Jamie Whitmore 5k Fun Run

Today was training season wake up call. Guess who hasn't been training consistently? This guy! (Two thumbs pointing at me) I ran an unplanned 5k today to benefit Jamie Whitmore's battle with cancer. Jamie is a 2x Xterra Champion fighting for her life. Checkout Jamie's blog and join the fight against cancer. About 100 runners showed to support Jamie with a $10 donation, with support from many local businesses providing raffle prizes, including Family Fan Club.

Kim and I ran a pretty slow 32 minutes, but it was the longest run of the season for me, so not to bad. Kim has been running consistently, training for Steamboat Springs Half Marathon, so it was a breeze for her, even after already doing a training run with the girls. With the weather improving this week, it's time to stop making excuses and get out and run & bike. I'll get a chance to improve on that run this weekend at the Mud Hen 5k.






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2008 Boulder Peak Race Report

The alarm went off at 4:15 am and I was ready. I got to bed early last night and I was exhausted. Most experienced triathletes would tell you to race like you train and not try new things on race, but I like to keep it interesting and try new things. I started with breakfast, eating a bagel with almond peanut butter, banana and 32 oz of lemon lime Gatorade. Normally I eat oatmeal and a can of diet Dr Pepper before the race, but the last few races I've felt a bit sluggish, so why not change it up on race day? Overall, I felt good about the change, most competitors aren't drinking soda before the race! I rode over to the reservoir with my neighbors Craig and Chris at 5 am.

There are two ways into the reservoir, the main way and the back way. I was contemplating being a back seat driver and recommend the back way, but I didn't. Big mistake. When we got near the reservoir, the line was a mile or two long, but it went quick. When we finally got to the reservoir and parked we were faced with at least a half mile line of triathletes waiting to get into transition and marked. Craig and I walked past everyone and entered the transition area from the rear figuring we could get marked and our timing chips after setup, porta potty and warm-up. It worked, but I'm sure there were some choice comments for us from those that waited in line. At any rate, the delays with parking and transition entry resulted in a 15 min delay to the start of the race. Feeling good.

I headed down to the water to check out the course and get in a quick warm-up. As opposed to yesterday, I felt really fast, which was a good sign. I was really getting pumped and excited for the race, a feeling I didn't have for the 5430 Sprint for some reason. I was in the second wave today, which I was happy about. I'm always worried about being the last one on the course, which is a lonely feeling. I worked my way near the front of my wave for the start hoping to find the perfect position. The gun sounded and I was off. The first section of the swim is directly in the sun, so sighting was interesting. I immediately wanted to go faster than my wave would let me, so I tried to work to the inside to the left of the pack and found a lot of open swimming. I felt great, no wetsuit terror or general fear like some of the other races, just pedal to the medal. Generally I like to swim on the outside of the pack, but that usually leaves me swimming extra, so I made an adjustment in race and decided to swim on the inside, closest to the buoys. It was a great decision and feel like I swam the perfect race, minimizing the distance I needed to swim staying close to the buoys. I could see the pack on my right, which seemed to be taking a much longer path to the first buoys, which I couldn't figure out, but I suspect most were just following the leader. I felt great the whole time and definitely felt a good time coming. I approached the beach, went to stand up and ahhhhh hamstring cramp...yikes, I hate that. I pulled back and it went away as quickly as it appeared. I exited the water, looked at my watch, 25 minutes! Whoa, that's awesome! I was targeting less than 30 and hoping for 28, off to a good start. After the run up the beach into transition, I entered T1 at 27:09 which was good for top 20% swim, which I felt great about. I took my time transitioning to the tune of 3+ minutes. Now the fun part starts.

As I mentioned before, why not try new things on race day, I decided that today I would wear a cycling jersey during the bike and switch to a running shirt for the run. Makes sense, but not something I normally do on race day. I also decided that I'd only carry a half full water bottle on the bike so as to not carry extra weight up Old Stage (mind you, I'm 200+ lbs, a water bottle probably isn't going to make much of a difference), where I'd re-supply at the first aid station. Great plan, poor execution. I got a drink upon exiting transition and promptly dropped my one and only water bottle less than a mile from transition. I was dreading the ride up old stage with no water and I was right, I could have used some water. The ride out to Old Stage was uneventful, but I was in granny gear much sooner than expected. To make the ride a bit more exciting, a fire truck and ambulance passed me on my ride up Old Stage on the 15% grade. Luckily it was not race related, but something was going on at one of the homes along Old Stage. As I reached the Fire District sign, which marks the end of the steepest point, I saw the devil. A friend of mine was dressed as the devil, running up and down the hill encouraging everyone to push it. I was ready to make a deal with the devil at this point, but when I saw him I had a burst of energy. It's really great to see people you know out there cheering you on! Thanks Mike. After Old Stage, the ride was fairly uneventful. My lower back and between my shoulder blades started to tighten up around mile 15, so it was a bit uncomfortable heading back to T2. I finished in 1:35 or so, which was slower than I wanted to go, still on pace for my goal time of 3:21. T2 went smoothly, I took my time taking in fluids and a gel prior to the run.

The run started out ok, I kept to my water station to water station game plan for the 1st two miles, but then mile three happened. Mile 3 was like 10 miles. I think not being able to see the water station at Mile 3 was the killer. I walked a lot during mile three. I struggle with the run and today was no different. As opposed to the Bolder Boulder 10k, I was chasing Kim and Rebecca and I didn't want to let them get away from me. With the Peak, I'm not tied to anyone and I just didn't have the will to keep going and consequently I walked more than I wanted to. I ended up with 1:17 10k, which leaves a lot of room for improvement. Looking back on it now, I don't know why I didn't keep running, just didn't have the mental toughness again.

As I approached the finish line I was invigorated by the crowd and cheering. Since I started early, there were still a lot of people watching and cheering at the finish. For the Sprint, Kim and the boys were waiting about 50 yards from the finish and we all ran in together & it was a great feeling/memory. When I saw Kim and the boys today, they were about 100+ yards from the finish. We hadn't talked about it before hand, so I ran by thinking that it was to far. Turns out the boys were looking forward to it and hurt their feelings a bit. Looking back, I wish I had stopped and walked with them if necessary. It was a great feeling to finish the Olympic distance race, but it would have been better to share it with the boys at the finish. Next time.

I missed my goal by 6 minutes, but I'm overall happy that I finished what I'd consider my greatest athletic achievement. I exercised at a relatively high level for over 3 hours, where a year and half ago I couldn't exercise for 30 minutes without wanting to pass out. The good news is I've got a lot of room for improvement. Within a couple of hours of finishing, I'm already thinking of what I need to do between now and the 2009 Boulder Peak to improve my time. My tentative goal for 2009 will be under 3 hours. That's aggressive, but there's no reason that I can't get my bike down to 1:25, run down to 1 hour and transition within 5 minutes total. If I can do that, I can get under 3 hours. I plan to be doing a lot of cycling and running this off season. I'll be looking to my cycling experts (Craig and Ben), running experts (Jason G) and strength & conditioning expert (Jason B) to help me reach those goals next year.

The next scheduled race for me is the Oktoberfest Sprint at Union Reservoir in Longmont where I'm planning to do a team event with a couple guys from work.

Thanks again to everyone that helped make this a great triathlon season!

(I'll add pictures later (Done 8/22).)

5430 Boulder Peak Old Stage vs. Me - Rnd 1

The 5430 Boulder Peak triathlon is less than 3 weeks away and I still haven't rode up Old Stage. Old Stage is the famous 15% grade, 600 ft vertical climb over 2/3 of a mile that starts about 5 miles into the bike portion of the race. I've driven it once and it scared the heck out of me. I've been wondering if I could do it and how I would feel mentally & physically. I've been figuring that I need to ride Old Stage at least three times before the Boulder Peak, to get my legs under me and prove to myself that I can do it.

Old Stage is a very interesting section of the course. As urban as Boulder is, heading out on US 36 and out towards Old Stage you get back to nature really quick, where it's not uncommon to see deer, fox or black bears. Yes, black bears. In fact I know of at least two occassions where cyclists have HIT black bears on their bikes and lived to tell about it. Here are a couple of stories here and here. I can't imagine hitting a bear at 45 MPH on my bike, feet clipped into pedals and flying end over end.

Back to me. I decided that yesterday would be my first attempt at Old Stage. My goal was to just ride Old Stage once and get up with no stopping. I started at the open space trail parking lot on Lee Hill Rd. I took a quick lap around the neighborhood to get the blood flowing and then headed up. The incline is steady and annoying at first. If you were driving, you probably wouldn't even notice, but on the bike it's just annoyingly steep and continuous. I shifted down, down, down on the way up, wondering how I'm possibly going to make it up the hill when I'm already on the small ring? Finally I made it to Old Stage and the hardest part of the hill was facing me dead on. I continued to turn the crank continuously & steady, firmly in granny gear now, breathing heavy and just taking it one turnover at a time. I don't know if this is good or bad, but the hill is deceptively long, where you can't see the next section as your climbing. A rider could be easily fooled into thinking the climb is shorter than it is. I was by no means tearing it up, averaging about 5 mph, where I started to wonder just how slowly do you have to be going to fall over? I continued to push the pedals round and round until I finally made it to the top. It took almost 20 minutes from the trailhead (about 2.5 miles), but I made it with no walking or stopping.

I celebrated for a moment, snapped a couple of pictures and head back down. I quickly picked up speed and started to ride the rear break very hard as to not exceed 25 mph, which isn't easy. At one point I was squeezing down on both the rear and front brakes and still moving at a good clip. I returned to the trailhead in under 7 minutes after an uneventful ride down.

Summary: Round 1 goes to me.

Although I won round one by making it up the hill, I know that race day will be an entirely different challenge as I'll have swam 1500 meters and rode just over 5 miles out to the hill. I didn't see any bears, but I did see two deer. I haven't decided what Round 2 will be yet, hill repeats or riding the entire Boulder Peak course, but I will do both. I definitely want to do the hill at least 2 more times before race day to build up strength and confidence.

Bolder Boulder

Today was the 30th annual Bolder Boulder and my first. As you know from reading this blog, I'm not much of a runner, but I figured if I was going to be doing a 10k after swimming and biking as part of the Boulder Peak, I better have at least one 10k under my belt first. It was also the rare occasion that Kim and I both got to compete in the same race. We partnered with our friends Steven and Rebecca to get a baby sitter for the morning and tackle it together. Kim and Rebecca have also been training for the Steamboat Half Marathon.

My goals for the race included:
* Running the whole race
* Finishing in 1 hour or less
* Keeping up with Kim and Rebecca
* Have fun!

We left the house at 6:30 this morning and took the shuttle from Twin Peaks Mall. It was a short 25 minute ride or so, where we got dropped off right at the start line. Of course we were running late, but it was no big deal as your time starts when each individual crosses the start line. It was a nice day for running, overcast about 60 degrees, but a bit muggy. The course winds in and out of Boulder neighborhoods finishing at Folsom Field on the campus of the University of Colorado. We ran the first mile in 10 min and for the most part kept that pace the entire run. I stayed with Kim and Rebecca the first 5k or so, but started to fall off the pace shortly there after. While I was falling behind, I kept them in my sights and caught a second wind around mile 5 that allowed me to catch up and briefly pass. I was feeling good, but ultimately ran out of gas down the stretch. Kim and Rebecca came in at 1 hour 1 min, with me right behind at 1 hour 2 mins.

Overall it was a fun time, I met my goals (for the most part, I'm happy with 2 mins over my goal!) and I'll definitely be interested in doing it again next year. We didn't stick around for the pro race or memorial day activities due to the weather, but something to look forward to next year. It also reminded me that if I'm going to be happy with the Boulder Peak results, I'm going to need to run more. I've been doing a lot of Boot Camp, Kick Boxing and Biking, but not much running. Leading up to this race, I think I ran a total of 11 miles, not exactly a rigorous training regime. I need to start running!

Everything Tri - Parker, CO

We're excited to announce that Family Fan Club t-shirts and rompers are now available at Everything Tri in Parker, CO. Stop by and checkout the newest tri shop along the front range.

Summer Open Sprint Triathlon - Expo

We had a great time at Colorado Multisport, meeting and introducing FamilyFanClub to over 100 people. The romper and t-shirts definitely created a buzz at packet pick-up.

We also made a great connection with Todd Lowe from the Greeley Triathlon team and subsequently FamilyFanClub will be at the Greeley Triathlon expo and race day on June 7th and 8th. If you're doing the Greeley Triathlon, please stop by and say hello!

Longmont Triathlon - Race Simulation

Longmont recreation has been doing a series of Triathlon clinics to build interest for the 2008 Longmont Triathlon, particularly newbies like me, culminating this past weekend with a race simulation. Unfortunately I'll be out of town during the race supporting Kim at the Steamboat Half Marathon, but I figured I could use the practice. My goals were to go as fast as possible in the swim & bike and run the entire 5k.

The swim is a pool swim, great for anyone with nerves surrounding the swim. I completed 525 yards in 8:30, right on time with my Greeley estimate. Greeley race day I expect to be around 8 minutes.

The bike is a 4 mile loop course, which we did 2x in the interest of time. I had some nagging pain in my lower back, so didn't exactly tear it up like I had hoped.

The run was good. Luckily the nagging back pain is a bike only pain, as I felt good. I ran 95% of the way in 31 minutes, which I'm really psyched about, as that is my PR for "just" a 5k.

All in all it was a good day of swim, bike and run. With another month of preparation I think I'm right on schedule for 1:20 at the Greeley Triathlon.

I'm off to the chiropractor this week (Wednesday) and bike fit (Friday). Hopefully between those two activities, I can find and eliminate/reduce the back pain.