Thursday, June 30, 2011

A Couple of Flats

ONE
Funny Story: Two weeks ago I went up to Loveland with Bill (husband) and Steve (his coach) to ride the bike course for the race we did this past weekend. As we are getting out of the car and getting our bikes ready to go, I say to the two of them, "I hope I get a flat tire today." Bill says, "What?!" with a confused look on his face and Steve just looks at me funny. I then continue, "I've never had a flat tire on my bike, I am, fore sure, due for one, I usually ride alone, and it would be perfect if I got my first one today when I am with you two. I don't want you to change it for me, I want to do it, but it'd be great to have you to guide me through it, especially if it's the back tire." Steve then says, "Be careful what you wish for." and I reply, "I am actually very serious!"

Yes, I know HOW to change a flat, I've even done it in my garage as Bill walked me through it. But that was a year ago and I haven't had a flat tire since.

The bike ride was a 30 mile loop. We were about 1.5 miles from being finished and I hear a "poof" followed by a little slow down and wobbliness (if that's a word). Yup! Flat tire! I had actually forgotten about my earlier comments at that point and was just excited to be done with the ride soon. I laughed as I pulled over to the side of the road. Bill and Steve rode up and stopped next to me. They were chuckling as well. Steve can change a flat in about a minute flat, so he walked me through all the steps.  I did it in about 10 minutes. A woman who was out walking came by and commented on the two nice young men who were watching me do all the work. I saved face for them and told her I didn't want them to help, I needed to do it on my own. We finished the ride a few minutes later. It could not have been a more perfect set up!

I can't help laugh when I think of that statement, "Be careful what you wish for."

TWO
Yesterday, my girlfriend, Anna, and I headed out from my house to do a pretty long ride. We planned to head up High Grade, the same ride I did last week for the first time, loop around and return home, for about a 50-55 mile ride.

The first half went well, it's the harder portion, heading up into the mountains. We reached the top, took a pit stop and refueled. Then came the fun part, the downhill. After all that climbing, the descent is a well deserved spree! Unfortunately, according to what I had in mind, we missed a turn somewhere and ended up too far down the other side of the mountain. Anna had done this portion of the ride before, but not when starting from all the way over by our houses, she had done it when they drove to the base and rode the loop. We knew we were in for a longer ride than planned. Rather than turn around and head back UPHILL, STEEP UPHILL, we continued on the way she knew to go.

Eventually we came to an intersection where we stopped to verify which way we should be headed. I called Bill, while Anna spoke with a passing cyclist. We determined the quickest way home and headed that way, down Turkey Creek Road toward Highway 285. We passed through Conifer, then actually got ON the 285, which I would NOT recommend - although there ARE bicycle lanes and even signs saying cyclists are ok, it is a fast moving highway, 3 lanes going each direction. The portion of the highway we had to travel on was about 4 miles of steep downhill - really fun to have those semis whizzing by us.  We were about a mile from where we would get off, and yet again, the wobbliness in my tire starts! Another flat! This time it was my front tire (So glad it was the front, so much easier to get on and off the bike for me). I was very glad at this point that I did have that other flat tire two weeks ago. It was no big deal changing this one (besides the cars FLYING down the mountain just feet from us) and we were on our way again in about 5 minutes. After about a minute I realized I had not engaged the front brake after changing the tire (good thing it was the front and not the back or I'd maybe have done and endo!!) I stopped again to do that and we were to the frontage road where we could exit that crazy highway.

Our 50ish mile ride became a 75 mile ride as we came out of the canyon in Morrison and had to take the 470 trail all the way around to home. In hindsight, I am actually really glad it worked out the way it did. I would not have planned to do a 70+ mile bike ride yesterday, and I don't think I would ever have planned to do a 70+ mile ride through the mountains! It was a confidence booster to know that I did it, and that I felt good at the end of it. My legs for sure were screaming at me a little bit on those last few uphills getting home, but besides that, I felt good.

Monday, June 27, 2011

Loveland Lake to Lake Olympic Tri - Recap

I'm a little bit too excited as I sit here to do the recap of this race, it was FABULOUS! Like I have said before - it is SO extremely rewarding to work hard for something and have it PAY OFF. I know I am new to the sport of Triathlon, and so the first few seasons should yield pretty significant improvements, but I still can't help getting so excited over small gains!

We arrived in Loveland Friday night to spend the night at the Residence Inn. It's about a 1.5 hour drive from our home to Loveland, and rather than getting up at 2:30 or 3am, we opted to spend the night in a hotel and get up at 4am! Ha - that still is pretty darn early - but race day somehow always makes it ok to get up that early - my body seems to always know, and wakes up early anyway!

My husband and I drove up to Loveland last week to ride the bike course and run the run course with his coach, who has done this race numerous times in his career. I am SO glad we did! The elevation map for the bike does NOT tell the whole story. This is a TOUGH bike course (not to mention a longer than usual olympic distance course at 30 miles) - the first 15 miles feel like rolling hills, but definitely a steady climb, with a couple of longer steady climbs. There are a couple of pretty steep drops, short, but steep as well. The course is a loop, so one would think that the 2nd half would be easier and have more downhill than the first half; not so. The second half is a gradual uphill also, with a few rollers. The steep drops take all the descent (and more) away, and leave you having to climb back to the starting point. There is a killer headwind also along the long lonely road back to the lake. Fortunately the wind was not horrific yesterday (it was worse last week when we came to test the course). The run is a pretty simple out and back, partly along the lake, and pretty flat.

There were 723 athletes competing, including a BLIND guy and his guide - who finished the race - amazing! 315 females and 399 males finished the race.

After a breakfast of oatmeal, protein shake, and half of a banana we headed out. We got to the race about 5:15am Saturday morning to get our transition area set up. The race had a wave start and for the first time, my husband and I started together in the very first wave at 6:30am. All the age 35-39 male and female athletes and the elite athletes started first.

6:30am - Swim Start
Nothing really to tell about the swim - I felt good, after the initial frenzy, and got into a groove. There were lots of athletes so I always had someone nearby to draft off of, and I tried to do that as much as possible. I think I even drafted off my husband for a time, it's hard to tell who's who in the water! I felt like I was going pretty hard, but felt ok doing it. I got out of the water and headed up the grass hill (about 200m) to the transition area - a long way to run to get to transition, and it is actually part of the swim time because the timing mat is at the entrance to the transition area. I was shooting for an under 30 min actual swim time and I think I was actually in the high 28/low 29 min range. My husband has the waterproof garmin and got his actual swim time at just under 29min as soon as he got out of the water. I came out of the water about 45 sec to a minute ahead of him (that's the ONLY portion of the tri that I will ever beat him! and that may not even last long!), My race swim time was 30:45 (including the 200m+ run), I was 87/315 females for my swim. I got into transition and got ready for the bike. My husband is faster in transition than me and we actually exited transition together on our bikes.

BIKE - 30 miles
The ride was great, tough, but fortunately I knew what to expect and tried to hold back a little bit and save some energy for the 2nd half of the bike. If those headwinds were blowing it would be torture. The steep decents were super fun and a nice break for the legs. But as all downhills are, short and sweet, and then back to the climbing. I lost my gels at the beginning of the bike and only had my gatorade and HEED bottles for fueling. The weather was cool and there was a cloud cover that remained throughout the bike and for the duration of my run. Because of that, I didn't need as many fluids as I would have had it been hot and sunny. There were a just a few girls who passed me on the bike (and lots of guys). The 34 and under men started the swim 4 minutes after us, and some of them caught me on the swim, and then a  bunch of them passed me on the bike! Getting to the final stretch the winds were mild, still there, but not bad. I finished the bike feeling pretty good and ready to run. I averaged 18.5 mph (which I am VERY pleased with for that course) and was 76/315 females for the bike portion; 1:37:10.

RUN
As is the case on most triathlons, my left foot was pretty numb by the time the bike is finished and running is a bit of a trick. I've done it enough that mostly now it's just plain annoying, and doesn't hinder my speed too much. I usually take off fast for the run and have to settle myself and remember how long the run actually is. The first mile is the toughest for me, to get used to running and get my breathing in check. I started passing a few runners and that always gives me a boost. The course is an out and back and when I was at 1.7 miles, my husband passed me coming the other direction, headed into the finish. He was about 2 miles ahead of me at that point and finished about 19 minutes ahead of me (he ran a 6:54 average pace - his best yet!). My first few miles were low in the low 8min range and I wanted to push it harder to really be at an 8min average or lower. I took gatorade or water at every aid station and just took one big gulp before tossing the cup. Mile 3 was a sub 8 min mile, but 4 and 5 were just above 8 minutes. I really felt good by the time I had a mile to go and started to push it. Mile 6 was a 7:50 average and I strided into the finish pushing the pace even more. I finished the race in 3:00:01 with a 7:55minute/mile average for the 10k (49:08). My fastest yet.  I was 46/315 females for the run and finished 6th in my division out of 63 (and was only 6 minutes off the leader in my division).Overall I was 50th out of 315 females and 262nd out of 723 total athletes (including guys).

What did I learn? My transitions need work, and I can push a little harder at the end of the run.

Fun tidbit: The Lake to Lake Triathlon is a special qualifier for the National Championship Triathlon. Both my husband and I qualified for the National Championships in our age groups. Not that we will go there (this year), but fun to know we qualified!

Thursday, June 23, 2011

Highgrade to CityView Brick

Longest Brick of the Season: 43 mile bike/6 mile run

I have been afraid of this ride ever since I went out Christmas Eve morning with my husband and almost froze to death (not really, but I seriously have never been so cold in my life - shaking and losing control of my limbs on the way down!) -but that's another story for a different day. It's a 40+ mile bike with A LOT of climbing up steep mountain roads - approx. 6000 feet of elevation gain in those 42/43 miles.

I also have never done this ride completely and knew going with my husband was not the best option for my first time, being that he is so much faster than me and I don't want to hold him back when he is trying to get a good training ride in.

So, my neighbor across the street is actually the only other girl I know personally who is as into these triathlons as I am. And fortunately we are both just starting to get into the longer stuff. She is doing the Cozumel Ironman just 3 weeks after my Florida one. Both of our firsts. Because of that, our training timeframe is pretty similar.

Yesterday we headed out at 5:30am to hit this ride, and then run an easy 6. I have a race on Saturday, so I was not sure how smart it was to do a ride and run like this 3 days prior. But in the big picture, it's more important for me to do these tougher rides to get ready for my bigger races (1/2 IM in Aug, and then Florida). We drove to Aspen Grove (about 10 miles from here and 10 miles to the start of the ride), there is a great flat running course right at Aspen Grove that travels along the Platte River that we would hit when we returned from the bike.

The ride was actually, surprisingly, great! I was very relieved to have it feel doable. The first few miles of climb are a steady slight climb that got me all the way to my smallest gear. That worried me a bit, knowing I had nowhere lighter to go! But it worked out, I alternated between staying in, and getting up out the saddle once we got to the steeper stuff. It is a beautiful ride. Gorgeous mountain scenes. And most importantly, my legs felt great getting off  and starting the run. That may be due to the fact that the second half of the bike was mostly coming back down! That was fun! The ride took 3:17 of ride time. MPH average was 12.9.

The view at the top of City View - a bit hazy, but that's Denver down there.
 Same spot as the above picture, but facing the other direction

I just had a bike fit riding instructional on Monday from my husband's tri coach. Steve Pye - I leaned a ton and hope to be able to implement what I have learned over time. I felt better on this ride than I have in awhile (if ever) - I am hoping the bike fit (and my new knowledge of how to actually sit on the bike) are to credit for this and that it will continue. I do still have the numb foot issue, it is worse when I climb, and hopefully time and improvement in my pedal stroke and climbing technique will be able to alleviate that.


The run was an out an back on the Platte River trail and really felt great. It takes about a mile for me to get into the run and feel good. We took it easy and maintained about a 9 min average. I felt great on the run and knew I could go faster if I wanted to, but was happy to keep an easy pace. With a race on Saturday, the last thing I needed to do was push it hard on either the bike or the run.

Overall, a great day that has helped boost my confidence in my ability to climb on the bike.

Monday, June 6, 2011

Boulder Sunrise Olympic Tri Recap

What a perfect day it was Saturday in Boulder, Colorado. Such a beautiful location. The day started at 4:20am when the alarm went off.  I got up and ready, ate breakfast of a protein shake, oatmeal, and banana. We left for Boulder at 5am. On the drive there my husband and I talked about the race, our expectations and goals. We felt that the competition would actually be pretty strong for an Olympic Distance Tri this early in the season here in CO. The race consistted of an Olympic Tri, Sprint Tri, Duathalon (bike/run), and a 5k Race. We arrived just before 6 and got into transition to set up. That's my spot right there on the end, the white GIANT bike. The butterflies were swimming around, as they always do before a race. But thankfully, I was not too bad. Mostly nervous about the temperature of the water.

About 6:30 I started getting my wetsuit on, the air temp was low 50s and I wanted the warmth and was hoping to be hot by the time the race started. I wore earplugs for the first time hoping to help keep me warmer. I don't know if it worked or not, but I didn't mind having them in at all. My husband and I went down to the water to get warmed up. It was cold, but not as cold as I thought it would feel. Good sign! At least on my feet it was warmer in the water than out. They said the water temp was about 61*. The first rush of water over the head was chilly to say the least. We warmed up by swimming a couple 50m stretches and then waited for the men to start. We waited and waited, then found out we were still waiting because there was not a paramedic on site, and I guess that's one of the rules, for safety. So I warmed up again by swimming some more, then got out and ran around on the dry ground. Waiting in that cold water was not the best part of the day! But it at least got me anxious and ready to get moving.

SWIM (1500m)
Finally the men started (about 20min later than schedule) and the Women started about 2 min after them. I actually positioned myself near the front for the start, right behind the front line of women. Smart or not, I don't know - but it worked out ok. There were a few that climbed over me and a few I climbed over in the first 200m or so. It seemed to take a little longer this time to get into a groove, maybe closer to 500m before I settled into the swim. Nerves to be sure, this was my first time in the open water this season.  Right about 500m I passed the first guy (who started 2 min before us) - that always gets me going. I also I found a girl's feet that seemed to be consistently in front of my face.  I knew I could go around her if I wanted to, but then I thought about how this would be the perfect opportunity to try drafting. I've never done it and didn't know if I could, but I've read about and heard about the great advantages of doing it if you can. And this girl happened to be just the right pace, not too fast, not too slow. So I got into her wake and just followed her feet and her bubbles. It did seem easier and I just coasted along behind her for about the next 500m. About that time we came around one of the last buoys and into the crowd of Sprint Tri swimmers (who stared after us, but had half as far to swim) - so it was chaos again, trying to find my lane. I felt good through the whole swim, only veered off to the right once as I was following a group that was headed a bit off course. I corrected that and seemed ok as far as direction the rest of the swim. Pushed hard with my arms the last 200m and let my legs drag a bit, to hopefully let them rest a minute before I got out of the water. My swim was a 30:26 and put me 26/104 females. I improved my swim time by about a minute and a half over last year's Olympic race, and actually hopefully more than that because the timing mat was all the way up at transition and not down at the water. I'm hoping my actual swim time was actually closer to 30min.

T1
Running up the sand was a new experience on numb feet!!! I seriously couldn't feel them and wobbled a bit getting up the hill to transition. My fingers were also numb and it took me a full minute or more of trying just to undo the velcro at the back of my wetsuit. I was actually already in T1 when I got it, then found the strap and unzipped. My transition was longer than any I've ever had (3:17). I attribute it to the numb fingers and toes. I had planned to wear gloves and my riding jacket, but with my fingers not working and I was not cold, I decided to forget about that. I put on my garmin watch and because of my fingers, I could not get the watch strap into the loop! It really took way longer than it should and I ended up using my teeth to get it on correctly.

BIKE (26.4 miles)
I took a gel first thing on the bike and tried to calm my breathing. The ride was really a fun course. There were 3 or 4 girls who passed me in the first 10 miles. I believe I ended up passing them all, and a few more during the 2nd half of the bike. At about mile 19 I took my water bottle out to drink and totally bobbled it and dropped it, bummer. I thought for a second about stopping to get it, but didn't. I probably should have, it's not like I am a contender to win these races, but I am so competitive even with myself that I didn't want to lose those seconds! I had another full bottle so I was fine as far as fluids went. The temp was probably in the 60s by now, and sunny. It felt great. This was my first race using the aero bars. I have liked having them on training rides and liked having them on this race too. I do have a bit of a sciatic nerve issue that being in the bent over position seems to irritate. So that's something I need to figure out. I would get up out of the aero bars to rest a little bit here and there. At about mile 20 I took another gel. Total on the bike I drank approx 1.5 water bottles of a mixture of Heed and Gatorade. I was a little worried about how I would perform on the run, knowing I was going fast on the bike. I was averaging about 19mph, which is fast for me. I finished the bike in 1:23:44 with a 18.9mph average. My time was 3 minutes faster than last year's olympic, and this year was 1.6 miles longer too - so really about a 7-8 min improvement  and 2 mph average faster. woo hoo! I like improvement! I was 31/104 for my bike time of the females.

T2
Transition 2 was much better and faster than T1. I rolled in, stripped my bike shoes and helmet, threw on my race number, visor and running shoes and was off in 1:03.

RUN (10K - 6.2 miles)
Good run, flat for the most part, but even the little hills are killer at this point for me! I started strong and told myself to stay where I was feeling good so I could push the 2nd half. That is hard to do, when you want to just push it because you feel you can! But I tried to hold back a little bit while still going as fast as I could. My goal was to be as close to an 8 minute mile average as possible. By half way my average was 8:13 and I was pleased with that and knew I was giving my all. I took a couple gulps of gatorade and water at the aid stations, mostly to wet my mouth. The course was an out and back, twice for the Olympic Tri, and once for the Sprint Tri and the 5K racers. It was hard to know where I really stood in the field because there were so many runners and I never knew if the person passing me coming the other direction was on her first or second loop, or was doing the sprint or the 5k.  No girl runners passed me at all until the very end when 1 did, a few guys did though.  I actually passed many girls,  and guys, on the run - which is what I want to do and fortunately have always been able to do.  There was one girl who I came off the bike with and she headed into the run about 15 seconds in front of me, and stayed there the whole duration of the run. About mile 5 a girl passed me (who was doing the Olympic - they put an O on your calf if you are doing the Olympic so you only know if you see someone from behind) - she passed me, and the girl 50m ahead of me - but that was the only one. I finished the run stronger than I started it and had an 8:07 average pace. That is my fastest ever 10K (tri or just running race). Not that I have done a tone of either, but I was very encouraged to have my fastest ever 10k be at the end of an olympic triathlon. My run time was 50:15 and put me 22/104 girls.

FINISH
My total time was 2:48:44. 6 minutes faster than last year's olympic, but if you add in the extra 1.6 miles on the bike it makes it about 10 minutes faster. I finished 5th in my age group (35-39), and 25th overall female out of 104.