It's just a hill...get over it! Denver Century Report

The day started pretty early since we planned to meet up at 5:30. I crawled out of bed at about 4:15 after not having slept well at all. But what a beautiful morning it was. Cool with an amazing sunrise peaking around the corner of Invesco, home of the Denver Broncos, where the ride would start.

We started the ride with 5 of us. Kathleen, Sarah, Paul, Jill and myself. Kathleen and Paul being the strongest riders were soon gone. Sarah, Jill and I were together until the first aide station were Jill and I stopped to potty, and have a couple of adjustments made to Jill’s bike and Jill talked the very nice young man into keeping her jacket for her until she could pick it up at their shop later in the week. Then it was time for the climb up Lookout that Jill and I had completed a few weeks ago. It felt much easier this time around we went all the way up with no stops and I once again narrowly avoided getting hit by a deer jumping across the road. We then hit one of the best down hills of the ride. I saw speeds of between 30-35mph which for me is crazy fast, but of course there were people passing us. Always at those speeds I have to force myself not to think about what would happen if I crashed. As you ride next to Red Rocks amphitheater and down into Morrison it is gorgeous.

Morrison is such a cute little town although kind of hectic to try and ride through but is only a few blocks. As we left Morrison we came to the 2^nd aid station where we met up with the whole group.

Sarah, Paul, Kathleen, Me, Jill

We tried not to spend much time hanging around but let me just say they had the biggest brick of cream cheese I have ever seen in my entire life and it tasted so good mounded on one of the freshest bagels I’ve ever had. TO–DIE-FOR! Continuing on in the beauty that is our backyard, we headed through what I guess is the lower part of Deer Creek canyon where the views were not to be believed.

I forget how spectacular the area around Denver is. You get a whole different view of it from the seat of a bike. As we exited back out of the canyon area, remember what comes down must go back up, we came to the 3^rd aid station and I think this may have been the point that Jill started to say some unkind words about me, although we look happy enough.

Me I was just wanting to get passed the turn off at 50ish miles mark that would take you back on the metric century route so that I could no longer have that as an option. Things leveled out briefly as we made our way toward a suburb of Denver that both Jill and I have come to dislike quite intensely. (I believe Jill said she would not live there even if you gave her a house!) It is I guess what is called “rolling hills” although they seemed to roll more up then down. It was during this point and miles 50 to 55ish that I had a pain in my toes on the left foot that was so sharp I truly thought I was going to cry. I kept moving my foot around and was able to relieve some of the pain and finally we reached the 4^th aid station and the start of what would be the last really tough climb of the ride. As soon as I walked around my foot was fine and I had no other real pain for the rest of the ride.

Jill was defiantly saying bad things about me now...and I was getting conflicting reports on just how long this hill was going to be. It went up and up and up some more, at least it seemed that way. But we did eventually hit the top and then turned back towards home or at least Invesco. The ride to the next aid station was pretty uneventful. It was not that pretty and not that difficult although the wind had picked up a little and we were pretty much out in the middle of nowhere.I kept wondering what this street was doing in the middle of nowhere and exactly where were all the cars on it were going We soon hit mile 77, our next aide station and Jill decided on quick nap.

Ok not really she actually had a brief moment of not feeling so well, but was able to conquer that quickly and we once again moved on. As you can tell Jill and I pretty much stuck together and would run into the others at the aid stations. Sometimes it was everyone, sometimes just Sarah. At time during the ride Jill and I would chat and others we just rode and went deep into our own thoughts (or private hell which ever you prefer. ) It wasn’t long before we reached the final aid station at mile 87. By this time some glorious clouds had come out and it looked as we could get a bit a rain. I was amazed how good I felt and the sentiments were echoed by Jill and a guy standing next to us. The last miles were on a bike path that both Jill and I were familiar with and we got behind a group of other bikers and we moved right along. Thankfully the path was not that busy and we were able to finish the ride strong. As we got close to the finish I remarked to Jill that I was not going to quite make 100 miles and I discussed the idea of riding around a little to get that last ½ mile or so... I then decided that it really wasn’t that important to me and I just wanted to get off my bike. As we neared the finish line we cut to the right towards the parking lot instead of actually going across the finish line. We put our bikes away, changed our shoes and I replied to a text from my Dad saying we were done and headed for burgers and beer. Imagine my surprise when we rounded a corner and there were my Mom and Dad. They had been waiting at the finish line to see us. It was so good to see them I felt terrible that we didn’t actually go across so they could see us.

We chatted with them for a moment and then headed off to buy an event jersey which I somewhere along the line decided I needed as this was my first Century and then over for that burger and beer and a chat with Sarah and Paul.

We didn’t hang out to long as all of began to get pretty tired. When I arrived home I found this waiting for me.

A gift from my oldest son, It of course thrilled me that he left this for me (the boys are out of town with their dad) and that he remembered how much I love the chili/chocolate combo. How thrilled I am to have so much support from my family.

The day was a raging success and I thank all of those that rode with me and helped me to be able to finish it. I have to say that I cannot imagine a better experience. I never really felt like I hit the wall. There were some miles that were hard sure, but I never really wanted to quit (although I joked about it) or felt like I wouldn’t make it. I credit Jill with much of the credit for keeping my spirits light. One day after and although I’m tired (didn’t sleep well again) and STARVING I feel great. I’ve got no soreness to speak of and can’t believe my legs feel as good as they do...not to mention my a$$! :)

Summary

99.32 miles 7 hours and 35 minutes ride time (started my garmin late so these are from my bike computer)
Average pace 13.1 Top speed 38.5

Heart Rate 118 Ave 153 Max
5057 calories burned...I hope this is true because between Sunday and today I've consumed at least that many extra!

Favorite quotes of the day:

From Jill-
“If I had a gun.. I would shoot you!”
“We must have climbed at least one fourteener today”

Random lady at the first aid station talking to the mechanic.
“I’m having a problem with my gears, I knew before I started they were going....”

Random girl met in the bathroom line and then passed by on the ride.
“I’ll have my eye on you Julie” after I said I couldn’t wait to get passed the 50 mile turn off to do the metric century, thus avoiding the temptation to cut the ride short.

“I can’t wait to find out about the octopus” as she passed me at mile 70ish...referring to the fact she was reading on the back of my shirt in the potty line.

Random people in the bathroom line at aide station 4.
Random person #1“I heard there were 2 more miles of climbing”
RP#2 “Wow because I heard 20 more”
RP#3 “That’s funny because I heard 12 more miles”

Random guy at final aide station
“AMEN SISTA!”

Now...to somehow talk these wonderful ladies into an all women’s century (or metric century) coming up in August.....

Three thing Thursday?

I’ve never done Three thing Thursday before although many of you do but it seems like just the think I need right now to get a quick post done.

1. This weekend is the Denver Century! I’m pretty nervous excited! Mostly because I will be riding with Kathleen and Jill and a couple of others so should be a good time if I can keep up! I hope that the fact that the longest ride I’ve had is 67 miles is not a problem. :) It will be interesting to see just what it’s like riding with all of these riders, especially when we get to the portion that takes place on the bike paths. In addition to all the people doing the DC you will have all the people who are just out enjoying the day that is supposed to be beautiful 80 degrees.

2. Let’s talk socks and tri shorts. The socks I usually wear for biking and running work just fine, I’ve never had any issues with blisters or any other kind of problems. What I do have a problem with is getting them on my feet in transition. They are kind of tight and end up all twisted and are just generally a pain in the butt to get on wet feet in a hurry. So the question is this, do you have a brand/type you like? Do you go without? For the bike and the run? If you go without on the bike do you have tri shoes or road bike? Next up are the shorts. I noticed in my tri last weekend that my tri shorts were actually a little baggy. I was thinking that I might need to invest in some better ones for the HIM anyway, so tell me what kind you like?

3. Last but not least I wanted to say thanks to everyone for all the kind comments on my last (and really all of) post. It means a lot to me that you take the time to read about what I’m doing and cheer me on as well as answer my silly questions. I’m amazed by how great the blogging community is and it’s been so much fun to meet people that I otherwise never would have met. And it’s been fantastic to actually become friends with some of you! I also want to say that I read most of your posts (occasionally I get to busy and skip some) but with this new comment issue it’s made commenting a problem. While I’ve “fixed” it on my home computer by changing to Google Chrome. I don’t want to change my work computer and I often read blogs on my lunch hour, thus no comments unless I have time to make it back to blogs in the evening. So thanks again for spending of your time with me!

Sunrise Sprint - Race Report

Or how nice of the fast girls to stay home!

Or is 666 my lucky number?

The Colorado weather finally decided to warm up this last week which is fantastic but it was not enough to warm the water at the Rez much. I spent a few minutes hours this last week worrying about getting in the water for my first open water swim. I called the recording at the Rez once numerous times to check the water temps. "The water temps are 61 degrees and the deep end of the swim beach will not open unitl the temps reach 64"...great I can hardly wait. I gave a little thought to changing to the Du when I was reminded about it after seeing a post from Aimee at I Tri To Be Me but then decided I might as well bite the bullet and get in the water as I'm not sure I'll have another chance before the Boulder tri series kicks off in two weeks.

At packet pickup I checked the roster and find there are only about 7 people in my age group. This is a pretty small race, which would make it that much nicer to use as a "practice race". After arriving home I figure it must be time to find all my stuff, that's been hiding since last season. Luckily it came together pretty easy and I didn't forget anything. I slept really great which I was surprised at, must be due to the fact that I really wasn't thinking of this as a race just a brick workout and a chance to get things together. I did start getting a little nervous on my way up and it was really nice that when I got into transition and looked over two rows who should I see but Aimee setting up her area.

Me and Aimee

She has a very calming way about her and I felt like I instantly relaxed. As I set up my area I joked with a few of the ladies around me. It was nice and relaxed and they were a friendly group. Before long we headed down to the swim beach thinking we were getting ready to go...but that was not to be as apparently the ambulance had not shown up yet and we were being delayed. Not wanting to get in the water to early we just stood around and chatted some.I had a gel and wished for some water to wash it down with. Finally it appeared we were getting close to starting so it could be put off no longer I headed down to the water. I slowly made my way in...standing on my tiptoes and holding my arms out of the water (I have a sleeveless wetsuit) as I lost feeling in my feet adjusted to that I decided it was time to go under. Shocking yep that's what it was....do it again...and again...swim a few feet...ok I think we can do this. Finally about a half hour late we were finally set to go. I was in the last wave of 6. Things started out a little slow, I just couldn't quite get going. I couldn't find a rhythm and breathing was a bit of a struggle. I could tell though that I was staying with the group as I approached the first turn I was finally getting it together some and I was passing some of the slower people from the wave before me. At the next and last turn we joined those doing the olympic distance, I just kept my head down and kept swimming. I felt like I did a fairly good job of sighting and swam all the way in. It was a run up the hill and into T1.

SWIM- 750m- 19:38

I was happy to see that what appeared to be almost all the bikes were still there. I was really shaky in T1 which was very weird. I don't know if it was the cold or what, but could feel my hands shaking and I felt a little unsteady, I sat down to dry my feet and put my shoes on, I was worried at first about the unsteady feeling but went about my business and headed out. Note to self...work on transitions

T1 3:18 (yea I know)

Heading out of the Rez there is a hill, not a huge hill but hill and I always struggle with, cold from the swim and don't have my legs yet I decided that I would just spin easy and warm up a little. The first 6 miles of this ride is a steady gradual uphill, I continued to spin and was happy to find that I was passing some people. I continued to try to keep a high cadence on the bike but to also push it a little. This year I'm trying to learn a little bit more about just how all those gears on my bike work. I was feeling really good on this ride I went back and forth with one guy, he ultimately passed me and I couldn't catch him but he finished in my sights, and I was feeling good knowing he had started long before me. Until we joined up with the olympic riders I really wasn't passed at all and I was watching for women in my age group and never saw any. I felt really good every time I passed a 20 or 30 something female. I really have to say I felt pretty strong on this ride. I feel like I pushed but I'm pretty sure hoping that I didn't give it my all and that I will be able to do it a little faster in 2 weeks. One thing to work on is not getting sucked into riding along behind someone because I don't think I have enough in me to pass. I need to just give it a go and if they end up passing me again, so be it.

Bike 1:00:34- 17.2 miles (17.2 mph)

Again, way to much time. All though I hadn't noticed on the bike as soon as I put on my shoes I could tell that my toes or more the whole front of my foot on both feet but mostly my right were pretty darn numb. Not really sure why that is. Usually if I have a problem it's on my left foot and it's a little different feeling.

T2 2:12 (yep still sucky!)

Right out of T2 I hit the port-a-potty. It would be really good if I could learn to hold it for a sprint, and truthfully I probably could have but I always worry that I'll get out there and not have a bathroom. Again at the start of the run is a hill...I hate hills, biking running it doesn't matter I hate hills...I tried to run but I believe I had a bit of a walk break. There were lots of people around me but again all of them were olympic, and fast. I was feeling pretty good for the most part and just kept plugging along. I had a few walk breaks, passed up the first water station but had another gel and some water when I passed it on the way back. As usual the run is hard for me although I felt like I did ok. Again I pushed myself but I'm hoping that I can pick it up a little in two weeks. It was nice to pass Aimee (the Du started long after all the tri waves) in the first mile of her 2nd run, as I was in the last mile of mine. Gave me a little pick me up.

Run 5k - 35:02 (11:18 pace)

Total 2:00:42 (I find it funny that the first place guy in the Oly finished in 2:00:40)

After seeing Aimee finish I went over to check the on the results, imagine my surprise when I was listed as second in my age group! I had thought there was a possibility of being close to the top, I mean after all there were only 7 of us! The girl in first was wayyyy faster than I and actually ended up placing 3rd in the overall awards so you know what that means....FIRST PLACE IN MY AGE GROUP!!!!

As I was the only one there I felt a little ridiculous and didn't give Aimee much time to snap a picutre.

Wow...how about the bags under those eyes!

Apparently 666 is a lucky number for me.

What's for Dinner? Sweet Potato Crust Pizza

This recipe comes from Jason over at Cook Train Eat Race as part of his Athlete's Plate series, where he puts together menus for different bloggers. He has some awesome food as well as information on top of being a fantastic athlete. Make sure to check him out if you don't already follow him. I cut this recipe in half as I was making it for only myself and didn't need the temptation of to much around. I thought this was very good although it wasn't exactly pizza to me as I love my dough crust. :) But the nutty/sweet flavor was fantastic. I would really like to try and make this crust into a cracker as I think it would be fabulous with some of my spicy pumpkin hummus!

Red quinoa before grinding

Red quinoa after grinding. I could have ground this a little finer but I liked the texture.


Sweet Potato Crust Pizza
Serves 8
Ingredients:
2 C mashed sweet potatoes, (will take 2 large potatoes)
2.5 C quinoa flour (raw quinoa blended in a high-speed blender until flour-like, or you can purchase from most stores),
I added a bit of whole wheat flour becuase I was just a little short of having enough quinoa.
2 tsp baking powder,
.25 C cold water,
2 T olive oil,
dash of sea salt,




1/2c Low-Fat Ricotta Cheese,
and pizza topping of your choice. I used spinach, onions, red peppers and mushrooms as well as Parmesan cheese.
Directions:
Process all ingredients (not incl. ricotta, tomoatoes, garlic or asiago) in a food processor. Once combined, place dough in bowl and use hands to form 2 balls. On a baking sheet (silicone, or pizza stone) roll dough into circular shape about .25 inch thick. Should yield 2 - 8" crust.


In a preheated oven, bake crust at 400 degrees for 10 minutes. Remove from oven.
Spread ricotta cheese thinly over crust then toppings and cheese over the top and place pizza back in oven until cheese melts.

What a weekend! And the Bolder Boulder 2011!

It's a long one....

The weekend started out with another long and hilly training ride for the Denver Century. This weekend I joined a group of riders that were training for the DC including a girl I've come to know through Kathleen, Sarah is the one that pushed me to finish the Denver R n' R 1/2 marathon in October. We were riding another part of the DC course and it was almost as much climbing as the previous ride. This was just spread out a little more with climbs all the way to the end. There were a few dark parts...I really need to work on the whole nutrition thing. Between miles 45-55 my right quad was feeling like it wanted to cramp up and I was a little worried. After stopping at mile 54 where I inhaled some trail mix and a Gatorade and stretched a little things started looking back up, which is good since we were going up hill again. It was in fact a very nice ride and I enjoyed my first experience riding with a group. It challenged me to work hard and I was able to end the 62 mile ride with a 14.2 mph average with which I was very pleased.

Elevation profile for Saturday's ride.

I decided to take Sunday as a rest day...ok I didn't really decide to...I just was to lazy to go do anything. My legs were a little tired from the ride but no soreness at all which was good. Finally Sunday night I decided I might want to give a little thought to the Bolder Boulder coming up on Monday. As I said in the prior post this was just going to be a training run. For those of you who don't know about the Bolder Boulder it a crazy little race made up of some 55,000 thousand racers in 91 waves. Amazing race, amazingly organized.

Just a few people in front of us.

We were starting in wave MM. I ran this race with the same girl I ran it with last year. I told her this year though that she really needed to keep running if I couldn't keep up. We both were hoping to set a PR.

It's not an easy course as you can see from the elevation profile, it's pretty much either up or down and they had changed the course this year so that you started out going up instead of a short flat.

One of my favorite costumes..there were actually several more of these guys wandering around these two were nice enough to pose.

The clouds were ominous and looked as if the rain could bust open any minute. In fact at one point right before we lined up some huge and I mean huge raindrops came down and then quit almost immediately it was the strangest thing. Before long we were at the start and off we went. Dodging in and out of people and trying to run the best we could. There are so many bands and so many people on the sides as well as running that it really helps to take your mind off of the running part.

A little bit of 80's pace booty.

I felt like I was running hard, I walked the water stops but tried to run most of the rest, although there were walk breaks in there trying to get around people. I felt pretty good up until around mile 5. At that point I saw a girl who was stretching and maybe puking...I couldn't decide, but at the thought of it my stomach got a little queasy...luckily it wasn't long before something distracted me and I forget about that whole thing. And then mile 6...it's a tuff one. Yep uphill. Much walking was involved although I kept trying to tell myself I only had one mile to go and I should run. Finally up the last hill and into Folsom field where the race finish was. The stands were filling up and it's a pretty cool feeling to run in.

Official time has me at 1:11:16 which is a 10k PR for me by 3 minutes. (The previous being back in 2008 on a much easier course.)

Enjoying the post race beer while watching some of the finishers. The wind was picking up though and it was quite chilly when you are all sweaty so we didn't stick around long enough to see the elite runners.

Race stats
Division place 213 out of 464
Gender place 11447 out of 26319
mile 1 11:14
mile 2 11:11
mile 3 11:55
mile 4 11:23
mile 5 11:16
mile 6 11:50
net time 1:11:15
pace 11:29 (based on net time)
The Garmin shows that I actually ran 6.37 miles for an average pace of 11:11.

All in all a productive weekend...except still no swimming...must get to the pool more this week! Thanks for taking the time to read or skim my rambling!

F is for..

Freakin Fantastic…I got my RUN EMZ shirt! I’m sure that most of you have read the story of EMZ and her 24 hour treadmill run, but if you haven’t go read it…all 4 parts you might want to have the Kleenex ready and then go and donate if you can.

Blurry photo with swim google eyes!

Frightened…I seem to have put a lot on my plate for the next four weeks. 1-10k 2-Sprints and 1 Century ummm yea that seems a little crazy to this girl. The 10k and one of the sprints will just be “training” so I’m going to try not to stress over them. And of course the Century is just a bike ride…a long ride but a ride none the less.

Funny…have you read Jill’s account of our epic ride this last weekend? It is very funny, you should read it.

Fantasizing….that I too am going to be off for summer vacation like the kids.

Failing…the heart rate monitor on my Garmin has been really weird. It only seems to register my HR when it feels like it. I’ve changed the battery and that didn’t seem to make a difference, is it possible that the sensors in the chest strap die or something? Note that I have a verrrryyy old Garmin.

Falsehood,...I might have told a small one when I said that I’m counting the Bolder Boulder as a training run….I really would like to set a PR. Really that shouldn’t be that hard. 1:14 is my 10k PR with a 1:17 at the BB last year. I’m actually hoping to get closer to 1:08ish but anything better then the 1:14 would make me happy especially since I will have a long ride on Saturday there will be no tapering or resting to speak of and it’s “just a training run”.

Feeling…like my training is going pretty good for so far, although I MUST get to the pool more often. I keep thinking I have plenty of time before the 70.3 but it’s now only 75 days away.
Free…of injuries! I’m feeling really good with pains at all!

Food…can’t seem to get enough.

Previous alphabet posts G, J, T, and W can be viewed here

Lookout Mountain Conqured!

So I posted on Jill's ( Run with Jill ) blog last week that I had a long ride to do this weekend and would she be interested in joining me? She quickly replied yes she was up for it! I've never met Jill and was excited at the prospect... that is until she suggested we ride the 62 mile course of the Denver Century coming up in a few weeks, which includes Lookout mountain. You may recall that in a post from a few weeks ago I took a picture looking up the mountain wondering how I would possibly be able to make it up this mountain. So at this point while I was still excited to meet Jill the idea of the ride was quite frightening to me, "fine" I said "go ahead and make me face my fear". So we met up to head out on our adventure, after we spent several minutes deciding how we would dress. Although the day was warm we really didn't know what we would encounter being out so long. We rode along pretty easily just chatting and getting to know each other. We were definitely out for saddle time and not speed. Jill says she is a runner not a cyclist and me...well I'm just playing dress up and having fun. Before long we reached the start of the real climb.

Jill playing with the maps.

UP we go!

We studied it a little had a Cliff shot stripped off another layer (we had removed one at an earlier stop) took the above pics and decided we might as well get started. Turns out I had every reason to be scared of this climb. In fact some where around now I told Jill that way back when, when I was learning to drive they made me drive this road, I was just as scared then as I was today.

The picture above was at our 1st rest break on the climb. I believe at this point I asked another rider if we were 1/2 way...she said no we still had quite bit to go...I blocked the part out about how many more miles.... So we just kept plugging away and I gotta tell you if I didn't have a triple I don't know if I would have made it. As we got closer to the top there were at least some flats (or what seemed like flats) between the inclines. Twice these crazy kids went flying by us on skateboards. I can not imagine how fast they were going.

Success! We made it to the top! In this picture if you look close (click on it to make it bigger) I was down by the football field when I took the picture here looking up at the M and we were now above that!

As you can see we had started putting layers back on. It was pretty cold up on top!

Jill and I

After some picture taking and admiring the gorgeous view we soon got back on our bikes to head down. It was pretty chilly going down the hill, in fact it felt colder then I ever did on my ride last weekend.

Jill took this photo of me as we were riding by Red Rocks Amphitheater
Jill studying the map again.

Once down we had a some confusion on where we were suppose to go. We headed up one step which turned out to be incorrect and had some of the most difficult cross winds I've ever dealt with. You literally had to lean into them to keep from going over it was crazy! And then of course since it was wrong we had to turn around and go back through them. Eventually found our way to the bike path that would take us back home. There were some pretty good head winds but nothing like the crosswinds.

Elevation profile not including the first 8ish miles when I had forgotten to start my Garmin.

This picture pretty much sums up how we felt having just finished 67 miles in 5:20 ride time which was both Jill and I's longest ride to date. Jill was smart enough to have a hat handy. Hey it was a tuff ride! :)