Boulder Peak Triathlon - 2019

The 2018 Boulder Peak was my first Olympic distance triathlon ever and it absolutely ate my lunch last year so I was looking forward to having another crack at it this year to see if I could do better.  The standard distance for this triathlon is 1500m swim, 27 mile bike that takes you over Old Stage Road, and then a 10k run along the Boulder Reservoir dam.  The timing in the summer also makes for a fairly warm experience.  This year was no exception, but I think it was only predicted to be in the upper 80s which sounded to be a bit more reasonable.

Race morning has started to become more familiar as I continue to build more experience.  I got set up with a nice close spot to the bike exit/entry and then headed over to put on my wet suit with the rest of the Boulder Racing crew.  It certainly has been more fun racing with a group of people I know that can share in the experience.  As the temperature was already climbing I went to get in a few warmup laps in the swimming area and the water felt great.  

Swimming still is probably a weak point for me but I have at least become more comfortable.  I started toward the front of our group and when the whistle blew I was off with the age group crowd.  I saw most of the group head a bit right of where I thought the buoy was on the way out.  This turned out to be a good catch as they had to tack back over to where I was swimming toward the far left buoy.  We continued to swim and I just focused on keeping the strokes going and trying to maintain a good pace.  I finished in 27:11, which was an improvement of a few minutes for me over last years time and headed up to the bike.

T1 went fairly smoothly for me and I think I came out in about 1:20 or so.  

The plan for the bike was to ride conservatively but fairly hard up the front half of the course and then take Old Stage at about the top of threshold (~245W - 250W).  I could then take it a bit easier down the back side in preparation for the run.  This place seemed to work fairly well and started working a bit with two to three other guys over the last 20 to 25 minutes.  I would pull through and pass at like 270 W but then settle down to a high tempo pace and a few minutes later one of the other two guys would make a pass and drive the pace.  This kept it interesting mentally and is also legal as long as you drop immediately out of the 3 bike length drafting zone once passed.  I knew I had a good ride going but had some unfortunate news as we headed back into the reservoir.  Going through one of the last turned people were slowing us down to a crash just up ahead and as I rode by I noticed one of the guys I train with down on the road.  Apparently, someone had crashed going through the turn before him and he went right over them, having nowhere to go.  We later learned he had broken his collar bone and was on his way to the hospital for some surgery.  Medics were already on the scene to we continued into T2.  I rode 1:10:06 for the bike length which was about four minutes faster than last year's bike.

T2 went fast as well and I exited transition just in front of two guys I train with.  T2 time was something like 0:50.

As they both are fast runners, they quickly caught me and asked if I wanted to "work together" on the run.  I chuckled a bit and wished them well as they are both super fast runners.  Unfortunately, one of them is in my age group but I had to let him go and just try to limit my losses.  The plan was to try to run 7:45s and then push from there.  Even though I had just come off of my last race running ~45 mins (7:15 min/mile), I know you have to respect this course a bit more with the heat and the dirt course.  I quickly found myself pushing the pace but this time it was harder to hold. 

Thankfully, I slowed down a bit but never truly fell apart.  The course is tough and though the back half is technically down hill, it never quite feels like it.  The heat is cooking as you come back across the dam and then there is a small hill prior to the finish that always is tough.  I just kept rolling and actually ended up running the fastest 10k so far of my triathlon career. 

Came home in 44:53 which I was fairly psyched about, given that last year I limped in for something near 58 or 59 minutes for the run.
 

Total time was 2:24:27.  After checking results this was good enough for 2nd in my Age Group and 44th overall out of ~500 people racing that day. 
 

One of the guys I train with that I mentioned earlier took 1st in our AG as he blazed a 39:15 10k split. 
 

Overall, I had great support from my family cheering from me all day throughout the race, an awesome plan from my coach getting me to this point, and I am thankful that God has given me a body that is still (mostly) hanging together to get out and push myself to the limit. 

 

The kids also seem to have a great time at these races and also showed off their new found swimming skills by passing the swim test to get out to the docks by themselves.  It still makes me a bit nervous seeing them all the way out there, but they seem to be doing great and loving it!