Gasping for Breath at the Boulder 70.3

The sun blinded me with every gasping stroke. Pull, breathe…SUN! Pull, brea…SUN! I focused on exhaling in the water – not something I usually think about – in order to dedicate each head turn to getting as much oxygen as possible.

We were nearing the first buoy just under 1000 yards from where we started. My gums felt swollen and my teeth hurt from the lack of oxygen at an elevation of 5200 feet. I had to check in and make sure I wasn’t swimming butterfly, because I was putting in so much effort. Every third frantic breath, I lifted my head just a little more to make sure the two pink caps ahead of me were still there. They didn’t kick very hard, so I couldn’t rely on following their bubbles. We finally settled in after the first buoy, but it was a more pedestrian pace than I wanted. However, when I veered right to think about passing, the increased effort sent my heart rate back up and my mouth feeling like I was 12 and had a palate expander again.

The bike course is a 35 mile loop bookended with an out-and-back on a flat highway. You enter the out-and-back perpendicularly, in the middle, so it’s like entering the mall from the middle entrance and having to double-back twice in order to hit up your favorite stores – Express, The Limited, KB Toys, JCPenney, oh, am I dating myself? Anyway, riding to each U-turn (and there are two per bookend) is like waiting for the beverage cart to arrive to your row on the plane. You expect it to arrive much, much sooner than it does.

The slow-motion arrival of each U-turn was only exacerbated by my attempt to get my power meter to sync to my watch. I even stopped my watch, turned off bluetooth, turned on bluetooth, and searched for sensors. Everything worked the day prior, so I’m not sure if “triathlon mode” on my watch didn’t work as expected. It would’ve been my first race with power data. Maybe next time! I was also trying to get my head in the right space after coming out of the water in 33+ minutes. This was 2+ minutes slower than last year, and it made going for a course PR far more difficult. On the bike, I wasn’t accepting of the discomfort and kept telling myself that I’d come around, that I was genuinely excited for this race and that I was feeling very fit going into it. I didn’t have any mantras to get me into the right space, just that I needed to come around.

I did eventually get into a better headspace once I completed the drag race-style of the first 10 miles. I was a little footloose in my timing of gels, but I took all seven during the 2:29 ride (22.7 mph). I was thirstier than usual and drank all of my nuun Endurance. The second highway out-and-back (yes, we got to do it again!) was more of the same, just tried to keep the perceived power high and be smart about how I was riding the U-turns.

There were two small wins on the bike: the first is that I did a 2:29, my second best ever (one minute slower than last year’s but in much warmer weather). The second small win was my new POC Cerebel Raceday helmet, which I’m absolutely obsessed with. The visor didn’t feel too dark, my head didn’t get hot, and it fits my noggin better. (Related: I have a Rudy Project Wing57 for sale!) Another small win was my T2, the second fastest of the women and only 1 second behind the fastest! And I don’t even do a flying dismount 🙂 I started the run ready to chase down more people than a Debt Collections Agency.

The run course this year was two lollipops: a ~1.7 mile stick, a ~3.2 mile loop (lolli?), a 1.7 mile stick. U-turn. Repeat. The “stick” section was along the perimeter of the Boulder reservoir, and its gravel was very slippery and pebbly, which made running slow. The loop part also had gravel, but it was more hard-packed. However, with the temps that crept into the low 90s, the altitude sucking your breath away, and absolutely no shade on the course (this is not an exaggeration!), you have yourself a slow. azz. run.

I clocked the woman closest ahead of me, and she was 1:10 ahead of me each opportunity I checked. (The “loop” had a short out-and back “tail” on it, so I had two chances per lap.) I somehow caught another woman (who wasn’t the aforementioned woman) and ran into 11th place, but that was the only time I could see or was aware of any woman around me. I did appreciate a woman who screamed out “Picky Bars! I LOVE Picky Bars!!” on the first loop. Holler! And I also chuckled at my miscomprehension of one volunteer who asked “what do you need?” and I said “A time gap!” I ran a 1:30:36, compared to my 1:27 from last year.

While my race wasn’t a fantastic one, it was a solid one. It’s a building block to the next one, and I had a lot of small wins I don’t want to forget:

1. I gave myself ample time to warmup with a swim. Shoutout to Meredith Kessler for putting us all in such a relaxed disposition by cracking jokes while waiting for the race to start (photo evidence here!)
2. I chatted with Andy Potts, who remembered me from Dun Laoghaire, where a group of us shared Guiness at a local pub.
3. I made a few pro friends I’ll see again soon and got to spend time with old ones (Sarah! Ryan! Caitlin!) from NYC!
4. I got to chat with triathlete Olympian Joe Maloy about returning to sport after his quiet, not-really-announced retirement.
5. I loved my new helmet. I had practiced in it exactly once, in Central Park on my road bike, but I was happy to confirm my purchase.
6. I rode my second best bike split despite a discouraged start.
7. I didn’t go to the well in the run and felt okay enough for an easy ride the next day with Caitlin and Brittany.

Post-race, I walked over to the athlete food tent, which resembled a German fair more than an endurance event food tent since the most appealing provisions were pork bratwurst and sauerkraut! I ate both and passed on the Dominos pizza and hot dogs. I think we can do better, Ironman.

At press time, I have one week until my next race, which is the Ironman 70.3 in Traverse City, Michigan. I’m super excited to race at sea level, wear my new helmet again, and bring 1970s grandma to Michigan.