​I woke up early and got ready for my big race. I carefully placed my numbers on my arms and legs and braided my hair. Then Mike drove me to the race venue and dropped me off with my bike so I could get everything set up in the transition area. He then headed back to the hotel and grabbed the girls. I was fairly nervous for this race as I had never done this race format before and I just wanted to do well and qualify for the World Championships. Right before the race started I tried to stay cool and stood and stretched in the only shade I could find. The challenge for me today would be to not get overheated. I was amazed at how well the race went. I finished my first road duathlon at USA Multisport Nationals and placed 3rd in my age group and qualified for the World Championships in Spaid next year! It was so hot which posed some challenges I wasn’t expecting like cramping on the first run and calf cramps on the first 3 miles of the bike. Still, my first 10K run I averaged 7:24/mile for the 10K with my first 1.6 miles being a 6:24/mile avg pace. I just tried to hold something in the 7s after the cramping started. The 40K bike was my favorite part after I got over the initial shock of calf cramps that I had never before experienced. It was good I packed electrolyte tabs in my back pocket because those were a lifesaver. The second 5K run I averaged 7:09/mile with my first 1.5 miles being a 6:52/mile avg pace. I learned a lot from this race like what I am capable of with more targeted training with my running and biking. I think I may have found my new favorite race format! It was fun to be at Nationals with my family! It is not often that the kids get to watch me race. That was such a treat! I’m so grateful for Mike and the girls and my mom who cheered for me, my dad, brother and sister-in-law who all raced this week as well! We headed back to the hotel after the race and spent the rest of the afternoon at the pool eating hamburgers and enjoying some relaxation time!

There was a lot of running in the garden this month. I ran the typical workouts in the garden such as the garden tempo loop (clockwise and counter clockwise), Strausenback hill repeats, track like workouts in the lower dirt “track” and on the paved inner garden walking loop, and intervals on the paved section next to the ranch. I love running in the garden and never get tired of the amazing views. The workouts are usually pretty challenging and yet, I still get excited when our running group moves our location to the garden for the spring. I was a still able to get some biking in up in Denver and was able to ride with Mike on our normal route towards Garden of the Gods. I also put in a few runs off the bike workouts to get used to running after biking in preparation for my race next month. The new Tri suit and the vapor flies were key in feeling like I could fly!  

​I loved running at Garden of the Gods with the Sunrise Striders running group this month. We switched over to this location at the beginning of the month. The beauty of this place never ceases to amaze me. I took advantage of warmer days and started biking more this month. I tried to couple my temple days with biking up in Denver since the weather is usually a bit warmer up there. I continued to lift weights when I could but really focused on biking fast and running fast in preparation for the duathlon in June. I did a few runs off the bike to get used to that tired leg feeling. I even purchased a Tri suit for the race that I trained in. I also purchased some Nike Vaporfly shoes and started doing some short tempo training runs in them to get used to how they felt. Probably one of the scariest moments this month was when I was running in the Garden, and I tripped while running downhill on the outer trails. I tore my tights and cut my knee pretty good. It took quite a bit of time for that to heal fully. The lesson to be learned was to put my phone away when heading down. Sometimes it’s so hard to not take photos on the warm up, but after that spill, I have to be more careful and stop running when taking photos. Silly me!

​March is the month with some of the most diverse weather in Colorado. We had it all…sun, snow, blizzards, extreme cold and then warm enough to wear shorts. I ran with the Striders all month doing tempo runs at Bear Creek Park, track workouts at the CC track, and intervals at Prospect Lake and on the Santa Fe trail. I managed to get in a long run with Caryn and Emma one weekend and a snowy fun run after the big blizzard. The weather was warm enough at times to go outside and get in a ride on the bike. I tried coupling my temple days with bike rides after up in Denver as the weather was a tad warmer up there. I rode the Bear Lake loop a few times as I started to prepare for Duathlon Nationals in June. Of course, I kept lifting this month as much as I could, so I didn’t lost progress after finishing Mike’s 45-day weight lifting program. It was a solid month of training.

​I love running with the Striders in the winter months because it gives me a reason to keep running when it is cold outside. We did several standard winter runs this month including hill repeats and tempo runs at Bear Creek Park, intervals on the CC track, tempo runs and mile repeats on the Santa Fe trail, and some fartlek’s around Prospect Lake. I even managed to sneak in a longer run on the Santa Fe trail from Woodmen with the Kokopelli run club while Emma did her long run with her clubmates. While I ran mostly outside with maybe one run on the treadmill, I managed to keep up with my 45-day weight lifting program and biking on the Peloton. Mike and I managed to sneak way up to Denver to bike during a warmer day on the Bear Creek Trail loop, which is a 30-mile loop.  

​We started the New Year with a 24-mile ride down the Cottonwood and Santa Fe trail. It was a relatively warmer day for the winter and so we put on our layers and headed out. The good weather didn’t stick around for very long. Most of my runs this month were on snow covered trails or really cold mornings. We did hill repeats at Bear Creek Park, hill repeats and tempo runs along the Santa Fe trail, a hill endurance run up Rampart Range Road, and a tempo loop at Bear Creek Park. I was extremely proud of myself for staying on task with the 45-day weight program that Mike and I started last month. I was consistent and started to see real results by the end of this month.

​Most of this month found us with relatively decent weather which made running in the cold not so bad. I ran plenty of times with the Striders and was even able to go outside for a ride at Garden of the Gods. One of the biggest changes this month was working in more cross fit workouts into my routine. For most of the month Mike worked on developing a lifting program for us to do in the new year. We actually decided to start our 45-day program on Christmas day. It was fun to start something new and to be able to do it together.  

This month started out with some last preparatory runs before R2R2R followed by a taper week, our big adventure in the Grand Canyon (see post HERE), and finally some recovery time. One of our last big runs was running some downhill trail miles on Rampart Range Road. Dionne and I had her brother drive us 6 miles up so we could run down to simulate the first part of R2R2R. I was also able to do some hill repeats with the Striders at Red Rocks. By the time I hit my taper week I was so relieved! After we got back from the Grand Canyon we took some time off and then got back out there slowly by riding bikes with Madeline. We took her to ride both on the Santa Fe gravel trail and the paved section up by Costco. She had more fun on the paved section and enjoyed playing at the park at MVP. After 10 days of resting and riding bikes or the peloton, I decided to jump back into the Striders run. I did some intervals at the CC track and felt surprisingly good. 

I found myself doing a good mix of biking and running this month. This month started out with a quick two loops around the Black Forest Section 16 loop, a fun ride with Madeline on her new bike, and a family bike ride up to Denver. The rest of the month was focused mostly on running and preparing for and recovering from the Ascent. Mike and I headed to the top of Pikes Peak to do the 3,2,1 run which was absolutely brutal. I ended up only doing the 3,2 which is 3 miles down, 3 miles up, 2 miles down, 2 miles up. Mike ended up doing 4 down, 4 up and broke a rib along the way when he fell. Another fun workout was cruise intervals on the track in Manitou with the Striders. This was intended to be a race tune up for the Ascent. After I recovered from the Ascent I jumped back in with Striders and did short fartleks at Prospect Lake and the Cheyenne Canyon climb where I got a PR (43:29). The run down on the Cheyenne Canyon climb was the most beautiful I had ever seen the canyon. The fall colors were still out and I kept wanting to turn around just to see the beautiful colors against the backdrop of the mountains. 

​We headed up to Denver to ride the Cherry Creek Trail with the girls. We somehow made it to 7 miles before we stopped the first time for Madeline. Then we rode another few miles to the lake and played for a while. We knew the way back would be a little harder for Madeline, so we made sure to take lots of breaks. She really got the hang of her new shifters which was a game changer for her. We stopped at Kneaders on our way back to break up the ride and to eat lunch. The éclair was just the energy boost that Madeline needed to finish the last few miles of the ride to the park. It really was a fun day with the girls and an impressive long ride for Madeline.

This was an exciting month of training for the Ascent and getting ready to go hike in Switzerland. I spent the first part of the month training on Barr Trail, Red Mountain, and Iron Mountain to help my body get accustomed to running up for an extended period of time. I was able to sneak in some mountain bike days at Section 16 in Black Forest and Red Rocks. On one particular run coming down the backside of Red Mountain I slipped and cut up my leg pretty bad. It didn't hurt all that much but startled me more than anything. My pride was a little hurt after that though. So glad Caryn was with me and had a wipe in her water bottle holder so I could clean myself up a bit. Other than that, I had no falls coming down Barr Trail during the many extended runs I did on that trail. By the end of the month, I made it all the way to Barr Camp on one of my runs and did it in record time.

Grindelwald - Grosse Scheidegg Summit - First - Grindelwald

​Breakfast! Every morning it’s so exciting to get up and have a crazy awesome breakfast. Today was no different and Mike has now eaten his weight in croissants and jam. After breakfast, we headed out on an e-bike adventure! It was a beautiful day, so we headed back up to the pass and then over to First. We absolutely loved the e-bikes, until Mike’s ran out of power. Then it wasn’t so much love as it was suffering, but it was worth it. The views were grand and the suffering worth it. We ate lunch at First after unsuccessfully trying to find some way to charge Mike’s bike. The hotel was gracious when we called to tell us they wouldn’t charge us, so that was nice. The people at the bike shop at First were super nice, but in the end unsuccessful. We ate lunch, Mike hit his head on a ski rack and made a nice bruise, and then decided to go even further up the mountain to the lake. From there, we would take the downhill trail back to town. Little did we know that the downhill trail was this psycho double black mountain bike course with death looming at every turn. Sara, of course, rode it to show up the Swiss people watching, but it was pretty crazy. Fortunately, that turned into a road later on and most of the trip down was super flowy and fun. It would have been a quick trip down, but we had two cow related delays. The cows were on the move and being taken back to the barn, so the whole village showed up to move them. It was quite fun to see and probably the first time we have ever had to wait for cows when we were biking. All in all, it was a wonderfully fun day, with crazy views, fun adventures, and it all ended with a delightful dinner back at the Belvedere. The evening weather was wonderful and the views of the Eiger just staggering. Truly, this is a beautiful place. 
 

This was a really great training month for both running and biking. There were many runs up Barr Trail, one in the Pineries, Red and Iron Mountains, Ute Trail, MVP, and High Drive. One of my favorite runs was the first day of the month running up Barr trail and seeing all the purple wild flowers along the trail. It was also this day that I made it to Barr Camp for the first time this season. Mike and I spent a few long biking days up in Denver riding the trails up there as well as taking advantage of Garden of the Gods and Gold Camp Road in preparation for our Triple Bypass ride. We really do live in such a beautiful place for training in the summer. It’s never too hot or too cold. Most days it is absolutely perfect weather!

This was a big month of training both on the bike and with running. Mike and I spent most of our time on the bike doing some intense hill training as well as some endurance rides. We started with our typical loop to Garden of the Gods and back home. I got my first flat in a long time and learned how to change it on my own. We attempted the 719 loop again and just did it casually, It was still a beast even though we weren’t biking hard, We also rode up in Denver a few times and did some rides up Cheyenne Canyon. On the running side of things, we spent most of the time at Bear Creek Park doing tempo loops on the “dirt” track, hill repeats, and intervals on the flatter garden side of the park. Dionne and I ventured one day and did Section 16 to the Palmer trail. The short but steep section up Section 16 is never an easy one and I was breathing hard the entire time. However, the effort is worth it after you crest the top and run down the flowy Palmer trail. Overall, training this month was really awesome!

Madeline has been learning how to ride her bike slowly over the past year. When we were at the bike store she saw a bigger bike that interested her that had hand brakes and such. Her eyes got really big when I told her that if she learned to ride her current bike really well that this could be her next bike. Up until this point I had been struggling to get her to want to ride her bike outside. She was so afraid of falling. With her new sense of desire to be better at riding her bike, she and I headed outside to learn the last piece of being a good bike rider - starting by herself. Today was the first day that she figured out how to get going on the bike all by herself.  It took her several times and a solid 30 minutes to get her feet positioned just right to get going. I loved watching her determination to figure out this last piece of riding a bike all on her own. There were times when she would get frustrated, but I just kept encouraging her and eventually she found her grove.

​It snowed a ton in April which made it hard to train for my half marathon. I did, however, love running up Rampart Range Road twice, working on pushing the downhill sections. Emma joined one of our Striders runs and enjoyed running with the faster guys and leaving the rest of us girls in the dust. We did have some nice days mid-April and Mike and I took advantage of that and headed on a longer bike ride to Criterium and back. I also took my mountain bike and headed to Pineries to do the loop there. I spent one morning by myself and ran an easy loop in the Garden after the kids were in school and that was so rejuvenating. Some of the hardest runs this month were in the Garden running the clockwise trail tempo loop, hill repeats up the Strausenback hill, hill repeats on Ridge Road, and the road tempo to balanced rock. This month ended with a beautiful, snowy climb up the Incline with Dionne. You never know what you are going to get in April, but one thing is for sure, you are bound to get both snow and at least a few short-sleeved running days. 
 

Like most Februarys it was fairly cold the entire month. I had some amazing workouts this month with the Striders and also a few strong runs on the treadmill when the roads were not feasible to run on. My favorite runs were intervals at Monument Lake, the Bear Creek tempo loop, the Cheyenne Canyon Climb, a fun run in the Gardens with Dionne where we saw big horned sheep, and some long runs with Caryn. Any work on the bike was mostly  spent inside on the Peloton but I did brave the colder weather and went outside only once with Mike and was miserable the entire ride. Aside from running and biking I did spend some time skiing at Breckenridge. I hit the slopes twice this month and really had a blast!