5430 Boulder Long Course Triathon - Race Report

"70.3 is the new 31.9" the sign read.
"Hmm, wonder what that means", is what went through my head while biking past the sign.
I'm guessing 31.9 is the total mileage of an Olympic distance triathlon. A bit wordy but I get it. 31.9 just doesn't roll off the tongue.

HALF IRONMAN has much more punch; even 70.3 has a short, cool sound to it.
What's really cool though is completing my first ever road triathlon/ first half-ironman distance/ third triathlon ever.
On this day, Sunday August 10th, at the Boulder Reservoir in the
5430 Boulder Long Course Triathlon
........drum roll.........The numbers please....................
Matthew Bayless - Bib #819 - Category M35-39
Place 451 out of some 933 finishers
Swim 1.2miles: 40min 36sec - Swim Rank 463
Transition 1: 3min 18sec
Bike 56miles: 3hr 4min 59sec - Avg Speed 18.2mph - Bike Rank 752
Transition 2: 3min 01sec (including long pit stop)
Run 13.1miles: 1hr 49min 48sec - Pace 8:23min/miles - Run Rank 205

So going back to my last post where I think the words used to describe my triathlon ability were..."SUCK", I think I may have to upgrade that a little. Don't get me wrong, I still suck on the bike. 751st ranking? Yeah, there were little girls on trikes passing me w/ the tassels streaming off the handlebars, ringing the little bell for me to move over. That's fine. I laid out a strategy, stuck to it and it paid off.

So picking up from the Race Prelude post, falling asleep to a Cowboys game at 8pm was perfect.
3:30am Sunday August 10th, awake, not a bit of anxiety; let's get up and see what happens today. In the fridge was a mega-heart shocker, 4-shot espresso that I had bought the night before. Heat it up, throw in some protein and start your engines.
Energy? Check! Throw on the head phones (kids and wife still soundly sleeping) to keep the nerves calm and dance and lip sync while preparing.
Next: hydration. Mix up some Accelerade w/ Gatorade and down it. Add a large cup of water.
Next: fuel. 2 granola bars w/ peanut butter spread on top, and an apple.
Time: 4:30am. Get water bottles filled and cooler ready. The strategy was to take a small, soft, lunch type cooler that would easily fit in my transition bag and keep all my water bottles ice cold.
Race fuel:
1 bottle w/ accelerade. (w/ 1/2 ice for the first part of the bike)
2 bottles w/ 1/2 gatorade, 1/2 water. (1 half ice for the bike for the middle to last part of the bike, the other 1 w/ majority ice to be saved for run)
1 bottle of just ice and 2 bottles of ice water. (to sip on pre-race, and a guaranteed cool down bottle)
I planned out my fueling strategy based on experience and a couple very useful articles.
It started on Saturday, drinking gatorade and water, eating brown rice, wheat bread, fruit, veggies and chicken. No sweets except a handful of Peanut M&M's that Seb, my 7yr old, found in a bowl and brought me at the wedding reception, a small fraction of the amount I typically consume. What a good kid, he knows how much Daddy loves the Peanut M&M's!
Race Day Fueling:
- down the liquids and food 3hrs before the start, nibble and sip up to an hour before the start and then nothing more til' I'm on the bike (w/ a lot of pit stops, trying to squeeze everything out before the start).
- Bike - 2 powerbars, 2 gels, and energy jelly beans along w/ the accelerade, gatorade and water I would exchange the bottles for on the course.
- Run - 1 powerbar, 2 gels, and energy jelly beans and slam down down some ice cold gatorade in transition then mix in gatorade w/ water on the course.
The bars and gels are much more than I had ever used in training, until the last brick session. Tom, my gym partner, mentioned a Runner's World article about Lance Armstrong's fuel regimen during one of his Marathons (sub 3hrs on his first and faster each one since), where much like the Tour de France, his team had formulated exactly how many calories he would be burning and how to replace them. FIFTEEN GELS is how many the 7 time Tour winner took down his first marathon at the NYC 2006. Armed w/ that knowledge I added some palatable bars and gels to my race nutrition plan and successfully tested it during my last brick session.

Transition area opened at 5am but I didn't feel the need to get there that early. My wave would be starting at 7am and I just wanted enough time to comfortably setup and get in 20min. of swim warm-up. Plus, not enough can be said about using the home bathroom versus a port-a-potty. There was a fair amount of traffic as expected but it didn't take long to get in and get everything together. Some real die-hard eco-types were riding in from Boulder, w/ everything on their back. Crazy nice bikes and super fit (fit looking anyway) people everywhere.
"Focus, only think about things right in front of your face Matthew," is what I kept repeating in my head. "Look only at your bike, keep your eyes on your backpack, make sure there's no glass where I'm walking." These are the ways I stay calm. I get flustered when I look around and allow my brain to let me feel out of place, inadequate, w/ lesser gear. "Look how calm and cool they look; do I look like that?" That's the crap my brain has done in the past and I've noticed how much calmer I am when focusing on the things I have, in my hands, at that moment. Slowing down to check that the zippers are pulled closed, the endcaps are on the bike handlebars, the keys are in my backpack before I close the door. (Well, even though I remained calm and focused, I still managed to lock my keys in the car and pulled up to the transition area w/ one endcap missing. Luckily in a zen like state, I got the keys out and the endcap on w/out a bit of anxiety.These things happen, allow for it.)

In the transition area at 6:15am, items laid out, body glide and sunscreen applied, I walked down to the Boulder Rez. How incredible was this. It felt more daunting than the marathon months ago but so beautiful, tranquil and serene. As the first wave lined up I swam out and back a couple times in the roped off section. And there across the rez was a hot air balloon 30ft off the water just gliding across. A smile crept on my face and POP, the pro's were off and racing. I swam out again and suddenly there were lots of balloons, 5 or 6 floating across the rez.

This is awesome.
"I am really about to try this, along w/ 1200 other masochistic maniacs."
Every time a hint of doubt or a question of finishing even whispered in my brain, I short circuited to thinking only of the swim and my strategy, slow and steady. Get in that rhythm and just keep going to the end. Everything else will fall into place; I'll deal w/ pain when I feel it, not now. Right now, this is beautiful, this is my life, I'm going to try and do this; I wish the kids and Bree were here to see my grin.
"Wave 6 counting down, 5.4.3.2.1" POP. We're next, Wave 7, Males 25-29 and 35-39. Yep, a bunch of guys wearing pastel purple swim caps (I'm guessing some angry ex-girlfriend picked our color). I get towards the side, in front and pass along some "good luck everyone" chants along w/ a plea, "hey, uh, everyone, I'm gonna be a little slow so please don't run over me, ok."
5.4.3.2.1.POP
The swim was one long, long loop. Clouds had covered most of the skies so the sun wasn't an issue and with the wave sizes around a 100, there seemed to be a lot of space to swim as we got further out. I felt good, reminding myself to keep it slow and steady, getting glimpses of the hot air balloon overhead and dealing w/ a person here and there. Sighting the buoys was pretty easy and I just keep plugging away. Somewhere before the first of 2 turns, about 10-15min in, I felt a little winded and a whisper of a doubt trickled in. Focusing on my stroke and sighting the buoys, the time passed, the doubts cleared and already I was around the 2nd turn and heading towards the beach (though it still looked amazingly far away). At that point I knew it was 2/3 over and I would get through it w/ not too much energy expelled.

Coming out, I glanced around and was relieved to see that I was passing a few people in the wave ahead of me and there were lots of other purple caps running up the beach and still in the water. I wasn't dead last in my wave; cool.
Ripping off the top, I made my way to the transition, stepping through the kiddie pool to wash the sand off (very cool; there wasn't one at the Xterra and it sucked cleaning off my feet to put on my socks) and jogged over to my spot. I had things laid out well and felt good jogging out w/ the bike; clicked into the pedals and mentally prepared for my ride.
"Save the legs, don't push it up the hills too much, get hydrated and eat; here we go." Having road biked for only 2months I knew my legs weren't developed enough to push it hard and have anything left for the run. Plus, the bike was a loaner and wasn't the best fit; it's a real nice bike and road like a dream, but my back didn't like my position and let me know loud and clear after an hour of riding during training rides. So, I would take it slow, and sit up a lot, stretching and just try to get through it w/ as little pain as possible. I had accounted for 3hrs 30min max and didn't want to come in under 3hrs or I knew it would've meant I'd cranked it too hard.
I was getting passed, a lot. But I'd prepared for that and wasn't going to get sucked into someone else's race. Clouds still covered the sky, saving me from the sun's energy-zapping rays. It couldn't have been better weather, considering the last 3 weeks had been sunny and hot as hell. I sipped on the accelerade mix and about 20min into it, broke into the powerbar. 45min later I ripped open a gel, finished the accelerade and traded the bottle in for water. Coming around the first 28mile loop I looked at the watch; 1hr 35min. Perfect. I started on the 2nd power bar and mixed in sips gatorade and water. 45min later I chewed up the jelly beans and kept drinking the water. Seeing the last turn, knowing there was another 10min left, I ripped open the last gel, which had caffeine, and washed it down w/ a little gatorade.
3hr 5min of cycling was over! There were a lot of bikes racked but I didn't care; I felt good, not too winded and no jelly legs. I threw on my shoes, stocked up on powerbars and gels, gulped down some refreshingly ice cold gatorade/water mix and headed out, by way of pit stop in the port a potty.
I reset the chrono and changed the brain for the run. The course was two 6.6mile loops around the rez and the only real difficult part was two hills in the first 2miles. I felt like I was running very slow, 10min/miles but then mile marker 1 came up and I was around an 8:40min/mile. Hmmm. Slowing up the second hill though still passing people, I felt good. Mile marker 2, mile marker 3, still hitting right around 8:30min/miles.
"Ok Matthew, don't get too excited yet; keep an easy pace, manageable heart rate. There's still 10miles left, plenty of time to blow up if you speed up too soon. Wait and see how you feel after the first loop, then you can push it out if it's there."
I munched on the first powerbar and took both water and gatorade at every aid station along the way, about every 2miles. The laps begin/end right next the the final finish and the transition area so there were lots of people along the course as I came through the first lap. I couldn't wait to get back here and felt some adrenaline kicking in. I tore into another powerbar and really started passing a lot of people, especially up the hills. As it flattened out, I started chewing some jelly beans and kept pushing it a little more every few minutes. Yeah man, I was going to finish this thing; and finish it strong. Coming around to the dam at the back end of the rez I knew there were only a couple miles left. I tore open the last gel w/ caffeine and sped up.

I had told Bree to plan on traffic so try to get there around noon. Figuring 6 to 6-1/2hours of racing would put me finishing right about 1pm. But I suggested maybe she get up to the finish line around 12:45 on the outside chance I'm feeling strong and finish early.

I clicked past the chrono to the watch. The time, 12:38pm. I could see the finish line and the sides were packed with people a 1/4mile from the end. "Finish strong Matthew. Hmm, where are they; I so hope they made it." Last corner. Look! Yeah, that's them. Seb and Sarah were waving wildly and Bree had the camera poised to take a pic. I smiled, waved and shouted out a big hell yeah or something kid friendly like that.
"Number 819, Matthew Bayless of Longmont coming in now," came the announcement blasting through the speakers.
6:11:41 the clock read (not accounting for the wave starts, I would realize later that my time was actually 30min faster and man did that make my year). Sweet, I was done!
"Hey guys!" I managed to utter to the gorgeous, smiling threesome that walked towards me. Seb ran up to hug me, Sarah close behind and I stood up to accept, though warned against too tight of a hug given my stinky sweaty shirt. The kids were in bathing suits and had been playing in the rez so we walked back over there to let them play some more. Bree mentioned quite a few of the racers had been cooling off in the rez and instantly I realized how smart and beautiful she was. Walking into the water had never felt so good, I dropped to my knees and sank underneath, fully LOVING the cool refreshing water. Minutes later I walked out and sat next to Bree. I couldn't believe how good I felt. I still had energy, I could walk, easily; no soreness to speak of. Nothing like the marathon which left me limping for a week afterwards. It's better to know I could've pushed it more than to have blown up on the course and wished I hadn't pushed so hard.
Yes, I'm addicted, this was one hell of a day, a great race and an incredible accomplishment. I had hoped to get into some Olympic Road Tri's next year. Now, I've already completed a half-ironman. Rest a little, keep up some off-season conditioning including a lot of road bike time and who knows what next year may bring.

In 2008:

• I learned how to swim
  
• Completed my first Marathon
• Completed my first full length Xterra Triathlon
  
• A personal record in the Bolder Boulder 10k
• Started road cycling
• Finished a 1/2 Ironman Distance Triathlon

• And most importantly, made some great friends and had lots of fun along the way.

yeah, I chalk that up as good year. And there's still the fun-run race w/ my running group; 10 of us running 170+miles over several high mountain passes from Georgetown to Carbondale in 24hrs. Killer. What a kick ass way to top it off, eh? Yeah, I think so too.