I thought the swim felt great, but my time doesn't really reflect it. I was shooting for 22 even coming out of the water, and stood up to see my watch at 23:08. Shit. I probably felt so good in the water because I wasn't pushing hard enough.

Push harder, I guess, but I'm baffled by this swim. I felt strong and smooth and thought I drafted well. Confused at how this is a worse swim than Nationals and the Peak last year.

Another disaster with the Rudy helmet. God damn ear flap fell off again when I was trying to put it on. I did this at home 20 times and it went perfectly smoothly. Race day, comes off. Took the helmet back off to get the other earflap off, put it back on, finally got my ass in gear. Then when I started riding, my left foot mashed the back of the shoe down and it took me a solid 1/2 mile to get my foot in and going.

Everything.

Coming off the swim, I wanted to try to make time on the bike, which was a bad decision under the circumstances. It was hotter than hell out on course, I was essentially riding a 12/23 cogstack, and I was flustered from a shit morning and a bad start out of T1. So I hammered away at the bike course, thinking I could get back that minute I missed on the swim, and do a 1:06 bike split to hold on to my goal time. Not only did I miss my actual goal, I toasted my legs for the run.

Everything.

Better transition here, especially considering that my bike almost literally couldn't have been further away from the bike entrance. Good start to what would end up being a ridiculously long run.

Nothing

Ugggh. First mile was okay pace-wise at 6:40. But even there I could feel my stomach turning in the heat, and I was quickly developing a nasty side cramp. So at the beginning of the second mile I decided to sacrifice 10 seconds and try to walk it out to let my gut settle. Problem was that my gut didn't settle, the cramp didn't go away, and I never found that sub-7 pace again. Worst 10K for me maybe ever, and about as bad as I've felt running since the half last year. Just absolutely aweful, no other way to say it. Drafted Dills for a while and got a pathetic little kick going to the line, but it was too little too late.

Everything.

Sit in the res, shower, pound water like it was going out of style, eat, hit the Pancake House for what must have been a 3000 calorie meal (best part of the whole day).


Everything. This race was just a debacle start to finish. I'm stressed and tired, didn't get enough sleep, bike was jacked up, didn't warm up, toed the line stressed out and not at all ready to go, didn't drink enough, hammered the bike course too hard, didn't manage the heat well at all, didn't pace worth a damn anywhere, and just generally had a bad day.

Having said that, the results demonstrate that everyone was struggling out there, so I feel a little better. I've never raced in heat like that and learned a huge lesson today. I still love racing in Boulder, and I can't really complain about spending a Sunday out racing. I still PR'd here too. And my baby girl got to see me race a triathlon for the first time. Oh yeah, and the meal at the Pancake House after the race kicked ass.

I guess I should say too, just so I don't sound like a delusional idiot, that my training and events over the last month or so probably dictated a mediocre result in this race. I absolutely trashed my legs last weekend between Triple and a 10 miler on Sunday. Training has been less than ideal over the last six weeks. Taper this week was pretty mediocre and this race was not a high priority. In short, I knew there was a chance this race would suck, I'm just disappointed that I didn't read the signs and adjust accordingly to better manage the course and the heat and set some more reasonable goals.


The shirts for the Boulder series this year suck. I mean really, light blue for the sprint and green and blue for the Peak. That's just lame. They better make up for it at the half.