Lake Havasu

Last weekend, I traveled with the CU tri team to Lake Havasu. This lake (or reservoir to be more accurate) is on the Colorado River between Arizona and California, a 16-hr drive from Boulder if you are pulling a trailer full of bikes. We were not there to participate in the Spring Break activities going on around us. Rather we did the opposite by going to bed at 9 pm and limiting our beverage intake to water. The retired people who surrounded us with their motor homes at the campground partied much more than us. No, we are not bunch of boring triathletes, but were there to race.


My only picture from the trip: the sunset the night we arrived. This was taken near our campsite.

The Lake Havasu triathlon served as the Mountain Collegiate Conference championship. Schools from Colorado, Arizona, and New Mexico participated as part of our regional competition and tune-up before Nationals. We had about 40 members of our team compete and took all the top awards. You can read about it here: http://www.coloradotriathlete.com/articles/09/2009_collegiate_mountain_championships.html

My two goals for the race were an olympic distance PR and a 10K PR. I accomplished both of these despite many sharp corners and steep climbs on the bike (usually together, as in steep downhill followed by a 90 degree turn) and hot temperatures on the run. Mostly, I was there for experience as I have only done one other race of this distance. But I am also super competitive and had to chase down all the girls ahead of me on the run. With the awesome encouragement from teammates and the added boost of racing 5000 ft lower than I train, I was able to finish first in the collegiate division.

Next up is Collegiate Nationals on April 18 in Lubbock, TX (also olympic distance). Our team is very determined to do well at this race. This leads my roommates to make fun of me for my current training insanity. But it should all pay off in 3 weeks.