Triathlon!

Today I competed in the Boulder Peak Triathlon. It was a weird, wet, humid day but the skies cleared enough for us not to be rained on during the race. This course was harder than the one I did last year, as the cycling portion went up over Olde Stage road (900' over 2 miles; steepest section was 600' in 2/3 of a mile or 15% grade).

I finished in 3:07:06---9:30 faster than last year, despite the much more challenging bike ride. I'm very happy, but very tired :-)

Triathlon Training

Last week of tough training done! Now it's time to taper. Woo hoo!

Bike: 78 miles
Run: 17 miles
Swim: 2.2 miles
Hike: 7.5 miles
Climb: 3:00
YAYOG week 4 complete!

Triathlon Training

So, the Boulder Peak Olympic-distance Triathlon is in three weeks. I signed up a week and a half ago. Though I "train" year-round, it is nice to have a clear goal for my workouts. Here are last week's totals:


hiking: 10 miles (3500')
cycling: 71 miles
swimming: 2.7 miles
running: 18 miles (2400')
climbing: 1:40
yayog: week 2 complete!

Thanksgiving Vacation Week

On Monday Dan ran up around the Boulder Reservoir and I swam at the pool.

On Tuesday we rode our bikes to Flagstaff and ran up the mountain.

On Wednesday I rode my bike to Boulder Valley Ranch and ran the Lefthand trail. Donna cooked a yummy Thanksgiving dinner and then we drove up to Winter Park to stay at Donna and JJ's skihaus.

On Thursday we skied at Winter Park. There were a handful of runs open that were a lot of fun.

On Friday all four of us hiked up at the Roaring Fork Trail near Lake Granby. It was cool to hike on the "other" side of the Divide. There wasn't enough snow to warrant snowshoes, but it was very pretty. Dan and I drove home Friday night.

The roaring fork

Lake Granby

Triathlon!

I completed my first triathlon--and an Olympic distance one, at that! It was hard. The swimming was probably the most difficult part. The water was really cold, and putting my face in to swim was tough to get used to. It was also hard to swim around all the other people, sight the buoys, and swim through the wake that everyone was kicking up. If I ever do another tri, I definitely need more practice in open water swimming!

By the time the swim was over, my feet were numb. Good thing I put cages on my pedals, because all I had to do was slip my feet in and move my legs. I felt really slow on the 26-mile route, but I did it 15 minutes faster than any of my training rides. I think I was just spent from the swim, so I felt more tired. Fortunately, my training kicked in and just got those legs moving!

The run was tedious. The course was an out-and-back and then another out-and-back (there were also people racing a sprint tri which required a 5K, so the course was really set up for them). It was hot, sunny, and boring. Oh well. At least I did it in under an hour!

So, the whole thing (.9mi swim, 26mi bike, 6.2mi run) took me 3 hours and 16 minutes. Not bad, huh, for my first one? It was a fun, but very tiring, day!