I’m five weeks down with three to go till Ogden. The last two weeks of training I put in were focused primarily on intensity in each of the sports individually with a a couple short transitions runs tacked onto my longer bike rides of the weeks.

The weekly routine called for a an easy recovery day on Monday. Masters swimming on Tuesday morning followed by a 75 minute hill interval run session. Wednesday was a 4-hour endurance maintenance ride on the road bike (5000+ ft climbing) followed by a 30 minute transition run. Thursday it was back to the pool for another Masters session this time followed by Vo2 bike intervals. Friday was another easy recovery day. Then the weekend was a race effort on the mountain bike with a harder transition run. In the case of the second week, I raced the Crested Butte Xterra for my hard weekend race effort session.

All and all the last two weeks have gone reasonably well. My bike is getting closer to where I would like to see it be, and my run seems to be maintaining pretty well despite the somewhat lack of attention it has been receiving. My biggest concern is that my swim training has been pretty low the last several weeks. I just can’t seem to get motivated to go swim. The Masters swim session are enough to get me there on Tuesday and Thursdays for an hour of harder swimming, but I can’t seem to get to the pool or lake for on my own. However, I don’t think it will make much difference in my swim times, because I surprised myself with a decent swim in Crested Butte despite the low swim training.

Crested Butte last weekend was going to be a good race to test my progress leading up to Ogden. Being three weeks before my big event it seemed like perfect timing for a test race. Also being in Colorado and offering a cash payout to the top finishing pros (although small) it was likely that some of the top Xterra dogs would be there as well.

The pro start list read like a national race start list: Seth Wealing, Jossiah Middaugh, Brian Smith, Greg Krause, Ryan Ignatz, CJ Castle, Jimmy Archer, and Will Kelsay to name a few were all there to throw down. It was going to prove to be a very good test indeed!

The swim in Crested Butte is a bit shorter at 1k, opposed to 1.5k, at typical xterra races. Shorter swims always make me happy because it means I’ll be getting on my bike with less of a deficit to make up. I managed to swim reasonably well and came out of the water in 12th place overall with only a few age-groupers in front of me and less than 2 minutes behind the leaders.

Off on the bike, I had trouble getting warmed-up. After a short descent out of transition you begin to climb the technical trail. My pre-race warm-up was not well planned and I was paying for it on the opening climb. With my heart in my throat and legs numb with lactic acid I found myself spending more time off my bike than on it through the tight technical up and down Upper and Upper Upper Loop trails. I crashed 3 times over a 2 mile section of trail and it was quite frustrating to say the least as I was cursing at myself to get it together. Despite the difficulties, I managed to work my way up through the field and settle into a rhythm on the back side of the course. I had rained quite a bit in the days leading up to the race so there was a lot of mud and mud puddles to splash through throughout the course.

Riding some tasty CB singletrack the day before the race



Heading out of T2

Once on the run, I felt pretty strong. The bike training I’ve doing the last several weeks made the difference here. I was able to go pretty hard on the bike and not be too tired after it. This allowed me to still run a decent pace. On the run I was in no-mans-land with 3rd and 4th place up about 2 minutes on me and 6th place back about 2 minutes on me. I had to stay focused on my own and finish strong to claim the 5th place payout.

Cresting the long hill before rounding the lake to the finish

Ahh…. all finished

Overall, I am pretty happy with the 5th place result. My swim was a pleasant surprise letting me know that I haven’t really lost much in that area. My bike I was hoping for a little bit more of, especially with the extra attention it has been getting. My run was solid and I feel confident in it getting me to the finish line in Ogden. Considering the last two weeks of high intensity-training, I think by the time I get rested and sharpened up I should see a nice jump in fitness just in time for the Ogden race.

In good company at the awards presentation. That’s Josiah Middaugh (1st), Seth Wealing (2nd), Greg Krause 3rd), Ryan Ignatz (4th), and me (5th).

The next three weeks leading up to Ogden will consist of very race specific workouts every 3 days to sharpen my fitness with the days in between made up of recovery and maintenance sessions to allow me get recovered and rested. I’ll keep you updated. Thanks for reading.

CW

I’m three weeks in to what I’m calling Operation Ogden. That is my eight-week build up towards my big A-priority race of my 2007 season: the Xterra Mountain Championship in Ogden, Utah on August 18th. The Ogden course suits my strengths very well with the long continuous climb on the bike and the slightly shorter, but hilly run all at altitude. I set my sights on this event last fall with the goal of breaking into the top five. It’s certainly a stretch goal, but not out of the question. Last year I was the top amatuer and 10th overall at this race, so I figure it’s my best chance this year to make the podium.

My carefully structured plan involves a heavy emphasis on the bike. The way I look at it, I have to come off the bike in the top three. This would allow me to be passed by two faster runners and still make the top five. I’m not going to get any faster in the swim or run this year without sacrifycing time on the bike. It’s just not worth the training time it takes to get maybe 60 seconds faster out of the water and a 60 seconds faster on the run when with the same training time I can get several minutes faster on the bike.

The reason being is that I have a much deeper base on the bike, equaling nearly 10 years of bike volume and racing experience, compared to my 3 years of run and swim experience. I can still tap into my bike ability while maintaining my swim and run speed resulting in a time gain of several minutes. So what this means, if I haven’t lost you yet, is that I will putting an extra emphasis on the bike training leading up to Ogden while maintaining my swim and run ability with a more minimal approach. I figure this will leave me with the fastest possible time over the Ogden course and best chance for a podium finish. Despite what Lance says, it is all about the bike for me these next 5 weeks.

The first two weeks of Operation Ogden consisted of big bike volume. A mini-base period if you will. I spent the majority of the 14 day period, which included nearly 600 miles and 55,000 feet of climbing on the bike along with a handful of maintenance runs and swims, in zones 1-3 focusing on the re-development of strength and aerobic endurance from earlier in the year. Also in that time frame I threw in two mountain bike races just keep it fun and touch some higher intensities as well. See Fire Cracker 50 entry below.

Last week was an easy week with light training to stimulate growth and recovery. Now rested, the next two weeks will consist of higher intensity training in all three sports, resembling more of a traditional triathlon schedule with more swimming and running, while still maintaining an emphasis on the bike. I’ll be doing Vo2 intervals on the bike and run, threshold and speed swim sets, along with another mountain bike race and finally a regional Xterra race in Crested Butte to test my progress.

Following this two-week intensity block I’ll move into a three-week Race Specific block similar to the one I did many weeks back leading up to the Alabama and Richmond events in June. The workouts will become very tri-specific with LT combo workouts leading up to the big day with plenty of rest between sessions so I hopefully reach peak fitness.

So there you have it, Operation Ogden. Wish me luck, because I think I’ll be needing all I can get come August 18th! I’ll keep posted with my progress.

CW

Halfway through week number two of my mid-season high volume block I headed up to Breckenridge, Colorado for the annual endurance climbing sluggfest held on Independence Day called the Firecracker 50. This grueling, quad burning, lung busting beast of a race consists of not one, but two, 25 mile loops high in the Colorado Rockies with 5,400 feet climbing per lap, yes, that equates to nearly 11,000 feet of climbing over 50 miles, on some of the toughest, rockiest fire roads, double track and single track trails in the state. This years race was deemed the USA Cycling National Marathon Cross-Country Championships, so all the tough guys were sure too show up.

So, on the 4th of July, Melek and I got up early, packed the car and headed up the hill to Breckenridge. On the way we stopped off for my favorite pre-race meal of buttermilk pancakes, full stack of course, two scrambled eggs with extra salt, coffee, juice and water. Just what is needed for the 4-hour epic that lays ahead.

Mmmm……pancakes

Per race tradition, the events starts off with all the racers leading the Independence Day parade through town as a neutral start, before blasting off up the first climb at the edge of town. The atmosphere was great. It feels like being part of a European stage race with all the tifosi lining the streets cheering on their favorite riders. What a great way to start a race!

Parading through town, giving Hi-Fives to our adoring fans

Once through town the race began in earnest. Immediately the road turns up as you begin the opening six mile climb up Boreas Pass. This road climb is fast and groups form immediately as everyone begins jockeying for wheels. Finally the road tapers down to single track and I got a chance to catch my breath. Soon after that I was flying down some fast rocky double track trails inhaling the dust and dirt of the riders in front of me while trying to maintain contact with the lead group. Then up we go again for the what I considered the hardest part of the course, a two mile long climb up loose, rocky single and double track that brings you to the high point of the course. I knew after the first time up this climb, that the second time was not going to be fun. Then came some more fast descents and yes, more climbing before the final descent back to town.

Hurray I made it! Wait a sec….I’m done yet, I get to do this all over again. What a way to spend my holiday!

My first lap I manged in 1 hour and 55 minutes. Pretty fast. Second lap, 2 hours and 12 minutes. I obviously had some pacing issues and came apart a bit on the second lap. After four hours and seven minutes I crossed the finish line in 2nd place in the semi-pro/open category, happy to be done. Not too shabby for a triathlete and not to mention my first marathon XC race.

2nd place on the podium (right)

Other big props must be given to my peeps that made their way through this truly epic event on our nations birthday. Rickey Tolliver, Mark Forgy, Mike Moreland and Jason Anderson (EPC riders) all raced solo races and had solid performances. Other note worthy performances include Jon Marquez on the grill post-race. He knocked out burgers, dogs, and brauts on the George Foreman Grill in record time, single-handedly while maintaining a solid grip on his PBR in the other hand. Well done, Jon. A true American Hero!

Jon manning the grill, with Rickey (center)and Eric eagerly waiting