First Day of 3rd and 5th Grade

Finally the first day of school!  These guys are so excited.  We are really lucky that they are such good students and tend to be at their best at school.  Mountain View has been wonderful for them as they grow and learn.  Gavin will be starting 5th grade and has a trio of teachers (Lowthian, Ho, and Krause) while Gage is starting 3rd grade and has Mrs. Kaylor.  I think they have another good set of teachers that should hopefully continue to challenge them to grown in knowledge as well as character.

Boulder Falls!

Tara was in school preparation mode, so I took a day off to take the kids and do something fun.  Originally, we had planned to go to Water World but the forecast had it starting to rain around lunchtime and into the afternoon.  Boulder Falls ended up being our plan B.  Many years ago with the floods, this area had been closed, so I didn't actually know if it was going to be gated off again or would be open.  Much to our surprise, it was open!  The great thing about this area is that you can park so close to the falls.  It's only about a quarter of a mile down a little trail from the parking area but it's a super cool water fall.

The kids had never been before, so they were pretty psyched.  Honestly, I can't remember the last time I had been here either but it had probably been since at least college or so.  You can climb up on the rocks right near the falls and the mist just floats right over you.  Thankfully, the water flow was fairly low because when it's really ripping you can't get to where these guys are sitting and posing.  We probably stayed for an hour or more as these guys found drift wood and other random stuff among the rocks to play in.  They did say that the water was quite frigid, though!

Steamboat Springs Triathlon

After struggling at the Boulder Peak Olympic, I knew I had to sign up for another Olympic distance triathlon before I would in order to feel comfortable with attempting the 70.3 or Half-Ironman that I was signed up for in September.  This Steamboat race was reasonably local and was perfect from a timing perspective, so I quickly added this race to my calendar.  Many years ago, I had raced in a cycling stage race in Steamboat called the Steamboat Stage Race (SSR) and the area is amazing with a fun ski town vibe outside of racing.

We couldn't quite get the logistics to work for Tara and the boys to join for the race, but my parents were able to go which turned out to be awesome.  We found a two bedroom lodge/hotel rental and met up in Steamboat after we arrived.  One thing that was interesting was that at the Boulder Peak, the heat really destroyed me so I was looking forward to a cooler day up here.  As the race days ticked down the forecast kept jumping and jumping and now we were expected an almost 92 degree day up in Steamboat!  Thankfully, though it was warm, with an Olympic we were finished before the heat really kicked in.

After a quick bike course recon ride on Saturday afternoon, we found an amazing Italian restaurant in town (though Bob wasn't as impressed with the Palisade Peach Cobbler Dessert) and then retired to the hotel room to watch one of the Broncos preseason games.  After an early bed, it was game time the next morning.

The temperature was definitely brisk (~40s F), and there is probably a solid half mile or more from where you park to where T1/T2 are, but everything was mostly set up.

The swim was an out and back route (rather than a box which is more typically) in Lake Catamount and was beautiful but if I had to describe the water conditions, it was like swimming in an underwater evergreen forest.  The lake was filled with greenery and as you swim it would just hang all over you.  Quite crazy, but I don't think it cause me any real issues.  The water was a great temperature and they started us out in a "waist deep" start at this buoy which ended up being more like treading water for several minutes before starting the swim.  Soon, though we were off and racing.  The swim turned out to be very long as most swim times were three to four minutes slower than you would expect.  My overall time was 29:21, but I was happy with it.

Next was the bike which was a slightly rolling course alongside the Yampa Valley and the river that flows through Steamboat.  I tried to keep my power steady and measured but pushed where I could.  The bike was quite nice and enjoyable and in the end I rode a bike split of 1:06.  

After a quick transition, I was on to the run which is where I faltered at the Boulder Peak.  I wanted to start out at ~ 8:15 per mile and just see how I was able to hold that pace.  It was starting to get hot but I was able to keep mostly cool and hydrated.  This run, I was told, was quite difficult as the middle few miles start to role quite a bit and have some climbing.  This proved the be true, especially with the turnaround at mile 3 being up some 10-15% gradient for 100 meters, but I was able to keep plugging along.  The last mile or so I felt was really hard to hold the pace on but I knew I had a good time going so I kept pushing.  Total run time was 47:12.  Given the altitude and the heat, I was very happy with that time and for the first time at this distance of Triathlon felt that I put a whole race together.

Here I am with my coach EK (Eric Kenney) after the race.  He ended up winning the overall race by a few minutes and put down a bike split averaging something like 28 mph.  Amazing! 

For my efforts, I placed 3rd in my age group (40-44) and was alongside a friend and training partner - Russell Herbert - who wont our age group.  The below picture shows the official records.  What a great experience and performance.  It's races like these that help you push through the tough training days and bad races that occasionally happen along the way.  I really appreciated all of the cheering, as well, from my Mom and Bob who made the trek up there for me.  Thanks!

Koel Family Gardening

Despite having several relatives that actually farm and trying real hard, I am not quite sure we are cut out to be farmers.  Here is this year's crop of carrots.  I guess, truth be told, there are a row of these monsters that haven't been picked yet.  Somehow I don't think we will be making too many salads filled with the spoils of our efforts.  The kids, however, have gotten quite a kick out them and will nibble a few bites on them when they are picked.  I think we are realizing we don't quite have enough sunshine in our backyard that hits the vegetable garden and so we get these munchkin vegetables.