Colfax Half-Marathon, May 19, 2013

I didn't really time my May events too well with St. George's 70.3 triathlon 2 weeks before a 13.1.

The Colfax Marathon and Half- happens every May in Denver's City Park, and it seems like the unofficial kick-off to run season, though every runner I currently know goes year-round. I signed up for this last fall when they were offering a super low registration fee for the first 500 people who registered, so I took advantage. I did this race in 2012 and it was a nice flat, fast course along one of Denver's original main streets. Now a haven for drugs and seediness, it still is a great way to experience a piece of Denver's historic settlement, when pioneers came upon these Rocky Mountains and...aw, forget it...crack and hookers....

Since my last three 13.1s in a row PR’d each other [1:57 - Louisville 2011; 1:55 – Colfax 2012;  1:50 – Dam Run, 2013], of which two of these courses were quite hilly, I thought I may as well try to beat that 1:50.  The Mile High Track Club were the official pacers for the entire event, both the 13.1 and the 26.2. My friends Kristian and DJ were pacing the 1:45 pacers and the next time option was 2:00. So to break 1:50, my only real option was to start with the 1:45 group, do my best to keep up, and hope for a few “buffer” minutes to still come in around 1:48-1:49. Once our corral took off, and I saw how quick an 8 min/mile was, and how fast DJ and Kristian were guiding the pack through the crowd (I was already falling behind), I honestly thought I would never keep this up.

Last year, we started by leaving the park and going east on Colfax maybe 6 miles until it turned around and headed back through some really nice neighborhoods to the finish. But this year, they reversed it, so we started out through the park, but then around mile 2, we entered the Denver Zoo, the new feature perk of this year’s 13.1 course. Cool, right?!?  Meh...  Yeah I saw a donkey, some monkeys, a bunch of pink flamingos (something I have actually never seen aside from tacky lawn decor), and that's about it.  Riveting.  But the volunteers in the zoo were mainly kids, and they had fun watching the runners and holding up clever animal signs: "Run like a lion's chasing you", I mean come on, how can you not love that!!!  This zoo mile was a tad bunched-up for the runners, and my pacers were getting farther ahead of me. I made a few zig-zags and started to catch them.

We left the zoo and started a nice consistent climb through some spectator-lined streets. By now I was right behind the pace group, now about a dozen runners working together. This was motivating enough to keep my speed up, and frankly, just seeing DJ and Kristian holding an actual “1:45” sign in front of me made it easy to turn my brain off and just run. At mile 6, our buddy Jake was waiting with homemade Mojitos in a Nalgene. We didn’t think he was serious when he told us that’s what his plan was. We decided to pass.

After a few turns, we came up on the Firehouse. I guess the intention is that a bunch of fire fighters line the inside of their firehouse garage, and as we run in and then out the other side, they cheer and glistened heroism. I think they phoned this one in, because I saw zero firefighters and some mechanics tools. Maybe they thought blaring Led Zeppelin through their sound system was a good substitute. Doesn’t matter, I respect them no matter what…but as far as"non-fire" obligations, they should stick to pancake fundraisers and parades.  And OMG those monthly calendars!!!  But I digress…

We finally ended up on actual Colfax street (who’d a thunk…) and for 2 miles we were blessed with the aromas of this blissful local habitat: fried chicken, donuts, liquor spills, and probably a dumpster fire… Our pace team was clipping along and before we knew it, we were down to the final 5k and running along beautiful 17^th Ave. The spectators numbers were growing and at mile 12 I saw one of my wife’s best friends Kristin and her daughter Caroline cheering us on! As we ran along the park perimeter and saw the finish line inside the park, I still could not believe I had kept pace. It began to sink in that 1:50 was no longer the goal, it was now 1:45.

In the final quarter mile, we were getting wonderful cheers from the crowd, and as soon as Kristian started riding his pace sign in like a horse, the crowd went wild. We crossed the finish at 1:43:20 for a new PR that only screams “1:39:59 next time!”

Some of my MHTC teammates. DJ holding the wrong pace sign.

Ironman 70.3 St. George, UT - May 4, 2013

I am not going to lie, I had huge training expectations following the St. George 70.3 to break 6 hours for this race. Finishing SG in 6:03:17, and having a good spring/summer improving my running, I said I could find 3:18 to shave off somewhere, so I was gung-ho!  But as the summer went on, life and family took over, and I never really felt as physically or mentally prepared going into Boulder this past Sunday.  I just simply did not get enough actual training days in.  I'd say during the final week, a few extra bike sessions at least got me psyched-up and calmed my nerves a bit, but in the end, I just didn't have that same 'attitude' as St. George...

That is until I decided, race day morning, to seed myself in the 34:00-36:00 minute swim corral. I did St. George in 35:05, so why not try again?? This was the 3rd non-pro wave, so I figured I'd rather try to keep up with fast swimmers than zig-zagging through a slower wave. Problem with time waves rather than age waves is that everyone swims with the same ability and it stays pretty bunched. I took some pretty good head, face, gut, and crotch shots on occasion, especially around turns 1 and 2, but we all kept our lines well enough. By turn 3 heading to shore, it was more spread out and I could tell everyone else was picking up the pace, so I went for it too, finishing in 33:35.

I of course had no idea of this swim time, but as I ran into Transition 1 and there was almost no one there (i.e., they were all still in the water), I assumed I had done good enough on the swim, relaxed a bit, and had plenty of space (sans chaos) to get ready for the bike .  This time, the socks went on without a hitch (thanks pre-roll), but the stupid arm sleeve coolers would NOT go up over wet arms. Because of this, I felt my T1 performance was pure shit...again... So I took this more-than-moderate anger and put it directly into the bike.

The bike course immediately started with rolling hills, so right away, my heart rate was all over the damn place, not to mention my breathing. I finally calmed down and settled into the first 10 miles of climbs and some good descents. It was around mile 10 that I realized my odometer, although started on time, was not reset following my last training ride, so the mileage and ride time were basically random values and I couldn't gauge anything. I started to get an idea (via bad math) how I was doing, but I just focused on my MPH reading and tried to stay above 18-19 mph which would give me a 3 hour ride time and help chip-away at those 3 minute 18 seconds.  After the hilly portion, it was basically a flat course with sections of rollers and false-flats (notorious in Boulder) between miles 25-40. And there seemed to be a constant light head wind in every direction (typical Boulder).  I stayed in my aero bar position at least 80% of the entire ride, which allowed me to clip along well-above 22-23 mph most of the time, but I still had no clue what my actual ride time was.  By the end, my gluts and hamstrings were starting to fatigue pretty fast. A flatter course means 56 miles of all pedaling with almost no downhill or coasting time to refresh or stretch out.  But I felt good.  My nutrition of Honey Stinger Gels and half a Cool Mint Clif Bar kept my blood sugar nice and controlled, and I actually felt OK rolling into T2.

My transition location was immediately in front of the bike dismount line, so I was into my run gear pretty quickly. And unlike St. George, I did NOT take a 3 minute pee break on my way out of T2, so again, I was thinking of the minutes I was gaining on my 6 hour goal.

As usual during the first 20 minutes off the bike, my whole body felt like Jello, but assumed it would pass.  It did not. It was already pretty warm outside and there was no shade...anywhere. I started cursing to myself all the reasons I hate running around the Boulder Reservoir; it really does suck! Not to mention uneven terrain and rocks the size of baseballs covering a good amount of the course. My first 6.5 mile lap seemed to take forever and my feet hurt...like joint pain. So mentally I was breaking down. I came through lap 1 and noticed the cumulative race time (from the male pro start) was 4:38-ish. Doing more bad math, I knew I had my sub-6 hours in the bag which gave me a mental boost for sure, but lap 2 was just sheer exhaustion. I tried to pick up the pace, but could not.  I even walked a helluva lot more in addition to walking every water stop. But those small 15-20 second walks kept the fatigue at bay just enough to finish strong in the final mile.  I did a negative run split and was 4 minutes slower than in St. George which was kind of disappointing.  SG's run course was sooooooo much more hilly, and it followed a much hillier bike course. So why was Boulder a harder race...???

I later found out I knocked 24 minutes off my bike time, so of course I didn't have the same steam for a solid run. I never though I'd ever break 3 hours on the bike, with my non-Tri bike and all, but today my original, 'pre-triathlon-era', endurance hobby came through and hurdled me to a 5:36:54 finish and a +27 minute PR!

So what started off as a 'blah' summer of training leading to less-than-enthusiastic race expectations, turned into the pinnacle of my triathlon experiences. As from all races, I learned a TON about what's continuing to work for me, and more importantly, what's not and needs some adjustment.

Ironman 140.6 Coeur d' Alene is next June and will be here before I know it, so January-February starts the 'real-deal' training.  Until then, I am taking some down-time to just keep a fun and healthy base with my run club, do more Rocky Mountain hill cycling with Stacey, maybe do another 14-er before summer's over, and try to get back into strength training which will be necessary for the 140.6 training. I plan to slowly build my average swim distances to 2500-2800 over the next 4 months and it's probably time I pull the trigger on that indoor bike trainer ;)

2008 - March 2013

Since I can't recall all the details of my experiences between June 2008, when I first got to Colorado, and this spring, I think I'll just list them in the best chronological order I can muster with some side notes. This is more for me so I don't forget...

2008 - registered for my very first organized Colorado bike ride! The always popular Copper Triangle in August. Nope...hit by a car while riding home from work in July. Bike wrecked, hip injured, no Copper Triangle. But I did ride the course that October since I got a jersey for registering...and the code is that you don't wear an event jersey without actually riding the course.

2009 - Iron Horse Classic. Durango to Silverton, CO (50 mile)

2009 - Elephant Rock. Castle Rock, CO (100 mile)

2009 - Tour de Cure Diabetes Ride. Boulder/Longmont, CO (100 mile)

2009 - Boulder Olympic Distance Triathlon. Boulder, CO (and this my friends was what got me into running...)

1st triathlon in the bag

2010 - Highline Canal 10k. Littleton, CO
2010 - Steamboat 10k. Steamboat Springs, CO.
2010 - Triple Bypass. Evergreen to Avon, CO (120 miles)
2010 - Mt. Evans Classic. Idaho Springs, CO (26 miles, climbs to over 14,000 feet)
2010 - Loveland Lake to Lake Olympic Distance Triathlon. Loveland, CO
2010 - Tour de Cure Diabetes Ride. Boulder/Longmont, CO  (65 mile)

2010 - Boulder Heart and Sole 13.1 (literally the next morning after the Tour de Cure ride)
2010 - Denver Rock and Roll Marathon (my first 26.2, and at the time what I swore be my last...)
2011 - Louisville 13.1. Louisville, CO (broke 2 hours)
2011 - MS150 Bike Ride. Boulder to Ft. Collins, CO
2011 - Ironman 70.3. Boulder, CO (a whole new world opens up...)

August 2011 - abdominal surgery on small intestine. 8 days holed-up at Littleton Hospital. Nurses couldn't get past the fact that my resting heart rate was in the 40s and low 50s and my blood pressure was low 100s / low 60s.  They kept checking all the wires and monitors attached to me thinking I was crashing on them. The last time I checked, those numbers were not considered a 'risk.'  Though at one point a therapist got me on my feet and my O2 saturation dropped into the 60s and my BP was like 80/40.  That felt HORRIBLE!!!!

We got pregnant in the fall of 2011 so I was done for about 9 months, not to mention that my recovery from the summer's surgery needed some attention.

2012 - MS150 Bike Ride. Boulder to Ft. Collins, CO. About 10 days before our due date...I wore one pink sock and one blue sock since he/she was a surprise! I made Stacey text me every 4 hours over the weekend to tell me she was fine and not going into labor. It drove her nuts but deep down she knew I was responsible and awesome)

July 10, 2012 - Greatest day of my life. All the rides, runs, and triathlons instantly became a distant 3rd to my wife and newborn daughter Samantha Reese.

July 2012 - EPIC Run Relay. Canyon City to Crested Butte, CO. (3 legs, totaling about 16 miles). My single greatest 'Colorado' moment came while summiting Cottonwod Pass just past 3:00am at over 12,000 feet (picture below). It was a crystal clear night and the stars and moon were intense. I could see the other runners along the switchbacks ahead and behind me with their headlamps bouncing around. A very unique experience.

Sammie and Stacey at the USA Pro Cycling Challenge Time Trial - August 2012, City Park, Denver, CO

November 2012 - joined my first run club at was once the "Boulder Running Company"  and is now "RunColorado". This is my second family and the reason running is now more than just something I have to do for triathlons.

March 2013 - The Dam Run 13.1. Centennial, CO (new PR of 1:50 and change...)

OK, now that I cleared my head of all this, the rest of these entries will hopefully be in real-time, or as close as possible.

Quick intro and pre-Colorado recap...

I guess I'll start by saying that this is my very first ever blog attempt in my entire life, well at least since blogging has been around. I decided to pull the trigger on this yesterday, May 20, 2013, when I commented on a running friend's blog after her very first half-marathon in Denver. She told me "Do it. If not to motivate and inspire others it will give you something to look back over when you are wondering how far you've come!". So this is it...this is blogging.  It's 3:45am and I have been awake since 2:00am listening to my daughter sleep-cough and wondering where and how to start... This is probably going to be 99% about running, cycling, and triathlon events I've done, with snip-its peppered in about my training for said events. I dare to call them races too often.

It all began in 2005, maybe 3-4 months after I met my soon-to-be wife Stacey in Palo Alto, CA. She had just bought her first road bike and at the time I was impressed I had an allen wrench set for my dad's hand-me-down hybrid cruiser. So in an obvious attempt to impress future wife, I bought my very first road bike. A bright yellow Felt F70.  And that's it, that's all I knew about the bike. It was bright yellow and shiny and I didn't want to scratch it...ever. And this made me proud.  That same summer we decided to do our very first registered bike ride, a 100-mile century down in Santa Cruz. Not knowing squat about how much training this really entailed, nor that an overly-massive bowl of gnocchi the night before was a bad idea, we both barely finished. But afterwards, I knew there was no end in sight and eventually Stacey would go on to say she "created a monster."

For 3 more years, we toured the roads and mountains around San Jose, San Gregorio, Berkeley, Milpitas, Santa Cruz, Half Moon Bay, and Woodside. We even took some trips to ride in Sonoma wine country and down to Las Vegas. I got about 10 or so organized rides and fundraisers over those 3 years...centuries, half-centuries, metric centuries...but mainly just enjoying time with Stacey.    

I made a few attempts at running while living in California, but it never stuck and I really didn't care. In late 2007, after being married for just over a year, Stacey came home and said she had a transfer option to Denver. I responded quite succinctly: "if you say yes, I say yes", and we were off. We miss Palo Alto and San Francisco, but Colorado grabbed me the second I rolled in and these mountains will hopefully keep us here. Because what Stacey didn't realize 8 years ago when she "created a monster" was that it would eventually get worse...I say better...