Boulder Day 11

Slept in
Cleaned bike
Packed
Ate a solid bowl of oatmeal, chia seeds, etc
Downloaded like 10 new Tiesto Podcasts. Each are about an hour long, so I now break up my rides based on how many"Tiesto's" it takes to finish!
-reverted to my old way of carryingy gear: underarm our shirt, cinch bag on back tied around my chest, with the cycling jersey over top! Look ridiculous I'm sure, but practicality is the key
I Hate SuperJames! This climb, which is probably only 5 miles or so, is one of the harder things I have done to date, especially without anyone else there to push me or any of that.. I did this same climb last year, but with Rudy and a pack it was much more doable/ bearable. Today the climb just smoked me.. And immediately after I hit this stretch of dirt road, something I stil have yet to really enjoy. But today's rise was a good way to get my body back on track, in training mode & away from drinking mode! I promise that I will go out at least one time here in boulder just to go out, not get completely wasted. I have yet to find that balance of just having a beer or Tri to loosen up.. Instead I just get bombed and end up regretting it (well, kind of). So there is my next objective: always looking to improve
-tomorrow's hike should be epic! I will clean up this blog & send up a really good report about my Long's Peak experience soon!

Boulder day 10

Wednesday
- not really a day, like 9 hours!
- slept until 3pm
-awesome hangover trail run with Andy.. One of the harder things i've done thusfar (but it shouldn't have been!)
-saw a really,really hot girl running today, Andy and I are still talking about her now.. We said hi but that was it. What were we thinking!
-hung out with Will on his last night & will Nabours came over to chill as well, talked Alot about cycling
-started looking at all the races/ weekends coming up this fall.. I clearly want and need to get back on track, stay healthy and get in shape! The focus will be on balancing out this weak/ tight left side of mine, what the heck!
-riding back up to Estes tomorrow with my hiking gear, here we go!

Boulder Day 8

True recovery day. not a fake recovery day, like "only" working out for 2 hours, but instead I only rode all over town, did extra core work/ pushups, but besides that I just enjoyed Estes Park! Some things of note from my easy day:

-the YMCA o the Rockies is awesome! I will be swimming there in the morning, but it is basically a busy little village on the side of a mountain with millions of activities going on. I would love to work at a place like that (or would have in high school/ if I had normal college summers)
-Goodwill/Salvation Army/ thrift stores are hit or miss, but out here in Colorado I have become a fan. I bought 3 outfits for $5 total today, which is clutch because now I can go out not wearing basketball shorts/ my dri-fit Pearl shirt (more to follow on the clothes I found!)
-The Oxygen Sanctuary was pretty awesome! I took in 30 minutes of 95% oxygenated air (sea level is 21%, up here is like 15%!) I definitely felt more relaxed/ better afterwards
-The Estes Park mtn store is cool, but as the only bike store in town, I was very disappointed to find out that they didn't have replacement Keo cleats.. I broke my left cleat on the climb yesterday! So i really can't do any serious riding until I head down to grab a new set.. I'll have to spend a day o seimming, running & hiking tomorrow I guess!
-tomorrow will be a big day of working out, connecting with and establishing guidelines and goals to strive towards over this final year at West Point. When I go too long with a Big Picute focus I get caught up failing to do te small things that I must to be successful. It's one thing to go down swinging, but to fail when you can pour to areas that I failed in is frustrating. Moving forward, I will put myself in a position to be successful. I may e called crazy along the way, but what successful person wasn't at some point? Do it for the story, Go big or go home, YOLO, however you want to put it, these life philosophies are ones that I subscribe to and will not lose sight of again. Ahh, what a recovery day, nothing like it to re-ignite the passion and desire I feel for triathlon, exploring, and loving life to the fullest!

Boulder day 7

Slept in
Got ready
Rode to bus stop
Chased bus to edge of town
Got out in Lyons
Climbed up with gear to Estes Park
Checked in
Watched Tour de France highlights
Called home
went out for 50 min jog (see picture!)
Showered
Walked down to Dinner at Ed's Cantina
Shopped at Safeway for a few groceries
long walk home in rain
Watched TV, planned
Not tired...

I ended up watching Alot of the tour recap today & recovering from all the recent climbing!

Boulder day 6

Saturday- most longest day of training to date (at least it felt like it!)

0630- wakeup
0710- swim 5000m w/ Jane Scott & every big name in the Tri world out here
0930- get home, eat a bit
1100- leave on ride with Bobka, meet up with some ASU Tri/cyclists led by Ryan Petry
*the rise started out okay, but before I knew it we were hammering at times, especially around turns/ surging Alot. On the first main climb I dropped my chain, and the ASU guys didn't even look back. Luckily Bobka sat up for me, and he carried my butt up to Estes, climbing for over 20 miles straight! A great sustained effort.. I've never really done anything like that.. And Estes is beautiful! My first view of the area is attached. We ended up riding 100 miles when it was all said& done.. Wow! What a day out here
6:00pm- got ready & jumped on the bike to head to church! I went to the 6:45 service at flatirons church in Lafayette, which was awesome, but it was 11 miles away! So I ended up riding another 22+ miles in jeans! Needless to say, I was falling apart by the ride home (which was far from flat). Luckily I forced down a buffalo chicken footling sub from Subway right after church, and this held me over until I got some well-deserved pizza later in the evening.
I had the dudeplex to myself again Saturday night, so I ended up watching a few TV movies & falling asleep on the couch! Before moving to a bed and crashing hard.. I slept until 1:00pm the next day, making it about 13 straight hours of sleep!

On the agenda upcoming is yet another ride up to Estes Park to check into our RCI resort called the historic Crag's lodge.. Look forward to telling you all about that next week!

Also, good luck to everyone back home racing IM Lake Placid tomorrow, should be an awesome day to take on the adirondaks & become an ironman! Definitely I race I'd like to do some day

Boulder Day 5

Finally slept in!
11am swim at SC with Rudy, all form work, which was great for me. Figured out I was finishing my stroke really wide, which was throwing off my balance and causing me to lose power
12:15 sit-down lunch @ Colorado Pizza. I totally enjoyed The Works
1:15 shopping at Target/ goodwill for odds & ends including soap, a fan and a few new clothing items! Pretty exciting
3:00 chill out, ate a second lunch back at the house!
4:00 nap (long!)
8:00 Evening Run 55 min down the Boulder creek path heading east
9:30 big salad for dinner, watched a movie
10:30 read a book one one of the guys's shelf.. It was about Mormons (more to follow when I finish it)
12:00 sleep

Boulder Day 4

Thursday

5:30 wakeup
5:55 hop on the bike (7mi to Res)
6:30 putting on wetsuit/signing in at he Boulder Res
8:00 3.5km open water swim complete
8:45 10mi bike long way home
9:00 moe's bagels breakfast (The Denver+ a Mix1 shake)
9:30 Recovery boots+ tour de France
10:30 Nap
11:45 bike to No. boulder Rex center
12-1 Yoga
1-2 strength work + sauna
2:30-3 big Salad for lunch
4:15 ride with Rudy (2.5 hours) up Old stage, up to Jamestown, 6x2 min intervals on way up.. I gin on for 4 good ones, final two were rough.. Wy down was good decent practice
7:00 20 min transition run, including 5x 30 sec pickups on creek path
7:30 Jump in Boulder creek for an ice bath. Creek was packed today
7:30-8 talk to crazy old man about te good old days in Boulder (former pro cyclist living in the past!)
8:00 leave for night hike!
8:15-11:00, hike up to Royal arch with Rudy, his brother & a friend from Rudy's lab. Pretty awesome view of Colorado at night
11:00 walk home; talk to Mackensie Williams on the phone about West Point
12:00 Bed!