Trication Part 3 – Denver Metro

Sunday:

The Iron Hippie and I left Estes Park early in the morning to head to my cousin’s house in Parker, CO. Unfortunately my cousin and his wife are in Europe, but my aunt is house sitting for them, so we get to spend some time with her.

After arriving, we unloaded the car, ate some lunch and then went to the mall to hit up a few stores we don’t have access to (other than online) back home.

Athleta…I love your clothes!

I spent some time in the late afternoon catching up on blog posts (I kind of slacked on posting my Estes Park blog posts, which you can find here, here and here), some last minute information from DC (the Ironman Boulder race director) and emails before dinner.

Eggplant Parmesan for dinner…yummy!!

After dinner, we all got comfortable on the couch and watched a documentary before bed…Nicky’s Family…If you have not seen this yet, I HIGHLY recommend it. WOW!!

“Before the start of World War II, Briton Nicholas Winton masterminded the rescue of more than 600 Jewish children from Nazi-occupied Prague.”

Snuggling on the couch to watch Nicky’s Family

Monday:

I started the day with a smoothie and some relaxing with Sophie cuddling up next to me, while I worked on some writing.

Sophie is cuddled up next to me as I write.

 

We then went to the Parker Recreation Center for our last long swim (4700 yards) before lunch.

Monday Motivation…Ironman Wisconsin swim cap with only 6 days until race day.

Last long swim complete…4700 yards.

After cleaning up and eating lunch, we kicked our feet up while watching one of the dumbest movies ever…Jackass.

This is such a DUMB show!

Characteristics of a Professional athlete

Getting some advice from Sophie (my cousin’s dog)…she thinks I have a lot of characteristics of professional athletes.

At about 3:30, we went and picked my cousin up and then his parents came over after work for dinner. It was nice and relaxing and great to catch up…especially since I won’t get to spend much time with them on race day.

Tuesday:

We woke up early on Tuesday morning, went for an easy 30 minute run, packed up the Rav4, cleaned up and headed to Louisville Cyclery to pick up Mojo. We then went to Lululemon in Boulder where we found our names in their Ironman recognition window and did a little shopping before meeting the Iron Hippie’s sister for an Indian lunch shortly after 1:30.

Thanks Lululemon for all of your Ironman Boulder support! I can’t wait to see you on race day out on the course 🙂

I found my name in the Ironman recognition window at Lululemon in Boulder.

Here I am!!

This is where Lululemon will be on the run course at Ironman Boulder.

Lululemon…thanks for my free tank (the one on the left) and your amazing workout clothes!!

What a perfect name for an Indian restaurant!!

My Indian meal…full of yummy goodness!!

We relocated to the Iron Hippie’s sister and brother-in-law’s house for the next two nights (which is also a bit closer to Boulder than Parker). When we arrived to their house in Lakewood, we unloaded everything before relaxing and enjoying snacks for dinner instead of a big feast.

The Iron Hippie, his sister and brother-in-law all in the kitchen enjoying conversation and kitchen prep for tomorrow night’s meal.

It was early to bed for me. I was so tired and feeling a little sad and homesick…I REALLY miss my girls and can’t wait to see them. Seventeen days away from them has been TOO long!! I wish they were here with us and I hope they didn’t forget about us!!

This is where my heart is today…miss these two so much!!

Wednesday:

We slept in, which is something my body was REALLY craving. WOW…10 hours of sleep later and I felt like a completely new person. I started the morning by relaxing in the living room while the Iron Hippie slept and everyone else was at work. When the Iron Hippie woke up, we went for a short (20 minute) bike ride to make sure all of my gears were working properly, since we picked Mojo up yesterday at the shop.

Mojo is race ready!!

After our ride, it was time for a breakfast smoothie full of all the good things…

Love my morning smoothie with Osmo Recovery and Pure Clean Powder

I spent the rest of the morning doing laundry, getting ready for our final relocation to Boulder and Thursday’s workouts (swim at the Boulder Rez, followed by an hour spin on the bikes). I am soooo ready to relocate for the last time this trication!!

We made a quick trip to Target for some last minute items we will need for our race and to get us through the last few days of our trication. On our way, we stopped at Panera for a tasty summer salad for lunch.

My Panera salad for lunch hit the spot!!

I laid down for a short afternoon nap and was ready to go for dinner…homemade Thai food is da bomb!! Thanks Greg and Sarah for a wonderful stay and yummy food to fuel us into race weekend 🙂 We capped off our evening watching some television and packing up our stuff to relocate one last time before race weekend…Boulder, here we come!!

Glass noodle salad

Curry

Mango sticky rice

Sarah and I using bowl pad holders…perfect for holding hot bowls any time of the day!!

Thursday:

It was off to Boulder early for the last part of our trication…pre-race, race day and post race 🙂

Trication Part 2 – Estes Park…The End

Friday:

Today marked the start of single digit countdown to Ironman Boulder…

We are now onto single digits for the countdown to IMBoulder!!

We woke up at 5 am so we could go into Rocky Mountain National Park (RMNP) for a hike to Loch Vale. This was about a 5 mile hike round trip…

Allen in his natural environment…this is where he belongs.

The Iron Hippie hiking along on the trail.

Loch Vale is 2.7 miles away.

Allen pointing at the “mouth” of the rock that “smiles.” According to Allen, this rock says, “Shh…there is a secret trail.” We took fireman’s trail up to Loch Vale.

The Iron Hippie and me by the “smiling” rock.

A view of the trail and our quiet surroundings.

Part of the way up to Loch Vale.

Allen and the Iron Hippie leading the way.

Just keep climbing the trail.

Part of the trail along the way.

Having a little fun throwing snowballs on our way up to Loch Vale.

The Iron Hippie and Allen still hiking.

A fun stone sculpture on the trail up to Loch Vale.

My shadow on the trail.

Hiking up to Loch Vale.

A beautiful waterfall along the trail.

Loch Lake…so peaceful and magnificent!

Loch Lake…beautiful!!

Loch Lake…crystal clear waterl!

Loch Lake…so peaceful!!

Eating an apple by Loch Lake.

Loch Lake…nature’s beauty.

A gorgeous view of RMNP!

A beautiful waterfall on the descent.

We went back to the cabin, ate a snack and took a nap to recharge the batteries 🙂 After our nap, we went for a run, before eating leftovers for dinner, walking down on the strip for ice cream and having an early to bed for a Saturday early morning trip to Boulder.

Last run at an elevation of 7500+ feet!!

Saturday:

We woke up at 4:45 to head down to Boulder for a BAM OWS at the Boulder Rez. I felt a little sluggish to start, but eventually found my groove and settled in to a pretty solid pace.

BAM OWS…the Rez was as smooth as glass!!

Funny that we swim by a sign that says “No Swimming No Wading”

After the swim, we hopped on our bikes and rode the “blue” loop (also known as the 3rd loop) of the Ironman Boulder bike course. I really do love this course and can’t wait until race day!! Mojo was having a few issues shifting, so after the ride, we loaded her up and took her to Louisville Cyclery, where they are going to take really good care of her and make sure she is race ready. Thanks to Susan McNamee for the referral 🙂

The signs are up on the roads to warn drivers to expect delays next Sunday…it is getting real 🙂

On Lookout Road…what a beautiful view of the mountains!!

We’re all good…just riding our bikes 🙂

The Iron Hippie was assisting Allen with his bike.

The Iron Hippie was assisting Allen with his bike…thumbs up means it’s all good?!?!?!?!

The Iron Hippie was full of shenanigans after assisting Allen with his bike.

The Iron Hippie was full of shenanigans after assisting Allen with his bike.

We decided to stop at Mary’s Market in Hygiene for a sandwich on our way back up the mountain and it was our lucky day!! Thanks to Lululemon for the free food, drinks, fuel and conversation to all cyclists that stopped and purchased anything at Mary’s Market on Saturday morning/lunch hour!! You put a smile on the faces of so many cyclists 🙂

These sweet ladies from Lululemon bought our lunch for us!!

It turned out to be a good thing we stopped for a sandwich at Mary’s Market, because it ended up taking us 31 minutes to drive 9.2 miles thanks to a festival in Lyons. Had we waited to refuel back at our cabin, we all might have been a bit hangry!!

Traffic jam…took us 31 minutes to go 9.2 miles thanks to a festival in Lyons.

After arriving back to our cabin, we all cleaned up, did some laundry, went to the grocery store and waited for Allen’s wife and daughters to arrive. After being surrounded by only testosterone for the last two weeks, it was nice to have some estrogen around me 🙂

The girls are here!! The girls are here!! Yay for estrogen 🙂

We grilled food at the cabin for dinner, made s’mores and then headed down to the strip so we could get ice cream and enjoy the sounds along the stream…after all, this was our last night in Estes Park. I have LOVED my stay here and would highly recommend a trip here to anyone who loves the outdoors. There is so much to do here for people of all types 🙂

A heated dinner conversation about who’s idea it was to sign up for Ironman Boulder…it was definitely Allen’s. He is the one who signed up first after all.

Mmmm…S’mores 🙂

This is the only way you’ll catch the two of us on a tandem together…in a garden as part of their decor 😉

Sunday:

We have moved on to the flatland…AKA the Denver metro, where we will be staying with family for the next 4 days. After staying up in the mountains for the last 2 weeks, Denver and Boulder feel flat in comparison 😉