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.

5430 Boulder Long Course Triathlon - Prelude

Let's back up a week to a time that quiting the race was a real possibility. Even prior to that I had doubts, but it wasn't until attempting to ride and run the course was dropping out real. Here I am 15minutes from the race course and I hadn't been on it. I hadn't done a brick workout (ride/run combo) in 6weeks and had been grossly sick for almost 2weeks and still not fully over it. So the answer, go out and do a Brick on the course allowing me assess my fitness and get familiar with the course. The bike seemed fine; I did the loop in exactly 1hr 30min which was slower than expected but not too much. I pushed it a little but I didn't sprint it. Then wham, right into the running shoes, I felt good. I started down the dirt road away from the Boulder Rez and thought it was going to be a hard but good workout. The first hill had other plans for me. I slowed to a crawl, felt nauseous and kind of panicked. My legs were suddenly very tight and my heart rate was UP, way up. I looked around and there were a couple other runners out so I decided to push on. A 1/4 mile later, I was hunched over, grabbing my knees and yelling obscenities out loud. Game over, I'm screwed. "Turnaround, go home and rest Matthew". And I listened to that voice, trying not to be too discouraged. I mean not only was I unable to jog after a mile into the run, coming off the bike, but when I went home, I was DONE. I laid out for 2-3hrs and felt like I had just run a marathon. Breanna was reminding me how I was still getting over the stomach crud that had kept in the bathroom hourly for days and unable to train. Knowing how my confidence was in the toilet as well and seeing the pain in my face, she urged me to drop out of the race, worried about my health. But after a day of thinking it through, I swallowed the pill that I might not be able to finish, that I might be in the lower 1/3 or even 1/4 of finishers. The only way to know just how far I could go, would be to show up and push through it, allowing myself to stop and drop out when & if that time came. Once I conceded that, I was ok.
So Monday, the next day after the failed brick session, I went out for an hour run on tired legs, in the heat, thinking it would be good to push through some pain. Then on Wednesday, I went out and did the brick again, one of the 28mile loops on the bike and about 7miles of running, on as much of the course as was open. The difference? I slowed down on the bike, adding 10minutes to the ride, but felt no pain and therefore saved my legs for the run, which was difficult and painful but I was able to slog through it. So, having succeeded going slowly, my confidence went from about 15% to 60% sure I could at least finish the 1/2 Ironman.
And I had my race plan. I would almost say that last week's disappointing brick training helped to define the strategy. Slow and steady to the finish line.
Thursday before the race, was a little Stroke N Stride at the Boulder Rez. 1500meter swim followed by a 5k run. I had planned on picking up my wetsuit there and thought it a good idea to get in the race. It's not a full on competitive event but more a way to get comfortable open water swimming w/ people on top of you. Plus, I get to know what the wetsuit is going to feel like and get more familiar with the race venue. The added bonus was taking the kids, letting them play on the beach and watch the activities; letting Mom stay home and do homework in peace and quiet. The race was fun, the swim a little slow but I wasn't looking for a workout 3days before the triathlon; this was just to get comfy in the suit, in the water w/ a bunch of people. The run was real easy, it was hard to not just sprint the thing flat out but I kept reminding myself of the 1/2 Ironman and just where this little event stood in grand scheme of things. I still ran a 7:26min/mile pace but I knew it wouldn't be that easy after biking 56miles and was glad that I didn't feel any soreness or fatigue from the Stroke N Stride. I definitely will be doing more of those next year.
Friday, a little strength training (I typically do 4-6times a week but don't include it as part of my tri training) and Saturday was complete rest and devoted to organizing and fueling up. I slept in, lounged around and then me and the whole family went over to a friends wedding reception. No junk food or cocktails and back home by 7. I took an ambien took my time, going through the gear and planning out my fueling strategy during the race. I fell asleep watching the Cowboys vs. the Chargers. Perfect!

Time Off

Neglect.

That's the word for my time away from blogging.
A confluence of busy schedule (work, home, and training/racing) along w/ differing mental and emotional perspectives on the blog itself have allowed me to consciously neglect continuous blogging.
I'll just leave it at that and throw out a quick recap of the past 2 months.

1. June 1st, 2008 - My last entry eluded to my personal triumph at completing (and kicking ASS) the Steamboat Marathon. I didn't hit my dream time of 3hr 30min, but I was very close at 3hr 39min. While I may go back and elaborate, it's suffice to say that I made the classic mistake. I started out too fast and felt great til' mile 18, at which point I slowed slightly each mile. Then at mile 24 I completely melted and could not jog even the slightest bit. It took every ounce of positive thinking to keep moving forward; I was literally yelling "GO, KEEP MOVING, C'MON, JUST FINISH" every couple minutes. My legs just did NOT want to move.
Perseverance did prevail and a goal 2 years in the making was attained. Many lessons learned and I'm not sure where it goes from here but there will be another Marathon in my future and qualifying for Boston is the ultimate goal.

2. June 21st, 2008 - Buffalo Creek Xterra Triathlon (Olympic Distance) - Finished & Humbled.

Screw that.
Ok, I can run, pretty good even. As of right now I SUCK at triathlon.
Lessons:
While training for a marathon obviously carries over into any running related event,
it does NOT replace bike training, especially mountain biking.
Do not schedule another event w/in 3 weeks of finishing your first Marathon.

Yes, it was fun, it was a challenge, pretty scenery, great people, well organized ........
BLAH BLAH BLAH.
However great everything was, the fact is I sucked.
It did serve a purpose in highlighting my weakness and that is undoubtedly biking. My little legs can take me quite a way in running shoes but those tiny quads desperately need some additional mass to get power and will only get better with more time in the saddle; a LOT more time.

The best part of the race? Camping with my daughter Sarah and her friend. Would've been even better if the other 2 family members had been there but we had a great time.


3. TODAY, 4 days before 1/2 Ironman Distance Boulder Peak Long Course Triathlon.
hmm,
what to say,
well,
i'm sorely under-trained.
Will I finish?
Hard to say. At this point I'm 60% confident. That's much better than the 20% confidence I had after my meager attempt at a BRICK session last Sunday. But I'm still conceding that there is quite a real possibility that I may drop out somewhere around mile 5 of the run.
Cliche really, bit off more than I could chew.
I think the euphoria of the Marathon led to over-confidence and I just signed up, thinking I could get the bike fitness fairly quickly given my run fitness. But then I quickly reflect how it took 3 years of mileage build up w/ running to barely complete the Marathon. Cycling muscles are not the same ones used in running and I was naive thinking that they would build up enough to carry me through a long distance cycling event after less than 2 months of training.
I had been wanting to try road-cycling and knew that the only realistic path to an Ironman Distance Triathlon would have to include many road triathlons along the way and that meant buying a road bike and putting in some time. I hadn't really thought that I would have the opportunity to go for one this year but some great friends stepped up and offered me a very nice loaner if I wanted to go for a road-tri this year.
So here I am, having put in some miles on a road bike, keeping up with swimming and running but the 1/2 Ironman distance is probably too much too soon. I rationalized that the Olympic off-road tri is at least 2x's more difficult than a standard Olympic road tri and I still think that's true. Mountain biking 20miles is considerably harder than 20miles on the road and more like 50miles of road cycling. And 5miles of difficult trail running is about the same as 10miles on the road. But wait, I sucked at the off-road tri so I guess it's logical to expect that I'll suck at this almost comparable endurance test. Additionally, while the individual components of the Olympic Xterra may be comparable to the 1/2 Ironman distances, it is much more difficult when combined. (No Shit huh Matthew)
The positive of going through with this test is that I will know just how much work I need and only racing helps you get more comfortable racing. So even if I don't finish or have the really bad expected finish, I'll at least have gone through the motions of preparing for and being in a race environment at this level; which can only mean next year will be that much more attainable and successful.