26 June 2016 - Boulder Sunrise Sprint Triathlon

1st in my age group!!

If there was ever a perfect Triathlon day, this was it!  Yep that's me on the top step of the podium.

My hope for this Sprint Triathlon was to improve on my TriBoulder times from last year. Specifically I wanted to improve my swim time, reduce transition times, average 20mph on the bike, and improve my run time.  I've trained hard and was hoping it would all come together in this race. My dream was to finish under 1:40.  I never imagined I would accomplish all my goals, take first in my age group, and have Chris and Keira there to celebrate my success. As I said, it was a perfect day. 

Here's transition..  Look close and see the yellow flag..

Julie had to work on Sunday but she drove down to Boulder Reservoir with me in the wee hours of the morning. It was fun to have her there with me as I setup and scoped things out.  This event was also fun because there were about 8 other Arvada Tri Club members competing in the triathlon.  We arrived about 90 minutes before my swim start at 745am.  This provided plenty of time to get transition setup and do all the other important things. The transition areas were pre-assigned so I wanted to make sure I could find my spot from both the swim and bike entrance. Some person near my transition spot made this easy for me by putting a bright yellow flag on the bike rack. This made it so much easier than trying to remember how many rows and racks to my area. After pushing hard on the swim or bike the last thing I needed was to have to remember this sort of stuff. 

Some of the Arvada Triathlon Club folks that competed in this Triathlon.

All packed in my wetsuit and ready to swim.

My swim wave started on time at 745am. I was swimming with the 40 and older dudes and the Clydesdales.  Once they told us to start, we ran into the water and started swimming.  The water temperature was 76 which isn't bad with a wetsuit. The first part of the swim is always a bit congested but it didn't take long and I had a little space around me. The sun was in my eyes for the first leg so it was tough to see the buoys. My new goggles really helped but the buoys weren't very tall so it was still tough to see them. I've developed a new swim style where I breathe every third stroke so I just settled in with this and tried to relax and swim. I relied somewhat on the folks ahead of me hoping they were swimming towards the buoys. This seemed to work well and soon enough I made a couple right turns and was heading towards transition.  I was thrilled with my swim time (16:38) which was almost 3 minutes faster than TriBoulder last year. 

I ran into T1 and did my best to get out of the wetsuit and into my bike gear and back out of transition. My T1 time (2:29) was 5 seconds slower than TriBoulder last year.  Once I got on the bike the fun began. I felt good the entire ride and passed several people along the course. The biggest thrill was passing people in my age group!  My bike time (51:48) was almost 2 minutes faster than TriBoulder last year and right on my goal of averaging 20 miles per hour.

Coming into T2, I easily spotted the yellow flag and dropped off my bike gear and switched to my running gear.  My T2 time (1:32) was 9 seconds faster than TriBoulder last year.  The run went great for me.  I pretty much just settled into a comfortable pace from the beginning and ran.  I really didn't look at my watch other than when it vibrated at the mile markers.  At the water stops I took a sip and poured the rest on my head.  This was really refreshing and I think helped me.  The biggest thrill on the run came about 2 miles in when I passed someone in my age group.  As I approached the finish line, I got the biggest thrill of the day when I saw Chris and Keira there cheering me on!  My run time (26:51) was over 3 minutes faster than TriBoulder last year.  My total time (1:39:19) was 8 minutes faster than TriBoulder last year and accomplished my goal of finishing under 1:40.

The champ with two of his favorite people.

After the race I hung out with my son and granddaughter and the some of the folks from the Arvada Triathlon Club.  At some point we walked over to the results tent and looked for my name.  I was happy with my race effort but had no idea where I finished.  As we looked at the screen I thought my name was 3rd in my age group but Chris said "Dad, your not 3rd, you are 1st!"  You can tell by my smile in the picture above how happy I was! 

The numbers:
Swim time:  16:38.6
T1 time: 2:29
Bike time:  51:48.7
T2 time: 1:32
Run time: 26:51.0
Total Time:  1:39:19.7

The only area I was slightly disappointed in was my transition times.  Though successful in this race, I think my transition times need to drop.  I would like to drop about 60 seconds in T1 and 30 in T2.  This gives me something to work on.

More numbers:
Age group (Male 55-59) - 1st out of 12
Men:  50th out of 128
Overall:  70th out of 253

What's next for me:
7/7/16 - Boulder Stroke and Stride (Long course - no wetsuit)
7/14/16 - (Tentative) Boulder Stroke and Stride (Long course - no wetsuit)
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