Colorado = Heaven

Spent the last 5 days in Colorado for Conor's cousin, Kevin's wedding. Before I get into the specifics of training, let me just say that Colorado is about as close to heaven as it gets for me (so far). We've been to CO many times to ski and have spent some time in Denver as well. But the mountains in the fall were absolutely incredible. A couple more weeks and I think everything would have been yellow - breathtaking I'm sure.

While in CO, we spent our time in Avon near Beaver Creek ski resort. Our hotel had a great outdoor lap pool - overlooking the mountains. That sure does beat the YMCA!

Training:

Thursday:
Swim: ~1000 yards - this was TOUGH - the breathing is very difficult at that altitude and I noticed it most in the water. Basically broke this up into 4 X 250 with some rests in the middle to regain my breath. But check out the views - for real?
Hike: ~7 miles - Kevin lead Conor, Evan, Stacey and I on a trail through Beaver Creek to Beaver Lake. The hike was challenging, with quite a bit of steep uphill walking. It was a nice alternative to a run though.




Friday:
Run: ~5.5 miles, 60 minutes. Conor and I ran through Avon, East towards Vail. The run seemed pretty challenging - I was having a hard time breathing even though we were going pretty slow. Once we got to the half way point and turned around I saw that we had been running up a slight hill the entire 1st half - no wonder I was winded. The altitude didn't help either.
We spent the rest of Friday afternoon on a funyaking trip on the Colorado river. We had a group of 18 people - lots of fun and beautiful scenery!

Saturday:
Rest day - easy cruiser ride with Stacey, Katie, Cathy and Kristen. We rode about 8 miles total - from Avon to Edwards and back. It was relaxing and nice way to spend some time with the girls. Plus I was nursing a hangover from the night before - rehearsal dinner and karoke at Paddy's post dinner were lots of fun! Maybe too much fun! Thank god for Advil and big glasses of water!

Sunday:
Run - I got up early and went out for a jog on my own. This time I went West from Avon towards Edwards on the trail we rode the cruisers on Saturday. It was challenging - rolling hills on the trail, and again, I was winded the entire way. But I ended up running 48 minutes total and felt good at the end. The trail is incredible - it follows a gorgeous river the entire way and is shaded by lots of trees. I am envious of the folks who live in these small mountain towns with access to this kind of recreation right out their back doors! It's visits like this one that make both Conor and I want to move West.

Head back to work tomorrow and hope this nice weather will stick around for some riding in BC this week.