Boulder Peak Triathlon- Take 5

This past weekend's 5150 Boulder Peak Triathlon served as my last tune-up for Ironman Germany next weekend, and although much shorter in distance, I was able to have a successful race among some very fast women. This was also the 5th time I have done this race- every year since 2007! (I just *love* going up Old Stage I guess. No really, I do love myself a good challenging climb :)

My swim was what it is at altitude, with no wetsuit- but wearing my Torque swim skin (the water temps were too warm to allow wetsuits for pros), a whole lot slower than most of the other women I was racing. Granted, as a 5150 race, this event attracted mostly Olympic distance specialists who excel at swimming, but it was eye opening just how much faster everyone was! I wanted to get on some feet for the swim, in order to put myself in a good spot for the remainder of the race. However; when the gun went off, all feet in front of me seemed to be 'running' away from me! I found myself alone after 25 yards or so. Not OK! Swimming at 5430ft is hard, and swimming 1500m alone is even harder. I tried to follow the buoys as best as I could, but failed to realize that on the return trip to shore, they kind of zigzagged and I should have just kept a straight line to shore instead of trying to follow them. I made it out of the water in second to last place and knew I had my work cut out for me.

Coming out of the water in my Torque. Thanks MF for the pic!

 Plan A was not happening, so instead of dwelling on my sub par swim, I looked ahead to the bike leg where plan B now was to catch back some of the faster swimmers. My Blue Triad SL actually took its maiden voyage up and over Old Stage, and I felt like I had an extra gear as I was able to push past some of my competitors at this point. This gave me some hope and I made it a game to keep catching people ahead of me. Turns out I rode 2 min faster than last year and had the third fastest bike split of the day. When I got to T2, I had passed about 6 people or more, and found myself in 10th place or so. The race was on!

Despite the run at Boulder Peak being 3 out and back loops on pavement and gravel dirt, usually in very hot temps, I was looking forward to this part. It was going to be the most 'fun' out of the three legs for me. Spectators lined the course at the turnaround by the finish, giving each of us racers an extra push each time we passed. I steadily worked my way up through the pack of women still ahead of me and I felt good. My legs were moving and although it hurt for sure, I was able to keep pushing a hard pace throughout. My Saucony Kinvaras felt like I wasn't even wearing any shoes at all, helping me keep a fast turnover. When all was said and done I had moved into 6th place, less than 30 seconds behind Pip who was 5th and had the fastest run split for the second year in a row.

I know I will get the swim down, but thankfully for the type of racing I do, it's not *as* important to swim like a fish :) I need to get better nonetheless though. Might just have to get myself a few more TYR swim suits to last me through the winter of increased swim yardage!

Racing at home is always a treat, nothing like waking up in your own bed and riding your bike over to the race site! Then seeing all your friends racing and cheering. Next week will be quite a bit different... I am recovered well from the Peak and will be shutting things down shortly in order to get a good rest before the big one next weekend. For those interested in following, I am sure ironmanlive.com will be providing updates, although it might be the middle of the night here in the US :)

Thank you to my sponsors and supporters who make it possible for me to look sharp, race with some fast equipment, stay on top of my race day nutrition and keep me tuned like a race machine: Saucony, TYR, Blue Competition Cycles, Powerbar, Rudy Project, The Right Stuff and Lifesport Chiro and T3 Recovery Mattress/ Boulder Furniture and Mattress.

Top 6 pro females, and some of the guys.

Final Stats: Swim: 25:41
                   Bike: 1:09.29
                   Run: 37:30
                   Final: 2:14.58/ 6th place