Cherry Creek Adventure

Ashley and I thought it would be a good idea to do a trial run at Cherry Creek Reservoir before the big competition on the 1st. I had no idea what we were getting our selves into.

As it turns out Cherry Creek has a mean case of swimmers itch. The website warns you to wash off immediately after you get out of the water to avoid being infected with this nasty parasite. Ashley had to actually stop reading about the warning in fear that she wouldn't get in the water. Strike #1...

I, for some naive reason, thought we could swim in the exact same spot that the tri swim is going to be held. Turns out that you can put boats on the water so therefore you can only swim in the roped off "swim beach" area. The day was hot and beautiful so as you can imagine everyone and their mom and their children were catching the waves at the fake beach. The little roped off area was packed with people and children. We found that if we swam along the back roped off area people, for the most part, stayed out of our way. The frustrating part is we didn't know how far we were swimming. Strike #2...

The reservoir supposedly has a water filtration system. You actually have to pay $2 extra to get into the park to help pay for the purification system. Ashley and I couldn't see 2 inches in front of us. The water was greener and murkier than Pueblo. Strike #3...

On the last lap I swallowed an entire mouth full of nar-nar, Cherry Creek Reservoir, supposedly filtrated water. I about got sick right in the water. It took me a while to recover. All I could think about was swallowing geese poo, swimmers itch parasites, kiddie pee, and grease and oil from the boats. It was by far to most disgusting experience I have ever had. Strike #4...

We got out of the water and found a shower to wash off in. Next we went to the other side of the reservoir to practice the bike ride. We were under the impression that signs were posted marking the tri bike route. Defiantly no signs. The streets weren't even labeled even though our tri map referenced the street names. Employees didn't even know the names of the streets. Strike #5...

We hopped onto our bikes and I soon realized I had a low back tire. Of course we didn't have a bike pump with us so we headed over to the marina. The men were very nice and tried to help us. Turns out our bikes take a special tire pump nozzle that they didn't have. Strike #6...

A day later I came down with an ear ache, possibly swimmers ear. Strike #7...

After this adventure, I expect our tri experience will be great! Our expectation are pretty low and we now know what to expect!

TIME TO KICK BUTT

It's time to really hit the training hard. The Tri for the Cure is only 28 short days away... I am scared out of my mind. This is why... Ashley and I swam in the Pueblo Reservoir yesterday. It was a lot harder than I expected.

First of all the water was murky green and almost impossible to see through. The water was a little choppy. I couldn't swim in a straight line. I might have drank some before the swim which might have had something to do with the problem above. I became tired very quickly and had to stop multiple times. I had to switch between the free style and the frogy stroke more than once.

The Tri for the Cure updated their website to include a full training calendar. It is great information- just what Ashley and I have been looking for only... a couple of months late. Nonetheless, we are committed to following the workout regimen up until the race. I start Day 1 tomorrow. On the schedule is hills. To save time looking for the perfect hill I will be doing this on the treadmill utilizing the incline, which I rarely use. The workout should be interesting... Ashley did it Friday and said it was the hardest workout she has done in a long time not to mention that she almost puked! The goal is to do 8x1 minute hills at an incline of 10 with a 1 minute jog in between each hill. I will let you know if I survive! The scary part is this is probably the easiest workout on the calendar. I better get my mind set if I want to do this!