Boulder 70.3 race report

Leading up to Boulder 70.3 I was super excited about the race because there was a lot going on.  From an old client visiting from Sarasota racing with his son, to meeting my IRONMAN Foundation Newton Running Ambassador teammates, my friend Jennie from Arkansas racing and I had 2 athletes I've been coaching racing their 1st 70.3.  With all this going on, I still had to remind myself and get myself organized into race mode.  I think sometimes I stay so busy, which is a good thing, and calms the nerves.

Boulder 70.3 course ride w/Andy & Jennie

The week leading up to race week my brother in law was in town for the week from Miami.  This was the least amount of tapering I've done for a 70.3, which made me a bit nervous.  Jennie got in town Monday before the race, so Andy, Jennie and I decided to ride 30 miles of the course so I could show her a bit.  After that we did a swim and hiked Eldorado Canyon State Park..... was a blast.  The rest of the week was work, short workouts, dinner with friends, fuelery massage with Geoff Hower (amazing) and NormaTech boots to top it off!

FRIDAY - 

Welcome to Boulder, Tommy!!

The expo was a blast.  Saw a ton of friends and teammates.  I met up with Jennie at the Newton Running tent where my hubby, Nick, was working.  Ran into a couple clients from Lifetime Fitness who wanted to see what a triathlon expo was all about and checked out some newtons too!  YAY!  Always converting them one by one.  As we were walking up to the packet pickup, I ran into Tommy & Kris Klauber!  SO excited.  Tommy is a former client of mine who I trained in Sarasota.  Lost a ton of weight and got into the sport of triathlon over a year ago.... 50+ lbs later and 2 70.3's under his belt, he pulled the trigger on Boulder 70.3 to race with his son, Kris, who lives here in Boulder and is the manager of Mtn Sun Brewery on Pearl (yum!).  The expo is where I start to get super excited about the race and it all sets in that it's here!  Time flies when you're having fun.  

We workout! :)

TEAM lunch at the MED

SATURDAY - 

I had to work a few hours that morning, plus a LTF TRI Team swim before we had our IRONMAN Foundation Newton Running Ambassador team photo shoot out at Coot Lake.  I was super excited for our Colorado area teammates and Larking (from Mississippi) to all get together.  It's crazy that we are from all over the place and when we get together it was like we just all hang out all the time.  Super fun.  After the shoot, I still had to get in a little run.  This was about 11am and super hot....but still managed to get in 20 minutes to flush out the legs.  Went to the expo to say hi to Nick, Ryan and Tori til I met up with our team for lunch at the MED.  Delicious!  The rest of the night was spent organizing race day items.... pack fuel, fill up water bottles, morning clothes, race day clothes, helmet, sunglasses, wetsuit, glide, shoes, etc....  almost forgot my cycling shoes til Nick found them later that night!  

Nick, Tori, Jennie, Ryan and I had dinner at Empire in Louisville that night.  Delicious food... had shrimp risotto, calamari salad and Dales Pale Ale :) well and some other apps everyone else ordered too!  We knew the weather was going to be crappy, but didn't realize the extent of it until our waiter asked if we wanted to go outside and see the twister forming to the NE (Erie area).  Holy smokes.... all of a sudden the sirens came on blaring down Main Street in Louisville to seek cover.  Our waiter reassured us that they had a basement and we would be ok.  The weather calmed down after about an hour, so we headed home.  Later that night Nick received a call that he and Ryan had to go back to the expo because it wasn't looking pretty.  I was curious why we were not allowed to drop our bikes off the day before the race, like every other race I have attended, but I was happy that my bike wasn't there that night!!  Minus all the craziness that night, I was still off to bed by 9pm!!

SUNDAY - Race Day!  

Race morning with Jennie

Wake up call came quick @ 4am.  My hubby rocks and already had coffee pre set to go off when I got up.  Sipped on coffee, ate english muffin, peanut butter, banana and water.....checked email, FB, and foam rolled.....typical morning routine :).  We left the house around 5am to get there before it was too congested to get into the Rez.  We came the back way, so it wasn't too bad.  Being with Nick race morning, since he was working the event, we got to park by the vendors, so it was across the street from the finish line.  YAY!  One great thing too about not having to drop off your bike the night before is that you can pump up your tires and fill up bottles/nutrition on your bike and leave the rest of your crap in the car.

Transition area seemed calm and people were just getting there as I was too.  I had the best transition spot ever.  It was within 10 feet and the 1st rack coming into T1 from the swim.  I felt like a pro! :)  I checked out my bike, set her up facing the bike exit, laid out my transition set up and out I went.  I ran into Jennie, friends, a few teammates and Lifetime TRI athletes while there too.  Always fun to see familiar faces pre race!

I met up with Tommy and Kris at the Newton tent to put on wetsuits and take a few pre race pics too!  One more potty stop and into the Boulder Rez for a little pre race swim with Jennie.  Love that we get to have a little warm up before we race.  Calms the nerves, gets the blood flowing, loosens up the muscles, joints and race ready!!

The new SwimSmart applied to this race as well.  Racing the Sprint and the Peak, I had a good idea of where I wanted to place myself for this race.  I wondered over to the 34-36 minute area and ran into some friends (Hannah & Marco Hintz, Alan Greening, Steven Katz and Scott McAnish) and teammates (Scott & Larkin)....always fun to talk trash pre race with friends.    I like the new swim start because we are funneled into the beach one by one, which allows for a smoother start.  I was able to get into the groove as soon as I hit the water.  One thing I didn't know was there were floating docks on the course (2 of them) and I almost ran into the first one.  No real issues on the swim, felt great and finished in 35:25...super happy!  Scott Taylor ran passed me in T1 saying.... oh you did beat me out of the water...HAHA.... later to find out he beat me by 3 seconds.

Heading into T1

Running into T1 I was so excited that I didn't have to run on that much concrete once I got into transition cause I had the best spot ever.  I'm a huge baby when it comes to my feet. HA!  I was testing out a new AquaSphere phantom wetsuit Ryan from Kompetitive Edge.  I had an old crusty one for about 3 years and the zipper has been an issue for a while.  So, I loved the new wetsuit.  It even had a back panel thing that fit like a girdle that helps low back support.   I totally forgot about it when I was trying to take the darn suit off, chalk up 30 seconds to figure out.  Where were the wet suit strippers when I needed them?

Let's start this bike

Onto the bike.... I was excited about the bike cause I knew the course like the back of my hand.  Home field advantage...and I have been working hard on my cycling and excited to see how it's paid off.  Leaving the Res, I knew I was just going to sip on some water and IM Perform as I start to get the legs warmed up.  Heading out on Jay and onto 28th St and 36, I knew it was a false flat and my goal was to warm up the first 20 minutes and hold back a bit.  I felt great until I turned past the church and felt bouncy.  Thinking it was just the road, I kept going....then it got worse and worse.  Shit.  So I pulled over in front of the miniature golf place, looked down at my rear wheel to notice that my tube was bulging out the side of my tire.  I have this love/hate with race wheels and valve extenders.  It took me a second to realize what I needed to do.  Take out the valve, deflate my tube, get my tube in there correctly, pop my tire on properly, make sure it's on and then hit it with CO2.  Almost pulled out the valve totally.  Minor panic attack, jk, and then I was off.  Think it took about 3-5 minutes, not sure, felt like forever, but when I got back on the bike I felt like I had turbos kicking cause I was pretty pissed at this moment.  I've raced since 2004 and I have yet to ever have any mechanicals IN a race.  I know, knock on wood, but I've been pretty lucky.  I am still blaming Ryan for this one....jk Ryan!

Fun bike course!

I love the scenery going up 36 and into Lyons.  The temp was great, the wind was cool and the ride was awesome.  I was so excited when I turned onto 66 and saw Tim, Tory and Devin there cheering me on....Hi Friends...right when I needed a little kick!  Then we head north on 75th, through some beautiful neighborhoods and back to 75th and to the Rez.   Somewhere between there I felt a sting on the inside of my left calf....damn...stung by bee!  Went numb after about 20 minutes, but was annoying!  One of the coolest things about this race was the fact that some of my athletes from Lifetime Fitness were out there volunteering.  From bike course, to water stations (You rock, Sabrina), run course and finish line!  You guys rock.  I got to see Tom at aid station #3 on the bike and it was awesome having one of your athletes hand you your water and give you some encouraging words to boost you when you need 10 more miles to go!!  Thanks, Tom!  I finished the bike in 2:41:41...pissed about the tire issue, but super excited about the bike time.

Happy to be coming into T2

Starting the run

Now onto the run.  My fav.  As I was leaving T1, I saw my co-worker, Jeff, and my athlete, Ali, there cheering me on!  Loved it.  The run was 2 loops....out the Rez entrance, up the rolling hills of gravel and rocky roads and then leveled out back into the Rez.  I like 2 loops so you know what to expect on the next loop, you get to see more athletes and friends/family.  About mile 3 I ran into my IMF teammate, Christi.... told her looking good and went on.  A few minutes later I feel someone getting close to me and Christi tells me... let's do this woman.  I need to be pushed and let's rock this run! We ran together for another 6 or so miles until the final few.  Running with a teammate and going through all the same aches, pains, mental and physical toughness, made it that much easier.

Starting our 2nd lap

Happy to have that one in the bank!

Thanks for running with me woman!  I felt pretty good on the run minus the hills the first half of the loops. I paced where I wanted to be, walked a couple aid stations to get all my fluids in and followed by fueling/nutrition plan (water every aid station, ice down the top to cool off, coke every 2-3 miles and had 1 gel half way through).  Finished strong with a 1:58...not my best but happy considering it was a tough run for me.  Coming close to the finish line, I saw our Lifetime Fitness TRI Team & Newton Running friends cheering me in and had chills all the way to the finish.  I was so excited to see Kaira at the finish line with a medal in her hand...big hug and all smiles!  Thanks, Kaira!!!  Finished my day with a 5:19:18!!

Thank you to my amazing husband, Nick, for your love and support!  My biggest fan ever!  LOVE!  Thanks to my amazing Lifetime Fitness TRI TEAM, IRONMAN Foundation Newton Running Ambassador Team, Kompetitive Edge and Newton Running corporate team for the cheers and support all weekend long!!  You guys are the best!

Our cheering squad!  Lifetime Fitness & Newton Running

Kristen's 1st 70.3.  So proud to watch athletes check off their bucket list.
Congrats woman.
Next up... Boulder IRONMAN baby!

Sabrina was rocking that cow bell for the runners!
Thanks to all the amazing volunteers who spend their day helping others reach their goals!

Shirley's 1st 70.3!!  Can't say how proud I am of this woman!!  Most determined and passionate woman I've ever met!  Full of smiles!  Congrats, Shirley!  2013 was awesome....2014 will be epic!

Nuff said.... true that, Jennie!  This woman rocked this race and had a new PR!!!
Whoop!  Whoop!

SO proud of Tommy!!  70.3 #3 in the bank!  Can't tell you how inspired I am by this man!
Love to see clients reach their goals and continue on the path of
health and fitness!  You make me proud, TK!

We finished the awesome race weekend with dinner at The Rev in Louisville with friends.  Love you guys! XO