One cool video for a few cool guys!!

Tim DeBoom getting ready for the toughest Ironman distance race on the planet.

Boulder 70.3

Boulder 70.3 was my first attempt at the Half Ironman distance last year, as always its nice to race in your own back yard. This course can be very deceiving, many athletes think of Boulder of a cool Mountain town with plenty of hills to challenge you on the bike and run. Well this can be true but not this event, expect a flat and fast course with little rollers and temperatures in the mid 90's. 

Swim:

 

Again I managed a good start to the swim, avoiding all the josseling and mayhem that ensues in every swim start. In the first few hundred meters I found myself swimming with the big fish (fast guys) but that soon faded and I eventually found myself swimming with plenty of open water. Besides swimming over and around a few of the slower waves before ours I was only accompanied by one other competitor in my age group which was new to me. I came out of the water in 29:03, this was a P.R. and I;m very happy to finally join the "under 30 club"....I just made that up.=)

Bike:

The bike course is a 2 loop course, again a very fast course with some rollers. For this race I was attempting to try some new things when it came to my nutrition. My legs felt a little sluggish but I pushed the pace to finish lap one in a time of 1:07. I felt I could maintain this pace for the second lap but at around mile 40 I began to feel very nauseous and weak. I knew right away that I missed something on my nutrition plan. I sat-up and slowed the pace down until I could get to the next aid station where I would grab as much fuel as I could. I came off the bike and into T2 at 2:21:06. Only a few minutes off from last year, wasn't too happy with that but I knew where I made the mistake and I plan to fix it for the next race.

Run:

Out onto the scorching run course (93 degrees) I began to struggle with my usual Side-stitch. I tried every trick in the book to rid of this stitch, and ended up resorting to breathing out with a loud grunt. I received some very interesting looks from my competitors but it worked and the pain eventually subsided around mile 5. From here it was pure survival for my running ability or the lack there of. I know this is my weakest leg...for now, and I know what needs to be done in training to fix this. I look forward to the off-season and working diligently on my run. Towards the end of the run the heat began to really get to many athletes, I took in as much ice, water and Gatorade as I could at each aid-station. I gave a final push at the end to finish the 13.1 miles in 1:37:47. Not the fastest by any means, but as I said before this will change and I plan to knock off 15 minutes by next season!!!!! You can count on it.

Finish:
Final time was 4:31:05, which placed me 54th Overall and 8th in age. I knocked off about 12 minutes from last years time on this course. I was also able to get a slot to 70.3 World championships in Las Vegas in Sept. I'm happy to take it and have the opportunity to race again this season against some of the world's best at this distance. Until then its back to training full gas and prepping for worlds in September.