A fine line we walk/run

It’s been a good week of moderate workouts since Wildflower. Saturday was crazy working at Bicycle Village during the “Tent Sale”, fun to work with Scott and AJ however. Sunday was a perfect Colorado Day. Temps in the mid 80’s with some slight winds.

Sunday was a long ride out in Boulder and Estes Park at a moderate pace. Of course moderate means “push it” once in a while. Nothing crazy as I’m still keeping an eye on the hamstring, which by the way has seemed to heal quite nicely thanks to my Chiro Dr. Terry.

The title of the blog “A fine line”, we all know it and we all walk it too. We all try to push the limits while training and just living life. Thinking that riding our bike on a 28 degree day up Lookout Mountain is a good idea while the sun is out. Great ride on the way up while you burn up and sweat. The ride down is a different story. Flying down icy snow covered roads at 30+ mph all while your fingers turn into ice-pops, pretty much is the Wrong side of the “line”. While all of my training I feel has been spot on, I have tested myself and pushed a little harder somedays and backed off on the days I’m not feeling so 100%. So I’ve been listening to my body and that is good. Today I listened to my body, and followed the training plan. What I did NOT listen to was the weather forecast. A planned 50 minute run, no problem. Thunderclouds in the boulder area on the drive home, no worries, I’m headed home. Storm clouds in the Denver metro area, not to threatening.

Off to Wash-park for the run. One lap in and I’m feeling fleet a foot, fresh and pick up the pace a little. As I start on the back stretch of the park, the clouds turn jet black, the winds pick up with insane gust of 20+ mph. I keep on running listening to my Ipod. Great song, can’t stop now! The rain starts and the winds are steady, nothing like running in the rain. The rain started nice and easy, as people in the park and trail scattered like ants from one picnic to the next, I just kept on running thinking that it wasn’t that bad. Well I was the one who was wrong. The rain picked up and I picked up the pace to finish my second lap, or that was the thought. Half way through the rain turned to hail and heavy winds. It was stupid outside and I was running? Why? I was stuck in the middle of nowhere with about a mile to my car. The lighting was illuminating the dark sky while the hail fell feverishly. I tried to run in the hail for a little while it was still the size of peas. Then it started to hurt and sting as they increased to the size of grapes. So I took cover under a tree. Not much relief there. I was cold, wet, and being pinged by hail. While under the tree a couple joined me for a brief moment to seek shelter from the storm..ha ha. They where kind enough to offer me shelter in their car just 20 yards away. With that offer came a ride to my car too. What a life saver they were. If it wasn’t for Nate and Jessica, I’d be under a tree still shivering like a falling leave. So thanks to the kindness of strangers who share the same passion and stupidity of running in a thunderstorm!

Next time I’ll be sure to not only listen to my body while training but also the weather man, even thought they correct 90% of the time about being wrong 50% of the time.

Wildflower Recap

(Erin Kummer, Myself and Tim Hola)

Well the trip to Wildflower was a good time. I went out there to have fun and work on a few things, such as nutrition, the swim and bike and just enjoy the run as if it was a long training run with friends.

Leading up to the race it was great to see friends from Zoot, PowerBar, Laura and Colleen from Cal Tri and Grady from Clif Bar. Thursday was pretty much arrival day, re-building my bike and getting settled. Billy and Erin where in the crew and it was lots of laugh from the moment we sent food shopping.

I can say that camping is part of the tradition at Wildflower and I was spoiled sleeping in the RV the last couple years. I wish I took Andy and Justin up on their offer to sleep in the RV too. Oh well, I wanted to be like the majority of racers and tent it out. Erin who talked me into camping bunked out and took Billy Edwards (pro friend) up on the offer to take a spare bed at the house he was at.

Friday was a day of easy workouts, a photo-shoot for Blueseventy and their Timex/Helix wetsuit. Tim and Erin did a great job of not laughing or smiling to much like they did at Team Camp in April..Thanks ya’ll.

AJ and Billy (Colorado Boys)

To say that I didn’t sleep much is true. I think that I may have only gotten 4 hours of sleep, not great the night before a race. It was great to know that it happens to others and people I respect and look-up too as athletes and people. Tim Hola was kind enough to let me know that he too has butterflies the night before races and that it’s a good thing. I can say that getting to know Tim over the weekend was fun and seeing the other side of people is great. If no-one knows Tim, I can say that he is one of the best Top elite age group triathlons out there. If anyone can have a mentor in the sport, Tim should be on everyone’s list. So thanks Tim for the support and advice. Wish you the best in the rest of you season and see you around Denver.

OK, Race day and it’s time to space out, get my head in order and ready to race. I was looking forward to the swim, especially in my Zenith Zoot Suit. Once the horn sounded, I dashed to the front of the line knowing I could hang and create some distance. The first leg of the swim was awesome. I was seeing different colored caps from waves 10min prior to mine. I was in good form. Then we hit the turn buoy and the winds created some nasty choppy water that wasn’t so fun to swim in. I can say that all those years of being the family dingy getting the boats in Sebago Lake back in Maine came in handy swimming in the chop. I kept up my form even though I slowed a little in the waves.

(Swim images, and may do I make the Zenith look good in the water..hope you like it Karen)

The bike ride was a good test and hilly course. The 20mph headwinds did a number on a lot of racers. Times where slow across the board and I wasn’t too happy with how I rode. I realized after the race that in my spaced out mind, I had laced a 9 speed cassette on the race wheel and NOT my 10 speed... Damn it that is why Nasty grade was so flipping hard. Again a good test and learning experience to take away. Make sure I double check my crap before I leave!
(The start of the bike leg)

The run started out good. I felt comfortable after a minor adjustment with my race shoe. I did take off a little to fast for only being on a “long run with friends”. I dialed it back a little and found a good comfort zone at 8min/mile. Then the hills on the run kicked in and I took it easy and pushed a few when I saw a few guys in my age group pass me. Probably not the best idea as I felt a slight pull on my left hamstring. I didn’t think much of it and ran through it. Around mile four with a large steady climb, I tried to pick up the pace again when I felt a pull on my left hamstring this time. One so hard and tight that I had to stop and massage it for a second. I stretched it and tried to run again. My hamstring wasn’t going to have any part of that. At the aid station I asked for some medical hoping to wrap the leg and keep on running easy. No luck. I was told that if Medical came to me, I’d be DQ. So I chose to make the run a mental test and gut it out. I took the Jeff Galloway program of Running/walking into full effect for the last nine miles of the run. To say it was painful is an understatement. I am happy that I did gut it out and finish the race even if it was as slow as possible.

(the finish of a very long day, but a positive one, for what I found in it)

Over all it was a fun weekend, seeing old friends, meeting new ones and catching up overall. I want to give a big shout out to Tim and Erin for having an awesome race both winning their age groups and making Team Timex standout.

Thanks for reading and keep checking in as I’m only 45 days away from my Ironman Race. To say that out loud is a little crazy. Only seems like yesterday that I had signed up. Cheers.

Andy thanks for taking the race day photos for me mate, see you at IM-CDA!

3 days until Wildflower :)

I’ve been making my packing list and checking it twice. I don’t think I’ve forgotten anything. Oh wait, I need to take my bike... Now that would be very funny, only for an instance.

It’s the day prior to departure for Wildflower and I can’t wait. I think I have everything I need all while trying to pack light since we’re camping! I must say that the Zoot Tri Bag is the only way to travel. I have all my race gear, in the backpack and then sum. When I say ALL my race gear I mean all my race gear, minus my bike of course. The built in check list actually comes in handy too. It mentions sunscreen which I left off my personal list. I need sunscreen for sure. I just received some new goggles from Ben Bigglestone at BlueSeventy. You should check them out as they are some of the most comfortable goggles I’ve tried in 4 years. Looking forward to wearing them on race day.

With hardly any cell phone service at Wildflower and no computer (a nice break) I’ll send a race recap on Monday most likely. My goal is to have fun, work on nutrition, pace on the bike/run portions and to monitor my Sport Hernia. Luckily it has not flared up as of late, so all is promising. But after Ironman in June it’s going to need to be repaired. So we’re keeping an eye on it this race.

Have a great rest of the week and weekend. Thanks for reading and the support!

Cheers,