Latest Race Recaps

I've fallen behind a bit in my race reports, which is probably due to the weather combined with training robbing me of any functional brain cells at the end of the day. It has been hot here, and when I say hot, I mean upper 90s to 100s. It's made daily workouts a whole new challenge and being the Nordic descendant that I am, my body has rebelled a few times during the past week, telling me that excessive heat will not always allow it to perform the way I want it to. Nonetheless, I've put my mind over matter most days and have gotten it done. IM training is in its prime, with about a month to go before I start my taper, and I can't really wait around for the heat to go away so I can have a comfortable ride or long run. In the end I hope that this will reward me with a great performance, and weather-wise it can get hot in Penticton, so at least I'll have that base covered!

Last weekend was my one year anniversary with the Boulder Peak Pro race. Last year I had one of my worst (and slightly embarrassing) swims in this race and promised myself over the year that I would work on my swim to never let happen what happened last year, again. A year ago, I came out of the water dead last by nearly a minute, with competitors long gone on their bikes minutes ahead. The pro race is unique in that it starts after all age group waves have gone off, giving us the course to ourselves pretty much. It is a non wetsuit and non drafting race and when you only have 10 or less competitors, most of them much faster swimmers, you are likely to find yourself alone out on the bike course. I did not want to be in that situation again, because, lets be honest, how much fun is doing a time trial by yourself, including huffing it up Olde Stage monster hill?

I hardly got any sleep the night before the race. I was nervous about that swim. I know I have a hard time without a wetsuit and even harder time at altitude (yes, even though I live here) and I had some overall race goals going into this year's event. Since the AG races started alot earlier, Brandon was up and out of the house by 5 a.m., leaving me a bundle of nerves for about 2 more hours at home until it was finally time to head over to the Boulder Rez myself. The weather was pretty much optimal, always a bit warm this time of year, but nothing too drastic. (That weather came the next day, we lucked out) I started my warmup run and could feel my lungs not being able to fully expand. I knew immediately what was up and found my former chiropractor Jeremy, who was working the event, and had him pop 2 of my ribs back in. This has happened before Kona, before a marathon and now. I'd really like to know why, as it is highly uncomfortable when it happens. Either way, I didn't dwell on this, as I had about 10min to the start of the race.

The swim started out going the opposite direction of last year, which I really appreciated, since I breathe to the side where the buoys were located. No extra yardage for me as I could always sight them! I quickly found myself swimming solo, as always, and made peace with the fact that it would be a long way to shore by myself. I had no idea who was behind me but I could make out a pair of splashing arms ahead of me, however; she got further and further ahead. I exited the water and looked at my watch to see a 3 min improvement from last year (although last year's swim was long) and even though I was way off the back again, I stayed as positive as I could and headed out on the bike with one goal in mind: catch-up time.

It wasn't until the climb up Olde Stage Rd. that I finally caught up to some of the other girls. I felt pretty strong so I pushed up and over the climb, while dripping sweat uncontrollably into my glasses to the point where I couldn't see. Down the backside and onto the flats and rollers I passed one more racer and before I knew it I was back in transition eager to get off the bike and see how the race would unfold in its final leg.
Boulder Peak Run- note the barely on visor, ran like that the whole way...

I knew it would take a great run to hunt down some of the other women, and being a near perfect day condition wise, it seemed like everyone was flying out on the run course. I chose to wear my KSwiss Ruuz for the 10k run and they worked just wonderfully. Light and airy, barely there. After the first of three loops I was making up ground on one more girl and passed her after the second lap. I was now in 6th position and needed a miracle to happen to catch up to 5th place. Feeling like I was churning through molasses and starting to feel the heat of the day (goose bumps and all) I gave it one last push and finished 35 sec or so behind Kristen who ended up having a great day out there.Peak Finish- ready to collapse?

At first I felt slight disappointment to have worked hard throughout the race to make up lost time, only to "lose" to 5th by 30 secs. However, results showed that I had lost an average of 4 to 5 mins to those girls ahead of me, just on the swim. And I did get a new race PR. So in the end, it wasn't so bad. I had the day's fastest run of all women, despite feeling like I was standing still at times on the run. In Olympic distance races it is hard to make up lost ground after the swim, I realized that. However, my run looks promising, and I am eager to see what I can do over a longer distance.

Downtime after the race was not much of an option since I'm training through alot of these shorter races right now. It is hard for sure, and requires good listening skills to make sure not to miss any outstanding fatigue signs your body might be making you aware of. Luckily I wasn't too beat up after the Peak so I was able to get some good volume in last week. Yesterday, after being up wayyy past our bedtime the night before (our friend Jax got married!) and only getting in less than handful of hours of sleep, Brandon and I were up and at 'em at 5 a.m. to race the Westside Duathlon in Arvada, the last in the Mile High Duathlon Series. Feeling less than rested, along with the temps already in the 80s by race start at 7 a.m., I was sure this race was going to hurt. The location this year was new and the course was slightly longer than the other races, making it a challenge for sure.

Elite men and women started together and as per usual, the pace was torrid from the get-go and I just told myself to hang on. I was using my new Argon 18 E112 for the first time and did not use race wheels since I hadn't even tried out how they felt on it. Zoom zoom on RHC (Red Hot Chili)
It was hot.
The bike worked out great on the hilly course and I'm eager to get a few more good rides in on it to fully dial in my position. I led the women's race start to finish and was crowned "Mile High Duathlon Champion" for the third year in a row. It's tough to do shorter races when you are training for an Ironman, but I look at them as speed workouts that will help me maintain my pace in the longer stuff, so yeah, even though it hurts like hell, it has its purpose. My training this year has been alot more focused and goal-oriented, as opposed to last year where I was still trying to figure out how this whole 'pro thing' worked. I think I am finding my groove and seeing what I am capable of.

Lastly, I am thankful that we live near the mountains and have the choice to ride up high when the weather gets too hot "down" here. Saturday we enjoyed 70s and 80s on one of our favorite rides Lyons- Raymond-Ward. I may or may not have pushed this rock down the mountain: