At the Boulder Sunrise Oly tri, one thing was clear from the very beginning--I wasn't in top shape for racing.
Often, I push the swim very hard from the start in order to build as much lead as possible going into T1. Despite a solid warmup riding to the race and in the water pre-start, I was not feeling loose at the start. After getting into the rez and waiting at the start line for a few minutes, it was announced that the race would be delayed while we waited for the paramedics to arrive--they were running late. The water was too cold to just stand around in so I spent some time on the shore casually chatting with Mike, Manuel, Bill, Liz, Jay...passing time. We got a 2 minute warning for the eventual race start--time enough to wade back in but not for another warmup.
Looking around, I only recognized one guy I knew would outswim me for sure--no one else looked familiar. At the start, six of us went out front pretty quickly and then two guys gapped the group and were moving ahead at a faster pace than I could follow. I settled into my pace and ended up shoulder to shoulder with another guy so I dropped back and took his feet but I kept swimming into him. I pulled out to go around and he matched my pace stroke for stroke--wouldn't let me go by. I didn't want to waste energy so I dropped back again--this time there was another guy with us so I slipped into third position and relaxed.
These guys started navigating off course to the left so I just broke off the back and took a good line to the intermediate buoy. I could see the two leaders, but wasn't going to get to them so I resigned myself just to go it alone and try not to burn too much energy. Then the guys I had been with adjusted and came back to me so we were together again. I looked ahead and the two guys out front had split--one was heading to the wrong turn buoy (cutting the course). One of the guys I was with began to follow the guy who was off course. Things were getting weird.
So I came around the first of two turn buoys in third position. When I got to the second turn about 200 meters later, I was in fourth (and no one had passed me). I could have missed him, but I'm pretty sure that one of the course-cutters never readjusted and ended up back in the mix at that second turn. Whatever. Ultimately came out of the water in 5th overall and didn't burn too much energy.
I made the fastest swim-bike transition in the race and headed out on the ride, but it was immediately clear that I wasn't going to have the legs to ride hard. So I rode smart--pushing on the sections that made sense, resting (sometimes even coasting) on some of the downhills. I kept focused on keeping my pace consistent and my effort even and manageable. I'll admit that at my pace, I thought about the possibility of Mike passing me before the run, but I kept focused and never turned to look back.
I arrived in T2 with Mike still behind me and, surprisingly, the 16th best bike split of the day. The bike course is more or less the Boulder Peak without Olde Stage--my kind of ride--but when you don't feel strong, the course doesn't matter much. I had another good transition and was off on the two-loop out-and-back run course. Mike had out-ridden me by over a minute so with my better swim, I was up by 1:05. It was hard to know where I was in the age group thanks to a couple of guys who had passed me on the bike wearing calf sleeves. (I couldn't see their age group marking--doesn't seem fair, but maybe that's fodder for another post.)
I took it relatively easy up the hill and then settled into a fast (for me) pace that I thought I'd be able to maintain. Since I don't race with a watch, I had no idea what pace I was running. At the turnaround, I counted footstep cycles until Mike and I crossed. 47. So I figured that was just over a minute advantage. It was too early to push any harder and I only had this single data point--I had no idea if he had been gaining or not but his form looked very good and he was focused. At the second turnaround, the count was 35. Not good. At that rate, it would be too close at the finish and he has a keen tracking sense--if I were close, he'd shut me down in the last few meters. I decided to push the way back out and try to hold or even increase the gap. It was a bit risky--this was my first 10k at race pace for the year and I didn't really know what I had in me. But I was feeling good and decided the potential benefit outweighed the risk.
At the final turnaround, the count was back up to 45, his form didn't look as solid as before, and I still had plenty of energy to finish. At that point, he'd have to outrun me by about 40 seconds a mile and I guessed my pace to be around 7 minutes. Seemed unlikely and I was closing in on the guy in front of me who was in second place my age group (I didn't know it at the time). I set my sights on catching him--something I can rarely pull off late in a run at this distance--and halfway back, I was only a few seconds behind. I was close enough for him to hear me so there would be no element of surprise. I decided to wait to make my move until after we got off the dam head and onto the pavement. There's a small rise there that's always tough for me--a mental block, but gets me every time.
He put a couple of seconds into me at that rise despite my best effort to stay strong and then I really started pushing to catch him. We had about a half mile to go and he was pushing to hold me off. As we reached the top of the downhill to the finish, he really kicked and I couldn't respond--he beat me by 11 seconds. I ran a PR 10k split at 43:50 and Mike came in 54 seconds later.
So I finished 3rd in the age group and 12th overall. Not too bad for an day without my best stuff. Mike and I are now 1-1 on the year with Loveland up next in a couple of weeks and the Peak a few weeks after that. He probably has the advantage in both of those races because of the courses, but it'll be close enough that either one could go either way. Loving this rivalry--it makes me better.
