Bicycle Lanes

Success

It's been over 18 months since Ed made his request for bike lanes in Westminster and at the last Transportation Commission meeting progress continues. I presented a letter of recommendation to the Commission and the Commission unanimously voted to send the letter to the City Council. I don't have a scheduled date yet but the next step is to present to the City Council. Hopefully by the summer, we will have City Council approval.

Compliments

Last week after a night run, my group was sitting around stretching and shooting the breeze in the Rec Center. A bike officer, Eric, came in, we waved and he came over to say hi. He told us how he was out riding the path and saw some lights in the distance. At first he thought the lights were a bike rider since they were moving pretty quickly. After watching the lights for a while, he realized that they were runners and they were us. I thought it was pretty cool that he thought we were going fast and came by to tell us. I guess it's the little things that make a difference.

Treadmills

People either love treadmills or hate them. They call them hamster wheels or dread mills but for people with real winters, treadmills can be an great training tool. Even people with good weather year round can benefit for a session or two on a treadmill.

I run on a Precor 956 which has a set of preprogrammed workouts and I'm becoming a fan of the 2 minute interval workout. The workout alternates the pace and incline every two minutes. The base workout alternates between 0% incline for 2 minutes to 3% incline for 2 minutes.

My latest workout is 50 minutes long, 8 minutes to warm up, 32 minutes of hard inclines and then 10 minutes warm down. The warm up is 8 minutes long to give me to sets of inclines. 32 minutes gives me 8 sets of inclines and then the 10 minute warm down gives me 2 inclines to warm down followed by 2 minutes flat. Right now I'm breaking the 8 sets of inclines into 2 sets of 4 with each incline being slightly faster than the last in each group of 4. I think start again with the second set of 4.

So before you give up on the treadmill, look at the programs and try something different.

Base

It's that time of year when I start to increase my base training. Since the end of the season in October, I've been only doing one workout a day and as we know, if you're training for a triathlon, you race three sports.

When I add a second workout, I make sure that I reduce the one I usually do. That means if on Tuesdays, if I've been doing a base running workout and add a base swimming workout, I reduce the distance and duration of the run. By doing it this way, I reduce the chances of getting sick or hurt.

Remember, it's still early in the season so you don't have to be doing long, hard workouts in all your sports yet. You just need to be working the base and getting ready.

Recovery

I know a lot of people who workout at lunch and don't always have time to eat right away. They get pulled into meetings, returning voice mails and emails and before they know it, an hour has passed and they're starving.

The solution? Chocolate Milk. Every year another nutritionist releases a study about the benefits of chocolate milk as a good recovery drink. It has protein and carbohydrates which is just what your body is hungry for after a hard workout.

So if you have trouble eating after working out, bring some chocolate milk to work and drink it instead of a soft drink. It will help satisfy your hunger and help your body start recovering.

2007 Review - Part 2 - The Running Races

The whole season wasn't just about triathlons, I also completed a few road races. The running season started in my backyard with the Warrior 5k. The weather before the race was wet and the dirt course showed it. Some people joked it was like cross country but everyone in the lead group went around those puddles. After catching the overly enthusiastic youngsters on the rec center hill, I settled into fourth and stayed there until the end. Not a bad way to start the season.
Memorial Day saw me in Boulder for my fourteenth Bolder Boulder. Since I had completed the Pelican Fest triathon two days prior, I wasn't sure how I would do. My strategy was to stay with Kara as long as possible and try to finish strong. I felt good and made my move at the four mile mark and held on to the end. I wanted to finish under 38:20 but I was very happy with my 39:07, especially two days after a strong triathlon.
In July, I took a couple days off and went to Grand Lake. Since I was in the neighborhood, I had to do the Buffalo Days 5k which I've done a few times. The plan was to relax and run easy since Boulder Peak was the next day. I started easy and passed a lot of people on the long climb. I passed a few more on the steep rollers coming back and finished second in my AG. A really good finish especially since I didn't push too hard.
September saw me racing in my backyard again at the inaugural Panerathon 5k. This race was worth doing for the post-race food. Panera supplied the bagels and sandwiches which were very yummy. Oh, yeah, I finished fourth overall.
October took me to Chicago for my big race of the year. Barry and I signed up almost a year before the race. Unfortunately this was year of the big heat. The temp was close to 80 at the start without a breeze in the Windy City. I was doing fine until twenty-three when I decided to pull back on the speed to avoid heat problems. I finished in 3:09 which was pretty good considering the conditions. Over 10k people didn't finish so I guess I did really good.

2007 Review - Part 1 - The Triathlons

2007 turned out to be a very successful year for me. I became sponsored which started the season right. I've been trying to get a sponsor for a few years and it finally happened. Whether it's a club or sponsor, racing in a team kit is a great experience.

Part of the sponsorship requirements was that I compete in at least six races and since it was a triathlon team, I focused on triathlons and did fewer road races than usual.

The triathlon season started with a new race for me, the Pelican Fest Triathlon in Windsor. I did pretty well on the swim and the bike but lost a position in the last kilometer of the run. It was early in the season and a better mental focus would have gotten me on the podium. As it was I finished fourth in my age group.

A couple weeks later saw me racing at the Mini Ha Ha. Extremely short, extremely quick and extremely fun. A lot of my friends were competing which made the race even more fun. I took the lead quickly upon leaving T1 and held it for most of the bike. I was passed with about a half-mile to go. I stayed close going into T2 had a fast transition and took off on the run scared. Fortunately the other triathlete wasn't a strong runner so I held on for the fastest time of the day. Afterwards I was talking with another triathlete and he told me he didn't think transitions mattered until he saw the two of us come in together and me take off.

The results from Mini Ha Ha look a little peculiar since I was racing in the team category. I had the fastest time of the day but was excluded from the overall and age group categories. It didn't matter much since Holly, Bruce and I handily won the team category.

The next race saw me return to Loveland Lake to Lake (L2L). I first competed at L2L in 2003 and I've always wanted to return, it just took a few years. Things that make L2L fun are the grass transition area, the grass run from swim to T1 and the post-race party. The food is always good and there are people wandering around handing out popsicles. Except for a close encounter with a truck on the bike, the race went really well. I didn't finish as well as I would have liked but I was happy with my performance. Post race I was chatting with a race official and he thought I did well and would do better during the rest of the year.

July saw the return to Boulder Peak (BP) for the biggest race of the year both in terms of competitors and depth of talent. This was my seventh BP and I was hoping to improve upon last year's performance. I had a solid swim and the run was good but bike was outstanding. I dropped over three minutes off my previous bike split and finished four minutes faster than my previous best. I also had a best age group finish of tenth which given the caliber of competitor at BP, I was extremely happy.

Most years I host a breakfast in August for the Holy Cow Trail Stampede but this year with so many friends running Pikes Peak, I didn't race the Holy Cow. That freed the weekend for the Rattlesnake Triathlon at Aurora Reservoir. Although I hadn't done the race before I am familiar with the venue since it's the home of the Harvest Moon triathlon. The swim used an individual start which was great for me. I instantly fell into my rythym and had a great swim. Although the bike and run were a little slower than BP, the swim more than made up for it and I won my age group. I was pretty stoked when I saw the results. It was especially satisfying since it was open water and the competition was tough.

Fate played a hand in getting me into my next race, the Fall Frenzy (FF) in Parker. I waffled between doing the race and not doing the race and then it sold out. Unfortunately or fortunately my brother who was entered became sick and I got his slot. FF is really nice not requiring you to rack your bike before the first competitors start. That worked in my favor since my heat wasn't until 11:00 AM and the first heat was 7:00 AM. I showed up around 10:00, got set up and put in a solid performance. I finished third overall and first in my age group.

The triathlon season wrapped up at Harvest Moon in mid-September. I had my new bike and had a few weeks in the saddle. After the long season, I was just ready to have a relaxing day and let the race come to me. The swim was good and the buoys didn't move like in 2006. The bike course was changed and it was either the new course, the new bike or a combination but I flew. I battled with a Kestrel rider for a while and finally broke away on the rollers. I paid a price for the bike on the run but it wasn't too much and it was worth it. I dropped my time from 5:13 to 4:43. A thirty minute difference and twenty of that was the bike. I finished second in my age group to a semi-pro which isn't bad at all.

2007 Resolution Review

It's time to review last year's resolutions to see how I did.

• Complete an ultra - either 50k or 50 miles - This one has been around for awhile and once again, I didn't sign up for anything longer than 26.2. Maybe this year will be the year that I finally go long.
• Complete the Chicago Marathon in under 3 hours - As you've probably heard, Chicago was a sweltering race this year. I was on pace to go sub-3 through the first 20 miles but after that the heat became too much. I was very happy with the sub-3:10.
• Run a 5k in under 18:20 - 3 5ks and neither one was under 19. The first one was on the extremely muddy Big Dry Creek. The mud made the race extremely fun but very slow. The second was the Grand Lake 5k so the altitude and climbing didn't make it possible there. The third was on the new Panerathon and I was pretty tired from a long race season.
• Run a 10k under 38:00 - I only did one 10k, Bolder Boulder and while I was under 40, I didn't get under 38. The triathlon focus didn't allow any other 10ks.
• Average 22 mph on bike during an Olympic distance triathlon - 40k bike - I raced three Olympic distance races, Loveland Lake to Lake, Boulder Peak and Rattlesnake. At L2L, I averaged 21.9 for 30 miles. At Rattlesnake, the average was 21.9 for 25 miles. At Boulder, I finally broke 22 averaging 22.1 over the hilly, rolling 26 miles. Oh yeah, at Harvest Moon, I averaged 23 mph over the rolling 56 mile course.
• Run under 40:00 during an Olympic distance triathlon - 10k run - I was close but didn't quite get there. At Boulder Peak, I ran 41:16, at Rattlesnake it was 42:11 but the really good race was Loveland Lake to Lake. At L2L, I went 40:10.
• Finish under 2:20 at an Olympic distance triathlon - 1.5k swim, 40k bike, 10k run - I probably would have been under 2:20 at Boulder Peak if the bike had been 40k instead of 42k. At Boulder Peak, I finished in 2:20:53 so those 2 extra k's were probably it. At Rattlesnake with a true 40k bike, I shattered the 2:20 mark finishing in 2:15:40.
• Get one new person to complete a triathlon - Not one person but 5 new people joined me this year at Mini Ha Ha.

Overall: 3 successful resolutions out of 8

Resolutions

Congratulations to everyone with a resolution to take control of their health and become more fit. It's great to see all the new people at the gym and on the bike path. Remember that you didn't lose your fitness over night and it will take time to get it back. Just stick with it and great things will happen.