The BTC is proud to be a Triathlon Club for members of all ability levels. We offer social events, swim, bike and run training, clinics and the chance to enjoy our sport with others in one of the Meccas of endurance sports. Join us and get involved!
Letter from the Prez
BTCers,
We have a few exciting things planned for 2012 that I think will interest you and get you psyched for the coming season.
First, we are re-invigorating our website to include better functionality, a discussion forum, and better advertising for our sponsors. More of the content in the website will be behind the members login including the discussion forum. In addition, we will be improving the functionality to include better member management and an ability to sign up for events and purchase gear through the website. We are targeting launch on Feb 1 2012 and our URL will change to www.bouldertriathlonclub.com. Unless we can figure out a way to keep the googlegroup in synch with the membership list we will likely phase out the googlegroups distribution list. Going forward the majority of BTC information will be distributed through either the discussion forum or a members only email distribution list. We want the value of the BTC membership to be realized and this is one way of achieving that.
Ben is taking orders for 2012 club clothing. Contact Ben ASAP at bsmrscott@gmail.com.
Russell Herbert is birthing the mentor program for 2012 where we will be focusing on new triathletes and those striving for a new race distance and looking for an experienced BTC member who can act as an expert resource. Review Russell’s email that went out a couple weeks ago and please refer this program to any new triathletes you may know. Eric Kenney will likely conduct some training specifically focused at this group and it will likely include discounted race entry to a local tri.
We will continue the many training events and social gatherings that we have done in the past so look for this events calendar to get posted to the new website in February. We hope to organize a club trip or two over the course of the year so keep your eyes posted for information on this. Where would you like to go? Buena Vista for some great hill work? A destination race somewhere? Let me know so that we can begin to turn ideas into plans.
2011 was a great year for me. The early season was focused on getting ready for Ironman Coeur d’ Alene with race preps happening out in California at Wildflower. Wildflower was a blast and all though the bike was hilly, the run was a bear!! Laura and I logged many hours of driving both to California and Idaho and have decided that flying isn’t such a bad idea. IM CDA served up the coldest swim of my career and the combination of full wetsuit and slow swim was the challenge of the day. With the remainder of the race ending well it will serve as my mantra “if you can get through IM CDA swim you can get through anything!” The second half of the season was a grudge match with Laura in Philadelphia. This half marathon distance race was a challenge training wise as it is difficult to determine “race pace” when you are training at altitude and racing at sea level. The sage advice of our coaching staff was right on – the lungs were loving life and it was the legs that really started to fatigue in the last few miles. Both Laura and I beat our best time by many minutes and it was a great way to end the season.
So what does 2012 hold for all of you? I always find the last part of December and early part of January a fun time to start planning for the season. Share your plans with the club and find some companions to share in the experience. I always find these to be the most fun races of all. Happy New Year to all of you and I look forward to seeing you all in ’12.
Graz
NEW YEAR, NEW BTC!
Change is afoot in the form of new and renewed programs and opportunities for the club with the new year! Here’s a small sampler of things to expect and look forward to:
Mentor Program
This program’s aim is helping and encouraging beginner and less experienced triathletes. The idea is to match athletes not for individual coaching, but to provide a “triathlon friend” offering basic guidance, advice and encouragement.
Everyone remembers that first triathlon – being terrified of the swim, wearing baggy running shorts on the bike (and regretting it!!), as yet ignorant of the magical properties of Glide or Vaseline. Eating steak and eggs for breakfast because your grandma said you needed to “fill up before a long days work”. Imagine how helpful it would have been for someone to give you the basics that we all now take for granted? Now is the time to give back – help promote our great sport and healthy lifestyle.
The mentor program will target first timers foremost, but also beginners who are thinking about moving to the next level, like tackling a first Olympic or half iron distance race. For the beginner groups, we will target the Boulder Sprint in May and also Athleta Iron Girl in August as target races to support our mentees to complete.
If you are interested in becoming a Mentor in this program the following commitments are suggested:
1) In person meeting with your mentee’s, maybe at a club training session followed by coffee (or beer) for introduction and to discuss goals.
2) Help with a couple of organized sessions before the target races to help the mentee’s get ready, open water swim and practicing a transition. Maybe ride the bike course as a group.
3) Be involved with the weekly BTC training dates, run at the rez, bike rides etc. Not every person every week but we need to keep these consistent to allow the newcomers chance to meet folk and get involved in the club.
4) Most importantly being able to give your mentee advice and guidance as they have questions come up via phone or e-mail. We will suggest once a week or so, some may be more, some less.
Thanks to Russell Herbert for taking the lead in launching a new format for matching mentor athletes with newbies to the sport! FYI, our leader is a perfect poster child for the power of successful mentoring–rumor has it that’s how he met his wife! If you’re interested in participating, please contact Russell at russellherbert@gmail.com.
BTC Grand Prix: It’s Back! And It’s Better.
The BTC Grand Prix Series is an ongoing fun, structured set of regular opportunities to get together as a club for social training, sharing competitive but supportive camaraderie, and creative chances for every athlete to shine. The new Grand Prix Series includes a once-a-month running event that will fire your competitive juices while highlighting the great social network we have as a club.
Membership Special!
TRAINING
How to Train Your Lactate Threshold…Without Doing Threshold by Eric Kenney
Break that FTP plateau! Some athletes thrive on these workouts and can perform them better than steady efforts at 100% of threshold. Others suffer like never before. There is a reason weight lifters do many different types of chest exercises: all chest workouts are not created equal. Your threshold power or pace is the same way. I will frequently prescribe a 2-3 week block of threshold training for an athlete, and not one of the threshold (Zone 4) workouts are the same. Why? Lots of reasons. To keep things fresh, to keep the body working and adapting as much as possible, to be specific, to “force the issue” as I sometimes say. For example, take these two workouts: 3×20 minutes at 90% of threshold; and 3 minutes on, 1 off, times 6 at 110% of your threshold. Both are “threshold” workouts, yet they can fall worlds apart.
The Over-Under, or Crisscross, interval is one you may have heard of or even done before. If you’re a cyclist, you have definitely done one, maybe without even realizing it. There are many different methods and variations to this workout. They include intervals with a given amount of time under your threshold, power, or pace, and a given amount of time over it.
Here are a few of my favorite types of over-under intervals:
1. Bike: for time trialist or triathlete, 2×25 minutes (4 min rest) done as: 4 minute zone 3/ 1minute in zone 5. Repeat for the length of the interval.
2. Bike: For the roadie, 2×25’ (4’rest), perhaps done on a climb. Ride in zone 3/upper zone 3; every 3’ do a 20” kick spiking power to 10 watts per kilo of body weight then push Zone 5. Repeat for the 25’.
3. Running: 30”on, 30” 0ff. “On” time, do 5k pace or faster, off time is zone 2/ endurance pace. Repeat 20-30 times.
How they work:
What this does is force the body to recover from the harder effort while still working at a non-recovery pace. By doing a short effort above your lactate threshold, you start to build up lactate on your muscles. If it’s not too much you can recover from this by working very easy for some time. But with these intervals you keep the effort going at a hard but sub threshold, aerobic, pace (zone 3/ tempo). Now, your body is trying to filter the waste, while keeping energy production fairly high!Also, the repeated nature of these hard efforts will soon have you thinking efficiency. How can you hit that wattage or pace with as little wasted energy as possible? Believe me, you will figure it out or pay dearly!
All of our training zones are related. Some more than others yes. “If your foundation is to small you can’t build a big, tall house.” Right. Well, if your roof is too small you can’t build a big main floor without it filling up with water, same thing. I have seen many athletes come to me and others pounding away at their threshold getting little results because their abilities above threshold are inadequate. Yes , you ironman triathletes still need to have some kind of minimum ability above threshold. These intervals are a great way to work that upper end a little bit while having an overall endurance flavor to your training session.
In the real world:
Train your weakness! This is The foundation of the ETG. If you’re looking at this thinking, I don’t have to do that in a race why should I train that way?, chances are this type of thing is a weak area for you. We all have our strong points and weak ones. However, if a weakness is weak enough, it will hold EVERYTHING back.
At bike race or a mountain bike race, much of the time it feels like the winner still blows up, just not as badly as everyone else. Or, they are the ones who simply blow up last. When attacks are going in a road race, it’s not the base pace that gets people dropped, it’s the accelerations. The same can often can be said on climbs for the leaders. Mountain bikers, this is your playground! Long, hard, steady efforts are what mountain bike racing is all about, but you are constantly forced to deal with the terrain. That hill is steep!Any slower and you will have to put a foot down. Those little efforts to get over a rock or a log. So ever find yourself keeping up with every one for the first lap, but then every one of those little tiny efforts seems to cost more and more ground? These intervals can be your secret weapon to preparing for the final finishing climb, or to simply get ready for the first races of the season.
For the TT guru or triathlete, these can be a great threshold workout to add to your arsenal. Accelerating out of corners and not paying for it can mean an extra few seconds at the state TT championships and the difference between 1st and 4th place. In triathlons, we try our best to be steady eddie on the bike. But it’s tough some times. This can provide not only some great training at your VO2 power but give you a little insurance for the mistakes we all make when were in the heat of battle.
Replace your next few boring threshold workouts with some of these interval sessions. See what happens.
Eric is a full time triathlon and cycling coach. He is the owner of EK Endurance Coaching and works with athletes of all levels. To see EK Endurance Coaching’s highlighted results and learn more about what they can do for you go tohttp://ekendurancecoaching.com.
Opportunity: EK Endurance is offering a St. George Training Camp!
Our 140.7 training camp: We go beyond the finish line!
Get first-hand course knowledge of one of the toughest IM courses in the world! Race execution seminar will be done early in the camp so you can then put that new knowledge into real world use. Great coaches, great people, and a great location.
This Camp will include accommodations at a fantastic local home. Product from EK Endurance Coaching partners: Infinit Nutrition, Mix 1 and more. More during the day training, food and snacks. Dinner cooked at the house each night, group effort (Gang, I’m not Bobby Flay!). Training seminars each night, and free one-on -one coaching consults by request.
RACING
Congratulations to everyone as always on great performances and sporting accomplishments. Here are a few recent results we know about. Please send me your PRs and achievements…or, boast on behalf of your modest and amazing friends!
Congrats to:
IMAZ: Pam Schuckies, Warren Schuckies, Liz Larson, 12:29:31; Jay Lochhead, 11:01:28
HITS Sprint Palm Springs: Will Murray, 1st AG in 1:18
Tuscon Half Marathon: Will Murray, 3rd AG/1:32
Anthem Turkey Day 10K: Russell Herbert, 40:39/3rd AG; Andy Graziano, 44:49/5th AG; Laura McGraw, 44:34/1st AG
Vegas Half Marathon: Charles Garabedian, 1:22:03; Christiana Glenn, 1:36:49
ITU Long Course Worlds: Charles Garabedian
..congrats too to all other competitors in recent events! Lots of fun snowy racing coming up!
MARK YOUR CALENDARS!
If you’re in town New Year’s Day, you won’t want to miss the first Grand Prix event…prediction run at Casa Schuckies! Stay tuned for monthly events to come!
If your race plans aren’t already packed, check out the fabulous links below for upcoming races!
Colorado Triathlete Multisport Calendar
Miami Man by Karen Davis
The Miami Man Triathlon is a Half Iron and an International Distance. This year, it was hold on November 13th in Miami at Larry & Penny Thompson State Park.
The swim was in a spring fed lake, and the water was so clear that you could see the bottom of the l
ake throughout the swim. I thought the water would be too warm for a wetsuit, but it was actually quite coo,l and perfect. The first hundred meters were crowded, but as people began to thin out, I began to realize why people had been ravin
g about the swim in this race. It was awesome: the temperature was perfect, the water crystal clear, and there were such long stretches between buoys that the crowd thinned out nicely.
Getting out of the water, it was still quite cool by Miami standards, so I was psyched to get on the bike and
get moving. It was an out and back course through an agricultural section on Miami. I thought I was in a headwind on the way out… until I turned around and began heading back. Suddenly, everyone seemed hardly able to turn the pedals over. It was a struggle all the way back to transition, but I was thankful to have made it with some legs left.
The run was a winding route through the Miami Metro Zoo. Imagine running partners the likes of lions, tigers, elephants and gorillas! It had begun to get a little hot by this time but there were aid stations every mile with ice in all the cups. I felt great the whole run and crossed the finish line with arms up. All in al,l it was a great race that was well organized and fun to run. I will definitely be back.
Ironman Arizona by Pam Schuckies
Warren and I signed up for Ironman Arizona last November, just a few weeks after experiencing the Holy Grail of triathlon in Kona. It seemed like a good idea at the time but after September I was becoming mentally and physically weary of a training and racing season that stretched into late November.
The 2011 racing season has been a mixed bag of injury management, swim frustration, disaster races and PR races. I was coached by George and Jane Esahak-Gage the first half of the year, and Tim Reed since July. Tim is a professional triathlete from Australia, who’s lived with us the past two summers. Under Tim’s guidance, I had trained differently the months leading up to this race, more volume and more intensity. I was tired a lot, but was finally feeling at the end of the taper that I was ready.
I had some time goals for the swim, the bike and the run – and I hoped for a sub 13 hour finish time.
I have enjoyed my six previous Ironman races – and I haven’t suffered through any of them too badly. I must admit that I have often had a tendency to kind of “lah-de-dah” along, with a strong intention to have fun out there. But this time I planned to maintain more focus on keeping my best effort alive all day.
Swim:
The lake water was a very chilly 61 degrees. That’s not so bad in a short race but swimming 2.4 miles in cold water is a different story. I’m often cold when other people aren’t, so this was a a huge cause for concern for me. It’s a deep water start, so you have to be in the water 5-10 minutes before the gun goes off, which is miserable. I wore a long-sleeve wetsuit with a swimsuit underneath, neoprene cap and neoprene booties.
2,654 athletes started this race, and that’s a lot of people in a narrow canal of a lake. When the gun went off, I was stuck swimming with all the people who are panicking, stopping, breaststroking, backstroking, and swimming all over the place instead of toward the first buoy. I couldn’t get through the gridlock of people to manage a decent swim stroke for a good 10 minutes or more. Once I finally found some water to really swim, I used Tim’s advice for swimming in a wetsuit: focus on reaching deeper and rotating more. So far, I was chilly but things were all good.
About halfway through the swim, I looked at my watch and was at 40 minutes, which isn’t fast, but is pretty good for me – as my fastest IM swim time was a weak 1:42. I tried to kick more than usual, in hopes of staying warmer with the extra movement.
Then about an hour into the swim, I started to get much colder. My hands and face were already numb, then my arms started to feel numb. I started to feel like I was swinging stumps that used to be my arms, and not really feeling like I was able to grab any water. Nothing to do but keep going and stay out of my head to keep the negative thoughts away. I counted strokes, tried to keep what Tim calls a “neutral mind” and I focused on getting through it.
At last, I got to the swim finish line. I looked at my watch…1:37: 48. A little disappointing – I was hoping for 1:30. Tim had told me that whether I had a good swim or a bad swim – just leave it behind when I got out of the water. I did.
I had made the decision to completely change into dry clothes in T1, and it was totally the right decision. However, most of the women who came out of the water near me had made the same decision and it was more crowded than usual in that warm change tent. All the volunteers in the change tent were busy with other athletes so there was no one to help me dress. My hands were numb and completely useless, and I was trying to untie the string in my T1 bag and on the verge of tears from cold and frustration. The one of the volunteers finally came to my rescue at last and helped me get into my clothes. After a ridiculous 12:30 in T1, I finally started my bike ride.
Bike:
The IM AZ bike course is 3 out & back loops, a long gradual climb going out, and the same gradual downhill coming back. The variable factor is the wind. The first loop was great, wind at your back coming back into town, fast times! My goal was to hold 18mph for the whole ride. First loop, I was at 18.4 average. Good so far. Second loop, the wind started to pick up, and it was unpredictably changing direction – no longer could you count on that sweet tailwind coming back. Not Kona cross-wind scary, but definitely enough wind to start slowing me down. Third loop, even more wind I was working harder and feeling like I going slower – yet I managed to bring my average up a little more over time lost in the second loop. In the third loop, another issue to manage – an optical migraine which manifests as wavy vision and spots before my eyes. Same thing happened this year in the 70.3 World Championship in Vegas – seems to be brought on by the sun. Weird and annoying and dangerous when you are riding and trying to get your eyes to focus on the road.
Pushing harder on the bike had worked well for me earlier this year racing at the Olympic and 70.3 distances – I was able to ride faster and still run well, so my plan was to do the same at IM distance. This was faster than I’d ever pushed for this distance, but so far, I felt good and my final average was 17.7. Not blazing fast, but I felt like I’d done a decent job of staying steady.
Run:
I dashed into T2 ready to run; in & out in 4:22. The run course was also a 3-loop course. The first few miles felt not too bad, the usual Ironman post-bike stiffness but legs started to loosen up and I was still feeling positive. First 5 miles done and I was thinking that a 4:15 marathon was quite do-able – which would give me around a 12:30 finish. The run is always my favorite part of a triathlon, but this day, around mile 5, the wheels started to come off.
I’ve experienced bad things running in races before, like cramps or fatigue. Yet what I started to experience about mile 5 this day was completely new to me. My legs started to hurt in a way that I’ve never experienced in a race or training. It was primarily my quads and hamstrings but later my calves too – it was a stabbing kind of pain and stretching every mile or so did nothing to alleviate it. I took in some salt tabs, took in some electrolyte drink, coke….nothing helped.
I had some ibuprophen in my run special needs bag but unbelievably I was so out of it, I missed picking it up in the special needs pickup area on the 2nd loop so had to wait til I passed it again on the 3rd loop. At that point I was at about mile 21 after hobbling through 15 miles of the worst suffering I’ve ever had in a race. I felt angry and frustrated and wanted to cry over and over. Any hope of reaching my goals were surely gone now, but I had to salvage what I could of this day.
When I finally got my special needs bag, I gulped down all the ibuprophen I had (more than I usually take for sure) and within 10 minutes it was a miracle – I had my legs back. In my last four miles I was able to gradually increase my run speed, to the point that my last mile was probably my fastest of the day. I crossed the finish line in 13:21:04, short of my 12-hour goal – but a 34-minute Ironman PR for me.
I found Warren in the finish area and he told me I’d finished 3rd in my age group. Wow. My first IM podium!
Post Race Reflection:
When things started to go south 5 miles into the run, I found myself in need of managing some pretty dark negative thoughts – and fortunately Tim and I had talked about being willing to hurt being the difference between an athlete who excels and one who doesn’t. I put my head down and did not speak to any of my fellow athletes, barely acknowledged the good people spectating who yelled encouragement to me, and made a real effort to keep sharp focus and not give away an ounce of energy. After the race I expressed thanks and apologies to friends who yelled happy thoughts to me, or tried to engage me in conversation during the race – I know they were trying to help and I’m sure I gave them “why don’t you just drop dead” looks. 
People tell me they were calling out to me as I passed on the run and for much of that time I have absolutely no awareness that they were even there. I was in a weird place in my head and my soul, and I had to dig pretty deep inside myself, but I did find strength there. And the cool thing is that now I know it’s there to use again when I need it.
Lessons Learned:
1 – Strength still a huge limiter for me. I can’t rely on just my good endurance anymore if I want to continue to improve my times. I have to back it up with a stronger body head to toe.
2 – I am improving my ability to manage my head when things get ugly. I’m proud that I managed to fight back the demons and get to that finish line. I can suffer and not quit. I learned that even when I think I can’t go on, I probably can. I know that my head tells me lies about what my body can or can’t do.
3 – I need to train at higher intensity on the bike to be able to successfully push harder on the bike and still run well.
4 – If you get third place, you’ll regret that you didn’t get second place. If you get second place, you’ll regret that you didn’t win. If you win, you’ll feel like a failure if you don’t win again. This is ridiculous! – and keeps you from enjoying and appreciating your successes. Third place in my age group is my best finish ever in a full Ironman race. Though I spent some time beating myself up about not being able to run down the girl who finished second ahead of me(who I’ve beaten before), I do realize that this is a huge step up for me. I’m grateful to the people who helped me achieve this. Thanks to my coaches, past and present. And of course, huge thanks to Warren, who loves and supports me in a million ways every day. And my family and friends – the connection I feel to all of you makes me a better person not just a better athlete.
So did I reach my time goals? Nope, none of them. Yet, overall, it was a pretty great day. Both Warren and I walked away with PR’s, and an agreement that we would skip doing an Ironman race in 2012. Woo hoo! Time to find some speed at the shorter distances next year, and have a little more free time to play.
Time: 13:21:04 – Age Group Third Place
Swim: 1:38:04 T1: 12:30 Bike: 6:20:04 T2: 4:22 Run 5:06:02
Long Day: ‘Racing’ to the summit and back
By Paul Hooge, reprinted from Trail Runner Magazine online: http://www.trailrunnermag.com/trblast/101411dirt.html
After being wait listed for Hardrock, I thought it might be fun to make it a year of adventure runs. I ran some 50-milers on trails and roads around my home at Walker Ranch outside of Boulder, Colorado. I ran up and down Flagstaff five times, Myers Gulch 10 times and ran 50 miles across my basement—on a treadmill!—where I had my wife pass me water bottles while I yelled out things like, “Retrieve the blister kit!” to simulate racing.
Many years ago when I first climbed the Keyhole route on Longs Peak I was convinced I had just conquered Mount Everest. Now it seemed the next logical step was to do the same route, but starting my approach from Boulder rather the trailhead. I did some Internet searches to see if this had been done. Google introduced me to the “Fastest Known Times” (FKT), a forum administered by Ultrarunning Legend Peter Bakwin that as best I can understand was developed to nurture people like me.
Indeed, I discovered that accomplished Paul Pomeroy ran a 115-mile mostly trail version of this route in 28 hours 44 minutes. After reading his report I understood this was just a fun run for a runner of Paul Pomeroy’s stature that he did on a lark in 2003. Something like, “Should I go to a movie or run to Longs Peak and back?” I knew right then it was my time to go for the FKT.
I have heard of too many ultrarunners eventually being unable to distinguish between their spouse and a roving aid station and the subsequent DNF of their marriage. I have not quite reached the point where I look into my wife’s eyes and see only GUs, powdered drinks and electrolyte tablets. When I suggested I would be making drops to self support myself along the way, my wife, Robin, insisted she be there. I was touched initially until she informed me, sure she was willing to toss me the occasional bottle, but more importantly she had tickets, popcorn and a front-row seat to watch me suffer. She was not about to miss this full-day matinee.
With my extensive and supportive crew in place and all the confidence that I could at least walk to the “Leaving Boulder” sign, I announced my intention on the FKT website. I would take the most direct public roads and trails to the top. I decided on the Pearl Street Courthouse, Old Stage, Jamestown, Peak to Peak, Highway 7 to Longs Trailhead then the Keyhole Route. This came to a little over 90 miles and 13,000 feet of ascending round-trip. For planning purposes, I consulted my algorithm. The run calculated out to around 11 blisters, three breakdowns of “I can’t go on” and 1.37 vomits.
At 8 p.m. on Monday, September 12, 2011, I left downtown to the roar of cheers from my own mouth and the irritation of passerbys. As the website suggested, I had been training for this since I took the first steps in my mothers womb and I should document it in a verifiable manner. I had announced it on the website, had witnesses, carried cards to pass out for independent verification and wore a SPOT tracker. I also saved all my GU wrappers, lost toenails and bronzed my running shoes immediately afterwards.
I love the night. I work nights. Cool and calm, just like me, I thought. With my torch in hand I glided through the evening out of Boulder. As usual, at about mile three, I hit the wall and stayed squarely pinned against it for the next 87 miles. Curiously, I discovered dogs don’t like people running by at night. They all sounded like some mountain hillbilly’s Pit Bull/Wolf breeding experiment with dinner held. As I scooted along I wished I had brought a gun to shoot myself before they tore me to bits. I had the occasional thought about mountain lions as well, but took comfort knowing that no matter how far it dragged my disemboweled carcass, I would eventually be found, with my SPOT tracker on.
I gained Peak to Peak Highway with Pink Floyd drowning out the night sounds. I was astonished that only two cars passed me for the next 15 miles on the highway. Robin crewed me from the window of the car and sometimes drove next to me for extended periods while we talked.
For 37 miles I averaged just under 12-minute miles with the difficult-to-watch shuffle-wobble,-limp-thing I like to refer to as running. I had arrived at the trailhead. Now a simple tag of the summit and I can skip home.
I passed out verification request cards to a few people along the way to the summit. Everything was hard. I was moving so slow I was convinced I was going backwards. Fortunately everyone else was going backwards faster than I and I passed about 20 people. A thick black cloud descended on the peak. It started snowing and the wind began to blow hard. I kept moving, taking comfort in the wise decision I had made to leave some of my critical warm clothing at the trailhead. After reaching the keyhole the next couple hours is a blur of freezing, hypoxia and exhaustion. I was the first person to make it to the top that day. I took a couple pictures with my phone and made an “X” on the register using the numb stump at the end of my wrist and headed down.
I had made the summit in just less than 12 hours and was happy to be headed home. The wind subsided and the sun came out. I passed about 40 people on the way down. Word got around as to what I was doing and everyone was very supportive. The rangers even took my picture when I made it to the bottom. As I hit the trailhead again, I changed into shorts and a T-shirt, grabbed my bottle and headed home.
Did I mention I love the night? This was day, sun and cars. I was quick to realize that the most dangerous part of this trip was not me stumbling along the narrows on the face of Longs, but the 90-year-old lady that barreled past me in her truck at one second faster than the speed of light while drinking a beer and text messaging. Eventually, the traffic lightened and the shoulder widened. I got into a rhythm; eat, drink and pity myself. At the turn off to Jamestown I could not take it any more. I sat down, put my feet up and enjoyed 180 seconds of pure bliss before returning to my fate.
I made it over Old Stage and was surprised by my friend Drew Geer greeting me on his bike with his large camera. He followed me all the way into Boulder snapping pictures. The break from my pity party was appreciated and he got me in. About a mile out Peter Bakwin joined me. We finished to my wife’s cheers back at the courthouse. The time was 7:18 p.m. The run had taken me 23 hours 18 minutes. I had consumed just over six gallons of water and 10,000 calories.
Paul Hooge would like to thank his wife who made this possible, his friends for cheering for him from behind their computers while watching his SPOT locations and Peter Bakwin for providing a forum to encourage such personal challenges.
You can see the route along with pictures and download the KML or GPX file from SPOT Adventures at: http://www.spotadventures.com/trip/view/?trip_id=278395
ATHLETE PROFILE: Mentor Coordinator Russell Herbert
Years competing in tris: 23 years – my first triathlon was at 14
Worst tri mishap: The Ewell duathlon was my nemesis race
Worst tri mistake: Using a carbohydrate drink supplement for the first time during a race – coming top ten off the bike I then cramped up at the start of the run and vomited a number of times.
Top tri tip: Minutes can be won and lost in transition – before I got contact lenses I had to do this out of necessity as I could not find my bike. Make sure you walk the transition before the race – know exactly where you have to go and visualize the steps and what you are going to do.
Favorite sporting accomplishment: I represented Great Britain for 5 years on the junior team gaining many great experiences and friends – after a 5 year hiatus and moving to the USA I took up racing again and decided to take on a Half Ironman as a new challenge and new distance. In my first half iron was 4.51 I came 13th overall and 1st in age group.
Goals for next season so far: LA marathon in March. Beaver Creek X-terra as it totally kicked my ass last year! Then another half iron in the fall.
Favorite pre-race food: Pasta with Boursin cheese and Crème Freche melted together. Add ham and mushrooms for the ultimate calorie laden feast!
Favorite post-race replenishment: Chips….. (that’s fries in American)
Something people may not know about you: I love to dance!! Took salsa dancing lessons for a few years – am still terrible to be honest and cannot remember any of the footwork but love to twirl a girl around the room. I am also famous in 3 different countries for the chicken dance!
TIDBITS
Felicitations and a bittersweet farewell-for-now to Jenny Georges, who is off to DC with her wonderful fiance for 6 months. Jenny and Ryan are planning a July ceremony. Wishing them all the best!
Club Callout: Pecha kucha redruitment!
Share your passion, your dream – and maybe even some of the pain that goes along with it! Pecha Kucha Longmont is starting it’s second year of fabulous and successful presentations to friends, neighbors and community members. We are currently seeking presenters to share their 20 images – which will be projected on the “big screen” for 20 seconds each while you talk about your story, dream, ideas, hobby. This could be about your first triathlon adventure (or the training thereof). the flowers that you stopped and smelled along a particularly spectacular run, or the encounter that you shared in the human laundry machine with 2000 other swimmers, sharks and minnows during your last ironman. OR . . . . a subject matter that has absolutely nothing to do with triathlon or any of the above-mentioned activities. The event is free – so all of your friends will be there to watch, laugh, cry, experience. Upcoming PK Nights are February 10 and April 13. I need to have your idea for by January 4. Thanks – and happy holidays to all! If you need more info, go to pechakucha.org. Or email BTCer Lauren Greenfield directly at pinkdeano@yahoo.com.
Best wishes to Pam and Dan Moore, who are expecting their first child sometime in February!
Three cheers and then some for Laurie Mizener, and best wishes for continued happy healing! Here’s a recap of what the past months have held for Laurie:
GEAR CALLOUT! Don’t forget to e-mail Ben@tembtc.org soon if you are interested in ordering gear this year, or would like the full list of items available! : )
USAT CALLOUT: Keep logging those miles..January is bike month, but every mile counts toward team standings, including running and swimming!
Congrats to Francis Chew for being the first to spot BTCer Mike Conroy in the last issue’s Parting Shot. Look out for another cropped club member and Mike’s athlete profile in the next issue! : )
RED LINE REMINDER: Please continue to take advantage of the many benefits that come with being part of BTC! If your membership is approaching expiration, renew today…or better yet, take advantage of the special offer New Year’s Day at the first Grand Prix event of 2012!
