Tuesday, July 13, 2010

The Boulder Peak Triathlon

This past weekend was the Boulder Peak triathlon.
An Oly. Distance race that features a short yet nasty climb up the 15 % grades of old stage rd. the scenic beauty of the boulder reservoir and rocky mtns. I have always heard this is a race NOT to missed. My thought was always one of, “its an Oly. dis. triathlon. I know the course, relax, its good I am sure but can be any better than another race?” well now I know! It’s simply awesome.
This race is a fairly big deal with a fantastic pro field and some of the best armatures in the country.
Personally I had a great day out. The best part of the race for me was how I felt. Very in control. I had that, I can’t crack myself if I tried, type of feeling. And while I fell short on a few goals I had set I am not going to dwell on it. Over all this was my best performance this year. I have gotten a lot of questions on my power file from the bike. So… here it is. http://tpks.ws/GARW The min. or 2 at the end can be cut off.
Norm power was 291. Felt great. Pretty evenly paced, despite the steep climb in the first half. I am a mear 155 lbs now so my speed up the climb was probably pretty quick compared to most for the wattage. Would love to hear from any others regards to watts and time/ speed. Especially for the later half of the course. Wondering how aero I am??
I was very impressed with all who were out there racing. Scott F. seemed to have a spot of bother on the run but at the turnaround I realized that’s all it was, a spot. He was right behind me still! Steve Johnson ran a 5:51 pace on the 10k trail run. I can’t even fathom that speed. Erin Finnegan, Amber kardosh and Brent Schoeb did great races despite the altitude, heavy training sch. and some long car travel. Evan Macfarlin, killer race, Max Lawler very nice work. Christiana Glenn continues to rock here AG and looked so strong on the climb. Great chat with Heidi smith post race,
The guys/gals at the beer tent, you rock!!
Sorry to the guy I passed on the right on the turn going into lefthand canyon. And to the riders who I squeezed between them and that van on 63rd st. everyone handled them selves well.
The race was run so well. A great event!

2 comments:

David McMillan said...

Hey Eric,

Good job at the Peak! Quick question on your FTPwatts vs watts during a race. How much of a drop do you normally see over something like an Oly distance Tri. Your recent post mentioned your FTP at 335w and Boulder Peak watts normalized at 291w. Do you think this ratio 0.86IF is pretty common for this type of racing?
Thanks
Dave

Unknown said...

Good Q Dave.
that post on Mt Evans was done a few years back. also I have a significantly higher threshold riding up hill than on the flats on the TT bike. about 320 now on the TT bike. I normally do 90% -95% (closer to 90) in a sprint/Oly. Tri. much of which is due to the first 3-5' of "warming up" into the bike. better swimmers may not need as much time.
And, as we all know, all of this means 0 if you blow on the run. in the Boulder Peak I lost about 3-4% on a fresh 10k all out run. well below the maximum 7% loss I look for in athletes.