Utah State Road Biker

So here we are, a full two weeks after this race and I am Finally getting around to writing a recap.  I know this has absolutely nothing to do with cycling, but I sometimes run too... As many of you know, I am planning on racing Ironman St George next May... in fact look at the top of this page and you will see a countdown to Ironman St George.  To prepare myself for this event, I decided that running a marathon would be a good thing to do to see how my body could handle such a long distance.  I signed up for the Provo City Marathon , then took a week or two off to let my legs recover from overworking them in January.  I decided to bump down to the half marathon hoping that I could knock out a 1:45:00 smashing my best time of 1:53:18 by over eight minutes.  Then I hired a coach.  Lora has shown me a lot of the ins and outs of training smarter.  One of those things is training at or just below lactate threshold, which is the point when lactic acid starts to build in the mu

I love to ride my bike... obviously as I have decided to take on all the highways in our state.  Sometimes, life makes this love affair more difficult than I would like it to be.  Saturday before last, I rode SR-167 and SR-226.  I finished my regular work shift (seven days of ten hour graveyard shifts) on Wednesday and was back to work Thursday and Friday morning to cover shifts at Salt Lake Clinic's lab (I actually did do 22 miles on Thursday, cause, ya know... we make time for what we love).  Kathy Jo was planning on running Strider's WRC 30k that Saturday so we decided to stay at the Red Moose Lodge in Eden for the weekend.  I had made plans to volunteer at the Legacy Duathlon that same morning, so I would not be able to see K Jo race.  Friday, I got off work, drove home, packed, drove to Bountiful for my coach's gear sale, went to dinner at wingers, then drove to the hotel arriving around 7:30.  I was exhausted, cold I had to get up early and I was cranky so I didn&

It's been over a week, I suppose I should get around to recapping this ride .  I was not happy when I looked at the forecast for the weekend... high 30s to low 40s with a chance of snow showers... ugh...  My riding buddy, Dave had been contemplating doing this ride for some time, then backed out  when he saw the forecast... I was optimistic.  Friday rolled around and I drove ever so cautiously to the Gateway to pick up my packet while snowflakes the size of half-dollars (remember those) pelted my car.  I said to myself, "if it is like this tomorrow morning, I am NOT riding."  I walked into Jason's deli and chatted with Matt and Robyn, (husband and wife, co-organizers of the ride and fellow churchgoers) while they gave me my packet.  I exited the restaurant and the snow had stopped which gave me hope.  When I got home, I got all of my clothes ready, set them next to my bed and packed a bag with post-ride clothing for the train ride back to SLC.  I went to bed and woke

WOW Okay, here it is, March 18th and I have still not reported my stats for the month of February.  So, here we go.  My goal for the month was to cycle 225 miles, run 35 miles and swim 5 km.  This was a pretty lean month.  I ended up riding 180.1 miles, running 22.15 miles, and I only swam 1 km.  Now that all of THAT unpleasantness is out of the way, on to other things.  Remember here in my race schedule I wrote about the Zion Early Spring?  Well, WAY back on February 26th, K Jo and I made our way down to St George.  She was planning on running the Dog Town Half Marathon, I was to ride.  I called a buddy of mine a few days earlier to talk about our upcoming ride and he informed me that he would probably not make it down, scared off by the weather forecast... temps in the 40s, rain and snow... c.r.a.p... I already paid $47 for the ride and I already paid for the hotel... Well, at least we can get away to St George for the weekend.  We arrived in St George and the weather was not too b

So remember how I said I needed a break?  Well, I decided to extend our break.  It is so sunny and warm here in St George that I couldn't bring myself to go back to Salt Lake, so here I am early Sunday morning writing from the business center of the Crystal Inn in St George.  Oh... and remember how I said I was going to run a portion of the Ironman St George run course... yeah that didn't happen either.  I woke up and got ready to run and my legs were SO achy.  Not really sore, just achy.  I don't know what it is but it is very frustrating.  I think I landed wrong snowboarding or something because they just hurt.  So I decided to take a few days off of running and scale back my distances, which will most likely mean I will be doing the half marathon distance in May instead of the marathon distance.  It's okay, there is another marathon in October that I have my eye on.  Anyway, because I did not run yesterday, I decided to see what other state roads are close to St Geor

I needed a break... So I booked two nights in St George... I had to get away from the cold and the smog and the snow... So here I am writing this blog post in the business center of the Windgate by Wyndham in St George while my wife is on the treadmill.  It was 65 and sunny today and it was AWESOME!  I was feeling pretty crappy and thought, "It has been nice and sunny in Salt Lake for nearly a week straight and I didn't get to enjoy it cause I had to sleep all day"...  Stupid graveyard shift...  I did get one AMAZING day of snowboarding before we came down here, but on the way up to Brighton I got called into work that afternoon which meant I wouldn't see K Jo all night which meant she was feeling pretty lonely which meant I had to go have lunch with her which meant cutting my snowboarding day short... It's okay, I'm going again on Monday.  Anyway, so we came down to St George and I thought since I am in St George, I might as well get a state road done.  I sho

So I have decided on a few races for the year.  Most of these I am pretty sure about doing, and though nothing has been set in stone, I don't think my schedule will change all that much.  SO! here we go... February 26th Zion Early Spring Century When the year started, I wasn't planning on participating in this event.  K Jo has a yearly goal of racing in at least four half marathons every year.  In accordance with that goal, she decided to to the Dog Town Half Marathon on Feb 26th.  One day, I commented on my facebook page that I was aching for a warm summer day to ride my bike and a guy I met at the Viva Bike Vegas commented that I should come down and do the Zion Early Spring Century.  K Jo was reading over my shoulder and told me that if I wanted to ride, I could... SOLD!  So, I am now registered and planning on riding.  This ride starts in St George, then winds its way through Washington, then heads South around Sand Hollow State Park where it turns North through Hurrica