Posted on Feb 2, 2008 in Ramblings, Training Updates
The first week and a half of training camp has passed by very quickly. It has been good hard training and despite some rain, I have been enjoying the area a ton. After the rain ended last Saturday, the first long ride was amazing….Miranda and I joined a group from the LA Tri Club and climbed up one of the canyons in malibu, Tuna Canyon for those who know the area, and the skies were so clear after the rain; we could see all the way to catalina island to the east and the san gabriel mts. to the west. The views were impressive, and the group was very nice to us newcomers. This week, our team also tagged along with another biking group, LaGrange, to join their Mandeville climb session. It was a good 5 mile climb without a killer grade until the last 200 meters or so. But after the 3 time up the climb, my legs were jello and ready to be done for the day. We also got kicked off the track and did our track session out on the paths in palisades park off ocean boulevard. I wouldn’t call it fun because hard track runs usually don’t fit into that category, but it was pretty neat to be running up on the cliffs overlooking the ocean with views of malibu to the north and the beaches to the south. We also did a hard fartlek run from the canyonbacks trail head it was a nice trail maybe a bit rocky with lots of long rolling climbs and descents. But some of the views of the city from the top were impressive. You could see the city buildings to th south and valley to the east and malibu/ocean to the west. It definitely made running hard a bit more enjoyable. Otherwise, the week was filled with some uneventful swims….when is swimming ever eventful unless you are in the open water . But it is nice to swim long course, it definitely is much harder than short course and will hopeful make my swim stronger this year. More of the same to come next week…but so far I am really enjoying this training camp and know it is the start of a good...
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Posted on Jan 28, 2008 in Ramblings, Training Updates
The road trip with Mary from Boulder out to California was fun and uneventful….no speeding tickets, no spilled coffee, no cat fights….just pee stops every 90 to 120 minutes. We had a great time, and it flew by as we swapped off the driving every 3 to 4 hours or every other pee break. I am hoping to get some pictures up to highlight the key moments during the drive…so get excited to see those. We spent the night in Sin City and opted not to stay on the strip but paid extra to get a nice room away from all the madness where we got in a quick run, dinner, American Idol, and bed. The next morning, we got an early start and made it to Santa Monica by lunch in time for our afternoon swim workout. Unbelievably, I had a great swim workout…the 6K flew by and the 1:15s in a meter pool felt easy. I boil it down to the road trip taper; I highly recommend driving 17 hours – 13 one day then 4 the next – heading straight to the pool and you’re guaranteed to swim PBs. Sometimes, the body does strange things but I won’t complain when it gives me a good swim workout. It is awesome to be in LA. Despite the rain which started the afternoon we arrived, I am very excited to get back into the groove of training with the group and to ride my bike outside and run without the fear of hitting a latent ice patch. I met my home-stay family and look forward to getting to know them over the next few months. Though I am going to miss my boys back in CO, I think this is going to be a very successful training camp and the start to a great...
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Posted on Jan 3, 2008 in Ramblings, Training Updates
Before Christmas, I was forced to take some time off…that is my least favorite part of the season every year. It is always a nice treat to sit around for the first few days; then I start to get antsy and want to do some sort of activity. Luckily, the 2 weeks went by fast as I was busy around the house doing some painting and cleaning with the help of my trusty sidekick, Jeff’s dog Amos. To be truthful, Amos is a 14 year old brittany spaniel and wasn’t much help with either task. But his moral support, aka peaceful snoring, was quite reassuring while I was painting the entryway, kitchen, and dining room various shades from a soft muted gray to a tangy mustard, and subdued wine shade. While I fussed and fretted about the color and my lack of skills, it was a calming influence to watch the old guy just sleeping away the day on the couch. During the cleaning, Amos was a bit more active following me from room to room as I struggled with the steam cleaner he would jump out of the way at the last second. Finally, he tired of the cleaning too and retired to snore away on the couch. But Amos wasn’t so happy when I waxed our hardwood floors. The poor guy sleeps there sometimes and now has trouble getting all his feet under him; just as one foots starts to get purchase and the rest will slip out so he’ll fall back onto his stomach with all four feet in the air. Between our chores, Amos and I take long walks, and I get to pick up all his little packages. But I can’t complain; it has been a treat to have a companion to help keep me entertained and make the 2 weeks of rest go by faster. I need to get a picture of my favorite helper up on the blog…I’ll see if I can find a glamour shot from his younger...
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Posted on Dec 13, 2007 in Ramblings, Training Updates
Team Pictures in Australia Team Pictures in Hawaii More Team Pictures …. Dad, Jeff, and I in the Chicago...
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Posted on May 22, 2007 in Race Reports, Ramblings
I arrived in South Africa a bit worse for wear. The flight was packed and I felt like a sardine stuffed along with hundreds of other people in a too small tin can. I definitely didn’t sleep as well as I had on my flights out to Portugal and cringed each time the people around me coughed and sneezed hoping that I wouldn’t catch anything before the race. When I arrived in Durban, a childhood friend living in South Africa with her husband came to pick me up from the Airport. It was great to spent the first night with Ashley, her husband, and her family; it definitely took my mind off the race. On Friday morning, I woke up way too tired and too early to drive from Durban to Richards Bay for the race. When I arrived in Richards Bay, I got in a run, bike, and swim on the race course. I was feeling awful; exhausted, jet-lagged, and ready to go back to bed but managed to stumble through all the workouts. As soon as I got to my hotel that afternoon, I passed out and took a two hour nap before the race meeting. When I woke up I felt 100% better and on Saturday felt even more rested and ready to race. I tried to keep all my pre-race workouts easy and relaxed saving it all for Sunday. Then, I spent the rest of the day trying to stay relaxed. On Sunday morning, I felt good warming up on the bike and swim. I was ready for the gun at this race and had a good start but managed to get clobbered really badly during the sprint to the first buoy. Getting dragged backwards, clawed, dunked, swum over…it was mayhem. But after the first buoy I broke free and had cleaner water and more space until the exit for the first lap. I overtook some girls in the front pack during the sprint out of and back into the water. I was swimming a bit close to one of the large German girls, I guess she thought too close and decided to place her hand on my back and give me a good dunk. After that I backed off and bit and slide onto her feet…no need to get dunked again. At the end of the swim, I was in the middle of the lead pack and sprinted onto my bike. This bike course was much better for me than last week; 8 laps of a loop with one pretty decent hill. I really went after the bike and worked hard on every lap. I ended up pulling along 15 girls for about 80% of the entire bike but didn’t even care — I was on a mission to give myself as much time going into the run as possible. I had a little...
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Posted on May 22, 2007 in Ramblings, Training Updates
I arrived home from Australia on Easter; it was a never-ending Easter day as I left at 2am in Australia Easter morning and arrived 24+ hours later at 4pm on Easter in Colorado. Before leaving Australia, I saw my doctor there and received the MRI results that I had torn cartridge in my hip. I was given another 2 weeks of rest from running but allowed to swim, bike, and water jog. It is simply nice to know the problem and have a workable plan for getting healthy. On the bright side, upon my return to Boulder I found out that I got into the world cup races in Portugal and South Africa. Although the timing with my injury is not ideal, I am looking forward to this chance to race at the elite world cup level. Training in Boulder is always a challenge with the altitude. On top of that I had major jet lag and wasn’t able to fall asleep until 3am for the first few days back in Colorado. But by the end of the week, I was starting to feel normal again and was happy to get back to doing some great bike and swim workouts. And looking forward to starting to run on the amazing trails in Boulder as soon as my two weeks off were...
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