I have been testing my speed lately with a few local sprint triathlons.  Although they aren’t my preferred distance they are easier to race in terms of recovery and time.  With that, I signed up for the Metro Brokers Triathlon Friday held June 4 at Cherry Creek Reservoir in Aurora.  It was so fun racing during the week and at night!  It was a sprint race and wanted a good warm up for Boise the following weekend.  I raced with my Global Trainer and HR strap, the first time I have ever raced a triathlon with my heart rate monitor!  As the gun went off I went my hardest only to find myself exiting the 880 yard swim about 1 minute back from the leader.  It took me a few miles on the bike, but I soon caught up to  who I found out later was a collegiate swimmer.  I got into T2 after the fast 12  mile bike and began the 5K run.  I pushed hard and kept the lead until the finish while getting a new course record in 59:18.  The Global Trainer worked well and new HR strap fit great.  This was the new strap you can find with the Global Trainers at REI. Here is the link! 

A couple days later I found myself on a plane headed to Boise, ID where I would go for a work meeting with Powerbar all week until the 70.3 race held that Saturday.  I felt good all week, but really scaled back my workouts to be rested for the race.  Since it was a 2PM start, we as athletes had the luxury of sleeping in a little Saturday morning.  All week we learned more about the benefits of Powerbar’s C2MAX, the carbohydrate blend that really sets itself apart from the rest of the sports nutritional players, hands down.  I was ready again to utilize all Powerbar products for the day!  After getting up I got in a 20 min swim in the hotel pool, did some last minute preparations, and headed down to reservoir.  The day was beautiful and I felt ready to go!  Just before my wave went off, I chatted with my friend, former Timex teammate and former Ironman Florida champion, Jamie Cleveland.  He now races age group, and has the best attitude out there! 

Myself and Global head of Performance Nutrition at Nestle, Phil Annett

Our wave went off and I lead the wave from start to finish in the 57 degree water.  Jamie and I exited T1 together and headed out down the hill facing some massive headwinds.  At about mile 20 I swallowed a bunch of Ironman Perform drink by Powerbar and kicked up my pace.  I soon passed all the previous waves and was riding by myself.  At miles 25 and 35 all participants were fortunate enough to ride right by the Nestle/Powerbar production facility, certainly a rare opportunity!   We toured the factory earlier in the week and it was certainly the highlight of the week.  There’s nothing like eating a Powerbar Apple Cinnamon Harvest right off the line!  Anyway, the winds were horrible for about 50% of the ride.  But my Orbea Ordu was great and the Dura Ace wheels worked flawlessly in the cross and head winds.  Honestly, it reminded me of Kona for a bit so I briefly imagined riding on the Queen K for a while which gave me some motivation!

I headed into T2 only seeing 1 age group bike on the racks.  I ran the best I could to see if I could catch him, but I just raced my own race as I always do and enjoyed it.  The finish line had more energy and people than I had ever experienced at a 70.3.  I was chatting with my friend Bill Potts who works for Ironman and we agreed that it was one of the best finish lines on the circuit!  I finished in 4:21, placing 2^nd amateur, 1^st in AG and 15^th overall.  It was a fantastic week and I felt proud to be there! 

The top men in 35-39

Thanks for reading!

Tim