In preparation for Ironman Arizona I must have ridden 15, 100 mile or more rides. Today was the first such ride here in Colorado as I gear up my training for Kona. There is something a little different about 100 mile rides here, altitude and hills...and a lot of both. The ride took Luisa and I from our place just south of Downtown Denver up around Longmont, into Lyons, through Boulder and back to Denver. The terrain reminded me a lot of training in Madison, WI; not a flat spot out there. You are either riding up a hill or down a hill, you're always shifting and you are always trying to maintain some sort of rhythm.
The ride out to Lyons felt pretty good, but the ride from Lyons to Boulder along Highway 36 just hurt. I regained some feeling and groove once out of Boulder, but never quite felt good again. It was hot, I got hungry, and ran out of Infinit (my favorite nutritional supplement). On the way back to the apartment, Luisa and I made a stop at REI to grab some food, caffeine, and soak our tired legs in the river. There's nothing like a nice cool leg soaking to jump start the recovery process.
The first 100 miler, 111 actually, is always the hardest. Now it's time to just keep logging miles.
Showing posts with label Kona. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Kona. Show all posts
Tuesday, July 15, 2008
Wednesday, July 9, 2008
The History of it
Being the best was always a goal of mine, and being the best at my sports has always been highly important.
In grade school I had to run the fastest mile in gym class, I had to be the fastest swimmer, and needed to be in a starting role on the team sports that I played. This changed slightly in high school as I was introduced to a much larger pool of talented athletes. I was no longer the fastest runner or the fastest swimmer. I realized that with a lot of hard work and dedication that I could be the elite of my sports, but never the absolute best.
At 16 I saw the Tour de France on TV and decided I wanted to ride bikes. My mother bought me my first real road bike from a shop in Wheaton, IL called Spokes. The bike was amazing, a Lemond Zurich with Shimano 600 and Reynolds 853 steel tubing.
I started out with the hardest 20 mile rides of my life. Soon it was 30 and then 50; 50 was a really long ride. After a few weeks of riding I decided that I liked being on the bike. I already knew that I enjoyed swimming and so triathlon was the next step.
When I first started training for my first triathlon, I knew that competing at the World Championships, Ironman Hawaii, was the ultimate goal. I was prepared to take the steps and put in the training to reach this goal; I was unaware of how long it would take to qualify for Kona.
11 years, 3 Ironmans, and countless short course races later I have finally qualified for Kona. October 11th, 2008 is the day; now it's time to train.
In grade school I had to run the fastest mile in gym class, I had to be the fastest swimmer, and needed to be in a starting role on the team sports that I played. This changed slightly in high school as I was introduced to a much larger pool of talented athletes. I was no longer the fastest runner or the fastest swimmer. I realized that with a lot of hard work and dedication that I could be the elite of my sports, but never the absolute best.
At 16 I saw the Tour de France on TV and decided I wanted to ride bikes. My mother bought me my first real road bike from a shop in Wheaton, IL called Spokes. The bike was amazing, a Lemond Zurich with Shimano 600 and Reynolds 853 steel tubing.
I started out with the hardest 20 mile rides of my life. Soon it was 30 and then 50; 50 was a really long ride. After a few weeks of riding I decided that I liked being on the bike. I already knew that I enjoyed swimming and so triathlon was the next step.
When I first started training for my first triathlon, I knew that competing at the World Championships, Ironman Hawaii, was the ultimate goal. I was prepared to take the steps and put in the training to reach this goal; I was unaware of how long it would take to qualify for Kona.
11 years, 3 Ironmans, and countless short course races later I have finally qualified for Kona. October 11th, 2008 is the day; now it's time to train.
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