E's weekend recap

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

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

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.....

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

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

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

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.