Cactus Corner: Conquered.

After countless attempts on the mountain bike to round a tight, uphill, cactus-flanked corner on BCLP over the last few months, I finally did it yesterday! Jordan and I headed out for a laid-back ride in the evening and he was able to show me how it's done. Every time I am in BCLP I am amazed by all of the open space and the creek running through it -- it's something I would have conjured up as a kid as absolute paradise. It's awesome to be able to appreciate it on a near daily basis as a 23-year-old kid.

Massive festivities were planned of the evening, as I very much anticipated Germany taking the Euro Cup title, but such fate was not in the cards. That didn't stop me from cooking up some spaetzle and rouladen and Jordan and I from dining like koenige.

Loveland Lake to Lake

Swim
Started on the front line and went out hard. I was right in the mix of the first pack rounding the first buoy, but then got left in their wake shortly thereafter. I stayed within 20ft for the first 1/3 of the swim, and then got separated once we caught the first wave. Unfortunately couldn't put the drafting practice from Wednesday night to use, but felt I swam pretty solidly. As usual I got passed by 5 or 6 people between the swim exit and T1...how are these people running so fast??
As a sidenote, that lake is a lot nicer than I remember it from watching Jordan do this race in 2006, but there is a ton of lake weed (can't be sea weed so...) in there that would gross me out beyond belief in any non-race situation. I'm getting more used to being landlocked, but give me an ocean any day.

Bike
My legs are knackered and I know it, but I keep telling myself once I get going it'll fade. I go out decently hard trying to get things moving, but I'm getting passed left and right by guys with aero helmets and full disk wheels. Not 800m into the bike some geezer pulls up along side and says, "You're supposed to fall back." I have no idea what the hell he was talking about b/c I was riding in the gutter, up hill, in a 1/4 mile long string of riders staying as far off to the side as possible so people could pass -- there was no way I was drafting. Meanwhile, Geezer is riding along side of me. I pull around him and retort, "Well then, you can fall back." to which Old Geezer replies, "Yea, I will. See you on the run, honey." HONEY?! What the hell is that?! NO ONE calls me honey. So now I am all fired up and probably rode the next several miles a bit harder than I should have. Anger is good in the 800m, but not so much for a 2 and a half hour race. I spent more energy than I should have planning the post race fisticuffs. I guess I have a bit of a temper.

So yea, the bike was a slow going affair that seemed never ending. 30 miles is a very long way. I thought for sure I had a flat again, but nope, just me. Somewhere along Wilson Ave I got passed by Tyler, then Steve, then Sonja. I tried to pick it up, and managed to a bit but the legs didn't want to go.

Run
Went out easy and tried to stay relaxed. I was surprised by how many girls were in sight so I just focused on their backs and caught them one by one, staying nice and patient. I could see Sonja far ahead, cruising along and looking strong. She seemed to be the only person that I wasn't making ground on. I finally caught her with a little more than a mile left and ran the rest of the way knowing she was right behind me and could pounce at any moment. I was working really hard and my breathing was totally out of control, on more than one occasion I thought I might not make it to the finish. When I thought we had 50m to go, we actually had 500m, which is pretty much the equivalent of being punched in the gut. As much as I didn't want to go any further, I was able to pass one more girl so I guess it worked to my advantage. Crossing the line I was totally spent, just absolutely wrecked. The last four weeks have definitely caught up with me.

End result
11th overall, 1st 20-24

Definitely can't be disappointed with that, as it's my best finish in an Olympic distance. More than anything though I'm just glad I didn't through in the towel somewhere out on the bike and dog it the rest of the way -- I didn't feel great, but I still was able to work the run as hard as I could, something I was never able to do for running races on their own when I wasn't feeling it =)

Point of Interest
In the last 8 weeks I've more than tripled the amount of triathlons I've done in my life: from 2 to 7 (plus a Stroke & Stride)! It's safe to say I am hooked. Time for a few easy days...

bikeBounce1.0 Sneak Preview

bikeBounce 1.0 is so close to being launched. Any day now. If only these triathlons weren't interfering every weekend! Here is a wee video I made today that just gives you a quick tour of what bikeBounce is. We're still tweaking a few things here and there, but to the casual observer nothing will change.

So please check out the tour and let me know what you think. This is my first foray into web videos, so it's not much, but within a week I should have another up that's a bit more complete.

It's late and I've been in front of the computer for way too long, so this is all I've got. ...for now...

Xterra Take II: Buffalo Creek

I take back all of the awful things I have said, written, or thought about Xterra. Today was a lot of fun and Xterra racing totally redeemed itself from Temecula.

I've never been so relaxed in a triathlon before, and I attribute it to approaching the race similar to how I approached the Boston Marathon: just wanting to put forth a solid effort, enjoy the experience, and finish as quickly as possible. Oh, and unlike Temecula I actually drank and ate during this race...

Swim: I started up front for the first time and went out like a bat out of hell. I swam the first 200 really hard, and when I looked around I only saw 1 other red cap (the color my wave, all the women, wore). My arms felt like they were actually catching a lot of water and I was really reaching and pulling through. A little over half way through the first loop I looked over and realized that me and the other red cap were going the same speed. When I tried to pull away and couldn't, I got on her feet and enjoyed the free ride to shore. We swam side by side, 5 meters apart for the first half of the second lap, then got separated rounding the buoys. I tried to get on her feet again, but couldn't, so I went the last half alone. I looked down at my watch as I was running to transition: 25!!! Woohoo!

I celebrated my fastest swim ever by taking my sweet-ass time in T1. Sat down, toweled off my feet, put my socks on, then headed off on the Epic.

Bike: Dropped my left glove within the first 200 meters of the ride, so I rode Michael Jackson style with 1 glove the whole way. I was surrounded by middle aged men until girls started passing me around mile 6. Then they passed in droves. I did what I could to work it on the bike, but my legs were not having it. I swore I had a flat, but it was just me that was flat. I ran a lot of the sections I thought I would end up running, not always because I couldn't make it, but often because someone else hopped off and made a traffic jam. One of my gels fell off so I adjusted my nutrition plan slightly for a gel at 50' and then at an hour 45. The Camelbak worked like a charm -- definitely the way to go for me since I never want to drink. I didn't pass a single person on the bike until close to the end of the Baldy Trail when I started catching people who had passed me. From then on I didn't get passed the rest of the race. The climb back up to Wellington Lake suited me perfectly and I motored on up no problemo, cracking some jokes with the sweet old couple perched near the top. I wasn't sure how the legs would feel after the climb, so I prepared myself mentally for a brutal run, a la Temecula.

Run: My expectations low, I went out of T2 easy and relaxed. A lady blew by me, charging up the first little hill. I thought I would have a battle royale on my hands, but she fell back within 100 meters and then I got moving. Memories of Allaire came flooding back as I dodged roots and rocks and even used the old steeple skillz to hurdle a fallen tree. Jordan and Gulliver were standing about 800m away from the finish line. I gave Gulliver H.G. McGaffigan a shout out and then motored up and caught some girls before the finish.

It's a smile, not a grimace!!

Huge congrats to Laura for competing in her first Xterra and only her second tri ever =) Pre-riding the course with her a few weeks ago helped a ton today, as there were no surprises. I can only hope to someday be half the mountain biker she is!

Muchos muchos gracias to Jordan for letting me ride his Specialized Epic -- his pride and joy -- and for missing out on a big training morning with his team to come watch the race. =)

Getting back on the Xterra horse

Morning: Mtn bike - 60'

Tomorrow I'm going to give off-road triathlon another go. Jordan is doing what he can to make the experience as sweet as possible, and has offered to let me ride his Specialized Epic, obviously an offer I can't refuse. We spent the better part of this morning setting it up for me so I could take it for a spin around BCLP. Good times. And in usual fashion I managed to ride over a snake -- a big, shiny, green, slithery beast. A year ago I would've screamed, but now I can just utter, "gross" under my breath and forget about it. Is it a sign that I'm losing my Jersey-ness in favor of becoming a Coloradan? Hmmm...


Busted out a new bikeBounce logo today:

The new site is coming along nicely and we're almost ready to launch it for real. Jordan has become a real PHP mastermind -- who would've ever thought we would end up being such nerds! ...actually, I guess it was pretty obvious all along.

What am I thinking doing another Xterra??!??

Evening:

Swim: 3000 @ the Gravel Pond

Run: 60'

3x the triangle and then out for a run with Jordan and Josh. We ran up into Waterton and back. Laying Gulliver-style on the road in Waterton was a fox, just totally relaxed and watching all the crazy people run and bike by. Scary at first, but once I realized he was completely docile, it was very cool.

Evening:
Swim: 2200 yds with Riptide
Bike: Crit loop - 4 hard laps

My legs are not ready for anything hard just yet. The crit loop was really hurting. Coach Jones wanted 6 laps at TT effort with 2 minutes between, but all I could muster were 4. My legs were just knackered.

Evening:
Swim: 5000+ yds with Riptide

A main set of 3x700 on 12' coming in at 10'. I felt pretty good today, and not sore at all which I attribute mostly to an easy run yesterday evening with Gulliver. We did the 3 river-crossing loop, running 20 minutes and walking the rest.

5430 Sprint

I've heard about and/or watched this race since 2005, so this morning I was excited to finally be a part of it. It was the first time I got the pre-race excitement/slight nervousness for a triathlon

I picked my spot on the starting line with more care than usual, going up toward the front and in the middle. Usually I am off on the right side, 5-6 rows back, silly right? When the horn went off arms and legs and rubbery bodies flailed around me wildly. There was no way I could put my face down and swim! I swam the first 200m or so with my head out of the water, my breathing frantic, and trying to find someone to draft off of. Girls began to fall back and I worked my way up, swimming alone until I caught a draft off a not-too-appreciative-girl after the last buoy. It was the first time I drafted off of someone, and now I definitely see what all the hubbub is about! I stuck with her until about 1/2 way to shore then went for it on my own. The swim flew by so I succumbed to the temptation to look at my watch upon exiting: 11:xx! Woohoo! ...then I managed to get passed by a handful of girls on the run to transition.

After clumsily mounting my bike, I turned onto 51st Street and saw an endless line of racers making their ways to Jay Road. I started passing some, and then more, and was constantly passing people until around mile 5 on Rt 36 when I got passed for the first time. Never before have I passed people on the bike, so it was a really weird, confusing feeling that made me think I was going much faster than I actually was. This false shot of confidence didn't bode well for my overall bike time, but it's a huge improvement over my past races (I think it's the first time I've averaged over 20mph), so I'll take it.

I was ready to tear it up on the run, since lately my runs in training have really been coming around. I couldn't get it moving though, and my turnover was a shuffle. Every time I do a tri I really look forward to the run and think it will finally be something easy and natural for me, but it never is. Running at the end of a tri is completely different than going out and running a stand-alone 5k. Once I am stronger on the bike, I think my run will benefit since I won't be quite as spent. Right now, even though my bike is getting faster it's still a big effort for me that wipes me out.

In the end I finished 2nd in my age group (actually 3rd, but the first 20-24 year old came in 2nd overall, so it bumped me up) and 21st overall. After watching so many of the 5430 post-race award ceremonies over the past few years, I was really pumped to carry home one of Jodee Siff's awesome handmade trophies myself.

Afternoon:
Bike - 5430 Sprint Course pre-ride
Swim - 12' in the Boulder Res

Sonja, Sarah, and I went up to get our packets today and do a little pre-ride action. The bike course flew by, partly because it is only 17 miles, and partly because I am familiar with riding near the res thanks to my TT rides. The course seems pretty good for me, mostly flat, but with some semi-long gradual climbs (my favorite).

I thought I could pull of a quick sans-wetsuit swim, but once I was in up to my waist I thought better of it and put it on. It took about 20 years to get it on (not easy when you're already wet), but fortunately Sonja and Sarah aren't lacking in the patience department. Didn't feel too good in the swim, but hopefully things will be different tomorrow.

Noon: Swim -3k at DU

I pretty mild swim in the lovely long course pool.

Hats off to my old BU teammate Marisa Ryan, a former triathlon/duathlon stud, for her 4th place finish in the 10k at NCAAs!! =)

Evening:
Bike - 45' on the trainer
Run - 40'

Put on some AC-DC (Jordan's iPod) and cranked out a solid 45' on the trainer with 1 minute hard, 4 regular continuously after a 10 minute warm-up. Then, it was straight out the door for a golf course loop (not the GC loop of Brookline, but my local 5mi loop). For the first time in history - however short it may be - I felt great running off the bike. Old Man Jones wanted the first 5 minutes hard, and so it was. In a race I'm fairly certain I could hold that pace and based on my internal odometer I think it would put me somewhere between 19:30-20:00 for a 5k. Ran the rest of the run mellow. Nice to know the run is coming back =)

Guido's Pizza for dinner....completely mowed down w/ 3 enormous slices and the most amazing garlic knots I have ever had. Pizza here is a far cry from what I'm used to in the motherland (New Jersey), but Guido's is right up there with all the good local Brick, NJ haunts.

Evening:
Swim - 2400m at the pond
Run - 30'

Swim was 4x to the sandbar and back, distance per stroke going out, and then accelerating coming in. I seem to only have one speed when it comes to swimming and this kills me! On Sunday all I want to do is just get out, and swim hard the whole way. Or even part of the way, I would settle for 100m all out rather than 750m half-assed. I don't care if I have to wash up on shore with not another ounce of energy left for the bike and run. I just want to swim hard.

Pump it, princess!!

Morning: Run 80', Mt Carbon

I had planned on just starting off the first 20' of my 40' run with Jordan, but I was feeling good so I stuck with him for the full 80'. 80, 40, what's the difference? Figured it would do me some good as I'm really getting back into the running bit again. We've also never run the Mt Carbon loop together and each have our own variation, so Jordan could finally show me his way that he's talked up for the last year.

Evening: Bike 140', Lookout

After work, Jordan and I rode over to Lookout via a new route (for me, anyway) involving Rooney Road and more time on the 6th Ave bike path. A nice route, but just as long as going past Red Rocks normally is because of a nice headwind. Jordan and I parted ways at the bottom, and I worked the climb hard. I passed my first "1 mile" checkpoint in 6:00 and my second "5k" checkpoint in 19:15. Right after a rider coming down saw me working it and yelled, "PUMP IT PRINCESS!!" I have no idea what the hades this meant, but it did get me moving. As I got closer to the top I knew I was on pace for a PR so I pushed harder, and crossed the Buffalo Bill sign in 27:05...a 33 second PR. Jordan and I met back up and battled it out on the back side...downhills are an almost-equalizer for us, though I am sure he wasn't trying nearly as hard as I was.

So far I've knocked 3 minutes off my Lookout time this spring, and I'm thinking sub-26 is definitely attainable by the time Portland rolls around. Last fall I wanted so badly to break 30 before winter, and that didn't happen. So now it's nice to know that on any given day I could go out and do that fairly comfortably. Who would've though that hard work would actually...work.

Evening: Swim @ the pond, 2k

Nice and relaxed, focused on getting the most out of each stroke.

Late Morning: Run 90' w/ 4xmile

Legs felt a bit sluggish today, probably from all this out-of-the-norm running I've made them do this week. I mapped out a one mile stretch of road in Bear Creek using Google pedometer and ran that 4 times taking a minute between each. It's most likely a bit longer than a mile, but that's ok..can't be by too much. The first and third were slightly up hill and therefore a bit slower.

1. 6:44
2. 6:24
3. 6:54
4. 6:33

It's not the fastest workout I've run, but it's fine for getting back into it.

Run there and back was 27' each way.

Late afternoon: MTB - 60'

I can't get enough of Bear Creek. Every time I am there I am so amazed by how big and wide open it is, and so close to home. After almost a year of being in there nearly everyday I am not the least bit sick of it.

Anyway, rode around in BCLP for awhile, nothing too crazy.

Update coming!

A massive update is just around the corner. I'm reworking my template and creating some graphics b/c I find the Blogger selection to be a bit boring. We're getting ready to launch bikeBounce 1.0 tomorrow so that's the top priority right now.

Morning: Swim 3600m @ the pond

2 laps, threw in some 100-stroke surges to keep it interesting.

Noon: MTB Xterra Buffalo Creek Pre-ride

Laura and I drove up to Buffalo Creek to see what's in store for us in 2 weeks. The course doesn't seem too bad. There's nothing crazy technical, and only 1 section that I know I will have to hop off in the race. There are a few tight, tricky corners that I might end up getting off for if I don't hit them just right. Overall it looks like it will be a really fun course: lots of tree cover throughout, rutted out fire roads to test the bunny hopping skills, and some pretty smooth single track. Some sections are littered with jagged rocks and many miles are spent riding on single track through forest fire devastation. Neither make the riding hard, but knowing if you fall you'll land on pointy rocks/pointy tree branches, doesn't make me want to do anything too careless.

Today I was overly cautious on the bike, and that annoys me to no end. I'd really like to ride the course at least once more and do the run course. I know there are sections that I walked through today for no reason and I really should have at least tried to ride them.

Noon: Swim - 2700m w/ DU Master's

Long course! =)

Boulder Stroke & Stride #1

3rd - 48:08 (swim 26:37, run 20:30)

Warm-up:
My theory for my struggling race swims is that I'm not warming up appropriately...or, at all. So this evening I made sure to get in the water 10 minutes before the gun and splash around a bit. Did it help? Not really, because I had to get back out, most of the way, and wait for the start. Next time I really want to try keeping most of my body under water for as long as I can before the start so it's not a shock to my lungs.

Swim:
I was determined to get out with people and actually swim hard like I practiced yesterday, but that plan flew out the window immediately. I am terrible at picking my spot on the line. No more than 2 seconds after the start, the guy next to me was swimming in front of me, perpendicularly...as in, 90 degrees from the way we're supposed to be going. By the time I climbed over him, the people I wanted to be with were cruising along without me. Drats. Tried to work it hard, but then would catch myself taking it easy and then force myself to snap out of and get to work...and then it would all happen over again. I love the 75m run on the beach between laps. It's so uncomfortable, but such a nice break from the aquatic scramble.

Run:
I nearly fell over trying to tug my flats onto my feet, but eventually got going. I immediately noticed that the sole of my shoes were all scrunched up toward the front and I briefly contemplated taking them off and re-doing it, but didn't want to waste any time. Psshh it's just a 5k after all, how uncomfortable can it be? It actually did turn out fine and I felt really good on the run. It was somewhere around tempo effort, maybe slightly faster. If someone came up I knew I still had a whole lot in me. I did manage to get a really nasty blister on each foot. Half of my right shoe is now stained red with blood. Looks pretty bad-ass.

All in all:
Happy with it, a good way to spend a Thursday evening. I want to make these races a regular thing so I can really work on my swim and getting on people.

Why does running off the swim feel so good, but running off the bike feel so bad?

Morning: Bike - 75'

Road into work via the Bear Creek and Platte River paths. There's something so satisfying about riding to work. If I could get Gulliver to sit in one of those chariots that attaches to the back, I'd do it regularly but, that's not about to happen anytime soon.

Evening:
Swim - 2000m @ the Gravel Pond
Run - 40' w/ a little tempo thrown in for a mile or so

Swam two laps of the buoys and then practiced starts with Riptide. Practicing starts was a lot of fun, even if I trailed everyone by a ways, and something that probably can't be practiced enough. After a quick transition, took off for a 30 minute run and then added on a bit with Jordan and Pete. For the first time since the marathon I felt good while running and not like an awkward beat-up mess slugging along.