Reworking the Race Schedule

Earlier this month, Racing Underground, the organizers behind the Crescent Moon triathlon posted the following to the event’s webpage:

 

"Arapahoe County is no longer allowing bicycle events to take place on East Quincy, effectively ending the era of triathlons at the Aurora Reservoir. It's a bummer - we have been organizing triathlons at the Aurora Reservoir since the summer of 2,000!

We presented a plan to the reservoir 4 months ago to hold the event entirely within the park, but it was shot down by homeland security regulations in October because it passed too close to the water treatment facility

We immediately submitted plans to bring the race to a new venue, and it looked very promising, however it fell through just this week. Unfortunately, at this late date we will not be able to produce the Crescent Moon Triathlon in 2016. Many of you are already planning your season, and we had set January 1st as the deadline to open registration.

We are already putting together a plan to bring you a bigger and better Crescent Moon Tri in 2017. We will keep you posted!!!"

 

There is also this recent Denver Post article that discusses the decision made by the Arapahoe County commissioners.

This effectively makes Aurora Reservoir a non-venue for triathlons despite having several natural advantages such as a very clean lake and a running trail. As noted in the article, homeland security regulations prohibit having the bike course take place inside the grounds. 

Not said, but certainly inferred by me is the message this sends generally about cyclists on Quincy Road. I’ve done many a training session out there and had always thought of it as a safe place. However, I am very cynical about the way the average driver views a cyclists they encounter. At best, they are totally unaware of them and at worst (too often) they are viewed with hostility. I am not at all persuaded that this latter group will feel dissuaded from acting aggressively toward cyclists given the stance by county leaders. Suffice it to say, I won’t be going near this area out of an abundance of caution.

For me personally, that affects my racing schedule and required that I find a replacement race. Not surprisingly, the group that came through is Without Limits. They’ve expanded what they dub the Colorado Sprint Triathlon to include an Olympic Distance and it’s scheduled for June 4 in Boulder. Unlike Arapahoe County, Boulder County is generally cyclist friendly. There are exceptions of course, but several triathlons are held there every year.

I personally would prefer to mix things up a bit and race in different locations but circumstances have determined that all three of my races will be in Boulder this year. That fact is not so bad. The city and county are geared toward the sport and it is home to several world-class professionals. I would have preferred something that did not involve having to travel so far, but so be it.

With that update, my 2016 schedule now looks like this:

 

June 4 – Colorado Olympic Triathlon

July 10 – Boulder Peak Triathlon 

August 7 – Ironman Boulder

 

It’s not a bad schedule and I like the spacing between events. For now, it’s back to training.

Thanks for reading.

A Few Early-Season Ironman Tips

It’s more than a little dubious that a guy who did not finish his only attempt at an Ironman is giving advice but I think I do have a few worthwhile things to say. Since I did not make it to the run last year, I’ll refrain from mentioning anything about that.

Tip#1: Be Prepared for a Non-Wetsuit Swim

This may be less of an issue in colder climes but if you live in a place where the summer time highs regularly break 90* and your swim venue is not replenished by snowmelt, be ready for the wetsuit to be an optional event. That means that you are not considered for purposes of Kona qualification (not an issue for most of us) andyou get to go to the back of the pack. It was warm but not triple digit warm in Boulder last year and despite a fair amount of cloud cover the day before, the reservoir actually warmed up overnight. I was grateful that I had trained hard swimming. Going without the suit was not a big deal.

Tip#2: Ease into your new season, but not too much

Six or seven months may not go by all that quickly in a general sense, but in terms of training, it’s faster than a jet. If you’re not hurting at the high end of your bike and run intervals and if you don’t have moments where your arms feel heavy in the pool, you may need to be doing a little more. I can’t stress enough how happy you’ll be on race day.

Tip#3: Start practicing nutrition now.

It’s not easy to ingest hundreds of calories while biking along, sometimes at high effort. It is, however, absolutely essential. Even with a dedicated nutrition regimen, you’ll still probably be falling behind in terms of calories. Just as you have to train your muscles and your cardiovascular system, you have to train your gut as well.

Tip#4: Don’t buy any claims about fast and flat.

These might actually have some relevance on shorter course events, but even small hills are going to hurt when you’re out there for hours. The last hill of any height or length in Boulder was the one that finally did me in (though it probably was going to happen anyway). It’s far better for your mental state if you go into the race expecting it to be hard work. Not dreading, just expecting. No one (at least no normal person) was ever disappointed that a course turned out to be easier than expected.

Tip#5: Be consistent.

Training Peaks users can appreciate the gratification of green squares on their weekly training plans. Completing what you set out to do (or if coached what was assigned to you) is not only satisfying, it’s also important. One good indicator is the Chronic Training Load (CTL) on Training Peaks. It’s the rolling average of your Training Stress Score (TSS) for the time period you have designate (say 30 days). Essentially, only missing workouts due to uncontrollable events (illness, personal emergencies, etc.) and not because “I was totally fried that day” is my general rule. That’s not to say that I have not completely crapped out on a workout when I was tired—I have. What it means is trying to find a way to push through even if the overall performance on a given day suffers. Making sure you have regular recovery weeks is a key to making sure you stay consistent for the harder time frames.

I plan on offering more of this advice, for whatever it’s worth, as the season progresses and as we get closer to the season, I can also share some of my experiences and lessons learned about race day, particularly pre-race.

Thanks for reading!