This past weekend was fabulous in so many ways. Friday I rode home from work the long way with a friend and co-worker, Liam. I got back home and Travis had arrived. He is a friend we met in Tucson while racing this winter. He had stayed at the same host house as us. This time, he came to visit Boulder for a long weekend of training.
Friday evening was a typical night for us. We went for a short walk on the trails behind our house. We got our walk in right before it started raining hard. Hailing in fact. Then Kennett made our amazing salad for dinner and we watched a movie.
Saturday morning, and every other morning this weekend, we watched bike races while eating breakfast. Saturday and Sunday it was the Giro d’Italia. Monday it was the US Pro Nationals. Both were fun to watch because I am starting to learn the racers’ names and I’m able to decide who I want to cheer for. Saturday and Sunday it was Pozzovivo, an Italian climber. He weighs 117lbs so of course he is a climber! When I watch him climb he has so much energy. So now when I am out of the saddle I use him name as a mantra of sorts. You can repeat his name easily with your pedal strokes and then increase your pace slightly as you imagine climbing like he does. Apparently, after watching the US Pro Nationals today, the commentators call this “dancing” on the pedals. Not a fan of the language used, but definitely a fan of watching Pozzovivo climb.
Saturday we rode with some of Kennett’s friends. I hung on the first climb, completed the second by myself, and Kennett joined me for my third climb. At one point I showed Kennett how to properly climb while saying “Pozzovivo, Pozzovivo, Pozzovivo” repeatedly to match your cadence. I even tried attacking Kennett like Pozzovivo would have but a car was driving past at an inopportune time. When I turned around for the day, he continued up for several more hours.
Of course we all know that the best way to bring Kennett back from a ride is when food is being prepared in mass. We had two BBQs to attend that night. Congratulations to Brad and Ross for graduating and Happy Birthday to Geoff.
Sunday was more of the same. And by same, I mean awesome. I rode up another climb after watching our morning race streaming online. I was able to explore farther than I had gone before which was exciting. Then I turned around and did 7×3 minute efforts near our house. I didn’t do them as hard as normal; I just wanted to get my legs used to training. While my legs started off somewhat fatigued at the beginning of the day, by the end I had to force myself to stop doing 3-minute efforts. I just couldn’t get tired.
The other beautiful thing about Memorial Day Weekend in Boulder is the Boulder Creek Festival and its free food samples. Lydia and I tried to go in the afternoon yesterday and quickly got rained on. The boys, who were supposed to join us at the festival, picked me up reluctantly at Lydia’s. Kennett was particularly disappointed and this is why: last year Kennett and I went to the Creek Festival multiple times. Each time we went through the line for Morningstar burger samples twice. You end up with ¾ of a burger each time. I can’t eat burgers so every time we go through Kennett gets 1-½ burgers. Not including other amazing samples, Kennett walks away with at least 3 small veggie burgers any time we walk through the festival.
Instead, we raided Sprouts, our favorite grocery store and basically our second home, for BBQ and salad ingredients. In the evening we relaxed in front a movie called “Fruitvale Station.” I highly recommend if you need a movie night.
Today I went out to do intervals up Sunshine. I was going to do 3×20 minutes and Kennett was going to join me for the first one. He ended up motivating me through 4 intervals, which went terrific thanks to the extra encouragement. He stuck with me for two reasons:
- He coaches me and likes pushing me when he can.
- He wanted me to join him for the festival so he could get all the burgers he missed out on yesterday.
Of all the people in Boulder at the Creek Festival, the one person we recognized was Travis, who had ridden solo today. I hung out with him and helped him maneuver through the crowds to maximize his post-workout recovery sampling.
We came home and quickly started watching the end of the Men’s US Pro Nationals, which Kennett was supposed to be at this weekend. Unfortunately his shitty team bailed on being there or paying for the race at all, so he wisely backed out. Still, I wish I could have been screaming at him through the TV screen to cheer him on today. He would have done really well
Later we went to Lydia’s to have another BBQ, which she kindly hosted for us because her house is a better venue. I felt so lucky to have great friends, fun out of town guest Travis, and Lydia nearby. That is my sappy thought that I’ll leave you with for this post.
Be the Beast Triathlon Coaching 