Half-Baked Triathlon

1/2 century, 1/2 mile swim, 1/2 marathon

Bike

Rode 50 in the AM with J and Nora, who are training well for their 1st century:
Today was a flat ride for the girls to get the miles in. I forgot how beautiful the country roads on the plains can be in the morning:



I couldn't help but make amusing (to me) gender comparisons. The girls chatted for miles, often remarking about big, beautiful country houses in the rural parts of Weld County. I thought about Nick and I, just yesterday, spending our time identifying all the surrounding peaks from the summit. I guess it's kind of the same thing? Anyway, I think the early miles went by quickly as the girls were talking.

We road Kechter out before dropping down to 392 to Windsor, then wound our way back, ultimately ending up on a section of the road that becomes Horsetooth in Fort Collins. Again, as I haven't ridden like I did a few years ago, things were new, and it turns out that stretch of road was newly, and gloriously, paved and uncrowded.



But I was also hoping for some training on the ride. I started it out early by showing (again) how to fix a flat -- mine. Got J to spend more time in her big ring and push more, rather than spin. After looping through Weld County, then, we hit the Frontage roads. Not great scenery, but not too crowded and easy to get a rhythm.

I didn't push a paceline too much, but suggested J ride behind Nora and try to match her speed. Sure enough, she nudged closer and they hooked up pretty well. Nora took some great pulls and I eased in front slowly to show her the difference that drafting makes, and then pointed out some etiquette about consistent pace, soft-pedaling, and using the shadows on the corner of the eye to make sure you don't drop the line behind you. The girls then held steady and kept up a solid stretch of ~17-18mph on the flats -- I was so proud! The key seems to have been finding a long enough stretch for a consistent pace, and not starting out immediately in the ride when they were in more of a rhythmic mood.

We headed up to Wellington before looping back down. Our fortune in new pavement was taken away on a soft surface with crappy regrading down from Wellington, all the way past the Waverly turnoff, but soon enough we were down to Lemay and enjoyed back into town, hitting 50 right at Rocky Mountain Bagel Works. Having started early, we had beaten the heat, and it was still breakfast time with plenty of daytime left!

Great ride with the girls, really proud of their work and attitude today, fun ride!


Swim

We decided to cool off in the pool, and J and I started some laps, then as they were chatting again, I snuck in more laps, eventually hitting a 1/2 mile. This isn't easy for my crappy swimming style, in which I have to stop every 1-3 laps to catch my breath. Still, I figure it's good for the darkest parts of an ultra: it's boring, tedious, pointless, I'm moving slower than a normal person can walk and I hate it, yet I still can't breathe and my heart's beating fast.


Run
Slow 1/2 marathon loop around the hood.

Anyway, not the normal grind-it-out ultra miles that I'd normally plan on, but something different and more fun to keep it fresh. Somewhere around mile 60-70 in Pbville, I can think to myself: "It could be worse. I could be swimming."

Pancake Mode

Good luck to all the WS runners, especially the homestate folks, and especially-especially the hometown folks. I hope to do this race one of these years, but need to do a solid previous 100 first, as I wouldn't feel legitimate and respectful enough putting my name in the lottery until I did. Very excited to see how Nick does, but also Pete Stevenson, who's doing the Grand Slam this year, but isn't planning on taking WS easy, either.

Speaking of Grand Slam, I am in full pancake mode.



This is when I'm doing something every day, mostly running but some cycling, hiking, and now swimming mixed in, the temperatures and my metabolism are revved up, and I'm so freaking hungry all the time that I have to wake up earlier some days during the week to make a full breakfast.

Not that I'm complaining.

Bike
One thing that helped was "Bike to Work" day earlier this week. It remains one of my favorite days of the year. The first year, I tried to hit as many breakfast stations as I could, while during the winter version last year, I ran instead of rode, figuring it was nice to at least get coffee during the run at a time of year when all the bubblers are off. This time, I went back to the bike, and a leisurely singlespeed roll in the south part of town.

I tried some new spots:
Panera (free coffee and bagel)
The Egg and I (yogurt parfait, coffee, coupon)
Sprouts (some OK fruit, bars, and coupon)
The Poudre Library (free LED nightlight! and good conversation about audiobooks)

as well as some other random spots along the way, finally ending with a guaranteed breakfast burrito at HP. I skipped New Belgium this year out of time constraints, and regret missing Snooze, as well as the custom-burrito place by Rolland Moore park.

All in all, a great morning for a ride!



Swim
The consistently hot but non-stormy afternoons, as well as J's sprint tri in August, have made it fun to go swimming after work when I get a chance. This is in our community pool, which is quite nice. I am in no danger of training for and signing up for a triathlon by any means, nor do I have the desire to spend hour upon hour in the pool, but it does feel like swimming more efficiently might be a good life skill, and being in a pool outside is actually tolerable. Right now, I am so inefficient and horrible at it, that I'm out of breath every couple of laps, so it's great cardiovascular training!

M-W-F mornings, 6AM, is open lap swim. I checked it out for the first time this morning, most lanes filled with older folks that kicked my butt. Which is awesome: I actually like being at the very low end of the learning curve. I'm finally old and experienced(?) enough to know it's kind of a fun place to be, so hopefully I can keep that in the mix.

X-training observations
I've given up some x-country/backcountry skiing, earlier this year, and cycling now, in favor of running, in with the idea of doing more longer trail races, and my first 100. So far this year, my races have seemed ho-hum, I feel neither faster or slower, although I guess my ultra 'speed' (I use that term very loosely) was about the same in April/May as I might have expected in July/August the last couple years. I guess I'm still hoping it pays off in the coming months, that a peak is still to come, and I hope that extra volume leads (or has led) to some resiliency against injury. That's about as much navel-gazing as you need to know right now, but in a general sense, por moi, once the body is built up to handle a given distance (again, over a few years), I can maintain and improve that without everything being running. This winter, I'll likely add more x-country skiing back in the mix, and I'll continue to use the bike when I feel like it. That is, pretty much going with whatever seems fun at the moment.