Well, I'm still in the Junction that is Grand. My
father was released from the hospital on Monday, but
unfortunately we ended up right back where we started
around 2:30 in the morning in the ER.
Another procedure followed the next afternoon
(procedure #3 of 3) as well as another night in the
hospital. My father has several follow up appts early
next week. Assuming all is well by then, I'll be
heading back to Boulder after four weeks out here on
the Western Slope.
But I'm not holding my breathe. Its not that I am
pessimistic, I just don't care for speculation. Things
are or they aren't. Just like fitness...
Ok, so where I am going with this...
There has always been a lot of talk on triathlon
forums (specifically on G's forum which is the only
one I frequent enough to know what's going on) about
extrapolating race times to guess IM finish times, or
using percentages of FT/LT power/pace to know
appropriate IM riding and running efforts.
Now all of this is fine and dandy, but they are
nothing more than make believe numbers until they come
directly from a race result. Swimming X and riding Y
in order to run Z (which the best IM strategy that I
personally endorse) comes primarily from intuition and
is backed up by the data. An athlete needs to know the
max speed that he/she can hit over and over again
based on how_it_feels.
I guess I get a bit of a kick out of people that think
they can determine their IM run time off a 5K PR.
(don't get me wrong, I use Daniel's charts as well for
training).
So you can ride this hard and run that hard in theory?
Great. Prove it. No speculating, just racing.
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
I've been out here in Grand Junction and I think I may
have stumbled upon a fairly ideal training spot for
triathletes. GJ and Fruita certainly have an
established reputation for their extensive mtn biking,
but I don't know if many folks appreciate this place
as a potential triathlon training ground.
There is plenty of climbing in and around the CO
national monument with steady, steep (but not dumb
steep) grades (and minimal traffic).
Lots of flat options in the farm lands for steady
state riding. Heads way out west to Utah.
Good weather with mild and drier winters. It is warm
in the summer, but the elevation (4600 ft) keeps it
under the century mark for most days in the summer
(and even then its pleasant in the mornings and
evenings)
Tons of trails for running and mtn biking. Flat dirt
road along the canal for steady state running on soft
surface.
Nice track at Lincoln Park.
Smaller population so its easy to get around town and
lots of bike lanes when you are in town.
Low(er) cost of living for Colorado, but growing
daily.
Numerous bike shops.
Local airport with flights to Denver, Phx, SLC, and
(now) LV so its easy to get to some major hubs for
traveling to races.
The swimming is mediocre IMO and is this place's
biggest (but not actually 'big') drawback. In the
summer they have a lovely 50m pool with Masters in the
a.m. (early), but no open swimming with the 50m setup
(switches to SCY). The rest of the year they have
options of a SCM and SCY pool, but they are kept a
little too warm (again, IMO) and lap hours are only
decent at best.
The second drawback would be local triathlon racing.
However, there is a fair amount of racing in Utah (and
the CO front range) to choose from.
Ok, I think the Chamber of Commerce should have to pay
me to continue so I'll stop there.
-jd
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