70.3 Boulder - Pre-race thoughts
Out of breath, out of mind!
Hey hey, we got a race coming up on Saturday (June 10!) I’m training through Boulder to get ready for Ironman Coeur d’Alene- CDA (my pro full ironman debut). The past 3 weeks have averaged 28 hours/week, so I’m tired!
We all know Boulder means altitude, and I didn’t end up doing two weeks in Boulder due to costs, so I expect my numbers to be a bit lower. Here’s what’s going on:
Race plan
25:30 swim Not going to swim my hardest, since it’s easy to get out of breath at elevation.
2:12 bike - Watts will be a ‘lil lower, at around 270 normalized power but who knows how the race will unfold.
1:19 run - If things are going smoothly, I’ll try for a 6min/mi pace. If the body is struggling, it might get slower, but will still target under 1hr2min.
Overall ~4:02 time, inclusive of transitions. I’ll keep my expectations flexible, though - since I’m going in with no elevation acclimation.
Race thoughts / focus areas
70.3 Gulf Coast was a breakthrough race for me. I flew back to San Diego same day, and basically jumped straight into high volume training.
Glide swim! This time I plan to incorporate a slightly different swim technique I’ve been training with— basically less “muscling with the water” and more “gliding”. I haven’t tried this technique in a race yet, but I’m hoping it’ll conserve some energy and help things feel smoother. Thank you to my partner Michelle for all her GoPro films of my new swim technique!
Stay on Sam Long’s feet in the swim. Last race I was focused on keeping on Sam Long’s feet, which pushed me to swim more aggressively out of the gates. I’ll try that again. I might feel totally out of breath during the swim, but still, I’ll try!
Be less dazed coming into T1. Focus before I get out of the water. I’ve been watching T1 videos from other races. Consistently, I see the pros strip their wetsuit (speaking of which, I have a brand new, correctly-sized one thanks to Zoot!!) with determined expressions on their faces, as they charge out of the water. I checked out the 70.3 Gulf Coast video, and noticed I look a little dazed and unfocused coming into T1. This time around, I need to be 1. Thinking about T1 before I emerge from the water, 2. Stripping off my wetsuit while I’m running to my bike, 3. Run faster to my bike. Hopefully on the live stream, you’ll see a laser focused dude running behind Sam Long into T1!
Listen to my body. In contrast to last year’s 70.3 Boulder, I won’t just be racing myself. It might be tempting to surge ahead to match the pace of others, even if my body is screaming for oxygen. I will have to make calculated decisions on this and also may have to modify my racing with elevation— who knows really until the race starts!
Gentle expectations on myself. I’ve been feeling quite fatigued in my training block following Gulf Coast. Now that I’m at the end of the block, I can definitely tell I have burned a lot of matches. I am one to completely follow the plan and trust the process so I have confidence my coach (Ryan Bolton) knows the best way to prep! I want to remind myself as I fly to Boulder, eat my pre-race meals, clean up my bike, that I’m so fortunate to be racing as my full-time job. That also, I’m not gonna feel supercharged and hungry at every single race. Even so, I’m looking forward to getting my races and learnings on the board. Every good and bad result matters to my overall growth.
Sneak peek into CDA
After Boulder, I’ll have a roughly 21 hour week, and then begin a proper Ironman taper. I’ll be doing my full Ironman debut as a pro, where hopefully I won’t bonk like I historically did at the couple of age group races last year. 140.6 is HARD but I’m pretty excited about my prep, and am looking forward to testing all my fitness gains on the big distance. This is where the nickname #sterdy should shine.
Thank you to my sponsors, Zoot, The Feed, and Firefly Recovery!
Stay sterdy,
Ben
