24 Hours of Triathlon

I signed up for a triathlon this year!!! YEAH...

24 Hours of Triathlon.

No need to worry, I am doing it as a team of 4. We are Team GU. ROCK ON!!! Oh yeah, the event is this morning. Yikes.





results coming soon...

Boulder Half Marathon

Was I ready for the Boulder Half-Marathon?? I was doing pretty good on my running. I didn't have any exact workouts. I wasn't training for a half-marathon, but I figure I was putting in good mileage and I could do it. My longest run was about 10 miles.

The week before the race I had a tempo run. The run was 8 miles. It was a great run. I did the run with the Rocky Mountain Road Runners, so it was more like a race. I ran 8 miles in 51:26. With the pace I was running I would have run a 1:26:45 half-marathon.

Pre-Race
I got to the Boulder Reservoir in good timing. It was such a nice morning. They moved the times forward one hour because it doesn't become light until 7am. I heard that it wasn't safe for the volunteers to be in the dark directing cars. Today was going to be a hot day. The temperature was told it was going to be in the mid 80's.

I got a chance to talk with several RMRR members. Deb Cunningham was doing the full marathon and I had the chance to talk with her. This race was more of a training run for her. Same for me I thought. I was in to race, but not to get carried away.

Start
The half-marathon started at 9am. It was pretty hot already and I knew it was going to be pretty tough. The worst part was the wind. The wind was strong and no shade.

My first two miles were rocking!! I tried not to take it too fast. I always seem to take the first mile too fast. I was having a good race and feeling great. It wasn't easy though. I had one runner drafting off me. He did gain a great advantage. I was in about 15th place overall after the first 10k. Miles 7, 8 and 9 were hard. I started getting cramps in the side. I seemed like I was overheating and loosing steam. I lost it after mile 9. My pace slowed, the cramps were still there and I was fatigued. I felt worn out and well...spent.

I struggled for the remaining race. I had 16 people pass be after the first 10k. 16 people. My pace struggled and I almost felt like walking. I knew I was off pace and my goal was to finish.

Finish
The finish seemed like it was forever away. I finally made it and was exhausted. I chugged 2 12.9oz bottles of water. Big mistake. I will try harder not to gulp the water that fast again. I get sick when I gulp water like that.

Mile 1: 6:04, Mile 2: 6:08, Mile 3: 6:28, Mile 4: 6:46, Mile 5: 6:54, Mile 6: 7:08, Mile 7: 7:00, Mile 8: 6:37, Mile 9: 6:52, Mile 10: 7:17, Mile 11: 7:55, Mile 12: 8:21, Mile 13: 7:53, Mile .34: 2:34

Overall Time: 1:32:04
Pace: 7:11/mile
10k Split time: 41:29
Overall Rank (male): 31/699
Division 25-29 male: 10/74

What a learning experience this race has been. I learned to take it easy especially in the wind. Better training and more race specific training. I was very hard on myself about this race. It took me about 3-4 days to get over it.

I had to get over it because a new adventure awaits. One week and I compete in the 24 hours of triathlon race (as a team).

Just before a Bike Ride

I decided I was going to go for a long bike ride. I went 60 miles in a total time of 3hrs 20min. Not to shabby for being the longest ride of the year. I averaged 18.1 mph total. The first 30-45 miles I averaged 19.2 mph. The rest of the way was a little slower because it was more uphill and I was loosing steam. Always happens on that route.

It's so hard leaving when I have such a cute daughter at home. Ariel is so cute and is very forgiving. She told me to go have fun on my bike, but not to crash. Oh, and not be gone too long. One of these days I will take her with me.

Track Workout

I went to a track workout tonight. The Rocky Mountain Road Runners meets at Heritage HS every Wednesday. This is only the second time I've gone. It's hard for me to go more often because I live on the other side of town. I enjoy it because many of my RMRR friends are there.

Track workouts in HS were crappy. I am not sure how much fun I really had. I would get sick after a workout. Feel terrible and worthless.

Track workouts now are easier because I am better trained. I don't get sick after workouts now!! YEAH. I am pretty exhausted after the workouts though...

Here is what I did:

400 - 1:24 (4:57/mile
600 - 2:01 (5:00/mile)
800 - 2:39 (4:57/mile)
1600 - 5:36 (5:36/mile)
800 - 2:39 (4:53/mile)
600 - 1:58 (4:46/mile)

400 - 1:11 (4:41/mile)

The times are pretty accurate, but the pace may not be exact. I posted them based off my GPS watch. The distances were off just a little. Nicole and Ariel came too!!

Maybe I will try to break under 5:00 for the mile next year after all?????

Commuting to Work

I have been very consistent this summer with commuting to work by bike. The total distance to work is only 6.2 miles, so that's only 12.42 miles total. My total time is usually under 50 min. It only takes me 22 minutes to get to work and longer coming back home. It's either the slight uphill or I'm more tired coming home??

I have still been running during my lunch break. I run anywhere from 4-8 miles. If I run extra I stay extra at work to make for any time.

Swimming is on and off. I swam twice last week at the Aurora Reservoir. I have been enjoying the open water swimming. I look at my numbers last year and amazed on how much I swam. Less than 6x the amount for the year. Oh well. No prizes will be given...

Running in Odd Places

My family and I went to Portland, OR for a wedding last week. I brought along my running shoes. I have found joy in running in new and strange places. Where have I run?


Portland, OR
Kansas
Washington, DC
Coeur d'Alene, ID
Orland, FL
South Carolina
Tucson, AZ
Alamosa, CO



I am sure there are other states and places I have run. I feel very blessed to have such a great opportunity to run in different locations. I also must be dedicated because many of these locations I have set the alarm for 5am. I started bringing my head lamp just in case.

I have a couple events coming up. I am signing up to do the Boulder Half-Marathon. I am also joining a team to finish the 24 hours of triathlon event. These events will be on back to back weekends. Should be very interesting...I have listed my most recent stats. I need to start swimming and cycling more...

(I love this picture of Ariel and I smelling the roses in Portland, OR at the Rose Garden)




Total (As of 8/12/2009)
Swim: 23,000 meters (15.33 miles)
Bike: 332.27 miles
Run: 1,157.88 miles

Long Ride, Open water swim and more

Lots of stuff going on these days. I have been busy, but in very different ways. I have been active and enjoying fatherhood. Fathers day was just like any father's day. We went over to my parents house and cooked my Dad a wonderful meal. Nicole bought Ariel a cute dress that she wore on Father's day.

Ariel and I were in the 4th of July parade at our subdivision party. That was fun. We had a nice family outing. I watched Ariel for a couple hours while Nicole went dress shopping.

I have been riding more. I have made a goal to ride my bike 2 days a week to work. I have made it 3 weeks in a row. I also had my longest ride of the year last weekend. 33 miles. WOW!!

I had a meeting at Aurora Reservoir on Tuesday so I went open water swimming afterwards. I swam 1,200m in the open water. It felt so great!! I wanted to keep swimming, but I had to stop. I have been running during my lunch break. I will run any where from 4-8 miles. What a wonderful lunch break I have!!!!

Back in the Saddle

I started riding again. It's been pretty hard to ride this year. I have been running much more and feel that I want to focus more on running. This being said I have barely rode 100 miles this year. That's it. This time last year I rode over 2,000. That's a big difference.

I have also noticed that I have run almost the same distance as I have cycled.

Ironman training sure beefed up these numbers last year. My schedule was also more flexible last year. What am I going to do in a few years when I want to do another Ironman? I will try to figure something out??

Oh, yesterday was my first day back in the saddle in quite some time. I made it out 50 yards on my way home from work and I went down. Down I went and I was pissed. My goal this year was not to crash. What did I do? Maybe next year?

Moments Like This

I got a chance to watch Ironman CDA live this year online. Ah yes, Ironman. I dream about it, I long for it, I thrive for it. I can't believe it's been over a year. I shed many tears of sweat training for it. Many days I had two workouts and some even had three. I made many sacrifices training for the race and my training was well worth it!

I got a chance to see two friends make their Ironman dreams come true.

• Andy Murtha
• Craig Henry

Both did a fantastic job and I am very proud of them!! Way to go!!

So...will I do another Ironman?? Maybe in a couple of years. I want to wait till Ariel is old enough to have an idea of what Daddy is doing. Maybe even participate in the kids race?

Running and Sleep

Not too many posts lately. I've been pretty busy and occupied with other things. I remember last year I was posting at least once a week and sometimes daily. I really got into blogging, but I think the novelty wore off some.

So what's new?

Being a dad has been fun. It's really neat to see Ariel change. Her eyebrows have changed shape and has gained a few pounds. Her hair has even a little longer.

I have been running. That's it. No swimming, no cycling, no working out at the gym. 2-3 workouts per day are history...for now. It's been extra hard because sleep is an issue. I have been getting sleep...some. Some days are better than others. The quality of sleep is fair. I can't wait till Ariel starts sleeping at night. I will not complain about the sleep though. Nicole has had it rough the last couple of nights. It's been hard for her to sleep during the day when Ariel sleeps the most.

My running club, RMRR, celebrated it's 50th Anniversary. This included a full weeks worth of events. I didn't attend them all, but quite a few. I hosted a Tuesday night fun run at Washington Park in Denver. We went to Bonnie Brae Tavern afterwards and had an enjoyable dinner. There were around 30-45 people who came. That is pretty good considering the weather.
Wednesday was a track workout.

Friday was a 1.4 mile predict run. I guessed 8:10. I ran 1.4 miles in 8:00. That is 5:42 per mile. Incredible.
Saturday was a fun gathering at the track. It was a relay event and the goal was to run 50 miles on the track. Our group ended up running 150 miles instead. Of course several of us crazy runners ran 12.5 miles or 50 laps around the track. Not sure if I'd do it again.