Monday, June 6, 2011

Boulder Sunrise Olympic Tri Recap

What a perfect day it was Saturday in Boulder, Colorado. Such a beautiful location. The day started at 4:20am when the alarm went off.  I got up and ready, ate breakfast of a protein shake, oatmeal, and banana. We left for Boulder at 5am. On the drive there my husband and I talked about the race, our expectations and goals. We felt that the competition would actually be pretty strong for an Olympic Distance Tri this early in the season here in CO. The race consistted of an Olympic Tri, Sprint Tri, Duathalon (bike/run), and a 5k Race. We arrived just before 6 and got into transition to set up. That's my spot right there on the end, the white GIANT bike. The butterflies were swimming around, as they always do before a race. But thankfully, I was not too bad. Mostly nervous about the temperature of the water.

About 6:30 I started getting my wetsuit on, the air temp was low 50s and I wanted the warmth and was hoping to be hot by the time the race started. I wore earplugs for the first time hoping to help keep me warmer. I don't know if it worked or not, but I didn't mind having them in at all. My husband and I went down to the water to get warmed up. It was cold, but not as cold as I thought it would feel. Good sign! At least on my feet it was warmer in the water than out. They said the water temp was about 61*. The first rush of water over the head was chilly to say the least. We warmed up by swimming a couple 50m stretches and then waited for the men to start. We waited and waited, then found out we were still waiting because there was not a paramedic on site, and I guess that's one of the rules, for safety. So I warmed up again by swimming some more, then got out and ran around on the dry ground. Waiting in that cold water was not the best part of the day! But it at least got me anxious and ready to get moving.

SWIM (1500m)
Finally the men started (about 20min later than schedule) and the Women started about 2 min after them. I actually positioned myself near the front for the start, right behind the front line of women. Smart or not, I don't know - but it worked out ok. There were a few that climbed over me and a few I climbed over in the first 200m or so. It seemed to take a little longer this time to get into a groove, maybe closer to 500m before I settled into the swim. Nerves to be sure, this was my first time in the open water this season.  Right about 500m I passed the first guy (who started 2 min before us) - that always gets me going. I also I found a girl's feet that seemed to be consistently in front of my face.  I knew I could go around her if I wanted to, but then I thought about how this would be the perfect opportunity to try drafting. I've never done it and didn't know if I could, but I've read about and heard about the great advantages of doing it if you can. And this girl happened to be just the right pace, not too fast, not too slow. So I got into her wake and just followed her feet and her bubbles. It did seem easier and I just coasted along behind her for about the next 500m. About that time we came around one of the last buoys and into the crowd of Sprint Tri swimmers (who stared after us, but had half as far to swim) - so it was chaos again, trying to find my lane. I felt good through the whole swim, only veered off to the right once as I was following a group that was headed a bit off course. I corrected that and seemed ok as far as direction the rest of the swim. Pushed hard with my arms the last 200m and let my legs drag a bit, to hopefully let them rest a minute before I got out of the water. My swim was a 30:26 and put me 26/104 females. I improved my swim time by about a minute and a half over last year's Olympic race, and actually hopefully more than that because the timing mat was all the way up at transition and not down at the water. I'm hoping my actual swim time was actually closer to 30min.

T1
Running up the sand was a new experience on numb feet!!! I seriously couldn't feel them and wobbled a bit getting up the hill to transition. My fingers were also numb and it took me a full minute or more of trying just to undo the velcro at the back of my wetsuit. I was actually already in T1 when I got it, then found the strap and unzipped. My transition was longer than any I've ever had (3:17). I attribute it to the numb fingers and toes. I had planned to wear gloves and my riding jacket, but with my fingers not working and I was not cold, I decided to forget about that. I put on my garmin watch and because of my fingers, I could not get the watch strap into the loop! It really took way longer than it should and I ended up using my teeth to get it on correctly.

BIKE (26.4 miles)
I took a gel first thing on the bike and tried to calm my breathing. The ride was really a fun course. There were 3 or 4 girls who passed me in the first 10 miles. I believe I ended up passing them all, and a few more during the 2nd half of the bike. At about mile 19 I took my water bottle out to drink and totally bobbled it and dropped it, bummer. I thought for a second about stopping to get it, but didn't. I probably should have, it's not like I am a contender to win these races, but I am so competitive even with myself that I didn't want to lose those seconds! I had another full bottle so I was fine as far as fluids went. The temp was probably in the 60s by now, and sunny. It felt great. This was my first race using the aero bars. I have liked having them on training rides and liked having them on this race too. I do have a bit of a sciatic nerve issue that being in the bent over position seems to irritate. So that's something I need to figure out. I would get up out of the aero bars to rest a little bit here and there. At about mile 20 I took another gel. Total on the bike I drank approx 1.5 water bottles of a mixture of Heed and Gatorade. I was a little worried about how I would perform on the run, knowing I was going fast on the bike. I was averaging about 19mph, which is fast for me. I finished the bike in 1:23:44 with a 18.9mph average. My time was 3 minutes faster than last year's olympic, and this year was 1.6 miles longer too - so really about a 7-8 min improvement  and 2 mph average faster. woo hoo! I like improvement! I was 31/104 for my bike time of the females.

T2
Transition 2 was much better and faster than T1. I rolled in, stripped my bike shoes and helmet, threw on my race number, visor and running shoes and was off in 1:03.

RUN (10K - 6.2 miles)
Good run, flat for the most part, but even the little hills are killer at this point for me! I started strong and told myself to stay where I was feeling good so I could push the 2nd half. That is hard to do, when you want to just push it because you feel you can! But I tried to hold back a little bit while still going as fast as I could. My goal was to be as close to an 8 minute mile average as possible. By half way my average was 8:13 and I was pleased with that and knew I was giving my all. I took a couple gulps of gatorade and water at the aid stations, mostly to wet my mouth. The course was an out and back, twice for the Olympic Tri, and once for the Sprint Tri and the 5K racers. It was hard to know where I really stood in the field because there were so many runners and I never knew if the person passing me coming the other direction was on her first or second loop, or was doing the sprint or the 5k.  No girl runners passed me at all until the very end when 1 did, a few guys did though.  I actually passed many girls,  and guys, on the run - which is what I want to do and fortunately have always been able to do.  There was one girl who I came off the bike with and she headed into the run about 15 seconds in front of me, and stayed there the whole duration of the run. About mile 5 a girl passed me (who was doing the Olympic - they put an O on your calf if you are doing the Olympic so you only know if you see someone from behind) - she passed me, and the girl 50m ahead of me - but that was the only one. I finished the run stronger than I started it and had an 8:07 average pace. That is my fastest ever 10K (tri or just running race). Not that I have done a tone of either, but I was very encouraged to have my fastest ever 10k be at the end of an olympic triathlon. My run time was 50:15 and put me 22/104 girls.

FINISH
My total time was 2:48:44. 6 minutes faster than last year's olympic, but if you add in the extra 1.6 miles on the bike it makes it about 10 minutes faster. I finished 5th in my age group (35-39), and 25th overall female out of 104. 

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