This includes a long run where I ran sort of slow because I couldn't grab my my zipper cord. My actual time in the water was 14:35.

As those who read my blog and race reports know, I'm a very slow swimmer. In my first tri (4 years ago at the Lake to Lake OLY in Loveland) I finished 570th out of 580 swimmers! I swam most of it on my back. I've made improvements. For the first time I finished in the top 50% of swimmers (458/1055). I'm proud of this. Moreover, I'm even happier to pass over 400 people to finish in 43th place overall.

I went out right behind the front row to try and catch whatever draft was available for however long I could hang. I think this helped!

Not much. I swam as well as I could. Sadly, my swim is a huge disadvantage. I exited the water over 5 minutes behind the winner of my age group. A gap just too large to bridge in a sprint triathlon. In fact, 5 minutes is about how much time separated me from the winner.

This was disaster one. I got out of the water and as always I reached for my zipper cord but I couldn't find it. This limited how fast I could run, and it was a long run to transition, and I finally got it just as I entered transition.

Then everything went pretty well. I took extra time to put my Garmin on. But as I exited the transition, I instinctively tried to hop up on my rig but the volunteers yelled that it was too soon... so as I hopped back off I nearly fell and I bumped into another racer! UGH!

Also, I forgot to check my speedometer magnet - again - so my computer was not on line! I usually race by AVG SPEED so not having this data was aggravating.

Be sure that the cord is reachable before swim. Check computer magnet!

I rode well. I was happy with my effort... I drank on the bike. I never felt like I was pushing too hard. If anything I could have went harder. I passed the guy who finished ahead of me in my age group on the bike... I had no problem dropping him with about 2 miles left in the ride. Unfortunately, he passed me during my transition 2 drama and I couldn't quite reel him in.

Try to push harder.

I was prepared to have an awesome transition 2, but when I got to my spot, I couldn't find it!! My stuff was buried under someone else's stuff and i didn't recognize my spot. I ran around in circles and then just decided to rack my bike wherever... I found my stuff and got out of there. To compare my shitty transition with dills: Dime: 1:09, Dills: :35!!! 34 seconds... This mistake will not happen again.

I lost one spot in my age group due to this!

Be more composed.

I am very pleased with my run. I ran hard to the finish. I wanted to break 19 minutes and I did. The run course in Boulder is not a fast course and 12th overall (2nd in AG) in this field of athletes is a pretty great accomplishment. Plus the only runner to beat me in my age group was Brad Cooper and there is no shame in that!

nothing.

Beers with BT and other friends too.


My swim (of course) and rough transitions. Looking over everything I'm pretty satisfied with the race. If I had better transitions, I would have been closer to my goal time of 1:18.

Regardless, the important thing is that I finally got to race my first true sprint and the workout intensity cannot be matched in training. I will benefit from this as tri season progresses!


I will venture to say that the Boulder series attracts some of the BEST triathletes of just about anywhere. Every agegroup is STACKED. Congrats to my buddy and rival, Mark Dillard for placing 4th in our AG and handing me my ass this week! Also to Julia Purrington for yet another great race and taking 3rd in her age group and to every BTer who raced and to those who came out to support us. I heard my name called "GO DICK DIME" more than at any race I can remember. That was so sweet!

Anyway, I'm happy. I'm having a great season and although i would have liked to place higher, I feel like the benefits of this race will be apparent as soon as next week at the Tri The Creek Sprint.