The view looking towards Nederland; a quaint little town (with a cracking coffee shop!) nestled at just over 8000ft

I already alluded to this on a quick facebook post over the weekend, but I have trained in plenty of places around the world, and I thought that I had (and i have, don’t get me wrong) seen my fair share of good scenic views. Joe had told me I would like it up there, and he couldnt have been closer to the truth. Despite the altitude creeping up towards the 3000m mark I was quite oblivious to the pain in the legs and simply enjoying all that there was to see.

It’s nearly September and the snow is all but gone on the high peaks, but what remains still makes for a fantastic viewpoint I thought. – I could almost be fooled into thinking that this was up the north of Scotland, by Aviemore and the Cairngorms but then the blue sky gives its all away

I am no photographer, but even my relatively novice eye could see that this was a good place to pull out the camera from the back pocket. – We were riding an out and back section at this point in our ride, so on the return I stopped to grab a photo after nearly riding off the road looking at it on the way out. Amazing. You can just make out the herd of cattle in the distance wandering down towards the water for a big old slurp!

I’m not sure what came over me by this point in the ride, but I was stopping every 5 minutes to snap something or another (just call me Dan Hugo) … Joe had long since dropped me in search of a coffee and a seat (we were nearly 5 hours in by now) but I thought this was a cool little shop, capturing what little sense of history there is out here in the States. – I have jazzed it up a little with my clever iphone app called Camera+

And last, but by no means least, here we are stopped (yet again – tourists so we were) by the Magnolia Drive signpost. – Just for Gordo, wee Matty and Gav. They know what I mean!

 (Note: Running with the Buffaloes is a superb read charting the success of the Univeristy of Colorado Mens Cross Country Team. – They did much of their quality running up on Magnolia). I have yet to run high -around 8000ft, versus 5400ft in Boulder - and I think it will have to wait for another visit to Boulder before I do.

Little did I know. After my racing at the Racine, Boulder and Steelhead 70.3s, I managed to sneak into the 50 slots offered for racing in Las Vegas. Happy days. Team Trek/K-Swiss team mate – and landlady – Julie Dibens was heading down for a recce with her coach, agent and also former Ironman World Champion, Craig ‘Crowie’ Alexander. - I jumped at the offer to tag along with this crew.

Now, the saying goes something along the lines of “what happens in Vegas, stays in Vegas” … and so I will hold true to that for the most part – if you want to know about the course, go and look for yourself

Lake Mead is a much larger body of water than Lake Las Vegas where we swim. Mead is visible from the bike route

I had never been to Las Vegas before, and boy is it a strange strange place … and I didn’t even get to see The Strip or the many famous hotels and casinos! The race starts in Lake Las Vegas, about 15miles or so out of the city, in a suberb called Henderson.  We then ride out into what can only be described as something akin to the moon. Its hot, hilly, dusty, hilly and hot. Did I mention it heats up out there … 45C was what my bike computer told me on the Sunday. I can’t describe what that feels like, and thats exactly why I am so pleased to have gone and checked it prior to the race … now I know.

We couldn’t have trained like we did without a support car – and a car LOADED with liquid and cooling vests. on Sunday I sunk a total of 11 bottles over our 4 hour ride … quite insane to be honest. You just couldnt drink enough it seemed and the cooling effect of a fresh bottle out of the cool box was golden! Crowie and Julie are pouring iced water on their arm coolers in this shot above … it didn’t last all that long, but they said it felt superb for about 3 seconds.

We also checked out the run route, although it was most important to get familiar with the 90k of (quite incredible smooth i may add) tarmac that will shape the large part of the race in a couple of weeks. We rode over the course a total of 3 times during the weekend and I can safely say that it was a completely worthwhile (although hotter than the sun) trip.

I don’t think that a bottle of Coke has ever tasted this good!!  - Slightly emotional after 4 hours in the Nevada Desert heat. – I was amazed to realise that my gear shifters were starting to get too hot to grip onto … hold onto that thought.

 Who said a thousand calories was a lot?

Saturday(30th) – Looooong bike ride – hilly loop up into the high(er) peaks with a group. 190k, 6hrs

Sunday – Longer run with sme faster pace work. 25k, 1hr 50. Swim solid 5k (4*400,4*300,4*200,4*100 main set)

Monday – Swim – masters session; 5k.  Bike 2.5hrs steady – 75k.

Tuesday – Morning ride; 4.5hrs with 1hr of TT work, 140k. (1 puncture+1.5 litres choc milk). 40min steady run, 9.5k

Wednesday – Run 6k easy. Swim 4k including 40*50 interval set.

Thursday – Run 6k easy with strides. Swim 4.5k solid. Ride 75mins, looking at race course; 40k.

Friday – Run 7k steady. Swim masters, 4k. Feet up, watch tv!

The razor-sharp amongst those reading will notice i’ve had two long rides early in the week leading into the race; but I wanted to have some volume up to 5 days out, and with no ride on Wednesday I think I recovered pretty well from the longer TT efforts of Tues. Hope so anyway. Gulp.

Running has been low volume, low intensity and ‘thro the roof’ breathing!! Needless to say I am finding the altitude is taking some time to adapt to.

Swimming i have kept pretty consistent; I am gaining quite a lot of aerobic fitness from the swim sets and i do feel it is making a difference to my general fitness. Hopefully it will help lift my swimming back to where I would like it quick time. Time will tell.

It’s been a good week though; a nice mix, and the race this Sunday will be another guage as to where I am at on the road back to competing rather than taking part.

And finally, on an all together different note, the week has also been an intro into hot-air ballooning – they seem to launch most mornings from down the street… i’ve watched them on my jog/runs – wondering if I might think about a trip up there? Probably not!

I’ll write more about settling in soon, but for now I will stick to the thin air stuff – since with thin air comes high moutains and I’ve been able to explore them a little more over the past few days as breathing has become easier.

Boulder sits just on the edge of the Rockie mountains at around 5500ft, with rolling plains stretching away as far as the eye can see away from them. So when I arrived here I stayed ‘low’ and didn’t ride up the moutain roads and canyons to give the lungs and heart a chance. So on Thursday I did my first longer ride – topping out at nearly 10000ft at the stunning Lake Brainard. It was a fun ride with ‘local’ fellow Commonwealth training buddies Joe Gambles, Richie Cunningham, Dan Hugo and Josh Rix. – They have all spent at least a couple of summers here and know all the good hang out spots

The ride was one of the hilliest I think I have ever ridden – with nearly 8000ft of climbing throughout the day – taking in 140ks in just over 5hrs saddle time.

Joe Gambles and I as we hit the Lake at the top of the ride – 2990m (that means O.U.C.H)

We weren’t sure if he was more surprised than us?! – Have a look at some more pictues that Dan snapped during our ride over on his website … he’s a little bit better at it than I am.

Today I did my second longer mountain ride of the week (and  think my longest ride outside of racing Ironman or Abu Dhabi) with a rather talented group of individuals including not one but three world champs. I did my best to keep up and not stop for photos too often!

The ride was 187ks door to door and took me just under 6 hours … as well as six 750ml bottles of fluid, 2 large chocolate milks and maybe a cheeky chocolate bar to keep me happy.

I used my iPhone to take these and have edited them with a clever little App called Camera+ – it’s fun to use and I will play around with it a little more with time i think – as long as I am allowed to stop for photo shoots and not get left behind that is. If you snooze you loose.

All in all though its been a really fun couple of weeks so far, and I feel really settled here. It is entirely obvious why Boulder is such a popular choice for so many traithletes, cyclists, runners and sports enthusiasts in general - it’s a mecca for all things fitness and outdoors. I love it!

me in front of the our appartment for the next month

Today I got through a good initiation to the heat and humidity (it was a hot 90F according to the car thermometer) - a 12k run this morning, a 65k ride out and back along the Queen K highway and a 5K swim in the Kona Aquatic Centre to cap it all off. If anything, it was during the swim that Julie and I felt the most thirsty!

It is good to be here and starting the process of simply ‘getting used’ to the island. I really believe that if I am going to race to my potential here on Ocotber 9th then I must get myself fully dialled in to the unique conditions over here.

Roll on Day 2 …. (i’ll be back with better pictures from tomorrow!)

being worn on my feet sometime soon. Pretty cool I say

I have to say that I have been slack (yet again) on the frequency of blog posts, no excuses. No, hang on, who am I kidding … there are plenty of them! Swim, bike and run excuses to put a finger on it. It’s all this training for an Ironman – I’m a few weeks into my main block of work and with a final hard few days remaining, the light at the end of the tunnel seems to be approaching. Phew.

Don’t get me wrong, I am really enjoying the training – I love the satisfaction I get when one good session follows another and fingers crossed a week of that routine becomes a multiple. It certainly is all about consistency, that doesn’t change whatever the distance you choose in this sport, and if anything these weeks have proven it is that much more important when preparing for an Ironman. However every now and then ‘the grump’ sets in – and for those who know me better, you’ll not be surprised to learn that the weather here over the past week or so has been ensuring that said grumpiness has been that bit more apparent than normal – another aspect of the consistency if nothng else

I guess it’s just the nature of being in Scotland over the summer. We know it’s coming (the rain, the wind … not to forget the cold) and yet for some reason I still find it depressing to wake in the morning and hear the rain fall. – I rode longer on Tuesday (140ks) and was delighted to make it over Comrie Moor and around the Lochearnhead loop without a sinlge drop of rain. It was the first time in over a week I was able to get in the door without having to think about jumping headlong into the shower.

As I mentioned beforehand though, it’s the last few days that I have planned on this routine, and then the bulk of the sessions needed will all be tucked away, leaving me more time to start resting up, be less grumpy and get excited about the prospect of racing Ironman!

Lets hope the rain gives us a little break soon, allowing some riding under a blue sky in Stirling once more …. it happens you know! (as Gavin & Blair show here)

Last week was my first longer aerobic week – it was good to get through it, as I always find the first week of ‘proper’ training tires and drains you much more than you might expect. This week is rolling by just as fast, and the Ironman in Bolton looms ever closer, which means getting the long run tucked away

Running for a long time ... like last night (must get out more often!)

Last nights ’session for the day’ was my long run – 35K. I have a loop here in town that I tend to use each week (just call me a groundhog) which is 15K all in … simple – do it twice, and er, add on a bit.

I want to be able to run these long runs (I had one last week plus managed a few through May) at a good pace, which is 4min/K. Now, I won’t lie, I find an hour at that clip can feel like an age, (especially when the wind blows like it is currently) so it’s a test of my resolve to double it plus add an extra 20mins on top … however, suck it up I did, and the box got ticked; 2hrs 20mins later.

The legs feel a little jaded this morning, but nothing too terrible, which is pleasing. Onwards to the w/e … I’ll be back with more news soon I assure you …

training kit got abandoned, just for a while ...

 Training has kicked back in well though … it’s always hard to get back into the long(er) training sessions, but at the same time it’s a satisfying feeling being tired each night, a feeling I am going to get used to over the course of the next month with all this Ironman jazz!

So far this week i’ve been dong:

Monday – swim 5k aerobic, bike 70k steady, run 10k easy shuffle

Tuesday – swim 4k including hard 400m reps, ride 100k hilly, run 15k incl grass intervals

Wednesday – swim 4k easy, ride 60k easy, run 30k steady ….

…. and so the week shall go on. And the next one … following the template.

Sunshine seems a distant memory in Stirling just now

I did however have a wry smile on reading Gav’s superb I love Aguilas blog post which reminded me that we had a sunny week down in Spain only last month. And in any case I will see the sun next week anyways.

Meanwhile, the week so far has been something along the lines of:

Monday – swim 4.5k aerobic, bike 2hrs with 30sec surges, 1 hour steady footing

Tuesday – swim 4k solid, bikr 3hrs with TT efforts, run grass intervals + the Stirling Tri evening swim

Wednesday – swim 5k long reps, ride 2hrs steady, run 2hrs

today – swim 4k solid (again!), run 1.5hrs and hitting the Falkirk APR this evening. It’s always a warm welcome from the cyclists. Yeah…

Tomorrow – more of the same groundhog training, which is going just like i would hope – I’m tired, but it is a ‘good’ tired.  A bit more sunshine wouldn’t go amiss – did I allude to that sentiment already perhaps??

The plan is to conitune pushing on for another week and then I am having a little break from the Shire in order to fly out to Los Angeles with Trek/K-Swiss to see the final 2 stages of the Tour of California. – More on that exiting wee development later next week!

Evening meal Argentinian-style in Spain ….  deffinately one of my favourites

We sampled some great food and wine most evenings, and on this occasion it was at ’The Argentinian’ (could you tell from the menu’s? – possibly the best memorbilia-clad restuarant i have ever been to … can you spot the armidillo guitar?!) along with some chick called Chrissie who does Ironman (we picked her brains about Kona she gave us a signed picture) and Tom who were also training in town, and Pedro who is the resident - and only - Ironman athlete in Auguilas with Mabel his partner. We had a lovely evening with some great steaks to round it off!!

All in it was a great week away. The weather was more than kind, the training was just what I needed to get me back into the routine that I had slipped out of after recovering from Abu Dhabi. – The pool was as quiet as it has always been for the last 8 years (same German couple breastroking up and down too I swear!), the roads were as smooth as I remember and the promenade still full of bustling little cafes for post training coffee drinking. We enjoyed ourselves!

I have a lot of things to catch up with on the site – I will update through the week with more posts on up coming races and an exciting new partnership with a sports management company – www.wattieink.com 

Meanwhile I had better get outside and go for a run before the rain comes in with avengence – it’s good to be home.