Boulder Peak Triathlon - TriathlonOlympic

Not quite the time I was looking for, but OK considering the weeks prior and a PR on this course. My sighting was actually decent this time, although I did a sub-par job on the catching waves part; I saw three other cap colors, and obviously crossed over a few people with all the grace of a destroyer at ramming speed, said sorry where I could; also took one kick to the head by a guy doing elementary backstroke, I figure I deserved it for not seeing him laid out in the water like a tourist at Glenwood Springs. Also My internal GPS still likes the boats in the Marina, as I strayed closer to them a bit on the return leg.
A lot of folks seem bothered by swimming into the sun rising in the east, which i don't quite get...it was straight over the outbound buoys. Squint, swim into it, and stay with the group.

Nothing, other than not have the training lapses.

I probably could have done this a little faster, but felt pretty organized overall. The suit was a little stubborn, but I can't really call it a problem.

talcum in the bike shoes

Out of the lot and onto 57th, the traffic was pretty thick. It took me a while to get my legs moving, and therefore my bike. I was focused on not getting caught in the adrenalin from the carbon wheels going by, thinking to the 1st big effort on The Hill.
Oh, The Hill. The new pavement on Lee Hill was nice, red carpet rolled out to welcome us to Old Stage. As I started up, I saw a woman with a pretty nice TT bike at roadside, before the climbed even started... weird. Weirder, a few yards further up there was a doe in a front yard, watching all the loonies on bikes who'd disrupted breakfast. Watching people get off their bikes to walk up is really good motivation to HTFU a bit more. The slow-tape-player house was out with the disco tunes; the devil costume was running around near the top; always nice to hear the false encouragement from strangers "looking good 791!" total BS, but thanks for the support :)
Crested the hard part, grabbed a water from the station, drank 1/2 and tossed it 100 yards up - bad decision in hindsight. Over the top and down, past the radar station, I notice my aero bottle moving forward, away out of its mount, broken strap is not holding it. So I chucked it before I rode over it accidentally with 3/4 of my bike nutrition in it. crap. oh well.
The rest of the ride felt pretty good, got more water later at the 2nd aid station. Got out of the shoes at the white fence and had a nice dismount and quick entry to transition.

tie down the nutrition bottle better.

Already out of the shoes, just into the Free's sock-less and change hats, grabbed a swig from my backup bottle. Got a high five from Mcgilmartin right outside transition, see coach Trista is right outside on the roadside, and off we go...

The legs were a bit stiff but otherwise the 1st mile felt good, although I couldn't see the porta-let thats usually near mile 1/5 station, and suddenly kinda want to see it. No luck, walked the water station, and doused my head, and drank a gatorade. Bad idea, not my drink. Walked the second water station, had a little more gatorade, calves a cramping around the achilles, feels odd. The running felt OK, but between the cramps, feeling salty, and the 'hello, stomach upset over gatorade' feeling, occasional stride breaks felt good too.
The porta-let is at mile four, but nevermind I'll just get to that later. As IM headed down the out n back segment, there are large clumps of athletes going both directions, and as a group 3 abreast goes be the other direction some guy on the wrong side of the road gives me a roller derby elbow. Duh, winning?
Mile four, the cramps go away in favor of the heat impact, I got the old dehydration feeling again. Note To Self: Ask for ice at every aid station in August, for the hat. Mile ~5, one of the runners I have been cat-n-mousing with comes aside and tells me we have another three minutes to run until a stride break...OK. Turns out Sarah was also on a vacation, and her coach will yell at her if she's not running well to the finish, so we strike a verbal contract on the dam and finish the run together. See Matt "500 yards to the finish", then coach Trista at 200, and into the chute.

Walked a round for a bit feeling overheated, then a light bulb went off (only about 25 watts) and I went down to the beach and sat in the water to cool down a bit.
Grabbed a plate of lunch including a wrap, downed a can of Orange Crush and the little snacky foods. Then saw Matt, and absent-mindedly ate the wrap I hadn't wanted before. looked for the beer tent, found it, decided I didn't want that after all.


3 weeks of poor near non-existent training the month before, two at sea level.


The big summer goal is every leg of every tri is a PR over prior efforts. So far, so good.
This is a great event and a beautiful course. The view earned by climbing Old Stage is always worth the effort.