Race Report: Stroke & Stride #2

My apologies for the delayed race report, but considering that the Stroke & Stride is more of a scrimmage than an actual game, I figured it would not be that big of a deal.

It’s been nearly a year since my first exposure to this race. That one involved being called back in from the water after lightning was seen after the start. Probably just as well because I recall struggling a little bit that day.

What a difference a year can make. I felt much better this time, though I must admit, after competing in Greeley, Boulder is pretty humbling. Granted, I did not have my greatest swim day and I’ve also found that I’m much faster in the morning than afternoon.

While it was overcast, it was still warm. Best of all, there appeared to be no thunderstorms that would spoil the swim portion. Last year, this was my first experience with the washing machine. This year, I had already done the Summer Open Sprint in those conditions plus rough chop so this event seemed much easier. It did feel like the finish markers were not getting any closer at one point, but eventually I reached standing depth and ran in.

Like the Aquaman, swim laps involve crossing a finish mat, running along the beach and then jumping back in for the second lap. I don’t know what I was thinking, but for some reason I hit the lap button coming out of the water the first time. I guess I thought I would get my swim splits that way. Instead, my 910XT thought I was transitioning to the run. I realized this and managed to reset before lap two but the result is two maps for the swim:

I actually think I did okay on my transition. It was just over 2:00 which is not bad considering the run in from the beach and the fact that I had not bike to hold on to as I struggled out of my wetsuit.

Off to the run where I felt okay, but perhaps not great. I was clearly running slower than the Greeley Triathlon, but again, this is really not a full-on race.

I did take into account that for at least half of it, this is the run course of the Boulder Peak and I like how flat it is. Much of the run takes place along the dams that make the east side of the lake and, being dams, are completely level across the top.

I finished the run at 24:51 which is just a fraction over 8:00 pace. I’ll take that. 

I didn’t fare all that great among my age groupers in the 1500m swim/5K run event. I would have probably have finished around third if I had been doing the easier 750m swim but that won’t help me prepare for any of my upcoming races. It’s Boulder and people are just going to be faster.

I’ll be back this coming Thursday and then starting next week (6/26 to be specific), I’m going to start doing the Aquaman series at Cherry Creek which is much closer to my office and also offers a swim only event which suits my training needs better.

Thanks for reading and have a great week!