Even though I can’t run the full Colfax Marathon I am trying to get excited about the half. The best way for me to get excited about a race is to do some prep work.
The half is known for being “flat and fast”
Source
I’ll take it! The course looks like it will be well supported and packet pickup is at Mile High Stadium where the Broncos play.
The best part is that the race start is about a mile from my house and the race finishes right through my hood!
I am trying desperately not to get the injury blues. I HATE not being able to do the things I want to, but it’s so silly because there are lots of things I can still do. I can’t think too much about missing the marathon yet without getting upset yet so I will focus on the things I can do.
I can look forward to open water swimming on Saturday. We swim at Grant Ranch in Littleton.
It’s SO much better than swimming in a pool! I love being outside.
It’s also great to get practice sighting and get used to cold water.
I can also get in a long ride on Saturday since don’t have to save my legs for a full marathon. I think I will try to run the half marathon and quit if my foot starts to hurt too bad.
Do you get the injury blues? If so how do you avoid them?
I try to remember that even though training for an ironman is a lot of work, it’s NOT my job and it’s supposed to be fun. I got a great reminder yesterday when a good friend sent me this video
Love Brooks! Another favorite of mine is Ironman vs. Ultra Runner
I grew up in Oregon so dealing with the rain usually isn’t a big deal to me. I actually love running in the rain, but cycling is another story. You see I didn’t start cycling until I moved to Colorado.
I did know how to ride a bike and owned a hybrid bike, but I rarely used it unless on vacation and NEVER in the rain. Since starting triathlon I have spent a lot more time on my bike. Lucky for me it doesn’t rain very often here in Colorado
This morning Cory and I got up bright and early to head down to Greenland Open Space for our first 25k.
We got to the race easily, with plenty of time to wait in line for the port-a-potties and watch the 50k start. One of the coolest things about this race was being out on trail with people racing an ultra. I also liked that this was a no frills race, we picked up our packets that comprised of a number, chip and a tech-t, don’t need much else.
I left my camera at home so I don’t have many pictures from the day(whoops) but I did catch few before the start on my phone.
The race started on time and was small, all things I like. We knew that there wouldn’t be a lot of support on the course so we both carried our own water. There was an aid station at mile 3.5 and 7.7 of each loop. The volunteers were super nice and took great care of us. This race is made up of a 7.5ish mile loop with a little added to the beginning and the end. So the 50k racers had 4 loops, we had 2 and there was an 8 mile race that ran the loop once. I realized that I liked running the loop twice but would have gone crazy having to run it four times (two loops good, four loops bad). It was fun to be out on the trail getting passed by the wicked fast 50kers and a few 8 milers bringing it in and cheering on the 50kers making it happen out there.
The race went fairly well, I had some pains in my legs and feet but that shouldn’t be surprising at the end of a high volume week. It was also hotter than I expected, but it was nothing compared to RAGE. I finished in just under 3 hours and added a few extra miles to round out our day. I enjoyed the race and would do the 25k again but I don’t think I would want to do the 50k.
After the race we went to packet pickup for Boco Loco, grabbed lunch, some ice for ice baths and my first mocha coconut frappuccino of the year, SOOOO good!
Now it’s time to recover as much as possible for tomorrows 102 mile ride. I did squeeze some Mexican food in today but no margs for me today, maybe tomorrow!
I LOVE Day in the life posts…seriously, you all should do one, they are so fun to read. I decided I wanted to do a day in the life post to capture what a day looks like for me during Peak Ironman training.
Are you getting sick of hearing about peak training yet (and I am only on day five)? If so, you should probably stop reading until mid-June when I will start complaining/going crazy about taper.
So this was my day yesterday, it was a fairly normal day for me so I think it was a pretty good representation.
3:55 am – Alarm goes off for the first time, groan, hit snooze and try not to contemplate “accidently” turning off alarm.
4:15 – Second and third alarms go off, crap, must get out of bed NOW!
4:20 – take dogs outside, feed dogs, get down a cup of coffee and half a luna bar for first breakfast (yes I am a hobbit), find workout clothes, incidentally they are still sitting in a laundry basket not folded or put away but at least they are clean!
Instead of going into Saturdays race completely unprepared (like I often do) I decided to do a little recon work to know what I am getting into.
So I looked up the weather:
Looks like PERFECT running weather, SCORE!
Then I looked up the course and elevation:
Nice wide trail, gentle elevation without being too flat, sounds good to me! Two loops also doesn’t seem bad, IMCDA has a two loop run so it will be a great trial run in that way. The 50k is 4 loops, I don’t think I would want to do that! There is a drop bag station at the turn around (aprox. Mile 8) so I will need to think if I want to leave anything there. Aid stations are at miles 3.5 and 7.5, I am more of an aid station every mile kind of girl so I will need to carry my own water and gels.
The race starts at 7:30 and we are picking up our packets race morning so that means an early start for us.
The only thing I need to figure out is how we are going to get our additional 5 miles in. I don’t feel right continuing to run on the course when we only paid for the 25k and I doesn’t feel like it counts if we get too long of a break before finishing. I may have to suck it up and run on the trail. Now I am really looking forward to this race, all except the 4:30 wake up call.
Cory and I have two races this weekend. It is our first time doubling up events on a weekend. I wouldn’t think this was a good idea but these Races are just fun ways to get our miles in. On Saturday we are running Greenland 25k trail race
They also offer a 8 mile and 50k. I have heard this is a great beginner ultra marathon since the trail isn’t too technical and there is a reasonable elevation change.
We have trained at Greenland before, last year when training for the Colorado Marathon we ran our longest training run of 22 miles there. It is a nice trail.
We do need to do some planning before heading down to this race as true to most trail races there is less support than you see in road races so we will have to carry our own water.
On Sunday we will be riding the Boco Loco century in Boulder. This also really isn’t a race, there is no official timing, you can start any time between 6:30am and 10:00am.
There are some other big races happening this weekend as well. It’s kinda sad that this year will be the last year of the full Ironman at St. George Utah. Ironman announced that next year they will drop to a 70.3.
“We’ve listened to our athletes and they’ve told us that while they love St. George — the people, the community and surroundings — St. George does not work for them as a full-distance Ironman,” said Andrew Messick, Chief Executive Officer of Ironman. “Our belief is that St. George will flourish as a 70.3 and we are pleased that we are continuing our relationship with St. George and with the state of Utah.”
Story can be found here.
One last race on my radar this weekend is the Colorado Marathon. This was my first marathon last year so it has a special place in my heart.
Also one of my employees is running it as her first so I am enjoying sharing in her excitement.
Anyone racing this weekend? Tell me about it!