Flying Dog

A perfect 68 degrees as we pulled into the trailhead parking space at 9:00 am in Jeremy Ranch, halfway between SLC and Park City. Perfect temps to start a long ride as it is destined to get very hot later in the day. We hop on our bikes, me on my old Superlight with a new Fox RCL fork and Rich on his new Surly Karate Monkey single speed. We begin to climb. A perfect, gradual climb with little breaks, here and there, then up again and up again and on and on and on for 6.7 miles through some of the prettiest trail you can imagine. The trail begins as you climb up through meadowy hills with wildflowers brightening your way. A cool breeze keeps you comfortable even though there is no shade. Soon we enter the scrub oak forest, lots of shade and grassy coolness. We keep climbing. Soon, the trees grow up and become a gorgeous forest of aspens, and wildflowers grow in abundance. The views are spectacular as well, looking out over Jeremy Ranch in one direction and toward Park City and the mountains in the other. We finally reach the top and anticipate some sweet downhill. We drop over the summit and head down, giggles and who-hoos cant be contained as the thrill and utter fun of the descent takes over. 4 miles down, we bottom out, ride through an incredible meadow that smells so sweet you wish you could bottle the aroma and take it with you. Then, back up we go! What happened to the 6.7 mile downhill return?? We continue to climb another 2 or 3 miles to the top of Glenwild, and now I'm tired! Legs aching and protesting with each turn of the pedal as we make our way back up. Finally, another summit topped and the final descent! As we are riding the final mile down, I get too close to the inside hill as I'm reacting to rocks and drop offs and my tires slide out and down I go! Not a big deal, I brush myself off, offer up a curse word or two and make my way back to the car. What a ride! 16.7 miles in all, 3 hours. Will definitely return and do that again, hopefully with more miles on my legs for the second uphill push!

Everything's Comin Up Roses

I was lying in my hammock (the best birthday present, ever, from Rich last year) today after our ride, recovering and looked around the yard and was struck by how amazing it looked! (if I do say so myself!). This year, with the late, wet spring has brought out the best in our gardens! The garden behind the hammock was concrete three years ago, if you remember. We took out the concrete and planted - much softer and definitely prettier. It's growing like crazy this year - the plants are easily 3-4 times as big as they were even last year.
The Veggie/Rose/Herb garden (which Rich built!) is growing better than ever this year. We have had trouble in our vegetable garden, with things not growing very well, I think we finally got the watering and soil down and it's growing much better. We had a great spinach and green onion salad the other day from our garden. The spinach was amazing. We've planted peas, cucumber, tomato, a few kinds of squash, peppers, beans. The herbs are completely out of control! I've already harvested twice and they are just ridiculously huge. Well, all is good here! Yum, yum....

Ironman wrap-up

Number 5 is in the books!! Time to mtn bike!!

I finished the Couer D'Alene ironman in 10:42:20ish time frame. That was my best time on that course, by about 9 minutes and 2nd best of all, except for the Martha's Vinyard race in 1994, though this is a harder one (and I'm not 27 anymore!). Anyway, I was happy with my day, mostly felt good, just didn't have anything but first gear on the first 13 miles of the run. Suprisingly, I felt better as the run went along and I seemed to find 2nd and even 3rd gear along the way!! Still, I only ran a 4:04 marathon, thus coming 20-some minutes too late for an ironman slot. Maybe, I'll learn to run some day. Actually, considering everything, I am happy with how it went. I don't remember feeling that good since my first race!! No hip pain, only a little stomach pains, and the usual leg soreness about mile 23.

The swim went well, despite everyones fretting about the water (59.5 F). Was PERFECT!! No fat lips this year, but a little slower than prior years (1:06 compared to 1:03). I purposely swam less this year (88,000yds vs. 133,000) because it is a waste of time (20 less hours in the pool, only lose 3 minutes!!).

The bike went well, again. I rode almost the same exact time as prior years, with a little more climbing (6900' in 112 miles). Was able to average 21mph at avg HR of only 150bpm, which is exactly what I wanted to do. The run, well it is the run..... I felt ok, but just could not get the legs to go faster. I may have been a little calorie deficient after the bike (took in 1500-2000 cal, but burned 8000!), and left my gel flask on the bike. But after getting some gels in around mile 5, 9 i started to feel better. Got my 2nd flask at mile 14 and slowly kept using it and noticed I could run faster (key letters her are - er!!). I actually passed some people on the second lap that had left me behind earlier. That never happens to me. Usually I just keep going backwards!!!

Anyway, I finished 157th out of 1900 finishers (2300 started) and 27th in the 40-44 age group out of 379 starters (i think 323 finished). These are some tough old bastards!! I was the first Utah finisher (yippie). Time for a rest and some good eating. Right now I can fit through the cracks in the door, I'm so skinny!! After a week or so, time for some Mountain biking!! Maybe hang up the swimming for another year and go find a running coach!!

1 Day to go..... The Waiting!!

Well, this is it. Down to 1 day to go. It always seems like the longest day. Maybe because we have been waiting so long, or maybe because after weeks of exercising 10-15 hours per week I am done to maybe 2-3 hours this week that I just can't sit around and do nothing. Anyway it always seems like forever.

Took a swim yesterday in the lake. Was a bit shoking initially with a lot of deep breathing for a minute or so, but really not too bad. Water is 57 and today in the mid-80's with sun should be good. I worry about the thunderstorms predicted tonight, Will the rain drop the temp a degree or 2 or 5?? Anyway, i plan to swim with foot booties to prevent my feet from freezing, like in Boise, but gloves are banned so, I think my hands will be useless for the first hour on the bike. Hope I can buckle my helmet!! Anyway, I have got my plan to push the bike a little harder than I have in the past. Hopefully I can get off the bike in 5:15 or less (prior years were 5:20, 5:25) which I think was a harder course. Anyway, Then it will all come down to the run (again). I plan to take the first half nice and easy (hopefully, 8:30 pace or so), then see if I can run a little faster on the 2nd half. It is always nice to plan, but most times the body has different plans. We'll see on race day!! I hope to finish below 10:25, which is what I did my first ironman in at age 27!! I am definately feeling the energy of everyone I know wishing me well. Keep thinking fast on race day!! Again, you can find results on http://www.ironmanlive.com/, but my last name or number (999). We'll let you know soon.

2 Days to go

Here we are in Couer d' Alene, ID. If you have never been here, you should want to visit. It is a beautiful place in the northern Idaho mountains, settled on a massive blue lake surrounded by luscious green trees!! Lots of bike paths all over the place, pretty small downtown with nice shops. Hmm..... wonder if there are openings? Anyway, we are here in ID, waiting for Ironman day (sunday). I have not swum in the lake yet (55 degrees), but will try it today. I rode some of the course yesterday, good rolling hills on the bike 20 miles, that we will ride twice. Doesn't seem like it is as hard as the old course, but we will see!

Weather is supposed to be nice on race day this year. Maybe some scattered showers in the morning, but otherwise partly cloudy and 75. A far cry from the 90 and 98 of the past two times here. We had dinner with a friend here last night, pasta of course. He lives here now and raves about it. Interesting considering he is an Ohio native and was unsure how it would go the first year here. Well that's all for now. No pics today, I need to get a card reader to download some. Maybe we'll post again today.
rk

Boise Half IronMan

SWIM BIKE RUN...Rich and I went off to Boise, ID for the half Ironman - this was a "training" race for Rich. 1.2 swim, 56 bike, 13.1 run.He did awesomely! This was an opportunity for him to test his new bike and other equipment and his nutrition. It was a very cold swim - about 60 degree water - and super choppy the day of the race. The wind had picked up which made it super cold getting out of the water and trying to transition on the bike. I, fortunately, was back at the hotel taking a nap about that time! There was difficulty getting to the start to watch the swim as the spectators would be "trapped" out there until all the racers got on their bikes and were gone... didnt want to hang out there that long, especially once Rich left, so I opted to meet him at the second transition, from the bike to run. He had a really good swim, even with the choppy water, and took off in good time. He was, unfortunately for him, the second to last wave to start, meaning that the first group started 50 minutes before him and also meaning that there were a lot of slower people in his way that he had to pass in the swim and on the bike. The finish clock you see in the picture, is showing the time from the beginning of the first wave so is not a true time of his finish. Rich finished in 4 hours and 58 minutes, just under five hours! That is great!
Boise is an awesome city!! Perfectly sized, super great vibe, lots of restaurants, pubs, coffee shops and cruiser bikes. Really nice! Well, Rich says he is doing great and is hoping for the best at Ironman Cour d' Alene. Here's to quick feet!

AHHHHHHHHHHHHH.....

Finally, an awesome hike. Been jonesin' for a hike for a while and finally got Amy on board on a beautiful Sunday to get out. Too much runnin' and riding to get out and play in the mountains, it was long overdue! We went out past Tooele, near Grantsville, to the Stansbury Mountains. This is west of SLC by about an hour. We were near the base of Deseret Peak, and it was beautiful! This was a new trail for us that that was cool - well worth the drive. We didnt get all the way to the lake we were heading for because we lost the trail in a snow field and tried to pick it up by bushwacking around and over, but were thwarted by a gully that we couldnt get across. Oh, well, a good reason to go back in a little while once all the snow melts! We came across this HUGE mountain lion track! Take your hand, make a fist, look at the back of your hand and draw a bigger circle, about half an inch or so around your fist - that is how big that paw print is! Yes, it gave me the eebie jeebies! But, we soon forgot about it and relaxed. A GREAT hike! Ahhhhhhh....