Racing, the weekend and Boulder

Congrats to everyone that raced IM Arizona on Sunday. Mike, Kevin, Scott, Kelly, Steve and Jeremy all rocked. It was a good showing for all. A special congrats goes to Kim Nickel as well. He raced Boston today in some horrible conditions. His time was just a few minutes over his goal time, so in my opinion he nailed it!
For my weekend I decided against the Boulder Roubaix since the conditions were going to be cold and muddy. Not what I need right now. I did some cyclocross racing in the fall and loved it, but now is time for specific training. Instead, I did my favorite thing, head up to the mountains. I rode my Kuota on the flats for about an hour, then headed up. My watts were right where I wanted them and I actually had to hold back a bit in the beginning. After a good 3 hours of going up and down I got back on the flats and hammered out another hour. I like using the climbing to get myself tired, then on the descent I keep the RPM's high and work on leg speed. Try doing 30+ MPH, putting out 200 watts with a cadence of 110. It's not easy, but it trains the legs to turnover quick and smooth when you are tired. Then when I hit the flats again, I work on race wattage and being efficient. The ride had a total of 6200 ft. of climbing with an average wattage of 205 and my HR average was 120. I ran for 30 minutes right off the bike and felt great. On the flat sections I was holding 6:30 pace no problem and I was strong on the hills also. All in all a great day. I finished the day with a nice Salmon burger, some mashed potatos, corn and a small glass of vino. Courtney and I watched The Good Shepard (great movie), had some ice cream and called it a night at 9:30.
Sunday was long, but fun. I started with an easy jog for an hour. Nothing fast at all, just cruising. Then I had a huge breakfast of pancakes, fruit, and tea. The weather was great and Court and I jumped in the car and drove to Boulder. We stopped at Amante coffe, THE place to start your ride. Very Euro, good coffee drinks, cool atmosphere, cycling friendly and outdoor seating. Plus you can get on 36 in 2 minutes. We were tracking the progress of IM AZ on our phones, how cool is that? After a doppio (double espresso) I headed out for a 3 hour base ride. The reason for the huge breakfast was because when I eat a lot before a ride, I can't go very hard. This is one of the ways I make sure I go easy on my easy days. When my effort comes up, so does breakfast. It's not pleasant, so I make sure I go easy. The other trick is to ride with some mellow tunes going. Try hammering when Pink Floyd or The Beatles are playing. You can't!
I rode up LeftHand Canyon to Jamestown keeping the watts just where I wanted them and didn't care about the groups going by me. I think everyone that owns a bike in Boulder was in LeftHand Canyon on Sunday. It was a logjam! Back on the flats I just putzed around and enjoyed another great spring day.
I met Court back at Amante. She had a good run on one of her favorite trails and had got plenty of sun. We walked around Pearl St. for a bit and grabbed a snack. After some more shopping, mostly for home stuff, we had a slow dinner at Pasta Jay's. The whole time we kept checking the IM AZ updates. It was great to be able to see how everyone was doing. It seemed like a super long day, but it was lots of fun. I truely love being in Boulder. We lived there for almost 5 years before moving and hope to move back in the near future. With all the rides, run, facilities and the whole athletic vibe, it just puts me in a great state of mind. If you dig organic food, coffee shops, and crazy Tibetan knicknack stores, it's the place for you. Plus, I like to watch the hippies, the hipsters, the mountain jocks and college kids all collide in one place. The mix is perfect. If you want some cheap food, or an 80 dollar glass of wine, you can find it in Boulder. A perfect day for me involves an early swim, nice breakfast at The Walnut Cafe, a big ride up to Peak to Peak, a run on Wonderlake Trail, chilling with Court on the Pearl St. mall and dinner somewhere fun. Oh to dream a perfect dream.
This morning I was a bit tired still and wasn't all too motivated at the pool at 5:30 AM. Thankfully Matt, our coach, wasn't there and I was able to cruise a bit. I still got in my 4k though. A small breakfast and some emails were all I had time for. I got on the CT, which is still reading NO COMMUNICATION, and spun for 30 minutes warming up for my long run. A short change and I was off on my first loop. Climbing was the order of the day and I started out hard. I have tried a new strategy for my long runs. Instead of building into them, I go hard and then hold on at the end. The idea is that you don't negative split an IM run, so why do it in training? Overall it was a good run and I felt pretty strong throughout. The last miles hurt, but they are supposed too right? After the run I made up a recovery shake, did 15 minutes of core work, took a quick shower and headed off for a massage. Now it's time for some dinner, I gotta go!