27 Aug 2016 - Boulder Sunset Olympic Distance Triathlon

Finishing another Olympic Distance Triathlon!!

Just like the name (sunset) of this triathlon, this event also marks the end of my 2016 triathlon season.  My mind keeps saying "do another" but my body says "NO".  2016 was the busiest triathlon season so far for me.  I completed 2 sprint triathlons,  3 Olympic triathlons, and 4 stroke and strides.  Considering my previous busiest year was 2 triathlons in a season, it is no wonder my body is tired.  I plan to recover for a couple weeks and then focus on getting back to running and eventually to some half marathons and my goal of running in every state.  But first, here is my race recap from this weekend.

I signed up for this race because there were several other folks from the Arvada Triathlon Club (ATC) participating.  I signed up for the Olympic distance because I wanted to try and improve on my TriBoulder time.  I should have listened to my body and signed up for the sprint distance.

I arrived at the res (Boulder reservoir) just before 830am on Saturday morning.  Transition was scheduled to open at 830am and my swim wave was scheduled to start at 1005am.  When I arrived, it was already busy.  This event was sold out and very crowded.  I ran into Steve Bell (President of ATC) in the parking lot and we made our way to transition.  Our transition spots were pre-assigned and I lucked out with a easy to find spot on the last row.  I unpacked my transition bag and setup things the way I like them.  The body markers actually came to us in transition.

After setting up transition, I walked down to the water.  I wanted to make sure there was no repeat of TriBoulder (swimming to the wrong turn buoy) so I studied the course looking for landmarks just in case I couldn't see the buoys.  They still had the same difficult to see buoys and I was determined to not repeat my mistake with them!  Next I made my way back to transition, checked everything one last time, put my legs in the wetsuit and headed back toward the water.  When I arrived at the water I heard them say we had 10 minutes before the first swim wave starts.  Oops I didn't give myself enough time to warm up....

I quickly sucked down a Clif mocha gel, pulled my upper half into the wetsuit, zipped it up and walked into the water.  It was a chilly 68 degrees but with the wetsuit it felt fine.  I did a quick warmup swim to try and get my heart rate up and then got out of the water and headed over to the start.  If I calculated correctly there were 145 dudes in my swim wave.  Personally I think that is way too many.  Once the horn sounded, all the old dudes in red swim caps ran down to the water, jumped in and started swimming. 

One lesson I've learned about the wetsuit is to pull it up as far as possible on my arms and legs and to pull all the excess into my chest area.  This helps to make sure my chest doesn't feel constricted when I start swimming.  I thought I'd done a decent job of this but am not so sure.  From the start of the swim, I was uncomfortable.  Not only with all the people kicking and smacking around me but also with the wetsuit feeling too tight on my chest.  It's a lonely feeling being out in the water and feeling like you can't breathe.  It would have been nice if I could have stopped and re-arranged the wetsuit but obviously that was not possible 100 yards into the swim!   I tried to relax but it was difficult.  At one point I was looking for a kayak to hang on to but luckily didn't find one.  I made my self slow down and eventually I felt better.  I don't think the traffic in the water ever subsided but I was able to settle into a rhythm and swim.  With the later start, the buoys were easier to see (no sun in our face)  so I pretty much stayed on track.  Once I was past the water panic attack, the swim went well and I actually improved on my TriBoulder swim time by over a minute.

Enjoying the bike course!

Coming out of the water it was fun to be cheered on by Jeff and Michelle from the ATC.  T1 was really slow (3:17) for me.  In T1, I essentially gave back all the time saved with the faster swim.  I'm not sure why other than I just felt tired.  Once I was on the bike, I noticed pedaling was a struggle especially on the hills.  I just didn't have the strength or energy to push like I am accustomed to.  I'm not sure why but I knew the ride was gonna tough so I gritted my teeth and pushed through.  I love this bike course and it was the highlight of this triathlon for me even though my overall time on the bike was 5 minutes slower than TriBoulder.

Along the 26.4 mile course I saw at least 6 people down off their bikes.  I think 3 were for flat tires but the other 3 were due to crashes.  Luckily there was plenty of course support and volunteers were seeing to the victims.  At one point I was passing some dude and he started shouting and tore his helmet off his head.  It seems a bee flew into his helmet and was stinging him in the head.  Ouch!!!  I asked him if he was allergic and he said he wasn't so I went on by.  I was impressed he stayed on the bike through the incident.  Not sure if I would have been able to.  I also saw several college folks along the course.  It seems there was a team college competition.  I also saw some folks pulling handicap kids in a bike carrier.  I thought that was really cool to include them in these type of events.

The course got a little crazy when we merged with the sprint folks towards the end.   It was difficult to get around them as some where riding side by side like they were on a Sunday joy ride.  Once I arrived at T2, I was hoping for the best on the run.  The sun was blaring down and it was warm but I was hoping for the best.  I really have no idea what my T2 time was as it seems the timing folks had problems and I didn't record it on my Garmin.  I'm pretty sure it was not as fast as my TriBoulder T2 time!  Regardless I came out of T2 running and being encouraged by my friend Jeff Bever.

I felt OK on the run course for the first 2 miles.  It was fun to see Karim, Steve and Nina Bell, and Will from ATC on the run course.  After about 2 miles the heat started getting to me and I started walking.  I never thought I could have a slower 10K than my last triathlon but it happened.  It took me an embarrassing 1:08:59  to complete the course.  That is almost an 11 minute mile pace...  Oh well, I pushed through and finished and earned another finishers medal (see below)!  My finish time was 17 minutes slower than TriBoulder but I still ended up 4th out of 13 in my age group.  When I saw the result it cracked me up because you never know how your competition is gonna do.  Looks like the heat got to some of them as well

My finishers medal...

 After the event I hung around with my ATC buddies and enjoyed the finish area before calling it a day......

By The numbers:
Olympic Distance (1500 meter swim, 40K bike, 10K run)
Total time:  3:13:44   (Overall 279/449 finishers)  (Men  189/272 finishers)   (Age group:  4/13)
Swim time:   34:51 
T1 time:  3:17
Bike time:  1:24:36
T2 time:  2:00?? 
Run time:  1:08:59

What's next for me:
9/24/16 - Tour De Cure (Diabetes) Metric Century Ride
2017 - Bring it on Jeff Bever!! :-)