I got into town late Friday night after working almost a full day. A friend of mine picked me up at the airport and we got back to the house at like 10 PM. There were like 14 other people (at least) staying at this house, which again, was nice to have the company, but was kind of stressful. I didn’t sleep well any of the nights and was always worried about something – what to eat, where to go, how to I get there, etc. Anyway, it was fun, but stressful. Saturday, I got a ride down to the lake to register and ride the course. It’s a 2-loop course starting at Boulder reservoir. Since I wasn’t really tapering much for this race, I thought I might even do 2 loops. I did recover some during the week, but didn’t do a full-on taper. Regardless, 2 loops wouldn’t kill me. It was a REALLY nice ride. Something like 1000-1500 feet of climbing over the whole thing with no steep hills. Mainly a false flat and some rollers. Plus some real fast sections. I rode 2 loops in like 2:41 with not much effort at like 160 watts. I knew it was going to be a fast bike course. The run course is also a 2-looper around the reservoir mostly on fire roads and paths. It would be hot, but not all that hilly, just some rolling hills.
The house where we were staying was about a 45 minute drive, so I got a ride back up there with Nicole (again), but we stopped at Safeway first to get our food for the evening. That night was uneventful, but I could not sleep much. I was in a room with 2 other guys which was basically an open loft and could hear everything. Not good. Plus that day, I noticed my throat really started hurting and I knew I was getting a cold. Oh well, I would give it my best on race day and see where my fitness was. I really like the half-distance because it is tough, but a little more forgiving in that you can get away with less nutrition, etc. Full-IMs and nutrition is critical, but at the half, I knew I could go hard and just see what happened without blowing up too badly.
Race morning started very early. I was awake at like 2 because I couldn’t sleep (got at most 3 hours of sleep) and we headed down the hill towards the reservoir to get there early. As part of the Total Intensity group, we had a trailer with 20+ bikes in it to unload in the AM. That went fairly smoothly and I got my stuff ready to go. I was pretty relaxed as I walked my bike from the trailer down to the transition area while chatting with some other Total Intensity folks. After doing enough of these things, you don’t get as nervous. (If only I could figure that out for a full-distance event!). My wave didn’t start for a while (11/14 or something like that), so I just hung out, watched the pros start AND FINISH the swim, which was cool. Andy Potts is other-worldly and had 2+ minutes on the field coming out of the water. Julie Dibens was first out for the Women. They would both go on to win. I warmed up a bit and got used to the water. Then back out to the beach and in line with my wave. A few more minutes and we were off.
It was more crowded than I expected but not horrible. I attempted to draft a little, but wasn’t quite sure if it was working. I still need more experience at that. 8 buoys passed and I was out on the far side of the triangle course. Then around the next turn buoy and back towards home. I didn’t feel great, but I didn’t feel bad either. I think the altitude was getting to me a bit, but who knows. Either way, I came out in 36-something, which is about par-for-the-course for me on a half (except Vineman, which is an easier swim). Someday, maybe I’ll figure out how to swim faster for a half. At that point, I knew if I wanted a PR, I was going to have to work on the bike and run. I ran up the beach and T1 was OK. Had a little trouble getting my wetsuit off, but not bad. My time was about average. I do need to get better at mounting and may start trying some running mounts (can you say Cyclocross!)
Swim: 36:35
T1: 3:11
Once on the bike, I started pushing it and as I exited the park, I was already passing people left and right. (Well mostly on the left!). Being a roughly mid-pack swimmer (75/173) and much better biker and runner, and starting in a late wave, meant that I’d be passing people the whole ride and run. So before I even got to the main loop, I was already passing a ton of people. I made my way up the false-flat and headed up the West side of the loop on route 36. Then before I knew it I made the turn East and FLEW down St Vrain road. Even after I was off the main descent, I was still holding 30+ mph at 240-250 watts easily. The next part of the loop is still not hard – mostly flat all the way back around and down highway 119. I got back to the park entrance in 1:10 something and was actually pretty surprised. I knew it would be fast, but I didn’t expect that fast. My nutrition plan was purely liquid (Accelerade/CarboPro/Elete) so that was easy and low maintenance and was working well (many thanks to Sheila Leard for her ongoing advice and nutritional wisdom). I may try something other than Accelerade, but otherwise, liquid-only was simple and easy and it worked. All along the 1st loop I was passing Total Intensity people. I hadn’t seen Nicole, though, so wondered if she got out of the water OK. This was her first half-IM and she is NOT a swimmer. She was debating even doing it. Turns out she got out fine and I was really proud of her. Braver than I would’ve been.
The 2nd lap was uneventful and I just tried to hold a steady effort throughout and even or negative split it. I ended up with a 2:21 or so, which was almost a perfect even split. Awesome! I had a great transition and even got out of my shoes OK leaving them on my bike. I was in and out pretty quick and started the run.
Bike: 2:21:04
T2:1:33
By the time I was running, it was warming up A LOT. The morning had some clouds and overcast, but they had all basically burned off by that time. The first mile came and went quickly and then I started hitting some of the rollers on the fire roads. I felt them, but nothing horrible. I was really hoping to hold sub-7’s, but was just going on feel and not paying attention to pace. I was just pushing it the whole time. At each aid station, I got a little water and Gatorade and tried to keep things simple. Again, for a half, I can get away with a little less nutrition. I saw a few more TIS people and we exchanged some words of encouragement. I find that to be helpful for your own race and staying positive and enjoying the experience. I was having a decent run and enjoying the day. It’s hard work, but that’s the crazy addiction!!
By the end of the first lap, I think my pace was in the 7:10-ish range and I finished 6.5 miles in 46 and change. If I could even split or close to it, I could probably still PR and I did have Clearwater (World Championship for 70.3 distance) in the back of my mind. The 2nd lap went OK, but I was definitely starting to feel the effort. And my HR was high the whole time, I think because of the elevation. My legs were getting fatigued, but I didn’t let up. At mile 9, I knew I had only about 30 minutes to go and tried to think of it that way. Just push for 30 more minutes – that’s easy! I only got passed on the run a few times - once was by this 30 year old guy in a fancy K-Swiss get up. I caught him at mile 11 and felt great about passing him back. Only 2 miles to go and I kept going. You could see the finish on the other side of the lake by this point and all I had to do was run along the levy and I was home-free. By 12.5 miles, I was REALLY cooked, but the timing was pretty good since I only had a few more minutes and most of it was downhill. I rolled through the finish with a 1:35 something half-marathon. Not my best, but good for the circumstances – elevation, having a cold, and a hot/exposed run with no shade. Plus I had just ridden a 2:21 (even though my average and norm power have been higher at other halfs).
Overall, I came across the line in 4:37 something so I had beaten my PR by 1 minute!!! Compared to my previous PR, this swim was harder (4 minutes slower), the bike was easier (7+ minutes faster) and the run was harder (4 minutes slower, but was at elevation). I made up some time in transitions and had a really good T2. All-in-all, it was a success and I really enjoyed it. I was 15th in my AG out of 173, but the interesting thing was that 10 guys came in between 4:34 and 4:37. About 3 minutes faster and I would’ve been 6th! Maybe even a Clearwater slot. On a different day, I might’ve been able to cut a few more minutes off the run or maybe even off the bike, but that’s always the game with these things – where can you find more time! It was a great transition from a DNF back to a better mental state for IM Wisconsin in a few weeks.
Run: 1:35:17
Overall: 4:37:39 (15/173 AG, 73 overall)
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