The 2011 Horsetooth Half Marathon was the first event I pushed James with Athletes in Tandem. A relatively downhill course with  a few short STEEP climbs.

Athletes in Tandem, Inc. is a non profit organization that actively participates inrelationships with challenged athletes to enhance the quality of their lives by competing together in running, biking and swimming events.

AiT started with Zachary. He has competed in numerous triathlons and running events here in Colorado over the past couple of years.  His first triathlon in 2008 led him to experience the thrill of competitive recreational sports and inspire the creation of Athletes in Tandem.  Zachary’s interest to compete alongside other athletes provided the spark to inspire others to share a love of sports and the outdoors.

One year later  I was fortunate enough to be able to celebrate again with James. A mutually beneficial relationship, I help James up hill, he pulls me downhill. My Timex Run Trainer told me I was cruising 5:00-5:30 / mile pace down the dam hill.

We finished 7 minutes faster then 2011, final time 1:46.

Running up the last climb, Bigham Hill

To learn more about how you can be part of AiT please visit their website

http://www.athletesintandem.org/

28^th International Volcano Triathlon, Lanzarote – 28^th April 2012

On the 19^th April 2012 I embarked upon a ten day training block in Lanzarote.  Lots of wind, lots of miles and lots of fun. For those that don’t know Lanzarote the weather can be varied, but the one thing you are pretty much guaranteed is wind.  The other thing you are guaranteed is hills.  Over the ten days we didn’t see as much sun as I would have liked, but there were wind and hills aplenty.

The end of my ten day training block coincided with the 28^th edition of the International Volcano Triathlon in Lanzarote, so it seemed logical to use the race as a hard training day.

During the ten days prior to the race I clocked up a fair few swim/bike/run miles but also participated in a bike TT over 20km.  I managed to win the (women’s) bike TT, which fell half way through the week and straight after a tough run session, so that gave me a bit of confidence that although I may feel tired, there is often something left in the tank.  That said, I was a little nervous about how well I could ‘race’.

As race day dawned and my alarm sounded, heralding my first tri of the season, I thought ‘if only I had a couple more days to rest and prepare’…. But I guess we all feel a bit like this, whatever the deadline.  I didn’t know my competitors are there was a mix of nationalities, amateurs and pros.  Some people were staying on the island preparing for other races, some were local residents and others flew in for the race.  Additionally, I have only raced two Olympic Distance races previously, so the distance is a little different to normal for me.

As I was staying at the race venue I had a leisurely morning, racking my Quintana Roo CD0.1 and then getting into my QR wetsuit for a relatively late 10am start.  The lagoon felt cold but relative to open water swimming in the UK right now, it was almost tropical!  The gun sounded and the nerves were forgotten, the race was underway.

I didn’t swim as well as I would have liked and foolishly didn’t cut out part of the swim by running down the shallow sand area which I later discovered half the women’s field had done.  But I came out of the water ready to attack the bike course. The bike course consists of a single loop and several long hills.  Admittedly none of the hills are steep but the wind really takes its toll on long drags.  I rode hard, posting the second fastest women’s bike split of the day (thank you QR!), despite the protests from my legs!  It was hard to know my position in the field so I just set about overtaking as many people as I could.  Unfortunately there was a certain amount of drafting which is always disappointing, especially when it means that your biking advantage is diminished.

40km passes quickly when you are used to racing middle distance and I was soon back into T2.  Scanning the bikes in T2 I knew there were some women ahead of me and set about making up any time I could.  The run course was three laps and again was undulating.  The temperature had risen by this time of day but the crowds around T2 and the La Santa Stadium provided great encouragement to dig just a little deeper.

The run finished in the stadium and couldn’t come soon enough.  My legs were very tired.  I managed to race into sixth place despite the heavy training load.  I achieved what I set out to do, which was to train hard for ten days, finishing with a hard race session, so I am pleased with that.  The race provided me with the opportunity to test out my ‘racing legs’ and identify areas where I need to focus over the coming weeks and months.

The evening awards ceremony was a special event, starting out with the Club La Santa Song!  There was much merriment and some special awards as well as the overall and the age group winner’s prizes.  Rasmus Petraeus of Denmark won the men’s race and Luisa Keller of Germany won the women’s race.

Now I’m ‘recovering hard’ ready for the next race, I can’t wait!

Here’s part two of the 2012 Grizzly Triathlon adventure video featuring Dave Erickson and Ben Greenfield from Spokane, Washington.  This video showcases the age group athletes during the 1,000 yard swim, 12.5 mile bike ride and crossing the finish line after 3.1 miles of running.   The Grizzly Triathlon is the largest multisport event in the state of Montana.  Athletes come from all over the Northwest and beyond.  This year there were well over 550 competitors.  Learn more about the race at GrizzlyTri.com

SEE Grizzly Adventure: Part 1 (Driving to Missoula)

If you haven’t yet, follow me on twitter @IMDaveErickson and see more than 540 original swim, bike, run and athlete interview videos anytime on my Youtube Channel.

My other favorite multisports-related websites include TriathlonFAQ.com and IronmanUniversity.com.

It’s been quite a while since I’ve raced my bicycle, October 16th of last year to be exact, so I came into this race with absolutely no expectations. I have been riding since February but have only done 3 ‘real’ workouts prior to coming down to Pueblo so finishing was honestly on the top of my list!

The race unfolded a little bit more spastic-ally than I would have hoped. The women’s field started behind the 50+/60+/Singlespeed/Clydesdale men’s classes so the first lap was absolute chaos. All the women struggled to get around the various packs and because it was extremely difficult to pass, we got very split up right off the bat.

The race was two 22 mile laps on very rocky/desert like terrain. I attempted this race last year but wasn’t informed we would be riding on trails resembling broken dinner plates so I ran lightweight tires with minimal tire pressure – I triple flatted and walked my butt in for almost 2 hours! Luckily I learned from my mistake and ran heavy duty tires with sidewall protection and inflated my tires almost 4 psi more than I normally run. It took a while to get used to the rock hard tires (I did have a few stellar front wheel wash outs), but unlike many others, I didn’t flat!!!

I have to admit that I was pleasantly surprised with the fitness I had during the race. My average heart rate of 177 for 3hrs45min is definitely a sign that I have a lot more work to be be done before I hit any sort of peak, but compared to my competition, I wasn’t too far off. The new Timex Cycle Trainer worked like a charm and gave me all the info I needed to get through the race – this is my all time favorite Timex product EVER! As with all races, I had lots of random hiccups – in a really bumpy section my seat slipped on the rails and went nose up so I had to stop, I didn’t eat or drink nearly as much as I should have resulting in a massive bonk 7 miles from the finish and I forgot to take off my base layer before the start…it was in the mid 80s with zero shade the entire race :)

This was also my first true mountain bike ride on my new Litespeed Cohutta 29er. It was an extremely rough course which was probably more suited for a dual suspension bike, however, I couldn’t have been happier with how the bike handled. The titanium frame and carbon seat post gave me a little relief on the bumpy terrain but what made the day was the stability and pop the bike gave me to accelerated out of the hundreds of corners and up the short/steep little climbs. I’m still tweaking a few things with the handlebars and wheel-sets but I’m really excited to be riding this bike in 2012.

I was battling for 2nd and 3rd with Annie (age 51) almost the entire race, but really lost a lot of time on the last few miles with my big bonk. When I had to stop at the final aid station to rehydrate and stop seeing stars, that is when Rebecca came flying by (she had been struggling with 2 flats). After getting back on the bike, I eventually made my way to the finish in 4th overall and 3rd Pro for the day. As a whole, the race went 100 times better than I could have ever imagined – I wasn’t kidding about just wanting to finish. It’s a huge relief to know that I do have some fitness still lingering from year’s past, but most importantly, it just feels good to be back out racing with all my close friends. The Colorado MTB crowd is one big family that is so supportive both on and off the race course and it’s really hard being away from it with sickness and injury. I think I’m finally past my string of bad luck so I’m really looking forward to ripping it up for a full season this year. 2012, it’s game time :)