we headed to Heil Ranch for a bit of running. That went pretty well except for my Superman style fall on the way back. My knee landed on a rock, but I don't think it caused anything more than temporary pain.

On the ride home, Jared had to get home and dropped us like a bad habit. A and I made our way back and made ourselves a tasty strawberry, mango, banana, frozen yogurt, and honey smoothie. It was so thick that we put it in bowls (Rush style) and added granola on top.

Later, we went to dinner at Rincon del Sol in Boulder and A and I both felt like we were down at El Cafecito in Grants, New Mexico for our traditional post Quad lunch as we had whole body fatigue.

Peace Out,
E

So Its Been Awhile...

2009-01-26T20:40:00.003-07:00

Well world or well the few people that bother to check this blog anymore,

A and I are still here, still trying to get our workouts in, still working a lot, still not being successful at staying healthy, still wishing for more snow in town.

Right now, A is describing how someone on 24 is being stabbed multiple times. Otherwise, she came down with something today that made her pretty miserable at work. Supposedly a co-worker found her trying to nap underneath her desk. In the last few weeks, I've been the healthy one in the household as she had to deal with the stitches from the ski collision and then a sinus infection. She just informed me that someone is getting framed for the previously mentioned stabbing.

One of the most exciting things recently (and this might give you an idea of how exciting it has been around here) was the making of paella, which happened to correspond with the first use of our new paella pan. The paella pan was on sale at Williams Sonoma, so I convinced A that we had to get it. She wasn't convinced that I would ever use it, but on MLK day, I broke it out. It large enough to cover two of the burners on the stove and needed to be seasoned, so it was a bit of an intensive process. The actual meal turned out really well and fed us most of last week. Combined with the lasagna (with homemade noodles) we had made a few days before, we ate very well last week going through our leftovers. This week is going to have a lot less cooking, but we have some homemade tamales in the freezer. Actually they are more like neighbor-made, friend-made and/or Amber-made as they came from a tamale making gathering at our friends down the street.

Training has been going decently, but we're not sure is 0, 1 or 2 of us is/are going to be able to get to Grants, NM in a few weeks to race the Mt. Taylor Quad. It's stressful enough not knowing that I'm leaning to just skipping it this year.

A just informed me that the only company that is doing well right now according to the news is McDonalds. My guess is that it isn't cause of their paella.

-E

Winter Tri Part 2

2009-01-15T09:54:00.003-07:00

Just a quick follow up:

Winter tri nationals this past weekend was down 6 more finishers than last year to 47. Amber could have won her age group by showing up. Results here. The splits look pretty well distributed between the bike and ski portions, but Bend is a long ways to travel to in the winter with a bike and skis for an hour long race.

-E

Is winter triathlon bound for failure?

2009-01-10T18:33:00.002-07:00

Soapbox time.

Number of ski races we have done: 200, 300, whatever its a lot
Number of triathlons we have done: 100+ (including 2 xterras, 5 ironmans)
Number of winter triathlons we have done: 21 or so
Our interest in doing winter triathlons this year: 0

I (E) was skimming through the USAT magazine a while ago and was saddened to find a little blurb from the Northeast region that was title like "Largest Winter Triathlon in the Country Held ..." and started with "with nearly 60 competitors, the ...". OMG, the largest winter triathlon in the country for 2008 had less than sixty people. A quick check using "the google" found that 53 people did nationals in Oregon and a whopping 19 people did the Durango race. In 2007, 103 people started and 90 finished the US nationals that was held in Winter Park, CO.

So, the sport shrank last year. Why? My belief is that it is just like real estate: location, location, location. There are other reasons like course selection, lack of race consistency, timing, etc., but location is the one that causes winter triathlon to represent less than 1% of the particiation that Ironmans in the US get.

For some background, Amber and I both were cross country skiers before we were triathletes. Winter triathlon (run, bike and Nordic ski) is a natural extenstion from what we do in the winter and what we do in the summer. We jumped at the chance to race in the winter tri's that Barry Siff (5430 race director) had starting in 2003 or so. He had 2 or 3 a year for a couple of years but never got that much participation and stopped doing them. The courses at Snow Mountain Ranch ranches were difficult but not too bad unless the bike course (normally a ski trail) was soft and a majority of the riders were forced to walk/run a bunch.

One year without them and then Danelle Ballengee held two race in 2006. The first race sucked for me as the bike was either up on roads or down on a snowshoe trail and I almost lost my bike shoes multiple times. The second race was great as the run, bike and ski trails were all firm.

In 2007, Barry again held two races with one of them being the national championships. The bike course got so soft and slow that i spent the time afterwards to compare the proportions that every competitor spent in the three disciplines. The first five guys spent between 39.5 and 42% of their time on the bike (30% or so on the run and ski). The slower people were, the longer proportionally they would spend on the bike to an average later of 46% of their time. These people also tended to spend longer on the ski than the run, suggesting that the bike tired them out more than the first finishers, not surprising since some spent over an hour trying to ride their bike through cottage cheese. I spent 48% of my time on the bike and Amber spent 50.5% of her time on the bike. So, after the race we said "screw this, let's just ski race next year", so this past year we didn't even consider traveling to Durango or up to Bend.

So, how would I fix winter triathlons? I go through 5w's (why, who, what, where, and when).

Why?

A fun, winter racing option. Not designed to surplant summer races for triathletes or ski races for skiers. As such the course shouldn't be that difficult. Fitness and skill for the ski will always be critical, but the course itself shouldn't be the limiter for doing well. There are other options (Mt. Taylor Quad for instance) where you are racing the course as much as you are racing others. Cyclocross is booming for cycling as a nice fall alternative as they are short races that are hard but don't take a whole lot of training for most folks to get ready for.

Who?

This is a complicated one. I think the courses that have been used recently highly favor those with the best mountain biking skills, altitude training and the means to travel (see Mike Kloser), while leaving others behind. The problem with that is that is means an elite team that isn't necessarily the best to do well at worlds and other athletes don't want to do the races (see Amber and Eric Rydholm). I believe that the main priorities currently should be to get as much participation from young skiers as possible and to get summer triathletes try the sport. The future elites will likely come from ski ranks (see Rebecca Dussault) and the future age groupers will come from summer triathletes who learn how to ski. Two ways I see for this are high school races and relays. There are thousands of high school skiers in Minnesota, Alaska, Colorado, Wisconsin, Vermont, New Hampshire, Oregon, Utah, Michigan, New York, and Maine (I probably forgot a state or two). Get these kids interested and involved.

What?
Short races. Easy races. Not races that leave skiers wishing that they had stayed with skiing.

Where?
The midwest where skiers are used to driving to races such as the Birkie and the Vasaloppet. Near the front range of Colorado, where front rangers are used to going for races (Durango is not near the front range). Alaska with a crazy population. No Bend which is a cluster to get to in the winter.

When?
Before or after bigger races at the same location (Monday after the Birkie?, a few days before Sr. Nationals, a week after state for high schoolers or even the same weekend as state for those that couldn't qualify).

Getting ready for the Quad

2009-01-07T13:53:00.004-07:00

Our first major race (the Mt. Taylor Quadrathlon) of '09 is coming up in a little over a month. The race is a road bike, run, ski (with skins), snowshoe to the top of Mt Taylor, snowshoe down from the top of Mt Taylor, ski, run, and bike back to town. Four thousand feet of climbing followed by a four thousand feet of decent.

It is an interesting race to prepare for since you have to run uphill a lot and technically should be able to rest at times during the decent. The bike up is all about keeping yourself to your pace which is difficult with everyone else around you. The runs, ski up, and snowshoe sections all rely on good running strength. The ski down can be a lot of snow plowing depending on conditions, which can trash your legs for the following run. The run down starts with a steep grade and ends with rollers. The bike down should be easy, but there will most likely be a headwind to some degree.

The logistics of the race are also interesting as you have to send equipment up the hill the day before not knowing what kind of weather you might run (literally) into and there isn't really much on course support (although I did get gummy bears on the run down last year). A sent a camelback up last year with her ski (and snowshoes) stuff only to find it empty when she tried to drink out of it.

The shortest and IMHO easiest leg is the snowshoe down as you nearly fly down from the top. The toughest section for me has varied from the ski up the year we thought we could do it without skins, to the run down a couple of years, and to the bike down the year I bonked hard during the run and hit massive headwinds on the bike.

A's PR is still from her first year back in '03 although she would have beaten that time in '05 except for the massive headwinds on the bike down (that section took 15 minutes longer than normal) and last year except for the broken spoke that I wrote about in a year in review. My best time came two years ago which I was surprised about as I though last year would have been faster even with the broken spoke, but looking back at last year's training log reminded me that I was sick for the week before the race.

This year, I've had the back issue from roller skiing and gotten one cold, but otherwise have had gotten in pretty steady training. Staying in B-town over the holidays helped that. A's crash on Saturday kept her from running on Sunday, but Izzy-dog was up for a fast run, so we ran a half marathon with a negative split. Fortunately, A was able to get back to normal training (except for swimming) after that.

I'm somewhat concerned about my mental health as I was disappointed that our planned rollerski this morning got postponed due to the winds. After college, I was sure I'd never rollerski again, so to be disappointed with a postponement is a bit troubling. At least it is outside which is much better than a treadmill or bike trainer. Oh well, I don't even hate swimming that much anymore.

-E

Stitches

2009-01-03T14:32:00.003-07:00

Yesterday, Amber and I managed to survive an ill planned time trial up Mt. Sanitas. Ill planned as we wanted to get it done early before she went work, but on January 2nd the sun doesn't come up that early, Mt. Sanitas has a lot of rocks to run over and we didn't bring any headlamps with us. We did try though and I fell once, hit a lot of rocks with my feet, had to stop a few times to see where the trail went, etc. It was four or five minutes slower for the both of us than last time. Fortunately it was getting a bit lighter by the time we headed down. Lesson learned, but no major injuries.

Today though we headed to Eldora to ski with our former Michigan Tech teammates, Eric and Amanda. Since we were going different speeds and they are unfamiliar with Eldora, we headed to a two way loop so that we could keep track of each other. Unfortunately, Amber and Amanda met each other going the opposite ways at a corner and both tried to take the outside line. They collided head first with Amber's eyebrow getting cut with her sunglasses and causing some pretty good bleeding (I didn't see it first hand). An ER nurse happened on them a minute later and suggested stitches, so we headed out and Amber and I went to an ER in Boulder. Four stitches later, she is put back together, but feeling pretty crappy.

So, we survived a sketchy run on day and she gets banged up during a routine ski the next.

Stay safe out there.
-E

Out with 08, In with 09

2009-01-02T16:22:00.000-07:00

Well, we missed the last possible race of 2008, the Boulder Beer Mile and some of the first possible races of 2009 including a ski race at Eldora and a cyclo-cross race in Lyons, but I'm (Eric) not too upset about it as we've got a full schedule ahead of us in 2009 although racing might be pushed to the back-burner for a little while as work for both A and myself promises to be a bit crazy.

2008 was a good year. We started the year doing more ski races than we have in a long time. I got burnt out by mid January of racing every weekend, but A kept plugging along every Wednesday for the Eldora Nighthawks and a lot of the weekends as well.

In February, we trekked down to our favorite race of the year (Mt. Taylor Quadrathlon). A had a great uphill bike going until she broke a spoke, but since I wasn't having a great bike and was behind her, we swapped bikes. Riding the rest of the way up wasn't too bad with the bum wheel, but the way down was pretty scary. I never was able to catch A after switching bikes and she ended up getting second for the women. Actually, it wouldn't probably wouldn't have mattered if she had kept riding on her bike as she was 20 minutes behind the 1st place finisher and 30 minutes ahead of the 3rd place finisher. For me, the runs, skis and snowshoe sections went okay, but I had to ride really conservatively for the first steep section down. In town, I chased down the guy in front of me just for competition sake. That ended up being the difference between 3rd and 4th in my age group, so for the first time I got a chunk of Nambe.

After the Quad, we raced the Snow Mountain Stampede ski race in March and tried to get ready of IM Arizona in April. The day before Arizona is when we started this blog, but short story to that race is that we didn't get enough biking training in and weren't prepared for the heat in Tempe.

Post-Arizona, we took a little break, had some family visit, and A turned 30.

In May, we headed to Minnesota for Amber's sister's wedding and threw in a stage race (road).

We had some excitement when Sunny stay with us around the 4th of July and later when we went to Rockygrass for 2 days, but otherwise most of our summer seems to have been centered around biking, running and swimming.

IM Canada went pretty well for both of us as we set PR's. I had a stupid 15 minute flat (damn Vittoria pit stop), but quite pleased with my run. A had a solid race across the board, but her age group was stacked with some fast finishes and there weren't any roll downs for Kona.

Since then, we raced the Halfmax in Boulder City, NV back in October, A switched jobs, we started training for skiing, we painted the kitchen, had Sunny visit us again, had my dad visit us again, had a great weekend up at Devil's Thumb Ranch, and spent the last week and a half doing stuff at home.

For '09, we hope to make it back down the Quad, A is signed up for Buffalo Springs 1/2 IM in June (I plan on signing up once some work things get finalized), and we are signed up for IM Canada again (hey Sunny, are you interested?). Beyond that, maybe the 5430 series, a Triple Bypass ride, more bike races (Mt. Evans hill climb?), or some running races, but we will have to play it by ear.

Peace Out,
-E

Christmas Catch Up

2008-12-28T08:58:00.002-07:00

Wow, the last few days have gone by fast.

There was the turkey, mashed potatoes, and pie we cooked on Christmas Eve, the carmel rolls we made on Christmas morning, the Costco pizza we ate before the movie on Boxing day, the Christmas cookies we made yesterday, ... Oh, that's just the food.

The long run Amber did on Christmas Eve, the hill workout Amber did on Christmas, the bike and swim we both did on Boxing day, the "breezy" bike we did yesterday, ... Oh, that's just the training.

The Christmas letter we finalized on Christmas Eve only to find out our printer is almost out of ink, the Simpson's mosaic puzzle that we started again after giving up on it a few years ago (we are a bit obsessive compulsive (see yesterday's ride) so giving up on a puzzle means that it is really tough), finally going to a movie after about 2 1/2 years (the curious case of benjamin button), starting to send out said Christmas letters, ... that's some of the other stuff.

We're here in B-town this holiday season because of work reasons, which is a shame since we won't see family but it means we are getting some projects done before the craziness that 2009 promises to be. The weather has been typical Colorado winter craziness from cold to not-so-cold but windy. Today were heading out for a run and making some turkey soup.

If anyone out there wants to head to Devil's Thumb for a day of skiing this week, let us know. Although you might miss out on the beer mile.

Devil's Thumb Ranch Weekend

2008-12-21T21:04:00.005-07:00

A and I were up at Devil's Thumb Ranch near Winter Park as we had won a "two nights lodging including spa treatment" certificate.

Rather than go into much detail. I'll let the pictures do the talking.

Friday afternoon ski. Pretty warm but a bit windy.

A showing off her balance.

Saturday morning was 4 F and windy. In the picture is the waxing yurt. A really wants a yurt of her own.

The trails in the woods were nice. Unfortunately most of the trees are dying or already gone due to the pine beetle.

No afternoon ski on Saturday since we got massages instead.

Sunday morning was clear, windless and a few degrees below zero when we started. This is looking up the valley.

This is looking down the valley. The lodge is the building on the right. The restaurant where we had a marvelous dinner on Saturday night is in the middle.

Snow and Cold....yes!

2008-12-14T20:21:00.002-07:00

Hopefully we get some good skiing in this week, as the cold is supposed to stick around (sounds like N. Boulder Park (or NBP from now on) needs a bit more snow to make it stellar, though). We have been busy partying this weekend (Brad and Pete's excellent holiday bash, and Eric and Maria's Santa Lucia/1st birthday for Lucas party), which has allowed the house cleaning, gift packaging, work, and training to slack off a bit too much. We got a good ride in yesterday in the warmth, before the snow, but today's run is still waiting to happen.

Next weekend we break and head to Devil's Thumb Ranch to ski, relax, say goodbye to 2008, get ready for the craziness that 2009 will bring (at work, anyways, it is going to be nuts!), and have some quality time to spend together. Oh, anyone want to doggie-sit for the cutest dog in the world next weekend?

A holiday letter is also in the works, so stay tuned for its blog-cast debut.

Post Thanksgiving Recovery

2008-12-04T17:49:00.004-07:00

A and I are still trying to get caught up after a busy Thanksgiving weekend.

It all started with the wild and crazy Sunny got into town on Wednesday. I still have "everybody was kung fu fighting ..." in my head from Kung Fu Panda.

On Thanksgiving, I started the day with a trip to the airport to pick up my dad. A and I then spent most of the afternoon cooking in preparation to go to the Lavatos. I tried to convince A that since we weren't hosting Thanksgiving, we shouldn't have to cook all afternoon, but she prevailed and we made an apple/cranberry pie (shirts were kept on at our house unlike other locations), roasted cauliflower, spinach casserole (mostly cheese) and Sunny's sweet potato pie. Descriptions of the melted platter and eating excessively can be found at the previous links.

On Friday, we started the day with waffles. Then, we went all over Boulder and once again realized Sunny knows way more people than we know. We met up with Sara for lunch at Efrains. We also did the triple pizza making again. If food seems to be a consistent them here, that is because it seemed to be the focus of the whole weekend, not just Thursday.

Saturday was the first snowy day. We hit the Southside Walnut Cafe, did some hiking, and had leftover pizza for lunch. On Saturday afternoon, Sunny decides to race a cyclocross race in Morrison on Sunday and talks A into doing it as well. Sunny rented a bike from Boulder Cycle Sport while A choose my mountain bike. In the late afternoon, I drove my dad to the airport while A and Sunny went to pick up the cross bike and hike Mt Sanitas (descending in the dark).

In Boulder on Sunday morning it wasn't snowing, but as we drove the 45 minutes or so to Morrison we met a pretty good snow storm. The course was snowy and slick. A and Sunny got a bit of pre-riding in as Sara and I were standing around in the cold. Luckily, I brought water proof shoes, but Sara wasn't as lucky and she had to retreat to the car after her boyfriend was done racing. Watching the race was difficult as A struggled in the snow, but she toughed it out and finished until some of the others. Will it be her last cyclocross race, who knows? Later, we went to dinner with Sunny and met up with Kitty and Ivy. Sunny's flight was getting more and more delayed so we hung out in B-town longer. Eventually we got her to the airport and made it home ourselves.

The last few days have flown by as we have tried to catch up around the house. Snow has come to B-town, so we will go early tomorrow to the most boring place on earth (north boulder park) to ski around. It may be boring, but it is close and it is skiing. Hopefully the back is fine, but as long as i don't try to outsprint A, I think it will be.

Peace Out,
E

First Bite Boulder Review

2008-11-22T16:10:00.003-07:00

This past week was First Bite Boulder. At each participating restaurant, you get a three course meal for 26 bucks. The menu you get to choose from is limited with two to four options for each course, but you still get a good sampling of what they do. Since A and I like to share, we each got to try up to 6 different things at each place.

A and I went to four different restaurants, Greenbriar on Saturday, Brasserie Ten Ten on Sunday, Tahona on Wednesday, and Colterra on Friday. My favorite first course was the Mixed Vegetable and Asadero Cheese Rellenos. I'm surprised A shared them with me. My least liked first course was the salad at Colterra as the pear was hard and flavorless and the pecans were soft. For the main course, the steak at Colterra and carne asada at Tahona were both wonderful. At Greenbriar the Pork Tenderloin was anything but tender and very tough. Very disappointing since their food is usually very excellent. The best desserts were the Apple Galette and Mocha Terriene at Colterra. The worst dessert by a mile were the apple enchiladas at Tahona. They were terrible.

A is already suffering from First Bite withdrawal. Only 51 weeks until next year.

-E

Hello, world!

2008-11-21T22:11:00.002-07:00

Long time no write, for me at least. As E eluded to in his last post, we have been busy. And there has been a LOT of changes around here, especially for me. End of an old job. Start of a new job. Two weeks in between filled with lots and lots and lots of home projects.

One big change with the new job has been a change in internet policy: no more personal internet (read: blogging) while at work. I'd like you to all still think I'm a saint, but most of my previous blogging was done at work. There was a reason I was fervently looking for a new job: I was under utilized (bored) and therefore found myself blogging at work more than I'd like to admit. No more. In fact, if you need to reach me during the day for anything urgent, don't even count on email. I'm trying to check that once a day when at home, but... best to call if you need an immediate response.

Reading blogs has also fell off of my daily routine, completely. My Google Reader account currently has 391 unread blog posts waiting for me. I think it is time to say "I'm done! I quit! No more! Help!" In other words, Google Reader and I may be parting ways for awhile, I will once again have to go to each individual blog (when I get the time) and read posts as I am able. Life is full and beautiful and fabulous, and will be taking over all my free time for the foreseeable future.

Speaking of full and beautiful and fabulous...... lots of good stuff is coming our way. We are enjoying a lighter month of training. This is a much needed break after a 6-month racing season (for triathlon) that included 2.75 Ironmans and lots of quality training. I am now ready for snow (I know that IM AZ is this weekend, but so is the start of Thanksgiving (ski) Camps all over the country, and here we need snow to have camp). Snow. Now. PLEASE?! We are enjoying outside bike rides in mid-November, but it is time for winter.

This coming week is a big one too. Thanksgiving. Sunny visiting. E's dad possible visiting. My parent's anniversary. My sister's birthday. Soon (in a few weeks) a new baby, who will make us a brand new aunt and uncle. Santa Lucia party. Yeah, I look good in a speedo party. Christmas. New Years. Whew! Should be fun... but busy!

In a nutshell, that's what's up here in Boulder.
-A

From Hero to Zero

2008-11-19T09:27:00.002-07:00

Oh bother,

We got a decent amount of stuff to post about, the kitchen project, First Bite Boulder, hiking with Lucas, ...

But, today's post is about pride and how it is a bad thing.

This morning, A and I went for a roller ski. We got an early start and heading over to some gradual inclines (too small to call it a hill) and did some 1 minute intervals. A was on her skating skis and I was on my classic skis (the only ones I have). Since her skis have less resistance we were doing the intervals separately. We did the three sets of 5 on the incline (V1, V2 and no pole for her, stride, double pole with kick and no pole for me).

For the last set of 5 (double pole) we went and found somewhere flatter. Before the last one, A waited for me and I started right behind her. With my shorter poles and more flexible boots, the resistance difference between her skis and mine was less of an issue and I started to catch her. She responded by going faster. I responded by going faster, caught up to her and started passing her.

Well folks, this is where the story takes a turn for the worse as with about 10 seconds left in our last interval, just as I was getting ahead of A, my lower back seized up. Seized up hard at that. I was reduced to a pile of pain on the pavement. It took a while to get up and going at a shuffle pace. A went ahead, got the car, and came back to pick me up. I'm sure that it would not have happened if we hadn't started racing the last interval.

So, the lesson of the day is either to only race the last interval close to home and have pain meds ready or to not race while training. I'll let you choose.

Later,
E

Back at "It"

2008-11-07T13:23:00.002-07:00

After lasts week's post, training has become much more regular and my motiviation is back.

Last weekend though was filled with painting the kitchen and all of the prep that goes with it. Actually that was started by Amber during the week with her moving stuff out of the kitchen, but we didn't get started painting until Saturday evening. We did get out to see some the cyclocross races, which were fun. We spent a good portion of them catching up with friends, but did see some impressive performances by the best riders in the country. Part of me wants to get a cyclocross bike, but the wiser part of me knows we need some sort of offseason. Although I'm not sure a cyclocross race would be harder than this morning's workout (more on that later).

Since the weekend, we've had some good rides (in the dark), a roller ski, a run or two, and some swims. They've moved out 6 am swim until 6:30 so they can supposedly keep the pool covered longer, but the main reason that many people go to the 6 am swim is so they can get out at 7 means that the swims have been pretty empty by 7:45. There was one swim two weeks ago where only 3 of us showed up, so they can be pretty small workouts to begin with, but there may be days now that A and I will be the only ones.

This morning was the first hard workout since the Halfmax. It was a time trial up Mt Sanitas, so it was a very hard workout. Yesterday, I found a website with the course records for Mt Sanitas which hasn't been updated in four years. After this morning, I even more impressed with some of the times on the list. My lungs were hurting bad for most of the time, except for when it was too steep to run and my legs were hurting bad. Since we haven't been doing anything hard, our times from this morning will serve as a good base fitness number.

Tonight, A and I are going to the University of Colorado Ski Ball. A fancy affair to support the alpine and nordic ski teams at CU. Should be a good time like usual.

I really hoping that today's strong winds will blow all of the leaves from our yard away so we don't spend the whole weekend cleaning up the yard.

Peace Out,
E

E's motivation level = -10

2008-10-29T14:41:00.002-06:00

Coming off of our pretty long tri season, my motivation to train is pretty low. As we posted before, we've started roller skiing for the Nordic season, but with work promising to be all encompassing during January and February, racing then seems out of the question.

Away from training, A is in the midst of her two weeks between jobs. I'm liking it as she made a cherry pie yesterday, but we were too full after trip to Mountain Sun to have any. We also made three pizza's on Monday. The first was a pepperoni and mushroom, the second was a pear, goat cheese, prosciutto, and arugula, the third was a margherita with garden tomatoes.

Oh, there goes my motivation to write more.

National Champion?

2008-10-23T11:45:00.008-06:00

So.... I was 2nd in my age group. But the girl who was first was 2nd overall and was pulled from the age group results. So they called my name for first in my age group. Does that make me the 30-34 USAT Long Course National Champ? But wait, I'm getting ahead of myself........ how 'bout a race report before we get to the results?

The drive there, from Boulder to Grand Junction, and then from Grand Junction on to Boulder City, was smooth and uneventful. We hit Vegas around 2 pm, and except for a bit of construction-related traffic, moved right on through to Boulder City for registration and T2 setup without delay.

Boulder City is a nice, smallish town that we really enjoyed. Our hotel was nothing special (I say this now, after touring The Strip in Vegas) but it was clean and had everything we needed, including being close to the finish/T2 area and within walking distance to dinner. Both factors came in handy, first when we decided to combine our pre-race test ride with a stop at the bike support tent (my rear brakes were riding awfully close to my rim.... not rubbing, but also not looking "normal" and I wanted to get it checked out by a third person) and later when we decided to see what was cooking at the local brew pub, The Dam Brewery, a reference to their proximity to Hoover Dam.

Aside from some last minute scrambling for E (you'd think that after all our years of racing that goggles and CO2 cartridges would be standard things to bring with for a race) we had all our gear set up, laid out, and ready to go for the next day. The only real decisions left to make were what to wear and what to eat for breakfast. But first, some sleep.

We woke the next day and were quickly up and prepping breakfast and race nutrition (or in this case, drink). I decided to go with steel cut oatmeal reheated in the microwave, topped with a banana and a few nuts/pieces of dried fruit. Oh, and coffee.

Breakfast done, bags packed, sunscreen on, now what to wear? On a gamble (hey, we were near Vegas) I chose to go in a plain swim suit. No padding for the bike, no compression for the run. But, this was no ordinary swim suit, it was a Splish, a present from Sunny back in April for my b-day that read "Who rocks?" across the front and "I rock!" across the back. Of my 3 options, it seemed like the best choice for my last tri of 2008.

The drive down to the lake was dark, and parking was a cluster, but we were early enough to get good racking positions (rows were based on your number, then it was first come, first served within your row, I was third in on my rack). There wasn't much to set up (helmet, shoes, glasses, plastic transition bag supplied by the race) so E and I were soon off on a warm-up jog, followed by a trip to the car to drop off all the extra transition stuff (my bag with tape, scissors, extra pins, marker, etc.) and clothes before wetsuiting up. A quick splash in the lake and I was ready to go. Man was that water nice! and the area around Lake Mead is simply beautiful. The lake is surrounded by rugged, rocky mountains and hills that make for a lovely backdrop. And that water! It came almost as far as we did (headwaters in Lake Granby) to be there for the race.

Before I knew it, the men had started and they were letting us ladies back in the water. One more splash, a hard effort out for ~ 50 m, then a slow splash back while I took care of business. I was ready. Then it was time to GO!

It was a short scramble out to the first buoy, then we turned directly into the sun and settled in. I could see a pack of women just up in front of me and one more solo swimmer right off to my left side. I put my head down and charged, trying to bridge the gap to the group out front, but I made up nothing and instead decided to settle in behind the girl who was still right there on my left side. I stuck with her until the next turn buoy when some of the men from the first wave stripped me of her and she was gone. Another power burst and I recaught her feet, where I stayed until ~ 300 m from the end when another train showed up on our right and looked to be a better draft option, so I moved over. Exited the water in the top 10 somewhere I think.

Cap and goggles off, wetsuit off, all stuffed into the bag they provided, string yanked shut, helmet on, glasses on, grabbed the bike and got out of T1.

Exit of T1 was an uphill run on the boat launch, I felt a bit like a salmon trying to swim upstream. Out on the bike I hopped on, grace-lessly and tried to get moving fast enough to balance and get the shoes on the feet. The roads out of the small park/beach area were a bit rough, but once onto the main roads, the pavement was beautiful. Great scenery, challenging hills, smooth roads, all combined to make a great bike. It was a pretty uneventful ride. I got aero and tried to keep moving along at my steady speed as best I could with the hills and breeze. I passed a few women right away on the bike, was nearly blown off the road when the eventual winner and runner up flew by me, was then repassed by 3 women I had dropped earlier, proceeded to play a bit of cat and mouse with one of them near the 24-mile turnaround, cruised back by T1, then got busy with the climb up to Boulder City and T2. I was hoping for a faster/more competitive bike split, but had set myself up well nutritionally and energy-wise for the run. And I had a bit of fun with the other racers around me as I got many, many comments on my race suit.

T2 came and went. All of what I needed was where I left it and I quickly racked my bike (with shoes still attached), took off my helmet, shoved my feet into my socks and shoes, grabbed my visor, drink bottle, and race number belt and took off.

Out on the run, I quickly passed a few women, then got down to business of clicking off miles. The run was nearly all downhill from the start until mile 5, then uphill to the turnaround at ~ mile 6.5, then the same in reverse. From ~ mile 1 to somewhere between mile 5 and 6 I also got to run with my own personal coach. At least that is what this one guy in the middle of the M40-44 race decided he wanted to be. In the end, he probably helped keep me focused and forced me to run faster than I would have on my own, but at the time his antics were getting a bit annoying. In fact, his surging and the waiting for me was fine, and his taunting and conversation did not bother me, but after ~4 miles when I realized that he had passed through each aid station right in front of me, taking all the water and leaving only Gatorade, which I don't like to race on I started to get a bit annoyed. I held steady though, moved swiftly past him when he faded, and even remained unfazed when a bee or something similar stung the underside of my right upper arm. I began to wilt with 2-3 miles left to go and was overtaken by a surging Darcy Eaton in the W40-44. I had recently passed E (urging him to give what he could, then to give a bit more) and they had chatted about me, so she was trying to get me to come with her. My mind was willing, but my legs were done rocking. I pushed, I fought with my own will to slow down, I beat my own doubt and kept up the pace, but it wasn't enough to stick with Darcy. Not even close! In then end, she and I had started and finished the run almost right with each other.

And then my legs let me know they were done. Officially retired for the 2008 tri season.

We snacked, were massaged (sort of), collected our T1 bags, waited (and waited, and waited) for awards and results, rode back to our hotel, cleaned up, made some order to our stuff, then headed out to see Las Vegas after a quick stop at DQ for Moolattes, our newest post-race treat (as of 2008 Mt. Taylor Quad in Feb.).

In all, this was a great race venue (great scenery on the bike and run, good roads for 90% of the bike, challenging but fair course) and a good race that had a few snafus (no chip check at turn arounds, no info about timing for awards, no massage and limited food for slower racers, etc.).

Vegas (the strip) was big, loud, bright, fancy, fun, and tiring. We'd like to go back, but with a game plan of what to do and see. Wandering around together was special in its own way, too, but to go back, us non-gambling types need an itinerary, at least a rough one to make sure we maximize our entertainment, culinary, and relaxing times appropriately. Planning should be easier, now though, since we have scoped it out a bit.

Sunday brought us a looooong drive home. NV, AZ, UT and CO were all very pretty, but it was a long day in the car that had our legs cramping and our bodies ready for bed by 9 or so when we rolled home. Luckily we had stopped for dinner in Dillon (at our second Dam Brewery of the trip) for dinner and a break from the car, so we were not crabby by the end of the trip, just tired.

A good trip. A good race. A good end to the tri race season, 6months and 5 days after our first tri of the year!

Uff da.
-A

Interesting side note, Maggie Fournier, the girl who was 1st in my age group and second overall is also coached by our coach..... small world!

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E's Halfmax Race Report

2008-10-22T13:35:00.005-06:00

Pre-race
A and I arrived in at registration in Boulder City around 2. A few hours previously as we were merging onto I-15 from I-70, I remembered that I had left all of my goggles in my swim bag. Which was back in Boulder. Fortunately, there were a few shops set up at the expo and I found some that fit well. Otherwise, I would probably would have borrowed a pair of Swedish goggles in all their uncomfortableness (for me) from A. Since T1 and T2 were 6 miles apart, we had to drop off our run stuff at T2 on Friday. With the traveling, I didn't stay on top of hydration as much as I should have, but since we were racing in the desert, it shouldn't have been a problem. Oh wait, I guess it might be.

Race morning started early enough at 4 with preparing drink and such. In another stroke of brilliance, I had only a banana before we left the hotel. Setting up went pretty well and A and I got in a little warm up run.

Swim
All of the men in the half started at the same time with all of the half women (that means women racing the half, not half-sized women) starting 5 minutes later. My main goals were to find feet if possible, swim relatively straight, and not have too many women pass me. I found feet at times, swam mostly straight (2nd leg into the sun didn't help), only got a fist to the nose once (hurt like hell) and didn't see too many silver caps (women) go by.

T1
T1 took a while as we had to run up the boat ramp, past 200 rows (or so) of bike racks, and out onto the bike course. As I was leaving T2, I heard the announcer comment about a girl with a swimsuit that says "Who rocks?" on the front and "I rock" on the back, so I new A was just behind me.

Bike
Although we hadn't scouted out the bike course the day before, we had gone over the elevation profile enough online to know that it was going to be tough. According to the website, we were in store for 6500 ft of climbing with T2 being 1200 ft higher than T1. The miles went by pretty quick to the turnaround at the 24 mile mark. I tended to climb a bit better than the heavier guys around me and lose ground on the descents. The first time I got my gel flask out of my Bento box, I managed to drop it. I lost a minute or two going back (uphill) for it, but it was well worth it. I saw that A was pretty close behind me at the turn around with only a few women ahead of her. The way back had some nice headwinds but nothing too bad. It got a bit crazier when we got back to the Olympic course as there were some pretty poor bike handling skills on display. The bike course went past T1 on its way to Boulder City and that is where the steady hill started. Nutrition-wise, my plan was for 200 - 250 calories per hour which is less than what I take in for an IM. This might have worked with a better breakfast and/or better hydration, but I should have been taking more calories in. Unfortunately, I only realized this on the run, so I didn't take my extra gel.The last climb was harder than it should have been. I let some people go as I didn't want my legs to be dead at the start of the run.

T2
Went fine.

Run
The run started fine and I ran a very comfortable pace the first few miles. I started to feel a bit out of it at the 3 mile mark and I took my first gel. That helped and I kept going along. Just before the aid station at 6 miles, my math skills failed me and I expected the turn around to be immediately after that, so I planned on taking my second gel after the aid station and getting water to get it down better when i passed by it again. Unfortunately, "immediately" was really a half of a mile, so I waited with my gel until just before the 7 mile mark. Mistake as I hit full bonk by this point. I was reduced to walking/jogging for a bit until the sugar took effect. Fortunately it did, but I wasn't able to get back to my previous paces. Amber passed me somewhere in the next stretch and I was able to keep somewhat close. Took last gel around the 10 mile mark. You know you have bonked when your main memories of the run are when you took in nutrition. The last half of a mile was a killer as I was fading again. After the finish, I went immediately to the post-race food and ate orange section after orange section.

After the race, I took the bus down to get the car from T1, so A wouldn't miss the awards. I could have gotten the car, went to Vegas, gambled for a few hours (except I don't gamble), and still made it back in time they had issues with timing that took a while to fix.

Overall, I'm frustrated that I was dumb on nutrition after having a number of good races in that regard (stretching back to Buffalo Springs in '07). Training had gone well and I know my legs were ready for a strong run after that bike. Ah well, at least I learned a few things and never gave up.

-E

Viva Las Vegas

2008-10-20T10:11:00.002-06:00

We're back from our whirlwind weekend down to Vegas. 24 hours of driving to and from, 5+ hours of racing, 5 hours of wandering around the Strip after the race and not enough sleep (early race start and post race sleep issues) have left us a bit fatigued.

Although my (E's) race didn't go all that well due to a lack of calories, I was really happy that A had a solid race. A little annoyed maybe that she passed me on the run, but still happy.

More race details later, but now we have to decide about heading to Perth, Australia for long course worlds next October. A still wants to make it to Kona, but 2 IM's (Canada at the end August) and a 3/4's IM within 2 months would be a bit much.

More later,
-E

One more ooooomph for 2008

2008-10-16T09:48:00.002-06:00

We are nearly off, again, this time for our final tri of the season. To Vegas we go (USAT age group long course nationals!). The car is packed (save for the few items still in the fridge) and the bodies are tapered and ready.

We have done 3 140.6 races since our last 70.3, so this may be interesting, but I am ready to go fast and find a new definition of "hard" and "hurt," or is it just "discomfort?".

And to see a new place (neither E nor I have ever been to Las Vegas....).

And to celebrate 12 years of being together as the A & E show (though it will still be a few days until it has been 12 years since I realized that our first date was actually a date, even with flowers, and E picking up the tab on dinner, sometimes my social skills are a bit lacking). What better way to celebrate a milestone than to go race together? Yup, that is how my twisted mind works...... But Vegas festivities, post-race, should be a good way to celebrate where we are now and where we have been.

Next up: ski season. I must admit, after seeing pics of the snow in Bozeman, I almost hijacked our plans and turned our trip to a weekend in MT at Bohart Ranch.

-A
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Change

2008-10-13T15:25:00.002-06:00

I gave my 2-week notice at work today. It was scary and uncomfortable, but the meeting went well, in the end. I will start with my new company in 2-3 weeks (pending results of a pre-employment physical) and am excited about the opportunity. Now to wrap up loose ends and hand off projects to the appropriate people at my current job.

Change.

Keeps life interesting!

-A

I'm skiing, I'm skiing...

2008-10-10T08:30:00.002-06:00

Well, we were skiing kinda like how Bob (Bill Murray) was sailing. A and I got out for our first roller ski of the year this morning. It is not the real thing by any means but will help get the cross-country nuerons and muscles a bit more ready for snow.

I did get a bit of equipment jeoulously as A has a nice set of skating roller skis, while I still only have the classic style. To 99.87% of the people out there, that doesn't mean much, so a good analogy would be: still riding your tricycle as your sibling upgrades to a two wheel bike. Will this lead me to getting a pair of Marwes (A's kind) too? We'll have to see.

-E

perspective

2008-10-09T09:31:00.003-06:00

I got thinking last night, just before leaving work, about what our friend Sunny has been mulling over about cars, bikes, and road rules. Afterall, we all need to coexist, yet if there is ever a car-bike collision, the car wins. Then I got an up-close-and-personal chance to mull this over as I rode the 15 min home in the dark.

First, heading down the hill here by work that is right across from the jail, I was almost clobbered by a mini van turning left that seemed to think they could turn way early, majorly cut the corner, and make their turn before I was trying to occupy the same space. I watched this unfold in disbelief, swerving, swearing loudly (very out of character), sitting up and shining my bright headlight right at the driver's head, and then pedaling on unscathed, but deeply shaken. I had to wait a short while at the next stop light and I was still jittery from the adrenaline rush that a near-death experience brings.

At the next stop light, I had to turn left and there was a car approaching from the opposite direction. I slowed in the intersection in case they were going straight, but when I saw that they were also turning (right) I accelerated to get out of their way quickly since I had the right-of-way but didn't want to hold up traffic. To my horror, they were not slowing down! At the last minute, they seemed to see me and slowed enough to give me plenty of room, but by now I was starting to wonder what was wrong with all these drivers tonight?

The next car I met that was heading towards me seemed to be proceeding business-as-usual until it was right in front of me, when it tuned on its highbeams right in my face. RIGHT in my face. What. Is. Going. On. Tonight????? These driver's, jeepers!

I was, after all, lit up like a Christmas tree with my fancy new red tail light and my even fancier new helmet-mounted headlight. I was riding in the soulder or to the right of the road as any good biker would do. I was dressed in reasonably visable clothing with white patches and reflective stripes in strategic places. What was going on?

And that's when I realized that my spiffy new helmet-mounted head light, that was new and unfamiliar, just might be pointed in the wrong place. It wasn't those drivers, it was me that was the problem. Those drivers couldn't see me as well as I supposed they could, and it was my fault. A quick adjustment of where my light was pointed and I could now 1) see where I was going much better as I was now properly illuminating the road in front of me, and 2) be seen much better by car traffic, too.

It was all a matter of perspective. I had no idea that they were having trouble seeing me because I was prepared with my lights and clothing choices, but they were, I think. Good to know! Safety first!

-Ride on,
A

P.S. For those of you who haven't seen this yet (mostly our family, I'm guessing) please take a minute (1:08, to be exact) to click the link and watch it. It is a good reminder of how you often only see what you are looking for, even if you are a cyclist, do you see other cyclists when you drive? And as a cyclist, do you just assume drivers see you? aeR

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Here fishy, fishy, fishy....

2008-10-07T10:39:00.003-06:00

My lane at Masters this morning had 6 swimmers in it! And for the first time that I can remember, I got a draft. It was great!

Wolfgang has great workouts at 6am, and Kurt has learned how to get more swim speed out of me these days than I often think is possible (though not lately, since haven't been swimming Thursdays this month), but I am usually alone, leading the lane, or being a good lanemate and keeping my 5 sec. spacing and then fall back and don't get the draft.

The 6 am Masters is a small group, where everyone pretty much knows everyone. Today there were 3 newcomers in my lane when I hopped in. It was dark and steamy so I even had to ask Wolfgang which lane I should start in.

We all commingled fine for the first 200 m on our own, then with the first set, one guy started to put on flippers, and I promptly moved myself to the back of the lane. Things started off well even with less than 5 sec between guy #2 and guy #3. Then Whitney and Tom (two speedy swimmers that are regulars in my lane, but often in front of me) joined us and I was in a swimmer sandwich since they just jumped in back. All I could think was..... ut oh....

But I soon found out how great a good draft is as I stuck on the feet of the folks in front of me and held my own with my lane placing. I was making splits I usually have to use a self pep-talk to achieve. It was fun! 5-6 people in my lane for a 6am swim was GREAT. I hope some of them come back again.

-A

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