Boulder Ironman Recap

On 8/7/16 I completed my second triathlon and first Ironman distance in Boulder.  It took over 14 hours (which is longer than I wanted) but I am still happy with it as I finished! 

First thing here is a picture of the hardware:

The weeks leading up to this were a bit nerve wracking because I had never attempted this distance.  I can honestly say that with the exception of competing in bodybuilding in my early 20's that this was the hardest training cycle I have ever done for anything.  Every day would be a mixture of running, swimming, biking and weight training.  In addition getting my nutrition in order to finish this (and not waste away or get injured beforehand) was more of chore than I thought it would be.  Also I have been traveling every other week for a project I am working on in Atlanta so I had to figure how to effectively train there.

I was lucky enough to not have to travel the week of the triathlon and the week after so I could recover at home.   I had my bike tuned the week before the triathlon so I would not have to worry about it at the last minute.  

I am not sure if the other Ironmans have this but Boulder did have a Facebook page and the race director posted informational videos for each part of the race weeks before the race itself.  These were really helpful as I was able to go up to Boulder and ride the bike course several times before the race itself.   There were also videos on the check in process, transitions bags, the swim and run course and even for spectators that were coming to watch.   These were extremely helpful.

I checked in on Thursday and sat through the orientation session.  The expo was outdoors on the grounds of the Boulder High School.  There was a good selection of vendors as well as Ironman gear.  The only bad part is getting to that part of Boulder and parking is hassle but that is Boulder.

My brother came out from Wisconsin to do this Ironman (his 6th!) so I met up with him on Friday and Saturday.   He checked in a day later but we went together on Saturday to drop off our bikes and transition bags on Saturday.  It took a few hours as we had to drop our bikes and bags off at the Boulder reservoir then go over to the Boulder high school again to drop off our run transition bags.  After that it was time to head home and rest until the next morning.

Sunday was race day and I was up extremely early (didn't need an alarm as I was ready to go and didn't sleep much) because our swim start was at 6:20.

Everything is extremely well organized with these races, you end up at Boulder High School so you park near there and you get on shuttle buses to go up to the reservoir.   They don't have enough parking so competitors and spectators had to take the bus. 

I lined up with the 1:45-2 hour swimmers to start because I really had no idea how long it would take me.  We started the race 20 minutes or so after the triathlon started because they staggered the start to eliminate crowding.  This was the only part of the race that I was nervous about not making the time limit.   Once I got going the nerves went away and I swam from buoy to buoy.  It was a bit difficult to navigate as it was cloudy out and my goggles are tinted.  The far end of the swim course had a large amount of algae but I just kept swimming through it and never stopped except to pull my swim cap back down on to my head because it kept sliding up.  I ended up finishing in 1:38 which was a happy surprise!  Here are some pictures at the end of the swim:

I headed into transition 1 and the hardest thing was getting the darn wet suit off!  It slides off my upper body easy enough but my legs and feet were another thing.  I got changed into my biking gear chugged a bottle of water and jogged to the mount area (you can't just hop on your bike you have to be out of the bike racks and in a safe area to get on your bike, you get on early or don't have your helmet buckled you get a time penalty).  Once I got on the bike I started riding at a good pace.  I had an advantage over most of the competitors who are not from here in this race as I knew where all the hills were because of riding the course so many times.   I passed a fair amount of people (including my brother!) in the first 20 - 30 miles.  I also noticed there were people who would pass me on the downhills but I would pass them back on the uphills.  I figured out these were people that had high dollar triathlon bikes with race wheels so better equipment does make a difference.

There was an accident during this event in that a competitor got hit by a car about 30 miles into the race (I found out afterwards that she died).  I passed by the scene of the accident after the police had arrived and were directing people around site and people were assisting the person on the ground.   It was really sad to hear about this afterwards because she was a mom with a 4 year old son.  According to news reports she went outside the cones which separated the biking lane with traffic and that is when she got hit.

I settled into a rhythm biking where I got fluids of some sorts at every water station and would force myself to eat a bar or GU pack or Clif shot every 30 minutes.  The sun came out and it warmed up a lot (it ended up being in the 90's that day).  

I made it into the last 20 miles skipped the last water station (I had fluids and was tired of orange Gatorade) and sped up to finish.  I finished the bike and got changed (my body glide melted sitting in a bag in the sun) chugged down some fluids and set off to run.   This is where things got tough.  My core was sore from being hunched over for so long and kept getting a cramp in my back so I would run whenever I could until the cramp flared up then I would have to walk it out.   I made the situation even worse by trying cramp relieving item they were handing out that is named Hot Shot.  Hot shot tastes like a mixture of battery acid and cough syrup that they carbonated.  It did nothing for my back cramp dissipate but it made me nauseous so now I would run until I felt like I was going to throw up then have to walk.  To add to it the heat was over 90 degrees (luckily we have low humidity in Colorado!) which got me a bit dehydrated. 

The race course is two laps of the same route and I was so incredibly slow in the first half (over 3 hours) because I just could not get into any running rhythm.  I saw my wife at about the half way point and told her I would be back in a few hours.   I started to feel better after the halfway point so I was able to run more and walk a lot less.   After I got to 20 miles I really started to pick up the pace.  At no point in this did I ever think I wouldn't finish it was just a matter of how long it would take.  What really made me feel better was one of the aid stations gave me a glass of beer at mile 21.6!    I ended up running a negative split and finished the 2nd half of the marathon faster than the first!

This was my first view of the finish line

Just before nearing the finish line

Finally done!

I was moving at a good pace at the end and actually ran up on the person n front of me when I finished (it ruined any good finishing pictures for me!). 

The end result:

People have asked if I will do another one and I tell them possibly.  It is huge time commitment to train for one of these (at least it was for me).  I do have an advantage now in that I know how to swim and don't have to learn how to before doing another one.   Right now I am going to recover some and prepare for my next marathon in September.  I plan on running more, biking and swimming less but still doing some and trying lift weights more.  I lost some muscle and strength during my training and would like to gain some back so I will be increasing my protein intake.  In other words I will be grilling out every weekend and eating more!

If you have ever thought of doing an Ironman I highly recommend the Boulder one.  It is very well organized, the swag is awesome (hat, shirt, backpack and other stuff).  The only thing I will warn you about is the altitude and heat.   It is over 5500 feet altitude so it will effect you during the bike and run.  My brother ended up getting a bit dehydrated but he did finish over an hour and a half after me.  He was expecting to finish before me (heck so did I) but I think the altitude and low humidity made it harder than expected. 

Until next time happy running!