2014 Ironman Boulder: Pre-Race

Thursday

I woke up before the sun was up on Thursday morning so I could squeeze in an open water swim with the Boulder Aquatic Masters at the Boulder Reservoir.

It was $15 to swim (versus $20 for the scheduled swims through Ironman), there were swim buoys set up and plenty of support on the water.  It was worth the early morning because I was able to meet up with long time internet friends Molly and Tea at the swim!

I wiggled in to my wetsuit and swam through the short 650 m course.  The water was a lovely temperature, my wetsuit felt comfy and I didn’t notice an effect from the altitude on my breathing.  I headed home to shower and change, then made my way to Ironman Village in time for athlete check in.

The line up wasn’t very long at 9 am on Thursday (which was right when check in opened).  The pick up process was a bit confusing to start with though.  We had to get our bib number…

…our waiver…

…then sign our waiver, drop it off, then get in line to get our swim caps and packets.

People initially weren’t sure where to line up so it was a bit of a shmozzle but eventually I got all of my stuff!

We got backpacks and a bike tool as part of our registration pack.  I also really appreciated that our shirt size that we registered for was on our bib.  Hopefully this would mean that I would get a shirt that actually fit me this time!

After exploring the expo and doing a bit of shopping I drove the bike course with Molly’s aunt.  I was excited by the bike course as it was quite pretty and I didn’t spot any massive climbs like in Penticton.  I thought the course would suit my strengths really well.

Friday

I got together with my Team Tri Life friends and we rode the bike course.  Our rental house was right on the run course which was perfect!  I also loved how beautiful the run course was.  Plenty of opportunity for shade and I knew the course would be spectator friendly.

We also popped by the mandatory athlete meeting after our ride.  The meeting pretty well reiterated everything I had read in the athlete guide, but I did get the information that we’d be able to park our car in a city parkade on Sunday for no charge.  That was nice to know!

Saturday

It was bag and bike drop off day!  Holy smokes, was it really Ironman day tomorrow??  I took my time getting my stuff together on Saturday morning, then headed to bike drop off just around lunch time.

We had security photos taken of our bike before entering T1.  I then spent a good amount of time scoping out  the ins and outs of transition and looking at where my bike was on the racks.

Transition was huge!

After leaving my swim to bike bag in its proper spot I ran into a few of my Team Tri Life friends and my coach Angie.

Impressive guns on my friends!  It was great to get a few last minute words of encouragement from everyone!  Then off to T2 to drop off my bike to run bag.

T1 and T2 were in different places, making for an extra place to go for bag drop off.  I wasn’t too stressed about the two different transitions though since Great White North is similar.

I didn’t really take note of it at the time but that black track would wreak havoc on many Ironman Boulder participants the next day…  It was then time to head back to the house and put my feet up.  We watched Naked Gun, which was the perfect silly and cheesy movie to take my mind off the big day.  I chowed down on cedar planked salmon and grilled veggies for dinner that my family had cooked up.  This is what I’ve been eating before the majority of my long workouts instead of the usual pasta and sauce from before, so I figured I should stick with what works.

I tried to go to bed early but my mind was racing.  It took forever to fall asleep and when I did sleep it was fitfully.  Tomorrow I would be racing my third Ironman…