Leslie Sedlak Boulder 70.3 2018 Report
Boulder Race Report
Wow – What a day! Long story short – Well executed race. Lots of lessons learned pre race week and day. 10th place in my age group (Could have been 8th/9th without the dropped chain incidents) HIM PR by 27 minutes, and best place in my AG in a HIM. So I’m happy.
BUT…..Why are there always Buts? Because we LEARN from the buts – so hopefully they are big ones (pun intended)
My race report starts out WAY before the race even started. We live in MN and had asked my in-laws to come to CO with us for a family vaca and they could help watch the kids during the race so my husband and I could race together – first time since we’ve had kids. And that turned into my mil talking to her two sisters and inviting them, all of their kids, and their kids and it turned into a family reunion. Being the Daughter in law – I couldn’t say much, and it was what it was.
What it was, was exactly what I envisioned. Very stressful. Lots of family not concerned about our race, or stress levels, or sleep situations at all. So, very high stress, and very little sleep leading up to the race. Aside from the fact that we drove 903 miles in one day with two small children just to get there. So there’s that.
Race Day: IF RACING BOULDER - FIND THE ALTERNATE ROUTES TO THE RACE. We read plenty of race reports, and expected the typically 10 minute drive to take us 30-45 minutes. It took us over an hour. At. One. Light. There is at least one, of not two other streets going into the same point that were moving much faster because of patrols helping them – the street signal was a bad move. So I made the best of it, I worked on lengthening my low calfs, neck, tmj, any muscles I could easily reach while sitting in the car to pass the time. When we finally got to setting up the transition area, my husband came up to me with his wetsuit and said “it’s 6:48” I nearly lost my shit. 12 minutes to get out of transition!!?!?!?!?!?! So I put my head down and got to work getting everything prepared, grabbed my race start stuff and headed to the water. I got my wetsuit on and hopped in the reservoir at a far point. I drilled. I swam. I drilled. I swam. Until I reached the beach where the swim start was and seeded myself aggressively. 27-30 min. I was hoping for a sub 30 minute swim. And waited to enter the water.
The rest is kind of boringJ
Swim: I could have swam harder, but it was a nice swim overall. I really should try to kick ass at the swim – but I have been in the ‘get out of the water in good position, but rested’ mindset ever since I started racing – habits are hard to break. I was in the mix a bit more than I wanted. Got kicked in the ribs more times than I would have liked. But it was a nice easy swim. I felt like I picked it up a bit on the way back into T1 – but mainly focused on better swim stroke – faster with no more effort.
Swim = 35 min – meh. I put it out of my head and got my head into T1.
**LESSON LEARNED** I put my watch on the outside of my wetsuit and took it out immediately after getting out of the water (it ALWAYS gets stuck on my wetsuit). Put my watch in my mouth and used the strippers. MUCH better T1 for me.
Ride: Man was that ride fun. Aside from the dropped chains – I could NOT get that chain stuck out from between my gears and my bike – it was awful. And not a pretty sight. At one point I remember yelling “Will someone please stop and help me?!?!” Which, of course no one did. But I did hear a couple of girls pant out “you got this” (it was on a hill of course). But I pushed it harder than I usually do. I had planned this. Take the first 5 miles out nice and easy. Take in some food. Push the last 20 miles. I probably pushed a few times earlier than that, but it felt OK. I grabbed water at the aid stations to gulp, and finished the three bottles I had on my bike. Fastest bike ever for me.
**LESSON LEARNED** GO EASY on changing gears on steep hill. Standing up is better than dropping a chain into a too easy gear.
T2 – Fine – no incident
Run: I actually felt better physically than usual. As typical, I had to slow myself down constantly on the first three miles – to no avail. There are two small hills, that seem impossible in the first mile around the reservoir. I don’t know if they are worse the first time because you don’t know they are there, or the second time because you know what’s coming. But I ebbed and flowed between 8:00 and 9:30 min miles. I was OK with that. Then the gravel. There is gravel for about 2 miles very near the end of the loops. For some reason, this was awful for me. Never ending. BUT, on the second lap, I knew, once I got through that – I was good to go. Plan was to turn it on on the second loop. Once I passed the finish line to start my second loop – there was no turning on anything. IT Was Freaking Hot. I had grabbed ice at every aid station. First Hat. Then pants and bra. Then added some to my arm warmers. (Was also pouring arm water on the arm warmers). *** arm warmers were new for me and worked GREAT – will ALWAYS do this on a hot race day.*** Had them on for the bike and run. Also saved me from the sun. Then the last 5 K came. I planned to turn it on. My stomach felt fine. My legs felt fine. But, again, there was no turning on anything. I don’t know if it was the ride that had my legs more cashed, or the heat. But I just stayed at my (hopefully) sub 9:00 pace and just wanted to get it done. I had no idea I was doing as well as I was. Other than the fact that no one was passing me, and I was passing everyone. But it’s hard to recognize that fact when you’re not able to turn up your dial and feel like you’re at your max. Even though you can see your progress, it doesn’t register.
All in all. Great Day. My husband did not have a great day, so when I was done and saw my kids, (and nonna and pup who were about to perish), I sent them all home to cold showers and proceeded to get my Bike out of transition. When I saw my husband walking and starting his second loop, I proceeded to go get his bike out of transition as well. Got both bikes and bags back to the car (two trips) and made it back for his finish. It wasn’t pretty, but he finished. On a day that he knew wasn’t going to be his best day, he respected the distance and the race, and got it done. I was proud. We grabbed some food and stayed for the awards, because, Hey Worlds are in Nice France! What better way to take my kids out of school than a freaking trip to see their mom race in France? But it wasn’t meant to be. They didn’t roll down to 10th place in my AG, but we had some great conversations with people we will never see again, had more time alone away from the kids, and got to meet Ben Hoffman J
Now off to plan my won bet where I get to plan the next family vaca – we are going to Kona baby!! So if you have kids and/or simply want to bunk with a fun family and have some help on race day – let me know – we will be there with bells onJ
Thanks Team EN!
Comments
"HIM PR by 27 minutes, and best place in my AG in a HIM. I'm happy" ...so you should be! that is awesome well done!
Oh man the pre-race stress you had sounds horrible.
I completely understand what you mean about "saving yourself" on the swim, because that's what I always tend to do, even though I wish I wouldn't LOL
Well done for perservering with your chain, that has happened to me too, but not on a race day thank goodness!
And what a hero you are for sorting out your husbands bike at the end of the day!
Congratulations! and have fun in Kona. Are you going for the IM World Champs or is it "just" a holiday to Kona?
Kona will just be a holiday. I won't have time to train again for IM distance races for about 3 years - so HIM travel venues are where it's at for us right now:) maybe when I'm 60 and I'm the only one in my AG I'll earn Kona