I need some hard training

First up, I raced the Barkin' Dog Duathlon this past weekend. The race went pretty poorly; I'll have a more detailed race report posted in the next day or two once race photos are uploaded. I didn't rest ahead of the race, so that's probably why I wasn't fast. Still, it's a bit of a confidence drainer to have such a poor performance. I look forward to gaining more experience in the sport so that I do not get discouraged by poor performances at "C" races. Last year, for example, I raced an early season open marathon and ran 1:23 -- an awful performance -- feeling horrible the entire race. A few months later I ran sub-3 hours at Louisville -- a performance that surpassed my highest expectations. Experiences like that are what I need to be able to brush off bad races. I know that it's stupid to get discouraged by a race that I didn't care much about and treated as a tough training day. Greater confidence will come with another year or two of doing endurance sports, and this is the type of performance that will ultimately enhance my confidence by teaching me not to worry about a single bad race or bad workout.

Anyhow, it seems like I haven't had a killer workout in a while. My next Ironman isn't for several months still, but the time is here to begin the 5, 6 or 7 hour workouts that are so great at preparing me for racing well at long distances. Plus, those are the workouts provide a great sense of satisfaction. I don't know why, but the feeling of having put in a solid training day is extremely satisfying, and that's one of the things that keeps me excited about the sport.

Yesterday I took it easy to recover from the race on Saturday so that I can start this week off with some quality sessions. Stacey and I rode around town for almost two hours, checking out a few neighborhoods we're interested in eventually living in and just enjoying the beautiful sunny 75 degree day. Denver has a lot to offer.

Here is a nice shot of the kayak area at Confluence Park:


I want to see some kayakers head down the rapids, but instead I've only seen them start from the bottom and head up the first rapid:


As you can see from this video, the kayakers basically tread the rapids like a treadmill, venturing into the flow of water and then holding their position:

It's not too exciting.

Nonetheless, Confluence Park is a great hang-out spot, and it was crowded yesterday:



We also made our way over to Sloan Lake. It's just a few miles from downtown Denver and offers great views of the city and the mountains:



Lastly, we did a quick loop through Washington Park. I run at this fantastic park several times a week, but the bike path isn't for serious cycling. The park was extremely crowded, and I couldn't get a good photo for fear of running a pedestrian over. It's great to see so many people out and about and utilizing such a nice resource: