The week leading up to Ironman 70.3 Boulder triathlon was new for me in that I was traveling 14 hours (~1,000 miles) for the race! I wasn’t ready to try and ship my bike so a road trip it was! This meant my training that final week did not follow my schedule and was a little wacky. I learned a lot about traveling for a race, altitude and changing expectations.
Day Recap
Mon 40 minute interval bike followed by 15 brick run before work
Tue Rest day (road trip began after work)
Wed Rest day (road trip continued)
Thr 30 mile ride on the race course in the Boulder foothills + 1,250 yards recovery swim
Fri 35 minute run and packet pickup!
Sat Race Day!
Sun Recovery day + light hiking in Rocky Mountain National Park
Takeaway from the week
We wanted to get to Colorado and the elevation as soon as we could to allow for some acclamation to the ~5,000 – ~6,000 feet of elevation we’d experience around Boulder. This meant driving out on Tuesday evening after work and arriving in Boulder around 3pm on Wednesday. I felt fine walking around and running errands Wednesday evening. We went out on a 30 mile ride on Thursday morning which quickly got us immersed in our surroundings – the hills, the heat and the elevation. It was big highs on the downhills and slow climbs on the uphills but it was awesome overall!
We spend Thursday afternoon at a local pool that had lap swimming all day – awesome! It all lanes were doubled up the entire afternoon which was also cool to see. I was surprised to feel the altitude in the pool but I did and it was harder to breathe while swimming.
I went for a 35 minute run on Friday morning to test out the altitude on my lungs and felt okay but kept the run pretty easy. It was off to pack pickup!
Overall, I felt pretty confident going into the race and was excited to get started and race in the beautiful state of Colorado!
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