Nothing like a reminder...

...of how much your training has sucked this year....and just when I was feeling a little better about things.

This morning I headed up to Evergreen which in just a couple of short weeks I will do my first tri of the season (It's the first year they have done a tri up there since the 90's) and well last year when I was feeling pretty good about things (and may not have fully appreciated the course profile (did they post it?)  it seemed like a good idea.

Me, Aimee and Kathleen before the ride

 I met Aimee and Kathleen who would be joining me in this journey both today and during the tri.  I knew going in that both of the ladies are much stronger riders than I but I hoped not to hold them up to much, of course I did. I really had not taken in to account the fact that the ride started at 7100' and went up about 900' to 8000'. Even though Denver is at 5200' it is still a difference.

Doesn't really look that bad does it?

Holy I can't breath. Add to the fact that I'm not a great climber and still coughing, especially when exercising and I may just die when I attempt this again......providing I survive the swim.

The view after we started our descent.

One of the last hills...I had thought we were done with the hills.

The final descent is crazy fast...we literally all had our brakes on as hard as we could and were still  moving crazy fast! Pathetically even though I hit some pretty good speeds at the end, my average speed was just over 10...and that of course does not include all of the breaks I had...Did I say I'm really excited to do this again?

Aimee and Kathleen getting ready to run...ok walk the course.

After we finished the bike we wondered around trying to figure out the run portion. We encountered something that I've never had happen before and thankfully we were warned by someone. There was a mama elk guarding her baby and was chasing after people. She was chasing a lady who had a stroller and a dog and Aimee being fearless was yelling at the elk and distracting her. Yea Aimee! Kathleen and I stayed back a bit but Aimee she was as tough as that Momma elk.  I think we ultimately figured out most of it (with many wrong turns) and it should be pretty tough too. Basically we had a nice little walk. The altitude difference seemed very evident on the run portion. I have little doubt I will be one of the final finishers of this event.

 I can't decide if I ignored the course description or just didn't read it when I signed up,  as it contains sentences such as these

"the lake will be chilly"
" the challenging 12 mile bike course"
" includes the stairs down and up the dam, reminiscent of the Escape from Alcatraz tri."

Stay tuned.....