Boulder Peak Triathlon (Olympic) Race Report

I started the race on two hours of sleep due to pain I am still dealing with from my dental debacle. I was really not feeling well before the race but decided to give it a shot anyway.

At the start of the swim my goggles leaked immediately. I had to stop to adjust them at least three times before I said screw it and swam with water in them.

Having water in my goggles threw off my stroke a bit as I had to close one eye often during the breathing as the water would run into my eye. Fortunately I can breath on both sides so I was able to break it up a bit.  Doing it this way forced my head out of the water more and I even swam quite a lot with my head up while breathing so that the water wouldn't irritate me.  While heading out of T1, I had to stop to readjust my shoe and then as soon as I got on the bike and started peddling I kept hearing a clicking sound. I had to stop, get off and adjust my cadence thingy that was rubbing against the magnet. ( I will  check that before the next race).

  I had told myself that I wasn't going to push to hard on the bike as I didn't have the energy and was worried about what the result would be. Also, knowing that Old Stage Road (big climb) was ahead of me I made it a point to take it easier on the slow gradual climb to Old Stage Road.  I conquered Old Stage Road (very slowly) and did my best to get in front of anyone who I thought might stop as I knew if they stopped suddenly or fell over there was a chance that it would force me to do the same. It was like a mini Tour DE France on Old Stage Road. People in costume, people lined up along the road cheering and ringing their cow bells and messages with chalk on the road.  The rest of the ride was fine. I passed people, people passed me... you know how it goes .  Could I have gone faster.. yes. A lot faster.. I don't know.  Would I have suffered for it on the run because of my lack of sleep (over weeks) and being under trained. Maybe.
I knew that I was going to have to walk a lot on the run. I told myself ahead of time to not get hung up with that. My goal for this race was to finish without getting sick or being miserable through the whole thing. I walked every hill and walked through every aid station. I was starting to feel nauseous on the way out (out and back course) and at one point wasn't sure I would be able to finish. At the turn around point or shortly before or after, they were handing out ice. I put ice in my hat and began pouring water over my head. It was really hot and I was overheating. I started to feel better and ran a lot more on the way back. At one point I started to feel a cool which I knew wasn't a good sign and knew that I needed to keep using the ice. First time using ice for me.  My run time was expected and therefore I wasn't disappointed. I did get to share the run course with the pros for a bit and was able to watch them cross the finish line as a spectator.

Pro pics

Guess who is the pro in this picture

Tim O'Donnell, Joanna Zieger and Matt Reed.

 
Under the circumstances, I did about as well as I could have. Like I said, I was just out there to finish this one.  The highlight of the race was meeting Julie http://youjusthavetotri.blogspot.com/ at the finish line where she was volunteering. We gave each other a big hug and it made my day.