Ellen Hart

(ASI did a good job with the Boulder 70.3 photos. I thought this one in particular was cool. I'm tempted to buy the high resolution photo.)

Buring the Boulder 70.3 last weekend, I was at about mile 9 on the run as I ran along an out-and-back section. A lady running the other direction was looking very strong. It took me the next 3.5 miles to catch up to her, and when I did I was amazed to see that she was 52 years old. She had the physique of a 30 year old professional triathlete. I asked her if she was really 52, and she said she was and that I better speed up or she'd beat me to the finish.

I had to look her up online, and it turns out she has run in the Olympic trials for the marathon, won Boulder Bolder twice, and even almost made the Olympics trials in the marathon at age 48. ABC made a made-for-TV movie about her and her struggles with bulimia called "Dying to be Perfect". She's also a graduate of Harvard and CU law school. Slacker. If you check out my race photos here -- http://asiorders.com/view_user_event.asp?EVENTID=64048&BIB=154 -- she's the lady finished at the same time as me. Fifty two years old...

Anyhow, training has been pretty easy for the past week. I've put in about two hours a day, with about half of that in the pool. My runs have all been very easy -- 8:30 to 9:00/mile pace. Riding has also been easy, with my toughest workout including a 60 minute ride with a whole bunch of 2 minute "hard", 1 minute "easy" repetitions. My "hard" reps started at IM effort and increased to a bit above HIM effort.

I feel recovered from the race, but haven't test myself yet. Better to err on the side of caution with Louisville fast approaching. Chuckie suggested that my recovery may be quicker than normal because I wasn't able to go to the bottom of the well during the race (see the second half of my run). Today will be a bit of a test, as it includes a long (6 hr) but moderately paced ride. Then tomorrow I get to do a track run. Track runs are fun because I get to run fast.

The only other workout of note is yesterday's swim. Stacey joined me for a bunch of hard 100s. While we used to be very evenly matched swimmers, since I started working hard on my swim last year I usually finish 3 or 4 seconds ahead of her in a 100. Somehow, though, she picked up the pace big time yesterday and beat me on most of the 100s. What the...??? She loves it when she can beat me. I might have to start sneaking in extra time in the pool so that doesn't happen anymore!