Boulder Peak Triathlon - TriathlonOlympic

I swam freestyle 95% of the time, which is good for me. I need to figure out why I am so slow, though. I finally have the breathing down, but I think maybe I don't swim with much power. But I was very happy with this swim. Now that I can breathe, I've been focusing on sighting and being ok with being around other people. I actually started in the middle of the pack and was ok with it.

More time in the pool in preparation; swim coaching

Not bad for me!

Keep practicing transitions, particularly getting wetsuit off legs in one good tug like the pros do.

Old Stage kicked my butt, as expected. I walked it, although from slightly farther uphill than last time I tried it. I think walking it actually saved my legs a bit, because I was breezing by people later on, and let's fact it, I don't usually pass people on the bike!

After Old Stage, I felt good. I couldn't make up the time lost from walking, but I feel like I pushed as hard as I could. My quads and hamstrings agree. I shaved a few minutes off of the last time I did the course!

Hmmm...let's start with actually training on the race course more than two weeks ahead of time and learning to ride hills. I'm a newbie cyclist and I've been focusing on adding distance this season, so I basically have not yet learned how to deal with hills.

I was a bit shaky and couldn't get my bike into the rack before the third try - I kept missing the rear-loading tire slots. I wasted a few seconds deciding whether or not to take my water bottle (i.e. sipping from it to see if it was too hot, which it was).

Keep practicing transitions and stay focused when there.

OMG - I wanted to die. This was an embarrassing run/walk debacle for me due to the heat. I felt like I still had energy but just couldn't bear the heat. As I write this at 3:00 on race day it is currently 99 in Boulder. It had to have been mid 90s around 10-11 when I was running this morning.

But I'm not excusing myself here. I should have been able to come up with something close to 60-65 minutes even when I'm tired and hot. I left 10-15 minutes on the table because I wimped out. As with biking hills, I avoid running in the heat because I hate it. But I need to get ok with it if I want to keep doing tris and other summer races.

HTFU

A little bit of stretching; got some fruit, acai juice, water, and then beer (gotta love my post-race nutrition)


Lack of biking preparedness; caving to the heat


The 5430 folks put on a great race. This course was a bit too challenging for me (relative newbie BOPer), but I look forward to the opportunity to improve upon my performance next season!