2 June 2016 - Boulder Stroke and Stride

June 06, 2016

Last Thursday I participated in my first multi-sport event of the season. The event is called the Boulder Stroke and Stride and is put on by Without Limits Productions. The event is scheduled pretty much weekly between June 2 and August 4th and provides swimming and 5K running options. The swim is in Boulder Reservoir and the run is an out and back course along the Dam. I chose to do the short course which is a 750 meter (1/2 mile) swim followed by a 5K run. My goals for this event were:

Get back into my wetsuit in an organized event
Test out my Garmin 910XT in multisport mode
Get some open water swim time with other people kicking and splashing around me
Work on transition from wetsuit to running gear
See how I do running after swimming

I decided to not register until last minute so arrived at the event at 430pm when registration opened. Bottom line I arrived way too early since the swim didn't start until about 605pm. The registration process was simple and well organized. Basically cough up your $28 and you get a timing chip. The transition area was on grass and you pretty much put your towel (and running gear) down where you wanted and waited for people to start heading down to the water.

Getting into the wetsuit went fine. I gooped up with lubricant and slid the wetsuit right on. I remembered to stretch the suit up as high as I could get it so I could breathe! Not an easy process but has great results! We were really fortunate with the weather as cloud cover came in before the race and cooled things off. The water temperature was 66 degrees which is great for wetsuit swimming. I slowly moved into the water and waited for it to penetrate the wetsuit. Once that thrill was done I dunked my head a couple times and tried swimming and getting my heart rate up. Good so far.

The folks doing the long course (1500m swim/5K run) started first. About 5 minutes later they told my group to start swimming. The swim course was in a rectangle shape. In other words swim out to buoy1, turn right, and then at buoy2 turn right again and look for the goal posts where you get out of the water. I stayed wide left at the start with the goal of heading straight to the first buoy but at an angle. The water was pretty choppy in parts but not bad overall. I zig-zagged a little but not as bad as some of my swims in the past. I definitely need to do better at aiming for the target and swimming straight but my time was just over 17 minutes which I was thrilled with.

Once the swim was complete the next challenge was to start running while stripping off the wetsuit. Of course this also involves reaching around my back and trying to grab the evasive zipper cord. After a couple tries I found the cord and pulled the wetsuit down to my waist. Next challenge..."where did my towel and transition area go to". My towel was one among many in a field of towels. I thought I put it in an obvious spot but now I stand here scratching my head thinking "gotta do this differently next time"! Once I finished wasting time looking for my towel, the real fun began as I attempted to get out of the wetsuit and into my running gear. My transition time was pathetic at 3:05 minutes. Definitely an area to work on.

Once the running gear was on, I headed out for the run. The run went great. My time was 26:34. I didn't really push myself so was thrilled with this time. The course is pretty flat but has a couple hills and obstacles.

Overall I was very satisfied with my time and happy I did the event. I finished first in my age group out of 3 people and definitely plan to do this event again. The Garmin recorded everything perfectly and gave me some comfort with using it in a multisport event.

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