Race Report – Boulder Peak 2012

The morning before the race I dutifully laid out all of my gear and went through it like every other type-A preparing for a triathlon. Swim stuff, check. Running stuff, check. Cycling stuff, check. I rinsed out the swim cap that they give you specifically for the race, used defogger on my goggles, attached my race number to my bib belt, stuck my race number on my helmet, set up the timing chip on the strap, gathered up all of my nutrition and hydration stuff and started packing all of it into my TYR tri bag. I loaded everything into the truck and left the bike in the back since we were getting a big storm and I didn’t want it on top (lightening? I don’t know). Dinner was not my usual. We had grilled cheese (muenster) with bacon, grilled veggies, and West Coast IPA. Then off to bed at 9pm.

Race morning: 4:03am. I had forgot to buy a bagel for my pre-race meal so I had to use white bread with peanut butter on it. Worked, I guess. It was raining and foggy all the way down to the race. Made me kinda nervous as I don’t usually ride in the rain and on wet roads. It wasn’t raining by the time I hit transition so I was relieved.

The swim was great! I lined up perfectly for me: on the outside 2nd person from the back! The first 200 meters are usually awful with everyone swimming over each other and getting grabbed or kicked (the washing machine). This time things were very different I was able to settle into my pace right away and had plenty of room! I really enjoyed the swim. It was long and tiring but fun! I did have one guy from the wave behind me swim up my backside like he was trying to mount me. One strong kick let him know that I was underneath him 😉 and we were done.

1500k swim: 38:27

The bike leg started out well. I had just finished what I felt was a good swim and I was ready for a strong bike and hoping to PR by just a little bit. Around the 2 mile mark I looked down at my cycling computer to check my cadence and “Wholly crap!” it was gone. It must have fallen off just recently, I thought. I started going through options in my head: keep going because I was excited to do well today or go back and find it because it cost a lot of money. Then I realized that I had just bought this cycling computer about 2-3 weeks ago since I lost my first one by setting it on the bumper of my truck, forgetting about it, and driving away. “Double crap! I GOTTA go back and find it.” So I headed backwards on the course to look for my computer. I wasted a good 10 minutes looking for it but at least I found it lying in the gravel on the side of the road.

The approach to Olde Stage road is a gradual incline and when you hit Olde Stage road you know it. It’s straight up and one tough hill to ride. At times I was only going 3-4 miles an hour (ouch). The people cheering are few but very enthusiastic! They help tremendously! Many people end up getting off their bikes and pushing them. My goal was to stay on the whole way and keep a steady cadence. I did! On the descent you must keep below the 35 mile and hour speed limit and yes they do have cop there running radar. You won’t get a ticket but you will get disqualified from the race. The speed limit is in place due to a previous accident on the course. There was also a female cyclist a few years back that ran into a black bear…yes, you heard that correct. The bear ran out in front of her and BAM. Both were okay in the end. The only thing I hit on my descent was a very large bug…thought I was gonna need stitches it hit so hard (just kidding mom, no stitches).

42k bike time: 1:42

As I was heading into T2, I was remembering last year and how I used the porta potty in transition which cost me time so this year I decided not to go pee and see how it went. The run is pretty much what you would figure at this point in the game. You’re tired as crap and wanna stop moving but you know you can’t. After about 2 miles in on the run I realized I had to pee! Thankfully there was a porta potty coming up and no one was in it. So instead of getting the extra 2.5 minutes tacked onto my transition time it was tacked onto my run time…lesson learned. So after relieving my bladder, my right IT band really started hurting (not that those two things are related). It hasn’t hurt like this in a full year. I couldn’t believe it and it just came out of nowhere. During the last 4 miles I had to walk through the water stops and stretch every 10 minutes just to keep moving. It was painful!

10k run time: 1:06

The fun part of the Boulder Peak is that the professional triathletes (Pros) start after all of the age groups waves. That means that for us slower folks who are still out on the course we end up racing side by side with the Pros…intimidating and fun at the same time. So here I am dragging my sorry ass down the run course heading towards the finish and I get passed by Matty Reed (2^nd place), Amanda Lovato (4^th place) and Laura Bennett (1^st place). It’s funny to actually recognize these people just from seeing them in magazines. As I’m coming down the chute everyone is going crazy (for the Pros of course, not me) but I do hear a few cheers that I can tell are for me and a few people reach out their hands to give me high fives. As my name is called out while I cross the finish line I’m elated to be done and realize that no matter what it was a good day and a fun race.

Final time: 3:34

*I was 7 minutes slower this year than last year and I truly believe that it was because of the time it took to locate my cycling computer. Lesson to learn from this…shit happens.

~ by willtriforbeer on July 10, 2012.