Confidence boosters

So this last two days have been huge training days and big confidence boosters heading into Boulder Peak. Quick recap. Yesterday the crew went up to the pain cave to do an O2 workout on the trainers. The main part was 40/20's at 130-140% LT, which with O2 is about 15% higher than normal. In other words it was a gigantic test of strength and anaerobic capacity. 3x10 of the 40/20's and then an LT 5 minute at the end. Bottom line it was the hardest bike workout I have ever done! But that was just the beginning. In the evening we went to the Res to do the Stroke and stide 1500m swim, 5k run. I did it in a speed suit since that is what I will be wearing next week for the Peak and to get a feel for it. The swim is two loops and the first went well. Got out ahead and was getting comfortable, then you have to exit the water run the beach and dive back in. Problem was when I went to get out the inside of both my quads cramped...I was thinking it was going to be a long race. So the second lap I let the legs float and tried to loosen them up. After the second exit they were worse and by the time I got my shoes on I honestly stood there for about 15 sec trying to decide whether to run or not. But I decided to give it a go and believe it or not once the cramping subsided I felt awesome. Legs felt great and I was clipping along pretty easily. In the end I won the race, and someone told me I broke 17 min for the run, which considering the day was great effort. Hopefully next week goes as well.

Then today, Neal took a group of us for a long ride, up to Carter lake, up Big thompson canyon to Estes Park and then back through Lyons. In all the ride was just under 6 hours, one of the longer rides I have ever done, and a good bit of climbing. The legs were still sore from yesterday but managed to eat and drink enough to get home well.

In all it was a huge couple days of work, but a great sign for the upcoming races. My fitness is good, and my running seems to continue to improve. Hoping for a big race next week in front of the home crowd. Couple more tough days, a bit of rest and I will be ready to throw down.