Steamboat Triathlon

August 26

This was my first full tri after the Lake Placid Ironman. I trained hard for this race, having arrived in Steamboat a week prior to the race. The venue was as scenic as they come. A beautiful mountain lake with a very fast bike ride through the town of Steamboat and a run around the lake. The race is only three years old and is gaining in popularity. There were some 600 participants, including 9 in my esteemed age group. Joani and Mac (a skiing buddy) came out to cheer me on. My winter fitness coach was also doing the race and we had a dinner bet on the outcome...she is a trainer and 20 years my junior.

The morning was cool and clear (40 degrees). The beautiful mountain lake is full of seaweed and other organic matter. My swim time was a bit slower than I expected. My bike, however was excellent. I managed just over 20 mph on the first half, and finished at over 18 overall. Then I had a good 4 mile run. This got me a 4th place in my age group, but my coach beat me by 30 seconds!

Details: .75 mile swim, 20 mile bike, 4 mile run
Swim :29 min, Bike: 1:06, Run :42 min, Total 2:22

[click on photos to enlarge]

Splash and Dash

I did an interesting race in Boulder on Aug 16. This is a weekly event held at the Boulder Reservoir. It consist of a 1500 meter swim and a 5k run. It is all quite casual. About 2-300 entries per week. Most people come right from work. Most drive, but many bike there. After checking in with registration, you just lay your gear out on the grass overlooking the reservoir. The swim is two loops and the run is an out and back around the reservoir. Most participants are quite good. Lot's of fit, young folks as you might expect.

While finishing my run, a woman caught up to me, and we were chatting. She was doing her cooldown lap after having finished the race who knows how long before me. We chatted about races we had done, and it turns out she had done numerous Ironman events, including Hawaii EIGHT times.

My time was 1:06 which got me a third place in the Social Security age group.