Tuesday, August 2, 2011

Boulder Peak

I have been a little behind writing my blogs trying to fit in family, training, and work in the past few weeks. We did get in a great trip to Yellowstone and Grand Teton right after the Boulder Peak race. So moving to Boulder last October I knew I had to race both the Olympic and 70.3 races that were right in our backyard, problem is they are right in the backyard of many of the top professionals in the sport and at over 5k feet to boot. Regardless I was in for both, the Boulder Peak was 7/10 and I expected to do well even though the completion would be tough. The 5150 series has been really tough with all the top Olympic guys vying for spots at Hy-Vee. Hy-Vee was in my plan until they decided to cancel the Provo UT race, after that I did not have 3 races in which to score points in any longer. The Boulder peak was nice because the pros did not start until after all the armatures were done and mostly off the course, luckly it was an overcast day and teh heat was not an issue.
The swim was non-wetsuit and quite nice, I had a little trouble staying with the lead pack and did loose them towards the middle but not by that much. I was out of the water 8th I think in 19:29, the res is so nice to swim in. On the way out of transition right after mounting the bike I heard someone fall right behind me, it was Brooks Cowan who I train with. Only later did I find out he crashed right out of T1 and had to stop for a few minutes to get his bike back in riding condition. The bike has the one huge hill up Old Stage, my plan was to try and keep it under 400 watts or so on the hill and steady the bike at just over 300 watts for the remainder. I followed this pretty much, but could not quite get myself to hold the 300 average I was looking for, ending the bike in 1:03.29. I did ride side by side one other male pro who I can not remember his name for the last ½ of the bike, but the stagger rule allows for this and we were watched very closely by multiple officials on the motorcycles. T2 went really well and quick, since most armatures had just finished they were all for the most part sticking around to watch. The pro run course was three loops back to the finish line area each time, while I do not like all the loops it is nice to have people all over cheering lining the course, including my family, coach, and various friends. I think this was the first race this season that my family has been to due to traveling to so many races. My run actually felt the best in this race all season, I think the long runs and speed work with my coach Eric Kenny is starting to pay off. Also to my surprise my feet were the most comfy they had been in a long while, Zoot just sent me the new Ultra Race 3.0. I had only done a warm up run in them, but man they were nice, fast to get on, light, and very supportive. I had my best run time in a few races at 36:36. Overall I was passed by a few guys on the bike, passed a few on the run, and ended up 14th overall in the pro division. I would of liked to placed a little higher, but am still very pleased considering almost all 13 guys in front of me were big name triathletes and this is my first year racing pro. I am getting there it is just going to take some time and some more dedication / power on the bike.

Swim - 19:29
T1 - 1:23
Bike - 1:03:29
T2 - 0:37
Run - 36:36 27 pace 5:54
Total 2:01:34

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