Ian leading up the first climb.
We had a weekend of racing and training. In the typical Anderson style, we packed as many miles and fun in as possible. Ian was able to race in the Mountain States Cup at Snowmass on Saturday. Having not raced much this season, Ian had to race in Cat 2 since he did not have a US Cycling license. I had lots of confidence that Ian could win his age group as he has been very strong this year.
As I predicted, Ian won his category and received a Colorado State Champions jersey but the big news of the day was Lance Armstrong. Lance has been in town often this summer training for both the Tour de France and the Leadville 100. This was one last hard effort before racing Leadville next weekend.
Juniper and I had fun snapping photos of Lance while passing 3rd place finisher Len Zanni Honey Stinger gels in his attempt to close the gap. Although Len didn’t catch Jay Henry (2nd) or Lance, he had an amazing race and represented the valley very well.
Len Zani leading Lance Armstrong & Jay Henry up the first climb.
The crowd surrounding Lance was impressive and it was amazing to watch the people follow and hound him. Ian was lucky enough to warm up with him for a few minutes so we moved on so I could get out on the trail. I ran the Golden Leaf half-marathon course along the Government Trail for some great training for the TransRockies.
Jay Henry, Lance Armstrong & Len Zanni
This morning I ran a great 25 or 26 mile loop out of Carbondale below Mt. Sopris. It was surprisingly quiet and peaceful for the first half as most people must have been still relaxing. Ian and Juniper met me towards the end of the run with some fresh water. Very sweet of them! Not sure if all the miles I’ve put in have worked or if I just had a good day, but I finished a lot faster than I thought I would in 3 hour 15 minutes.
I have a few more days to put in some big miles and then it’s already time to taper. I hope I have a few days in the TransRockies where I feel as good as I did today.
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