Boulder 70.3 Race Report.

Racing in Boulder is a great experience. You always have at least one World Champion racking your bike alongside yours. Yesterday was like no other. Julie Dibens set up her bike and gear with me at 5 am. There is nothing like fighting on your home training grounds!


The swim was a clock-wise oblong triangle. It was the best race start I’ve had to date! I was very nervous at the start of the race…. And told myself to just ‘$%#^’ swim! I used the Apolo Ohno trick of forcing yourself to yawn a few times to calm the jitters. It helped.


I managed to get on someone’s feet right away and then used this to my advantage. I had some extra energy doing this and passed her halfway through the swim, eyeing down the 4 women 30-yards ahead of me. I have to practice those all-out efforts at the start of the swim so that I can get on the feet I need to. I managed to keep the 30-yard gap for the remainder of the swim. I felt like an actual swimmer this time around. I didn’t hyperventilate, I didn’t panic. I just focused on finding that rhythm….


Exiting the water, I was determined to have one of the fastest, if not the fastest transition(s). At my last race, Vineman 70.3, I lost nearly 2-minutes in transition time – which would have resulted in a top 3 result instead of 5th! I focused on a clean one by pulling down my Sayonara as fast as possible, and not fumbling with my helmet or glasses. I haven’t seen the times yet but I managed to be the first out of T1 from the lead pack of four that came out ahead of me from the water.


I quickly took it up a notch on the bike, leading out of the Reservoir. I had a number of girls to catch and the bike is anything but uphill! It’s about 75% downhill (or so it seems). I was on my new disc wheel I got from Rolf Prima and realized quickly, how much of an advantage this has in a flat-downhill course! Nonetheless, the weight to watt ratio on a flat course for me against my competitors is not to my benefit Taller ladies definitely have an advantage over me…!


The course was two loops. I only had one water bottle with me and was quickly stuck without water on the second lap. I attempted to get some water at the first feed zone but my fumbly hands and young helpers didn’t work well together. I pushed on and slowed almost to a halt to get some Gatorade in me at the next aid station. I was very angry with myself on the first attempt. I knew I lost at least 45 seconds to a minute missing each pass of water.


I caught the 2nd women at mile 30 but Julie was nowhere in sight. Her lead from the swim kept her out in front throughout the bike. On the second lap the pros were among the age-groupers that started the race shortly after us. It was a great motivator to have more athletes out there. The first lap left me riding on my own for the first 26 miles.


By the time I was back to the Reservoir, I opened up a 4-minute gap on the last rider. Julie was 6-minutes ahead. Again, I focused on a fast transition. I was in and out of T2 the best I’ve ever done in a race. I’ve been practicing a little with going sockless. I had socks ready but decided at the last minute to harden up and just run. No socks…and no blisters! Thanks to Avia, I have some great shoes for this!


Out on the run, I found myself in no-man’s land for the first 6 miles. No age-groupers were on the course. I actually enjoyed this part of the race because I was able to get into my head and fight the critic that tells you, “you suck, quit running, why are you doing this?” sort of things. I told it to shut-up and focused on finding a rhythm, counting, and putting one foot in front of the other. It was getting hot and I think I got delirious a bit. I started to see heat waves and things were getting a bit wavy.


By the second lap, the course was full. I picked athletes I could run toward and quickened the pace at times. I had secured 2nd and focused on form more than anything. At mile 11 I started to have some hamstring cramping and low back pain. I still can’t imagine doing an Ironman just yet…. I think I would end up crawling if I did!


I’m not sure what it is but I get a lot of stomach, GI cramps when I finish the race. The port-a-potty beckons me to visit it more often than I would like! I’ll need to look at this when I decide to step up to the full Ironman! God knows how awful it would be to have to ‘go’ when racing. I’ve heard horror stories….


I finished the race with a smile on the face. It was a solid effort and one more race under the belt this year! Racing against Julie or any World Champion for that matter is always something I love. It makes me see how much work I need to do and what I need to work on…which at this point, is everything! If I ever want to be in her ball-park I have to continue upping the ante and putting my time in!

huge thanks goes out to everyone cheering me on! I had my name yelled out a number of times and I can’t thank you enough!