Vashon Island

I came out to Vashon Island, WA on Friday night for a quick 4 day trip with the family. It's been roasting in Denver, 17 days in a row above 90 as of today, but it's been nice and cool here. Which is a good thing since the outdoor pool hear is friggin hot. I swam 4500y Saturday then 4000y Sunday morning before a track workout in the afternoon. Felt a bit tired for that one due to the swim but still ran fine. Ran 4x1mile on 2 min breaks. Took the bookends easier with the middle 2 harder. Ran 5:17, 5:02, 5:01, 5:17.
Today back to the pool. It was only 62 with a little rain so made swimming in the hot tub easier and it felt fine today.
A couple interesting articles today. One is that there will be 4 "experts" who will evaluate athletes based on how they look and determine if they need to be scientifically tested to verify their femininity. Then the scientific testing will be comprised of blood tests etc. Can't they just take a peek down there or do they expect men to be getting surgical procedures to appear as women as well?
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/sport/olympics/article4419301.ece
At least some scientific testing money is being well spent however as the IOC will be saving athlete's drug testing samples for eight years. I've never really understood why this hasn't been the norm. Better drug tests will presumably be developed over the next few years so why not keep athlete's samples until we have those tests. Obviously there is a cost component as well as the half lives of samples component but it still seems like a great step. If we had Lance's samples from his Tour days then we could likely know down the road once and for all whether he was clean. If I was an athlete in his position I would pay to have my samples stored so that they could be tested in the future.
http://www.usatoday.com/sports/olympics/beijing/2008-07-28-ioc-drug-testing_N.htm

Boulder Peak

So I finally had the race I've been waiting for and I caught a great day for 8th at Boulder Peak. I raced terribly here last year, finishing way back and wilting in the heat so I wanted to redeem myself and have a good one this year.
Race Day
Pros started at 9am and it was a 100 degree day so it was already hot. On the warm up swim I decided that it would be prudent to swim and bike hard where I'd be least affected by the heat. Then I could sacrifice 1min on the run if I had to since I figured I can always run fairly fast no matter what the conditions but that running extra fast around 5:25 pace could lead to a heat related breakdown.
Swim
I committed myself to going out very hard so got out well at the gun and was in decent position although I wasn't on anyone to draft off of. I caught my teammate Matt Balzer about halfway through which I knew was a good sign. I felt very good, very in control so swam hard to the finish and got out in 20th.
Velo
Took it easy the 1st minute to get the legs going then started going for it. Felt good and got into a rythme on the steady climb that leads to Old Stage. Worked well up the hill, I was cruising well without having to really crush it and at the top Will Kelsay told me I was in 17th place. Cranked down the hill and my favorite section to US36 where you can hold 35mph without really trying. Kept the effort very consistent and steadily passed guys until I rolled back to the res. Looked at my watch and it was just over 1:00. I was pumped! I've ridden 1:05 or so in the past at the Peak so this was a huge bike breakthrough. Got off with the 4th fastest bike of the day - 1:01:25 / 25.5mph.
Run
I felt very good going into the run but didn't want to push too early and risk blowing up with the heat. I threw all advice out the window and drank 2 full size water bottles on the bike since I've had dehydration issues in the past and I never seem to get a sloshing feeling in my stomach. As soon as I started running I knew this was a good decision as I really wasn't feeling the heat at all yet. Hit the 1st mile at 5:28 which was very good since I wasn't pushing very hard. From there I was able to basically hold that pace as it felt increasingly hard, mostly due to the heat. Passed some of the very fast swimmers then caught teammate Brandon Rakita. So I was in 8th and it was a ways up to 7th. I decided not to really hammer it since it felt like I may blow up if I did. Kept the effort going at just under 5:30 pace and was able to hold that to the end. Thanks to the Practical Coaching crew and many of the pros I know for cheering me on, it certainly helped. Finished with a run just under 34:00, 7th fastest for the day.

This race was a big confidence booster as it was a stacked field so 8th is a very solid result. I've had some good races this season but I didn't feel like any of them were great until this one. I've had good fitness all season and it felt good to get a race where I clicked on all 3 disciplines and was really able to show my fitness. This race was a big confidence booster for the bike so I'll be ready to push that hard with reckless abandon for my next race.

Boulder Peak Prep

Boulder Peak is this Sunday so I'm focused on that right now. Looks like it will be a stacked field with the late additions of Matt Reed, Shane Reed, and Peter Robertson. I had a great run workout Monday night. 10 mile run with 4x1mile on 2min breaks. Ran 5:17, 5:10, 5:11, 5:12 without pushing it, just staying smooth.
This week the workouts will shorten a bit but the intensity will stay up. Don't want to rest the legs too much or they'll feel dead come Sunday. You lay off too much and the legs seem to get used to it and it's hard to get back up to that high intensity. I'll be doing the Stroke and Stride tomorrow night. I'll swim HARD to keep practicing on that but I won't push the run at all. Then I should be good to go for the weekend.

Boulder Stroke and Stride

Had a hard week of training with the Stroke and Stride mixed in on Thursday.
At the S&S I had a poor swim, our team decided not to wear wetsuits to get a bit more used to going au natural which Boulder Peak should be for the pros next week. The tough thing of not wearing one at a S&S is you gotta get out hard without one or you'll get caught in the scrum. Matt got out great and I wasn't on it so I was stuck getting whacked around for the 1st loop. Got outta the water and Cyrus was there and I saw my shot - if I could sprint by the 5 people ahead I could swim on my own. Did that and started rolling on the 2nd lap til I somehow sighted very very poorly and ended up surrounded by boats in the marina area (way off course). Back on course and all was good. Once I got on shore I was laying it down. Inexplicably, I felt great and felt like I was on the track back in my running only days. Passed a load of people but couldn't quite catch that last guy so I finished in 2nd...but....15:59 for the 5k run so I was pumped with that. Now if only I can run that pace for 10k in the heat at Boulder Peak...
Rewarded myself with a Bud Light Lime which somehow I was tempted to buy even though I pretty much hate all popular American beer brands(panther piss as George calls it). I must admit, the BL Lime came through.
The next day we rode a bike workout at the crit loop. Started 30 seconds apart and rode 4x2 loops. I was sluggish on the 1st - 7:50, on the 2nd Matt blew by and that got me riled up so I passed him back and rode 7:25 - mucho better. 7:24 for the next then 7:40 to close it out as the legs said "Naw-aww." This workout is the reason why the team is great, I wouldn't have sucked it up and forced the legs if I was on my own.
Boulder Stroke and Stride #6 Results(select 1500M swim 5K run)

Coo July

Somehow Denver hasn't been roasting for once. Been nice weather without any terribly hot days. Almost a lil chilly tonight.
Seems like our ski sales turned a corner as there's been a major pickup since July hit. There were some hurtin weeks in May and June but now it seems that people are thinking of winter once again. We were just selling on eBay up until this spring for the most part but after some hard work we got a first class site going to sell them on our own - MileHighAthletic.com. The investment is paying off as now about 2/3 of our sold skis are from the site. It will be a good fall for us if that keeps up.
Great pool workout tonight. Main set of 2 broken 200y (15 second break at each 50) then 2 broken 100y (10 second break at each 25). Swam big pb's of 2:00 then 1:59 for the 200's without the breaks. Then swam 57's for the 100's. Worked hard for it though and I'll be paying tomorrow. Got a morning swim of 25x100y then an afternoon swim of about 5000y on the schedule.
I've always swam every 3 strokes and when I was in Aspen I figured I swim every 2 due to the altitude. I felt way better doing that so now am swimming 2,3,2,3 and feel way better. I don't feel like I'm on the brink of death coming off the wall everytime. To confirm that this is a good move I noticed the Oly Trials distance swimmers breathing every 2 strokes as well so I'll trust them.

Aspin

Amy and I drove out to Aspen for the weekend to join Talor, Martha and their friend Doug for some training. Before we left I swam a 900m (should be very close to a 1000y) time trial in 12:20, a solid time for me.
Got to Aspen, went for a run and felt terrible, legs were hurtin.
For dinner it was classic Aspen. We got burritos at a stand and for no apparent reason the server said they were on the house when they were done. Sweet, but I felt kind of bad taking free food from a buy working late at a burrito stand. So just as I'm about to insist that we pay the server's buddy shows up and they start talking about real estate. The buddy says he wants to buy something and our server goes "You should look near my place, there's a house 2 down that's for sale for 900k and that's a great deal, it's just like mine and I paid $1.3 million 2 years ago." Ok so maybe I don't feel so bad taking the food.
Rode the next day (yesterday) with our whole group. My legs still felt quite bad, anytime I went to really ride hard they had this nasty feeling in em like they were infected with something. I was going to ride or swim later in the day but called it a training day once we finished the ride. The ride was sweet though - from Snowmass Village to Maroon Bells, great rode and very little traffic.
Today I felt ready to hammer and get a good workout in. Same ride as yesterday (a bit lame but I wanted some intensity). Rode hard from the last speed bump/dip at the T Lazy 7 Ranch to the Maroon Bells gates at the end of the road - 24:11 for the time, I felt great and was cruisin.

Vernal is bomb

So I'll admit, I didn't know what a race in Vernal Utah was going to be like but it turned out to be sweet. Vernal is the best race site EVER! Jocelyn and I drove out together and were pumped when we got to the race site. Check it:

I jumped on in the water for a pre-swim. Water was nice, perfect temp without a wetsuit.
Here's more lake pics:


Went Subway and to bed, a bit late 11pm but ahh well.
Race day - Jocelyn and I were sweatin it as a wait for a bus from T2 to T1 (15min drive). Where's the bus! We jump into my car to drive it, make it a block and there's the bus. Got to T1 with 25min to the race but then they decided to delay the start so we were all good.
Race started and I was NOT feeling good. Onto Jocelyn's feet about 1min into the swim anddddd..... I stayed there the entire swim. Tried to move ahead at one point to lead us (she doubts this claim) but I was hurtin. Onto the bike and wasn't feeling it early on, was catching Matt Balzer who was in sight but it wasn't fun. About 20min into the bike I got by him and started feeling better. Hit a long uphill where I felt pathetic - in the small ring and riding at what felt like 6mph. But I was catching guys much faster at this point. Got by super swimmer Adam Truex and into what I think was 5th place. There were 2 guys just ahead and I was working on catching them when....pshhhhhh.....there goes the air in my rear tire. Jump off to fix it with my Vittoria fix a flat device and it was missign the #$%#$ piece that actually attaches to the valve to put the air and sealant in my tire. Balzer goes by me and I'm in a cloud of white sealant as the stuff is spraying everywhere! So that was that, the flat was flat and the race was done. Hitched a ride back to watch the finish.
Naturally I was down but everyone on the team did awesome so I felt better. Rakita - 2nd place, Pete - 3rd place, Matt - 5th place then Jocelyn came in in 2nd. So all that cheered me up and I felt better. Plus we were all having a fun time on the trip and the camping was good so it was fine.
Did some nice training the next day. We could roll out of our tents and straight into the lake for open water swimming. It may be my new favorite open water swim lake. It's large and in charge but there's not too many boats so you're all good as long as you're reasonably near shore.


The lake was high but once you swam through the thicket and trees it was smooth sailing.
That's my trip to Vernal!