Westword Adventure

It's 3AM Monday morning.  I have 4 hours to be at work and I'm laying reclined in the drivers seat of my truck stuck in Rawlins, Wyoming.  My truck is shaking constantly by the wind, and I could only imagine how bad it would be if the 40 or so semi trucks around me weren't helping shield it.  I had been lying here for an hour now, listing to the suggested weather info radio station, unable to sleep thanks to the coffee I had been drinking since Salt Lake.  This trip had gone full circle, both literally and physically.  It had begun in about the same way.

St John's and Gonzaga warming up

Getting There

I began my marathon (no pun intended) of activity at 4 of the first round games of the NCAA tournament.  They were being held at the Pepsi Center in Denver, on what happened to also be St Patrick's day.  This combo was hard to pass up, even though this would keep me in Denver until at least 10PM on Thursday - the race was Saturday morning.  And thus started  the first event that would start a chain of unplanned adventures in the Southwest. 

It had started to lightly snow when I got out of the arena, and by the time I was heading west on I-70  into the mountains it was a full fledged blizzard.  I had planned to make it as far as possible to break up the drive from Denver to Lake Havasu City, Arizona.  All I could do was fallow the tail lights of the vehicles in front of me.  I made it to Georgetown before they closed the road, and was forced to spend the night only about 30 miles west of Denver.  This would mean I would have to drive the 900 miles the day before the race to make it to the start on time.

Snowed in at Georgetown

I left Georgetown a little after 9AM on Friday.   Driving west I figured the biggest obstacles in my way were potential weather across the two mountain ranges that lay ahead of me, and the Vegas rush hour, oh and cops.  There are plenty of cops on this drive.  I had been on this drive before, it was the last portion of the US interstate system to be completed and offers amazing views of Glenwood Canyon and the Canyon Lands in Utah.  I unfortunately had no time to fully appreciate it.  Look out Havasu, I'm coming for ya.

Lucking out on weather, traffic, and police, I made it to Lake Havasu City just before midnight.  Neglecting to reserve a room was a major error on my part.  It was the the height of spring break, thousands of college kids filled the rooms, I should have known better.  But, after searching for an hour, St Patrick's luck finally came.  The room happend to be no more then 200 yards from the transition area and start of the race!  As usual, I wasn't the least bit tired, it being the night before the race and all (pre-races anxiety).  I ran 4 miles of the course and found a pizza place that had pasta- by far the healthiest race food one could find.  There weren't too many college drunks at the joint ether - bonus!

The Race

The transition area

 

6AM Saturday came expectedly fast.  After picking up my race packet and getting everything situated I was ready to warm up.  The water was fairly cold, what you would expect that time of year since it was mostly fresh snow runoff that filled the lake.  Half the race field was made up of collegiate racers.  The teams use this race as their conference championships.  It's always fun to beat someone in a schools uniform, this condition is no doubtingly left over from my collegiate running.  The collegiate wave left about 10 minutes in front of my 25-29 age group wave, but that made it no less crowded.  The horn blew and we were off!

London Bridge - swim course turn around

The swim course was essentially and out and back with a few extra turns built in.  Leading you down the canal and turning before you get to the London Bridge, they timed it just right so that the sun would be coming up over the horizon at the exact direction we were swimming, making sighting the buoys more of a chore then the swim itself.  I paced my way around the u-turn buoy (technical term) and headed back down the canal to the transition area.  It got a little violent on the final turn in to shore, but I managed to paddle through and up onto the beach, unscathed besides a few bumps and bruises.
After running on what felt like nail infused sand I was greeted by my gear in the transition area, I through on my helmet, grabbed my bike, and took off running towards the bike mount.  Now usually this mounting line would be at the point where you exit the transition area. Well not in Havasu. They made us run about 150 yards over crummy pavement that had to have been laid 5 decades ago that also felt like it was covered in nails!  Unfortunately this feet torture would not be the last of the race.

Once on the bike I immediately began chasing down the competition.  It was satisfying passing one BYU racer after another, satisfying some vendetta I had after sitting through 40 plus minutes of Jimmer Fredette cheers...  The first part of the course was fairly flat, until you got to a residential neighborhood of single family ranch homes built on one big hill side.  Charging my 150 pound body plus bike wight up the still relatively packed race coarse proved quite easy.  I ended up passing about 20 or so riders by the time I crested the top.  Going downhill on the curvy streets was more difficult, it was all I could do to not let some of the heavier riders pass me up.

Once out of the neighborhood debacle we were back on the main shoreline drive.  The lake views were pretty amazing, but I had no time to take them in.  The hwy took us to the gateway of Lake Havasu City where we were required to make a 180 degrees u-turn and head back to transition.  But there was one more obstacle in my way.  The course took us west back towards the lake, sending us down a hill into a fairly well groomed trailer park Nicknamed 'The Gauntlet'!  Once in we took a sharp right, then left turn, and up what feels like the beginning of a roller coaster.  Once at the top you are treated to a great view of the ride you are about to embark on.  A drop of approximately 150 feet and then a climb right back up in less then half a mile.  Followed by another 100 foot drop.  You then get to turn left, head a block south. and do it again.

'The Gauntlet'  -picture doesn't give it justice

The second time around wasn't as smooth.  There was a bit of a rivalry that had formed between me and another rider, and though I knew I would undoubtedly crush him in the run, I couldn't resist beating him out of the gauntlet.  Unfortunately when I shifted in to a higher gear heading down hill I my chain decided to come off... I was forced to stop, and watch the prima donna ride away.

After a 30 or so second delay, I had my bike in working order, and was back in transition in no time.  Leaving my shoes on, I dismounted from my bike, and sprinted over the crumbling pavement back into transition and into the run.  Fighting through the first quarter mile in thick sand I quickly hit my stride.  At this time the three collegiate leaders all CU guys flew past me.  I had to remember they had a ten minute head start, but it certainly exposed my lack of Olympic distance triathlon training.  Mile after mile I was passing person after person, holding on to a steady 6 minute pace for the four miles.  By the turn around point, my feet were stinging with regret of not wear socks once again.  The last two miles became more about finishing fast so as to stop the pain rather then getting a good time.  Over London Bridge, and down the pier, I in typical fashion, gave all I had.  At the end no one passed me on the run, though it was close.

Lake Havasu International Distance Triathlon - 2:27:35 good enough for 27th place, and 3rd in age group.
With splits of:
28:06 Swim - 1500 Meters
1:16:10 Bike - 40k (24.8 miles)
41:05 Run - 10k (6.2 miles)

Post Race

Following the race, I met up with with some guys from the CSU you triathlon team I had trained with back in Fort Collins and was invited back to there camp.  When I got there, I realized I had gone about this all wrong.  The collegiate teams all had their beach camps set up and were out ready to party. Next year I will defiantly bring a tent.  We hung out by the bond fire and made friends with the Snowbirds just down the beach at their make shift beach bar; complete with a fridge, stereo, and beer pong table!   It definably made for an unforgettable night.

The next day I was up and checked out by 8.  I had planned to take a couple more days off, and take advantage of my proximity to the ocean.  6 hours later (2 of it stuck in traffic) I arrived in Santa Monica; right in the middle of the LA marathon - and what seemed to be a hurricane! -or is it a typhoon in the Pacific?  I found a quint motel in the old part of town for a cheap price that was only a 10 minute run to the beach.  Unfortunately the storm hindered my ability to spend a relaxing rest of the day lounging in the sun, but it didn't stop my dog Abdi and I from getting in a beach run.

That night I found a good sports bar and watch the local Lakers beat up on another weaker team as usual.  Chatting it up with the locals I thought to my self "I could definitely live here", just in time to be informed a two room apartments go for 2000 a month here... Oh well, may the price will go down when it falls into the ocean.  The next day brought clear skies and a rare occurrence in LA, clean air.  I was advised that Runyon Park was the running hotspot in the area.  It took a few loops to get in 13 miles, but it was doable; plus it's a off leach area, which if you run with my dog, it's always better to have him off leash.  It was on my third to last loop that my phone died, and thus my camera.  It was my luck that at that point my dog found a playmate at the top of one of the hills, despite my pleas he kept running around with this other dog, I then heard the dogs owner say "Chev, you gotta see this" and wouldn't you know it was Chevy Chase.  He was a bit aged, but still had his distinctive voice we all remember from SNL and the Family Vacation movies. We chatted a bit about how his dog was so much older then mine yet could still keep up with him (despite my dog had just run 10 miles, I withheld that comment).  After talking for a bit and satisfied I had met at least one celebrity while I was out here I headed back to the car.  I followed up the run with a LONG walk of fame (not really worth it) and took off on the 16 hour dive back.

After staying the night in Vegas I took off without spending a dime besides the 30$ steal hotel room.  I was able to fit in a drive of the St George Ironman course to see just how hilly it was, and to get a good idea of the terrain I should be training on.  Result - very hilly and mountains...  OK, maybe not mountains, but foothills none the less with at least 3 big climbs and and plenty of long gradual ones.  I then decided I would try and miss a impending storm and go up through Salt Lake City and I-80 to get home.

And that's how I got stuck at a truck stop in the middle of Wyoming.  4 hours later I was home, and able to sleep a full hour before work.  Gotta love that first day back after vacation!

Fast Forward

I'm now laying here in St George, the night before my second Ironman, and second attempt at qualifying for the Ironman World Championships.  It looks to be a hot one, with a high of 90 and full sun.  The coarse is gorgeous.  Red cliffs everywhere you look, it's almost enough to detract me from the pain it will be inflicting on me over the 140.6 mile race.  Everything ready, the only thing left to do is relax and try and get some rest.

I met the Iceman in North Dakota

A bit late on this post: work, training and life have been bogging me down lately...
Anyhow - In late February I headed off northeast into what was the last direction I had yet to venture.  The drive takes you through a tour of landscapes that seem to change by state.  Prairie in Wyoming, to jagged limestone mountains in South Dakota, and soon after you cross the state line you are greeted by the snowy windsweped fields of North Dakota.  My destination for the week - Minot, ND. Less then an hour south of Canada and Home to Minot A.F.B., plus a helluva lot of newly tapped oil!

Minot reminded me a lot of my alma mater's College town of Greeley.  It was fairly flat except for a couple large hills leading down to the river, broad city arterials with fast food restaurants on ether side, and a 'project in the making' downtown.  I had ventured up here with Brianna and her Mom Kim.  Bri had been hired by the hospital in Minot as a RN and was moving up to live with her Grandma and Aunt.  I figured it sounded like a great excuse for me to have adventure into a part of our country I had yet to set foot in.

Triathlon training proved doable but difficult in this brutal winter climate.  The temperature ranged from 20 degrees to -10.  Props to anyone (Bri) who can keep consistent training in this weather!  My runs were mostly done outside with little to no exposed skin, and with the help of Yak Trax you could keep relatively good footing.  Biking was done on the trainer indoors, not much to do about that when there's consistently ice on the ground.  I was able to get a couple miles done on top of the frozen snow in a field with my mountain bike.  If you get a chance to go icebiking I would say go for it, does a wonder for you're handling skills!  Swimming was the same as always, just in a different building...  The Minot Swim Club was gracious enough to let me drop in their swim practice at Minot High School.  They also thought me breast and butterfly strokes-not too beneficial to Ironman swimming, but it's good to mix it up sometimes.

Dash at the start of The Iceman

The pinnacle of my athletic experience during this trip was at the Iceman Winter Triathlon in Grand Forks, North Dakota.  It started on a sunny, clear, -7 degree morning.  The snow was frozen and hard as a rock - as you would expect up here.  We started the race with an unusual run down a sledding hill, around a tree, and back up the hill into the transition area.  After fumbling with my XC skis I set off down the park's ski trail.  The first couple miles were spent jockeying for position and settling into place, only then you can begin hitting stride.  The course took us through a flat park area, across the street and over the snow plow piles, where if you're not careful you'll liable to fall flat on your back as I did.  We then skied down the dike into the river valley, and then the river bed where we used a makeshift snowmobile trail to navigate the cottonwoods and tall grasses.  Once out of the woods (so to speak) we skied back up the hill across the street and into the transition area.

Arriving to transition after the bike

Thanking God the skiing portion was over, and it was onto the mountain bike.  The temperature had climbed to -4 by this point.  But it did little to solve the problem of my ski goggles fogging up and then freezing, leaving me with little to no visibility.  I was ether that or face the cold with no eye cover.  I decided to keep the goggles on until I hit the turn around point and could go with the wind.  I was able to navigate the half frozen bike trail with only a few close calls.  The hardest part was seeing the barricades and detour routes they had set up due to the ice being to bad to bike on on parts of the bike trail.  I finally made it to the turnaround bridge that brought me my first time in Minnesota, and off the icy pavement to the off road section.  I sucked it up and braced the cold on my eyes and face so I could be able to see the snowmobile trail we were being directed down.  By this time we were strung out by enough so that I felt like I was completely alone out there.  Finally we came back into the transition area.  Still wondering how I had made it back with all my bones intact I jumped off my bike and headed out on the run.

Heading out on the run

The run started off with a sadistic climb up a 30' snowplow pile that was more ice then snow.  After tumbling down the pile I had a good view down the course spotting at least 10 racers I felt I could take down before the end of the race.  I took off along the dike once again hoping my Yak Trax would be able to grip the cold ice-snow.  I was able to catch three racers before we flew down into the riverbed again.  The course took us across the river (this year it was over a bridge and not the ice in which I found lame) and back into Minnesota where the route took us through a frozen marsh complete with thick grass and uneven terrain - a perfect recipe for twisted ankles.  I made it out of the marsh, and passed four more before crossing back into North Dakota.  It was then back up the dike wall catching two more, and slipping and sliding the whole way.  I caught the last guy I had my sights on with a quarter mile to go before returning to the transition area for the third and final time.

Now in most triathlons the race ends after only three legs, but the Iceman does things differently.  In the most unpleasant fashion you have sled down a 100' hill, run out around a cone, and back to the top, three times!  To make matters worse, the sleds were those crappy cheap plastic ones you find at the grocery store for 5$.  I never thought sledding could be so painful; and NOT fun.  Tired and hurting from running on the hard snow, I knelt on the sled and went for it.  The icy snow was far from smooth, and felt like a doctor checking your reaction with a hard hammer over an over again.  The second time down they thought it would be fun to put in a jump.  At this time I had spun around backward, launching off the jump and then biffing the landing.  Slowly getting up I see the guy whom I had passed on the last part of the run was starting down the second sled run.  I ran down the rest of the hill and around the cone, and back up for my last sled run down.  After a third painful slide,  I rounded the last cone, he was only 20' back now and it was a mad sprint up the hill to the finish.  Using the last bit of energy I had left after almost two hours of racing I finish just ahead of him with seconds to spare.

Grabbing my crappy plastic sled

Sliding down... backwards

I had completed the Iceman in 11th place - 1:41:06 with splits of:
34:20 XC Ski - 3.5 miles
1:15:08 Bike - 7 miles
23:18 Run - 3.1 miles
+Transition and Sledding time...

At the finish

Afterword we went to the Bluemoose tavern to try and replenish calories before the trip back to Minot, and then to Colorado the next day.  It was a interesting trip to say the least, it seems like it would be a lot nicer in the summer, but an experience none-the-less in the winter!  Next up is the Lake Havasu Triathlon in march, I will get that 'experience' down on here soon.  It will make for a good read...

Sunrise just south of Minot on my drive home

Driving home through the western North Dakota canyons

One Month In

One month down, three to go:  Time seems to be flying by faster then I intended this training season, and the weather hasn't helped.  One day it's -10, the next it is 60.  Welcome to spring in Colorado!  The weather was an expected hurdle.  You've got to be flexible with your training, able to move from outdoors to indoors at a drop of a weather forecast.  The weather has had an interesting effect on my motivation, on one hand, I feel like the toughest man alive riding in sub-freezing temps, knowing it's just me and my machine against nature.  On the other, the last thing you want to do is get sick, and the cold does a number on your immune system. Another expected hurdle I've been faced with is my schedule.  Work has precedence over training (keeping my job is of course the top priority).  I did manage to change my work hours to allow me a 1-1/2 hour lunch so that I'm not left training in the dark.  My last priority is my social life.  It has taken a pretty hard hit so far. I've found myself seeing people outside of work and home has dwindled to about once a week.  Excessive beer drinking and late nights aren't really conducive to training, and the longer I can hold those nights off is for the better.  It's a matter of keeping my eye on the prize.

Sunsetting over the Rockies - January Biking in Fort Collins

As far as actual training goes, the last 4 weeks I've slowly been raising my workout consistency and intensity.  Less days off, and more hours training is a pool best eased into. As I mentioned above, my time training is slowly increasing, thanks mostly to longer runs, rides, and joining a masters swim team - i.e. a local off season high school swim team, more on that later.

I've also spent a great deal of time constructing my training plan.  Thanks to my parents and the list of Triathlon books I asked for for Christmas, I've learned a ton of new information and techniques about how to train.  This season will be filled with a bunch of new-to-me training methods.  Combining knowledge from my past seasons with my newly acquired book knowledge should make for an interesting year.  The key is to stick to the plan now that I have it written out.  As lance says -"it's simple, just do what's on the paper".

Abdi running on the Ski trails-Happy Jack, Wyoming

Cross-country skiing has probably been the most exciting part of my training so far.  It reminds me of downhill skiing, but without the crouds, or commercialism.  Not to sound too hippie-ish, but when it's just you, and the back woods of nature, it truly is amazing.  There's a calm and peaceful feeling that embraces you when you're out there in the dead of winter... It really is like a whole other world.  It's also challenging.  XC skiing is much better workout then slope skiing.  You're at 9000+ft in elevation, constantly pushing yourself uphill with only a minor break when you get a 20ft drop.  It really does a good job at simulating the aerobic patters to cycling in the mountains.  I can see why the highest ever recorded VO2 max was by an XC skier!

But the biggest challenge in my training so far hasn't been on ski's or the bike, but in a pool - with a group of high schoolers.  I finally made the plunge (no pun intended) to join the masters group at my local pool.  My first thoughts on this were, 'OK, a few older guys working out with a team, probably along side younger kids, but the whole thing is most likely a support group for swimmers' - I was wrong.  What it really is (or at least the one joined) is a bunch of high school swimmers training to get ready for their upcoming season.  I was essentially thrown into varsity swim team practice in the last part of their training season.  After the first day I had swam more then 4000 meters of intervals and drills, three times what I had been doing the previous two weeks!  Let's just say I didn't think I could get that sore from swimming.

I am greatful for these challenges.  I have come to believe a big part of burning out is being bored with your training.  And training on your own can get boring fast!  I would kill to have a the solid structure of a team again.  Even though swimming has gotten much tougher, swimming with this group has made it so much more enjoyable.  Not to mention how fast it's getting me in shape!

Looking ahead - My training will enter another dimension when I head north with my girlfriend Brianna to North Dakota.  At least it will be constant weather up there - cold.  I plan on making use of the trip by racing my first race since my Ironman and of th season. The race is called The Iceman Winter Triathlon.  It consists of 4 miles of XC skiing, 7 miles of mountain biking in the snow, and a 3 mile run.  It takes place at Lincoln Park in Grand Forks - ring any bells Monk family?  All in all, the week leading up to the race will essentially be my training camp for the year, I look foreword to getting some good quality winter training done while I'm off work for the week!  Always a good thing.  Here's to new adventures!

Cross-county Skiing near Cameron Pass west of Fort Collins

Here's to 2011, and a new training season

2011: Just like the fireworks I was under at midnight, this year will start off with a bang.  The backbone of my racing schedule is set, I am reading training books 3+ hours a day, and the base train is has let off it's first roaring blast as it pulls out of the station.

For whatever reason my completion of Ironman Arizona failed to extinguish my fire for triathlons.  In the months leading up to IMAZ, I felt burned out. Training had become a chore, and I thinking afterworld I would go back to running.  But sometime during the race, when I was stomping on the peddles into 40+ mph wind, I realized I was actually enjoying this!  Maybe it was because I was eating people up on the bike due to a late exit from the water, or maybe it was the fact I was 30 minutes behind my goal time already - relieving the pressure I had put on my self to break 9:40. Or maybe it was the caffeine/sugar high from the cappuccino flavored Gu they were handing out on the course?  Whatever it was, I was actually having fun!



That spark reignited a flame I though was barley smoldering.  I felt enthusiastic about the sport again. That, with the knowledge that came from finishing an Ironman, I was ready to give it another go!  Enter Ironman St. George. A race where the terrain is a bit more familiar, there are less loops in the coarse; and, God willing, at most half of the wind I dealt with in Arizona!  IMSG is the seconded newest of the Ironman triathlons.  It is considered to be the hardest name-brand Ironman of the current 16.  It took the winner of the m25-29 age group (my knew age group) over 40 minutes longer then winner of the same age group in IMAZ.  This is most likely due to the 53 degree lake swim, 10,000ft of climbing on the bike, and 3,000ft of climbing on the run; both of the latter suit my strengths.  That in mind, I will have to overcome winter training in Colorado, try not to lose motivation like I did last fall, and try to minimalize the affect it has on my work/(what is left of my)social life. These problems will be addressed in my training plan (currently under construction).

So my quest for Kona continues.  There are four qualifying slots with fourth place finishing in 10:35:36 in 2010.  As of now, I figure with the right training I can be closer to 10:20.  Two known issue I will have to address is the need to drop 10+ minutes off my swim, and finding a way to achieve a competitive speed going down hill on the bike.  It is shaping up to be a winter full of trainer rides, yak tracks, and pool time - with some snow shoeing and XC skiing sprinkled in.

I'm just hoping Punxsutawney Phil is greeted by a cloudy day.