2012 Boulder Peak Triathlon

The Boulder Peak Triathlon

I raced the 2012 version of the Boulder Peak this morning finally getting to see what hard bike and run training could do for me.  I had a breakthrough year last year, but injured my achilles tendon at the end of my outseason.  So, going into 2011's race, I hadn't run at all in 6 weeks.  Cool weather and a full outseason/inseason of training made this year's race a super PR.

Just the Facts

2012		2011
Finish Time: 2:17:05 Swim: 26:34 (1:47/100m) T1: 2:51 Bike: 1:05:25 (23.9 mph) T2: 1:17 Run: 40:58 (6:37/mi)		Finish Time: 2:26:48 Swim: 27:05 (1:48/100m) T1: 2:25 Bike: 1:08:17 (22.9 mph) T2: 1:23 Run: 47:48 (7:41/mi)

The Long Report

The Boulder Peak is probably the oldest and certainly one of the most fun triathlons in the Denver/Boulder area.  I think this year marked the 21st edition.  I've been competing in it since I moved to the area in 2004 (aside from a hiatus in 2010 for Lake Placid), and I always have a lot of fun.  I was looking forward to this race because of my breakthrough year last year, and the steady improvement of my running.  Last year's achilles injury had me not running for six weeks prior to this race, so I knew my run fitness would be low.  This year, I've managed to stay healthy, and was looking forward to seeing how my work had paid off.

Weather here in the Denver area has been really hot and dry all summer.  Record low snow in the winter has us in a drought condition.  I had been expecting a very hot and dry race, probably with some smoke in the air due to the wildfires we've had here and in Wyoming.  Fortunately, Mother Nature smiled on us, and we had rain move in throughout the week and temperatures cooled off significantly.  On race day, my concerns switched to whether or not the roads would be dry enough to really hammer the bike.  :)

This was not an "A" race for me, so I had not really tapered, and continued to train through on my regular schedule.  I ran a fairly hard 10K on Friday, and then did my regular 3 hour (60+ mile) ride with my cycling team on Saturday morning.

Race Day

On Sunday morning, I woke up at 4:00 am to grab a quick breakfast and head out to the Boulder Reservoir (transition opened at 5 am, and I had a 45 minute drive).  I looked outside and was momentarily overjoyed, as it seemed the rain had stopped, and I was sure the roads would be dry by the time my wave went off.  I made some breakfast to get in a little nutrition... I always have the same breakfast on race day, toast with peanut butter, a banana, coffee and lots of water.  Since I'd be going off in one of the latest waves, I took a couple of Clif bars with me, too.  I ate one in transition and another just before they closed transition.


As soon as I started loading the car, I realized that the rain had not, in fact, stopped.  It was drizzling lightly and the roads were still wet.  Bike went in the car instead of on the car, and I headed northwest to Boulder. It rained the entire way, sometimes hard, sometime just a drizzle, but it was clearly not ready to stop.


Arrived at the Rez just after 5 am, and things were not too crowded.  In the steady rain I got body marked, started setting up my stuff in transition and then began the long wait for 8 am and my wave start.  Fortunately, the rain stopped about 30 minutes before the first wave went off, and the sun actually started to peek through the clouds.


The Swim


I usually do a quick swim warm-up, but there was a slight breeze, the temperature was in the low 60s, and I didn't feel like shivering until I dried out after swimming, so I nixed the warm up and just sat on the beach until my wave was called.  I did manage to get stung by a bee on my right bicep (wtf is a bee doing at the Boulder Reservoir beach at 7 am?), but shook it off.


The Men's 40-44 age group was about 135 strong, and split into 2 waves (I was in the second wave).  When we finally went off I stayed to the inside (clockwise swim, which I hate, since I tend to breathe left) where there was a little less congestion.  Things strung out fairly quickly, as we seemed to have mostly really fast or really slow swimmers, so there weren't a whole lot like me, who are right in the middle.  I had clear water the whole way and just tried to stay smooth.


Out of the water in 26:34 (42nd in AG, 342nd overall).  No real goal  time, but I as happy to beat last year's time by 30 seconds considering I haven't been swimming much.


T1 (aka the camping trip)


I have no idea why, but my transitions suck.  I'm always over 2 minutes in T1, and this time was no exception.  I had the pup tent pitched and the campfire roaring as it took me a solid 2:51 to get myself out on the bike.


The Bike


This is my strength.  I LOVE biking, and I spend most of my training time riding.  This year, I joined a cycling team, and have ridden even more than previous years, including some road races and criteriums.  I knew I'd be strong on the bike, and I wanted to use this race to gauge my fitness for the upcoming Boulder 70.3.


I had made a mistake in not manually zeroing and connecting to my Quarq prior to coming to the race.  Because of this, I couldn't get my Garmin 800 to lock onto the power meter before the race started.   I was 2 minutes into the ride when I noticed I had no power feedback.  Fortunately, it was a simple matter to navigate to the setup screen and connect, which I even managed to do at 22 mph.  :)

Boulder Peak Bike Course

The bike course is basically a big "oval" with the first 1/4 to 1/3 being uphill.  As shown in the map, you start from the Boulder Reservoir and gradually climb up Jay Rd and US36 until you turn left on Lee Hill Rd.  This begins the significant climbing up and over Old Stage Rd. and then down to Lefthand Canyon Rd.  The course then continues briefly and slightly uphill on US36 until you turn right onto Nelson Rd.  Nelson Rd. is primarily downhill for about 4 miles until you take another right on 63rd St.  63rd runs due south for about 5 miles, and is essentially flat, although there are a few very small rollers that can surprise you if you're not ready for them.  Since I train out here, I know this course very well.  Once you reach the end of 63rd, you take another right on The Diagonal (highway 119).  This is a slight uphill (but essentially flat, and still very fast) 2.25 mi section after which you make another right turn back onto Jay Rd and then quickly again back toward the reservoir.  The last mile-and-a-half back to the rez is all downhill and very fast.  You can make up a lot of time in a short distance by staying on the gas.


Climbing to the Old Stage Summit

The climb out to and up Old Stage Rd.

Once I got the power meter connected, I settled in and started hammering the bike.  I had two goals in mind for the bike.  First, I wanted to beat last year's time of 1:08:00 and shoot for about 1:05:00.  Second, I wanted to practice holding back (if needed) to set myself up for running well off the bike.  I figured I could be as high as 95% of my FTP and still manage a 40 minute 10K, but I was ready to pull back if I felt I was over-working myself.  The first third of the course is the climb to and up Old Stage Rd.  In about 7.5 miles, you climb about 1400 feet, with most of the elevation gain coming in the last couple of miles.  On the climb out to and up Old Stage, I stayed steady and on the gas.  Usually, I feel like I need time to recover from the swim, but this time I was able to hold 95% FTP all the way up to and over Old Stage Rd.  I passed a ton of people on this stretch, as it's typically the slowest part of the race, and I was holding solid power.  You can see from the graph that Old Stage really pitches up, but my 5 minute peak power was still less than 110% FTP.  I managed this entire section at 95% FTP. Right on target.


The Big Descent

The Old Stage/Lefthand Canyon Descent

After you crest Old Stage, there's a steep descent down to Lefthand Canyon Rd.  Unfortunately, there's a 35 mph speed limit on much of this stretch (due to a serious injury to a competitor a few years ago).  So although you can't hit maximum speeds, you can still go fast, and get a little recovery from the climb.  The roads up here had not quite dried out, so I tried to take it easy on this stretch.  It's not very long, and the difference between 35 mph and 45-50 mph isn't going to net you a whole lot of gain.  Once I made the turn onto Lefthand Canyon, though, it was game on.  This is still a very fast descent, and I averaged 34+ mph as shown in the graph.  I also managed to keep the power pretty high (between bouts of rest).


The Back Half

Back half of the Boulder Peak Course

The back half of the course is mostly flat, but the initial downhill section can set you up for a really fast ride if you can recover from the Old Stage climb during the descent.  Making the turn back onto US36, I kept the speed and cadence high.  You're only on 36 for about 3/4 of a mile, but it's a false flat that can really slow you down if you're not ready for it.  The next turn onto Nelson is into a long downhill (approximately 4 miles) with maybe one or two short inclines along the stretch.  This is a place to make up huge amounts of time because you can really fly.  On this section, I was starting to feel like 95% FTP had been too ambitious, so I backed off to 90%.  However, because this section is all downhill, I was still able to manage 32 mph for this section.  Once you turn onto 63rd, you start getting a few short hills.  I recall from doing this race earlier in my "career" that I always seemed to have trouble with 63rd.  Not today, though.  I managed to stay aero and shift well to keep my cadence high.  There were a couple of "longish" hills that slowed me down a bit, but I continued to pass a lot of other racers from the earlier waves and finished this section at nearly 26 mph and right at 90% FTP.  The last "climb" of the back side of the course (which is really more of a false flat) was the 2.25 mi stretch down Highway 119 back to Jay Rd.  It's a slow climb at a grade of about 1%.  Not bad at all, and I was feeling pretty good.  I hit that stretch at just under 25 mph before heading into the home stretch.  The home stretch is a 2 mile gradual descent back to the Boulder Reservoir.  I took the opportunity here to go easy and get ready for the run.  Because it's all downhill, though you can carry a good amount of speed at a relatively low effort.  This stretch for me was at an effort of about 78% FTP, but my speed stayed constant at roughly 25 mph.

Heading back into the reservoir, I slipped out of my shoes and spun back to the Bike In feeling pretty good for the run.  I was thrilled to see my bike time was right where I wanted it at 1:05:25, a 3-minute improvement over last year.

Overall Bike Stats

Full Boulder Peak Bike Course Power File

Overall bike stats were pretty darn good, and I was very happy with the results.
3rd fastest split in the AG/23rd overall
NP=295 / AP=
IF= 0.907
VI=1.04
Avg Speed = 23.9 mph




T2

A little better in T2, though not as fast as I'd like.  I always put on socks for the run, and I had a little difficulty with them today.  In and out of T2 in 1:17.

The Run

This has been my hardest discipline for most of my triathlon "career".  My typical modus operandi has been to come out mid-pack in the swim, make up time on the bike, and then watch the parade of AG competitors pass me on the run.  I've worked very hard on my run for the last couple of years, and I finally started to see some breakthroughs last year until I injured my achilles tendon.  This year continued a run focus with several winter/spring road races culminating in my 4th place finish (1:26:36) at the Colfax Half Marathon in May.  Running 6:37/mi for a half marathon was beyond what I thought I could do.  But, it gave me a lot of confidence heading into the Peak that I could maybe, finally hold onto a solid run split.

Boulder Peak Run Course

After getting on my shoes and grabbing my visor and Garmin 405, I high-tailed it out of T2 and onto the run course.  My goal was sub-40 minutes (6:30/mi), and I was off to a good start.  The course is an out and back around the eastern half of the reservoir.  It's essentially flat with a few slight grades, but aside from being almost entirely on gravel (I prefer pavement), it's pretty fast.  I hit the course at about 6:20/mi, but I quickly realized I could not keep that pace (although I tried for a while).  Instead, I decided to adopt a strategy of resting the "downhills" and trying to avoid slowing down too much on the uphills.  That strategy didn't seem to work particularly well.

Boulder Peak Run Pace Data

I hit the first and second miles pretty close to target at about 6:35/mi.  Mile 3 was ever so slightly uphill and I slowed to 6:45/mi and was laboring to breathe.  Fortunately, mile 4 was after the turnaround, so I was going slightly downhill, and was able to up my pace a little, without any effort (mile 4 looks short on the graph, but I was running about 6:40/mile).  Miles 5 and 6 got tough again, as I was running out of gas.  I slipped back to just under 6:50/mi for both of these miles.  Fortunately, I got the typical surge of adrenaline for the last 0.2 miles into the finish, and I picked up the pace to under 6:30/mi.  I missed my goal of sub 40-min or 6:30/mi, but I came pretty close.  Official time has me finishing at 40:58 for 6:37/mi.  Garmin clocked me at 6:41/mi, but shows the course short by about 0.08 mi.

Final Official Results


Time: 2:17:05 (Goal: 2:15:00)
AG Place: 10/134
OA Place: 82/????
Men: 76/????