Back In Boulder

I left the 85 degree weather in Austin on Monday with my return to Boulder. It has been a bit hectic the past few days, but so good to be sleeping in my own bed! Waiting for my arrival in Boulder were hundreds of blue, red, orange and green Sport Beans along with some of my Team Sport Beans/NTTC apparel our team director, Mark, shipped so I would not have to travel with it to Austin...thanks Mark!! Yesterday was very pleasant here with plenty of sunshine and blue skies. Today...not so much...cold & snowy. Admittedly my motivation for my final workout of the day, a run over rolling terrain, was a tad lacking. Still I managed to get my arse out the door and get it done. One of my new partners is BD's Mongolian Barbeque. As an athlete, having access to healthy & delicious food is huge - especially when you are dragging and do not feel like cooking up some grub. Check them out on the internet for a location near you at www.GoMongo.com BD has about 36 restaurants nation wide and even one in Mongolia!

Well, me thinks it is time for some reading and shut eye.

Keep it smooth...

Camp WIT Austin Day Fourteen

Enjoyed taking in the action during the Pro 1-2 men's race at Pace Bend Park on Sunday...

Run: Solid long run over the hilly terrain in and around scenic Pace Bend Park. Final 30 minutes were done with a bit of snap and legs responded well. 20 miles

Week Summary - Great weather made for some wonderful training this past week. Swim 16,000 yards. Bike 353 miles. Run 80 miles. I thoroughly enjoyed the time spent with Terra, Zane and friends in Austin, but look foward to getting back in the mix with my peeps in Boulder.

Keep it smooth...

Camp WIT Austin Day Thirteen

Warm & windy...

Bike: Awesome route on the rolling country roads east of Austin. Rode out to Elgin and back. The return was a bit challenging into the steady headwinds gusting up to 40 MPH. Two events making the ride interesting - 1. Hit a large bump in the road hard on a descent causing my aerobars to drop which made for an uncomfortable position the final 18 miles and B. Almost taken down by a mean, nasty & aggressive farm dog which seemed to jump out of nowhere. 95 miles

Run: Controlled, fluid run off the bike. 11 miles

Swim: Quick swim in the cold natural spring waters of Deep Eddy pool. The water temp was chilly but it felt great on my legs. 650 y

Topped the day off enjoying another tasty burger with Terra & Zane at Phil's Ice House and some delicious hazlenut treat from Amy's Icecream :)

Keep it smooth...

Camp WIT Austin Day Twelve

Run: fluid and steady run around Town Lake just outside downtown Austin. Legs are coming around from the week's work. 11 miles

Bike: easy high cadence ride to flush legs. 24 miles

Swim: fun swim on own at Old Stacey Pool. 5,200 y

Current reading is a fantastic book called The Dream Giver by Bruce Wilkinson. Movie recommendation for home viewing - Fighting the Giants...inspirational story about a small school football team making it to the state finals.

Keep it smooth...

Camp WIT Austin Day Eleven

Temperature on the Ergomo reading 85 F...

Run: early am run to shake out legs a bit; effort controlled and steady on UT intramural grass fields. 11 miles

Bike: hill repeats done in the exclusive Mt. Bonnell/Balcones area; hill grade range 5-15%. 50 miles

Keep it smooth...

Camp WIT Austin Day Ten

The weather is absolutely fabulous right now...

Swim: Whitney put together another solid swim session with some peppy efforts. 5,000 y

Run: Steady aerobic effort from house down to Town Lake trail for a few miles and back. Perfect running weather although it started to warm-up towards the end. 16 miles

Bike: Easy, high cadence spin to flush out legs. 25 miles

Our friend Matt Seagrave rolled into town late Tuesday fresh off his impressive overall win at the Valley of the Sun stage race in Phoenix, AZ. He is in Austin for a road race on Sunday and I'm looking forward to taking in the action.

If you are interested to joining NTTC's club team or wanting some coaching check out the program offered by NTTC at our website www.NTTCracing.com. Thanks for reading!

Keep it smooth...

Camp WIT Austin Day Nine

You know you're riding in the Texas hill country when you see some vultures snacking on a wild hog on the side of the road...

Bike: An epic ride today with some of the guys from Jack & Adam's bike shop. We rode a killer route with tough terrain and took advantage of the cloud cover. I was entertained with the amount of smack being thrown around by the fellas...130 miles.

Run: After refueling a bit and some stretching I headed out the door for a steady run down to Town Lake and back...11 miles.

The day's effort was made complete by enjoying one of the best burgers in town from Phil's Ice House. One the side were two orders of sweet potato fries...ummm delicious :)

Keep it smooth...

Camp WIT Austin Day Eight

Active recovery feels so good...

Strength Training: Went with Terra & Zane to the gym for strength training. The legs were feeling a bit heavy from Sunday's race, but no issues with getting in the routine.

Bike: Zane and I headed east from the house for a great ride. The terrain was gently rolling and reminded me of some the roads outside Boulder with the horse ranches and country roads. Most importantly it was refreshing to ride in shorts and jersey without the layers in the warm sun.

Swim: a late afternoon "fluff" swim with Zane at the 33.3 yard Old Stacey Pool.

Keep it smooth...

Camp WIT Austin Day Seven

Awoke at 4:45 am to fuel up for the 7 am start of the AT&T Austin Half Marathon...

Run: AT&T Half Marathon (www.attaustinmarathon.com) course was changed this year and for the better! While it was not as fast as last year's flat and somewhat downhill course it was more scenic and challenging. The start was just down the street from the capital building in downtown Austin and twisted & turned it's way along Town Lake and through the upscale Austin neighborhoods. The crowd support along the course was fantastic and the weather close to ideal with temps at start time in the upper 30s. Last year I ran a 1:10 and after previewing the course I figured a sub 1:15 would be a decent effort. Although my legs were a bit fatigued from the week's effort I was feeling ready to roll on race morning. Zane made note it would be key for me to position myself just behind the elite runners' corral. 12,000 people packed themselves into the start area and I found myself standing in the fourth or fifth row...not ideal, but certainly better than last year's comedy start. Within the first quarter mile I soon realized my error with the lead pack getting a good 45 seconds on me. Zane was assigned to be the lead cyclist for the woman's leader and as I ran by him I saw that "Get your arse up there" look in his eyes and it was confirmed with his voice :) Running through mile marker two I looked at my watch which read 11:37 - well off the desired 11:00. At this point the leaders were within sight and behind them some guys who were getting dropped. I continued to run steady while passing the fellas who were popping off the lead pack and found myself running solo for the majority of the 13.1 mile course. Crossing the finish line in 1:13:10 I was greeted by the announcer, Mike Rieley, who is known as the voice of Ironman. As always I learned a thing or two from this race which will be applied to next month's Canyonlands half marathon.

Swim: A beautiful post race swim in the refreshing natural springs water of Barton Springs. If you ever visit Austin, Barton Springs is a must swim. Two of my favorite places to swim in the US are LaJolla Cove in San Diego and Barton Springs in Austin. It was great to get in a wetsuit swim and work some open water technique and sighting.

Run: This was a late afternoon shake out run from the house to loosen up a bit and get in a few more miles.

Congratulations to all the finishers from today's events, especially the first-timers and Desiree Ficker who finished 2nd overall in the women's marathon. In case you were wondering gas prices in Austin range from 2:02-2:15/gallon for regular unleaded :)

Keep it smooth...

Camp WIT Austin Day Six

The warm weather is back, with some wind, but it's all good...

Run: early am run with some faster paced strides to fire things internally; opted to run over to the UT grass fields again; beautiful morning here in Austin

Bike: post breakfast and some great coffee from the neiborhood coffee shop Pacha; Rode easy over most of the half marathon run course. The route has changed for this year and I must say I am loving it! Lots of hills, rollers, steeps throughout the scenic upscale neighborhoods of Austin.

Keep it smooth...

Camp WIT Austin Day Five

Holy monk parakeets...

Swim: another great early am session with UT masters; It is so cool to have the opportunity to swim at a first-class facility; session included several mixed IM swims

Run: ran with Terra to the UT intramural fields which is home to the monk parakeet; These wild parakeets nest in the light fixtures surrounding the grass fields and provided some entertaining background noise to my relaxing run on the soft grass. A therapuetic run spent in conversation with Terra and quiet prayer.

Bike: easy afternoon spin around the neighborhoods of north Austin

Keep it smooth...

Camp WIT Austin Day Four

Awoke to some very chilly weather dag-ahwnit...

Bike: easy spin with Zane down to Austin's premiere bike & triathlon shop (www.jackandadams.com) and then back to home post run

Run: controlled, relaxed run around the Town Lake Trail which features a 7 and 11 mile loop; included some drills on grass soccer fields. This is a great trail for running with scenic Town Lake and the Austin cityscape.

Swim: Austin has several outdoor swim options - Deep Eddy (spring fed & closed in winter), Barton Springs (natural spring and open year-round; great for practicing open water with wetsuit) and Old Stacey (heated, open year-round and 33 1/3 yards :) I opted for Old Stacey late afternoon.

Keep it smooth...

Camp WIT Austin Day Three

A bit of a cold front moved in overnight which brought some chilly temps today, but the sun managed to shine throughout the day :)

Swim - early am swim with UT masters; great session with negative split efforts raning from 800-200

Bike - easy aerobic ride on the rollers around Austin

Run - 14 mile effort with first 5 moderately hard then 9 steady & controlled along the Shoal Creek River trail

Keep it smooth...

Camp WIT Austin Day Two

Slept in a bit until 7:30 am...breakfast and chat with Zane to go over the day's plan.

Bike: narly 100 mile ride in the hill country outside of Austin to Johnson City; I rate this ride tough, even in ideal conditions, and today there was a hearty dose of wind with gusts up to 35 MPH. The terrain on this ride is unforgiving, in both grades and frequency of hills in addition to the slow-going chip seal surface. My perception has this ride tougher than the IMWI bike course. It is a super strength-based bike session.

Run: 9 mile hill run post bike and food; legs responded well to this effort despite some fatigued legs. Running at sea level feels so good :) Photo above from Blacones Canyonlands Preserve just outside of Austin.

Terra & Zane both had solid days of training as well.

Keep it smooth...

24 Hours

Things have been a bit crazy the last 24 hours...returned to Denver Sunday at 5:30 pm from our Team Sport Beans/NTTC team camp (www.NTTCracing.com), caught a flight on Frontier arriving in Austin at 11:30 pm, awoke at 5:30 am for masters swim session at University of Texas, breakfast, strength training, lunch, built bike which I had shipped UPS from Boulder before leaving for team camp last week, great spin with Zane around Bull Creek green belt outside of Austin, grocery store, dinner, phone consult with athlete I coach and soon to bed!





I have some great pics from our team camp at Jelly Belly headquarters in Fairfield, CA which I hope to post soon. Until then...





Keep it smooth...

Checking In

It has been totally cool to meet my new teammates (www.NTTCracing.com), team director - Mark & his wife Jenna and the good peeps at Jelly Belly - Stephanie, Deborah & Jason. We had our individual head shots taken yesterday and today the team shots. At 8 am sharp we are getting a behind the scenes look at Jelly Belly and how these most flavorful beans are made. With a new season comes new schwag...here is a glimpse of the 2007 race kit. Check back for more pics from Jelly Belly Corporate Headquarters!

Keep it smooth...

Oh the Warmth

Yes, we are actually experiencing a reprieve from Old Man Winter with a few days of sunshine and warmth in Boulder...much to the liking of most athletes in these parts. Word on the street has another cold front bringing snow on Friday which makes sense since just about all the storms we have had showed their faces for the weekends.

I leave Thursday for our Jelly Belly Team Sport Beans/NTTC team camp in Fairfield, CA. It runs through Sunday and I am psyched to meet my teammates, our team director and the good peeps at Jelly Belly. Training will be a bit limited with morning swims and runs as our schedule for the weekend is tight with photo shoots, media, nutrition seminar and most importantly a tour of the Jelly Belly campus and plant. I return to Denver Sunday and then catch a connecting flight to Austin where I will be through the end of the month. It will be great to get in some solid rides and runs outdoors with some of the crew in Austin. I am super stoked to spend some time with Terra (www.terracastro.blogspot.com) and Zane (www.zanecastro.blogspot.com). They are awesome and we will for sure have some good laughs in throwing down the smack. If my camera can drop its attitude I hope to post some pics.

Suggested reading: The Way to Love by Anthony DeMello. Incredible, easy-to-read book which will challenge you to grow and gain a true sense of what love is all about. Without too many details it does not simply address love in romantic terms. Rather, it sheds insight as to how our attachments (fears, needs, desires for people & things) ultimately blind our vision and limit our life experience. Anyway, it is really a great daily read with very short chapters.

Keep it smooth...

Global Warming

IS A FARSE!!!!!