A day with Family

My sister Margaret, my dad and me.

Today I got in a quick ride on the trainer and just messed around the house for a few hours. My nephew Austin had a Basketball game down in Littleton that I went and watched. My folks were both there as well as my sister and one of my brothers. After the game we all headed over to brother Joey's house and had a nice visit with everyone. I hadn't been out to Franktown in a couple of years, always enjoy my time while I am there as it seems like you are literally in the middle of nowhere...too bad we have to drive thru Denver and Parker to get there, traffic is always an issue:)

We cooked up some great steaks thanks to Dad (and Joe for cooking). Margaret did a great job organizing the rest of the dinner. I wish we didn't all live so far apart from each other, it would be nice if we could do this more often. I am not sure how the guys feel about that!

Took a few pictures and I will have those downloaded as soon as I get them from Hilde...Me with my nephews Tanner and Austin

brothers Kevin and Joe showing us the art of drinking wine and vodka??

Ski day at Copper Mountain

Today was a ski day....Andy and I met up with one of my girlfriends and we headed off to Copper Mountain for a few hours. Erlinda has kids so we got a 9:00am start and had to be back by 3pm...which was perfect for us. We all tele ski and 3-4 hours is about all I can handle right now.

The weather was beautiful here in Evergreen today, clear blue skies but a little chilly. By the time we got to Copper it was snowing lightly, WINDY and cold. I would say it was about 22 degrees but with the wind it seemed a little cooler. Andy unloaded the ski's for us and he surprised me with a new pair of Schi Devil Telemark ski's!I was just floored. I had told him numerous times that I did not need a new pair of ski's as the ones that I have had for over 10 years were good enough. Boy, how wrong I was. I had the best day of skiing that I ever remember, all due to the new ski's. I wasn't sure I would even be able to tell a difference but sure enough, from the very first run, I skied so much better than I ever have. I wished I could have skied on them longer today but we were all getting a little too cold so we actually ended our day about 30 min. earlier than planned.

Had a slow drive home as the roads seemed to be a little slick and some heavy traffic but by the time we were over the pass and down to Georgetown, it was clear blue skies and dry roads. We got home in time to sit in the hot tub (for the 2nd time today;) and later plan on watching a movie.

Tuesday: Swim/ Ride

Swim: :55min. 2500 Meters. 5:00am
Ride: 2:00, Mtn. bike, 23 miles, 3:45pm

Early morning swim, didn't have much speed, breathing wasn't all that great today. I'm not sure if it was the whey protein or the almond milk I had just before the swim. I had a couple of my almond butter bars and another whey protein shake in the afternoon and the breathing just didn't feel right. I was feeling great yesterday so I am thinking I will take both the Almonds and Whey out of my diet for a couple of days and then re-introduce each one separately to see what happens.

The temps were in the 70's here today so I was able to get out of work on time and was on my bike by 3:45...which gave me just about 2 hours of sunlight. I can't wait until the following weekend for daylight saving, I will be able to ride a little longer, yeah. Today's ride was pretty pathetic the first :45 min. or so, I was feeling tired, unmotivated, bored....started off just riding the road the first half of the ride but then once I hit the dirt trails I was fine. I wasn't fast but I enjoyed just being out there. I can't believe it's February and most of the trails are dry around the Denver area. Tomorrow will be just as nice, however, I will be in Idaho Springs so it won't be quite as warm. I kept my bike in the car so hopefully I can get out at noon for a quick ride up "Oh My God" road...

Monday: Rest

An uneventful day, ran some errands and had an appt. with the chiropractor and went to work.
The chiropractor worked on my feet/calves and the heel again. The heel was bothering me quite a bit today and not sure if it was just from all the work she did on it. I am starting to wonder if I have something other than just a heel spur going on. I may go get another opinion here soon if the pain does not go away. I should probably spend more time icing it as well!

The diet is coming along nicely, I am getting used to it now and it's becoming easier. I am still craving my nacho's that I usually have after work and still get an itch for something sweet at the end of the day. Hoping these cravings go away in time.

Tomorrow I plan for an early morning swim and a bike ride in the afternoon. It's suppose to be in the 60's...yeah!

Sunday: Swim/ Ride

Swim: 2600 yrds
Ride: 2:15 Noon-2:30pm

Got up and swam at Evergreen Rec. I don't remember swimming there on a Sunday so I wasn't sure how crowded it was going to be, got my own lane so I was thrilled with that. Swim was okay, not much speed today but it was great just to be in the water. Andy was down in Denver swimming at Carmody. I thought about meeting him down there as I love the pool, I just wasn't in to the :25 min. drive down the canyon.

We both got home about the same time and then headed out on the mountain bikes for an easy cruise up here. The weather was beautiful....at least when we started! Clear blue skies and quite warm, however, an hour into the ride the clouds came rolling in and the temp. seemed to drop just a little. We rode for just over 2 hours which was my longest ride since the race last weekend.
It sure helped to have someone to ride with today. I was suppose to hook up with a couple of girls, one wanted to go at 9:00am...just a little to cold for me up here at that time of the day (in the low to mid 30's), the other gal said she didn't want to ride unless the temp got up to 50* by 10:00am...that sure wasn't going to happen either so at least I had a back-up with Andy!

I am feeling a little better today with my workouts but still not 100%. I think I was freaking out over the fact that I could only have 15 food items for the next week and how was I going to do it and have descent meals and not go hungry when working out. I ended making some Almond butter/millet/honey bars that were pretty good and packed well. It will be nice to have those for my other workouts during the week....hoping my energy level will get better as the week goes on, once I get all the crap out of my system...ie: sugar, alcohol, wheat, processed foods etc.

Now it's just a relaxing evening at home watching "Lost".....

Saturday: Ride

Ride: 1:00 trainer 6:00pm-7:00pm

I was not very motivated to workout again today, not sure what my problem is. I did get a few things accomplished...a few things in the kitchen that is. I spent my morning preparing food for the week of this "diet" that I am on. I fixed Quinoa in the rice cooker which turned out pretty good, I have never had it before so I wasn't sure what to compare it to. I made Almond milk as well. I had soaked about 2 cups of dry almonds in 6 cups of water overnight and then in the morning blended it all up and drained out the big chunks of almonds. Added a little Agave Nectar and it really wasn't that bad. I think I need a stronger blender as I had alot of left over "pulp". I had it with some puffed Millet (which tastes just like puffed rice) and some blueberries for a nice breakfast cereal.


Cooked up a few days worth of meat in the crockpot and cut up some fruit. I tried making some millet tortillas..they tasted disgusting so I threw those out and tried again with Quinoa flour. They were at least edible so that was a plus. Dinner was fried catfish breaded with Olive oil/quinoa flour/ some of the left over almond pulp and a little salt and pepper. Fried it up in some more Olive oil and it turned out good. Next time I think I will bake it and not fry it as it tasted a little too oily.

I started keeping track of my calories on a website that my sister gave me. It's called FitDay. I was surprised what my calorie count was for the day...it's no wonder I have a tough time loosing those last few pounds....I was being very good today but usually I tend to eat whatever I want. Having a food diary is something that I've always wanted to do but just too lazy to get one started. It's amazing what I decide NOT to put into my mouth because I would have to log it with "Fit Day !!!! I will see how long this lasts. I think I can handle it for the next 6 weeks while I am on my "LEAP Diet Program". I actually hate that work DIET as I think of what I am doing more of a different way of eating but since that is what LEAP calls it I will go with it. I guess if I loose weight then I could think of it as a diet?

Friday: Rest Day...again

I decided to work a little today at the office, usually I am off on Friday's but I have been so backed up with patients and I didn't have anything else going on today so I figured why not. Finished up at noon and then headed down to the Tech center for Sushi with my sister...it was great catching up with her as we rarely see each other and only live :45 min. apart.

After a nice leisurely lunch I wanted to check out a Korean supermarket that my acupuncturist had recommended. It's called "H Mart" and it's out in Aurora. It's quite a drive for me from Evergreen but it was relatively close to where I was having lunch this afternoon. I was told that the produce was plentiful and much cheaper than our local grocery stores...well, I just had to check it out. Sure enough, an amazing array of fruits, vegetables of all kinds, many that I had not heard of or wouldn't know what to do with! They had an entire aisle designated just for soy sauce and one just for spicy/hot sauces, they had an awesome selection of seafood and relatively inexpensive. I wandered the aisles for a good 30 min. or so. So much of the food was packaged with Korean writing so I didn't linger too long as I didn't know what half the stuff was. I will be going back.

Tonight Andy and I are headed out for Pizza at Beau Jo's, this will be the last dinner out for a while...tomorrow starts my LEAP diet.

Thursday: Ride/Swim

Ride: :30 indoor trainer 5:30-6:00am
Swim: 1:20 3200 Meters. 4:10-5:30pm

I was going to get up with Andy this morning at 4:45 to ride but still not too motivated to get out of bed early this week so I rolled out about 5:20am. I was able to squeeze in a half-way descent ride this morning albeit short. I didn't have to go to work until 8:00am so it was nice to have a little more time in the morning.

I headed to the pool right after work only to find out that the boys' high school swim team was there taking up most of the lanes. Bummer as now I will go back to swimming at 5:00am, I just like it when it's not very crowded, I tend to have better workouts when I don't have other distractions. There were two lanes available for lap swimming this afternoon...not too big of a deal until a big guy got into my lane and apparently didn't know how to "share" a lane! He literally swam down the middle of the lane and every time I had to pass him, which was quite often, my blood pressure would rise and I would just hope that I wouldn't get nailed by his flailing arms. All in all, I actually had a pretty good swim but just not a very hard one today.

Headed over to Vitamin Cottage after work to look for the 15 or so foods that I could have for the next week. My two starches are Aramanth and Millet...once I found them in flour form I was wondering what I would do with them once I got home. Two of the three fruits I can have are not in season which doesn't make this any easier. Papaya and Cantaloupe. I am very committed to this way of eating for the next 6 weeks, I am just so curious if it is really going to help my breathing. I will be taking some time this weekend to figure out menu's for the next week and learn how to make tortilla's and almond milk from scratch.

Tomorrow is Friday and my last "free" day of eating for a while. I am planning on taking my sister out to lunch for her birthday (which was last week) and then maybe out to dinner with Andy. I did 'take-out' Sushi tonight from the Wildflower Cafe for dinner as I won't be having that for quite some time and that will be something I will really miss.

Wednesday: Ride

Indoor Ride: 1:15 5:30-6:45am.
Nice and easy with a few pushes. Watched part of a movie, "The Visitor"

Didn't get the greatest night sleep but at least I was somewhat motivated to get my butt out of bed and go to the basement to ride. I haven't been feeling like doing much since the race on Saturday, kind of feeling in a slump. I am happy that I got a little over an hour on the bike.

This afternoon I had an appt. with my pedorthist to check out my orthotics. He did a few adjustments as I was telling him that I was having a little knee pain. The orthotics feel pretty good, I can definitely feel the arch in the right one so much more than the left but after a few days I will see how it goes. He will continue to do adjustments for me until they are perfect. I won't be running for a few weeks, he seems to think I could run earlier than that but I don't want to chance it. He also seems to think the heel spur won't go away but recommends "Graston" treatments to my arch. I am seeing the Chiropractor right after work today so I will have her work on it.

Saw the Chiropractor for about an hour this evening, she did some ultrasound on both feet and calves and did Graston technique with her "jade" on the same areas, had a quick adjustment to my back and my feet and felt pretty good when I left. Got in a good :20 of icing and hopefully they will feel better tomorrow.

Tuesday: Rest

Today I was planning on going for a swim after work only to remember that I had an acupuncture appt. at 3:30pm. We were going over my MRT (Mediator Release Test) and reviewing my LEAP (Lifestyle Eating and Performance) program. Daniel explained to me what the MRT was testing for and how this test is not 100% accurate but gives us a good place to start in figuring out what foods are causing my breathing issues. There are 150 foods/chemicals/additives that they test to see which are causing sensitivity reactions. It quantifies how strongly my immune cells react to the foods and food chemicals tested by measuring intracellular mediator release indirectly. When released from immune cells, chemical mediators such as histamine, cytokines, and prostaglandins produce damaging effects on body tissues, leading to the development of symptoms.

So, by following a strict eating plan, I will systematically build a healthy diet of foods that I can tolerate. It's a 5 week phase and am quite limited to what I can eat.
First Phase: one week long.

Protien: Scallops/Beef/catfish/Tilapia
Starches: Millet/Quinoa
Veggies: Broccoli/Spinach/String beans
Fruit: Cantaloupe/Olive/Blueberry/Papaya
Dairy: American Cheese/Whey
Nuts: Olive/Almond Nuts
Flavors: Parsley/Black Pepper/Honey

This is going to be very interesting and I am anxious to get started to see if my breathing really does improve. Phase 2 I will add a few more things in each category but stage 3-4-5 I just add one extra thing per day.

I figure now is a good time for me to do this as I am not running at all, I can work my cycling/swimming and Yoga into this routine pretty easily. I will be laying low for the first 2 weeks and then by the 3rd phase I should be able to at least eat out at a restaurant if I wanted to. My next big race isn't until May 9th and I should be done with my so called "diet program" by the first full week of April.

Intersting that my tests did show that I am sensitive to coffee/tea/cocoa/walnuts...all of which I know bother my breathing, however, Mushrooms/onions/mustard/turkey/spelt are on my reactive list as well but not sure how or if they are making the breathing worse.

We are hoping that once I go thru this we can pinpoint exactly which foods trigger my breathing problem and then go about trying to get those foods slowly introduced back into my system on a rotation diet....rotating foods into my diet every 3rd day so it is harder for it to produce an inflammatory response.

Monday: Day of rest

Easy spin for 15 min. hoping my legs feel a little better.

I got 10 hours of sleep last night, wondering if that was too much as I woke up on the wrong side of the bed in a very foul mood. I don't normally have bad days but this was definitely one of them.

My calves and achilles were both on fire today, especially the Right one that cramped on me really bad in the ski/snowshoe transition. I am too lazy to ice today and the thought of anything touching my calves just makes me cringe to think about it. I was able to get in a little 15 min. spin, a soak in the hot tub and some light stretching....along with a few Ibuprofen I hope I am back to normal in a day or two.

Had a full day of work while Andy was out enjoying the day on his bike. The weather in Denver was in the 50's and sunny, sounds like it was a great day to be out.

Saturday: Mt. Taylor Quadrathlon

Race Report for Mt. Taylor. This is a bit long but I like to have a detailed report so I know what to do or not to do the next time I do this race.

Today we woke up to 22* weather and clear blue skies. The forecast was for snow, wind and clouds and a high of 42*...granted, that was in Grants, we really didn't know what it was going to be doing up on the mountain. It sure didn't look like it was going to snow....but who knows, if it's anything like Colorado, the weather can change pretty quick. Good thing we put extra clothes in our gear bags just in case.

We were up by 6:30am and had breakfast in us by 7:00am. The race didn't start until 9:00 so we had plenty of time to still figure out what we were going to wear. I wanted to get in a little spin on the bike and make sure everything was in working order and my clothing choice was going to work for me. I had started out with a jacket warming up but quickly took that off. I ended up wearing 2 long sleeve shirts, (one thin/one medium weight), a vest, triathlon shorts with a thick pair of running tights over the shorts, smart wool socks with baggies in my shoes and toe covers on the outside, long fingered gloves with a thin glove cover over those and a buff for my ears.

We started the Race at 9:00am...in a big pack, there must have been about 100 or so riders. The pace started out pretty fast and I was able to stay with a few different groups for most of the climb. I rode in my big chain ring for the first 9 miles and then it started to get a little steeper. I was feeling pretty good but I knew I had to be a little conservative as it was going to be a long day.

I arrived into the first transition in about :55 min., found my bike but there were no volunteers around to help me...oh well, I didn't really need much anyway. I hung up my bike, took off the helmet, switched out my shoes and gloves, threw my glove covers in my vest pocket and off I went. Out of the transition in :58 min.

The run starts off with a pretty significant hill climb for a couple of hundred yards and then it flattened out a bit. I haven't run in over a week and I was quite concerned with my feet and calves. My calves and Achilles have been so sore and tight all week and I knew I could really do some damage if I didn't take it easy. My breathing was well under control but my legs were tired already. My left foot was partially numb for about 2 miles, not sure what that was all about. I decided on my old orthotics as I have only done one run in my new ones....and today had a lot of running in it so I didn't want to chance it. The run was slow but I was happy with it. I stopped at the aid station at 2.3 miles and did some light stretching of the calves. The last mile I did the run/walk routine as it was starting to get pretty steep, a little icy and I realized I could power walk just as fast as some were running! My run up along with my Ski transition was longer than usual, 1:07 for a 5 mile run and a change of gear.

Coming into the 2nd transition I was hoping that there would be a volunteer available to help me with my gear....as I looked around there was no one available, on my own again. I quickly put the ski boots on, first attempting to put my gortex socks on but there was no room in the boot for my regular sock and gortex sock....couldn't figure this out as it worked just fine 4 years ago when I did it...hmmmm. I bagged the gortex socks and just stuck with the smart wools that I was wearing...knowing I would be okay for the ski but had I thought about it I should have tossed the gortex socks into my snowshoe bag as I really needed them for that portion of the race. Oh well, lesson learned. Tossed on my jacket and another hat as I heard one of the volunteers yell out that it was cold on top with 30mph winds. I decided against wearing my wind pants, I was okay but I would have been toasty with that extra layer!! I threw my thicker ski gloves into the snowshoe bag just in case I needed something warmer as all I was wearing at the time was a thin liner with a nylon glove cover. I grabbed part of a bar, downed that without hesitation and I was on my way.

Out of the ski transition I quickly started passing people. I was wearing some really short ski's that make it very easy to almost run in them. With the skins on the bottom I was really moving. I had passed numerous people who either didn't have skins on or they were loosing the skins...as they can be difficult to keep on. We duct tape the crap out them and they will still have a tendency to work their way off the ski. I was lucky this year, I had no problems.

I arrived into the 3rd transition without any issues, except for the fact that I was thirsty. They did have a water stop but they were serving it in itty bitty cups with chunks of ice. It was pretty cold up there and it was difficult for them to keep the water from freezing. I rushed to my transition spot that was numbered and took off my ski's and then stripped the skins off. Pulled the snowshoes out of my bag and went to put in my right foot into my running shoe (that was directly mounted to the snowshoe) and immediately my calf cramped...BIG time!! I started wimpering and a volunteer came to my rescue to help me stretch and release the cramp...and he even fed me gummy bears, that was awesome. I knew the calf was really going to be sore when this race was over. I took it much easier with the left foot with out too much trouble. I cinched up the shoes, put on thicker gloves and I was out of there.

The snowshoe up was beautiful, at least for the first half...in the trees with very little wind. I was able to do a little jogging and a couple of minutes into the run I saw Andy on his way down. He looked great and had a big smile on his face. I asked him if it was cold on top and he said it was. half way up the climb there is the Liquor stop, whiskey or water....I went for the water! Just around the corner the climb got much steeper and the winds were really whipping, thank goodness they were a tailwind for us. I power hiked to the turn around and was happy to see that they changed the course this year, we came down a different way, just as steep but more in the trees and plenty of powder. My heels were bothering me at this point so I wasn't comfortable running downhill too fast. I have a feeling it was because I didn't have any orthotics in my shoes. My feet were getting a little cold as I didn't have the Gortex socks on but I figured they would be fine until I got down to the run transition where I did have a spare pair of socks if I needed to switch them out.
Back into the Ski transition I quickly removed the snowshoes, threw them in the bag and put my ski gear on and skated away. The downhill ski can be pretty scary when one only has little skate ski's. It's steep in some areas where it's really hard to control your speed, along with being uneven terrain, switchbacks and other skiers to watch out for it is somewhat of a circus. I find myself in a very uncontrolled snowplow, feeling like a weeble wobble...but not quite falling down. Each year I do this I find the ski portion a little more difficult. Some people use their touring ski's or telemark ski's but that equipment is a little heavier for the uphill so I guess I don't mind looking like a total dork for 15 min. of downhill, out of control skiing.
I was so happy to see the run transition, however, I had a tough time getting my boots out of my ski's because I couldn't feel my fingers. I found my gear, had a seat on a bench and a volunteer appears...like an angel...he is there to untie my boots, get my running shoes ready, got me water, put my ski gear away. For some reason, with all this help, it was still a slow transition!! Huh??

As soon as I started the run my heels were killing me. With each step it felt like someone was taking a hammer and pounding on each one. This continued for the next 2 miles, which was also about how long it took for my fingers to finally thaw out. My run was pretty uneventful, I felt pretty good, I was running a nice even pace and not going out of my comfort zone.

Running into the bike transition I ran over to the aid station, had a gel and some water and went looking for my bike. I arrived with 2 teenagers there to help me with my gear. I switched into my cycling gloves (with covers), switched jackets, put on my helmet and shoes and I was off again. The cycling is my favorite part so I was excited to be riding downhill for 13 miles however, I wasn't excited about the 20 mph headwind I was about to face. I only saw 3 people for my entire ride down the canyon, I passed 2 girls and 1 guy passed me. I rode as fast as I possibly could without getting my legs to cramp up. The wind was brutal but I tried to just stay focused knowing it would all be over with soon.

I finished with a smile on my face and both of my calves cramping!!! I headed right over to the aid station to chat with the girls that finished right before me and to get some gatorade in me. I was happy with my time, 5:20:02, 2nd in my age group (was beat out by my friend Vicki by 2 min.), 11th Female overall.

Andy came and found me about 10 min. after I finished. He had a great race as well, 4:30, 10th overall and 1st in his age group. We headed straight back to the hotel for a nice long hot tub, quick dinner and then on to the awards. What a great way to spend Valentines Day!!!!

This was the start of '05, it was a little wet that year.

Friday: Drive to Grants, NM

We are leaving town this morning on route to Grants, NM for the Mt. Taylor Quadrathon. Over the past couple of days we spent numerous hours searching, finding and packing up all of the gear that we would need for this race. Jackets, gloves, booties, hats, bike, ski's, snowshoes, running shoes, ski boots, (can't forget the orthotics that go in each footwear), food etc..

Mt. Taylor Quadrathlon. is a race that consists of 4 events, bike/run/ski/snowshoe. We start in the little town of Grants, NM and work our way to the top of Mt. Taylor and then back down again.

We start off with a 13 mile road bike ride,with 1200 feet of climbing. At the 1st transition we drop the bike, put on running shoes and run 5 miles on a dirt road with the occasional snow and ice... climbing 1100 feet. At the 2nd transition, we switch from running shoes to ski's with skins on the bottom of them so we can climb the next 2 miles, gaining another 1000 feet....oh yeah, we are carrying our snowshoes on our backs so when we get to the 3rd transition we can drop off the ski's, put the snowshoes on and run up the final 1 mile and 800 feet of climbing. Then the fun begins, we get to do it all over again in reverse!

Doing this race is so much fun but logistically it can be a nightmare as you try to guess what the weather is going to be and what you might possibly want at each section of the course. So, in each of my gear bags I put a hat/gloves/ glove covers/food/one or two jackets a light one and rainproof one...depending on if I think it might rain or snow. Then I have to figure out exactly what "outfit" I will wear for the entire 5 plus hours going from warm weather, to cold, to blowing snow, back to possibly warm, possibly cold and usually windy.

We left Evergreen about 7:45am and drove straight thru to Grants. We arrived at 4:45pm, exactly 8 hours of driving. The roads were pretty good once we got out of the Evergreen/Conifer area.
Once in Grant's we drove straight to check-in to drop off our 2 transition bags, along with the running shoes, ski's, and snowshoes. We duct tape our 2nd transition bag/ski's/snowshoes together and that gets put on a truck and sent to the mtn. first thing in the morning. Then the numerous volunteers un-duct tape everything and have it all ready for us in numbered racks so it's easy for us to find when we get there. The first transtion bag just has our running shoes (extra hat/gloves/jacket) in it and that is much easier to pack up. EVERYTHING gets labeled with our names and our numbers, especially if you want to see it again. The transitions can get pretty hectic and stuff just gets left out and so we hope that the volunteers put everything back into the rightful owners bag!

After having this stressful part of the race over with, we checked into the hotel and then headed back for the free Carbo Load Dinner that the town was putting on for the racers. Grants is not very big, in fact, not alot is going on this town but everyone seems to be involved some way or another in the biggest event of the year. The High School students were the ones serving the pasta dinner and they were great, a nice group of kids.

We were back to the hotel by 7:00 and watched the weather channel nonstop for the next couple of hours, still trying to figure out what to wear in the morning!

Thursday: Swim

Swim: 1:00 3000 meters. 4:15pm-5:15pm

Since yesterday was a full on rest day I needed to do something today. I didn't get to bed until late last night as I was packing for the Quad. Way too much gear to figure out for one race! I decided to sleep in and try and find a pool that I could swim at after work.

Work was good, just very hectic as our office mgr. was out. I got out of the office early enough to run a couple of quick errands and hit the pool by 4pm. I went to Green Mountain as I knew they had 4 lanes available for lap swimming...much to my surprise, they had 6 lanes and only 3 of us in the pool. Just as nice as 5:00am!! I had a good 1 hour workout and then back home to finish packing and getting the house picked up.

We leave for Grants, NM tomorrow morning about 8:00am. Talked to Andy this evening and he said he was getting a head cold. Bummer, I know I will probably end up with it just hope it's well after the race on Saturday. I don't have any other races that I want to do or was planning on doing until the middle of March and that is just a swim race if I even decide to do it.

Tuesday: Swim

Swim: :55 2700 Meters. 5:10am-6:05
500 W/Up
10x75 Pull on 1:20
100K
6x75 Fr/ba-br/Fr on 1:30
100K
6x75 Fr. on 1:20
100K-200 cooldown


No matter how much I hate getting up at 4:00am to be to the pool by 5:00 I feel so much better afterward. I just love swimming in the morning when no one else is in the pool. I feel great knowing that by 6:00am I have finished one workout for the day!

Got a call from my Dr. today about my foot x-ray. It is confirmed that I have a heel spur and was given a few stretches and other instructions over the phone. No bare feet for a few weeks, not even in the middle of the night, ice it 3 x's a day and do my calf/Achilles stretches 3 times a day. She said it would go away on it's own if I am very diligent about my rehab. So, after work I am headed to the shoe store to pick up some good shoes for the house. I have read that Birkenstocks have great support and those will be easy to put on and take off while at home.Worked a full day, Dr. Spencer mentioned that one of our hygienists Joanne was planning on retiring sometime this summer and he asked if I would take over her Wed....of course I said yes. I have been working in Idaho Springs for a few years but would like to get back to Denver another day of the week. Idaho Springs has been great but I need a change right now.

Monday; Rest Day

Today was an all out rest day and boy did I need it. Got some good sleep, e-mailed my physician first thing this morning about getting a bone scan on my left heel. She asked for an x-ray first so I drove down to Denver this morning for one and I should get the results tomorrow. The x-ray should tell me if I have a bone spur or not. My foot still has a dull ache to it so I am hoping it is nothing serious and I am able to do my race this Saturday.

Got off of work a little early, Andy had dinner made and we sat and watched a couple of episodes of Lost...it's getting really good (not like it wasn't' before!).

I am up early tomorrow for a swim, off to work and then nothing planned for the afternoon:)

Green Mountain, what I hiked and Andy ran today.

Hike: :45min.
Swim: 1:00 3000 yards.
600 w/up
4x50 work on stroke
500 Pull
400 Swim
300 Back/Breast
200 Fast (2:41)
100 K
8x75 on 1:15-1:30
100 cooldown.

This morning we slept in again, this time until 8:00am. Pretty unusual for us but we didn't get to bed until about midnight. We stayed up late last night watching "Ghandi". I can't believe neither one of us had seen it, what a great movie. It was quite long and it actually had an intermission half way thru!

After doing a few things around the house we headed down the hill so Andy could run at Green Mt. I decided to do a little hike and take a few pics of the day. Andy wanted to run about 1:10 and I hiked about :45 min. or so. The weather was actually much nicer than forcasted, a little cloud cover but virtually no wind and temps in the low40's.I was a little bummed that I couldn't run as the weather was perfect for it, however, no running for me for a few weeks until I can get my heel figured out. It was bothering me after today's hike so I know it was a good decision to take some time off. Oh well, I figured I would be able to get in a good workout in the pool as soon as Andy finished up his run.

Me hiking on Green Mountain...

My hike up the Zorro trail, overlooking redrocks

We drove over to Carmody pool for a long swim....or so I thought. I got in the water and felt like I hadn't swum in over a year. My arms were tired, my legs were tired, I was tired and I had no oomph! I was hoping to get in at least a 4k but it was all I could do to finish a 3k. I looked over at Andy has he was literally hanging on the side of the pool and asked him if he felt as bad as I did. He said he hadn't felt this bad in the water in years. We both came to the conclusion it was due to our long days of working out the past 3 days finally catching up to us. We both got in some good yardage but couldn't wait to get out of the water and get some food in us.

We went straight out for burgers, something I crave after hard workouts....not like todays' workout was all that hard physically but it was tough just getting thru it! A little shopping afterwards and then home to just chill out. Plan to watch another movie, possibly "Lawerence of Arabia". Have never seen that one either.

Saturday: Ride

Ride: 3:05 46miles. road bike. 53*

The start of the ride...

Slept in today which I think was about 7:30am....finally had a good night sleep. We have plans to meet in Morrison for a long bike ride. Andy is meeting up with some guys and I was planning on riding on my own. I am in no shape to be trying to hang on with the big boys.

We started our ride about 10:15am and it was 8 guys and me. They said they were riding easy and talked me into going with them. Well, I hung on for about :40 min. and then I told them not to wait for me anymore. I figured since we were doing an out and back I would just turn around on their return. That worked out great. They decided to ride up Lookout Mountain, which I thought would be good for me as well. We took different routes to get to the base of Lookout and I was surprised to see that we got there at the exact same time. I was able to snap a few pictures as they were approaching the climb.

I actually felt pretty good going up Lookout. It usually takes me about :32 min. and I think today I did it in about :37 so I was happy with that since it was only Feb. and we rode long yesterday. I averaged between 7 and 9 mph. It was a little breezy but relatively warm when we started out but 2 hours into the ride the clouds had rolled in, the sun was gone, the wind picked up and the temperature dropped. I had a fairly long descent back to the car so I stopped and put on all my extra clothing. All I could think about at this point was food and hot tub!
Here are a few pics of the day.

Annie on the hog back.

The Genesee Exit view looking west.

Andy at the end of a great ride.

Friday: Swim/Ride

Swim: 1:15 4,000 yards. 7:25-8:40am
600 w/up. 8x50's stroke work. 2x[500 pull/400Swim/300 BA/BR/200 Fast (2:40)/100K

Ride: 3:45 53 miles. Mtn. bike. Big Bike Path loop. 11:45am-4:00pm

Today was a great day. I got up early for my swim at Evergreen Rec. Center. It was a little crowded but was happy that I got to do my entire workout. I had to share a lane with 2 other guys that were not really swimmers....I think I passed them every 50!

I had a chiropractor appt. with Dr. Katy today to have her check out my heel. I have now been told I have a heel spur, bursitis and bone bruise. Dr. Katy recommended that I don't run for a few weeks to let things heal up, along with ice, new orthotics, Advil and Bromelain. I may try to do a hike this weekend but I have a feeling it won't feel all that great. Dr. Katy says a bone scan would tell me if I have a stress fracture, something she says I might get if I continue to run. Better to rest now then later in the season. I will try to get in for a bone scan this week if my physician will allow me to have one.

After the appt. Andy and I headed down to Morrison to do one of our easy bike path loops. We decided on the Mt. bikes due to possible gravel/ice/snow on the bike path. Good choice as we did have some sketchy parts. It was a beautiful day despite the wind. Starting in Morrison we headed north thru Golden, with a slight cross wind. From Golden we headed East on Clear Creek bike path with a wonderful tailwind, south to REI for a quick coffee and pastry. Makes the ride that much more enjoyable when one has a destination, on this loop ours is always the Starbucks at REI! Continued south on the Platte River trail to Bear Creek Bike Path. By this time the wind had died down a little but we still had a slight headwind going thru Bear Creek Park. Finished up in 3:45....not too bad for early season.

What a day....packed up the bikes and headed home to the hot tub. Neither one of us was in the mood (or had the energy) to cook so we went downtown (Evergreen) and tried out a new restaurant, "Bistro Blue Mexican Cuisine". It was pretty good and not too terribly expensive. It's nice to have another choice to eat up here, we are so limited in good restaurants.

Thursday: Run/Ride

Run: :50min. 5:50am-6:40am
Bike: 1:30 3:45-5:15pm


Another early day, loaded up the bike for my afternoon ride and got down to Denver to run 2 loops at Wash Park by 5:50am. Wore my new orthotics and they felt great. I was getting a little twinge just under my left knee cap but it never really bothered me or hurt. My heel was feeling good, I like the cushion of the new orthotic. I can't believe I was able to run in them the first day out. I also wore them all day at work in a different pair of running shoes with no problems, they were quiet comfortable.

Got out of the office at 3:00pm and drove to Matthews Winter parking lot. On the mountain bike by 3:45 and temp was 65*. I Rode up Hwy 40 to the first Lookout Mtn. exit and then rode over Grapevine, down the canyon and up the C470 frontage road and hogback back to the car. It was starting to get chilly as the sun was behind clouds and the foothills. The temp said "58 degree's" but it felt more like 45*. Felt okay on the bike, nothing too fast, legs still a little tired, hoping they feel better for our long ride tomorrow.

Had dinner with Lara at Wildflower Cafe for Sushi tonight. Hadn't seen her in a while and we discussed the Quad next weekend. I know she will have a great race, she is so stinking fit right now, no matter what she says. Andy was at work today so he missed a good dinner.

I got my blood work results back, very interesting, will post the results soon. Some of the things I thought I was sensitive to were confirmed with a few others in there that I was surprised to see. I made an appt. with my acupuncturist in 2 weeks so he can go over my results with me to see what I need to do next.

Tomorrow I plan for a swim/Chiro appt. and a long bike ride.

Wednesday-Swim

Swim: :35min. 1750 yds.
400 w/up
10x75 on 1:15 (I had :13-15 sec. rest)
Mix of swim/kick/pull easy.

Today I got up later than I had anticipated. I wanted to get to the pool by 5:45am but when I woke up at 5:00am I was way too tired. I didn't have a good nights sleep, tossed and turned most of the night. My legs and stomach were doing a number on me. I did put some ointment on the legs hoping it would help them recover....not so sure as they are still sore tonight. I think it was the massage and all the stuff it released into my lymph system that got my stomach feeling weird
Anyway, I slept until 6:45am and as I was leaving for work at 7:15 my boss called and said my first patient canceled. Yippee!!! I booked it over to the pool to get my workout it. I only had time for :35 min. but it was still good enough to get the blood moving.

Saw Shawn today at Xtreme Footwerks and received my new orthotics. They seem to feel pretty good, I will have a few days where I need to break them in but hoping they help with my heel pain. I did get a lift for the left shoe as my left leg is shorter than my right. I had him make me an extra one as I move the orthotics from different shoes.

It was a beautiful day....Andy had a nice ride home however, he rode early so it was still on the cool side when he was coming up the canyon. I heard it got to 70 degrees in Denver today. Tomorrow is supposed to be just as nice so I am hoping to go for a ride after I get off of work. The sun is setting a little later so hopefully I can get in about 2 hours.

Tuesday-Run/Massage

Run: :50min. Wash Park, 5:45am
Massage: 1:45

Was planning on getting up and running at least an hour but somehow I managed to get out of the house a little later than I had hoped for. The temp. for Denver said 42*, which I thought was pretty nice since it was 28* up here. Once I was down in town the temp in the car was reading 31*, much colder than I had anticipated so I was happy I threw in some extra clothes just in case.

My run was good, easy warm-up for about 15 min. and then I did some faster paced stuff, 10 min. at first, then dropped to 5 min. and then did a few pick-ups. My legs were so sore before I started today so I really struggled. I have scheduled myself a massage in the afternoon and I can not wait.

Went to see Kelly, one of my massage therapists, she is great...not too deep (which I really needed) but glad she didn't go there as I don't think I could have handled it today. I almost fell asleep on the table. I had scheduled a hour and a half and she worked on me for 1:45...very nice.

She is working in a Chiropractic office and I am planning on trying out the new Chiropractor. She seems really nice and Kelly said she was good. I need to have someone take a look at the bursitis/heel spur on my left heel. Bothers me after my runs and it's keeping me from running 2 days in a row. Hopefully she can help me out. Have the appt. on Friday.

Quiet night at home, watch a little "Lost" and then head to bed early. Andy rode his bike down to work today so will look forward to hearing how the ride was. He can sure handle the cold better than I can.

Monday..Swim

Swim: 1 Hour, 3000 yrds. 10:15am.
300 w/up.
10x50's fast but low stroke count, 10 sec. rest.
8x250 Pull (on the 4:00/:15 rest)
4x25 hypoxic (no breathing) :10 sec. rest/made the 1st. one.

Today was a swim day, slept in until 7:30am, got a few things done around the house, made an appt. for a massage for tomorrow and headed out to Evergreen Rec. at 10:00am. My shoulders and legs were both pretty well trashed from the weekend so I opted for a swim workout that worked less of my legs as I am planning on running long tomorrow morning.

The workout went well, started to get a little bored with the 250's but I do love to pull.

The rest of the day was non-eventful, went to work and home by 7pm. Andy had a good day today as well, got in a long swim and a long run at Wash Park...the old neighborhood.

Super Bowl Sunday -Ride

Me riding up Kerr Gulch...when I was still warm!

Ride: 2:20
40*, sunny, windy, rode Kerr Gulch/Soda Creek 2pm-4:30pm.


Today was a beautiful day and quite unexpected. The forecast was for cloudy, cold and chance of snow. Instead we had clear blue skies, not a trace of snow and the temps were in the low 40's, however, with that sun it sure seemed warmer.

I was feeling pretty beat up from yesterdays' workouts and I was debating on what I was going to do this afternoon. Andy had to work today so I was on my own. I thought about just getting on the bike trainer for a couple of hours and watching a movie however, I wanted to hit the hot tub first to loosen up my muscles. Once I was outside I was instantly motivated to enjoy the sunshine by getting on my bike outdoors instead of indoors. I sat in the tub for about :15 min. and then got dressed in a hurry so I could be out the door by 2:00pm. I wanted to ride for about 2 hours and I knew the sun starts to go down behind the mountains about 4:00pm to where it gets cold very fast and daylight runs out at 5:30pm.

The temp when I started was 43 degrees and quite windy. The sun was beating down pretty good which kept me warm especially since I started out with a nice long climb up Kerr Gulch. My route then took me down Hwy. 40 over to Soda Creek and finishing down Squaw pass, thru Elk Meadow and then to our neighborhood. By about 1:30 into the ride I was starting to bonk and getting a little cold. I needed food and I needed it fast. I quickly ate a bar and instantly felt better. Back on the bike I was trying to think of the fastest way home...there is only one way home from where I was at but I wanted to be there now and I knew most of it was downhill. I had been thinking how much climbing I had already been doing and was looking forward to some downhill riding...or so I thought. At 37 degrees going downhill gets me REALLY cold REALLY fast! My hands and feet were the first to go. I was wearing 2 pairs of gloves (put a shell on these for the last :20 but it didn't help), toe covers, waterproof/windproof socks and smart wool socks, undershirt, jersey, vest, armwarmers, jacket and 2 pairs of knickers. My chest and legs were nice and toasty but I was freezing at the ends~

I didn't see any other riders out there, I am thinking they were either smart enough to ride indoors or take the day off to watch the game. I was able to stop and take a few pics and I was also on the lookout for elk. Living in Evergreen one doesn't have to travel very far to find them! I found 3 herds of them, one small group of about 8 in Soda Creek and then 2 large herds in Elk Meadow.

I am happy that I got out today and rode but next time I will rethink the riding at 40 degrees, or at least limit myself to an hour and a half. The temp. was 37 degrees when I finished and it took me less than 5 min. to strip and hit the hot tub and another 10 min. before the feeling came back to the fingers and toes. Ahhhh..

The view to the west at one of the high points in Soda Creek neighborhood.

One of the large herds of Elk in "Elk Meadow"....appropriately named.

Soda Creek Neighborhood, looking East.