Boulder Peak Triathlon Race Recap

   Me and Boulder Peak have had quite a journey to say the least. It's been five years now, and I have just completed my fifth Boulder Peak race. I remember the first time I was preparing to do this race my coach had me come up to Boulder, probably a month prior and ride the course. I made it up Old Stage Hill swearing at him and on the verge of puking. I wanted to get off my bike and walk, but he wouldn't let me. Don't you people know there are no hills in Iowa where I am from? Ok, so it's not so bad now, I can ride up it swiftly.
   Coming into this race I was pretty nervous. I had alot of expectations for myself and to be honest, I wanted to win- BAD. Just some history of me and Boulder Peak- in 2007 I placed 73 overall Females in a time of 2:42:27. In 2008 I was 25th overall females in a time of 2:31:28. In 2009 I was 24th overall in a time of 2:35:00 (long swim). 2010- I was 12th overall in a time of 2:25:47 and not far off of a top finish.
   Before the race I was warming up and spotted one of my rivals, a girl on Team Timex. A girl that had recently beaten me at 70.3 Kansas.  Last year she won pretty much every race she entered and beats most of the pros. So she's pretty good....So I do my best to shake it off and pump myself up and mentally tell myself that she is about to have a very bad day. I gather my wetsuit and head down to the swim start to shake off some nerves and get ready to battle for the day. There is a lot of joking around in the water as the Elite Amateur wave is treading water getting ready to start. The swim went by with not much event. I had a hard time seeing anything, including any other swimmers with the sun at its worst glare of any start I've been in. I couldn't even see the shadow of the buoys. Finally I was out of the water and my Mom was yelling minute and a half down from first female. I thought ok, I can handle that.
    On the bike I work hard getting to Old Stage and sure enough, I caught some girls before the hill and passed them on the way up. Once at the top I pass yet another female, the last one that is ahead of me. Now approaching the descent and the speed limit of 35 mph, a girl flys by me going definitely around 50 mph. Frustrated, I watch her pull away until she is just a speck in the distance. With no one around me to motivate me it was hard to push hard on the bike. Soon enough a guy passed me wearing the CTS kit and yelled some encouragement!!
    Finally into transition the announcer is yelling second female in and she has some catching up to do. He gives the spectators a play by play of me pulling on my socks and taking my helmet off-which I found a bit bizarre but also motivating.  Off on the run, I can sorta see first female in front of me with the lead bike escort. I keep trying to pump myself up and tell myself that I can catch her but things are looking down. Slowly but surely I keep getting closer, until at mile 3 at the turn around I pass her out of necessity because she was about to get her first glimpse of me chasing her. For the next mile she stays on my heels and keeps trying to challenge me for the lead, but slowly drops off a bit. By mile 5 I had built a gap of about 15-20 seconds on her. But I'm starting to not feel so awesome, I'm getting sluggish and can feel a bonk coming on.  My legs are getting heavy and I'm getting sleepy. I keep thinking get to the pavement and the crowd will pull you in. It worked, into the chute and breaking the tape for my first time ever!!!! While I won the Elite Amateur wave, two age group amateurs edged me out of first. I lost second overall by a mere six seconds. While disappointing I have to be ecstatic by the performance. One of my toughest races yet.


Results: 1st place Elite Amateur, 3rd Overall Boulder Peak
Overall Time: 2:22:13
swim: 23:55
bike: 1:14:51
run: 41:10

Loveland Lake 2 Lake Race Review

Loveland Lake 2 Lake, on June 25, 20ll~  The week coming into this race it didn't seem as though we were doing much of a taper for this event. With all the swimming workouts and track repeats on the Thursday before the Saturday race I was a bit concerned, to say the least. Which is always a bit scary, because you don't know how fresh your legs will end up being for the race, but always good training. The night before the race I arrived in Loveland. This was my first time doing this race and visiting the area. While driving the bike course I was surprised with how beautiful the town and surrounding countryside were. The bike was definitely one of the hilliest courses I had ever done and proved to be a challenge that I was excited to tackle.
     Race morning I was relieved to be able to park so close to the venue, especially with no race support or spectators there to help me. The swim went well compared to my last two triathlons. I apparently have gotten into a rhythm of sweeping wide off the buoys and overshooting the course. Which translates into swimming more yardage than necessary. Good training, but not kind on the race splits. I exited the swim feeling good that there were maybe only 3 women to track down. The run from the water to the beach was so long I thought maybe we were trying to recreate the Alcatraz Triathlon. Either way I got to transition and headed out on the bike, apparently passing a few of my competitors in the process.
     Out on the bike I was passing a lot of people from previous swim waves at pretty quick pace. This was my first time wearing an aero helmet, Lazer Tardiz, and heeding my coaches advice I was careful not to turn my head too often, which is a hard thing for me to do. So much scenery and not able to enjoy it!! I had passed all of the women in my swim wave (34 & under) and started to settle in on a pace and got comfortable. Too comfortable. Soon enough a woman from my group caught up to me and passed me at mile 20. I adjusted my pace and the race was back on! We took turns passing each other back and forth. I would beat her on the uphills and she would beat me down. Within about 3-4 miles of the transition a group of five or six men that were blatantly drafting passed me going at record speeds. Oh well they are not my competition, let them sort it out-wait that was a woman tucked onto the back end. This just burns me from the inside out. Nothing pisses me off more and gets me going than cheaters. I vowed to chase her down on the run.
     On to the run. Cheater, Cheater, Liar, Liar pants on fire. Where are you? Approaching mile one I find her and pass her without a side long look. At the turn around I get a good glimpse at who is chasing me. I'm surprised to see the second woman too close for comfort, so I adjust the pace and try and run harder. Approaching the finish it was really starting to burn and I took a look behind me and was relieved to see that no one was close. Realizing that someone else from another wave could still beat me I keep the pace strong.
     After I finished I found a group of fellow Carmichael Training Systems athletes. Chatted for awhile, but wanting to get on to my cool down run. After the run I took a look at the results and was surprised and thrilled to learn that I had won!!
RESULTS:  1st Place Overall Female!

Overall time: 2:31:47
Swim: 24:20
Bike: 1:25:28
Run: 40:27

Some local papers that I did an interview with afterwards:
 The Reporter Herald:  http://www.reporterherald.com/sports/local/ci_18361766
The Coloradoan:  http://www.coloradoan.com/article/20110626/LOVELAND04/110625011