This year was my first year participating in the Boulder Peaks Triathlon. (July of 2008) and overall it was a fantastic and well supported event. Unfortunately, this year there were a couple of hiccups.
Transition setup was scheduled to be between 5:00 and 6:20 am. I arrived about 5:30am, thinking I would have a good 50 minutes to get myself all set. No pressure… I got to the boulder reservoir and found myself sitting in traffic for 10 minutes just to enter. Once in, there was a line ( a very, very, very long line) to get in to the transition area.
With a couple hundred people waiting to enter the transition area, we hear the announcer over the loud speakers: “We need all the athletes OUT OF the transition area in 15 minutes”. Of course this brought more than a couple laughs. The challenge (or so it seemed) was that timing chips were handed out on the way in to the transition area, rather than the expo and packet pick-up the day before.
The end result was that the race start was to be delayed by, I think, 20 minutes (I could be a little off here). This immediately took off some of the stress regarding getting in to the transition area before close, however my immediate thought was on the heat.
Forecasts were for the upper 90′s and my heat didn’t start till 7:20am as it was. In reality I don’t think we got out until about 7:50.
5430 Sports took an unfortunate traffic situation and handled it very well, the only challenge that it created was the added heat.
Onto the Race:
SWIM:
A 1 mile swim in the Boulder Reservoir. The water was a warm 77 degree and very calm. It was actually one of the nicest open water swims I have been in. I truly enjoyed it. A simple start, plenty of Kayaks (I didn’t need them, but it is good to know they are there) and large markers.
BIKE:
My friends that “warned me” about old stage hill were correct. I truly stink on the bike and that was a mean climb. I stayed in the saddle the whole climb, but was not moving much faster than the folks I passed that opted to walk up the hill. At the top of the hill, there was a much appreciated aid station. Followed by a nice long ride down left hand canyon.
After the downhill, the road was a nice rolling ride. Overall, a beautiful ride. If not for the Old Stage, and my lack of skills on the bike, I would not consider it an overly challenging course.
RUN:
I was thrilled to get to the run. Got out of transition, grabbed a gatorade from the first aid station and figured this was my time to rock this race! I think it took about 1.5 miles for the heat to catch up with me. I felt dehydrated and ill. This is the first time in a long time that I walked the water stops in a 10K run.
This is where I was impressed with 5430 Sports. They had an aid station every mile with water, gatorade, and ice. I rubbed ice on my legs at each aid station which kept my quads from cramping up any more and the remaining ice went in my water. It just tasted better that way…
I finished pretty slow, but I don’t care about that. I am not a very competitive triathlete. I prefer going out an enjoying the day. And that I did, would I have liked it 20 degrees cooler? absolutely, but we can never control that. I had a great morning at the boulder peaks triathlon.
