Ironman 70.3 Boise Race Report 2014

What is it with this race and me?

In all honesty, I'm being ridiculously hard on myself here and I should just get over it and be happy.  This was my 2nd fastest 70.3.  I did really well on the run.  I did some really good trouble shooting.

But I didn't couldn't race to my potential and I'm crabby about that.  After 2013 being the "Year of PRs" its really hard for me to NOT PR, especially when I'm in even better shape than I was last year.  I know logically that PRs are rare and hard to come by, but I knew that I was capable going into Boise.

So, the race report:

Pre-Race
There's nothing like a ton of driving to make for an awesome pre-race set up!

We left Denver at 6 AM on Thursday and arrived in Kimberly, ID around 4:30.  We did NOT get pulled over for driving Greenie and potentially having our 15 gallons of wedding homebrew (for a family wedding the following weekend) confiscated or us being fined in Utah for bringing beer into the state illegally.

Idaho!  With some other tri-dorks stopping to admire the sign.

I went on a 30 min shake out run on country roads.  My mother-in-law was super sweet and prepared a (mostly) gluten free dinner.  She even quizzed me on whether or not dinner rolls fit into my diet:

Do you eat white bread?
No, I don't eat anything that's bread or made with a grain.
hmm, I was going to make dinner rolls as a treat
that's fine, make them for everyone else.  I just won't touch them.
no, I don't eat any bread period.

And then she made "fancy" asparagus with a lemon grenata and covered it in ...  breadcrumbs.  *sigh*  She put a ton of effort into this dish and it was clearly directed at me and my food snobbery so I ate it.

Friday we slept in a bit and left her house at 10 AM for our second destination in the Idaho state tour - the family ranch by Mountain Home.  We got there around noon, unloaded our car, and I went on a 30 min shake-out ride by the ranch.  It was WINDY and I just hoped race day would be a bit kinder.  Also: Merlin does not like going over cattle guards.  Ouch.

on the ranch - one of my happy places on this planet
also: my sweet husband got this shirt for me because it matched my bike.

I got done with the ride, my husband picked me up (I had to drive to pavement) and we went to the ranch to say high to people and we were treated with lunch.  Awesome!  Then it was time to head to Boise (1 hr away) and do check in and bike check.

Check-in was nothing exciting.  This year it was in a park instead of the local arena, which was nicer.  The check-in process was the least-enthusiastic I'd ever experienced.  The volunteers were just flat.  I was handed my packet by a guy and just sat there, expecting him to go through it with me and put the bracelet on.  He just stood there, avoiding eye contact, while 2 other volunteers were helping racers.  It was just awkward.

Bike check-in at Lucky Peak was no biggie either.  We stayed focused and were back at the ranch around 5:30.  Then it was feet up time!

Race morning is weird for this race since the race starts at noon.  I got up at 7, ate some FeedZone bacon/egg rice cakes (2.5 servings, probably 500 cals), had some coffee.  At 8:30, we left the ranch with the goal of getting to T2 to drop by bag around 9:30 and catching the bus up to Lucky Peak by 10.  I think everyone had that idea, and they maybe had 2 buses going, which made the line HUGE.  They finally got their act together and pulled all the athletes into one line for buses to ensure we'd make it up there before T1 closed (how nice of them!).  Will was left behind and I just hoped he would make it up there.  I sat with a really nice lady for the ride up.  I got to Lucky Peak around 11 and had ~45 min to get things set up and chit chat a bit.  I found Sonja and chatted to her for a bit.  I was happy to see that she's a friendly (but FAST) racer and was happy to talk for a bit.  (She also killed the race - 5th woman overall, including pros).

Will found me and I left transition and we went to find a shady spot to hang out.  Lucky Peak is very open with no shade to be found.  I saw the ONE 10x10 tent by the swim start and somehow wiggled my way in there.  It was a smart move, as once I wiggled my wetsuit on (which isn't easy to do when you're hot and sweaty!) I was a roasting little penguin.

The good thing about the pavement being so hot was that the 60 degree water felt AWESOME once you got in it.  All the ladies were pretty chill, no major jostling or anything as we swam to the swim start.

proof that I was in the same place at the same time with Speedy Sonja

Swim

No count down, no announcements or anything.  Just a horn and a "oh, ok, its GO TIME".  Nice guys. Thanks.

My mission was to keep my head down and find feet.  I think I did an ok time of that.  My head was down and I found feet, but my effort was pretty comfortable.  In other races my effort was comfortable and I had really good swim times, so I wasn't too worried about it.  The water was clean and everyone was playing nice, which was really good.

Then came the first turn buoy.  And it became a bit chaotic.  I remember looking around as I sighted/breathed and seeing more than your average number of water support present and hearing a lot of voices.  That's not really a good thing.  The water was pretty choppy and I was having a hard time figuring out which side to breathe on.  Neither side was a good option and I took in water/air on the back leg and on the way back to the swim finish.  I found some decent feet and just focused on keeping my head down and swimming.  My shoulder also decided to play along and behave, so that was good as well.  My stomach wasn't very happy and I was burping and having an internal debate about puking.  I hate puking more than anything and decided to keep things down.  I heard more voices (this time from the swim announcer) and was happy that was done.  It was not a fun swim.

Swim stats:

Time: 40:03

Pace: 2:04 / 100 m

Age Group: 25 / 72

Overall: 504 / 1295

not my best but not my worst, either.  I'm ok with this, given the chop.  But maybe next time if I feel like I'm cruising, I should step it up a notch.

this is funny now, but I was NOT happy then.

Transition

I dropped my cap/goggles not once but TWICE.  The sunscreen I was using made me crazy slippery.  Even my tri shorts were wiggling around on my legs.

I got to my bike and wrestled with my stuff.  I forgot to undo all my velcro.  Shoes were velcro'd closed.  Got to my gloves and crap, THOSE were velcro'd closed.  Idiot.  And then I wrestled into my cool wings, which IMO were mandatory for me to wear but were also a HUGE pain in the ass to put on when you're wet and in a hurry.  This transition felt stupid long - and it was.

Time: 4:31

a bit happier now and trying to give a thumbs up

Bike
And it was game time.  I had hills to conquer and something to prove.  The plan was to keep my HR around 150-155 and to go a comfortable fast pace.

I got on the bike, took it easy over the bottle-launching speed bumps and enjoyed the nice ~2 mile descent and tried to get comfy.  There was a hill after that and I enjoyed climbing it, remembering how the hills nearly killed me in 2010.

I was trying to ride/eat/drink but things weren't right.  Sometimes my stomach gets cranky with me but it usually sorts itself out.  This time, it wasn't getting better.  Add injury to insult, my right adductor was also cranky and I had to pee.  Sucky, and I lost nearly 3 minutes doing this.  I stopped at the first aid station, stretched while waiting my turn, peed, and got back to business climbing the big hill.  Going up the hill was good, but not as fun as I was hoping, mainly because I knew this wasn't the day I had in me.  I passed 3 people, which was good.  My HR was around 167, which was ok but a bit high.  But I made it and it didn't kill me.  Yay.

The winds were there, but not ridiculous.  Still, they were there and I needed to stay down.  The good thing about all the climbing I do in training is that it makes me strong.  The bad thing is that I'm up on my hoods most of the time and my neck is not used to being aero for long periods of time.  I need to work on this for IM Boulder - I had a hard time staying down for more than 10 min at a time.  I did the out and back on 10 Mile, which was a headwind/tailwind.  My leg was bothering me again - lame.

I hit the world's worst-located aid station and got a water.  Seriously, this is such a dumb spot and I wish they'd change it.  You have a 90-degree left hand turn right to a fairly steep hill.  And they put the aid station in the middle of the hill.  I only had the dexterity to grab one water bottle and couldn't put it into my speedfill until the top of the hill (because I need to coast a bit to get this done).  I really needed 2 water bottles but that wasn't going to happen. And I had to dump my bottle after the last drop spot, which I hate, but the other option was getting off my bike.  The dumb part is that there's a very nice flat section at the top of the hill (maybe 1,000 feet after the aid station).  I have no idea why they do this to us athletes - it sucks.

Also by the time I hit this aid station, I was nearly 2 hours into my race and was STILL having digestive issues.  Every time I tried to drink my Osmo my stomach immediately responded with angry sensations.  Every time I tried to eat, same thing.  Being in aero didn't feel good.  And the pain was starting to move from my stomach to my intestines, telling me I had likely swallowed air as well as water.

I made the executive decision to ditch both the Osmo and my salty balls as nutrition.  Sure, they were my plan, but I wasn't eating or drinking these things and sticking with the plan was not working.  I chucked my salty balls (I only ate 2 (maybe) - I should have had 4).  I got my Honey Stinger chews out of my pockets and filled my speedfill with only water, hoping that a change would do me some good.

A bit after the aid station, my leg was continuing to be cranky so I stopped again to stretch - and lost probably another 1:30.  But by that point it was just a game of getting the bike done without causing damage to myself in the future.  I was a pretty sad panda, with thoughts of "triathlon is dumb" and "shit, I have to do double this in 8 weeks".

By this point, the hills were pretty much done and the water was going down cleanly.  I was a bit worried about my total calories though.  I only had 3 packs of chews - and only one of them was non-caffeine.  I was really worried the caffeine chews would make my stomach worse so I ate the other ones, all 160 calories of them and had ~2 or 4 of the caffeine ones.  The pains in my gut were turning into gas, but that issue was resolving itself as I rode, which confirms that I swallowed a bunch of air.  Really disappointing, as I've NEVER done that before and I'm usually really good with that sort of stuff.

The rest of the ride was just windy and I just tried to stay hydrated and eat what I could without freaking my stomach out.  I had wind to contend with and not wanting to stay aero.  And I was a bit loopy, from lack of calories.  There was one part on Warm Springs where there was a nice strip of new asphalt on the left and I causally drifted over there, looking for easier spots to ride.  I heard a loud "LEFT" as someone came up behind me and yelled at me (legitimately) to get out of their way.  They passed and I realized it was my cousin Jeff.  Ha!  I also was zoned out and too close to someone - I had an official zip up next to me on his motorcycle and that woke me up enough to get some muscle and actually pass the guy.  The last thing I needed was a drafting penalty on top of everything else.

As usual, the last 10 miles of "nice easy downhill to the finish" was solid headwind and it became a mental game to just keep pedalling and to stay down.  And to try and eat a few more chews.

Finally T2 appeared and I got off my bike.  Very disappointing ride, but on the good side, my stomach was actually doing a bit better.

Time: 03:35:09
Pace: 15.62 mph
Age Group: 42 / 72
Overall: 937 / 1295
*new stat* average HR - a whopping 149.  Umm... yeah.  

T2

This also seemed to take forever, probably because I didn't have many brain cells functioning.  I figured I had maybe 600 (more like 500) calories total on the bike. I should have had more like 900-1,050.  Fun!

Also not fun: leaving your hand-held water bottle on black asphalt to sit and bake all afternoon as you swim and bike.  That damn thing was BOILING.

What was actually fun: running up to my husband and giving him a kiss.  Normally I'm in "serious race mode" and wouldn't take time to do that.  Today, I figured my PR was shot and I owed him a kiss for his sherpa duties.

1. 
   

   Time: 3:13

Run
aka: lets see if I can redeem myself somehow in this race
aaka: you can actually run kinda fast when you don't really use your legs on the bike

So I came off of the bike with some pretty negative thoughts.  I decided to turn my head around and try to PR the run.  Or at least give it a good go until I bonked.

I had a few minor mishaps.

1. my boiling water bottle and no ice at the first aid station to cool it down.
2. neglecting to start my garmin when I started the run.  I *thought* I did but didn't realize it wasn't going for 0.25 miles.  So that made things interesting in terms of locating aid stations and mile markers
3. my HR strap inexplicably came undone and was hanging around my waist at the same level as my race belt.  There's no other way to fix it other than stop, put your stuff down, lift your top up and fix it.  So weird!

Once I got that out of the way, I just ran by feel.  I didn't give a whole lot of thought to heart rate other than to keep things sustainable, but I didn't slow things down if my pace was too fast either.  And I played some head games.  I normally walk at each mile marker to eat ~2-3 chews and drink a bit.  I did that.  But then the aid stations were a good ~1/3 mile after each mile marker, where I took the opportunity to get ice and dump it down my sleeves.  That was too much walking but my addled brain couldn't figure things out early on.

Finally maybe around mile 3 or 4 I realized I wouldn't die if I didn't eat RIGHT at the mile marker and told myself I could wait 3-4 more minutes and eat at the aid station.  I didn't consistently do this, but I did it enough where it really helped.  My splits were decreasing in pace and I felt pretty good.

Run 1	2.4 miles	00:25:52	10:46/mile
Run 2	5.7 miles	00:35:55	10:43/mile
Run 3	8.6 miles	00:29:05	10:12/mile
Run 4	11.7 miles	00:40:05	12:43/mile
Run 5	13.1 miles	00:15:46	11:40/mile

That's pretty solid!

The run course for Boise is actually really, really good.  Its pretty flat, goes along the river, and is shady.  And there's stuff to look at!  The "out" is a slight uphill and the "back" is on the other side of the river and is a slight "downhill".  There's a bunch of people out and some good opportunities for Sherpa's to catch you a few times to cheer.  I actually really love the run course and that's the main reason why I keep coming back to this race.

blowing my Sherpa a kiss halfway through the run

Around mile 8 I decided to take a hit of coke and that was a bad mistake.  Usually coke is fine but this was an instant rebellion.  At the far end of the run you go through a golf course and there was a bathroom right off the path.  I seriously debated using it but didn't, thinking I could tough it out.  I did, but I spent a good portion of the last 5 miles debating on finding a bush, or just jumping in the river and floating to the finish ("no one would notice!")

Around mile 10 I just ran out of gas.  The lack of calories finally hit me.  I had some muscle cramping and just needed to do more walking than preferred to get things done.  I wasn't sloppy bonky - but I was verging on it.  So I just kept moving forward, trying to talk myself into running a few minutes and then "look, the aid station is only another 4 minutes away, you can do it".  That seemed to mostly work.

And then the finish line came and I magically got some energy.  I always somehow awkwardly get behind people who are strolling through the chute, soaking up high fives and stuff.  I don't want to share my finish line photo with them but I don't want to slow down and hang out either.  So I zipped past the guys and got a wild hair and decided to try a Sonja-style jump.  I did pretty good.

I stuck the finish

Finish line video - I'm the bottom video, around ~57 minutes in (finish line clock around 7:12)

Time: 02:26:43
Pace: 11:11/mile
Age Group: 45 / 72  I only dropped 3 position on the run
Overall: 911 / 1295   I actually gained position on the run overall!  Yay!

Total time: 6:49:69

Closing Thoughts

I'm not really sure what I could have done differently to not have taken in so much water/air on the swim, but its something I'm definitely going to think about while swimming from this point forward.

What I'm happy with is my troubleshooting while riding.  I identified the problem and was flexible enough to pitch my planned nutrition (which was causing issues) and moving to a backup (which worked).

I'm also pretty pleased with my run - to have sub-11 splits and to descend them until I bonked is pretty good.

I'm not sure I'll go back and do Boise again.  This was my 3rd go at it and none of them have been great.  I do this race because its close to family and Will has someone to keep him company while I race (usually - although this year everyone was kinda shitty and didn't hang out with him.  In fact, they went for BBQ when I was finishing the run.  Not really cool).  

What I need to work on is mentally being ok with an average performance.  I had high hopes for this race and am really beating myself up over having the 2nd fastest 70.3 time instead of a PR.  

Race Week!

Its here!  Race Week!

I am feeling goooooood too.

Boise and I have a history, and not a great one.  I'm hoping that Saturday will change that.  (oh please, I hope I didn't jinx myself).

In 2010, Boise was my 2nd ever 70.3.  I was terrified.  Really. There were hills on the course and I lived in Houston, where there were zero hills hills.  I'd drive 70 miles NW of town to ride in Chappell Hill, which only had hills 150 feet tall.  I'd have nightmares (really!) about having to walk my bike up the hills during the race.  It was also the coldest water I'd raced in (~55ish degrees).  And hello!  This was only my second 70.3 - only 7 weeks after my 1st 70.3.

Race day arrived.  The swim was good - I was fine with the cold water and I was happy it was semi-clear and not swampy.  The bike was the hardest thing I'd ever done.  We had 28-35 mph head and cross winds the ENTIRE race.  I had a 4:04 bike split and came into T2 exhausted and a bit defeated.  Full disclosure: I actually did fall off my bike and have to walk up a hill.  They put aid station #2 right after a 90-deg left hand turn and part way up a hill.  I didn't have the balance to get a water and ride up the hill, so I stopped and got one.  My cousin (Jeff) caught me at that point and stopped too.  We got going again, I couldn't get my pedal turned over quick enough to clip in and I tipped over, right at the aid station.  I was too flustered to try it again so I walked up the dumb hill.  Jeff came into T2 and told the whole family that I fell over and was bleeding.......  

The run that day was my proud moment.  Even with the hard bike, I ran the whole thing.  Sure, it was more of a shuffle-run, but it was not walking!

Total time: 7:32
I was 63 out of 70 in my age group.  
It was absolutely the hardest thing I've ever done.

2012 was supposed to be a redemption year.  I was now an Ironman (IMTX 2011), I'd moved back to Colorado and was riding hills.  I could totally do this race without being scared!  My goal for 2012 was to crush the race.  Instead, I broke my heel a few weeks before the race and couldn't run.

Undeterred, I switched my entry to a relay and found a random guy who had registered but had a shoulder injury and couldn't swim, so he became my runner.  Sweet.  I was going to crush that bike course.

Race day came and it was snowing on the back side of the bike course.  Thirty minutes before transition closed they announced they were cutting the bike down to 14 miles, basically the distance from T1 to T2.  And it was sleeting at the swim start.  I was frozen, borderline hypothermic, and decided this was Mother Nature's way of telling me I really didn't need to race with a broken heel.  So I handed my chip in and watched Matty Reed hop on his bike while wearing his wetsuit.

So, 2014 is now redemption year!  (knocking on wood!)

this year I am:
healthy (except for a few minor niggles which are MUCH better)
hungry
not remotely scared  
super excited

In the past 2 months, I've been up Deer Creek / High Grade 3 times and did that Ski Hill ride in Santa Fe in April.  That's ~3000 feet of climbing in 13.5 miles.  The total elevation gain on the Boise course is ~1,300 feet.  I do that in 2 hours on my little ride around town.  There's only 4 main hills to worry about, each with 200-300 feet gain and ~1.5 miles to get up the hill.  I was in the airport last year for IMCDA transferring to Spokane and I saw the big hill that scared me so much in 2010 and remarked to my husband that "I eat hills for breakfast".  I cannot tell you how good of a feeling it is to be excited about hills instead of terrified by them.

Cold water doesn't scare me either because that's pretty much all I swim in now.

And I know I can run, faster than I've ever run before. And that I can run fast in a 70.3.

I know I can put myself in a hurting, dark place and do well.  Last year taught me to be brave, be open, and to try.  Rewards are out there, but I have to chase after them.

This year, I'm excited to really chase those rewards and redemption down.  I'm hoping to be at least an hour faster than 2010.  The whole family comes out to cheer and I'm so excited to have them see me at my best rather than what they saw on my previous attempts at this race.  Also: Uncle Nick will be able to get his margarita sooner, which means everyone wins :)

The race is Saturday at NOON and I'm bib # 634.

LETS DO THIS!

May 2014 Training Totals

So another month and another "hmm, I thought I would have done more" feeling.  However, I did have a race (which involved a taper and some recovery) and I had 2 long rides in my basement due to weather (snow and hail).  So really, I had some pretty solid training.  I'm sure June and July are going to be killer, though.

May 2014
Swim: 13h 35m 58s - 37092.18 Yd
Bike: 22h 10m 13s - 297.42 M
Run: 14h 11m 42s - 76.69 M
Yoga: 30 min

April 2014
Swim: 12h 30m - 31878.83 Yd
Bike: 26h 55m 25s - 370.03 Mi
Run: 13h 33m 19s - 68.77 Mi
Strength: 30 min
Hiking: 1 h 15 m

State of things

Here's a rambly post to fill up some space :)

Training is going well.  I'm getting the workouts done and hitting my targets, which always surprises me. Especially when I need to go fast.  When did I get fast?  I had an interval run Tuesday, with 10x2 min efforts.  Coach's notes said to keep it under an 8:30 pace.  I laughed.  That's fast.  Who does she think she's coaching?  And what do you know, I hit 8:39 to 8:33 for the last 4, all based on perceived effort of going hard but not so hard I would puke.  Amazing.

Bike rides are solid too.  I went and rode my usual neighborhood loop last Sunday, aka Hess/Pradera/Pinery.  Going up Hess, my heart rate was a full 10 beats lower than it normally is.  Interesting. I didn't get to do the rest of the loop because once I got to the top of Hess, things looked like this:

I ended up with 2 hours of road time and 1:30 of pretty hard aerobic stuff on the trainer.  Next time I need to suck it up and get up early and ride with the club.  I would have, except I was out past my bedtime the night prior doing this:

upper left: Former Future Brewing Company (Brett Rye ESB, mango wheat wine)
upper right: Epic Brewing Co (sampler and Brainless on Raspberries)
bottom center: Crooked Stave (I can't remember, but it doesn't matter because they never have the same beer twice!)

mmm, beer.  I don't do this often, and its probably the last time I'll be able to do this until IMBoulder is done.

My left shoulder has been angry at me for at least a month.  I did something to it - or many things - and it is now angry.  The rotator cuff basically does a series of rubber-band snaps with movement and causes my deltoid to hurt.  An extra fun feature is that its been snapping when I roll over in my sleep, which wakes me up.  Yay?  Yesterday, my masters coach and I figured out that I was swimming really flat and that was likely causing the issues with my shoulders.  I needed to work on rotation and REALLY reaching.  I did some 6-3-6 drills and the difference in shoulder flexibility was shocking.  My left shoulder is frozen.  I had a really hard time touching my shoulder to my ear when side-gliding.  Soooo, yeah.  I've got stretching and a bunch of side-glide drills in my very near future.  On a good note, yesterday's practice was the first one that didn't hurt (yay!) and I could hit my intervals without feeling like I was dying (proper form - yay!), and my shoulder didn't hurt AFTER the practice (yay! yay!).  I feel like I caught this in time, which is good.  But I'm also a bit pissed at myself for not figuring this out sooner.  After all, swimming is my "thing"

My left hip is also angry at me.  (full disclosure: my entire left side usually hates me.  I have no idea why).  It hurt pretty bad two weeks ago, which left me limping.  I stubbornly ran intervals and hills on it, using my magical pain blocking powers to make it go away.  It was fine when I was running and then really pissed off the rest of the time.  It finally hit me that I needed to get my chiropractor to adjust my SI joint.  I went in, got adjusted, and *boom*.  Just in time for a massive PR at Colfax.  Its doing better, but still gets tweaky.  I think I strained my upper quad in compensation for my off-kilter SI joint.  So lots of stretching is in order.

Boise.  I think I'm ready.  Before Colfax, I told my coach I wanted to race-race it.  I have a tattered history with that race and I'd really like to give it a go.  Added bonus: I'll have my family there cheering and they could finally see me race to my potential, instead of dying (2010) or DNS'ing with hypothermia and a broken heel (2012).  I'm borrowing race wheels from a friend and getting Merlin tuned tomorrow.  I'm doing my first OWS Saturday (60 degree water - I am NOT looking forward to that)  I feel good (great, assuming my shoulder and hip cooperate) and think I can do well.  Not sure about a PR, but mentally, I want to go for it.

Driving to Idaho is going to be interesting, thanks to Colorado's pot law.  Apparently neighboring states are pulling over vehicles with CO plates for "cause" and then searching the car for pot.  To make things even more entertaining, we're transporting our cousin's beer for his wedding (which is the week after Boise).  In Utah, it is illegal to bring alcohol into the state.  So if we get pulled over and searched in Utah, things could get interesting....  Lets just say I'll be driving through Utah (NOT Will) with the cruise set a hair below the limit and making sure I use my turn signals for a gooooood long time before I switch lanes.  Ugh.

Finally, the Ironman hungries have finally shown up.  I'd like to lose some weight before Boulder.  I'm lighter than I was for St George right now, but I'm not where I was for CDA.  Once we get back from Idaho, I'll be on full food lockdown.  Only good things go in.  No (ok, very little) beer, no sweets, no fruits.  Just veggies and meat.  I did it last year, I can do it again.

Colfax Half Marathon Race Report

aka - when did I figure out how to run so fast?
aaka - PR baby!

So - quick report:  I stuck to the plan (mostly), ran hard, didn't die, and crushed my old 13.1 PR for a time of 2:08:23.  Holy awesome.

Long report:

Pre-Race
As part of my Ambassador duties, I had to work the Expo on Saturday from 8:30-2:30.  That was a lot of time on my feet and my legs were TIRED that night.  We had what is becoming a pre-race dinner tradition of sushi and froyo (they're in the same building, you can't have one without the other) and went to bed at 9:30.

Alarm went off at 4:20 and my neighbor was picking me up at 5 AM.  I got dressed - Ambassador short sleeve shirt and my new Coeur tri shorts, plus some layers because it was 5 AM and cold out.  I made some coffee to drink on the ride over and grabbed my stuff and headed out.  My breakfast was a bit different this time.  I made the coconut blueberry chocolate rice cakes from the FeedZone, only I used raspberries and just mixed everything together and put it in a bowl.  Much easier to eat that way.  No idea how many calories I had, probably 300-400.  We got there at 5:45, found easy parking and did the usual pre-race routine.

With 10 min before the start (which was at 6:45) I wandered over to the start line with my tri club and wedged myself in between gaps in the corral fence to get into the proper start line.  Where I stood for a good long while looking for anyone I knew.  I didn't find anyone, which was weird.  In fact, I didn't see a single familiar face for the entire 13.1 miles, which was also a bit weird.

Race Plan

• Mile 1 & 2: do NOT get excited and run fast.  This will be hard because we're running through the zoo and it will be fun and exciting.  must.not.get.excited.  !!!
• Miles 3~7: keep heart rate around 160, creeping up to 165 towards the half way point of the race.  This is the uphill portion of the course, which according to the interwebs is a whopping 150 feet of climbing.  Still, I need to keep things controlled and in check.
• Mile 7-10: heart rate around 165, push where I can but don't burn too many matches.
• Mile 10, 11, 12: evaluate how I feel and see if I can pick up the pace.  This is downhill and hopefully I can fly
• Mike 13: run hard.  do not die.  simple!
• Nutrition is going to be pretty simple.  I'm going to eat ~400 calories of some FeedZone rice cakes on the way to the race. I'm leaving at 5 AM and the race is at 6:45 AM, so that gives me plenty of time.  Then I'll have some SunRype with me and try to get in ~200 calories/hour.  I'll have 1 scoop of Osmo in my handheld and probably just refill with plain water when that runs out.

Race

For once, I actually had a decent time of sticking with my ~155 bpm goal for the first two miles.  It helped that those were sort of "padding miles" where we were running around City Park and nearby roads.  Nothing special there.  Ok, in looking back at my garmin file, my HR was closer to 160 but the pace felt easy.

The weird/not-so-fun part was running with my new Coeur tri shorts.  You know the "never anything new on race day" thing?  Well these shorts were BRAND new.  I had 3 SunRype bars (120 cals) for my race nutrition shoved in the very generous pocket in the back of the shorts.  And almost immediately, the shorts began to fall down.  They fit great and I didn't want a smaller size in the store (to minimize waistband-belly rolls), but maybe I do need a smaller size.  Or a drawstring.  Or something.  It was so bad that I ended up cramming a bar down my sports bra, and cramming a bar up each leg.  Fortunately the shorts have leg grips and the bars stayed put there.  I think I spent the first 1.5 miles fidgeting with my shorts, trying to make them stay put.  They finally settled into a happy spot and I didn't mess with them for the rest of the race.  But I need to tweak these (or get a smaller size) to make them functional for 70.3s or longer.

At ~mile 2 we got to the zoo, which was pretty cool.  I really haven't been there since I was a kid and it was nice.  They had people out with semi-educational signs, telling you which animals were coming up next.  The only one I remember was "the color of a flamingo depends upon what they've eaten" (paraphrased).  I saw monkeys, turkey vultures, a hippo, elephants and flamingos.  It was pretty cool, maybe the highlight of the course.

Once we got out of the zoo and onto Montview Blvd, I knew the work was going to start.  They changed the course from when I did it in 2012, mainly by reversing things.  We went out on Montview and back on Colfax (sorta).  I actually liked this, as Colfax really isn't that scenic.  I knew there was a big, long (not very steep) uphill for several miles.  I just went by HR and tried to keep my form strong and my feet light.  I was checking my watch at every mile and doing the math.  For a 2:10, I'd need a 9:55/mile pace, so at mile 4 I'd need to be around 39:40, mile 5 at 49:35, etc.  Pretty easy race math.  I kept checking my HR and pace on my watch and was amazed to see I was already at my goal pace, going uphill, with a pretty comfortable HR between 160 and 165.  Interesting.  I knew that things were either going to go very well or go very badly with these numbers.  My hope was to just hold on and shoot for very well.

The nice thing about running along a straight road for miles and miles is you can see when the hill ends.  Thank goodness.  My left foot was not doing me any favors by going completely numb.  It did this during my tempo run earlier in the week and I was *hoping* it wouldn't happen during the race.  But it did.  I walked through the aid station and the numbness went away a bit, but not completely.  I just said screw it and hoped that my leg/foot would release when I got to the top of the hill and started running of flats.  Fortunately, this was the case here and my foot was just fine for the rest of the race.  *phew*

We got to what I thought was the top of the hill around mile 6 and in my head, we should have been turning and headed back down Colfax - DOWNHILL.  This was not the case.  We kinda meandered around for another ~2 miles (seemingly uphill) until we got to the fire station (which was absent of shirtless firemen, big bummer) and THEN we got our downhill.  Sorta.  It turns out that we were on rollers and the big downhill I was hoping for just wasn't there.  

Based on my plan for the race, I was beginning to push faster around mile 6, but in reality, I was just aiming for consistent HR and pacing as we went up and down these rollers.  Faster on the downhill, steady on the uphill.  I had a few key words I would say (aloud or in my head) to my self: "fly" for the downs, "keep the wheels on" for all other times.  Based on my garmin file, my HR was at 170 bpm from mile 8 to the finish. I'm not sure I've ever run for 5 miles with that high of a HR. Normally I want to die at that HR (or slow down) but I knew I was doing great and my effort actually felt really good.  I'd look at my watch and see 9:4x or faster and was just amazed.  So I turned off the part of my brain that normally looks at numbers and freaks out and slows down and just kept my effort steady.  Foot on the gas, as it were.

I think around mile 5 I ate some of my fruit snack bar. Maybe at mile 6, I'm not sure.  But it was about an hour in.  Maybe around mile 8 I got a bit fuzzy, probably from lack of calories, so I tried to eat a nibble of the bar every mile.  Thus the "keep the wheels on".  I was just inside the line of falling apart, from effort and maybe a bit of nutrition.  (I still haven't found a way to really eat much when you're going hard).  

So "wheels on" just became my thing until we made it to the sweet, sweet downhill at mile 11.  That's when I really started passing people.  Fun!  I really don't remember a whole lot about those last few miles, other than "fly" and "wheels" and trying to catch a woman with a Denver RnR 2011 race shirt.  City Park showed up and I knew we had ~1 mile left and I needed to keep pushing as much as I could.  I don't think my pace really increased all that much (TrainingPeaks does have my fastest 5 minutes as the race finish).  I was just trying to go hard and not die.  There's a little uphill at the finish that sucks and they're not very nice and place the finish a good ways behind the start line, so you see a blue arch, think its the finish, and realize its the start arch.  I knew about this and it still got me a bit.  Lame.  But I just ran and ran and ran. And then the finish showed up, I ran though it (I think the RnR shirt woman came across the same time as me), and I got a medal from a friendly fireman.

And then I was a bit asthma-y, with no inhaler, and wandered over to medical, where they had zero inhalers (WTF?)  I thought about finding my friend who was cheering at the finish (she had one) but by that point I just wanted to sit down.  Fortunately the asthma chilled out and I was fine.

Time: 2:08:23 - that's a 9 min PR and WELL under my "scary" goal of 2:10.  Amazing.

Pace: 9:48/mile - that's a 0:42/mile PR pace.  Wow.

Place: 377/1325 AG (F30-39), 1944/5839 OA  

Yes, in a running race, I placed in the top ~1/3 of the finishers.  I can't say that's ever happened before. Sweet!

Post-Race

I spent the post race walking back and forth between my charity tent (Smart-Girl) and my tri club tent, making sure the charity was ok and chatting with my friends.  I brought some shoes to change into and I'm so glad I did.  My Gone for a Run PR Soles (review) are pretty ugly but oh-so-comfy.  I wandered over and cheered on my club's relay team (my husband did leg 3 - his longest race distance ever with 6 miles).  And then we got crappy beers (again, Mich Ultra for a CO race, really?!?) and some nice looking but eh tasting BBW.  And then it was a long walk to my husband's car. 

Altitude Multisport -we had a lot of runners!

Both of us were finishers!

I think this is the first time we've both received medals at the same race!

Walking the next morning wasn't fun, but it was tolerable.  Probably due to all the post-race walking.

What's next

Boise 70.3!  I told Coach Michelle that I wanted to "race-race" this one a few days prior to Colfax.  Now, after setting this HUGE run PR, I'm really excited to see what I'm able to do at Boise.  It should be fun.  And painful.  But a good kind of painful :)  

Its race weekend!

Its finally here!  The Colfax Half Marathon!

I've been running pretty fast lately, which is bizarre.  I'm not used to running fast and not dying.  My last 4-mile tempo effort was at a 9:58 pace with an average heart rate of 154 bpm.  I'm still not convinced that was me running.  And then last week I had 30 minutes of tempo, where I ran the bluffs and beat my friend Ryan up the hill and he couldn't catch me on the top rollers.  So apparently, I'm ok with running now!

Physically I feel pretty strong.  My SI joint was out of whack and causing some hip pain, but I got that worked on Tuesday so hopefully all will be well by Sunday.  It hurts a little bit, but things have definitely improved.

I had my coach pep-talk/race strategy call today and here's the plan:

• Mile 1 & 2: do NOT get excited and run fast.  This will be hard because we're running through the zoo and it will be fun and exciting.  must.not.get.excited.  !!!
• Miles 3~7: keep heart rate around 160, creeping up to 165 towards the half way point of the race.  This is the uphill portion of the course, which according to the interwebs is a whopping 150 feet of climbing.  Still, I need to keep things controlled and in check.
• Mile 7-10: heart rate around 165, push where I can but don't burn too many matches.
• Mile 10, 11, 12: evaluate how I feel and see if I can pick up the pace.  This is downhill and hopefully I can fly
• Mike 13: run hard.  do not die.  simple!
• Nutrition is going to be pretty simple.  I'm going to eat ~400 calories of some FeedZone rice cakes on the way to the race. I'm leaving at 5 AM and the race is at 6:45 AM, so that gives me plenty of time.  Then I'll have some SunRype with me and try to get in ~200 calories/hour.  I'll have 1 scoop of Osmo in my handheld and probably just refill with plain water when that runs out.

My PR is 2:17, which is from the Oilman Half Ironman last November.  Yes, I PR'd with a swim and a bike. I don't have a specific time goal for this race, mainly because I have no idea how fast I'll be able to run.  This is a pretty flat course and my fitness and strength are pretty good right now.  I'll just run fast, hope I don't die, and see what I can do.  (is it too much to hope for a 2:10???)

Oh, and the big goal is to not break my heel this time.  The last half marathon I did was the 2012 Colfax race.  I broke my heel during that race and spent the next 4 months in a boot.  That won't be happening this year.  

April 2014 Training Totals

Not much to report.  I did what was on my schedule and survived another month :)  I thought my numbers would be a bit higher, but eh, no worries.

Also: no skiing.  Boo.

April 2014
Swim: 12h 30m - 31878.83 Yd
Bike: 26h 55m 25s - 370.03 Mi
Run: 13h 33m 19s - 68.77 Mi
Strength: 30 min
Hiking: 1 h 15 m

March 2014
Swim: 12h 30m - 33737.97 Yd
Bike: 23h 44m 19s - 323.62 Mi
Run: 10h 21m 09s - 53.22 Mi
Strength: 1 h
Skiing: 18h

well, that didn't turn out how I thought it would

*warning, big long rambly post as I try and figure out what the hell happened this past weekend and some future type stuff*

So, if you joined a cycling team which advertised a 3 day "Spring Training Camp" which included a 70 mile option on Friday and Saturday and a 3,500+ (15 mile) hill climb up a mountain, wouldn't you think that meant this was a weekend meant for work?  Also some fun, but some real, hard, honest work on two wheels.

That's what I thought and woooo boy, was that a mistake.

Also, if you knew that multiple board members were triathletes, the whole club was volunteering for the finish line at an Ironman, and they sold tri kits to wear at races, wouldn't you assume the group was triathlete-friendly?

Again, ASSume and wow, I was super wrong.

And finally, and again the ASSume rule here, is that my friends will back me just as solidly and loyally as I would for them when they're in a bad place.  Sure, I may not agree with them, but if they need me, I will keep my thoughts to myself and do whatever I can to help.  Again, wrong.  And that one hurts.  A bunch.

***

Back late last year I was looking for a new group to ride bikes with.  One that didn't try to "out tri-dork" each other with egos and establishing territory.  I just wanted a friendly group to go and ride bikes for miles and miles over lots of hills.  A pretty simple request that I suppose is hard to fill when you're me.  My friend has been a part of a Boulder-based women's cycling club.  The few times I ran into them, they seemed nice and my friend had very good things to say about them.  Sure, I don't get a ton of the benefits, like sponsor discounts, but I was hoping for a nice group of people to train with and I was very excited over the idea of a training camp.

I did a few rides with them and they went well.  People were friendly.  I did get one comment about my TT bike from the president, but it was more like "technically I'm supposed to tell you not to ride your TT bike because its a rule and I'm club president, but as a triathlete, I get that you need./want to ride that bike."  So I took that as I could pick and choose when to ride my bike.

I was really excited to do the out of town training camp.  Three BIG days of training would greatly benefit me for IMBoulder - lots of endurance, time on the bike, and with a huge climb on the last day, lots of mental and strength training.

I show up to Training Camp planning to ride long (70 miles) on Fri and Sat and do the hill climb Sun.  We met with the group and immediately I got a "you brought your TT bike!?!?!"  I played it off as yeah, its my bike and I ride this a ton. Its fine.  No big deal.  And hey, I brought fruit snacks and I'm really friendly.

I have ridden in groups before, and I typically stay up on my bars until I had ~2 bike lengths in front of me and then I would go down on my aero bars.  I feel safe and comfortable doing this based on countless rides and miles of riding this way with groups, from clubs to century rides.  I think this experience is fairly universal for most triathletes.  Its just how we ride and its fine and safe.  An hour into it, one girl (a multi-IM person) said "don't ride down on your aero bars when you're in front of me because you scared me and J."  I tried to explain that I had 2 bike lengths in front of me and apparently that didn't matter.  I get squinty-eyed thinking over this complaint for a few reasons.  1) why is this girl, a triathlete, scared of someone riding aero?  how does she manage to race?  2) how am I supposed to know how close someone is behind me and why is this MY issue.  I've always treated riding (just like driving) as you need to watch what's ahead of you and make sure you can react.  Its damn near impossible to control/watch what's going on behind you.

I approached J (who I also "scared") and apologized and she said "oh, that's just this person, you're fine and don't worry".  So now I'm wondering what the hell is going on and I'm also feeling really self conscious and a bit anxious.  I just want to ride and have fun.  I don't want to be causing problems but I also want to be able to ride the way I want to, which is, I feel, very safe. (again, based on years of experience of riding)

My legs were feeling really good and the hills were treating me well.  We were having a bit of fun playing cat and mouse on the rollers.  I heard someone say "hey, I recognize that hill" and I just went for it.  I was riding along and I got to a potential turn and quickly realized that I had lost my group.  I wasn't leading and I didn't know the route.  I circled back and quickly realized that I had messed up and started hammering back, all the while really beating myself up because I had messed up.  I came upon the group (10 women, all in matching outfits) who were standing there waiting for me.  I felt even worse.  I immediately started apologizing and was very strongly told by 3 people "you CANNOT do that".  Which made me feel really bad and even more self conscious.

I had already been talked to for "scaring" someone and now I made the whole group mad at me.  I was now "that asshole".  With a group of new people that I wanted to be friends with.  I was just seeing things spiral downwards and spent the next 30 miles dealing with some pretty dark social anxiety issues that have been plaguing me for the past several years.  Not to mention, an honest mistake that caused the group to wait a maximum of 8 minutes (according to my garmin), which  resulted in me getting yelled at publicly by several people.  This caused a very large dose of WTF?!? to circle around my head.  All of this combined made for a pretty miserable ride to lunch.

Most of the time after that I was riding by myself (aero, but looking backwards enough to make my neck really hurt at the end of the day because god forbid I was aero when someone snuck behind me and I didn't realize it....) I was sandwiched between the lead and the back back.  There was a corner where I waited for the back pack (because I god forbid I don't wait and I get yelled at again).  The back group zipped in front of me, placing me firmly at the back of the line, which was too slow for me.  There was a huge rumble strip preventing me from swinging out onto the road to pass.  I said something to the person ahead of me about wanting to pass and she either didn't hear it or ignored me and blocked me.  Given my already bad mental state, I just wanted to get away from these people and passed them on the right (on a decent sized shoulder), apologizing to every person I passed for being yet another asshole and passing on the right.  So more anxiety for me.  But I just didn't feel comfortable riding with them in a pack.  And really, the people who yelled at me were in the group and emotionally, I just didn't want to hear their voices.  I just wanted space.

At lunch, I decided to have a talk with the president about the incident where I missed the turn and how I felt like they dogpiled on me.  I explained that I'm pretty emotionally beat up, have some anxiety issues, and the reaction of the group for my innocent mistake really pushed me into a bad emotional state.  I suggested that maybe humor would be a better approach when they're dealing with someone new, so the person wouldn't spend 30 miles feeling awful.  We talked for a bit.  Apparently, contrary to her statement 2 weeks ago, riding my TT bike is a very bad thing.  I explained that I've put a lot of $ into my TT bike and in order to ride safely and comfortably, I'd have to dump a lot of money into my road bike or buy a new one - something which seemed really unreasonable for a group to ask me to do.  Her response was a cold "maybe you can develop new skills".  Which is really confusing because she is ALSO an Ironman.  She then decided to bring up some other things I had done (example, passing on the right) and we parted ways.  This left me upset enough where I spent good 5 minutes curled up on the floor of the bathroom sobbing while everyone was enjoying smoothies, salads and cookies.

Because THAT's how training rides should go, right?

I got myself cleaned up and hid in a corner by the bikes waiting for everyone to finish lunch.  During that time, only one person of the group of ten noticed me and talked to me.  And that person was not my friend whom I was sharing a room with, which upset me a bit as well.

So we rode home.  There were some comments about how I needed to treat this as a fun ride, not a training ride (again, 70 miles... wtf? and what's wrong with training during a training camp?).  Afterwards, in our room, I tried to have a conversation with my friend about how the day had upset me.  She agreed that the dogpiling was unnecessary but there was also a very underlying unsympathetic "we're a Boulder group and this is how we do things".  All I really wanted was maybe a hug and a sympathetic ear and perhaps even a white lie about how she understood and yes I was justified and yes, the entire day was crappy.  Later, after I overheard part of her conversation with her fiancee about how "it will all blow over and be ok."  After she left to meet with people, I called my husband and started bawling because things were definitely NOT ok.  In fact, they were so not ok that if I was not responsible for my friend's ride home, I would have left that night. I was so upset and wanting to be alone after that, that I was seriously thinking of spending the night in my truck.  I was in full, backed into a corner, paranoia, no one sees my perspective, or worse CARES to see my perspective, including my friend, crying on the phone to my husband, misery mode.

Because THAT makes for a fun training weekend.

The next morning, we got ready for a the hill climb (the 2nd 70 mile ride was cancelled for wind).  And finally, someone was nice enough to say she heard what happened and gave me a hug.  And for that I'm thankful, as it made my day a bit better.  It felt like someone got me and was a bit on my side and that I wasn't alone.

The ride up the ski hill was ok.  There were sevearl miles of riding at 3.8 mph because it was so steep, which is sucky.  And it was cold.  And I was an idiot (because I was still upset) and didn't really pack any cold riding gear, so I froze on the way down.

I realized later on, when people gathered downtown for shopping and lunch (including me because I was so worried what people would say about me if I didn't participate) that this weekend was a girl's weekend away disguised as a training weekend.  It was not a training weekend.  People wanted to get away from their lives and shop and drink and talk and do girl-type stuff.  Which is fine.  But don't call it a training weekend.  It even included a big group dinner that night with wine that ended up in a birth control discussion.  That sort of stuff makes me want to poke my eyes out.  Really, most group things drive me batty (there's something about herding cats, getting people to all agree on where to go and where to eat that REALLY does not go well with my independent spirit.  I am much better with groups no larger than 4).  Most people were into it.  I think I was the only one who wasn't.  Really, it was the same thing with Ragnar.  Everyone thought the weekend was amazing.  For me, even without the drama, I would have given the weekend a solid "meh".  Mainly because I just don't need/like girls weekends.  I just wanted to ride my bike, eat good food, have a beer, sleep and repeat.  Shopping and chatting aren't ever high on my list of things I want to do and I never feel like I need to go out of town for these things.   I really felt that for the money I spent on travel/food (money I don't really have right now), I could have taken Friday off of work and ridden the same schedule and terrain and gotten more out of it.  No criticism for "training", no spending money, no social anxiety, no me being tortured by groups of people chatting over wine.  (I'm exaggerating on the torture, they were nice, but the topics on conversation were sooooo not my wheelhouse)

So lesson learned on many levels.  Now I just need to figure out if I want to be a part of this group moving forward.  A large part of me is saying no, that I should sell my gear (or cancel a pending order) and just get out.  Really, any group who has board members treating a new member that way is really not a group I want to participate in.  And then the whole "Boulder elitist" crap that was underlining everything.  They only have their Boulder experience and that's all that they're willing to acknowledge.  Just because they're "Boulder" doesn't mean that there aren't many other ways of doing things and ending up with happy people on bikes riding on roads in groups.

In other words, I think I'll go back to just riding solo and doing my own thing.  Or maybe next year I'll join Rocky Mountain Tri Club.  They did a Moab training weekend this same weekend.  My friends got in 185 miles of riding in 3 days - probably all in aero.  In the end, I'm not sure a pretty kit isn't enough for me to stay.  And, I'm pretty sure that any time I ride with this group again, I'll have a bit of PTSD and paranoia.  Bike riding is supposed to be fun (and sometimes hard,, but never to the point where you're sobbing on the floor of a bathroom during lunch.)  Always looking over my shoulder (figuratively and literally) trying to stzay out of trouble just isn't how I want to ride.

First big weekend of 2014

I had Friday off and we have now started my Friday Deer Creek / High Grade bike adventures.  It was fun this time but I'm pretty sure I'll be over it in 2 months.

Oh wait, back to the beginning, before the big ride.  Based on my whiny-ness earlier in the week, I asked my coach if we could have coffee on Friday morning so we could lay out the plans for the summer.  I think, for me, knowing the purpose behind all this work will alleviate some of the whining.  We had a really good conversation and I left feeling relieved instead of "holy crap, 4 more months of this training... blech".  I'm in a wedding in June and there's some wedding-related things like a shower, and a party, and the wedding.  I was getting a bit stressed about fitting it all in, but Michelle is great and understands balance.  Any wedding stuff will be worked in and I will not be stressed out over trying to get in a workout on the same day.  *phew*  Also, I was commenting on how Boulder basically killed our summer - ie no camping because I'd be on my bike every weekend from now until August 3rd.  She told me to think about a weekend in late June or early July for camping.  No s/b/r.  Just camping, a long hike, and maybe some mountain biking.  Thank goodness - now I have some fun to look forward to.

She also confirmed that she was making my workouts especially awful when I was going skiing, in a sick and twisted way of torturing me (while helping me!) while she was on the couch with a ski-induced ACL tear.  And as I suspected, last year's training was the Michelle-beginner level.  Now I'm on the Michelle-Intermediate plan.  Much harder.  But I feel better with her saying this, versus me just thinking things are that much harder in Year 2 with her.

The meeting went really well.  We discussed some plans for the rest of the year.  I have a potentially crazy race I want to do next January.  And trail running.  Loads of trail running after Boulder.  I left feeling less whiny with more purpose.  Exactly what I was needing.

Then it was off to conquer the big hill.  A friend of mine has signed up for St George and Tahoe - both are HUGE climbing races.  So I made her ride with me on Friday.  We did a ~50 minute warmup around Chatfield then started up the hill.  I no longer have every turn memorized and for some reason, the first part before the left hand turn seemed harder than I remember it being.  It could be partially because it was my first ride of the year here or it could actually have been just as hard last year.  Who knows.

The deal with my friend was that I would wait for he at the left hand turn and at the top.  She was trying to weasel out of it, by saying I could ride up to the top, turn around, and she'd turn when she saw me.  I had nothing to do that day and it was really important that she made it up, so I was really mean and made her ride to the top. :)

This also gave me time to mess around taking selfies :)

this is a very expensive stop sign to run...

I waited probably 10 min at the turn and 15 min at the top.  She came up the hill with a huge smile on her face.  Success!

51 miles and 3500 feet of climbing

My ride was pretty good.  I had to stop in my usual spots on High Grade.  My heart rate hit 180 and I just didn't feel like pushing it any higher.  I feel like it was over 170 for the last 5 miles.  My legs were actually ok and I did feel pretty strong.  I went and checked my files and I think I was only 3 min slower off my best time from 2013.  That's a pretty good way to start the year.

only a little bit of snow....

It was pretty warm - 76 degrees.  I drank all of my water (almost 4 bottles).  I'm playing around with nutrition options.  This time it was some Salty Balls.  I ate them pretty consistently on the way up - at least I'm pretty sure I ate more on this ride than I normally did in 2013.  My stomach felt good but I'm not sure the texture (mushy) will work with me over the course of 7 hours.  Its a start, though!  I got home, showered, and was lured to my friends house by promises of margaritas.  Not the smartest thing, as there was no real food.  Just margaritas, chips, guac, and queso.  We got home at 9 and I ate half of a real dinner.

I woke up starving.  I was riding with my outdoor DIVAS group in Boulder and they were doing the Morgul-Bismark crit course, which involved something called "the Wall".  I pretty much stuffed my face the entire way up to Boulder.  It was ridiculous - every 10 minutes my stomach would end up growling at me.  Note to self: must eat real food after riding Deer Creek.

The ride was around 35 miles.  I was just going to take it easy-ish and see how my legs felt.  Part of the ride was on a road that my friend took me on in 2011 when I was training for IMTX.  I remember the hills being hardish and me dropping my chain in the middle of one of them.  Something must have triggered in my legs with that memory and I zoomed up the hill past the 6 other DIVAS and beat them all up the hill.  Full disclosure: I promptly died after that hill and was very much back of the pack for the rest of the ride.  Unless we were going downhill.  The Wall was delivered as promised.  Its felt like High Grade but I'm thinking that was just because my legs weren't happy with me.

38 miles and 1800 feet of climbing

A few of us did a quick 30 minute run afterwards.  My legs actually were doing pretty well, which was shocking.  Then I had to go and try on bridesmaid dresses for a December wedding.  Yes, after bike riding.  I did manage to hit the buffet at Whole Foods in Boulder.  It was an.... experience.  One whole buffet dedicated to cold foods, two more dedicated to hot foods.  And it was Boulder.  So food then bridesmaid dresses, where I realized while trying on my first dress that I had a huge smear of bike grease on my arm.  Classy!

Sunday (if you're still reading) was a 2.5 hour run.  Friday and Saturday were gorgeous.  Sunday was rain turning into snow.  I like doing my long runs on the Highline Canal.  Its flat-ish and dirt, so its really nice on your body.  My friend Ryan was really nice and kept me company for the whole time, even though I was running a ~12:00 pace to keep my HR under 142.  The idea of running this on a treadmill seemed horrible.  Fortunately, the rain turned into snow at the start of our run, so we didn't get too wet.  My legs were actually ok with running after 2 days of cycling and the entire run went pretty well.  I had to run faster for my last 20 minutes and managed a 10:18 pace with sub-9 at the very end.  I'll take it!

And then we gorged ourselves on $12 all you can pile on a plate (including really yummy bacon and bread pudding) brunch at the brewery.  And then I came home and took a nap.

It was an encouraging start to my big training volume.  Everything worked really well and I even had some fun.  Just as it should be :)