Mountain Photos, We Gots Em, and Wow I Have a Race This Weekend

Summer is in full swing and this means lots of time in the mountains.

Buffalo Creek

Red Tail Hawk barely batted an eye at us.

Gashouse Gulch Trail, part of the Xterra course

The one super technical part of the Xterra course that everyone has to walk.

But it's mostly stuff like this.

Then Saturday was Jonny's birthday hike up near Indian Peaks Wilderness though on a fairly remote, quiet stretch of trail so we saw only a handful of people.

Beaver Reservoir, our starting point

Pretty meadow.  Sometimes there's a moose but not today.

I know you're all jealous of my groovy purple shorts.

Then Sunday started off with my master's group's Bare Bones swim race.

SO many people.  Ironman Boulder is in 2 weeks so people flocked to the race to get some swim practice in at the Rez where the swim will take place.  These are the 2-milers.  I only did the 1-mile race because that's closest to the swim portion of the triathlons I do and I wanted to practice going FAST without having to worry about a bike or run afterwards.  I ended up with a time of 32:16 mins. or 1:50/100 yards, not exactly the zippy pace I was hoping for but it felt like I was moving.  I did drift off course a bit but not too drastically.  I was 15/44 people overall (men and women, all ages) and 9/32 of the women.  The top 3 spots went to women and 2nd and 3rd went to women in their 50's.

Compare to a Stroke-n-Stride I did a little over a week ago:  14:53 for 750 m/820 yards or 1:49/100 yards then 28:47 for a 5k or 9:17 min/mile (2/5 age group, 15/30 women, 33/72 overall).  I guess about a 1:50 pace is what I can expect these days.  A little frustrating considering how much time and effort I've put into swimming but I guess we're still only at mid-season and Nationals isn't until September.

Then a trail run with hill repeats at Walker Ranch.  Sure beats the track.

Walker Ranch was my last hard effort before Xterra Aspen Valley this coming Saturday though today's swim/bike workout and tomorrow's swim/run workout are keeping me busy.  I'm feeling good for the race, fit and feisty and excited and ready to go.  Should be feeling even better after this taper week.  And how awesome does this course look?



I can't pre-ride the course until Friday and I was a little curious about what the wooden bridges/features would be like for the bike but they look o.k.  And how cool to run on the funky wooden bridges over all the ponds and marshes?  A very unique race.

It's the first year of the race and I won't be able to pre-ride until Friday since it's on private land so I have no idea of goals.  It's a relatively short race so my plan is to go hard.  Challenge myself.  Have fun.  Soak up every last bit of summer in the mountains.

Fun at the Stroke-n-Stride

1500 meter swim/5 k run
Boulder Reservoir

I'm recovering from Race #2 of Race-O-Rama 2013 season of 3 races in 4 weeks so I know the perfect training strategy - enter another race!  Makes perfect sense.  But I can't let summer go by without doing a Stroke-n-Stride out at the Boulder Rez and the last one is next Thursday which would be even stupider seeing as I have my longest regular season Xterra race on the following Saturday.  So tonight was it.  Also, I wanted to get a hard run workout in this week and it's hard to push myself when I'm recovering.  If I put money down for a race I know I'll push myself.  Also, the swim is 1500 meters, the same as my upcoming Xterra and close to the mile swim at nationals so I can work on pacing.  When I go to the Rez for morning masters workouts I typically swim 3000 meters straight, sometimes 2000 but pretty much never 1500 so it's good to see what that distance feels like in a race situation.  So Onward Ho with Race-o-Rama 2013.

Things started off a little iffy with a small storm front blowing through.  If there's thunder or lightning they shut the beach and make everyone get out of the water for 30 minutes.  Race start is at 6:00 p.m. and almost right after I buy my entry at 5:00 there's lightning.  It's not a proper storm, just some stray clouds blowing over but there's the occasional rumble of thunder and lightning all the way until 5:30.  Then thankfully it stops so we're on schedule for the 6:00 start.

Please to go away

However the lifeguards at the Rez won't let us have a warm-up.  A bunch of us get in the water a ways from the start line so we can at least swim to the start.  It's not the warm-up I was hoping for but it's good practice for those times when you can't get in a good warm-up at a race.  Water temp. was supposedly 70 degrees in the morning and now is supposedly 77 degrees.  I'm worried at first because I've got my full wetsuit on but there's no way the water is 77 and I'm glad for the full suit.

We line up for the start and the race director tells us that if we hear a siren we'll have to get out right away.  This sounds like it could be dangerous if everyone turns around and starts swimming every which way for shore.  The start goes off and I throw myself into the crowd.  If I can get used to swimming in a group I can take advantage of drafting in the group start at nationals.  It's a typical washing machine scenario at the start, arms flailing, people going all over the place.  But there are only 87 people so after a few minutes I have a little space to swim.  Then I hear sort of a siren sound but no one else is turning around so I keep going as well but I start sighting more to keep an eye on the crowd.  Eventually I figure out it's probably the start horn for the shorter course athletes.

By the first buoy of the first 750 meter lap I latch onto the feet of someone swimming my pace.  It's a guy with a nice strong kick and he's swimming straight so I follow along catching a nice draft.  But after the turn back to shore at the third buoy he starts swimming too far off course and I lose sight of him.  I'm on my own for the rest of the first lap.

There's a short beach run to get back to the start for the second lap and this year I run it more aggressively than last.  I want to prove to myself that I can get back in the water with my heart rate up a bit.  A woman in a pink cap gets out of the water with me and passes me on the run part but when we get back in she's not that far ahead of me.  I catch up and try to pass but realize she's swimming about my pace so I fall in behind her and draft.  She doesn't have a strong of a kick and she's not swimming as straight as the other guy so I lose her now and then but I manage a nice draft until the final turn.  About half way to shore I decide to pick up the pace and pass her.  For a while it seems that I've lost her but when I get to shore I see someone with a pink cap on my heels.  But when I stand up to get out of the water I realize it's a guy and someone who swims in my lane at masters.  At the beginning of summer he was a bit faster than me but today he ends up beating me out of the water by only 2 seconds.

Transition area is very informal.  Just throw your stuff down where ever and hope you can remember where you put it.

Thankfully I spot my stuff right away (had trouble finding it last year) and I have a mostly quick transition.  I didn't think to bring a race belt so I have to pin my number to my shirt on the fly but no big deal.  My masters lane mate takes almost twice the time I take in transition.  He catches me on the run but it takes him over 6 minutes and about 3/4 of a mile.  It's no matter anyway, I'm running my own race and going by perceived heart rate.  I don't like to mess with the gizmos when I race but I practice with a heart rate monitor so I have an idea of what a particular heart rate feels like.  My strategy is to run as hard as I can since it's a flat, fast course.  And about 3/4 of a mile into it I remember how much I hate 5 k's and running on the flat.  It's mostly a dirt trail with some paved roads at the start and finish but still, hardly the fun of trail running.  This is so not my thing.  Nonetheless I have done some track work this past spring with boot camp and I've even done some fartlek running out at the Rez after early morning masters swims. 

I'm thinking my last timed mile on the track was 10 minutes or so, horrible slow, so I'm shocked when my first mile split clicks in at 9:25.  I have a random goal of breaking 30 mins. for the 5 k but I until this first split I have no idea how realistic that is especially since I'm not exactly recovered from Xterra Lory on Saturday.  So excited to see a split in the 9's.  If I can keep up the pace I'll easily break 30 mins.

So I keep at it, breathing very heavy  but keeping it controlled.  Sometimes I think that my way of running fast is to start breathing fast so instead I calm down my breathing and pick up the pace.  I find myself running in bursts of speed and recovery.  Soon I can see the turn around point - it's an out and back course - and my split is 9:26.  Again, excited to see I'm holding my pace.  Last year I was running 10 minute miles so I'm very happy.  After the turn around I hear some feet behind me and I pick up the pace until they become fainter.  I ease off to recover and as they become louder I pick up the pace again.  I can feel myself starting to tire but I want to stay strong until the end.  It seems someone is always passing me at the end of the race and though I can't control other people I'm determined to keep up my pace this time.  When I hit the paved road with about 1/2 mile to go it feels like the feet are right behind me so I pick up the pace even more and see how long I can hold it.  There's a nice downhill and I pick up a bit more speed.  I hit mile 3 in 9:11, the fastest split yet, and I don't hear the feet behind me at all.  That last .1 mile takes 49 seconds and the feet never catch me and I hit my goal of a sub-30 5k in 28:49.  Very very happy with that.  This is not a fast time for a 5k by any means but it's a milestone for me, especially on tired legs.

There's a cool gizmo at the finish that you can type your bib number into and it spits out a receipt with your results.  So cool.  I'm a sucker for stuff like that and I'm happy that I don't have to wait around for my results.  My final time is 1:03:11 which is 3 minutes, 19 seconds faster than last year.  My run is 1:41 faster which doesn't sound like much but is a big improvement for me especially since I don't train for that type of run.  Feeling optimistic for Xterra Buffalo Creek in a week and a half.  Will get in a few more short, hard workouts and then next week I'll rest up.  Meanwhile I have an agility trial this weekend but only 2 runs per day and it's a small trial so I should be able to get some training in in the afternoons.

I have 2 more swim races at the Rez, one is the Bare Bones next Wednesday night put on by my masters group and the other is a 1.2 mile swim on Aug. 31st put on by the Without Limits folks who also do the Stroke-n-Strides and 2 of my Xterras.  Thought I was going to miss that last race because I also have an agility trial but I didn't sign up for Saturday's runs so turns out I can do it after all.  Hopefully I can pick up the pace a bit, I know I can swim faster than 1:58 and while I don't want to go too crazy on the swim at my Xterra's I'm sure I can go a bit faster and these upcoming races should help convince me of that.

Final Stats

Total:  1:03:11  (Last year 1:06:30)

Swim:  33:08 including beach run, 32:08 pure swimming (1:58/100 yards),  (Last year 34:13 including beach run, 32:59 pure swimming time (2:01/100 yards))

Lap 1:  15:53 mins./1:56 per 100 yards,   (Last year 16:38)
Beach Run: 1:00 guesstimate  (Last year 1:14)
Lap 2: 16:16 mins/ 1:59 per 100 yards  (Last year 16:21)

Transition:  1:16  mins.  (Last year 1:46)

Run: 28:49 mins. (Last year 30:33 (9:52 min./mile))

Mile 1:  9:25  (Last year 10:02)

Mile 2:  9:26  (Last year 10:05)

Mile 3:  9:11  (Last year 9:32)

Mile 0.1:  49 seconds  (Last year 54 secs.)

6/8 age group
23/40 female
64/87 overall

Making Strides at the Stroke-n-Stride

I have to confess a small amount of concern after last weekend's race.  I haven't had to rest on a kayak during the swim in a race for 5 years.  And that was a similar situation with cold water, high elevation and I ran out of breath.  When I went through my hypnotherapy training I volunteered to be 'demo dog' for most of the classroom demonstrations of techniques since no one else was interested in volunteering and I was quite happy to have all my problems fixed for free.  One of things I had the instructor work on was my panic during the swim of a race and it worked great.  Aside from the work he did I have other techniques I use to calm myself and up until last weekend I'd had no problem.  On the one hand I knew it was from being out of breath at high elevation before starting the race but on the other I was still a bit concerned.

So I entered this week's Stroke-n-Stride, an informal swim/run race that Racing Underground holds every week in the summer at the Boulder Reservoir.  I'd been meaning to go to at least one anyway and the one I tried to attend was cancelled due to high bacteria levels in the Rez. 

Last night was a perfect night for a race, overcast, not too hot and no storms/lightening to shut down the swim portion.

I did the swim portion of the race as a relay last year but this was my first time doing the full race on my own.  It's a very laid back race, meant more for practice than serious racing but it's a great way for me to work on my swim race and push myself during the run.

I chose the 1500 meter swim/5 k run format which is 2 loops with a short beach run in between.  Xterra Nat's. is 1500 meters so this was perfect practice.  I don't feel like I push myself enough on the swim and since this race is so short I can test out what it feels like to push myself a bit.  I also wanted to make sure I was confident swimming in a race, getting right back on the horse so to speak before my next real race.

I warmed up with plenty of time to get my heart rate back to normal before the race start.  I was a bit worried about being too warm in my full wetsuit in 74 degree water and high 80's air temp. but in the end I was o.k.  A little warm but nowhere near overheating to a dangerous level.

The goal for the race was negative splits, meaning a faster time per lap on the swim and per mile on the run as the race progressed.

The plan was to start the swim slowly, nice steady pace to build my confidence then pick up the pace for the second lap.  I wasn't nervous at the start and maybe 1/4-1/2 way to the first buoy I realized I was fine and picked up the pace to my normal race pace.  It was very crowded and I had to sight a lot more than I'm used to which can get tiring.  Eventually I latched onto some feet and followed a woman in a yellow cap almost to the finish until she veered way off course.  I beat her out of the water but halfway across the beach she caught up to me.  I decided to walk the beach portion since running would drive my heart rate up.  Several people ran past me then stood around a bit when they got in the water, probably catching their breath, and I passed them up right away never to see them again.

I managed to catch a draft here and there on the second lap, picked up my pace and started picking people off though the crowd had thinned a lot so it was only a person here or there.  My second lap ended up 17 secs. faster than my first so I was happy with that.  But my pace was so slow, 2:01/100 yards, the slowest time I've had in a long time.  Makes me wonder if the course was long.

I got confused in transition though, went to the wrong tree and couldn't find my gear and wasted a bit of time.  I also chose to put socks on.  Didn't need them for such a short race but wanted to get the practice in for my real races where I will need them.  But this was a time suck as well.

I was surprisingly out of breath for the start of the run and I never felt like I ever really caught my breath the whole rest of the race.  I'm not used to running flat courses and since it was flat and short I felt like I needed to run as hard as I could for the whole thing.

It's an out and back course so you can see all the other people ahead of you as they double back to the finish and near the turn-around I saw someone I know from masters who swims in my lane.  We're very close in swim ability so I was surprised she was as far ahead of me as she was but I realized I had lost a bit of time in transition and sure enough looking at the final numbers she was 9 seconds ahead of me out of the water but I lost another 12 seconds to her in transition.  But now I had someone to chase and I set my mind to catching her.  In the end I couldn't quite do it but the motivation of having someone to pace off of gave me a third mile split that was 23 seconds faster than the second mile and the negative split I was hoping for.  In the end I finished 35 seconds behind her.  I was happy with the negative split and the opportunity to get a good hard run practice in.  I wasn't so thrilled with my slow 5k time but I have to remember to stop comparing myself to how I ran in my 30's.  I can see it's going to take some patience and hard work to get my running form back but this was somewhat encouraging and gives me a baseline for comparison.  I've been training by heart rate on hills so I had no idea of my run pace on a flat course.

After the race was over I hung out for a bit, chatting with my masters lane mate and my transition area neighbor who was a guy in his 60's who's doing an Ironman in Louisville, Kentucky in 2 1/2 weeks.  I'm always inspired by this, gives me hope that I'll be able to continue with racing myself.  He said he was never a runner when he was younger, took up the sport at an older age and his running kept getting better and peaked in his 50's.  Age is not an excuse.

Overall had a great time, got in some great practice, feel confident again about my swimming.  There are 2 more races left this season and hopefully I'll be able to do at least one more.  So lucky to have such a great race just a 10 minute drive away.

Final Stats

The total time doesn't add up to the splits.  Don't know why since it was chip timed but oh well, it's only 2 seconds off.  The lap and mile splits came off my watch.

Total:  1:06:30

Swim:   34:13 including beach run, 32:59 pure swimming time (2:01/100 yards)

Lap 1:  16:38
Beach Run: 1:14
Lap 2: 16:21

Transition:  1:46

Run:  30:33 (9:52 min./mile)

Mile 1:  10:02

Mile 2:  10:05

Mile 3:  9:32

Mile 0.1:  00:54 secs.

2/4 age group
23/30 female
66/88 overall

Team Feat rocks the Stroke-n-Stride

My friend Amelia and I teamed up to do one of the weekly Stroke-n-Stride races down at the Boulder Rez.  They've been going on for years and I've never done one mostly because of the cost.  I can swim with the masters group for 'free' (I have a yearly pass) then go for a run on my own so why pay?  The fees are very reasonable-$20 if you sign up in advance.  It's a bargain and Racing Underground do a great job of putting on a fun event but still, free is more of a bargain.  Nonetheless I thought it would be fun to do it as a team and great practice for my open water tri's.  Amelia's a super speedy runner and she also wanted to a get a hard practice in.  It's easier to push yourself if you have a race and that's exactly the purpose of these races.  There aren't awards for individual races but they do keep a tally of your points from all the races and most amount of points at the end of the season in each age group gets an award.  So really these races are for training.

The other reason I've never bothered to do the Stroke-n-Stride is that it seemed so competitive.  I've looked at the finish times and worried that I would be slogging away by myself at the back of the pack and it wouldn't be very fun.  Lots of the uber competitive triathletes come out for these races to practice.

You have a choice of a 750 m/820.2 yard swim or 1500 m/1640.4 yard swim then the 5k run.  Since my tri race swims will be 1000 m/1100 yards and 880 yards I decided to do the 750 m swim.  I thought it would be fun to see how fast I could go for a short-ish swim and no bike and run afterwards.

The typical evening storms were starting to roll in and the skies at the other end of town looked downright ugly as I stood in the water waiting for the start.  But thankfully there was no thunder or lightning and the race went on with just enough cloud cover to make sighting the buoys easy.  I experimented with starting a little closer to the front but not in the heat of the pack.  I normally start further back but I think I seed myself too far back because then I have to fight my way through the people doing breast stroke and I think that's worse than a few faster people passing me.  The good news is I didn't feel the least bit afraid or nervous at the start and in fact was feeling pretty confident.  When the race started I had to sight a little bit more than normal because more people were around me and I didn't want to run into someone or get kicked but I managed the crowd no problem other than some butt slapping.  I wonder if there's any other sport where it's acceptable to slap a competitor on the ass?  I couldn't find any feet to draft off of though.  Every time I tried the person was too slow or swimming too erratically.  I was able to focus on my stroke a bit and not worry so much about the people around me.

The last buoy was a bit tricky, somehow I wasn't sure at first if I was headed towards the right one and I think I drifted a bit off course.  In order to motivate myself to go faster I picked out somebody to try to pass on the final stretch.  For the longest time it seemed I just couldn't catch him but as we got towards shore I finally passed him.  Ran across the beach to give the timing chip to Amelia and sort of wished I'd signed up for the longer race.  It was done before I could blink.

I changed into my running shoes and did a short run in the dirt at the side of the official race course while I waited to cheer Amelia in.  So many scary fast runners cruising past me.  I kept waiting for the slower folks to come plodding along but they never did.  I timed my run perfectly and Amelia came running for the finish just as I was nearly there myself.

I was kicking myself for not bringing my camera, rays of sun were poking through the dramatic cloud formations over the mountains.  It looked like something out of a painting.  Ah well, maybe next time.

Final Stats

Team Feat (a combination of our initials) came in 2nd out of 4 teams and 9th out of 113 overall (men and women).  The 1st place team came in 2nd overall and was about 4 minutes ahead of us.  Third place team came in 28th overall and was 4 minutes behind us.

I was 30/113 overall and would have been 1st in my age group by 1 minute, 21 secs. if they included the relay participants.

Amelia was 18th overall runner and also would have been 1st in her age group by 2 mins., 10 secs.

My time was 16:56 or 2:04/100 yards.  I'm a little disappointed with this, I was sure I'd go below 2:00 but it's good feedback for what to expect for my races.  Could be I went more off course than I realized.  My time for the 800 m/875 yard swim portion of the Lory Xterra from last year was 17:44 or 1:55/100 yards.  I suppose all of this depends on how accurate the course is measured and how closely I follow the course.  I followed that Lory course very closely, it was a simple out and back.  The Stroke-n-Stride course was more of a loop with the buoys further apart and only 3 of them for the whole course and thus harder to sight.

Overall a very fun race, great practice.  There's only one more race for the season and it's too close to my tri but I think I'll have to try to do more of them next year.  I can see the value now in practicing the swim in a race scenario plus it was fun.

DOCNA trial tomorrow.  Only one day but 6 runs outside.  Oh yes, and it's July so it'll be hot.  I know, DUH, but I wanted to get in at least one day of trialing in this month lest our skills completely vaporize.