While half ironmans, let alone triathlons, are not about PRs, how the heck did I PR by over 15 minutes in a half ironman at altitude?! Here are the Cliff notes about how that went down.
Backstory: I chose the Boulder 70.3 that took place Saturday, August 4th because I wanted to visit friends (Sarah, Caitlin, Ryan!) and because the swim and run courses were my type – in a glassy, still reservoir and on gravel roads, respectively (obviously). When I visited in March, the altitude didn’t affect me all too much, so I didn’t feel like being a flatlander put me at much of a disadvantage. After dealing with too much non-triathlon related stress during the NYC Triathlon, I felt lighter compared to my last race at the NYC Triathlon, and it’s illuminating how much that transpired into a better race!
Swim: The women’s field quickly got into a line formation, everyone drafting off of each other. I breathed every other stroke, immediately feeling the thin air during my already aquatically limited oxygen intake. The water dropped from 73 degrees to 70.5, making it wetsuit legal just in time. I exited the water in 18th of 22 pros, so in the back, but with lots of women in sight since we swam in a line.
Swim: 31:47
Bike: The 36 mile loop courses was bookended with two 10 mile out-and-backs on Diagonal Highway. I had a difficult time holding enough power at the NYC Triathlon, (I don’t ride with a power meter) so when a woman passed me convincingly at mile 2, I contemplated keeping her in sight until I blew up. It was then that I remembered my hip flexors cramping at Eagleman, and I let her go. I made sure to take mini breaks from aero and sat up during the turns and steeper climbs to give my hip flexors some reprieve. There were a few false flats that could’ve drained my spirits as much as my momentum, but knowing there were going to be false flats made the instances I saw 16mph on my watch not a demoralizing sight. I had spent a lot of workouts at 80-90% FTP, dialing in for 10-20 minutes at a time with radio as my only distraction. I tuned into this power and let the simmer in my legs serve as a gauge of my effort for the rest of the bike course, keeping on top of the pedals, and didn’t get passed by another woman for the remaining 2 hours and 25 minutes.
Bike: 2:28:10, 22.7 mph
Run: I started the run in 18th place, though I didn’t know it at the time. I saw a lot of coaches on the course, but they held their cards close and didn’t say anything to me (except for one – shoutout to Spencer for being the lone voice on the course!). The run course was 80% on gravel roads and went twice around the reservoir as the mercury crept up to the mid-80s. I ran a little slower through the aid stations so I had enough time to actually drink the water I was grabbing rather than barreling through the aid stations like the Kool-Aid man smashing through a wall! Still blind as to where I was in the field, it was difficult to distinguish if I was passing age-groupers on their first loop or fellow pro triathletes on their second. I ended up passing 8 women and running myself into 10th place – just 7 seconds from 9th! I ended up with a 1:26:29, my fastest half marathon on paper ever – my watch had me at 1:27, so I must have clocked it a little differently.
Run: 1:26:29, 6:37 pace
Overall: 4:30:45, 10th pro of 22
Again, these races are not about the times, but rather the good times had. After the race, I chilled out to “Jazz in the Park” and a picnic in Denver’s City Park, went shopping on Pearl Street, did a hike where I saw a black bear, went to a local brewery with friends old and new, and went on an incredible bike ride with the Rapha Cycling Club up to 9,000 feet. It was a definitely a weekend where it was the highest I’d ever been.
