Sunday, July 25, 2010
Leadville, Colorado
Monday, July 19, 2010
XTERRA Mountain Cup. Beaver Creek, CO
I pushed on the swim, but took it a bit easy to save energy for the bike and run because I knew that I'd need it! The swim went smoothly for me without any incidents.
T1- In all of the white garbage bags are the athletes' wetsuits, goggles, and caps which we had to stuff in those bags to be taken up to T2 at Beaver Creek by the race officials so that we could pick them up after the race.
Off on the bike, I was feeling good, the altitude wasn't bothering me very much and I knew it was going to be a good day!
15.5 miles later, I'm coming down from 9,500 feet back to Beaver Creek Resort at around 8,200 feet elevation.
Now the run. I just told myself that I'm going to enjoy this run no matter what! The run course consisted of a 600 foot climb from T2 then a long descent back to Beaver Creek, then another 600 foot climb before descending back to the finish! It was tough going, breathing was a little hard since there's 25% less oxygen than at sea level.
I'm running by Beaver Creek Resort at 8,200 feet elevation, where T2 and the finish are.
The finish at last! My total time was 2:43.49. The clock above me records the time when the pros started their swim one minute before my wave.
(photo taken by XTERRA)
Nico Lebrun of France pictured above in green won the men's race in 2:13:51. This is his second win at Beaver Creek in a row. He had just won the XTERRA France championship last Saturday too. Shonny Vanlandingham of Durango, CO won the women's race in 2:31:58. This is her 3rd victory at Beaver Creek in a row!
Hannah Rae Finchamp (14) of California is one of the fastest young girls I've seen. She trooped it throughout today's race in 3 hours and 26 minutes! Hannah Rae races mostly in road triathlons as a youth elite throughout the nation, but also loves off-triathlon and is an ambassador for XTERRA to help bring more awareness and encourage more young people to participate in the sport.
Another friend of mine, Brittany Clawson, who goes to college in Hawaii, just started racing in triathlons one year ago and is already working towards qualifying for the XTERRA World Championship in Makena Maui! She has been in 3 of the same XTERRAs as me so far this season and is doing great.
It was a great day, great race, great volunteers and organization. I enjoyed seeing how my training has been helping me to get faster than even a few months ago. Racing just makes me more excited for training and for the benefits that it will reap. I'm already looking forward to my next race in 3 weeks in Boulder. It will be a half-ironman, 1.2 mile open water swim, 56 mile bike on road, and a 13.1 mile run. This will be the longest race I've ever done, so it will be interesting!
Thursday, July 15, 2010
Vail and Avon, Colorado
Saturday, July 10, 2010
Riding to Vernal, Utah.
Unitah House of Natural History. Vernal, Utah
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These glowing rocks are called Flourescent Minerals. Inside the minerals are chemicals that react to invisible (to humans at least) ultraviolet rays that causes the minerals to emit light. Inside the room was a switch so when the room is lighted, you're looking at what seems like ordinary rocks, then you flip the switch and the room is pitch-black and now you're looking at glowing rocks! Very cool.
Friday, July 2, 2010
Idaho again
We drove through southern Idaho again on our way from Oregon to Colorado. Here we stopped at Boise for a night and went for a bike ride and a run. We rode on the Boise River Greenbelt paved trail. This was a nice network of paved trails, they seem to go all over town, which would make commuting by bicycle easier and more enjoyable!
Part of the Greenbelt went past this diversion dam built in the late 1800s that irrigates water from the Boise river via canals to Boise Valley. The Valley would have been only a sagebrush desert if this project was not built. Now Boise Valley has sprawling green farmlands.