Going Back to Greeley

Last year at this time, I was sure that the Summer Open Sprint would be my introduction to the sport of triathlon. But then high levels of e coli in the lake forced the cancellation of the swim portion and the event was converted to a duathlon. As a result, the Greeley Triathlon became my first three-sport event and what an impression it made.

Even before I had registered, it had advantages. My parents live in Greeley, all of about 2 miles or so from the race site. I grew up in Greeley and was familiar with the terrain for the bike and run portions. It’s still about the cheapest entry fee out there at $55.

Once I arrived at the venue on race day minus one, my positive impression was improved. The director conducted a complete and informative pre-race meeting. Packet pick-up was easy and took little time. We had full access to the entire venue so it was possible to see everything up close (except go for a swim, but you can’t have everything!).

On race morning, things continued to impress me. Parking was plentiful and nearby. The “time trial” start to the swim made for less of a washing machine effect which was indeed a blessing. The finish experience was great including the iced towel and running under the giant gorilla.

So with all of that, going for it, the decision to run this race again was an easy one. I have now registered and added another countdown alongside the other races. At this point, there’s just one left to consider, the Rattle Snake on August 19. I’m leaning more toward doing this one. Again a familiar venue and closer to home than any race I’ve done to date.

There’s a lot more coming soon. I’ve officially started my 20 week training plan leading up to the HITS 70.3 on July 29. The GoPro should also help a lot in illustrating more of my posts as well.

Thanks for reading!

A Ride on the South Maui Coast

I mentioned yesterday that I was hoping to move my bike reservation up by a couple of days. I was successful. Apparently not that many people are interested in renting a road bike this week. So after a phone call to the bike store, I was on my way and shortly had my Look Keo pedals installed on a Specialized Robaix.

The all-carbon frame was incredibly light and I easily flipped it upside down and loaded it into the back seat of my rented Mustang. A short while after getting it home, I decided I might as well go out for a ride so off I went. My route took me east along the Hanoapillani Highway just east of Lahaina. Thought it is very busy, the road has a nice shoulder with distinct markings for cyclists and frequent "Share the Road" signs. I felt safe.

It was a great ride. How can you go wrong cruising along a Hawaiian coast in seventy-something degree weather on a light carbon bike. That's right--you just about can't. Being a road bike, the Robaix did not have aero bars, but I spent a fair amount of time in the drops and kept up a pretty good pace. 

While there is much more I could tell you about the ride, I was able to capture it on my GoPro and I've turned one hour and twenty-two minutes into something more like five plus. I'm not a videographer and of course the point of the GoPro is that I can press a button and forget about it. You can be sure it was not on my mind as I climbed over 500 feet at the end of the ride. So though it can be a little jerky in places I think you'll get a pretty good idea of what it's like to ride on that highway. Enjoy!

Aloha kakahiaka

What? You're not fluent in Hawaiian? Oh...well that basically means good morning. It's anywhere from 10:30 to 1:30 on the mainland, but still before 9:00 in the islands. As I write this, I'm sitting on the patio of our rented home looking across the water at Lanai. It's 70 some degrees and everything around me is lush and green. Yup, it doesn't suck.

The wife and I arrived here around 6:00 Friday evening which was 9:00 by our internal clocks. Needless to say, we were pretty fried by the time dinner was over. Three hours of jet lag and a full day of travel will do that.

Fortunately, that three hours gave me plenty of time to sleep and yesterday I was up for a roughly one hour run around the township of Kahului. It's not the most scenic part of the island and really is more of a port town than a resort--but it's a good place to crash when your flight gets in later and you just want to rest. Here's the run I did:



It was weird but very pleasant to be out running in nothing but shorts and a technical shirt. I forgot how nice it is to not have to bundle up for a run.

I probably pushed it a little harder than I should have, but it's pretty easy for me to go here at sea level. I felt sore for the rest of the day however :-(.

The rest of the day was spent making our way down to Lahaina on the south side of the island. Normally that's a short drive but we chose the scenic route around to the west. On a map, that looks like a two lane highway like you might find through a mountain canyon in Colorado. In reality, it's a much narrower and often much steeper road which was only one car wide in several places. It was also amazing as these pictures show:

Oh yeah....what made it all the better was that we did the drive in this:

Not bad, huh?

I have a strength workout planned for today which I may or may not get done and then it looks as though I may have to juggle my schedule a little bit. Rain is forecast for later in the week and while it will still be hitting highs in the low 80's, I'd rather ride in dry weather if at all possible. I'm going to call the bike shop later when they open and see about moving my rental up.

Lot's more to come from here in the Aloha state including, I hope, some videos involving both training and non-training subject matter.

In the meantime, enjoy your Sunday and mahalo  for reading!

Random Thoughts on a Monday

I often like to post around a theme. For example, a bike ride where I got some good pictures. Or, a race report. Or a training update.

Sometimes, however, life just doesn’t fall into well-defined categories, even with a fairly rigid training schedule like mine.

With that in mind, I offer this hodgepodge of various thoughts and musings over the last week.

Item 1: Running, riding, swimming and lifting through the pain. There’s no question that I’ve been feeling it a little bit lately. That’s no surprise since my training schedule has picked up from something like 4-5 hours a week to more like 6-7. A three hour trainer ride about a week ago was trying and a 130 minute run this past Saturday was difficult. Strength workout has been harder since I started doing more crunches and increased the weight on the bench. My mantra has been that this is all going to pay off once the season starts.

Item 2: New toys. I’m fortunate to have a job that pays a pretty decent bonus around this time every year and that was the case again. As a result, I’ve gotten a couple of new toys. The first is a Garmin 910XT which is their newest multi-sport GPS watch. It went with me on the run Saturday and I’ve also had the opportunity to use it on my trainer as well as in the pool. The latter was pretty impressive. I just hit start like I do with a watch and it did the rest including counting my laps and yards. It will be really interesting once open-water season begins. The other new toy is a GoPro Hero HD camera. With it’s water-tight case I think I’ll be able to shoot some interesting video on the bike, on the run, maybe in the water and quite possibly on a zipline. More on that last one later.

Item 3: New bike. That same bonus is going toward a new tri-bike. I still love my Cannondale CAAD8 and expect to continue to use it, but I’d also like to get on something sport-specific. For the last few months, I’ve considered their TT bike, the Slice. Lately, however, I’ve become more intrigued with a Blue Triad SP. I’m impressed by their work on designing geometries with triathletes in mind. Time-trial cyclists don’t get off their bikes and go running.

Item 4: Travel. I’m a very fortunate person in that I get to travel to a lot of interesting places. Last summer, it was Italy. In a few days, it will be the beautiful island of Maui. I’m looking forward to training in warm weather, at sea level with fantastic scenery. As well-traveled as I am, this is my first-ever trip to Hawaii. I anticipate internet access and plan on doing multiple posts both about the training as well as a few other adventures.

For now, have a great week and thanks for reading!

My Body Was Talking To Me

I suspect most folks load up their weekends when they put together a training a plan. I'm no different. I started my three day weekend on Friday afternoon with a forty-five minute swim. I went at a pretty good clip of about 52 yards per minute. 

On Saturday, I had planned to do an outside run but the cold air made me change my plans to the trainer. That meant I spent three hours spinning and burning a couple thousand calories in the process.

Sunday's first workout was 30 minutes of strength work. The second was a 60 minute run. It was on the second workout that I heard from my body. Just one word but it was clear: REST. My heart rate was much higher than it normally is on a run and I kept feeling like I was losing my breath.

I've seen this before. In fact, I even posted a tip about it back in June. 

Today, I did nothing. Just rested and relaxed. What's more, I won't be doing anything more until tomorrow evening when I'll be back on the trainer again. 

It's a familiar lesson to almost anyone who does any kind of physical training, but it bears repeating: unless you're in the middle of a race, listen to your body when it's screaming at you to rest.

Another Race on the Schedule

It’s been in my plans for a while, but as of today, I am officially registered for the Boulder Peak Triathlon. This is part of the WTC 5i50 Series of Olympic (or International as they put it) distance races. There are less than a dozen races in the series (plus a championship race) so it’s much smaller than either their 70.3 or 140.6 Ironman offerings.

I’m excited and a little daunted. The bike stage includes a 15% grade hill through the foothills west of Boulder. And since what goes up must come down, there’s also a downhill section where a 35 MPH speed limit will be enforced!

Both the Swim and Run Course mark familiar territory since I’ve covered part of each at the Stroke and Stride series. The main difference here is that the distances will be doubled and the swim will be a single 1500 meter lap and the run will be an out and back, but extend 1.55 kilometers past the normal turnaround point. Another piece of good news about the run portion is that it is more or less flat—something almost unheard of in most of Boulder!

The Peak will be my first Oly of the year and, I think, good preparation for the HITS which is 3 weeks later. There’s much to do between now and then including some 129 hours of training and that includes two sprint tri’s a half marathon and a road race or two. Nevertheless, it’s good to have it on the official schedule and I’m looking forward to it.

Thanks for reading!

Return of the Two-A-Day

I know--it sounds like a bad horror movie from the Fifties. In actuality, it's nothing more than my next step in ramping up my training, albeit slowly.

Starting last week, I dragged myself out of bed early to go and swim laps at the Rec Center before work. Since there are no Masters Swim classes on Wednesday, the pool is usually quiet. In fact, this morning, I was the only one there during my entire 1500 yard/30 minute swim. After my day was done at the office, I headed home, changed into the cold weather running gear and did an easy  40 minutes around the neighborhood.

This is a routine I'll keep for a couple of more weeks. I'm still, of course doing the rest of my workouts on the bike and still swimming and running longer distances on other days. It may not make a big difference in the grand scheme of things, but my experience last year taught me that this is a good way to signal my body and my subconscious that more work is coming. I did a similar set of two-a-days in February and March of last year and I think I was more mentally prepared for the bricks that began in April.

During the last couple of weeks, I've found myself creeping out of Z1 on both the run and the swim into the lower areas of Z2. While I hadn't planned to start going faster, it seems like it just sort of happened on its own. Since I'm still feeling okay, I suppose I can't complain. It will be nice to start working more on pace, especially as I head into full-on preparation for the Horsetooth Half Marathon which is now about 10 1/2 weeks away, but I'm sure that will fly by.

Right now it's just the slow and steady winter training time. I'm focused on what I'm doing, but I'm also looking forward to being where a triathlete belongs--outside.

A Long Ride Like it was Summer...sort of

While not a balmy day here on the Front Range, it was still not bad. Mid to upper 50's and a a breeze blowing out of the west but nothing terribly disturbing.

My last long ride was two hours that I did indoors watching television. Nothing wrong with that, especially in the dead of winter when not only the cold, but also snowy and icy roads can keep you in.

Nevertheless, I was especially happy to be able to do my 2 1/2 hour ride outdoors today.

Today's ride is one that I've done before heading more or less south from my home and the east all the way into Elbert County. It's characterized by several rolling hills and few that are just steep. I spent a lot of time in the little ring today and it helped.

One of the high points is right on the Douglas/Elbert County line at about 6400 feet. My picture does not do justice to the view. With the breeze blowing, the air was clear and I could actually see the Flatirons over Boulder.

It may have been sunnier closer to the mountains, but it was more or less overcast where I was. Otherwise, I think we would have easily cleared 60* today.

It's not my fastest outing ever by a long shot and some of those hills slowed me down to single-digit MPH. This is one of the smaller ones

I had to keep telling myself that its good training for both the Boulder Peak and the HITS which have some HUGE hills (in the mountains no less) so better to start preparing a few months ahead of time.

Of course, in true Newtonian fashion, there were opportunities to go down after going up. This is near the bottom of a hill when my speed was picking up.

Because I was moving along so good. that little rise you see in the background presented no real problems.

After another nice drop, and then a slight climb, I got to head down hill for a while. No pictures here since I was hitting speeds in the upper 20's but here's the elevation profile to give you an idea.

As you can see, from about mile 28 on, it was mostly a downhill ride. The last little hill was actually more drawn out than this graph suggests.

Who knows when I'll get to do another outdoor ride like this in Colorado (though Hawaii is another story). For now, despite the cold and the tired, this guy was happy to be riding his bike outdoors on a Sunday afternoon:

Goals

In a previous post, I discussed my training plan. Part and parcel with that are my goals or to put it another way, what I expect to get out of my training plan. They are, likewise, not stringent. Some may even be too far out of reach. Perhaps I’ll get a lesson in that as I start tracking my progress toward them.

Between now and the middle of March, my only goals are to complete my scheduled workouts and stay more less inside my first heart rate zone (Z1) which is 60% - 75% of my max. Workouts are based on time rather than distance and I’m focused on just increasing distance slowly without concern for pace. So far, it seems to be working. I’m actually swimming faster than I expected (nearly 50 ypm) and I’m managing longer and longer rides and runs.

Since I think it served me so well last year, I’ve set up a goals tracking section on my master plan/log that I’ll begin actively tracking on March 12 (the first day of my 70.3 plan).

Here’s an example of my swim pace goal from last year:

Those spikes, by the way, are the result of what I think was a short course for the Aquaman aquathalon series. Their 1500 meters seemed to be much shorter than other versions.

For the coming year, I’ve set up a new goal based about where I am now and anticipating a gradual increase:

I’ve done likewise with the bike and run and then, again like last year, I’ve also got a track for total time:

This one is hard to predict because so many things can change.

By way of example, here’s last year’s track of the same metric:

Pretty close but also not 100% true-to plan.

Some time in April I’ll post an update to show how I’m progressing against what I hope to do. That will also be when I start to see if the results are showing up in races.  

HITS Bike Course on Video

Back in November, I went out and took video the bike course for the HITS 70.3 Triathlon. In fact, if you’re doing the 140.6 it’s the same course, just two loops instead of one. The whole trek took over an hour. In fact, the battery on the video camera I was using died with about two miles to go but you ought to still have a good sense of what the rest of it looks like.

Full disclosure, I am not a videographer. I did my best to hold the camera steady while my wife did the driving, but there are definitely some jerky motions which are made worse by the high-speed playback – my apologies in advance.

Nevertheless, here is the course for your viewing pleasure.

  

70.3 -- Officially Registered

Just now I have put down my money (not cheap by the way) to run the HITS 70.3 Triathlon in July.

To quote David Byrne:

"....my God! What have I done?!"

Training Plan Refocused

As I looked ahead at the final eight weeks of my Off Season training program, I became concerned about how ready I would be for the more intense preparation for a 70.3 race this summer. While I have one Half Marathon, Three Tri’s and a couple of shorter foot races planned between now and then, make no mistake – the 70.3 is the focus of my year. I don’t know about it being my best performance, but it is, in my mind, my ‘A’ race.

For some background, let me digress a moment and talk a little bit about how I develop my training plans. Like many of you, I peruse the internet for free plans. I’ve had a lot of luck on Trinewbies and Beginner Triathlete as well as cruising some of the chat boards to pick up ideas from my peers. I also got a lot of good information from the book Heart Rate Training which I’ve mentioned before on this blog.

Most of the 70.3 plans I found were 20 weeks long and that suits me. It’s also serendipitous that my 20 weeks leading up to my race begin the week after I’m in Hawaii which means I can focus a little more on enjoying my vacation. In any case, even with such fortunate coincidences, I obviously need to tweak things a little bit. No generic plan is going to anticipate my desire to run the Horsetooth Half Marathon in April or the BolderBoulder in May. Likewise, I’ll be involved in other races and open-water swimming events between now and the big race. It gets more detailed as I want to customize which days are my resting days, etc.

I also prefer to not to run on back-to-back days if at all possible. In fact, I generally don’t like to repeat a workout or strength training session on consecutive days. While a lot of plans recognize this, a surprising number do not. But when you’re in your 40’s, you have to face the reality that running generally means the need to have some recovery from all of that pounding!

What results is a plan that is built on one of the free plans (or more specifically a combination of plans) but which has also been highly customized to suit my own needs. Even then, that is subject to some evolution as I start making progress against it. (By the way, I don’t bother with purchased plans. I’m not convinced they are worth the money.)

Which brings me to where I am now. With the exception of a short interlude to train up for the Rock Canyon Half Marathon in early December, I’ve been treating my off-season time as a chance to take it easier while still staying in reasonably good shape. And from October through the end of the year, I think that made sense. However, as I look at the next couple of months, I have to start thinking about how I will be positioned for the resumption of the season.

Therefore, I have made a few changes:

1) I’ve increased the distance on my various workouts so that I will be at or near the distances of the 70.3 event by the end of March. These are strictly endurance distances so the focus is merely on being able to do them without any concern about how long that takes.

2) I’ve added a significant amount of interval training to the bike and run on the 70.3 plan. Continuing to increase the distance of my long rides and runs is, of course, important, but so is stressing myself so that I’ll be stronger for the demands of several hours on the road either riding or running. The interval refers to the time I need between bursts to recover my heart rate back down to Z1. For example, I’ll run a mile at pace that I know would be far too difficult to maintain over 13.1 miles, but then spend five minutes recovering before repeating. The same applies to the bike and I’ll gradually increase both the speed and the number of repeats. I may also apply something similar to the swim, though I’m feeling pretty good about my swimming ability.

3) I’ve removed the bricks. That’s right – no bricks. I’ve done some reading on this subject and I’ve noted that in several plans that they aren’t there. Bricks were a great way for me to psychologically prepare for triathlons before I had done any and I think they still have some value if you’re focused on Sprint and Olympic distances. However, I don’t think they’re as helpful for the 70.3 event. Still present are two-a-day workouts and some of those may end up being a lot like bricks with just a little bit longer between events.

More than anything else, I’ve found that it helps to think of a training plan as a living document. That means changes may come in the future which will make it a different plan than it is today. That’s fine. However, if my experiences last year taught me anything, this ought to be a fairly good picture of how I’ll be spending the better part of 2012!

One note on the countdown timers: I would have preferred something a little more colorful, but these actually countdown to the minute of the actual event. As I officially register for events, I’ll add the timer so expect to see more pretty soon.

Missing Summer

You might read that title and say, “You are aware that it’s early January, right?” Yeah, I know. Warmer weather is still a long way off and winter officially started less than a month ago. Even when spring officially starts in just over two months, it will probably be marked by lots of snow and corresponding cold temperatures. March in Colorado is our snowiest month.  Once that’s done, I’ll probably have to brave some cold days and even colder temperatures when open water swimming commences. At last year’s first swim at Grant Ranch, water temperatures were a not so pleasant 55*.

Tomorrow I have a 2 hour bike ride planned. In my off-season training I’m rotating the longest workout of the week between swim, bike and run. A pretty nasty sinus infection kept me out of the pool last week so I’ll pick that up again later. In the meantime, my bike ride will be on my trainer. That’s not the worst thing, but then I recall scenes like these:

No question: it will be nice to get back to riding outside and in warmer weather!

Christmas Day Run - 2011 Version

A year ago I did something I hadn't done on Christmas day--I went for a run. Given the 50* plus temps here today, I figured I'd take a shot a making it a tradition.

While most of my neighbors are thoughtful, socially conscientious types, a few have not bothered to shovel their walks even though the snow hit three days ago. If you want the technical definition for that type of person, I recommend consulting Websters under the term "jerk."

In any case, since I planned on (and have since) ingested copious amounts of prime rib and Yorkshire pudding, I figured burning a few calories off on a long run was a good idea.

It is amazing what a difference a year can make. Since I'm still doing Z1 training, I was still pretty slow today, but unlike a year ago, my average HR was only about 135 bpm. Compare that to the 159 when I was running at sea level in Florida and you get the idea that I've made some progress. That is not to say, however, that I don't plan on making a lot more in the weeks and months ahead.

For now, I wish a very Merry Christmas to any and all readers out there and yes, I'll be back with more posts before the New Year.

One Year In the Blogosphere

It's hard for me to believe but my blog is a year old today. It began with this post and since then there have been 100 more. I've posted from California, Arizona, Europe and right here from my home in Colorado.

In addition, I've been viewed from Argentina, Russia, Germany, the UK and even Malaysia. In all. there have been over 3000 views which is pretty small compared to some of what I read, but still far beyond my own expectations.

It's been a real honor to have been able to share all that I've done and I can't wait to continue in the year ahead. I've gone from just hoping I could complete a sprint to targeting a 70.3 race in just over seven months. So while I may no longer be a first timer triathlete, I think I still have a lot of new experiences in front of me.

My most recent workout was a 30 mile ride and thanks to the mild weather we saw in Colorado last weekend, I got to do it all outside. The route took me west of Parker out to near Park Meadows Mall and then back on the same route.



I would have liked to take some high resolution pictures but there was no good place to carry my camera so I settled for this one on my iPhone:

This is just east of Centennial Airport. One of these times I'll get a good shot of the mountains and show how breath-taking they really are. Today just wasn't it.

I'm going to work hard this week in anticipation of a little time off around the holiday. Unlike last year's trip to Florida I'm spending my holiday here which is how I prefer it.

Ought to be able to post something between now and then however. For now, thanks for reading!

So How’s That Heart-Rate Training Working Out for Ya?

Two month’s ago I had this post about my start of heart-rate based training. With the exception of a few weeks when I ramped things up to prepare for the Rock Canyon Half Marathon that’s how I’ve been training. Specifically, I’ve been focused on base or endurance training in Zone 1.

Heart rate zones don’t have a standard definition, so just to level-set, I’m using the standards established in the book, “Heart Rate Training” by Roy Benson and Declan Connolly. I know there are some 5 or even 6 zone systems out there but this has just four.

Here’s a summary as explained in the book

HR Zone	Effort Index	Fuel Source
I	60% - 75%	Primarily fats
II	75% - 85%	Mix carbs & fats
III	85% - 95%	Primarily carbs
IV	95% - 100%	All carbs

The percentages refer to percent of max heart rate. When I measured mine, it came out to 171 (for running) so for a Zone 1 workout, I’d be looking at about 103 – 128 beats per minute. The numbers change for biking and swimming, but the percentages are constant.

Furthermore, the book defines “Endurance” as how long you can keep running at any pace. That’s different than “Stamina” which is how long you can last at a specific pace. Since I’m still pretty early in the off-season (my first tri is still over five months away), I’m working the endurance phase.

It’s been harder than I thought it would be to slow myself down enough to stay within Zone 1 (or Z1)—especially when running. The bike is easier and in swimming, I’m doing my best estimate because I don’t/can’t where a heart rate monitor in the pool.

So is it having an effect? It’s kind of hard to tell. I do think it’s wise to be taking it easier this time of year. With nothing major on the horizon for a few months, I’m staying in shape but not punishing myself. The lead-up to my 70.3 race in July will be grueling, but there’s no sense in operating at that level of intensity so soon. In fact, I’d more than likely injure myself before I got into regular season training.

Tangibly, there’s not been any result to which I can point. My weight has stayed fairly constant and I have not perceived any change in my energy levels. However, I’m only on week 9 of a 21 week offseason program (it began in October right after that max heart rate test). It’s also the middle of December which means cold and dark and I think I tend to eat more than I do in warmer, brighter months.

The first week in March has me in Hawaii and I’ll be interested to see where I stand at that point. My 70.3 training begins in earnest the first week I’m back in Colorado.

Between now and then, I’ll post more about my interim progress and share anything I’ve learned.

Thanks for reading!

How to Build a Wetsuit Hanger

In the off-season, there's not much use for the wetsuit. Here in Colorado temperatures have only gotten above freezing a couple of times during the last week. Much as I enjoy open-water swimming, the thought of having to bring along an ice pick to clear a path as I swim is...ahem...less than appealing.

Since I finished the TriRock back in September, my suit has been kept on a large plastic hanger, like so:

 Not terrible, but I was concerned about having big pointy things on the shoulders come next spring. Pretty much the full weight of the suit is resting on the upper part of the hanger. I thought it would be better if it rested on something rounder so that there would be less chance of a crease or other unsightly deformation of the suit.

For the instructions below, keep in mind that I'm no McGyver. Some reader out there may be able to do this far better than me. That said, this works and in the end, that's all that really matters.

Step by step instructions:


1 Cut a piece of PVC pipe. I measured about a foot for this one, just keep in mind that if you use a longer one, you'll need more chain later on. Also, white or black pipe does not matter. I used this since it was left over from a bathroom remodeling project.

2 Place the pipe on about the middle of your suit after it has been folded lengthwise and then fold the top down to the bottom.

2 Your local hardware store sells chain by the foot. It's generally inexpensive (61 cents a foot in my case) and rated to hold far more weight than you'll need. I bought three feet for my hanger.

3 Feed this chain through the pipe and pull the ends up into something looking like a triangle:

4 Choosing a hook was for me, the most difficult part of the process. It needs to be large enough to hang on the typical closet clothes bar but also able to securely hold the chain. I looked some of those climbing carabiners but they did not look large enough to meet the former requirement. Ultimately, I chose a large "U" bolt:

Apologies for the shotty photography. I think you get the idea, however.

For my closet, a width of 2.5 inches was more than enough.

5 I don't have a picture of the final step (not enough hands to do this and take a picture). However screwing on the nuts is not hard. You just want to make sure you have the chain placed above the plate that connects both sides of the bolt. Hold  it in place with one hand while you screw the nuts on with the other. It will look like this when you are done:

Of course, this means that the hangers don't come off all that easily, but presumably that won't be an issue for off-season storage.

After these steps, you have a new hanger for your suit that might leave it a little folded, but won't but an unsightly crease in it:

If you have any improvements on my design, please include them in the comments section.

Thanks for reading!

Why I'm Running the HITS 70.3 Next Summer

Like many people new or newish to the sport of triathlon, I found myself looking at the 70.3 distance after having successfully completed multiple races in the Sprint and Olympic categories. Also, like many others, my initial focus was on an event run by the World Triathlon Corporation. That is to say, something called an Iron Man (or Half Iron Man more accurately).

That seemed like a fairly easy choice. WTC acquired a local race series in Boulder and added the 70.3 distance this year. Boulder is a natural choice for such an event in Colorado. It is home to top professionals and age-groupers alike. Laura and Greg Bennett recently graced the cover last summer’s USA Triathlon magazine running through Chatauqua Park with the Flat Irons in the background.

So as my first full season came to a close, I began to look at this event as the one I would target. Given that it would be my first 70.3 event, I liked the idea of doing it locally and not dealing with the difficulties of travel. I may want to do that for a future event, but not my first. No problems, right? It seemed pretty easy.

Well, not so easy after I found out about the HITS Triathlon Series.

HITS is an organization that has up-to-now been involved in putting on equine show jumping productions. Yes, you read the correctly: horse jumping. From what I read, they’ve been very successful in this arena. But what does a company associated with horse jumping shows have to do with Triathlons? Well, it turns out that the company’s founder is a bit like you and me. Tom Struzzieri is an amateur triathlete who became addicted to the sport. Unlike most of us, he already had a company that was in a position to stage the events. Combined with coach and USAT Certified Race Director Mark Wilson and Ironman legend Dave Scott, they’ve set an ambitious schedule of 12 races plus a championship.

Each race will consist of five distances. Since WTC owns the Ironman trademark, the 140.6 and 70.3 races are referred to as full and half respectively. There are also Olympic and Sprint races as well as something they call the Open. The latter is a very short race consisting of a 100 meter swim, a 3 mile bike and a 1 mile run. With a minimum entry age of just 7, you may see a lot of kids in this race, but they are encouraging any curious first-timers to participate as well. Given the number of events, the races are staged over a Saturday and Sunday at the respective locations with the two longer races taking place on Sunday. All races are also USAT certified so there is no question about authenticity or legitimacy.

Due to some construction being done at the water venue for the Galena, Illinois event, HITS announced on October 12 that they were moving it to Fort Collins, Colorado. The dates for it are July 28-29, 2012.

All right. Now you have the background. So why would this appeal to me. Well, initially it didn’t. I wanted to participate in the big, brand-named WTC event in Boulder. I even drove around the bike course one Saturday just to see it in person. I was, at that time, more convinced than ever that the Boulder event on August 5 was the one for me. However, not wanting to rush to judgment as well as not being faced with an imminent decision, I decided to give it some thought.

Part of the process meant researching a little more on the event via their website. Within a week or so of hearing about the race from my brother, they had their course maps available online—and if you’ve read me before, you know that is a major plus in my mind. Unlike its Boulder competitor, the HITS course is a single loop. It also goes through some steep but scenic territory in the mountains west of Horsetooth Reservoir and then down the Poudre Canyon. There is something to be said about not having to ride multiple laps (though the full course racers will do the circuit two times).

I also started thinking about some of the things I discussed in my post about the racing industry and the importance of getting a good value for the fees you pay. I had always associated WTC with that, but I had to question if that perception was not the result of good branding on their part as opposed to really earning the reputation. Given the fact that WTC and the Ironman brand are so highly showcased in Kona each fall, you have to ask yourself if that isn’t playing a role. Shoe companies, airlines, computer makers and many others enjoy great market share because of brand awareness. But does that actually make them the best?

Then I read this post on DC Rainmaker’s site about how WTC had been preemptively cancelling events to avoid a “sizable loss.” I didn’t really think that would be a concern for the sold-out race in Boulder, but the practice sticks in my craw. It’s the kind of thuggish behavior a company that dominates a market ought to avoid if for no other reason than there will come a day when they won’t be the only player in that space.

Ironman Boulder to make a point would be disingenuous. In fact, I am planning on participating in another WTC production: the local version of the 5150 series, the Boulder Peak Triathlon. If the HITS had not come to Colorado, I probably would also be looking to register for the WTC event. I’ve also had my eye on doing some of their out-of-town races in the future. Ultimately, this is a decision I’m making as a consumer, not as an advocate for better treatment of triathletes.

That point leads me to a philosophy that Tom Struzzieri expressed in this interview with Slowtwitch.com He’s approaching this race series with a focus on customer service and meeting the demands of those customers. He’s not deigning to “let” racers participate in his vaunted event, but rather doing all he can to earn their patronage. To quote from the interview:

“We do and will endeavor to treat each customer as if he or she is the most important.

As I said, I’m not about making statements or standing up for a cause. If that’s your thing fine, but it’s not really my style. However, participating in HITS does provide what I would call ancillary benefits. First, I get to participate in an inaugural event. Should this take off, I get to be one of the ones who was there first. Second, while it’s not a cause, I do believe in a competitive market place and if the benefits of participating in HITS align with my demands, then I’m happy my participation promote that competition. If nothing else, it might help keep entry fees in check. Third, I’m an admirer of the scrappy upstart. Nearly every successful company today has that story to tell—just think of Apple Computer. I can’t help but respect the audacity of a firm that has essentially decided to go head-to-head with the 800 pound gorilla that is WTC.

All this said, there are certainly some risks including some that might be so critical as to cause me to end up registering for another race instead. While the first event went off successfully in Palm Springs on the weekend of December 3 and 4, that is no guarantee that future events will run as smooth. Nor is it an assurance that field of 1000 participants will show up at every race. If the Fort Collins event were canceled in a few months due to low registration, there’s a pretty good chance that the Ironman Boulder event will already be sold out and to the best of my knowledge, there are no other 70.3 events in the state again until September.

So…yeah…there’s some risk involved. But on balance, I think the potential rewards outweigh the risks. The Boulder event sported some 1300+ athletes last year and even with a wave start, that makes for a pretty crowded swim. By comparison, the two longer distance events in the Palm Springs HITS race totaled 139 finishers. No doubt that will grow if the race is successful and a summer event may also draw more participants, but it’s still likely to be a less crowded start and transition area. Additionally, this course looks remarkable. Challenging, but remarkable. Horsetooth Reservoir’s site between steep hills is far more scenic. The bike course is steep—dauntingly so. But it’s also through some of the most beautiful land in the entire country. How often do you get to do any part of a tri in the mountains?

So for now, count me in. I’ll be watching with interest to see of the January 6 and 7 event in Naples, Florida is as successful as Palm Springs was. Assuming it is, I’ll be ready to pony up my $250 and set my sights on Northern Colorado in late July.

I plan on talking a lot more about this event including a post that will (hopefully) include the video I shot of the bike course.

For now, thanks for reading and happy training!

Race Report - Rock Canyon Half Marathon

I capped off last week's training with a fairly productive 11 mile run in my home town of Greeley. I did the out and back course at an average pace of 9:34 so it gave me some optimism for the upcoming Rock Canyon half marathon in Pueblo the following week. Then I checked the weather forecast.

What has started off as a high of 43 degrees slowly deteriorated as the week went by until by Friday, the forecast high was expected to be around 25* and with windchill, that would drop it down to 11*. There was, in all honesty, a moment where I considered not running it. Ultimately, however, I needed to make my training worth it and what the hell...it's a good war story.

Getting to Pueblo from Parker proved to be some of the most exciting part of my day. I left home in a fairly good snow storm with more than a little of it sticking to the roads. Once on I-25 heading south, I found myself behind three snow plows. Good since they were clearing the road (mostly) but bad because we were only going 30 - 35 mph and I had almost a hundred miles to go.

Fortunately, I cleared Monument Hill to find clearer, even drier roads and I arrived at my brother's home just about right at the 8:00 I had expected. By now, it had begun to snow again and the thermometer in my car was indeed reading 25*.

While this race starts and stops in Pueblo's City Park, the staging was done out of a community center located in the middle which means that were able to stay out of the elements not only while picking up our bibs and sweatshirts, but also during the time before the race. That also meant there were indoor restrooms, a real plus!

Time seemed to go by quickly and before I knew it, I was standing outside with over 500 of my closest friends. That's actually low since this race sold out to its cap of 750 but I'm guessing there were more than a few out-of-towners who did not want to brave the elements.

Though I was concerned about slipping and sliding, I actually did okay on the snow packed roads as the pack made two turns around the park before heading downhill to the path that runs along the Arkansas River. I was somewhat familiar with this route because much of it is used in the Spring Runoff which I ran back in March. That said, we weren't too far into the race before we went off the paved trail and onto what I would best describe as a jeep trail. That is, two ruts with some growth in between.

Being well dressed in multiple layers, I was warm against the chilly air, and to this point, the wind was only a breeze and it was one that was not penetrating my cold weather gear. That changed somewhere along the mile four of five point. The race is so named because this section of the Arkansas River Valley is lined but sheer rock bluffs. It's not a canyon in the strictest sense, but you understand where the name came from. As the wind came over the northern bluff, it did so with a lot of ferocity. Sort of like it had been pent up. Regrettably, all of us running got to feel it's wrath.

Despite the wind and fairly rough course, I was still averaging right around a 9:30 or so pace.  I was starting to feel it a little bit, but I still thought I could maintain. Then I hit the 10 mile marker and the wind that had been annoying at first was now blowing pretty much right as me and in the process, slowing me way down. I pretty much lost all momentum at this point and was really now just hoping to finish under 2:10.

Another thing happened on the way home. I had been told that there was a big hill near the end of the race. In fact, I even ran down it since after the first two miles this is an out and back course. But nothing can prepare you for actually running a hill other than actually running it. This one was a monster. Probably not the steepest hill I've ever run, but definitely the steepest I've done after already having run over 12 miles. My HR monitor had me at 163 bpm once I made it to the top.

I managed to struggle across the finish line at 2:09:26 which was off the 2:05 I hoped for, but not terrible either. The conditions were among the rougher I've done. It is, after all, an event in December.

So as for the race itself:

The bad (or just not so good):


Course: This is a small event so closing off huge stretches of public streets is not really an option. However, I nearly twisted an ankle on the jeep trail sections and some others actually did. It's one thing to have a trail, but another to have one with big rocks that threaten the health of the participants. I think someone should look at keeping more of this race on the paved bike path. I even managed to come up with my own variation here.

That's it...no other criticisms from me.

The good:


Registration Fee: At just $35 including a sweatshirt and finishers medal, plus plenty of food, energy drink and water before and after the race, this is one of the best deals out there. Today's Rock 'N' Roll Las Vegas is about $100 more.

Pre-Race Info: Plenty of it on the Southern Colorado Runners website including a course map. This isn't hard to do but kudos to the director for providing useful information.

Support & Volunteers: Much as I didn't want to run in the bitter cold, I can only imagine how tough it was to just stand in it. The volunteers were ready with water or energy drink at each of the many stations along the route. It was outstanding and my hat's off to their efforts. It was also nice to return to a plethora of food including cookies, donuts, and bananas. I was bonking pretty bad by the end and it all hit the spot!

Timely Results: Results have been posted on the SoCo Runners site and that's pretty impressive since this whole deal is being done without timing chips.

Scenery: I think this course would be very pretty in warmer months when the foliage is out. The twists and turns along the Arkansas River are enjoyable and even when you're struggling to keep your heart rate down, you can't help but enjoy the venue. I just wish more of it was on a flat surface.

Will I be back. Probably. I'm hurting pretty bad today having done much of the race in Z3. I'm fortunate not to have twisted my ankle which are prone to that sort of thing anyway. Those hazards may be the one factor that would keep me out in a future race. On the other hand, I think this might be a fast course if the wind and snow were not factors.

In any case, I'm glad to be done with this one and have a great war story to tell. "Did I tell you about the time I did a half marathon in 11 degree wind chill?" Sounds good, huh?

Now it's back to Z1 training with longer, slower runs. I'm also looking forward to spending more time on the bike and in the pool. I won't feel like I'm neglecting race training but spreading out my training variety a little more.

The next race report for me probably won't happen until April when I'm fairly certain I'll be doing the Horsetooth Half Marathon in Fort Collins. This was not on my original 2012 schedule, but a good chunk of it runs on the same course as the HITS run course so it will be a good chance to see just what I've gotten myself into!

That's all for now. Thanks for reading!

Race Report - Fort Collins Thanksgiving Day Run

I have no idea when the first "Turkey Trot" was held or what the genesis for the idea was. But regardless of that, I think it's a tradition that is almost as great as Thanksgiving itself. What better way to start a day by pre-burning a few of the calories you'll be shoveling in later.

We were blessed with a great day here in Northern Colorado. While a chilly twenty-some degrees greeted me when I left my parents' house, the rising sun quickly warmed things to the low fifties by the time I arrived in downtown Fort Collins. Despite multiple street closures, parking was easy for me to find, as it always is.

Past readers to this blog know one of my biggest criticisms of race directors is lack of organization. So in that vein I have to give the directors of this one a lot of credit for having a very smooth running operation. Race headquarters was the Beach House Grill which was just a block or so from the starting line. Participants were routed through the back of the restaurant and then upstairs where you gave them your race number (previously e-mailed) and then you received your packet and a long-sleeve tech shirt. The latter is a nice touch for a race that takes place right before the start of winter.

One criticism I have was the porta-potty to racers ratio. Based on their own estimates of 2400 racers, I figured that ratio at about 1:600. While I wasn't late for the start, I expect some people in line behind me were.

This is not the kind of race where I'm looking for a PR or trying to leave a trail of fire behind me. It's supposed to be fun so I kept it in that min as I slowly worked my way around a lot of people who should not have started in the front of the pack. During this early phase, I saw what was perhaps one of the more entertaining sights in a race: a dog with a Go Pro HD camera mounted to his back. I may have to search You Tube later to see if that got posted.

The race course is mostly straight and very flat. Though you do gain some altitude on the outbound portion of the single loop, it's hardly noticeable. While not looking to set any records, I also hoped to run a sub 9:00 pace and noticed myself about 15 seconds behind that as I passed the two mile mark. This was no doubt to the slow pace I had to keep at the beginning of the run.

I managed to pick things up a bit more in the second half and actually was running in the low to middle 8:00 range as I headed east on Mountain Avenue back toward downtown and the finish line.

At the end, I turned in a 34:46 time (based on my Garmin) and that works out to about 8:41 with which I was pleased. While I would have appreciated a bottle of water rather than waiting in line to fill a cup from a Gatorade cooler, I understand that sponsors don't always come up with what you need. No harm done. To their credit, there were plenty of bagels and orange wedges.

So here's my take on the race overall:

The bad (or really just not so good):


Porta-potties: A lot of folks just gotta go before they run. I don't doubt that the sanitation companies get more than a few bucks per unit delivered, but there's a basic responsibility to provide this most basic of services when you are gathering hundreds of people into one area.  I may  have missed another grouping of them (though I did look around a bit) but didn't see any. There should have been something more like ten rather than the four I found.

Website: Count this as just not so good rather than bad. The race details were found on a link to a PDF document that you then had to rotate to read. I don't think you need a really elaborate website with lots of Flash technology or music and video, but the online flyer seemed a little cheap to me. Also, it would be nice to see a course map and not just a set of written directions.

The Good:


Pre-Race Information: A few days ahead of time, I got details with my race number and pick-up times. They made pick-up available both on race day as well as the afternoon before. This was a well organized process and it made my pick-up a task I was able to complete in about two minutes.

Course:  Flat, mostly straight and well supported. There's no need to make a fun run course a challenging cross-country meet. This one covers four miles in a single loop and start line congestion clears out rather quickly.

Shirt: As I mentioned, a long sleeve tech shirt is a nice touch during the colder months. Nice to get something I'll actually wear now rather than three months from now. I've also noticed a trend in most races away from cotton shirts toward tech shirts. I like it. I don't need another cotton shirt.

Results: I found my official time last evening with no problem. In the era of chip timing, there's no reason this shouldn't be the case. It was still a good thing to see however. We were using the older ChampionChip system and I have to wonder if this won't be one of the last times as it seems more races are using bib-based systems.

Overall Experience: It's been five years since I last did this race, but my positive recollections were confirmed. It's well organized, has a good course and the four mile distance is one I prefer over a 5K. I never know where I'll be from one Thanksgiving to the next, but I do know that when I'm in Northern Colorado, this one will be on my list.

2012 Race Schedule

It's around this time of year that a lot of bloggers start talking about their 2012 race schedule. While those of us in colder climates still have about six months before any races start, the time to at least think about what you want to do in the coming year is now. Hence, here I am discussing what I want to do next year.

Of the races I considered, one, the 70.3, took precedence in the schedule It's the race for which my training plan has been written. It is my "A" race for the year. There are some others that I've wanted to repeat for different reasons and some that just fit well. Also, there are some that are not listed, most specifically something around July 4 and of course, a Thanksgiving day event. Those are more "for fun" races that don't really mark milestones.

The Summer Open Sprint – May 19

This was scheduled to be my very first triathlon last year until e coli levels in Union Reservoir spiked to four times the safe limit and they converted it to a duathlon. Nostalgia about my first ever multi-sport event combined with a desire to do all three events is the driving factor. Here’s hoping lightning doesn’t strike twice and the swim is on as scheduled.

The BolderBoulder – May 28

Can’t pass this one up. It’s a tradition and it’s also my most-run race. Truth be told, there’s almost no where I’d rather be than in Boulder on Memorial Day. Plus, how do you beat a finish into the football stadium of your Alma Matter?

Greeley Triathlon – June 10

Hands down, it was the best organized race I ran last year. What’s more, it has a super fast, 500 meter swim course. I underestimated how hard the bike would be last year so I’m looking to make some improvements. This is also the only race I ran with wetsuit strippers, a major plus in my mind.

Boulder Peak Olympic – July 8

This is part of WTC’s 5150 series of Olympic Triathlons. WTC has suffered a well-deserved bad-rap because of their handling of 5150 events--most notably, preemptively cancelling them because of low registration. For more details on that check out this DC Rainmaker post:

Given Boulder’s place as one of the pre-eminent triathlon locations in the world, I’m not concerned about this event being canceled. I’m still not a big fan about some of WTC’s business practices, but this fits well in my schedule and the Boulder Reservoir and surrounding back roads venue are enticing.

HITS 70.3 – July 29

This is the big one. It’s the race around which my training is being built. I wondered about attempting such a challenging race, especially after struggling with the run leg of the Creek Streak last year. However, more positive experiences at the TriRock and Rock ‘n’ Roll Half Marathon have persuaded me that it’s worth the effort. This one has a pretty steep climb on the bike ride through the mountains west of Fort Collins and also a couple of nasty hills on the out-and-back run course, but I think it’s going to be good. It was between this one and the Boulder Half-Ironman which is a week later…obviously not wise to try both. I’ll talk more about my decision to choose HITS over WTC in a future post.

Rattlesnake Olympic - August 19

I’m putting this on the list, but I’m going to think about it a little more. I may find I want nothing to do with it after HITS, but for now I’m going to leave it there. Being that this event is held at the Aurora Reservoir, it’s the closest one to home I’ve ever run. Not right next door, but less than a 30 minute drive away which would be a first.

Buffalo Bicycle Classic – September 9

My Alma Matter hosts a Century Ride each September and I’ve wanted to try one for a while. Unlike more competitive events, this looks like a good time to just ride around. Not to dismiss the challenge of riding 100 miles, but no clock on this one.

Rock 'n' Roll Denver Half Marathon - September 22

My love/hate relationship with Competitor Group continues. They get a lot of change to enter this one, but the course through downtown and around various central Denver parks is hard to beat. It’s also well-organized and is the site of my half marathon PR. It ought to be a nice way to close out the season

So that's the list which makes for five triathlons, two running races and a Century ride. As they say in military circles, no plan survives first contact with the enemy. With that in mind, I haven't gone and chiseled any of this in stone. Any number of things could happen between now and then so I'll be ready for changes. But for now, this is the course I'm charting and I'm looking forward to it!

Still Got It

With the Rock Canyon half marathon three weeks out I've switched from a focus on heart-rate back to my more traditional pace-based training. That means a series of long runs, specifically 9, 10 and 11 miles with the 13.1 of the half being the last one. That worked for the Rock & Roll so I'm hoping to repeat my success.

Today was the first of those with nine miles. And I have to say I was pleased. I made good time and logged 9.26 miles over 90 minutes. I also averaged over 145 bpm which is well into Z3, but since I felt no shortness of breath or heavy legs (a sure sign of lactic acid build up) I'm not concerned.

No doubt I'll be returning to HR training including a lot more Z1 work, but only after the race is behind me.

In other news, I think I just about have my 2012 race schedule ready. It took some digging, but I think I've got some good races picked. Some repeats and and some new ones. Yes, 70.3 is still on the agenda.

More on that in a new post.