Cycling Centric Blog: Boulder Sunset Olympic Tri

So yesterday was my fourth triathlon of the summer ... the Boulder "Sunset" triathlon -which I guess used to end around sunset, but now it just starts late morning so you're racing in the midday August heat ;) Should be renamed Heatstroke Tri but what do I know. Not gonna lie, it was nice not to get up at 430am to race like usual.

Physically I felt mostly recovered from last weekend but mentally I wasn't quite ready for race suffering just yet... however that quickly changed once the race was underway.

The extra time in the morning gave me a chance to do a warmup swim in the lake and really wrap my head around the swim, in order to overcome the panic sensation I've had in a few races this summer. And the approach worked! This was my BEST swim yet.

The bike was actually where I struggled- likely in part related to last weekend's SS 150 mile escapade -my back was ANGRY at me on the TT bike. I pretty much had to sit up and soft pedal the final 4-5 miles, it hurt so bad to pedal in the TT position. Had to let a gal ride away from me that I'd been dueling during the bike leg. That was hard.

For once because of the bike discomfort, I was actually LOOKING FORWARD to the run -which never happens. And was happy to learn it was almost all on gravel - YAY! And then I began to catch the gal who dropped me on the bike... And then I passed her... and never saw her again on the run. WOW. That's a first. Normally the race runs away from me on the run segment!

I finished and was shocked to learn I'd finished 2nd in my AG. In a Boulder County venue/field, that is a solid result for me as those crowds are uber competitive! The race times were over 20-30min faster than the last true olympic distance event I did back in June. And my transition times are also coming down. Making progress and getting better each race feels GOOD.