Racing in the Mother Land..(NM) 7-21-11

Summer is flying by... yet again, but I can say it has  been one of the best on record so far! The training has remained constant as consecutive day #212 went off yesterday with a bike ride and a return to Hot Flow Yoga class. The ride was chill enough, but the yoga class was down right BLISS. I always leave that place feeling like a brand new person inside and out! Yesterday I went through my old training logs and it revealed I have only trained abut 15 more hours this summer then last...What the heck, last summer I was taking days off from the training and this summer I have not. Hours in general for the year are not a humongous amount different either for that matter. This is my take on it: it seems that in the years past I would take a little break then have a big training day of say 5 hours or so, now, I am consistently around 2 hours a day. When you do the math the numbers come out surprisingly close... The one thing which has happened with the consistency in everyday workouts is that people have told me I look much thinner...I say leaner...(171 and 6.5%) either way I feel pretty good and I have taken full advantage of the opportunities to train in places I wouldn't have otherwise (streets of Denver, hot springs in Ouray, and even a hotel facility...that I was not staying at). EZ training runs with Mar have been the staple of my recovery and rest days and as a result she has just signed up for her 3rd half marathon!! She has really gotten into it, enough to ask me about giving her some speed workouts so she can bring her times down:) Before it was just about finishing and having fun, but now it seems like she has gotten a bit more competitive...Awesome!




Marlene and Christine before their last half in Pagosa

 Boulder Race Report: After the Tucson race I was feeling a little pissed about my swimming! Seems like last year at the same race/distance I was able to do a 10:26 and this year it was 11:03!! WTF, if I would have done somewhere near the same time it would have been an easy win! The best I can figure is that my body composition has changed a bit and I don't float as well as I did last summer so I work a little harder now to keep proper body position where as before I didn't worry about it?? Anyways, I did get some speed sleeves from Trisports.com (to go along with my farmer john wetsuit)..straight up GEEK at the start line! I practiced with the sleeves prior to the race and they felt excellent...in the pool. Problem was that on race day the pace was faster and the sleeves immediately started slipping off my arms. At first it was one arm at a time, then both together, then just the left, then the right....no rhyme or reason it just seemed like they wanted off my arms!! I was pissed and almost left them floating in the Boulder Reservoir, but I just kept pulling them back up and sprinting forward. I would kick as hard as I could, get streamline, pull them up one at a time, then take off again...SUCKED!! After the swim it was business as usual , hammer on the bike then try to run hard and don't get passed. The bike ride was absolutely beautiful with a 16% climb at about mile 7-8 then some fast downhill followed by mild downhill (push the biggest gear you have) till about mile 20ish where the rollers are...all in all it was a fun course. The run was a simple out and back 10k on dirt roads. The return trip was faster then going out and I need to remember to push harder in that direction next year! When it was all said and done I finished 20th in the amateur division and got to see fellow Trisports.com team members Brad Hendron, Missy Kuck, and Amy Regan. On a positive note, The dude that won Deuces Wild, Cam Hill (former professional) was there. He did a 2:07, same time as in Show Low. In Show Low I was a full 14 minutes behind him! In Boulder I was only 6 minutes back. Cam raced in the Elite division and placed 5th....Nice guy by the way :)

Straight up Baller going into the swim start AKA Allen Iverson or for the new generation, LaBron...



RRRRR!!! Could have been a minute faster...EZ!!

With my first NM triathlon of the season on the horizon I have to say all systems are GO!! Until next time, be safe, God Speed, and keep the rubber side down....