Fighting ducks and the 5th week of CrossFit competition

On Tuesday afternoon I was riding along the Boulder Creek bike path and saw a trio of ducks engaged in a flurry of activity (to the extent that ducks are ever in a flurry of activity).  I stopped, took a couple pictures, and shot a short video.

Of all the critters out there, full-grown ducks seem to be particularly inept at doing harm to one another.

Since the criterium at the Air Force Academy last weekend, I've had a solid week of training; good rides on Sunday, Wednesday, Friday, and today (Sunday), mixed in with CrossFit workouts on Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, and Saturday.  The combination of Tuesday's CrossFit workout and the Cherry Creek time trial on Wednesday night left my legs more sore on Thursday and Friday than I can ever remember them being.  At this stage in the season, that is a wonderful feeling.

This week was the 5th week of the CrossFit open sectionals competition.  The workout for the week was to complete as many rounds and reps as possible in 20 minutes of the following:
5 power cleans with a 145-lb load (bring the bar from the floor to a shoulder-height rack position, set/drop the bar to the floor, and repeat)
10 toes to bar (hang from a pull-up bar, touch the bar with ones toes, lower one's legs to completely open the hip, and repeat)
15 wall-ball (squat and then throw a 20-lb medicine ball to hit a wall above a 10-foot target line, catch the ball, and repeat)

On Thursday I finished 8 rounds plus 2 power cleans, but then re-did the workout on Saturday at CrossFit Verve in Denver and finished a whole extra round compared to Thursday.  Doing the leg-thrashing CrossFit workout on Tuesday and then turning around and racing a 10-mile time trial on Wednesday was evidently not the best way to rest up for a competition workout on Thursday.  I could have told you that well before Tuesday, though.

Verve put on a fantastic event with a schedule that ran on-time and gave every interested competitor a chance to attack the workout.  I showed up unsure of whether I would compete or just be a spectator, but wound up signing up for the first heat.  Afterwards, the CrossFit Roots crew gathered for a group picture.

The mighty Roots Crew, post-workout.  Everyone improved their scores compared to Thursday.

This coming week will be the 6th and final installment of the CrossFit online open sectionals competition.  Stay tuned for an update after the CrossFit open sectional is done and I turn my competitive focus to 100% bike racing.

Air Force Acedemy criterium

Yesterday Brett, Rolf, and I headed to Colorado Springs for the AFA crit in the afternoon.  There was a small field, with riders being split among the Haystack TT event in Boulder, the collegiate racing that morning at the AFA, and the Sea Otter Classic in California.  I think we had 20 riders in the 3/4 category, and then five women from the Pro/1/2 category who joined us.

 

 

This photo from Pat Benson is only peripherally related to yesterday's race, as both took place on bikes.  However, this photo is from track nationals in Los Angeles in September 2010.  I haven't seen any pictures from yesterday, yet, so pictures of me racing road will have to wait until next time.

The race started out at a brisk pace, but one rider jumped away solo and wound up dangling off the front by himself for quite a few laps. The chase efforts ended up whittling the lead group down to the point where we had seven riders representing seven teams in the front group when the solo leader was caught at the mid-point of the race.

There were a few tentative attacks after that, but nothing stuck for even a whole lap.  The lap cards were ticking down, and it was evident the winner would come from this lead group of seven, probably with the whole group coming to the finish together.

As we entered the last three laps, everyone in the lead group was watching each other, waiting for someone to make a move.  The pace slowed considerably.  Coming through the start/finish line with two laps to go, the calf on one leg started cramping up, so I had to pull a Jens Voigt and continue riding.

When we came through with one lap to go, I had had a chance to stretch out my leg, and the cramping was gone.  I moved up to 4th wheel on the downhill section, and felt I was in good position at the 2nd to last corner.  On the flat section before the final turn, I latched on to Zane Godby's wheel as he moved up to lead through the last right-hander before the finish.  Coming up the hill toward the line, I jumped with about 300m to go, went to the front, but then was passed as I lost steam before the line.  I ended up 5th place, one spot outside the money.

In hindsight, it would have been wise to wait another 100 to 150 meters before opening my sprint, or perhaps to have been 3rd or 4th wheel through the final turn rather than 2nd.  All in all, though, I'm happy with this as my first road event of the 2011 season.

Training camp

This past week I have been attending a training camp at the Olympic Training Center in Colorado Springs, Colorado.  Last fall, I spent a week at the OTC for an introduction to para-cycling camp (and wrote about it here).  This week, however, has been a fairly intense line-up of rides on both the tandem and single bike.

Starting last Thursday and ending on Monday, we put in five consecutive days of 3-hour rides; the most riding I had done in some time.  I am starting to feel like a bike racer again, and piloting the tandem is becoming much more comfortable.

One of the perks of doing a camp at the OTC is that after each training ride, it is a short walk over to the cafeteria for a post-ride recovery meal.  On that short walk, there is a classic Colorado Springs view of Pikes Peak.

Between my dorm room and the cafeteria, there is an excellent view of Pikes Peak to the west.

The dorms here are a lot like university residence hall dorms, except they seem to mostly be single rooms.  The resident athletes typically decorate their rooms to make them more of a home, while us campers who are here for the week tend to have a more spartan look to our rooms.

I'm probably a bit unusual as far as OTC campers go; I brought two laptops and some circuit boards for developing microprocessor firmware during down-time at camp.

Last Friday I completed the week 2 WOD (workout of the day) for the 2011 CrossFit Games competition over at Pikes Peak CrossFit.  Week two gave competitors 15 minutes to complete as many rounds as possible of:
9 deadlifts (with 155-lb for men)
12 push-ups
15 box jumps

I finished 8 rounds, and then hopped back to the bar to complete one deadlift before time ran out.  This week, we have five minutes to complete as many squat cleans and jerks as possible with a 165-lb (or 75-kg) bar.  Lucky for me, I cleaned and jerked 75-kg for the first time in my life on 8-Oct-2010 at CrossFit Central Manchester.  Therefore, I'm in only slightly over my head.

On another competition front, I found some more road SWAG while pedaling the tandem around Colorado Springs this week.

I found (from left to right) a Bosch rubber cap (for some part of a car), a golf ball (red), a toothbrush (like new condition), and a hat (which was full of dirt when I picked it up).

Who knows what I'll find next?