Boulder 5430 (2010 Ironman 70.3) Race Report

Saturday - August 8

Well given the race was about an hour and 15 minutes from the house and started at 6:30am driving in the morning was feasible but not optimal. Our friends had a house closer to the venue so we were fortunate. We went up Saturday to check in and attend the race meeting. My friend Barb was there with Colorado Multisport, so it's always nice to see a familiar face and make introductions. Beth and Joe came by to meet us and we headed to Pearl Street to wander and get some tapas. We wandered around some more and watched the street performers, which was cool. Dinner was pasta and chicken at Jay's Pasta (I think is the name)...pasta and chicken are becoming a pre-race favorite I guess. After dinner we headed over to the "spare house" to get settled. I got to bed by 9:15 for my 4:15 wake up.

Sunday - August 9 - Race Day

Woke up at 4:15 with no problem. It was a typical crappy pre-race sleep but I slept like a log Friday which had me feeling good. I had a peach, banana and 2 cups of black coffee courtesy of Joe's brother Carl. We headed over to the race venue at 5am. It was still pitch dark which is always kind of eerie (like why am I up right now?) We got over to the race site and I got bodymarked, picked up my timing chip and set up transition. Transition was cool with rear tire bike racks instead of the bar to hang your bike by its seat. After setting up transition I chatted with Dana and Joe while we waited for the start. I took a quick dip in the Boulder reservoir and found the water kind of warm, but still wetsuit legal. It was a wave start so I had till 6:55am to wait with the other men 30-34 in our nice pink swim caps.

Swim - 1.2 miles - 44 minutes - I had projected 36 minutes given swimming 1 mile in 31 minutes at elevation 3 weeks prior. I never felt any great rhythm in my stroke and felt like I kept getting off target, plus I did kicked in the face once and had to readjust my goggles. Regardless it felt like the swim grade was probably a C and I have the next 4 weeks scheduled at Swimlabs for them to video my stroke and figure out some efficiencies. It was nice to see Dana and Joe as I made my way out of the water, but I admit being discourage seeing 8 minutes more than I hoped for on my watch.

T1 3:30 minutes - pretty good here for me considering I took a Hammer gel and some water before peeling the wetsuit, getting shoes, helmet, gloves and another spray of sunscreen...me being the very pale type. Probably should be a minute faster.

Bike - 56 miles - 2 hours 50 minutes - that works out to 19.7 miles per hour. I started the bike in the proper gear and went out relatively smooth. I was getting passed a good bit at the beginning (the longer the race the more this is probably OK). I kept climbing the light hill and was going about 16 mph which felt good. On the downhill I noticed I was hitting high 20s and then on the flats being in the mid 20s. For my first lap this was seeming pretty good. I had decided against solid food for the race and didn't even touch my gels on the bike. I took in 600 calories of Heed from 2 bottles and one of the race provided Gatorades. On the second lap I started passing huge chunks of people on the uphills. I was feeling strong and started coming out of the saddle to charge the uphills. I was picking up a little speed and feeling good. When I knew I was close to finishing at the fast end of my projection, I started to wonder if I was going to blow myself up on the run, especially given my poor swim. But the bike was a B+ at that point and I was feeling more upbeat.

T2 - 3:22 minutes - probably a minute and a half available here. But I took in another Endurolyte (I had 3 before the race started) as it was getting hot and I was sweating. I also had a Hammer gel and stuck one in my race jersey pocket.

Run - 13.1 miles - 2 hours for the half marathon. The run was hot and I hadn't seen Dana (Joe had taken off to do some training), but I figured I just missed her. I just started to go at my pace and noticed I got passed a good bit. But I figured 13.1 miles is a long way and I was in it for the long hall. At the first 3 mile markers I noticed I was close to a 9 minute mile pace which was decent for me. Then on mile 4 my stomach was bothering me a little and it was uphill. Luckily the stomach was just a brief moment of gas. Given the heat I was taking the ice at the aid stations and sticking it in my hat then ducking my head down into the hat and putting it on with the ice in there. Worked wonders for the heat. Mile 5 I started to feel pretty good and started to give it a little more gas. Around mile 6 I took my Hammer gel and got ready for what I would hope would be one more hour. My pace felt good and again on the 2nd lap like on the bike I started to pass quite a few big chunks of folks on the uphills and even on the flats as I was running strong. I heard my wife yell out from near the parking lot "keep going JB." Heard lots of little cheers from nice job to keep running strong. I felt good. I hammered the home stretch with a little sprint finish. The run seemed like A- to me.

So I wrapped it all up 5:41:14 which was almost 35 minutes better than my 6:15:59 personal record down in Austin last October. I also finished 465th out of over 1,000 participants. I was hoping to break into the top half, which meant a lot to me. Boulder was the site of my first tri, a little sprint swim and run with an olympic distance bike for charity. I was the last place male finisher that day in the world's triathlon mecca (both Ironmen world champs male/female live there as well as many pros, elites, olympians, etc). In fact the women's race today had the current Ironman, current Ironman 70.3 and Xterra world champs racing...Dibens of Xterra won. So to be above average in a half Ironman less than 2 years later gave me some redemptive pride. And in a case of the whole being greater than the sum of the parts I give the race itself an A. Racing my race (versus finishing my race, more to come on this topic), staying strong and getting stronger and ultimately leaving it all out there on the course.

Anyway a nice burrito from Qdoba was waiting but still no sign of my wife. So I wandered around a little bit and then decided to go start packing my stuff. Mental note keep the cell phone in transition rather than hand it off to her. I left transition and headed to the car. I spotted her walking toward the race. She said she thought when she yelled I was starting the run. She now new it was my second lap. She also realized I must have been going pretty fast (for me anyway). She had gotten sick while I was riding and went to the car to rest. She's all better now so all in all a great day!