Boulder Peak. This is the race that anyone who's anyone in triathlon in the state of Colorado (and some beyond) comes out for. There are at least a couple of Olympians racing in this race. The best of the best, the elite. Oh yeah, and me. :-p I will be racing in my first ever Olympic distance triathlon on Sunday.
This race is double the length of all the tris that I've done so far. Of course, I couldn't pick just ANY olympic tri, no....I had to go pick one of the hardest! This course is tough. The bike course starts off with 7 miles of uphill, including a HUGE hill that climbs 600 feet of vertical in 2/3 of a mile at a 15% grade. That's a big hill. Of course, what goes up must come down, so there's a nice long downhill after that, but the rest of the course is full of rolling hills and not particularly easy. Then you get to run 6 miles that, while flat, are completely exposed (as in NO shade). It's supposed to be 98 degrees on Sunday. Oh yeah, and I forgot to mention the part where you swim a mile...
The mental preparation for this race has really been the hardest part, I think. I've been so happy with my progress in races, and the fact that I've been finishing in the top 25% of them. There isn't a chance in the world that I can get even close to that in this race, I'll be happy with finishing in the top 75%. I've been trying to make a mental adjustment from "racing" and "competing" to "finishing" and "surviving". My game plan is just to go out slowly and take my time. Try not to get sucked into the excitement and push too hard at the beginning, or it will just get ugly later!
I rode the bike course last week with my friend Sonja's team, so at least I know I can do the hill. The run may be slow, and may involve quite a bit of walking, but I can do it. I will do this. I will finish! And then I don't ever have to do another Olympic distance triathlon again if I don't want to. Of course, I'm pretty sure I said that about my first half-marathon, too, and look where that landed me... :-p
Look for a race report either late Sunday or sometime Monday, as well as a post about the latest and greatest that Tyler's been up to!