Synopsis: I went to Alaska for a friend's wedding and enjoyed some great scenery while training there. A few days after getting back from Alaska, I won the women's age group elite at the Boulder Peak 5150 Triathlon. For the first time I didn't feel like I was dying on the run and my 10k run was a decent time for me at 5,280 feet in elevation 41 min.
7/10/12
I have had an incredibly busy past two months since the Dallas race. Not only have I been working 40 hours a week, but I significantly upped the training hours too. Not only did the amount of training I have been doing increase, but also the quality. In addition to getting daily workouts from Barb Lindquist through trainingpeaks.com, but I have also started doing strength and conditioning with Training To Be Balanced . I am usually not a fan of any strength training, but Augie and company have been whipping my but into shape with innovative and fun workouts!
I took a week off in the end of June to travel to Anchorage, AK for a college friend's wedding. Wyoming is beautiful, but Alaska took my breath away. We lucked out with good weather while we were there and did lots of hiking biking and camping. We camped on Exit Glacier road near Seward on my first night in Alaska, and I was quite confused when we were pitching a tent at 11pm and it was still daylight. The sun never set while we were there. I went for an early morning run on exit glacier road and enjoyed the crisp breeze that blew off the glacier and its runoff. It was such a spiritual and magical experience, despite the fact that I kept a watchful eye scanning the trees for the possibility of an approaching grizzly bear. I wish I could write on and on about my Alaska experience, but I know my words won't do it justice, and you'd get just plain bored. Pictures are worth a thousand words:
Exit Glacier
Hiking to the top of the Alyeska Tram
Boulder Peak
SCROLL TO BOTTOM .....
Three days after returning from Alaska I packed up my bags and got in the car with my parents to drive down to Boulder, CO for the Boulder Peak Triathlon. We arrived in Boulder on Saturday, in the early afternoon. We arrived at Boulder Reservoir and I was super pumped, it looked like an incredible venue for a triathlon. After picking up my race numbers and time chip, I the expo and scored 2 pairs of super nice zoot tri shorts for only $20.... a third of their usual retail price.
I sat down to watch the "race instructions" video and started having a panic attack. There was a speed limit on the bike course! What kind of race is this? When the website had said there would be officers with speed guns on downhill portion of the course, I could only imagine it was for the days leading up to the race. But NO! It was during the race.... and my bike computer hadn't been working the past few days. I was screwed. With that steep descent there was no way to know whether I would be under the speed limit of 35 mph. I freaked out, cut my bike computer off my bike, and gave my dad the task of trying to unscrew the battery to my bike computer to see if a new battery would make it work.
Meanwhile, I set out to do my ride taking in the rolling hills and getting in a little speed work.
Luckily, the haze from the forrest fires across the region weren't nearly as bad as I imagined it would be. A few rain showers earlier in the week had helped reduce the density of particulate matter put out by the fires. I had been imagining myself in transition putting on a gas mask, and the look of my opponents as I would ride past them in a gas mask on the bike. Thankfully, no gas mask would be needed.
Upon return to the race site, I practiced a few mounts and dismounts. They felt a lot smoother than any mounts or dismounts I had done before. I was ready to go!
As soon as I went to test out the water for a pre-race swim, the dark ominous thunder clouds rolled in and the life-guards cleared the water. I accepted my disastrous fate of no pre-race swim and contemplated that maybe next time I should be prepared and not waste time on fixing my bike computer. After testing a new battery, I couldn't figure the darn thing out and figured we better head to the nearest bike shop to buy a new one. I was just about to be in a bad mood because I would unnecessarily buying new equipment, when we walked in to the store to find signed Garmin jerseys. I was ecstatic! Garmin was my favorite cycling team, and they were currently based out of Boulder. I tried to hide my excitement from the shop workers so as not to look uncool, but giddily pointed out to my mom the jerseys and exclaimed, "This must be the shop where the team comes! Maybe we should hang out longer." The mechanics were wearing Garmin-Cervelo shirts and I couldn't hold my excitement. "So do the Garmin riders come in here often?" I tried to put on my smoothest voice and hide my childish joy. The mechanic non-chalantly replied with a yes and rattling off who most recently stopped in to the shop and mentioned that they had tuned their bikes before they headed off for the tour. I was melting with envy, but a little disappointed they hadn't mentioned anything about my favorite rider Heinrich Haussler. We purchased the new computer and headed out in the rain and hail to find a good pasta dinner. Everyone was exhausted and grumpy from hours of driving and my lack of pre-paredness and my own little freak-out over the bike computer problem and we couldn't decide which Italian place to choose, so we settled with the most unique cuisine we could find: Olive Garden. I wanted to complain that I wanted to go to a local place, but my parents probably just about had enough of my brattiness that resulted from the bike computer snafu.
From dinner it was back to the hotel. Feeling antsy I strapped on my swim suit and headed down to the tiny hotel pool. I stashed my towel and room key in the only dry spot I could find and did 30 or 40 lengths in the pouring rain, before getting dizzy and bored with the 6 strokes between walls. I returned to the room, made the last minute check of the bike and transition bags and laid down for sleep.
4:30 came early, but I was wide eyed and bushy tailed. I got into my clothes and laced up my running shoes, the rain had subsided to a gentle mist hanging in the air. Most people would be upset with wet roads, I was thankful that this meant the air would be completely clear. I dashed between the light of the lamp posts and inhaled deep breaths of the fresh morning. Back in the room it was a PB&J and moving bags down to the car. The excitement was slowly building. It was race morning traffic on the way to the reservoir: a long line of cars with bikes on the top or back of the cars, a few brave soles were on their bikes riding to the race with packs on their back.
After parking, I hopped on my bike and flexed my bike muscles in one last test run before the race. We had driven the course the day before and I was no longer intimidated by this so-called massive climb. I had ridden Teton Pass enough times that few hills can intimidate me. I tightened the brakes as close to the rims as they could get without touching. I wasn't about to suffer a 2 minute time penalty for going over the speed limit... I still found a speed-limit laughable on a race course, but a 2 minute time penalty wouldn't be found so laughable. I placed my bike, helmet, shoes, and race belt in transition and headed to the swim area to warm up.
Lining up behind the start line, the mix of nervousness and excitement filled me. This would be the first co-ed mass start I had ever done. It was elite age-group category of both men and women. I eyed the competition. There were definitely some boys that would be a good push, but I was curious to see how the girls would fare. The national anthem played its tune and we ...
Wow!!! wayyy too much info. In a few words.... I didn't get a penalty for going over the speed limit (yes there was a speed limit on the course) and I raced pretty well, securing first overall for the Age Group Elite. My swim split would have been the second fastest in the pro women, however the other legs could still use quite a bit of improvement.
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