June 17, 2015
It is hard to believe that Ironman Boulder 70.3 is already a
thing of the past. After spending the
beginning half of 2015 with this event as my primary focus it is now time to
look back and reflect on the day, my training and set goals and plans for the future.
Saturday, June 13 2015 – Race Day
Woke up at 4 without my alarm (I had set multiple alarms by
the way, 4:00, 4:15, 4:30, 4:45 – just to make sure) at the Twin Lakes Hotel in
Boulder. In a room by myself after
reconstructing plans several times throughout the week. The bed next to me with my race day items
laid out in order. Tri Top, Tri Shorts,
Sports Bra, Body Glide, Sunscreen, Long Sleeve to keep warm for the morning and
Flip Flops. Wetsuit, Swim Cap, Goggles,
Water Bottle and Breakfast in the next pile.
Transition Bag. Nutrition
organized on the kitchenette counter – just need to add water. Bags with evening items and post race items
ready to load in the car. It was nice to
have the room to spread out and definitely nice to be organized and the morning
seemed to be stress-free.
At 5:00, Rachel Levi, Andrea Parkhill and I met in the
parking lot. Ready to roll. We headed out in two cars to the Boulder
Reservoir. Being 5 minutes away from the
venue was definitely a bonus – will definitely stay at Twin Lakes again! The traffic slowed on the road into the res
and we creeped our way into the parking lot, watching the most amazing sunrise
and the peace of a crystal clear blue sky day emerging. I listed to Nickleback “What are You Waiting
For” several times on the speaker of my iPhone.
I tried to sing along but found myself choked up to be here at this day
about to race!
Cars parked in the muddy field, we headed off to transition
to set up for the day. A few selfies and
sunrise pictures along the way. It was
fun to see all of the Team Larry shirts as we arrived. I was fortunate to have Kurt Kolleth as my
onsight bike mechanic. He got my back
tire ready to ride and we bid each other good luck. My transition seemed very organized and I
even remembered to roll my socks which made a huge difference by the way!
Race ready, we headed to the Team Larry compound where we
spent the rest of the morning until race time.
The entertainment of getting wetsuits on and ready and watching personalities
expose pre-race jitters. Lots of
laughing and commradery. Very fun! We headed out to the beach as the race got
rolling. I was a bit worried about the
fact that everyone around me seemed very nervous and I was not feeling the
same. My mindset was One Day, One
Step. All else out of my control. Apparently I had embraced it. It was fun to see Mary Carey on the beach and
to get last minute words of advise and encouragement. Also saw KE teammate Joel Zarlin and bid him
good luck on his first 70.3. Sending off
our teammates one wave at a time it got to be time for our wave. Seemed like it came really quickly.
As it was time for the Red Cap wave to enter the water, I
grabbed the announcer Dave and thanked him again for arranging to get Rachel’s
friend Mike in as a spectator later. He
acknowledged and then said in his microphone – “have a great race Kim!” I carried those words with me in the water.
We counted down to our start time and we were off. There were bodies around and it was a bit slow
at the start but suddenly the flow developed and we started stroking. I threw my 25 strokes and switch to the other
side for breathing out the window pretty fast.
It became a breathe to the right event!
I counted strokes as I went – not sure what I was counting as I always
seemed to start at a different number but just kept counting. Passing the buoys was reassuring – step one,
step two – nice that they were numbered too.
Very little contact once we got into our groove – we just kept swimming
and counting. Passing the first turn was
a milestone, the half way point and the last turn. It was fun at this point as swim cap colors
started to change – gave me confidence that I was catching up to the wave
ahead. The numbers on the return buoys
were going up not down so didn’t know how many were left to shore. The merger of the sprint course and the 70.3
course was a bit of a disaster. People
on their backs, their fronts, their sides, upright and swimming over the top of
everyone else. Pushed through the last
few yards and I was walking out of the water and up the ramp.
I felt like my transition went pretty well. I sat down.
Got my wetsuit off, dried my feet off.
Put my rolled socks on without a hitch.
Downed some water and a bite of UCAN and was on my way. As I headed to the mounting area I realized
that I needed to switch my watch. In the
process, managed to juggle my bike a bit and nearly fell. The result a nice bang on my right shin that
didn’t feel awesome by any means! I
mounted and headed out.
Headed out on the bike course, I settled into my grove. Time to enjoy the ride. I found Pete and Julie from Team Larry along
the way. Gave a shout out and continued
to watch for more people that I knew. I
found Stephanie from KE on 93 and we played a bit of cat and mouse for the
remainder of the ride. I was excited to
look down at my watch and see that I was averaging about 20 mph. I was giddy and feeling great! I worked on eating my UCAN bar in the first
hour. The melted mess definitely made
for a challenge and I am sure the melted chocolate running down my handle bars,
bike gloves and water bottled looked really nice. What a mess.
I stopped at the second aid station long enough to shift bottles around
and grab a new water and headed back out.
I started to feel hungry toward the end so did my best to put down as
much UCAN as I could between where I was and the finish. Got to see Colorado Springs Steven from
Triathlon Research on Niwot Rd. He was
working the penalty tent and with the out and back I was able to spot him and
then see him as I came back. A nice pick
me up at mile 50. Passed Pete on Team
Larry with a big shout out. Felt like I
was crawling when I got back out onto 119 but pushed my way through the end of
the ride. I looked at my watch at this
point and came to realize that what I had thought was a 20 mph average was an
actual speed as it now wash fluctuating between 13 and 14! Buzz kill but at least it was at the end! Guess I had missed one mode setting on the
watch setting but was excited to know that I was coming close to the 3 hour
bike. I even managed a smile for the
photographer at the top of the hill.
Pulling in it was great to see Team Larry supporters including Larry in
his wheel chair right by the side of the course. Fun to see Andrea photographing and the
excitement of the people lining the course.
T2 went well. Sat
down, changed shoes and had a big swig of the water bottle that had apparently
gotten pretty hot sitting out in the sun.
It was really hot but tasted really good. I stopped at the bathroom – waited in a bit
of a line – saw Joel Zarlin on the way out of the bathroom – checked in on his
race and I was off.
Stopped shortly after starting to make a shoe lace
adjustment and pressed on. It was really
fun to see all of the Team Larry supporters along the start of the course and
to hear all of the shout outs. Passing
Andrea again she told me that Mike was out further on the run course. So I spent the first few miles trying to find
him. I found him and Beth Hassett. He jumped in and ran with me for a
minute. He was in bare feet on the dirt
path. Funny that I noticed that. It was hot.
I ran a bit and decided that walking the aid stations may be the best
bet. I started to take water at each stop. Some over the top of my head, eventually
adding it to my face and then adding ice to my shirt. I also took in Gatorade – not on my plan but
felt like it was needed. When I passed
Mike again he reminded me that it is all mental at this point. My training is there. Just have to get to the finish. It was fun to see friends – Susan McNamee,
Brook Kreder - team mates – both Team
Larry and KE, and supporters – Mary Carey, Kristina Jensen and all of the Team
Larry crew out on the course. Was
surprised when I reached Mike’s spot the second time to find he wasn’t there
but gave me hope that I would see him at the finish. I cut away at the miles slowly but surely and
eventually made it to the finish. I
think after all of the water and ice that I was actually more wet than I was
getting out of the water! I reached the
finish line, did the drop and rolled across the finish. Success!!
Mike called out to me as I worked through the maze – excited to have a
hug once I reached him.
6:33:10.
Swim 45:29
Bike 3:05:49
Run 2:30:10
T1 5:09
T2 6:33
Div Rank 64
Gender Rank 329
Overall Rank 1102
This was an amazing message received to say the least:
This is the coach in me now messaging you. OK,
I just checked your final splits...and you
SHOULD definitely do a full distance ironman in the next 3 months(if you
can). You had INCREDIBLE improvement in division and overall placement with
each leg of the race. That’s AWESOME!...and significant. that means your
conditioning was WAY better than most. You moved up 22 places in division rank
after the bike was completed. (117 places up in your gender division and 129
places overall). you continued to move up with your run...another 10 places in
the division, 17 in the gender category
and an additional 97 places better overall.
that is something to be proud of. FANTASTIC performance, Kim. - CaCowboy Steinke
