Thru Endurance We Conquer!

I'm very hard on myself. Always have been. I set my goals high and can be very negative when I don't reach them. Sometimes I start the negative talk before I even have a chance to see if I will reach my goals. Not very healthy and makes it hard to see what progress I've made. This week was no different come the group road ride. I was tired after a full block of training with lots of hard workouts. I was already hesitant of how I would handle myself and if I would be able to keep up to Link Road. Then the fast people started showing up. Russel, Fernando, Kalan, Kelli and a whole host of honest to goodness pro riders. The only one missing was Danny Pate! At that point, I was making plans for a nice long solo time trail into the wind. I was very confident I would get dropped and dropped hard early in the ride. But I pushed that to the back of my mind. I was there to ride hard, get some practice with bike handling and see how long I could last. I made sure to stay in the front ...

I didn't get any cool sunrise or deer pictures this morning. There was a heavy bank of clouds that kept the temperature down and light conditions grey for most of my ride. But that doesn't mean it wasn't fun - or hard work. I took a different way into Stratton this time - via the road instead of the trails behind the high school. My first thought when I hit the Ridgeway parking lot was "wow - the lots full! And it's not even 6:30 yet? What's going on?" But I didn't think to much about it as I wanted to finish my warmup and get on with business. I did my usual playing around, practicing some wheelies and throwing in a few harder efforts to prep my legs for the workout. Saw one of the normal dog walkers and waved hello - I think they are starting to get used to me and my lights in the morning. The parking lot was still full when I rolled around to start the first interval. Even weirder, but not time to think about it. I hit my watch and started the inte...

Nick had last Friday off, so instead of battling the cars and crowds of the road ride and COS singletrack, we opted for a trip to Salida. I had to work, but had worked my schedule to be off by noon. Nick had everything ready to go, so when I got home, it was off. Salida bound for some fun! I just needed to run so Nick had a ride to himself on Friday and headed up Bear Creek Road. He found a new (old?) trail and decided to explore a little since Rainbow was still snowed in. Me? I just did an out and back easy run. Can't get lost doing that :) After Nick for back, it was time for dinner - Boathouse Cantina as usual. The food is awesome and they donate money back to Salida Mountain Trails. Even better, since that's a really great place to ride with lots of variety of trails. We did do some exploring this time - driving around and learning the lay of the city. Going to be important later this year... One of the reasons we usually eat at the Boathouse Cantina - that and the f...

Runners are expected to hit the road early - before work and in the darkness. Other runners wave, say hellos and continue along their way. I've been a long time member of the group, always relishing the quiet of the predawn darkness. Very few cars on the road, empty trails save for other early risers.  It's a clan, the early morning crowd.  Throw in two wheels and things are completely different. The waves are more in astonishment then hello "she's out riding a bike at this hour? Is she nuts?" Yes, I'm out riding, no I'm not nuts (did you see the lights I have? I can see what I'm doing better then you!) For the second week in a row, I was up before dawn for my ride. Not to beat the weather this time, but to cluster the workload on the bike. Colder this morning, so I had to add a few extra layers for the warm up. Just a quiet as last week as I pedaled into Stratton under my lights. That first section is always dark, but light was coming. A waning ...

Is the Incline on a lovely Sunday afternoon. I have never been to everyone's favorite uphill mile on a sunny day before. Our season is after dark, in the cold and snow when no one else is around. Even the last Sunday we hiked up, it was cold, snowy and icy. We were two of only a few brave souls to hit the ties. Not this weekend. Oh my lord. I imagined it would be crowded when I saw it on my schedule for a Sunday afternoon. I had no idea just how crowded it would be. The first inkling was the magnitude of white dots moving along the ties. There were herds of people on Ruxton, hiking up to join the fray. As Amber, Nick and I made our way to the base, we were dodging all kinds of people. All shapes and sizes, from little kids to their grand parents, the tourists from the Cog and the diehard hikers. It was clear that going for a time would be foolhardy - just hiking up and staying out of the way would be the best plan. And even that was hard. As we started up the easier lower slopes, t...

Group road rides. Coach Adam loves making me do them, I always try to beg out. I know it's good for me, that the fitness gains are going to pay dividends later. But I just don't like the road ride - I get nervous with the guys so close and the high speeds. After using my last excuse to bail this weekend (there's a parade and a run downtown - where will they actually meet?) I reluctantly capitulated. Time for a road ride... I wasn't liking the forecast though - low 40s with clouds and wind. The wind was making me the most nervous - gusts up to 50 mph? Yikes. But as ordered, I rolled up to Starbucks, ready to ride. Nick was with me this time, on his Epic, also ready for some good old fashioned pain. Only one other person showed up before 10:00, at which time we decided to relocate away from the chaos and wait on Boulder. Slowly, more riders showed up and we decided to roll out of town. The group would grow as usual between Union and Circle. I positioned myself in the fron...

I'm not sure why - I've always preferred to do my runs in the morning and riding in the afternoon. I've never minded running in the dark and it seems easiest to bundle up to run then ride. So that's what I do - run early and hope for best come afternoon. Usually it all works out and I have no issues getting my training done. But I've also realized that I need to ride more in the dark to maintain the edge night riding provides. I need to learn to hit my workout numbers without focusing on the data while riding. Night riding forces that because of the darkness. I can't look at my watch and the trail at the same time. There's also the few times I've gotten caught not trusting the weather man that a storm really is blowing in and been relegated to the trainer. Well, I'm not gonna let that happen again. If it's nice in the morning, I'm going start taking advantage of that. I'm already getting up early to run - the ride will just take a little ...

At least in the mornings! It's so funny - I have the early morning friends who love to run and ride before work. For them, the Spring Forward that marks the return of DST is the worst thing ever. After finally getting to enjoy the sunshine at the start of my run, it's all of a sudden dark again. I was starting to have the sunrise greeting me as I stepped out the door. No longer, at least for a few weeks. The sun will return, but those of us who are morning risers will have to deal with darkness again. With running, it doesn't bug me quite as much. Just throw on my Exposure Lights Joystick and I can see and be seen. And since I'm training to race in all kinds of conditions, I just shrug my shoulders and look forward to the sunrise at the end on my run. Riding is a little different - the extra hour of light in the morning meant that it was just a twich warmer, just a little brighter and more welcoming. I haven't done a bike workout in the morning since October, but th...

The nice thing about returning to races year after year is the chance to see the fitness gains, improvement in technical skill and ability to press on under any conditions. With six years of racing at 24 Hours in the Old Pueblo under our belts, Nick and I have some good data. Granted, while it is the same course from year to year - other things change. We've had all kinds of weather, from the AZ hurricane of 2011 , cold damp nights in 2009 , endless wind from 2012 and this years heat wave. I've had to use every stitch of clothes in my bag some years and hardly any other years. The numbers of people in the race have also increased over the years, leading to more slowing and accelerating for passes. Course quality varies every year - a puddle filled track in 2010 , mud followed by tight track during the storm of 2011, and this years brown sugary, sandy loose trail. Bikes have changed, with both of us on 29ers now. So the pure lap times are hard to compare. Yes, Nick and I did 4 ...