Winning it Grande Fondo Style!

This past weekend marked the most beautiful ride and race I have ever embarked upon...now, that says a ton!  It was a relatively last minute decision to head over to Moab to race the Grande Fondo Moab, but with the excellent reviews I had received it seemed like a great way to get some extra fitness in.  Sixty two miles and 5,500 feet of climbing-PERFECT!
It did prove to be a perfect day.
The mass start of 500+ riders including some excellent Pro-men, meant that the pace would be fast as we cruised out the Colorado River Road, heading for the ominous climbs in the La Sal's.  How fun was it to be rotating at the front of this massive group with the likes of some these haunches.  I think they were a bit surprised to see a woman edging her way in, but what the heck.  Once we turned right towards the mountains it was, game on!  The climbing started and didn't stop for another 30 miles.
I took the Queen of the Mountain points, and the played the conservative card on the steep decent-getting dropped by some of the men, but not too worried.
It was an excellent hard effort, and was topped off by a super fun post event party.
On the way home to Durango, we couldn't help but swing into Canyon Lands for a quick hike.
Up next:  Racing with the Naked Tribella teammates in Boulder!-next weekend.
A most perfect day!-Grande Fondo style.

A win is a win!

As I preach to my own athletes, "A win is a win, no matter what!".  I experienced this feeling this past weekend as I took the women's title in the local Durango Squawker Classic Road Race.  Despite the absence of a large "pro" field, there were several very strong women that made me have to earn and work for the win-never allowing me to let off the gas completely.
 The road race circled the beautiful Fort Lewis College campus many times and made the group have to climb the local beast of a hill-"the front college hill" complete with two gnarly twenty-plus percent grades several times before the finish.  The day could not have been more spectacular with our stunning Colorado blue skies and almost perfect 75 degree temperatures.  The perfect backdrop to this race was complete with loads of friendly fans lining the streets cheering the riders on.  Is this what Alp Duez feels like?
The last month and a half I have spent at home here really getting my "bike legs" back from an almost year long hiatus, training hard in the high altitude climbs with the amazing riders that Durango hosts.  It has paid off, as I finally feel lean, sharp and snappy again!  My next event is the coveted
Iron Horse Bicycle Classic race that will ascend to over 11,000 feet before dropping us into the small mining town of Silverton, CO.   The plan is to train hard for that and then use those bike legs to then power me into the multi-sport racing the rest of the summer and fall.  So far all things are perfectly on track.  Thanks also to my teammates on the Naked Tri-bella team who are busy up on the front range grabbing more cycling points-so glad to be involved.
The most important aspect of all of this...is once again I can truly say "I love this!".

 Bike love is back. 

Xterra Trail Win-Mcdowell Mountain

The star's seemed to align again for me on Sunday when I went on to take my second win of the 2012 season.  Rather though, Sunday's race was a testament of not only a solid winter training plan, but perhaps more importantly a fantastic mental zone that I've found myself in over the last several months.
Wanting to make "peace" with the winter, I opted to not spend a huge chunk of time down in Arizona this year, but instead committed to making several shorter trips down, basing  them around  races, the 15 mile Xterra Mcdowell Mountain race being one of them.
After the win at White Tanks I knew that I had some very good early season fitness and  knowing that the Mcdowell race didn't have nearly the elevation gain, it seemed like the obvious second race for the season.  "Testing the engines" as I call it, the week before a race when I complete my last speed session, and seeing where I'm at in terms of effort-I knew things were looking good-all engines were a go.  The only hesitation I had was the distance of the race.  Fifteen miles although only a couple more than 13-can be a make or a break.  I also knew that due to the more rolling nature of the course that it would be a very fast course and the limiting factor would be my leg speed.
Considering all of these factors, my race plan looked similar to the last, and considering that another outstanding professional runner was on the line, Keri Nelson, from Moab-I knew that I had to go out hard at the beginning, establish my place and then hope to settle into a decent pace that would deliver me to the last couple of miles without too much fatigue.  So the plan was executed and found myself at mile two with the second small pack of male runners, with no other women close by.  The pace was very fast, and the distance of the race kept reminding me to be very mindful of my effort level-the last thing I wanted was to blow up at mile ten, so I decided to back off just a little and around mile three settled into what I felt was a swift but steady pace.  The course terrain, surprised me as it was much more rolling than I had originally anticipated, so again I play my conservative card.  The most challenging aspect of the race, was the six mile down hill to the finish, although a bit of a reprieve on the lungs, every ounce of that reprieve and then some gets shoved back into pounding on the legs.   Unlike a bicycle course, which I am more accustomed to, a down hill to a runner can be often much more daunting and challenging than a climb.   I embraced the mile 14 sign, took one final glance behind me and motored it into the finish, completely grateful that I didn't need to accelerate, or sprint to the line.  
I celebrated the win with half-hearted attempt at watching the superbowl with family (just not a football fan) and then REALLY celebrated with a four day post-race vacation to
Sedona.  Now back home to Colorado....

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