Boulder, Boilermaker and BEEF, Oh My!

I woke up this morning to the realization that I have just three weeks left until the Boulder Ironman 70.3 triathlon and I’m not feeling at all ready to tackle a 1.2-mile swim, 56-mile bike and 13.1 mile run all on the same day…let alone within my goal time of 6 hours and 25 minutes (to beat my personal record of 6:28:43 in the 2007 Vineman 70.3).

[Above: That's me at the finish of my first Ironman 70.3 three years ago. I think my first words were "Never again" and here I am three years later getting ready for my second Ironman 70.3!]

So I dragged my butt out of bed and headed to the pool for a 1.2-mile swim just to make sure I could at least finish the first leg! As I swam back and forth 84 lengths of the pool I pondered how I was going to squeeze enough training time in between now and August 8th (especially given that the week-long Cattle Industry Summer Conference falls smack dab in the middle of those three weeks!). One way I can get in my time on the bike is to ride to and from work so when I got home I packed a week’s worth of clothes and loaded my bike on my car. For the rest of the week I’ll be riding the 24 miles each way from my house in Castle Rock via the Cherry Creek and C-470 trails. Fortunately (for my colleagues), there is a shower facility in the first floor men’s room!

As a stand-alone event, I’d be feeling pretty good about the half marathon after running a personal record 1:15:55 (8:04/mile) in the Boilermaker 15K (9.3 miles) on July 11. That put me at number 2,007 of 6,418 male finishers (2,464 of 11,539 overall) and beat my 2009 time by nearly 2 minutes! Most of all, I had fun running with about 100 other BEEF runners including our newest recruit to Team ZIP, Dane Rauschenberg, who finished well ahead of me in 1:01:26 (read Dane’s account on his blog, SeeDaneRun).

[Above: that's me and Dane before the start of the Boilermaker 15K; Below: Hanging out with "Boston Bill" Rodgers at the Boilermaker sponsor dinner]

But running a half marathon after a 56-mile bike is another thing altogether, as I found out at Vineman in 2007 (my first and only half-Ironman distance event). After a good swim and a great bike segment I was 30 minutes ahead of my goal time. Then I lost it all on the run in 90F heat and high humidity. Struggling to stay hydrated and limping on a sore left foot I considered giving up and walking in, but managed to keep moving and finished 1:17 ahead of my goal time.

I’m determined not to die on the run this time so I scheduled an early season half marathon in St. Louis, along with the Bolder Boulder 10K and Boilermaker 15K. I’ve discovered that races always make me push myself harder than I do training on my own. So my logic was that I needed to schedule more races. But when I explained this theory to my former tri coach, Nancy, on a visit to KC this past weekend, she said I just need to train harder (actually, I think she called me a slacker!).

I think Nancy nailed it. When I rode with Nancy and her husband Steve this past Saturday I pushed it a lot harder. But when Steven and I went out for a “brick” run after the ride (in the heat and humidity of eastern Kansas) I felt the familiar foot pain and dehydration sapping my energy. So this week I’m going to focus on ride/run combo workouts (yes, I brought my running shoes to work, too) and staying hydrated during the ride (I need to drink a lot more than I do).

I also got in a good hill workout on my trip to Kansas, riding 25 miles through the campus of the University of Kansas. Anyone who thinks Kansas is flat needs to visit Lawrence. I rode one hill (three times!) that hit 18% grade. They do not make roads that steep in Colorado...at least not that I've found! Granted, they are "hills" and not mountains so they are steep but short.

[Above: I gave serious thought to attending the Veggie Lunch (omnivores welcome!) on the KU campus in my BEEF jersey; Below: Baby Jay rides my bike in fron of the Kansas Union]

I still haven’t figured out what I’m going to do next week during the conference. I may just have to give up some of the late night festivities so I can drag my butt out of bed at 4:30 in the morning to swim, bike and run before heading downtown to the meetings. The good news is I'll get plenty of BEEF during the week to fuel up my body for the following week.

Ride on!

Daren

I'm Baaa-aaack!

After a 10-month break from posting I'm back with a new name and a new sense of purpose for my blog. I hope my friends, family and extended family of beef-lovers across the country will enjoy reading about my adventures (and misadventures) as I train for cycling, running and triathlon events and travel the country promoting the role of BEEF in a healthy diet.

First, let's catch up. How have you been? Well, you look great. You've obviously been taking care of yourself, getting some exercise and eating a balanced diet of fruits and vegetables, whole grains, low and non-fat dairy products and, of course, lean BEEF! Good for you!

Me? Well, I've been traveling a lot. Since last June I've been to 22 states across this beautiful country meeting with farmers and ranchers who raise great-tasting, whole and nutritious BEEF. I love my job!

Following Ride the Rockies in June 2009 I traveled to Utica, NY in July to run the Boilermaker 15K with 100+ beef-loving athletes from across the country wearing our Team ZIP running jerseys to demonstrate the power of protein and other nutrients like zinc, iron and B vitamins found in beef.

In August I crossed a big-time goal off my "bucket list" riding to the top of the highest paved road in North America -- The Mt. Evans Highway -- from a starting elevation of 7,524 ft. in Idaho Springs, CO, to 14,258 ft. above sea level at the summit. Actually, I had to hike with my bike the last 100 ft. to the true summit to snap this picture. I don't advise doing this in cycling shoes but it had to be done!

Just yesterday I ran the GO! St. Louis Half Marathon with 220 other beef-loving athletes, turning in a new personal record time of 1:50:36 (8:22/mile). I was thrilled with the time, especially considering I hadn't logged many running miles this year. In fact, until two weeks ago I'd primarily been riding indoors on my Cannondale Synapse Carbon 3 and CycleOps Fluid 2 trainer.

So, two weeks ago I came up with my two-week half marathon training program: five runs totaling 26 miles (3, 6, 10, 4 and 3 miles) with a little time on the trainer on non-running days.

As for nutrition, I ate a LOT of beef! In the week leading up to the run I had roast on Easter Sunday, a burger on Monday, filet mignon on Tuesday, beef jerky (as a snack) on Wednesday, BBQ beef for lunch and a ribeye for dinner on Thursday, brisket on Friday, and a huge Cowboy Cut (bone-in) ribeye for dinner on Saturday before the race. Sure, this is more than the USDA recommended serving of 3 oz. of protein per meal (5.5 per day), but I took my cue from Olympic 1500 meter runner Bernard Lagat, who told Runner's World in an article called "Secrets of the Olympians":

"I love steak, and I have to have steak the day before I race. Some people are afraid to eat steak before a competition because they think it'll make them too full and slow them down. But in Osaka [at the 2007 World Championships], before I raced, I went to Outback and ordered the biggest steak I could, and I won. You have to do what works for your body."

—Bernard Lagat, Tucson, Arizona

You gotta stick with what works...and BEEF works for me!

My big event this summer is the Boulder Ironman 70.3 triathlon (1.2-mile swim, 56-mile bike, 13.1-mile run). This will be my second Ironman 70.3 distance event after a three-year hiatus. Shortly after I ran the Vineman 70.3 in July 2007 I was hit by a car while riding my bike and had to take a few months off from training. I started riding and running again but didn't back in the pool until this past winter, so haven't done any triathlon events since.

I'm looking forward to getting back into the groove of triathlon training this summer and have lots of events lined up between now and August 8, 2010, to prepare for Boulder. I hope you'll follow along as I ride, run and swim. Along the way I'll share my favorite recipes and tips for grilling great lean BEEF recipes!

Ride on!

Daren

Boilermaker Recap

No...I'm not still sitting at O'Hare airport. My last post was two weeks ago on my way home from Utica, NY, where I had just run the Boilermaker 15K Road Race (above: the Team ZIP 15K runners the morning of the big race). It was late Sunday evening and I was sitting in Chicago waiting for my flight to Denver.

I got home around 2:00 a.m. that Monday morning, the first day of the week-long Cattle Industry Summer Conference. It was a long week...I was barely able to walk on Monday and Tuesday then launched into three days of early mornings and late nights. By the time it was over on Saturday at noon I was ready to collapse...but I held off until 9:00 that night and didn't get up until 8:00 Sunday morning!

The Boilermaker was a great event. Last fall's Chicago Half Marathon was the debut run for Team ZIP, but the Boilermaker was our biggest showing to date -- over 100 runners and walkers between the 15K, 5K, 3-mile walk and kid's run (at left: posting a blog on my Blackberry about an hour before race time). It was amazing to see my beef jerseys on so many runners congregating at the starting line, strung out along the course and at the post-race party.

And it wasn't just my colleagues like Bucky (at left: crossing the finish line). There were a bunch of people I had never met before the weekend began. Runners from Oregon, Colorado, Minnesota, Massachussets, Connecticut, Pennsylvania, New York, Washington, D.C., and...how could I forget...KANSAS!

How could I forget the "swirling vortex of bad judgment" (aka, the Kansas Tornado)? Stephanie, Carrie and Barb (at left: cruising across the finish line after getting lei'd on the course). Barb is a bonafide rancher from Wamego, Kansas who only recently began running and completed her first race earlier this year...the Olathe Marathon.

Who runs a marathon their first race out? That's bad judgment.

Barb, Stephanie and Carrie agreed to go dancing with me and Bucky at Bucky's (at left: Bucky standing in front of Bucky's) the night before the race. Seriously, Bucky's was the closest watering hole to our hotel in Rome (New York). As we entered the bar, Bucky yells "BUCKY'S IN THE HOUSE!" and then shows his ID to the bartender to prove that he is named Bucky.

Who goes dancing until midnight with a guy named Bucky at a bar called Bucky's the night before a 15K? That's bad judgment.

Yes, we actually danced until midnight at Bucky's and got up at 5:00 the next morning to head to downtown Utica for the run. But we all still managed to finish the race with respectable times. My goal was to run 1:25 (around 9:00 min/mile) and I finished in 1:22:13 (8:43/mile). Of the five members of the swirling vortex, I finished second.

The first of us to cross the line was Barb, who passed me around mile seven and never looked back. So the whole week of summer conference she reveled in telling the story of how she left my "carcass" on the course. Who does that? That's bad judgment!

I was a few minutes (four per mile) off the pace of the men's winner (at left: #2 Terefe Maregu of Ethiopia finished #1 in the 2008 Boilermaker 15K) who finished in 44:17, a blistering pace of 4:45/mile!

Oh well, maybe next year. I've already started training so I can beat Barb. I bet her a steak dinner that I'd beat her next year at the Boilermaker 2009. She's so sure she's gonna win that she already placed her order: bone-in ribeye, medium rare. Make mine the same. Win or lose...we both win!

Daren

Sitting at O'Hare

Ah, the joys of travel. I was able to fly standby out of Syracuse on an earlier flight, which got me in to Chicago O'Hare in time to fly standby on a earlier flight to Denver...but I wasn't able to get on. So here I sit at the Chili's at O'Hare waiting for my flight to board. I'll get in to Denver at 12:15 a.m. (that's 2:15 eastern time) and get home around 1:30. Ugh. It's been a long day. Up early to run 15K, the post-race party, the post-post-race party for Team ZIP, the drive back to Syracuse in a downpour (at least it held off until after the run!) and I still have one more flight to get back to Denver. Fingers crossed. No delays!

Today's run was tough. I don't think my three weeks of training was enough! Around mile three I was not feeling strong and about to give up on reaching my goal (1:25). But then the crowd of spectators along the route and seeing lots of other Team ZIP runners on the course pumped me up and I ran strong until around mile 8. Then I started to fade. But I finished the last half mile strong, beat my goal by nearly two minutes, and felt good about the effort. After all, my number one goal is always just to finish the race. Not much chance I was going to run a sub-50 minute 15K and be in contention for the prize money!

Gotta run...or rather limp...to my gate to board. Wish me luck.

Daren

Boilermaker Finish!

Well, the big race is done. I finished in 1:22:16 - an average of 8:43/mile. I am very happy with my time, especially given that I have only been training for three weeks (following Ride the Rockies)!

The Boilermaker is a special event - the largest 15K in the country (about 12,000 runners). There were USA Olympic runners here and, of course, the ridiculously fast Kenyon runners. The atmosphere is crazy. I think the whole town was lining the course and cheering. We got tons of of "go BEEF" and "go Team ZIP" comments.

And, of course, we did several media interviews at the finish. Everybody loves beef and Team ZIP (we were BY FAR the biggest team in the race with over 100 runners).

My media interview tagline..."Beef. It's what's for dinner at the Boilermaker." So original :)

Daren

Its Raining, It's Pouring but Team ZIP is Soaring

We're at the starting line of the Boilermaker 15K in Utica, NY. The race starts in about 45 mins. After dancing at Bucky's last night, me, Bucky, Barb, Stephanie and Carrie (the Kansas tornadoes - aka the Swirling Vortex of Poor Judgement) got back to the hotel around midnight to get some sleep. We left the hotel at 6:00 am to drive to the starting line for our Team ZIP team photo at 7:00. Now we're standing around in the rain waiting for the pain to begin. Why do we do this to ourselves??

Oh yea, we're here to demonstrate the importance of beef in a healthy diet: Zinc, Iron and Protein. Fuel for the finish. So of course we all ate beef last night at the Savoy restaurant in Rome (before dancing at Bucky's).

Gotta run...go Team ZIP!

Live from Bucky's

it's 10:00 pm and I'm hanging out at Bucky's restaurant in Rome, NY, the night before the Boilermaker 15K Road Race in Utica. The best part if this story is that I'm with a guy named Bucky and three runners from the Kansas delegation for the Boilermaker. We picked "Bucky's" for the pre-race party for obvious reasons (it's the closest bar to the Econolodge in Rome).

We have over 100 "beef runners" from around the country. We are Team ZIP (Zinc/Iron/Protein). Utica and the Boilermaker will never be the same. Neither will we.

More tomorrow...

Daren