Progress

I raced the Boulder Sunrise triathlon Last Saturday. I did the olympic distance event and it went about as well as expected. I thought I could crack the top 3 on a great day and definitely the top 10 on a good day. I achieved the latter of the two.This ended up being a good race with a few hiccups at the beginning and end that I'll get in to. Let's start with the swim. I felt like I was swimming and sighting well but I didn't draft effectively and I lost feet too often to get that big advantage. I mucked around the water and came out in over 26 minutes. I was using more of the new technique I'm being taught. It felt very different in open water and a wetsuit. I have a LOTS of work to do in this area but I have no complaints about how it shaped up as I was faster than when I did this event the year before. While I certainly wasn't thrilled with being 22nd out of the water, I believe I'm on the right track. Transition was nice and quick. The problem was what happened as soon as I got out of T1. I had my shoes clipped on to to my pedals as I headed out of transition. Rookie mistake #1-I didn't open up the velcro on the shoe and was playing with them for a good 60 seconds trying to get the shoe open. Duh. Once on, I sped out of the reservoir and started picking people off. I felt pretty sluggish the entire ride but managed to not let anyone pass me. I took 2 gels during the ride and was fine with nutrition. It was a very cool day so weather was not a factor. The bike went on uneventful. Since I felt a little flat on the bike, I would kick in a few intervals to see if I would come good. Never happened. After the bike, I had a quick transition and was off running. I felt great right out of T1 and was motoring. I had a guy on me for the first 1/2 mile and then he fell off pretty quickly. I was now in chasing mode but I didn't know who to chase with racers from a sprint triathlon, duathlon and 5k all on the same course. At the turnaround, the leader came towards me ( I know knew who was in my raced based off their bib numbers) and I knew I was in 7-10th place. There were a couple right ahead that I knew I would pass soon. I held a nice steady tempo and ran through the field. There are 3 sections where you have to do a 180 degree turn on this course. That means you get to see your competitors 3 times. At the final 180 degree turn, there were 2 people ahead of me I knew I was going to pass and that this would put me in 4th place overall. The guy that ultimately came in 3rd was running well and a minute ahead of me with 1.5 miles to go so. I passed the two people in front of me but could not see the 3rd place guy. Rather than dig deep and see what I had left, I dialed it down a tad knowing my 4th place spot was secure and that I couldn't catch 3rd since he was out of my sights. Rookie mistake #2. ALWAYS keep racing. I ended up only 27 seconds behind 3rd place. For all I know, he stopped and talked to his family, friends which is why I made up over 30 seconds in that short period but I just don't know. Also, had I pushed and got near him, it's quite probable that he would have had a kick too as evidenced by how well he was running earlier. Regardless, I need to at least give myself a chance. Ultimately, I came in 4th overall and 1st in my age group. I was happy with the result and the hard effort I gave for the "majority" of my race.  My swim split was 22nd overall, bike 2nd overall and run 4th overall.

My takeaways:

Swim-I am in the process of doing a lot of swim training with an outside eye on my technique. This is still new and a work in progress but I like where it's going. I've proven that I can have a bike/run that competes with just about everyone in my age group but none of that matters if I can't get out of the swim closer to others than bike/run well. My ultimate goal is my September race so I've got time to put in a solid, focused swim effort for the next 3 months.

Transition-This was the 2nd time in my past 4 triathlons where things done in transition (not loosening my shoe straps for this race) tripped my up. Both happened in low key races so I took it for granted that I was all set up with my bike. I need to give these races the same amount of thought as I do in my priority races. No excuses for a bad transition. It's the easiest part of the day.

Run-I am running extremely well right now. I ran sub 6min pace for the run portion after a hard bike so I'm very encouraged.

I need a lot of work on my swim with some increased power numbers on the bike. My training in May was very focused and I have improved a lot in that short period of time. I have a 5 day triathlon camp in Crested Butte with some friends in mid June where I will be gaining even more fitness as I move towards my late Summer race. I've made a lot of progress in a 4 week period. I intend to keep pushing myself through the summer to meet my ultimate goal. Things are looking up!