Website Update 5th May 2008

Since the last update I raced Florida 70.3 and finished in fourth position. A result I was very satisfied with. I have written a race report for you all to read.

It took us about 4 days to track down a car that was within the budget and seemed, on the outside, semi-reliable. You never really know though until you have driven it for an extended period of time and we handed over the money with our fingers crossed.

We are now the proud owners of a ’92 Burgundy Toyota 4Runner – not exactly the fuel miser Subaru we were after, but something we can fit a lot of stuff in. We looked at a Volvo and Subaru as well, but they just didn’t seem the right choices at the time.

The Americans are up in arms about the price of fuel over here at present; it is just under $4 a gallon in most states. This equates to about $1.10 per litre in Aussie dollars. I guess it is all relative – I was paying less than $2 per gallon to fuel my scooter when I first came to Boulder in 2003. We won’t be cringing when we fill the tank of our “SUV”.

Our apartment is part of a complex that has a number of separate apartment blocks, each with 12 apartments and three levels. We noticed that there was significant damage to the top floor of one of the units when we first arrived.

We later learnt a fire, which broke out on the balcony of one of the units, was responsible for the damage. It seems that a gas grill (ie BBQ) may have been the culprit. You know how it goes, student has a party, everyone gets loaded and forgets that the grill is still alive and dangerous.

The gas grill has since been banned in this complex. We really enjoy grilling, and have purchased an electric grill for the job – it is just not the same unfortunately.

Raija was nervous about the possibility of being trapped on our second floor apartment if a fire broke out in our block. She insisted we buy a rope to hang from the balcony so we have an alternative escape route. It is still lying coiled up on the floor of our lounge room. I hope I can tie a decent knot under pressure.

We had some issues with noise pollution in our first week here. We have some students living directly above us and they were clearly oblivious to the fact that the apartment below them was now occupied after a long period of being tenantless.

On our third night in, we were awoken by the vibration of the ceiling resonating as a result of the doof doof being played above us. I was a little bit unhappy about the situation, but Raija was livid. I sent her upstairs to sort the culprits out. She returned triumphant and we didn’t have further issues that night. However, a few days later the same situation arose and we both confronted the culprit on this occasion. We were having reservations about having organising accommodation prior to our arrival at this juncture. “Our little friend” tried to deny the fact that he had any music on – we didn’t have any more issues that night though, and haven’t since. I think he and his flatmate have got the message.

We have a decent relationship with our upstairs neighbours now - probably due to the occurrence of the second incident involving both parties.

We were lying in bed one evening and heard some splashing noise emanating from our ensuite bathroom. I thought it was the lever that directed the water flow from the bath outlet to the shower rose releasing and letting water that was stuck in the pipe out, and, thought nothing of it. Raija was more concerned and got up to investigate the situation. Water was pouring from a hole in the ceiling into our bath and splashing all over the floor. We could hear the shower running in the unit above and put two and two together. There was obviously a leak in the shower plumbing of the upstairs apartment’s ensuite shower.

It took us a bit of time to alert our neighbour to the situation that evening (he couldn’t hear us banging on the door for obvious reasons) and although the repairs have not taken place yet (it has been over a month) the lads above have refrained from using that shower since. We obviously informed our landlord of the situation, but his attempts to contact the owners of the above unit have proved futile. I spoke to one of the lads today and he is speaking to his landlord about it in the near future. We really hope it is sorted out directly! (They are here right now tackling the problem)

Our unit has a balcony and a storage room as part of the same structure. When we first arrived we noticed in our apartment reconnaissance that the storage door was open and there was pigeon poo everywhere. On closer inspection, we noticed that there was a mummy pigeon sitting on two eggs.

We didn’t have the heart to turf the expectant mum out, so we (or Raija more specifically) took the items out of the storage room, cleaned them all up, found an alternative storage facility and left mum and eggs as lone custodians of their incubation chamber.

About a month passed before the chicks hatched and we were curious observers of their development.

When we returned from Florida, we had another surprise in store for us. The storage room was not only an incubation chamber, but had become, it seemed, a den of disrepute. There were now two hatched chicks and two other mummy pigeons sitting on eggs in the chamber, with at least 4 other pigeons hanging around and making a nuisance of themselves. We assumed the hangers on were daddy pigeons and possibly Uncle John and Aunty Nancy (we are not sure how close knit this family is - they could have been potential daddy pigeons too – the dirty little #$%^).

We decided to investigate the breeding habits of the much maligned (as we have now found out) pigeon. When we learnt that it was possible for mating pairs to produce up to three broods per season, it was decided that action needed to be taken to prevent our storage room and balcony from becoming a guano resource in the near future.

With heavy hearts we shooed out the mums and put the nests and eggs on the balcony. Fortunately, the original chicks had matured enough to fly and look after themselves. There were a couple of hairy moments though when they took their first flight from balcony to adjacent roof.

We (or should I say, Raija) then cleaned up the poop again and shut the door to the den of disrepute for good. Originally we were hopeful the mums would return to sit on the nest and eggs we placed on the balcony, but they didn’t, and, in hindsight we were happy they didn’t. We now have our balcony and storage room back.

We commenced hard training as soon as we got ourselves organised with respect to car etc. The weather was very up and down, and, from all reports, a little unusual for Boulder at that time of the year. It was snowing some days and in the mid twenties on others.

Despite this, I was able to get the necessary training done to prepare reasonably well for the Florida 70.3 race.
Our training base is the Flatirons Athletic Club, and most of the international athletes training in Boulder use this facility. It has a 25m outdoor pool, when all the other pools in town are 25 yards (except for one 50m pool that is only open from May 26 – Aug 19) a great gymnasium and reduced joining fees for elite athletes. It is definitely the most financially viable option of the available training facilities in town.

The FAC offers masters swimming sessions as part of the joining fee, and one of the squad leaders is none other than the legend of triathlon himself – Dave Scott. A somewhat charming and enigmatic individual, he is hard to nail down for any length of time. I guess he has his fingers in many pies, and, as a busy man, this is to be expected. I really like and respect the guy – he has been very helpful and encouraging when it has come to my athletic pursuits.

I have also run into my mate Simon Lessing as well. I trained a lot with Simon in the lead up to Hawaii in 2005, unfortunately I got injured at the death and couldn’t race. I always felt privileged being the sole training partner of one of the best athletes in the world. I have since learnt through my coaching experience that it is better to do a training program based on your own unique characteristics. I was basically doing Simon’s training everyday, and although it got me very fit at the time, it probably wasn’t optimal for me and my goals.

Craig Alexander has returned to train in Boulder and we were happy to be on the same flight as Craig, Nerida and Lucy on our return to Boulder from Orlando. Craig had some very interesting things to say about the challenges of racing as an elite triathlete. I first met Craig when training on the Gold Coast and have been friendly with him ever since. He is a talented, hard training athlete and his success in the last few years has been testament to this.

A typical training day has been a swim at the Club followed by a gym session, a run at the reservoir (a lot of runners run at the “res” as it has a soft running surface and there are many undulating trails in the vicinity) and then an easy ride on the plains just adjacent to the Rockies or an ergo session in the comfort of the lounge room.
Weekends have been reserved for the longer sessions, with a ride in the mountains on the program if the weather permits. I love riding in the mountains – it is unique – 60-90 min climbs up to 9000 feet of elevation. It can only be good for your race day performance. The long ride has almost always included a climb up Devils Gulch, which is the crescendo of the climb up Hwy 34 from Carter Lake to Estes Park.

I first did this climb with Josh Nottle, when we had a stint training in Fort Collins (a town about 60mins drive North of Boulder) back in 1999. We were somewhat aghast when we first encountered it as it was much steeper than the hour or so of climbing that preceded it.

It is a 10 minute grind in 39x23 and, as it is at the end of the climb, it is done on tired legs.
Other great climbs are Lyons to Ward, up St Vrain Canyon and Boulder to Ward up Left Hand Canyon, both 60 plus minute climbs.

I had problems with my breathing in the lead up the Florida 70.3, it got progressively worse over the three weeks leading up to the race. It reached somewhat of a crescendo in the final week prior to the race, but as the majority of the work had been done it wasn’t an issue at the time. I think it was either due to training in the cold, dry air after coming from the relatively mild and humid Perth environment or an allergen that I am unfamiliar with here. The same thing happened when I first arrived last time I visited Boulder two years ago.
The few days in the humid environment of Orlando settled my airway down and I was able to race without restriction.

Unfortunately, on return to Boulder, the breathing problems have returned with a vengeance, and I have been unable to train properly for the last 2 weeks, when I was supposed to be performing a block of Ironman training in preparation for IM Coeur d’Alene on the 22nd of June.

Last Monday, the 26th, I visited the hospital to see a doctor and get some medication to settle my irritated airway down. There was a mistake, I am assuming, with the prescriptions, as the doctor said he was going to prescribe a corticosteroid to alleviate the inflammation, but he never did. I was given prescriptions for two broncho-dilators instead. I wasn’t aware of this at the time and when my symptoms didn’t improve after a week, I investigated the drugs I was actually given.

In disgust, I went back to the doctor to get the prescription for the corticosteroid he originally said he was going to prescribe. I have taken three puffs over a day of the becotide inhaler I was prescribed, and my symptoms have alleviated to the stage where I can get some decent training done.

It has meant I have missed a weeks training because of the oversight – not happy Jan!
It looks as though the Kansas 70.3 I am competing in on the 15th of June is going to turn into a training race and IM Coeur d’Alene the week later may turn out to be the same.

I plan on racing IM Lake Placid now, on July 20th, and it looks like this will be the race I target for a great result.
Take care all.