Boulder Sunset Tri Recap

I slept in but woke up with a nervous stomach. Today we were back to the days of waiting around all day until your competition just like when I was on the Track team in college.

My wave wasnt until 2pm and the transition area didnt open up until 12:30. I left the house and packed up the car around 12. My car was pretty far in the lot at home so I mounted my bike to get to it a little faster and save the legs. However, when I shifted the gears, the chain fell off and I went down to the ground. Not something you want to happen just before a race. The bike was ok, but I had fallen on my injured wrist and it was now sore and throbbing. The show must go on.

There wasnt much traffic getting into the race site at the Boulder Reservior, but then again this was a small race. I had trouble finding my zone in the TA, and when I did I was not all that excited about my spot about the middle of a row, 3 rows from the end not close to any out/in's. I was all set up and ready to go by 1:30 and sought out some shade to wait.

To my surprise the first waves almost went off on time (only 5 mins late). Why you would have the Olympic distance athletes go off before the Sprint ones is beyond my intellegance obviously. This was to be my last tri this season and I really wanted to put up some great splits, minimize my mistakes and end with a bang.

I raced again without a wetsuit, the water was a little chilly but on the cusp of needing a wetsuit. At this point im not sure the time you save in TA not having a wetsuit is worth the effort and speed you lose not having one on the swim. The positives may outweigh the negatives.

I started toward the front and right and it was a battle for at least 300m, and on top of that the water was a chop fest due to the Boulder afternoon winds. I tried to find open water and swung wide at the first turn. By the second turn my goggles had fogged up and I was attacking the beach blind. On top of that we started to overtake some of the slower Olympic athletes and I was just hoping the few people I spotted in my wave were going the right way (one I ended up letting go bc he was well off target).

I got out of the water with a 15:30 and was hoping for something more around 12 (like ive been hitting in practice and time trials), right behind my friend Dan who I've never seen on a swim so I knew something was up. I passed him before we got to TA offering words of encouragement as we located our bikes. I was strapped and unracked in less than a min. and not really out of breath from the swim like normal.

With the transmission problems that had come to light already this morning I knew I had to be concious of what I was doing on the bike when shifting. I went out strong on the gradual uphill but with the wind. By mile 7 my legs were showing sign of fatigue that I didnt have a week prior on the same course. Legs, who can ever understand them? I was passed by 2 guys right off and was in what I thought was 5th position until getting passed by 2 more at mile 14. One of which was a heavy set fella that I reconized passing me in prior races. You have to stay in control and remember that there are a lot of competitors out there that can hammer on the bike but cant even lift those treetrunk legs to run! Again the bike leg was a battle the whole way and it seemed like other than a short stretch in the begining, I was into the wind the whole way. I was able to find comfort though, which I kind of see as a weakness since you're supposed to be hammering on the bike, cranking away and suffering. That I was not.

I came into the dismount already out of my shoes, leg over the sattle and hands off the breaks. I was going to do this with some pace. I jumped off the still moving bike and broke out into almost full sprint to match the speed, the crowd cringed as they tried to forsee the oncoming fall, but I didnt fall I had a great ITU dismount like a champ and the crowd applauded my efforts as I made my way to the rack. Some jerk had left his wetsuit right in the middle of the row so I had to try to avoid that but I was still on a mission to catch a few of those guys who had passed me on the bike.

Having a great T2 aided in my venture as I gained some ground and had them in my sights within the first 800m. It wasnt long after that that I had passed 2 of the 4 guys on my list. The 3rd was about 50m in front of me, who at the first mile mark had stopped to tie his shoe and stare me down the whole time. I wasnt able to gain any ground on him after he got going again with fear. Its tough bing the chased and I knew exactly what he was feeling. At the turn around I could see him pick up the pace and I gradually did the same picking up a few steps over the next mile and a half. With 1000m to go he kept looking back and I knew Id be able to catch him. At my useual land mark with 800m to go I started my finish kick and passed him without any fight at all. For good measure I kept increasing my speed and put some ground between us (at the last turn I saw that I was at least 60m up on him). It turned out that my new position was the final podium spot and 3rd in our age group! Lesson learned.


overall place: 14 out of 255
division place: 3 out of 21
gender place: 13 out of 127
time: 1:31:42
pace: 0:
swim: 16:23
t1: 1:01
bike: 51:18
t2: 0:46
run: 22:16

Boulder Run Series Pearl St Mile

I have to leave work an hour early in order to make it from Denver to Boulder in time for bib pick up and having been down to the Pearl St Mall area before I know that parking is limited. I bring my bike, park a few blocks away and save my energy as I coast to the start line.

WTC and Run Boulder stepped it up a knotch this year with athlete goodies including a thermois, a pint glass and tech shirt with race logos, as well as bib numbers with our names or nick names on them.

After Berry Siff and team Timex led the kids warm up the Mascott race was under way. I have no idea how these people were able to run 500m in 96*+ temps while in hot costumes. Its so fun to watch. I aspecially liked when Chip the CU mascott stole the raffle bike half way through to try to cheat his way to the win.

The Competitive women's wave went off at 7:10 and to be honest this is where I belonged, they were running times closer to what I expected to run. The winner ran a 4:55. I remember watching my friends roll in around 5:30 last year and this was my goal. Not only that, it was time to return the Wagner Mile annual challenge. Originally unnamed but every year around 9/11 since 2001 I've toughed out a mile time trial to see what I've got and assess my fitness. I left off with a 5:19 in 2008 but did have a 5:09 in 2003. My PR in the mile is from 1998 at 4:46 and I have no idea where that came from. The Wagner mile is named after Wagner College, the venue for which a challenge developed when I started to run my mouth of how I could just pick up and run a sub 5:30 mile any time. And thats what I call fit or "in shape". Well that year 2007 I went out too hard the first 800 (somewhere around 2:20) and ended up having to stop when a lingering calf injury resurfaced. It was pretty embarassing at the time since the whole Wagner College T&F team was there to watch. A few days later I ran a 5:45 just to say I accepted the challenge and put a time on the board.

Until now my best mile time trial at altitude has been 5:59 done on the Boulder HS track, so needless to say I didnt really know how this race was going to pan out. I also didnt know if id be able to once again be in a position to not only beat the Wagner challenge but to do it at altitude.

I toed the line after a few striders positioned about 3 rows back with 60 stud Boulder elites, and skinny xc looking guys. The horn sounded and instantly I was passed by half the field as we wound through the down town streets of the Boulder Mall area. I stayed with a more aggressive running form, higher knees, more forward lean and a toe to midfoot strike passing the half way mark with a 2:26 split which blew my mind. I looked at that with disbelief but knew full well that much of that came from the slight downward slant that would be followed by a late uphill battle on the return.

There was a bit of cat and mouse as some runners began to fade and I started to accelerate to my perpritary finishing kick. I was gasping for air like a fish out of water. I made the final turn on 14th where a massive crowd crept into the street almost so much that I couldnt see the finish. I looked down at my watch at 5:06 and caught a glimps of the finish and decided to go for it! I clocked a hand time of 5:27 and was awarded a 5:29 chip time. I had done it! and really didnt think I had it in me with the few track/speed workouts I've done.

Post race I had developed a nice smokers caught that will undoubtibly be with me for the next few days like when I used to run the 400m indoors in High School. After a short cooldown I accepted an invite to the Newton Running Lab in Boulder for their Race Team announcement party- Team Alchamy.

Cherry Streak Tri Write Up

4th out of the water, 3rd out of transition so in 3rd place before the turn around incident.


Neg:
Started 40 mins late (shuttle)
TA stones
TA water buckets

Swim long?
Transition straight up a hill
Timing mat not right out of water (and some people cut the course)

Turn around not well marked
Cracks everywhere in pavement
Not closed course so a boat cut in front of me

Run not well marked
Paths were horrible
People allowed to cut the course and no DQ
Finish was on an uphill

Food wasnt ready for an hour after finishing
Awards were 3 hours after finishing

Timing was all messed up
Bike was more like 10.5 rather than 11 miles anyway

In short, everyone has a bad race but this was me having a good race and the organization of the race director had a huge effect on my outcome.  You see pros swim off course due to a floating marker bouy, you see leaders in a race take wrong turns (they should have known the course) but when a turn around isnt marked how am I to know the scale of a hand drawn map they had posted online??  What did you do when you took a wrong turn during a race?


9 2/11 7/77 15:35 2:05 0:58 34:56 18.9 0:47 22:06 7:22 1:14:19
overall div swim pace T1 Bike pace T2 Run Pace Time

Crash

With all the recent crashes during the Tour de France I guess I decided to follow suit. Out on a training ride on a route that I've never taken before I found myself at a y split on a path. It was paved kind of funky and with the narrow width of my tires the bike got stuck in a crack while I continued to turn the opposite way.

On the way down I clipped out my left foot and tried despirately to catch myself but as you know hard plastic on concrete offers no traction. I slide out hitting the ground hard as my right leg finally clipped out. My front cog dug into the back of my leg as the chain popped off. I laid there stunned at what just happend and even though I wasnt going more than 10 mph I was in pain. I took a moment to assess and gather myself, I couldnt believe that just happend. I hadnt fallen hard off a bike in years, not like this. My left wrist used in catching my fall hurt the most and began to swell. My left glute took a hit as well but I could stand and better yet I could ride.

This was only hours after a short ride to the store where a bee collided into my face and held on. By the time I was able to swat him off he had already somehow crawled under my sunglasses and stung me hard! I can barely describe to you how painful this is, your eye first begins to tear just before it swells shut. The initial sting starts to grow as the toxins spread.

I've had a chance to talk with others who've went down while on their bikes. One of the first things they say as their picking stones out of their wounds is "man I'm glad I wasnt on my TT bike." I was even saying this as I reset the chain and assessed the damages.


I finished my ride and went home to ice down my now swollen wrist. On of the worst injuries you can have in CO since almost every activity involves a wrist. Hoping for a speedy recovery but not sure how much damage was done.

On Your Left

I road the Boulder 70.3 course today and actually passed some people. It turned out to be a very fast course but at this point in my training I was not ready for the second loop.

It was also the first time on a training ride where I was consistant in passing people. Not sure if that's an indication of improvements on the bike or not, but it felt great!

Boulder Peak Recap

Got to TA with about 20 mins before closing and wasted no time setting things up (this being my 3rd race this year I now have it down to a science) This isnt amateur hour. Once out of transition I had the time but the bathroom line was a little excessive, Ive never seen it encompass the parking lot like that. Eventually someone did get smart and re open just the second set of bathrooms in TA. I waited around for almost an hour since I was the very last wave to go off.

The water was warm almost wetsuit illegal at 73*, far different then my first race this year at the Boulder Res where it was 59*. I started the swim about second row and right center. I figured I would drift more to the right making it easier for me to see the buoy and keep it on my right side (the side I breath and sight on). There was some bumping and grinding at the start but I found a great channel. I could tell some guys were going out too hard and within the first 500m I was able to pass a good chunk of my wave before the first turn. Even though by this point I was swimming blind, goggles totally fogged up. Turning away from the sun in my face did help a little but by the second turn I started to overtake some of the weaker swimmers from the previous wave. Heading for home I would sight people instead of buoys but then be SOL a few strong strokes later when I passed them. I used my legs as little as possible but my stroke could have been faster. I got out of the water with a 2 min Olympic distance PR. I guess I must be doing something right because my swim is improving with leaps and bounds each race.



T1

Dropped my goggles on the way to TA and had to stop and grab them but still managed to get my wetsuit off with no trouble at all and run out with a few second T1 PR

Bike


The mount was fast but not the foot placement and in doing so I somehow managed to go off the road and into the grass before getting a few pedals in. I took it conservatively, concentrating on getting my breathing under control, and getting some water in me. I was passed by a few guys (of whom were admiring my bike) and I estimated myself to be in the top 30 at that point. One good thing about being last wave is that you get to see a lot more of your teammates and familiar faces on the bike and get to encourage each other. This course demands encouragement, its one of the hardest Olympic Distance in the country (many pros cut there teeth on this one and wear it as a badge of honor). Not only do you climb up a mountainous road but you are also at altitude and end up gasping for each breath. My legs recovered from the swim much better this time around and I made my way up Lee Hill Rd again passing some of the slower members of the previous wave (maybe a few waves away) Each wave was separated by @5 mins.

At the summit there was no time to celebrate. I shifted gears and grabbed a bottle of G2 from the aid station. I love how well the volunteers take care of us, they open the bottles and ensure that everything is set to just start drinking as soon as you get it. Of course this leaves room for spillage (but we will get to that at the next aid station). I took a few sips and having nowhere to put the bottle since my Felt (Cortez) only has one bottle holder (which was currently occupied by water), I had to almost immediately ditch the G2. I hate being so wasteful, and im not the only one in this situation, maybe I can convince Ironman's race director to get smaller bottles so riders have the option. Anyway, 2 points...I was able to get it in the can on my way back up hill for a half mile before the decent. The initial half mile of the decent has a strictly enforced 35 mph speed limit and the incline is no joke. Without braking you could easily get up to 40-45 mph even out of aero. I hammered on the breaks at only about 23 mph but at least I was safe (and to my surprise I later recieved word from my friends at Ironman in the med tent that no one had an accident today). The downhill relief went on for another 8 miles and I loved every minute of the speed. I got into a zone and began passing people, however none in my age group that I recall.

At mile 20 was the second aid station and my stratigy was much the same as the first however this time I grabbed the bottle at a much faster pace, squeezed it tightly and got G2 all over the volunteer. After that I royally missed the garbage can, again since I was traveling faster and the fact that I drank less out of this bottle so it had more weight. Also im left handed and on the bike im forced to throw with my right.

At mile 23 I passed a 15 year old who was kicking some major butt and told her great job. I finally passed 2 people in my age group (one all tatted up that I reconized as someone that always passes me on the bike in races) but both re-passed me within the last mile as I prepared to dismount and get ready to run.

T2

My dismount was epic! I saw a guy in front of me cut it too close and get a penalty for going over the mount line so when I came flying in I didnt take any chances. I dove off the bike, throwing caution to the wind even let go of the bike (like one of those out of bounds dives in basketball) If you're not touching the bike over the line apparently no penalty bc all I got were smiles and applaude. I was able to catch the bike once grounded before it too struck the ground. Its so light that I lifted it a little off the ground until it was rolling straight. I quickly racked it and got my shoes on (tied, but next time ill have quick laces) and was out of T2 before one of the guys in my AG that had passed me.

Run

I was on a high knowing that I had great splits thus far and had a very speedy T2, I started my watch an grabbed some water right away out of TA. Being that I was the last wave, many of my teammates had already finished and now lined the later parts of the run (out and back) it was great to have their encouragement before heading out and having something to look forward to on the return. Within the first mile I passed not only that tattooed biker in my AG but also another who I just couldnt hang with since half way up Lee Hill. In the back of my mind the whole run I worried that he would surge back but I still went out a conservative 7:18 pace. A bit off my Sprint distance opening mile goal pace of 6:35. At the time I felt that this pace was right where I needed to be in order to A) finish and B) have something left in the tank on the return 3 miles in case someone decided to make a go of it. Also in the first mile that 15yr old girl I passed on the bike came charging past at an envious pace. It was probably around 6:45 to 7:00 which is where I was hoping I would be and probably had it in me to go with her but was not about to make that decision and blow up that early in the run so I let her go.

After the first mile, I cruised, picking off more men with 42 on their calf than i'd ever seen. Is this some sort of mid life crisis year or something? I passed at least 50 people before the turn around. I saw some of my teammates along the way on their way back and it would have been nice to be able to catch up to them (and I would have been hugely motivated to do so had I seen John from my Cherry Creek and BB10K showdowns). I was starting to overheat so I poured 2 cups of water on my head (visors are good for keeping it up there and out of your eyes), drank 2 as well. Again at the mile 4 aid station same thing (no gels), but I did mix in some G2. After making my way up Certain Death path to the turn around I walked at that aid station and got in a lot of fluids before picking up the pace for the return. I got my first glance at the guys in my AG that I had passed and deemed them a now show for the finishing any time around me. On a side note I often look worse off then I really am in races, I've found that you can always go harder no matter what face you are making. Not sure if this has worked to my advantage yet but ill keep a look out for people I basically snipe at the finish. Wouldnt it be great if they had huge screens like they do on the track at meets where you can see if someone is gaining on you in the final stretch?

I held steady at this faster pace even up one of the last hills but just before the final hill there was a 5' dimond back snake on the path in the middle of the race that broke my focus just before having to take on a hill. After I muscled up, I got back to work and decided it was time to get this thing done. I was now in no mans land, no one to aim for and spark any type of kick. It wasnt until the final 600m which is downhill that I started a kick feeding off the massive crowd around the shoot. It was a PR day (6 of them)SBR, T1,T2 and overall time!





Amanda Stevens, Tim ODonell, Matty Reed (lifetime fitness)
http://forum.slowtwitch.com/forum/Slowtwitch_Forums_C1/Triathlon_Forum_F1/Boulder_Peak!_P3426613/



overall place: 380 out of 1292
division place: 41 out of 94
gender place: 267 out of 718
time: 2:41:02
pace: 7:43
swim: 28:05 (33rd out of the water out of 94)
t1: 1:58
bike: 1:21:51
t2: 1:13
run: 47:55


Click Here to read my review from 2010

Boulder Sprint 5430 Triathlon

This is the first race of the Boulder Tri Series which is all around pretty competitive. The TA opened at 6 and my wave went off at 7:35.

Swim:
started right near the front. Goggles were already fogging while waiting so I spat in them and other then a little bit of visual obstruction they never really fogged up again. I clawed over the top of a few people and got boxed out 2x but after the first bouy I was in the clear and in a rhythem. I sighted the yellow turn bouy with a guy on my right but as we appoached closer I determined it was the wrong bouy and traversed back in line with my wave (having gone out of the way maybe 30m or so), while my swimmate continued off course. After the first turn I knew I was doing well, it was rather thin and I didnt have to worry about breaking rhythem due to fighting for position. As expected a few guys did go out too hard and were starting to falter after the second turn (I've been there). I had not probalems sighting on the return and began to kick less to save my legs but also sped up my stroke cadence.

I stood up the moment my hand touched the bottom and started out of the water in 11th place. I got passed right away as I struggled to undo my zipper but my run pace was better than the trott I had last race. When passing the baby pools to get the sand off my feet I was on the wrong side of the path and had to jump over and in. The surface change caused me to lose balance and fall into the bushes lining the path. Unlike the Boulder Sunrise race, WTC was nice enough to line the rocky paved parts with carpet so I was able to reach the TA without having to slow down.

T1:
I got my wetsuit low and off right away. Next I pulled on my socks (which were lined with baby powder which helps when putting them on over wet feet). Then it was sunglasses, helmet, bike and go. No fooling around this time! I reached the mount line and jumped on to the bike placing my feet onto my already clipped in bike shoes.

Bike:
After the first pedal stroke I was looking down to get my feet situated and ready to put in my shoes and somehow I ended up off the course and into the grass. A few spectators got more of a show than they showed up for as they had to jump out of my way. I was feeling good until about 5 mins in where other athletes began to pass me. There was nothing I could do but hammer down and ride smart, stick to my plan. The race wasnt over yet.

T2: went off without a hitch and I grabed some water on my way out onto the run course.








Run:

The run was an out and back course on the dam path of the Boulder Res. A familiar course both in training and racing at this point. The course starts off with a hill, which your tired legs hate after just getting off the bike but it makes for a great finish. I probably went out a little faster than I should have but I quickly picked off a few people that passed me on the bike but lack in running skill. My goal was to break 20 mins on my finish leg but in order to do that I would have to get on the shoulder of someone with that same goal in mind. At the turn around I made a friend and we pushed each other to the last 800m where I lost contact with him and it cost me both a sub 1:30 total time finish as well as a sub 20 in the 5k run. I maybe had a little more in the tank but felt like I ran a very good race overall.





division place: 29 out of 84
gender place: 208 out of 632
time: 1:30:07
swim: 12:56 pace=27:45 12 in AG
t1: 1:49
bike: 53:37 pace=19.25
t2: 1:19
run: 20:26 pace=6:35

Water Quality of life

We try to be BPA free, HFC free, and sometimes even take it as far as to be gluten free but are we really free of radicals and healthy? In my professional life I deal in water quality and I was noticing how much we expose ourselves to high levels of Chlorine as we spend hours in the pool.

You may or may not know this but Cl is a powerful oxidant and is used in bleaching and disinfectants, as well as an essential reagent in the chemical industry. In pools its used as a disinfectant in the form of a sodium hypochlorite tablet or solution.

However, Cl has also been used as a weapon in the gas phase. So that shortness of breath you experience during your workout may be cause from the over chlorination of your pool. The facility should have a highly trained water quality specialist administering any pool treatments. Dont be afraid to speak to the manager about this issue. Its a delicate science in getting the proper balence for the pool and it condinually changes with pool temperature and amount of use. The purpose of this post to bring to light the issues and spark some questioning on your behalf.

Happy Swimming

Uni Hill 2k Review

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aPUbwuzlYO4&feature=player_embedded

The Uni-Hill (University Hill district) 2k kicks off the Run Boulder Series put on by Ironman/WTC. Team Timex including Barry Siff and Erin Krummer showed up to help the kids warm up before their 1k race (one loop of the course). There was even a 500m Masscot race.

The main event competitive division didnt go off until 7:20 starting with some of the fastest women in Boulder and surrounding area.

The men's gun was at 7:40pm as the overcast day started to lift and show a waning sun begining to set. I got a great starting position toward the front, but knew I wasnt going to be going out all that hard, toeing next to some of my friends from the mens BX team. I planned for a very conservative start considering the first 250m's objective was to take the hill, in about 20m of elevation gain before we wound back down to do it all over again. Within the first 200m I was already gassed. Breathing heavy, my legs were burning and I was passed by at least 5 people and wondering if I was now dead last. It was kind of humiliating until the second go round when my steady pace brought me up to and beyond a few stragglers that had started to lose their fight with the hill. In fact I wasnt last to begin with but I started to gain more confidence in my smart race plan as this happened. I got to the pinicle fo the second time and knew that was my cue to start kicking downhill with 200m left, the perfect set up for me normally. As shown at the Platte River Half Marathon. I just wish I had more in the tank for a better finishing time, there really wasnt anyone in sight to pass at that point.

I finished:

Time-7:38
Pace-6:09
26th out of 31 (some of the best runners around)

Boulder Sunrise Sprint Triathlon Writeup

This race kicked off my tri season, man does it sneak up on you quickly. Going into this race I had only done one brick workout working on T-running(huge weakness for me). I had barely been swimming and definitely didn't have any base distance swims in as of yet. On top of all this I just got my new bike a month ago and I'm still adjusting to it.

Race morning I woke up at 5:15 had a bagel with pb and started to load my bike into the car (rental still since mine is in the shop). I was really surprised to see it fit in there. I got up to the Boulder res @6am and didn't really hit any traffic. Its close enough for me to ride up there but theres 2 hills that would drain a little of my precious race day energy. I got a great transition spot right at the end of the row and close as possible to the bike out. I was set up, marked and warmed up by 6:35. My wave wasn't scheduled until 7:15. The water temp was a frigid 62*. I wore my brand new Runners Roost Tri uniform and headed over to the beach @6:45. Apparently there was a reason for a delay but I never found out what it was. My wave didn't actually kick off until 7:30, and that is why you didn't warm up in the water prior to your race. Don't follow these people, they will be standing there cold and wet waiting for their wave to go. Which basically negates any warm up and acclimation they just had in the water. Basically they are only in the water bc they had to pee, and there you go thinking they were with a great idea of swim warm up.

Swim Start:



I was calm and focused for the start, I put the rest of my wet suit on about 5 mins before entering the water and again wore ear plugs (I don't even want to know what cold water in the ear feels like). I had knew a few familiar faces in my wave Men Sprint under age 39, 77 guys in this wave but never saw those faces. Ever notice how different people look in wetsuits? Its got to be one of the most unflattering things for both men and women... just sayin. I stuck to the inside and about 5 feet from the front, the start was not packed at all and I actually started swimming to the start line before the gun even went off. My starting pace was apparently faster then the 6 or so guys in front of me and I almost swam right up on their feet nearly missing getting kicked in the face. I fought for position like a champ and created a little breathing room. Breathing, well breathing became a little bit harder about 200m in when my face and lips started to become cold and numb. I kept a controlled stroke and tried to remain calm even though the discomfort level was building. I tried to think of other things like how much cleaner the water seemed this year as opposed to last year.

At the first turn I knew that I was pretty close to the front pack/leader and I really hadn't pushed it. I kept the pace and concentrated on breathing and keeping water out of my mouth (which was difficult with numb lips). At the second and final turn home my goggles fogged up and I couldn't site the beach at all. I started getting off course, weaving and then slamming into people. I even stopped 2x to try to see but all I could do is aim for a guy less then 20' from me and hope he was headed in the right direction. I swam to the beach until my hands hit the sand, no stagger but I was out of breath. I normally run to transition with a pretty good pace but this time my feet were numb and the ground was rocky. I dipped my feet off in the wash buckets and entered transition in search of my bike.



T1:
I made the decision to put on arm warmers for the bike which added about a min to my transition but I still feel like it was a good choice considering air temperature @60 and how cold and numb I was coming out of the water. It wasn't freezing cold but it wasn't comfortable either. Next race I should have a great transition under a min for sure. I put my socks on and already had my shoes on the bike. I reached the mount line, jumped up and missed placing my feet on the shoes. In all I think it was a pretty good transition considering I hadn't practiced it at all this season and Ive never left my shoes on the bike before (Syracuse 70.3 I was going to, but it was a wet grassy TA instead of dry pavement).

Bike:





I was still a little out of breath so I took it out slow. I knew that a lot of people go out too fast and pay for it because this course starts out with a med sized roller then a gradual climb for the next 8 miles. As predicted 2 guys passed me within the first mile. The bike felt great, it was smooth, everything was working on it and this race I was sure I wasn't going to have a mechanical. To remind you, my past mechanicals include brake rubbing and 3 flat tires. I was so sure that I didn't even have a tire kit on the bike, just a water bottle with water.

This was the first time this year I've ridden this course sans wind (of 4 or so rides) and due to the calm you can really feel how much incline there is to overcome. On the flip side though, you do get it all back with a speedy 4 mile decent. Other then 2 riders passing me in the beginning I pretty much road alone, which is fine but you don't really feel like you're in a race. At mile 12 just before heading uphill again I looked back, my legs were starting to fade and I wanted to ensure my position. No one in view.

Mile 15 I got passed out of nowhere by someone in my AG, and there was nothing I could do about it. He was gone and I wanted off the bike ASAP to start hunting him down.


T2:

I took my feet out of my shoes with about a mile to go, hoped off the bike at the dismount line and watched a guy in my AG try to pass me and drop a shoe so he had to go back. Seriously, if you lose focus for even a second in this race you could do something stupid that will cost you HUUUUGE. I was out of transition around a min with a few gulps of water (I really need to concentrate on taking in more liquids while on the bike).


Run






I was already out of breath coming out of T2, then faced with a hill within the first mile I was unable to recover until mile 1.5. I passed a few guys in similar situations and attached myself to the hip of a 22 year old guy who was right at 7 min pace. We pushed each other stride for stride until mile 2.5 when I lost the fight and just couldnt hang on to the pace any longer. Off the bike my feet are always numb and running on numb feet can get pretty awkward, but the condition is getting better. The last .3 miles was downhill and I did spark up a small kick but it just wasnt enough to catch up with my buddy the 22 year old.

I also wanted to mention that my friend Dan and his GF both did their first tri today. It was great getting to talk with them about their experiences both during the race and training leading up to it. Its all pretty overwhelming and there's much to learn in a short amount of time but both had a great race. They were unsure if they were going to do another but I know better, knowing full well that the Tri bug has some pretty potent venum.

I really need to take a look at my training and stick to a schedule. I feel as though I set up a great schedule this year but have not stuck to a training plan that optimizes my success for them. I also have to remind myself as to which races are my A races and where I actually expect to reach my goals. For this distance I should be able to get under 1:30.


(Distances: 750m, 17, 5k)
overall place: 28 out of 283
division place: 5 out of 29
gender place: 25 out of 136
time: 1:32:17
swim: 14:17 pace 30:38 11/77 in wave 5/29 Div
t1: 2:25
bike: 52:15 pace 19.6 mph 11/29 Div (based on time)
t2: 1:18
run: 22:04 pace 7:07 6/29 Div (based on time)

Looking at the numbers and comparing my training to date Its clear and obvious that I have only recovered about max 70% from the BB10k race.

Now lets compare this race to my last sprint tri in 2009

FLT Comparison: (724m, 13, 5k)

.5mile swim, 13 mile bike, 5k Run
0:14:57 pace =33:13
0:46:37 pace= 16.73 mph
0:22:05 pace= 7:07
= 1:28:46
90/471 men, 71 of 225 in my age group 25-29


After the race I headed into the mountains to Vail, CO to check out the Teva Mountain Games. It was a blast be able to watch world class climbers, mountain bikers (team Timex was there), and a great dog jumping contest.

I got hooked up by Native Eyewear and got to stay at the Vail Sonnenal Resort
Hotel