Boulder Peak Olympic Triathlon, July 10, 2022

The Boulder Peak Triathlon is one of the countries longest and most well-known triathlons. I did it last year and loved it.

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This year, I wanted to do it to prepare for Toyota Age Group National Championships in Milwaukee in August. Toyota Age Group National Championships is a Sprint distance triathlon and is half the distance of Boulder Peak Olympic Triathlon.  I thought that by doing an Olympic distance, (1 mile swim, 25 mile bike, 6.2 mile run) it would be good training for a Sprint Triathlon (.5 mile swim, 12.5 mile bike, 3.1mile run).

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The night before the race, I was dreading doing it. I remembered how bad it hurt last year and my body was already exhausted and sore from packing and carrying boxes.

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I knew I would regret it if I didn’t go, so I dragged my butt down there early on July 10th. It was so hot that I got in the water to cool off before the race. This helped tremendously in my swim. I was relaxed, calm, and fast. I swam 1 mile.

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The bike was hard in the beginning. Old Stage hill is uphill for 7 miles.  The fast downhill usually makes up for it but I felt like my tires were too fast and I didn’t feel safe that my tires would not slip out. 

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Old Stage is steep and I imagined myself slipping and dying. I finished 25 miles of biking and started the run.

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The run was so hot and I needed so much water and Gatorade. I felt slow but I was still faster than most.

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I finished the triathlon with no one I knew to meet me at the finish line.  I am used to this and am usually fine with it because I always meet new people.

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I did meet a lot of new people this time too but I looked around and saw all of the families reuniting at the finish line and I got real sad.  I spend so much time cheering and supporting my family and I realized that I need them there for me sometimes. 

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I actually spent a lot of the afternoon crying. I think I have just been doing so much and needed someone there for me that day. I didn’t even want to stay for awards or see how I did.

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After I got over feeling sorry for myself and got home, I found out that I got 5th place vs. 11th place from last year so at least I did well. Hopefully this race properly prepared me for my race in Milwaukee in August. Lloyd will be there for me at that one.

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The day after the race, I got an email from the race director that said, “Yesterday we saw some of the hottest conditions we’ve ever encountered for a triathlon.”  Well, now I can knock that experience off of my bucket list and hopefully not experience it again anytime soon.

Location: Boulder, CO, USA

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