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May already? damn. Only 4 more months until IMCanada. Time to start logging some long miles. After a few days off this past week I decided to head up the big Hill Saturday and put in 5′40″ and 7k of climbing over Peak to Peak Highway. The forecast was ugly: high chance of rain and the clouds were in full force over the Rockies. Seemed like a good time to test out the new GoLite rain jacket I bought a couple weeks ago. I have had many techy jackets over the years, but this one is very nice (unfortunately, I see they no longer offer it). I encountered a lot of rain up at 9,000 feet but never felt any of it so I slipped the Garmin into the clear wrist viewport of the sleeve and decided to keep on going. A few miles down the road there was zero rain. However, there was enough fog heading down to Boulder from Nederland to make it quite spooky. It was a good ride, and a great opportunity to re-learn how to sufficiently fuel myself over long distance and time. I don’t think I will ever let the threat of light rain stop me from heading out on a ride now. I saw the Bear in the image outside of Raymond.

Yesterday I went out early on the bike and unofficially rode the Rabbit Mtn. TT course which is just a few miles from my house and one of my favorite ride loops (I didn’t see any point paying an entry fee for timing services and a results listing I am not interested in. Love to support the events that keep us all going, just not $25 worth for less than 20′ of riding and my play money is well distributed elsewhere). Then I watched a few friends mash their way up the hill at the end. Its always fun to watch someone else work their ass off while I get to sit on the sidelines and bark at them.

Later in the day Christy and I got the rare opportunity to do a long run together (thanks Grandma!). It was one of the few times we get to have a long talk un-interrupted by “Mommy!, Daddy!” or when we are both more than semi-conscious.

This morning I carted my blurry-eyed self to the pool at 5-something AM, got the suit on, staggered across the pool deck, swam for an hour with the Master’s group, walked back across the pool deck, got in the shower, took the suit off and saw this. Hopefully it happened in the take-off process and not much earlier . These suits don’t seem to last very long. Any recommendations for a new suit? anyone but BJ, I mean, he has funny taste.

The suit hits the bin along with the Asics 2130 running shoes that ran their last mile this weekend and a pair of Schwalbe tires that had run out of rubber and developed a penchant for providing me flat tires. That is ~$225 retail dollars in equipment in the last week that had a life span of only a few months. Costly hobby…

Last time I wrote about how it had been a long time since I actually got to see where I was at by participating in a race. Over four days last week I participated in four different events, with mixed results.

Thursday morning I started the fun with the usual long run routine. After work I participated in an informal 10K timed bike Time Trial and finished very well and 2′ better than my best time last year on about the same course. Friday I took off to recover from the accumulated efforts of the previous week and prepare for the weekend. Saturday I ran my second ever 5K race at Lake Macintosh.

I proved once again that I am not so good at the pacing strategy. [Pacing? it’s only 5k, how hard could it be? Well, I was reminded that the answer to that question is: muy difícil. I think I would rather run 10 miles at a reasonably uncomfortable pace than 3.1 at a very uncomfortable pace.] I completed the first mile in 5:40, which is about as fast as I am capable of running. That I was running on a gravel trail with my cycling knee warmers falling down to my knees and made several attempts to pull them up while running before finally succeeding made it muy interesting. I managed to finish with a 6:04 average, well behind the first 3 horses I was chasing, but my first ever AG first placing. Next time I’ll ensure I warm up run more than 200 yards and test the equipment. Results.

Sunday was the Haystack Time Trial and whatever ego I had developed was quickly deflated in a big way. My ride was extremely windy, I was cold, my cadence felt all wrong, my hamstrings were barkin’, couldn’t get my heart rate up and just wasn’t feeling it (no more complaints). Still I was doing ok, passed my 30″ man within 10′ and was chugging along at 30′ when my -90″ man cruised past me leaving me feeling quite slow. Damn. I finished 8/15 in my group; 1 minute faster than last year, although this year was a bit shorter but much windier - so, I’ll call it a wash. The good news is I used the borrowed PowerTap to collect some data and I got some experience keeping-on-going-hard on tired legs, which is a big deposit into the IMCanada bank and the most important part of all this. Results.

I pedaled home in the cold and rested for a couple hours before suiting back up and doing it again in the Team Time Trial. I felt like I had nothing to give but it is much easier when you are only On for 15-20″ at a time. We finished in a decent time, but that just might be the most fun one can have on a bike: hauling ass at 25-40+ mph inches away from each other pedaling in a smooth line .

Time to take it easy for a couple days before starting at it again…

Yesterday I did my long run in the morning and in the afternoon participated in a an informal 6 mile TT with the BTC on HW36 in Boulder. 15 minutes of hard pedaling in the wind left my throat feeling like I had just smoked a carton of cigarettes. It was a fun time, lots of fast-folk and perfect weather. I am happy with how it went; feels good to blow it all out once in a while. I was playing with a borrowed PowerTap wheel for the first time (thanks, Mike). Probably not such a good idea to use one of these for the first time and be starring at the little yellow screen while on the clock, in the wind, moving at 35+ mph downhill with trucks hauling past on the highway 5 feet away. Anyway, I now have some data to geek out with and will have more from the TTs on Sunday.
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I took a much needed day off this morning. No alarm clock waking me up at 5am. Instead I rose to sounds coming through the heating vents from the basement two floors below: JB kicking ass in Quantum of Solace and the whirling of a bike doing intervals on a trainer. Christy has been on quite a tear the last few weeks eagerly preparing for the Mooseman Triathlon in just 6 weeks. It takes place on the lake she grew up on in New Hampshire, so I think she feels some added incentive to do well - sort of like dieting before your HS reunion, I suppose. She is doing great and surely will have a good time in NH. Now that the weather has started to be consistently nice, she has broken out the full Skirt wardrobe (my new fav) to torture me with…

You probably have already seen this since he posted it on his Twitter feed:

If not, it’s worth watching…