Chris Tremonte

Right Said Fred

I recently had the opportunity to model the Brooks Running Fall 2009 line at their annual sales meeting.  It was the same basic idea as what I did with Northwave last year but with one big difference: rather than just having us stand in front of the room Brooks built a runway and had the models strut their stuff.  Lights!  Music!  Gratuitous Zoolander references!!

Needless to say, I had a lot of fun out there.  I am going to have to update my business cards to say "Software Guy / Triathlete / Model."

The Fall 2009 line from Brooks looks really hot.  They have some great new features in the clothing that really demonstrate their thought leadership on running.

Tri-Cal TV: SF Tri

I see that Tri-California has posted the video from Saturday's race.  I'm only in there fleetingly but it's still fun to watch how the race played out. Next year I'll have to get into that lead swim group so that I can get some "TV time."

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9n2C8qnr28Q

San Francisco

Here is a rather detailed report on Saturday's race.  I had plenty of time at the airport and on the airplane so you, the reader, get a nice verbose write-up.  I hope to right up a second post tonight that talks about the rest of the trip.

This past weekend I raced in the San Francisco Triathlon at Treasure Island, which is the final race in the Tri-California Series and also an ITU Pan American Cup.  I was third in the Tri-California Series heading into this race, behind Victor Plata and Brian Fleischmann and with Jeff Piland very close behind me and Ethan Brown within striking distance if he had a good race.

The swim course consisted of two triangular laps.  I thought that I got out to a pretty good start in the swim and hit the first turn buoy near the front of the race, ahead of a lot of the carnage.  But that backstretch brought a lot of "interaction" with my fellow racers.  I thought that I gave it as well as I took it but I must have moved back a bit b/c at the next turn buoy I could see a pack strung out ahead of us.  I surged and moved up when I could and felt like I stayed in the draft most of the time, but I exited the water in 23rd place -- in a pack with Reto Waeffler, Chris Stehula, Jason Wilson, Adam Truex and Brian Hague.

The "A" swim pack had put about 75 seconds into us but the trailing end of the "B" swim pack was only ten seconds up.  With a good transition and a quick start on the bike we could have caught them.  But that didn't transpire.  Our group didn't work all that well together, with Brian Hague doing the bulk of the work early on and me taking the lead for much of the last two laps.  Reto flatted at the beginning of the second lap and we caught Mark Fretta on the third. 

I could see Jeff Piland in the group ahead of us and knew that I needed to catch him in order to retain third place in the series.  I tried to organize the group a few times but the TI course has so many corners that it is hard to maintain a rotation.  I was happy with the speed that I carried through the corners, especially after getting used to things on the first lap.

I led most of the last lap as everybody wanted to have their running legs but I couldn't afford to lose any more time on Jeff.  I had a rocky bike dismount and my feet were totally numb as I ran into transition.

I grabbed me shoes and left transition just behind Brian Hague.  Jason Wilson and Chris Stehula must have been first out and Fretta really took off.  I stayed near Brian for awhile but then he started gapping me a bit.  I threw in a few surges to try and claw my way back and eventually caught him on the second lap.  I should note that the run course is three laps on an out-and-back course.

At the turnaround on the first lap I could see that Jeff was hurting and that I *should* be able to catch him if I ran strong the rest of the way.  I steadily closed the gap and passed him after the turnaround on the second lap.  On the third lap I started to see John Dahlz up the road and tried to count guys and see if I could snag some ITU points.  I needed to catch Dahlz & Jason Wilson and to beat Brian ... but then Ethan Brown caught us.  I tried to go with Ethan for a little while in order to get away from Brian but it didn't quite work.  So Ethan got away and Brian caught me again.  I tucked in behind Brian but lost him before the turnaround. 

On the way back, I saw Brian catch Dahlz and clawed my up to them. They slowed down in order to save up for the final sprint so I decided to try and get away right then -- similar to Lake Stevens where I really didn't want to have to sprint to the line.  But Dahlz worked to catch me again w Brian sitting on.  I made 3 more moves and Brian made one before the final 600, when I went for broke.  At about 300 or 400 to go the other guys came past me and I couldn't keep up.  Oh well.  It was a hard fought race and I definitely made some steps forward in my biking.  I need to figure out why I didn't swim a bit better.  I felt pretty good out there but just missed the move, I suppose.

So I took 23rd of maybe 33 guys who started.  No ITU points as they stop at 20th and I was 26 seconds away from the 5% time cutoff.  Close, again!

Swim: 20:02 (23rd, first was Fleischmann in 18:36)
Bike: 1:01:51 (21st, first was Matty Reed in 1:00:11)
Run: 37:15 (21st, first was Mark Fretta in 33:04)
Total: 2:00:32 (23rd, first was Victor Plata in 1:54:30)

Living Vicariously

I haven't raced or posted in awhile, so I've been checking up on what some of my racing friends are up to.  A few guys I know raced in the Huatulco World Cup yesterday.  Jarrod Shoemaker had a good race and took second but the rest of the Americans had a bit of a tough day. The weather was apparently pretty harsh -- 33 C and 98% humidity.  Ouch.

Fleischmann was in a break for like 6 laps of an 8-lap bike and was probably a bit beat on the run.  Ethan's been running really well lately but didn't nail it in Mexico.  The Charb's been on fire all year but also ended up in that 10th to 15th range yesterday.  Kevin was there, too, but it looks like he got dropped on the bike. 

So in other news, at least four guys I know are racing IM AZ.  The first two are somewhat predictable but the other two are surprises:

• Marky V's been planning this one for awhile
• Richard Freer from Austin, and originally Australia ... when I first met him he was working at Dell but he got outta there and is now Living the Dream
• I heard on Facebook that John Dahlz is on the start list and plans to give 'er a go, pending a bit on how he feels at San Francisco on the 8th.
• I saw on Brandon Marsh's blog this morning that he's planning on IM AZ, too, after Clearwater.  But now he's got a little tweak in his calf and will have to see how that goes.

Ben Collins has been talking a lot about his Spin Class lately.  That's something that I've wanted to do for awhile.  Perhaps I should look into it.  I think that the crowd he'll get at UW might be a bit more rowdy that what I'd see at an eastside gym, but you never know.

Ben and I also went Halloween shopping yesterday.  He put together a very nice Slutty Sarah Palin while I assembled a sweet Hipster outfit.  There was something very poetic about shopping for hipster clothes at the Value Village on Capitol Hill with lots of "real" hipsters roaming the store.  It was great to have reference points *right there* to teach us what a real hipster looks like... but their presence also made it very hard to find a good pair of ridiculously tight jeans.

In closing, I saw a funny video on James Cotter's blog.  He's a Kiwi who lives in Austin now, so this whole play on the Kiwi accent was rather appropriate.

Ceepo's new "Bat-Bike"

Thanks to Barrett Brandon for sending this my way.  Here is the bike that  US Pro Tri's bike sponsor was showing off at Interbike:

"If Batman rode a bike, this is the bike he would ride."  More at http://blog.wired.com/gadgets/2008/09/interbikes-ba-2.html

Scott Tinley's Adventures

Raced today in beautiful San Luis Obispo, CA.  It rained, but a fun time was had by all.  I took tenth overall with a good swim, good bike and a rather flat run.  I should clarify that the course was quite hilly but my run performance was flat.

I finished a few spots ahead of Jeff Piland and moved into third in the Tri-California Elite Series with one race to go.  Victor Plata and Brian Fleischmann are ahead of us and there is a pretty large gap behind us, especially once you account for the 250 point bonus that Victor, Jeff & I will get for doing all four races.  Treasure Island should be very interesting for the top four.

More to come later.

A Three Hour Tour

Chris: Rather than just drive back from yesterday's race in Portland, Ben Collins and I decided to drive to Tacoma and then sail his 27-foot Catalina "yacht" up to its new home in Ballard.  Unfortunately there hasn't been much wind and the boat only has a 5hp motor.

Ben: See, a boat's speed is a direct function of several things, the length of the boat (larger boats can go faster than smaller boats), plus the amount of power that goes into propelling the boat forward. The problem that Chris is introducing is that an absence of wind has forced us to rely on a one cylinder 35 year old diesel engine that I was unable to start until about a week ago. Well, it starts now, but about a half an hour ago smoke started spewing from the cabin of the boat, and Chris started acting a little loony.

Chris: and that's why we're stranded here watching the lights come on in downtown Seattle.  But let me go back to how we've been underway for seven hours and have only made it to the middle of Elliott Bay.  You see, when we have run the motor today (sadly, most of the time) we were only running it at about half power.  Ben was concerned about gas mileage and we were a bit short on gas.  But even after stopping to refuel at Des Moines, we were still puttering along at maybe 3 or 4 knots.  I made the joke that one of us should get out at Des Moines and walk and we could see who gets to Ballard first.  Sadly it now appears that would have been an easy victory for the walker.

Ben: I was just explaining to Chris that he should never give up an opportunity for a good story. This, however, is not why we both neglected to charge our cell phones last night, or why I left my GPS in the car, or why around 5pm we decided to say "screw it" and kick this bad boy into gear. No, sadly enough, we set out on our adventure that we would get my new (very used) sailboat from Tacoma to Seattle in under six hours and with as little effort as possible (aside from a few tacks and some sailor lingo). At this point, I'm just thankful it hasn't been raining yet.

Chris: the weather has been so nice today that I'm shocked at how few other boats we've seen out here.  We saw maybe ten boats on our way up and now we just see each ferry as it almost runs us over.   I suppose that's what happens when you're adrift in the middle of the ferry lane.

Ben: no seriously though, the last ferry to com by was REALLY close. As in museum voice distance. Wait, Seattle Traffic is calling me on the radio (our cells are dead, did I mention that?).... brb... ok, the vessel assist is on its way, and now Chris and I are taking turns doing a periodic signal toward the boat, and typing in the blog. OK, my turn.

Chris: neither of has ever gotten Vessel Assist before.  We were wondering whether the Chucklehead Factor of needing Vessel Assist is greater than the comparable factor for roadside assistance.  Vessel Assist is rapidly approaching now.  Gotta go.

Post scriptum ... a few pictures:

 
Ben blogging while we wait for Vessel Assist. It was a lot darker out than it looks in this picture.

 
a blurry shot of the Seattle skyline at dusk ... the boat was a-rockin' from some ferry wake

 
This ferry got a lot closer to us, but my cell phone battery died before then

 
Alki Point at 7 knots

Race Report: Pacific Grove

Last weekend I raced in the Triathlon at Pacific Grove.  I was feeling really good about my swim & run fitness coming in and I expected/hoped to make the main swim group, then break out a new run PR.  As it played out, I didn't swim quite as well as I hoped but my run was pretty solid.

I settled in to fifth place in the swim pack until about 600m when I got tangled up in the kelp.  A kelp rope went up around my neck and I had to stop for two strokes to pull the kelp off.  I lost two spots and then went into a bit of a sprint to try to re-establish my position.  I hit the run-out in seventh and re-entered the water right next to Steve Sexton.  My second lap was a bit of a disaster...  I suddenly felt a bit overcooked and started losing ground.  I kept swimming over kelp while the other guys were in clean water and I lost four more spots.  By the backstretch I was dangling off the back.  I hit a bit more kelp and was on my own.  The lesson in all of this: when you are swimming in a kelp forest, stay behind somebody!!

I had a solid T1 and saw a few other guys grabbing their bikes, so I knew that with a strong first mile I should be able to get into a good bike group.  Of course everybody up ahead of me was sprinting to catch the fastest possible group, too, and I didn't make much headway.  Reto Waeffler caught me from behind and the two of us caught Ethan Brown and Dave Kuendig.  We couldn't bridge to the next man up the road, Kevin Everett, before he caught on to the "B" pack.  So we were a "C" pack of 4 behind "A" and "B" packs of 6.  We worked well together at times but I had to skip a few pulls and that hurt us.  Dave dropped and that hurt us, too.  We ended up losing 4 minutes to the "B" pack and 5 to the "A" pack.

Reto and Ethan picked up a few seconds on me in T2 and went out on the run together.  I tried to pass Reto "authoritatively" around mile one but he knew the trick and picked up his pace, too.  He stayed right there until mile two and then passed me back.  Of course by then I knew that he'd try to surge past me so I was prepared to keep it close.  I re-passed him at mile 2.5 and was finally able to get a bit of a gap.  I kept pushing it the rest of the way, mostly out of pride and the desire to get a new PR run split... I was also motivated a bit by seeing Haven Barnes and Scott Young trying to chase us down from the "D" cycling pack. 

check out my hot new top with a USProTri.com logo!

All in all... I was a bit disappointed that I couldn't hang with the pack more effectively in the swim, but I was happy with my effort and time on the run.  Victor pulled away from me in the Tri-Cal series by winning the race and Jeff Piland pulled ahead of me with his 8th-place finish.  Brians Fleischmann and Lavelle also picked up some healthy piles of Tri-Cal points with their swim & bike primes and respectable finishes.

Overall: 13th place, 1:59:36
Swim: 12th, 19:13
T1: 4th, 1:02
Bike: 15th, 1:04:41
T2: 14th, 0:32
Run: 13th, 34:05

Lance coming back?!?

I know I'm overdue on a few race reports but I've been following this for the last few days and it sounds a bit more official now.  I'm certainly interested in seeing whether he can still be The Man after a few years away & a few years older...  will certainly make next year's tour a bit more popular in the states.

http://www.velonews.com/article/82965/lance-armstrong-returns-to-professional-racing

For those who don't like clicking links -- Lance Armstrong says he's going to race the tour for Astana next year.  Wow...  that will be a killer squad if everyone else sticks around...

Race Report: Austin Triathlon

(Note: I am back-dating this post so that it ends up near the actual race date in the sort order.  Let me know if that is a blogging faux pas.)

I had a business trip to Texas at the end of August so I decided to spend the long weekend visiting friends in Austin.  It also just so happened that the Austin Triathlon was taking place, so I went ahead and signed up.  The Austin Tri is a second-year Olympic Distance race whose course is very similar to the Capital of Texas Tri, which kicks off the summer on Memorial Day Weekend.

Rumors swirled all weekend about who might be racing...  Richie Cunningham... Mike Lovato... Simon Lessing... none of them raced but it was still a pretty strong field for a non-pro race, including James Cotter, newcomer David Kahn, Brandon Marsh and me.

My biggest goal for this race was to really fight on the swim.  Do everything I can to come out with Marsh & Kahn.  Although this race's bike leg didn't allow drafting, I wanted to practice the tactics & intensity of needing to hang with the leaders. 

At the start my plan was to position myself next to Brandon & James.  I knew that James had been staying on Brandon's feet whenever they'd races each other in '08, so I figured that would give me two chances to stay in the lead group.  We jumped in and I swam over to the start buoy which marked the shortest path.  Of course those jokers were nowhere near it, off on the other side of the start line.  This is a good tactic for faster swimmers -- "hide" from the guys who might try to follow your feet -- although I can't really be sure that they were consciously trying to avoid me. 

So with the race set to start any second, I didn't think it was worth trying to swim along the start line looking for them.  I waited for the gun and then just tried to stay ahead of the swimmers around me and make sure that I didn't let anybody from the other side get away.  This actually worked quite nicely as only one swimmer from my end of the start line was able to stay near me and I had pretty clean water to swim in.  As things stretched out I merged in with the other leaders and we turned into a 4-pack.

Things felt pretty comfortable for the next 400m.  Marsh and Kahn swam side-by-side giving Cotter and me a lot of wake to draft in.  I just tried to keep my strong long and relaxed.  As we hit the turn buoy (maybe 600m in??) Brandon got on the front and started stringing things out.  Kahn got on his feet, I got on Kahn's and Cotter got on mine.  Cotter and I both started losing the feet ahead of us around 1k... I lost about 20 seconds to Marsh & Kahn and Cotter lost maybe 5 or 6 seconds to me.  I felt like I popped a bit those last 500m... probably something to be learned there.

T1... a pretty long run... I could hear the announcer talking about Marsh and Kahn just ahead...  James Cotter just about caught me as we were running out with our bikes

Bike leg... I tried to keep Cotter close but I screwed up on the long downhill stretch of South Congress.  I somehow got myself on the wrong side of a line of cones and had to brake a lot in order to get back on course.  Stupid mistake... cost me at least 5-10 seconds right there, plus I lost that visual/mental "contact" with the bike in front of me -- something that can be very useful even if you are too far away for any physical draft.

Eventually Cotter caught up to Marsh & Kahn and the three of them started the run together.  I was probably 3-4 minutes back and the next racers were about 2 minutes behind me.  I tried to push my pace a bit so that I could catch any of the lead guys if they blew up...  but that didn't happen so I just ran in No Man's Land the whole way and finished a very unambiguous fourth place overall.  I was still in the money and I felt pretty good about my swim effort... and I got to spend the day in Austin!  So overall, I can't complain!

Official results / my splits:
Swim: 17:43. 3rd. Fastest was Marsh at 17:19.
T1: 1:57. 5th. Fastest was Kahn at 1:50.
Bike: 1:01:30. 9th. Fastest was Cotter at 58:37.
T2: 0:57.2. 2nd. Fastest was Marsh at 0:56.9.
Run: 36:22. 5th. Fastest was Cotter at 33:31.
Total: 1:58:30. 4th.

ITU World Championship Series

I just saw this news item on the ITU web site.  Instead of having a single World Championship race next year, the ITU is planning a series of six monthly events from March to September plus a Grand Final in October.  I'm not sure what this means for the World Cup Series -- I expect it will be in addition to the World Cups but I suppose it could replace them.  All of the races will take place in "Iconic Cities" and will be televised live in high definition.

It sounds like a great way to get more exposure for the sport.  I'm surious to see where all the races will be and what the US selection criteria will be.  Also very curious to see what this will do to the World Cups.

Olympic Watching Guide

With the Olympic Triathlon days away, I figured now would be a good time to write up my thoughts on these two races and what to watch for.  When 2004 rolled around I was in my second season of racing age-group triathlons and knew very little about the Olympic format or the athletes who raced there.  I reckon most of you reading this blog are in the same boat.  So here's a bit of an overview to help you enjoy this event a bit more.

And for those of you readers who race Continental Cups alongside me, feel free to correct me or to elaborate in the Comments.

Most of you know that the Olympic triathlon consists of a 1500m swim, a 40km bike and a 10km run and that you are allowed to draft on the bike leg.  Some self-described "purists" say that the draft-legal rules make it less of a "real" triathlon, but I'd like to see those "purists" swim well enough to make that pack or run a sub-31 10k after that ride!  From a spectator's standpoint, a non-drafting triathlon is a time trial while a draft-legal race is more like a road race.  I guess it's that way from a competitor's standpoint, too -- in a non-drafting race you can "race your own race" for the most part whereas in a non-drafting race a lot of your pacing and tactics are dictated by what the other guys are doing.

The draft-legal format turns the swim into an all-or-nothing affair for most of the athletes.  Unless you are a killer cyclist there isn't much motivation to break away in the swim but you *don't* want to fall off the back this early i the race.  If you exit the water in the "B" or "C" pack (as I often do) you are often racing for tenth or twentieth place the rest of the way.  Whether the groups come together on the bike is a function of the other racers' strengths & weaknesses:

• Most of the bike tactics depend on the racers' perceptions of each others strength on the run.
• If a trailing group contains strong runners then the leading group will work to prevent a catch. 
• If the trailing group is non-threatening then it actually has a better chance to catch...
• A breakaway's chance of staying away increases as the other racers' perception of its members' run strength decreases
• A weak runner has little incentive to pull in a break but very high incentive to bridge or to go on their own break
• A strong runner wants the break to be caught, although he'd rather not be the one to do all the work on the bike. 

For some examples, lets look at Pacific Grove 2007 and Mazatlan 2008.  Victor Plata was very vocal at Pac Grove last year b/c he was very confident in his run and he didn't want a weak runner getting too big of a gap on the bike.  Jarrod Shoemaker was in a similar position in Mazatlan -- he couldn't let Matt Chrabot and Ben Collins get too far up the road on the bike b/c he knew he wouldn't get back more than 60-90 seconds on Matt.  At PG the gap stayed small (less than a minute) and Victor won the race.  At Mazatlan the break got two minutes up the road and Matt Chrabot stayed away on the run.  Looking more deeply, Victor was helped by the presence of other runners in the main bike group who wanted things to stay close.  Jarrod was hurt by the fact that everyone in his bike group knew that he was likely to outrun them.

Enough on the racing format... let's take a look at some of the competitors.  First the American men:

• Jarrod Shoemaker was the first to qualify for the games by virtue of his Top American finish at last year's Beijing World Cup, which was contested on the Olympic course.  He only placed 11th overall, though.  Jarrod is a very strong runner, with a 5k PR near 14:00.  If he can be in the front group starting the run then he has the best chance of any of the Americans.  But he also has the lowest chance of being in that front group b/c his swim & run aren't as strong.  (I should note that they're still quite strong by rank-and-file pro standards, just not as overpowering as his run.)
• Speaking of overpowering, the next American to qualify was Matty Reed.  Matt's brother Shane is racing for their native New Zealand but Matt got his American citizenship a few years ago after marrying an American.  Matt is one of the strongest cyclists in the ITU circuit and one of the most likely guys to get into a break.  This was partially b/c his run didn't inspire fear in the other racers until very recently.  After a *lot* of off-season run focus and some work with Bobby McGee in Boulder Matt is running very well right now, as shown in his win at Olympic Trials and his outkicking of 2000 gold medalist Simon Whitfield for fifth at this year's World Championship.  Matt also won the Escape from Alcatraz last year.
• The third member of the American team is the one with the most success on the ITU circuit of any American male -- Hunter Kemper.  Hunter has been on all three US Olympic teams and spent some time in the #1 spot on the World Cup points list before the emergence of Spain's Javier Gomez.  Hunter is pretty strong all around with the run probably being his strongest discipline and the bike his weakest.  But he's had some injuries in the last year and it's hard to say where his fitness is right now.  He did outrun a much-improved Andy Potts at the Hy-Vee World Cup in order to snag the last US spot.
• Andy Potts is the alternate.  He's one of the strongest swimmers on the ITU circuit and usually leads out of the water.  He'll sometimes start the bike in a break but has only stayed away when his group has been rather large.  Like Reed, Andy has worked a lot on his run over the last two years and unlike Reed Andy pulled in a World Cup win last year.  I think it was in New Plymouth.  Andy won Alcatraz this year.

The big favorite in the men's race is Javier Gomez and he'll be hard to beat.  Out of 11 World Cup starts he has 8 wins, 2 second place finishes and one third.  He also won last year's Beijing World Cup.  He is known for dropping a 4:50 mile around the 5k mark ... he may be vulnerable to a strong kick *if* anyone else can stay with him until the finish.  Other names to know:

• Bevan Docherty of New Zealand was the Olympic silver medalist in '04 and won the World Championships in Madeira, Portugal in 2004.  The other Kiwis are also quite strong -- Shane Reed (Matt's brother) and Kris Gemmell.  Retired 2004 gold medalist Hamish Carter is also a Kiwi.
• Simon Whitfield of Canada won the gold medal in 2000 and has been on form this year.
• Rasmus Henning of Denmark won the highest prize-money race on the World Cup calendar in 2007 and 2008 -- the Hy-Vee World Cup in Des Moines, Iowa.  That race was in June so he's had enough time to build to a second peak.
• Aussies Brad Kahlefeldt and Courtney Atkinson are both quite strong.  Greg Bennett would have been their third team member but the IOC said that only eight countries could have three athletes and Australia was ranked ninth at the critical moment.  Kahlefeldt went back and forth with the American Hunter Kemper as World Cup points leader in the year before Gomez's arrival.
• Daniel Unger of Germany won this year's world championship.
• Ivan Rana of Spain and Dmitry Gaag of Kazakhstan have also had strong performances at World Cups and World Championships.
• The World Cup points list on the ITU site can also give you an idea of who's been racing well this year

I don't know the women's field as well since I haven't raced any of them.  But the women's race will take place at 10am on Monday the 18th (Beijing Time) or 7pm on Sunday the 17th Seattle Time.  There is supposed to be a live video feed without commentary on www.nbcolympics.com (powered by Microsoft Silverlight) and a one-hour highlight reel on the midnight broadcast.

The men's race is 24 hours later -- 7pm Pacific on Monday for the video feed.

Training Camp Summary

Now that I am on my way back to Seattle, let's do a quick roll-up of what I did in Boulder.  The last three days were a bit light as I had to head out of town on business, so focusing on the first 3 weeks of the trip:

• 18 swim sessions; 68k yards; much of this was long-course
• 16 bike rides; 704 miles; two rides of 100+ miles and two more of 70+; Flagstaff repeats, a hard ride up Rist Canyon w/ Dave Messenheimer, "easy" rides up Left Hand, S St Vrain and N St Vrain Canyons, a day of T1 + first four minutes simulations, a few chill rides...
• 16 runs; 150 miles; 5 Long Runs of 14.5-17 miles, including 2x2 or 3x2 tempo miles at progressively faster paces

I learned that this mix of heavier training and working a little less didn't give me any additional free time!  But I found that I was able to be productive working remotely so I expect to take similar trips in the future -- maybe winter in Kona or early Spring in Arizona...

Next up: this Sunday's Kelowna Continental Cup and then a few weeks of intensity and sharpening work leading up to Pacific Grove and Portland.

The High Country in Pictures

I went on a fun 100-mile ride three days ago -- Boulder to Lyons to Estes Park, past Raymond and Ward to Nederland and then back down to Boulder.  The 20 miles from Lyons to Estes Park included a 15-mile climb and a 4-mile descent, then it was another 30 mostly-uphill miles to Ward.  I started at 5430 feet of elevation but spent more than half the ride about 7500 feet.  I wasn't always putting out a lot of power but the effort level was there, and I felt surprisingly zippy when I swam "down" at 5430 feet that night.

I found that somebody else uploaded this route to Bikely but they went counterclockwise while I went clockwise.  I also found it on Map My Ride but that rider started in Nederland.  Here is the elevation profile from that starting point.  I like to think of miles 30 to 80 on their map as a fifty-mile climb.

Now on to the photos...

Here is the only flat section between Lyons & Estes Park.  You can see the peaks of Rocky Mountain National Park in the distance.

About to start the descent to Estes Park...  Unfortunately I was going to fast to get a picture of the lake as I entered town.  You'll have to check it out yourself some day.  I had stayed dry so far but the sky looks ominous, eh?

The lonely road to Ward... I've been sprinkled on a few times by now...

Finally, the summit!  Why is it that the highest town I passed doesn't have an elevation on the welcome sign?  Estes is at 7500 and Ned is at 8200 -- both are in valleys -- while Ward is at like 9200 feet.

Finally, here is a shot from just past Ward that captures the "edge of the world" feeling that you get up there.  Someday I'll have to ride with a real camera instead of snapping pictures with my cell phone.

The sky opened up between Ward and Nederland, so I didn't take any more pictures.  I took shelter in a convenience store in Ned and tried to warm up a bit before the final descent down Boulder Canyon to my Home Sweet Home Away from Home.

Thirty-Three Hours

Ever wonder how much you'd be able to train if you didn't have to go to work every day?  I now know my own answer to that question.  (Well, sort of ... I worked remotely from Boulder for about 25 hours last week -- so more flexibility than usual but I'm still not a "full-time athlete.")

When I planned out this three week "work part-time while training a lot" trip I envisioned tons of free time -- afternoon naps, social events with the big-name pro triathletes in town, exploring the local restaurants, driving up to the mountains, visiting friends in Fort Collins and Colorado Springs ...  but it turns out that training full-time eats up a lot of time!  (Especially with the half-time work thrown in.)  I've been just as busy as when I'm at home working full-time, perhaps busier... and more tired thanks to the altitude and the heavy training volume.

My first week in Boulder included:

• 26500 yards of swimming, mostly in a Long-Course Meters pool (so yes, I converted that workout volume to yards for my log b/c I am that obsessive)
• 300 miles of biking, including a 103-mile Long Ride on Sunday and a 16-mile climb to Ward on Friday
• 55 miles of running, including a 15-mile long run... 90% on trails or the track

I don't think that the next two weeks will include quite as many miles as I ramp up the intensity a bit more...  but it was a fun experiment to see if I could Cram all that Graham.

I'll close with a gratuitous photo of the Flatirons:

Sunset on the way home from East Boulder Rec Center.