Well it’s been a long time since I jumped on the blog here to keep everyone abreast of my training, racing, and living, but I plan to condense it all into a readable post. Let’s jump back to my trip to Muncie, approaching a month ago now, when I traveled to the legendary race to defend my title. I entered the race at the last minute in 2011, but it was one of the better races I had all season, notching a PR for the distance. This year I knew I wasn’t quite as fit, still struggling a little to bounce back from Ironman and a blazing hot and dry summer in Boulder, but I went all in when the cannon fired. Having a good number of my extended family attending, including my grandmother who had never seen me race, was good motivation too. Unfortunately, sweltering heat in the midwest forced organizers to shorten the event to a modified Olympic distance, with a 1 mile swim, 31 mile ride, and 10k run. Heat index was 110ish on race day, so as much as I felt ready to tackle the challenge, I think it was the right call in the name of safety. I got out with the leaders in the swim, happy to be out of the 88 degree water, and watched Bennett immediately take off with Kemp in chase of Amberger. I ended up working the bike with Bretscher, but we towed along a group of athletes that were unwilling to aid in the chase. Despite some hard efforts near the end of the bike, we came in a little over a minute back, and the footrace was on. I got out quickly, and ran away from Bretscher after a hard battle, caught Kemp, but lost one spot to finish fourth. Overall, I was happy with the speed I produced in an event that was not my specialty, but the goal is always to win. Afterwards, I spent a couple days in Ohio with family, and then returned to Colorado…
So, back to Boulder, a little recovery, a little training, and then off to the races again! This time in Beaver Creek for the Xterra Mountain Championships. I’ve talked a lot about racing more Xterra but haven’t made it happen. Until now. I figured there was no better way to get a solid test than to jump in arguably the most arduous race on the circuit. Situated at between 7,500-9,000 ft., and stacked with all the favorites, the race was a great test of where I stood on the offroad scene. Specialized had the big rig there for support, and I had Spidermonkey work his magic on the S-Works Epic 29er. There is nothing like having a full support crew in place at these events. Just drop off the bike, relax, and get ready to race without any last minute running around.
I knew that this would be a different kind of pain, but after doing a short course event the weekend before, I was prepared to redline it. With a clean start out wide in the swim, I led the group to the first turn buoy. At which point I remembered that we were swimming at 8,000ft., and I handed over the reins to Craig Evans, Conrad, and Branden Rakita. Sitting on the rest of the swim, we all exited with a good gap on the chasers. I didn’t know much about the course, aside from hearing that it was basically straight up and then straight down, so I settled into a hard tempo, watching Conrad slowly pull away, but dropping Rakita, and riding on with Josiah when he came by. On the downhills I lost a couple minutes, which I expected, but I was holding solid 3rd. Onto the run, which was more like a hike and then downhill sprint, I was able to control my pace enough to finish in front of a hard-charging Henestrosa. It was indeed a different kind of pain, but I was happy with my effort, and made the podium against some of the toughest Xterra athletes. Makes me think a good race at Maui is a real possibility with a little more mtb practice…
Back to Boulder again, and this time the real training started again. For the first time since my big blocks in Tucson, things began to tick over naturally, consistently. I settled into zombie mode: eat, train, sleep, occasional massage, eat, repeat. And suddenly it was time to race again! This time in my own back yard, toeing the line at the Boulder 70.3. I hadn’t raced this since it was 5430 back in 2007, but I know the course well, and it’s a fast one. With a very strong field, and a minimal taper for me, I was looking to just lay it on the line and see if I could get in the mix. I’ve had pretty good luck not resting a lot for the half distance, so I wasn’t too worried, and the fitness just seemed to be climbing on a daily basis. I linked up with Joe Gambles (defending champ) race morning and spun out to the Res. After the usual pre-race routine, I was in the water waiting for the cannon. I felt under control the whole swim, but the group was weaving like a drunk driver, and eventually the swimmers in front of me lost contact near the halfway point. I never had any clue that we were off the back until we got out, but it did feel slightly too easy…
The bike begins with a couple rollers and a power grade, so I took off in hot pursuit with Santiago Ascenco and a few others, eventually making contact with the “peleton” as we turned onto St. Vrain. This was a pretty sad example of guys trying to keep 10 meters of spacing, so after watching the group for a few minutes, I pushed through the long chain and went off trying to catch Joe who had already taken off. I pulled out a few guys, and ended up forming a smaller, but much more legally spaced group of four that included Santiago, Josh Rix, and Leon Griffin. We pushed hard, but could never pull time back on Joe. He was on another level.
The run was something I was actually looking forward to, and went out hard as we all pushed the pace down around 5:30/mile. I knew this was just a bit too quick for such an exposed run at elevation, so I backed off slightly and let Griffo forge ahead. Eventually Santiago and I passed him, and came through halfway running literally side by side. I was feeling pretty fluid, so I decided to go all-in on a two mile effort from about 7-9. I pulled away slowly at first, then a big gap opened, and I was clear in 2nd. This was what I assumed to be the decisive move for the runner-up spot, but shortly after mile 11, Jordan Jones came out of nowhere and ran straight past. I had nothing left to go with his pace, but I soldiered in with one of the faster runs for the day, and a time around 3:48, which ranks amongst my fastest. Overall, I was happy with the effort, especially in the middle of my Ironman build, but would have liked to hold onto 2nd.
Another podium.
And the rest? Just day after day after day of training hard with an eye on winning Ironman Wisconsin. I’m anxiously awaiting another go at the distance, and have heard nothing but good things about the race. Almost game time!