14 July 2016 - Boulder Stroke & Stride (Week 5)

Enjoying pizza after the stroke and stride!

This was my third stroke and stride this year.  I did the long course (1500 meter swim and 5K run) for the second week in a row.  My goal going into this event was to get more open water swimming time without the wetsuit and to try and improve upon my time from last week.  I also wanted to try out Hammer Endurolytes to see if they would help prevent leg cramps.  I took 3 about 30 minutes before the swim and 3 afterwards.

I registered at the event and paid the $28 and received lucky number 113.  The weather was perfect and I heard the water was 2 degrees warmer (72) than last week (yippee!).  I was hoping this made a difference since I froze in the water last week.  I forgot my towel but was able to setup my transition area with my mini-towel from the Lookout Mountain Tri.  The only real use for the towel is to wipe off your feet after running up from the beach so this was not a show-stopper.  Once my transition area was settled, I headed down to the water.

The water felt much warmer this week.  I would not have guessed that 2 degrees would make a big difference but believe me it does!  After warming up I headed to the start area.  Once again the majority of the swimmers wore wetsuits.  There were about 10 more people doing the long swim this week and I found out later some were professionals.  Once they told us to start we all obliged and the fun began.  I felt much more comfortable in the water this week and felt my sighting of the buoys went much better than last week.  

One interesting thing happened at the 2nd turn (about 2/3 through the swim) when a couple swimmers went barreling by me like I was treading water.  I thought maybe they were from the short course which started 5 minutes after my wave but I think they were the pros on their second pass.  Even though they were wearing a wetsuit, it was still quite humbling.  I knew I was one of the slower swimmers but didn't think I was that slow!  The water was choppier than last week but I still felt positive until I actually saw my watch after the first 750 meters.  I was only about 4 seconds quick than last week.  

After the whopping 4 second improvement I ran back to the start and jumped in for my second 750 meters of swimming.  There was much less traffic on the second leg and I felt it went great.  I felt like I was moving quicker in the water and that my sighting was better but when I finished my second lap my time was 1 second slower than last week.


I was disappointed but ran up to transition hoping there wouldn't be any leg cramps while trying to put on my running shoes.  It seems the Endurolytes did the trick because there was no cramping and my transition time (1:50) was much better than last week (2:30).  The run went well as I had my fastest 5K at the Rez so far!



My overall time (1:07:45) was improved by almost a full minute from last week (1:08:35).  Even though my swim time was about the same as last week I felt improvement.  I still have a bunch of room to improve with swimming but that will take time and experience.  This was a positive experience and it was fun to enjoy pizza afterward and discuss triathlon with my friend Phil Wang.  Also after seeing how slow I am without the wetsuit, I decided TriBoulder next weekend would be with the wetsuit.  There is no reason to give away 5 minutes since I now know the 1500 meter distance is not a problem for me.

The numbers:
Swim Lap 1: 18:56
Swim Lap 2: 21:09
Total Swim time: 40:05
Transition time:   1:50
Run time:  25:52  (8:19 per mile)
Total time:   1:07:45:46

Age group:  6th out of 6
Men:           39th out of 40
Overall:      67th out of 74

What's next for me:
7/24/16 - TriBoulder Olympic Distance Triathlon
8/4/16 - (Tentative) Boulder Stroke and Stride (Long course - no wetsuit)
8/13/16 - USA Triathlon Age Group Nationals (Olympic Distance) Omaha NE
9/24/16 - Tour De Cure (Diabetes) Metric Century Ride