Mid Season Race Report: Getting My Butt Kicked in Boulder!

Coming up to race in Boulder from Oklahoma has been quite the experience! The average person here is way faster and the level of competition is extremely deep. This is where all the athletes are that bridge the enormous gap between a top Oklahoma age group athlete and the professional ranks.

6/17 Boulder 5430 Sprint Triathlon: 39th OA, 10th AG

This is the race where I first experienced what a 1000+ people at a sprint is like. I had only been at altitude for a day, and so heeded the caution I got from other athletes in making certain to be careful not too go too hard on the swim. I had been working a lot on fast starts and settling in to a comfortable pace and getting very good at it, but for this race, I went easy from the start. It worked brilliantly. It seems people here can swim much straighter (probably from many more chances to practice open water swimming), and I got a great draft all the way back in and straight as an arrow for a very solid swim split.

Next was the bike, which is a nice incline for the first several miles and then downhill after that. Not used to riding any kind of prolonged climbs, even at a low gradient, I struggled a bit to keep the pace up as high as I should have here. But once we hit the rollers, I made up time. Big time. Coming from Oklahoma, I know how to ride rolling hills well. Very well. A guy in my age group that had caught and passed me was left in my dust. Only to catch up again on the last steady incline though of course. But I hung on after that. Until the run started and he ran away. Overall, it was my fastest bike split to date though at 24.5mph for 17.2 miles. Not bad, but it needs to be much faster.

The run was where I really started to feel the altitude. Even at only 5300ft, I could tell my race pace had slowed drastically. With the tough and slow run course going over the rocky trails around the reservoir, I wasn't even able to break 20 minutes for the 5k run on this day. A solid race though for my second day at altitude.

7/8 Boulder Peak 5150 Triathlon: 90th OA, 11th AG

Now if I thought the last race was fast and competitive, this one was on even another level! When I first biked the course, I couldn't believe it. I had heard it had a good little climb in it, but I was totally unprepared for what I was about to experience. By the time I finally made it up, I thought I was going to puke! The crazy thing about this area is how many old ladies I see going up it on a routine basis! If this were in Oklahoma, no one except the more competitive road racers would ever be seen going up it by bike. And certainly no race director would ever dream of sending a triathlon up it! I was seriously daunted. No way was I going to race up this thing.

But I kept climbing it in training every chance I got. And each time it got easier and I got faster. Then the pressure came with all the guys I was training with. They were all doing it. Why not me? Ok, fine, I'm signing up!

By the time race day came, and I, once again, missed the front pack on the swim and settled in around the lead of the chase pack, I actually felt ready for it. And I was. For the first time, I got all the way up the section where it turns to 15% grade for about 2/3 of a mile WITHOUT getting out of the saddle. I was stoked! And a good thing too, because I accidentally put my dry, smooth road tire pressure in and the road where the climb was on hadn't dried out yet, which meant my tire slipped like crazy if I did try to get out of the saddle. From there on, it was all downhill, with more rollers. My specialty. And I crushed it. Enough to get a nice lead on, the same guy from the last race, who caught up big time on me on the climb and grabbed a nice gap before the rollers started. This time though, I had enough of an advantage to hold him off on the last gradual uphill section and start the run with a bit of a cushion.

However, it wasn't enough. And my running wasn't quite up to his level. He blew by me about a mile in and I couldn't hang. I stuck to my pace though, and at the turnaround, kicked it into gear to finish with my first sub-40 10k at altitude! For that slow and slightly hilly off-road run course, I was extremely pleased! With the way my run fitness is developing, I hope to soon be able to drop a 37 minute run split on a course like that and be able to hang with the likes of my new found local nemesis!

Overall, the main objective of this race was to compare myself to the top pros on a very difficult course. My goal at this point was to be within 20 minutes, and well, if you exclude the first place guy (Cameron Dye) who absolutely tore it up with an ITU level swim and by beating the old bike course record by a minute or more, I was within 21 minutes of the 2nd place pro behind him, who is also a former Olympian (Matty Reed). Close enough.

7/15 Evergreen Sprint Tri: 10th OA, 3rd AG

Finally, a smaller race like I'm used to. Only a couple hundred here, so maybe I even have a shot at the modest prize purse, right? Ha! Not in this area!

The swim was supposed to be cold. Luckily, for my sake, it wasn't. Though the race was located up in the mountains at 7000+ft, the general warm temperatures had the water temp up enough that while swimming I felt fine in my sleeveless wetsuit (coming from Oklahoma, I never thought I'd have use for a full!). Again, I hung with the front group for the first couple hundred meters or so, and then fell off the pace to lead the chase. Some guy came up on my heals on the way back so I moved over and let him through so I could jump on his instead and he led me all the way back in. Coming out of the water though, we got stuck in mud that almost felt like quick sand. There was no way to walk through it. So as he struggled I got the bright idea to try a few dolphin dives and hope I didn't hit any rocks. It worked. I flew through transition as normal and got a nice cushion to start the bike.

It wasn't enough. He caught me within a few miles, and proceeded to drop me on even the relatively flat sections. On a road bike no less! However, I was riding with power now, and from pre-riding the course a couple times the day before knew that I needed to be a bit conservative at the start.

If I thought the previous race up Olde Stage Hill in Boulder was crazy, then this was legitimately insane! 1200+ft of climbing for a 12 mile bike course! The first 7 miles climbed up into the mountains and the next 5 descended back down to the lake. It was brilliant! By far the most beautiful triathlon bike course I've ever experienced, and at close to 8000ft, by far the highest!

I paced myself well, and kept my new nemesis, who was again in my age group as well, in sight. When we hit the really steep sections towards the top, I tapped into a couple reserve bursts of power to get as much momentum as possible to start the next downhill as we got closer and closer. Finally on the last big climb, I got enough momentum started, along with my TT position to fly pass him on a sharp, blind corner that, because of my pre-ride I knew I could take flat out if I just trusted myself and stayed in it. It worked and I continued to develop a nice gap on the descent, flying past another rider along the way.

I started the run feeling a few of those power bursts, however, my legs came around quick enough. Considering that the run, like the bike, climbed like crazy for the first part. I seriously thought I should stop and start walking at the pace I was going, but my heart rate was as high as if I was sprinting! I could see my nemesis behind me, and knew if he had caught up this much already, he was bound to come flying past me any second now.

He didn't. But he did catch me and we ran side by side on the descent as I struggled to get my breathing under control. I eventually did. But when we hit a flat section again, I was left in the dust, as I again could not hold a faster run pace. I kept at it though hoping he had gone too hard to leave me behind and that I could catch him at the end as he burst, but it was not to be. We came in 2nd and 3rd in AG and with no long straights or turnarounds, never even saw another athlete on the course.

I was very pleased with my performance though, as I hit 20 flat on what was by far the toughest and slowest 5k course I've done, after the hardest bike, and at the highest altitude I've ever raced! An incredible experience along an incredible course. And even a great AG prize to boot, as I received a hand-held water bottle from Ultimate Directions to carry on long runs or trail runs with no water spots. No longer do I have to stumble through a trailer park like a zombie with an unquenchable thirst when I mistime how long I can run in extreme heat without water...