Spring in Colorado, training and perspective

The past couple of months have gone by in a flash.  It's already getting hot in Colorado and we officially dropped inside the 100 days to go mark for Leadville.  Training has been going really well and I'll put a few thoughts together in a separate post about Leadville prep and what a 100 mile newbie is going through at this stage of the game.

Felix is on the move - sort of.  Lots of cruising around the furniture and furious walk/running when holding both his hands.  Crawling is definitely taking a back seat as he realizes that walking might be just the more efficient way to get to where he wants as soon as possible.

As everyone tells you, having a child changes you completely and nothing will be the same again.  It's so cliche' but I'm still so surprised at the truth in it.  It's also the best feeling in the world and we are loving every minute of being a family.  Every day seems to just keep getting better and better and I'm already sad that I'll look back on these days so fondly and wonder how they passed by so quickly.  It makes living for the moment a lot more real and has also diminished many of the things I used to hold as important before Felix came along.

That's been an observation that surprised me as I never thought I would be able to to 'turn off' some of those things.  The days where I would time trial the same 3 mile stretch of road 10 times holding perfectly steady watts and changing one variable at a time to get the most perfect position.  Moving a water bottle, changing a helmet, clothing, cable location and even bar tape thickness and then completing all the regression analysis and working out that I can save 4 watts in x position which equals x secs over a 40K TT.

The geek is still in me and the passion for competition and racing is still there, but the obsession with certain things has gone.  Regaining perspective has been so liberating and freeing.

One of the most enjoyable events of the past month was seeing Wendy race her first ultra at the Greenland 50K.  I'm so glad she took the plunge even if it was on the back of minimal training and lots and lots of sleepless nights running up to the day.  Felix's developing all four front teeth in one go didn't make for much rest in the week before.

It was a perfect Colorado day and the course was in excellent shape with great views of Pikes Peak and the rolling front range and she had a blast after all was said and done, winning her age group and finishing just outside of 5hrs.  It couldn't have gone better for her first official ultra race and after all the aches and pains have gone I think it's going to light a spark for some further events later in the year.  You can check out her post over on Fit and Frugal.  http://www.fit-and-frugal.com/2014/05/05/race-report-greenland-50k/

Who doesn't like a Hippo?!  Denver Zoo