I found this video the other day that I think the trail runners among you will like.

I enjoyed the scenery so much yesterday, that I thought I would see it again at a more leisurely pace. The uphills were still really slow and the downhills weren’t nearly as fast as on the bike. I took pictures today so you can enjoy the scenery too.

Notice there is still snow at the edges of the lake. I don’t think I will be doing any open water swims anytime soon.

Today I rode my tri-bike for the first time in forever. I’ve done some rides on my mountain bike, but nothing too serious. I only rode 30 miles, but it wore me out. I started out doing the sprint triathlon bike course and then cut off and rode around Turquoise Lake. It was a very pretty ride, but maybe a bit ambitious for my first ride.

The ride around the lake was from about miles 12 to 27. Miles 17 to 20-took fooorrreeeevvvverrrr. I kept looking for any easier gear, but I never found it. I may have to invest in some climbing gears (either that or get in better shape). I also have the feeling that I’m going to be wearing out my brake pads a lot quicker than I did in Illinois.

Today I swam a 1000 yard time trial in the pool to see where my swimming fitness is. I was hoping for under 15 minutes but ended up at 15:05. (1:30.5 per 100 yards) For a reference, I usually was around 13:45-14:00 when I was in Ironman shape and I was at 12:45 when I had my 55 minute Ironman swim. I don’t have any Ironmans planned for this year, so I guess I’m doing OK. Last week I ran my uphill mile in 11:11, so my run time is slowly starting to improve too.
In other news, I had 5 people sign up for my introduction to triathlon class and I have started teaching a swim stroke development class. The weather here has been in the 50’s and I no longer see any snow in town, but you only have to go up about 500 feet to see snow on the north facing hill sides. Early this week I did one of my runs on a newly plowed road above the town and the snow was up to my waist on either side of the road at some points.

Yesterday I went to Buena Vista to run on some of the trails around it. That part of the state is called the Banana Belt of Colorado due to the nice weather. It’s only 35 miles away and 2300 feet lower, but there is a big difference in the climate and the terrain. It was actually pretty cool yesterday (low 40’s in Leadville and mid 50’s in Buena Vista) which was fine with me. Friday it was 73 down there which is about 25 degrees warmer than anything I’ve run in this year. I think that would have caused me to melt. The area was very pretty, but I forgot to bring my camera with me. It was a little overcast, so it’s probably just as well. Maybe next time. When I got back to Leadville it was 35 and raining, so I’m glad I didn’t run here. This morning it was snowing again. I guess somebody forgot to look at the calendar. Maybe Spring will show up in June.

I finally broke 8 minutes for the mile. Of course it helps when the finish line is 300 feet lower than the start (5.7% grade). I ran one mile up the mountain in 14:20 with an average HR (heart rate) of 158 and I ran down the mountain in 7:52 with an average HR of 141. My current PR (personal record) for running one mile up the mountain is 12:03. My goal is to get that under 10 minutes. I would also like to eventually be able to run the rest of the way up the mountain to Mosquito pass, but that will have to wait another month or so until the snow melts. That should be challenging since it gets steeper after the first mile, 3000 feet of elevation gain in 7.5 miles (7.6% average grade) and there is a lot less oxygen up there.

Q: “How long does winter last in Leadville?”
A: “I don’t know, I’ve only been here 18 months.”

Actually the weather has been really nice here the last few days (we had 10+ inches of snow on Friday). It was in the 40’s the past couple of days and the rest of the week it is supposed to be in the 50’s although there is a chance of snow for Saturday. I think Spring (or Mud season as they call it in Leadville) might finally be here. I ran in a short sleeved t-shirt today and was actually sweating.

Leadville Herald Democrat. Now let’s hope somebody signs up.

I decided to test my fitness by running a mile hard. I ran one mile in 8:11 with an average heart rate of 160. It wasn’t an all out effort, but still rather disapointing considering the fact that it was all downhill (there are no flat miles here, so it was either uphill or downhill and I don’t want to even know what my uphill mile time is. There was a headwind, so that may have negated some of the downhill). I can see why they say the best altitude training is to live high and to train low. It was more that fact that my legs aren’t used to a high turnover than the lack of oxygen that was slowing me down. I guess it’s time for some speed work.
On the swimming front, this morning I swam 10×100 yards on 2 minutes with my average time being around 1:28, so that’s going pretty well. Maybe I should look for some high altitude swimming races.

This past weekend I went to Colorado Springs for a certification class for triathlon coaching. This required me to drive through a blizzard in order to get there. Thursday and Friday the roads were pretty icy, but by Friday afternoon it had started to melt. Yesterday was in the 60’s, although now that I’m back in Leadville, the high today was around 9.
The class was pretty good, although at times it was definitely information overload. There wasn’t too much I hadn’t learned before, but some of it I haven’t thought about in a long time. The coolest part of the class was that it was at the Olympic training center.

While I was in Colorado Springs, I also was able to visit the Garden of the Gods:

I will be putting more photos up on my photo album within the next few days.