Nice effort this weekend at the Haystack Time Trial here in Boulder. I was using this race as a basis to adjust my training for the next couple of weeks. I was not anticipating anything more than a lot of suffering as I haven’t done much intensity training to this point (read: one time). I ended up with wattage about what I was expecting- not great, not horrible. The course should be a pretty easy one for a TT- I’d say about 70% downhill. The 30mph winds said otherwise, putting me into the bullhorns just to keep the bike upright on more than one occasion. I could have also used some bigger gearing, like 55×11, as the tailwind sections required a lot of coasting, not what your looking for in a TT. Overall happy with effort, and feel like I left it all out there.

Average speed: 27.24

Average HR: 168

Average watts: 320, 4.4w/kg

Average Cadence: 86

Nothing like an 80 mile, 60% road/ 40% gravel road race to jump back into the road scene. This ended up being an extremely difficult race, and not exactly what I hoped for. Now, I know that I am not anywhere near good shape at this point, but this race was just straight up tough. It was the earliest I have ever been dropped in a race, sadly to say- before the 10 mile mark. If anything- the fact that 50% of the field was also dropped at this point makes me feel minutely better. I was quite flabbergasted when I was at max effort 2 minutes into the race?!?! Quite odd for an 80 mile race. I don’t know who was driving it in the gutter, into the 30mph wind… maybe Fabian. This was hanging onto wheels for dear life, only to be met head on by a screaming downhill into what was one of the “sectors” of gravel road- including the 3-4″ of sand on top of the gravel. It was an explosion of riders- hitting the deck, hard, and riding off into the ditch. I was happy to keep it upright, but watched the race go up the road, not that I would have stayed on anyways. Reports stated that after 1 lap (19.5 miles) there was 2 leaders and a peloton of 6-8 riders! Can you say shattered?! This all went down in the first 1/2 lap, before the final “wall” about 7k from the end of the lap: it was another gravel sector that had many walking. My equipment choice for the day was my cross bike mated to 53×39 front gearing, with hard-case tires at 95psi; which actually was a great set-up in my opinion (could have been improved with tubulars to run lower PSI) for tackling the challenging course. The day ended at the 1/2 way mark for me, and only 25 finishers in the pro-1-2, out of 62 starters.

Here is the Heart rate file for the first hour of the race from my Global Trainer. I lasted about 30 minutes and it was downhill from there. I didn’t include the solo second lap ;). What a great training tool for analyzing your race and adjusting your training!

Well… less bratwurst and bier, more training is in the cards.

This past weekend Jess and I road tripped it back to the North woods of WI for the American Birkebeiner ski marathon. The “Birkie” is a point to point race from Cable to Hayward and the largest nordic ski race in North America. The course is a point to point jaunt of 50k from Cable to Hayward. This is the Boston Marathon of nordic skiing! From olympic level skiers to people out on the trail for 6+ hours, if your into Nordic skiing… northern WI is the place to be on the last weekend of February.

Here I am at the finish line the day before the race. This is on Main St, Hayward.

It was brutally cold race day, with temps at -13deg. This meant I had to alter my clothing options, but I actually ended up overdressing and being a bit warm. Sugoi makes some awesome stuff! Its amazing how warm you can be while nordic skiing. Better warm than frozen though!

Nothing like the smell of Pure-Fluoro on race morning

Game Time

I believe this shot is at “OO” or the midpoint of the race

After the start of the race which is so so so hard I settled into this nice group you see here. It’s really fun actually feeling like you are racing. Its much like bike racing with drafting, taking pulls, and attacking. As you can see from the photo everyone I am with is in there “onesies” race suit. I went with the “I don’t want to freeze my nuts off” approach- and utilized a windproof pant. So as we are skiing along in the pack one of the guys says to me “looks like you could win the pants division!” I really got a chuckle out of that, even though he was kind of knocking me. LOL! Unfortunately; this was right before the last big climb of the race at 39k and I got dropped hard! The last 10k were quite the struggle and I easily lost well over 100 positions.

Of course a celebratory shot ski.

All in all quite pleased with my race; finishing in 2:34 at 310 overall, besting my previous time by 10 minutes.

I tracked the race with my Timex Global Trainer Resulting in these stats:

Heart rate pretty much pinned the whole way! You can see right at 39k where I blew up!

Special thanks to sponsors that made this race possible:

Timex: Global Trainer

Ford: Ford Flex

Sugoi: clothing

Nathan Products: hydration pack

Powerbar: nutrition product

For the second straight year Team Timex gathered in NYC for team camp. This was a special season for Timex as it was the 10th anniversary of the team. I am particularly honored to be a part of this team for my 7th season!! The support of Timex and all the sponsors is truly unparalleled in the sport.

Me and Tamara at The Meadowlands Stadium

Me and Barry in the NYG locker room

Showcasing 10 years of Timex

The 2011 Orbea Ordu

Showcasing all the Timex Ironman victories

No trip to NYC would be complete without a stop to Times Square

Gearing up for the Birkie in one week and I am banking a lot on my “altitude training”. This plan pretty much entails a low volume, crush yourself on the nordic trails at 10,000′ on the weekend, live at altitude and race at sea level. Walking, none the less skiing at 10,000′ is quite the challenge. The Birkie has 4300′ vertical of climbing- a lot more than you would expect being in WI. I have been using my Timex Global trainer to track the distance and vertical of my nordic workouts. This has been a huge advantage to know the stats I am getting to compare them to the actual race course. Another great feature of the Global Trainer is the auto start/stop feature- especially with it being cold/ gloves on, and all the rest stops I need to take after the hills! Here are a few screen shots of the trail profiles that I downloaded to TrainingPeaks.