Scott Pontague: Boulder

Boulder - Week 1

1st week down in b-town and i'v done heaps so hope you got your reading glasses on :)

HIGHLIGHT OF THE WEEK

Meeting Mirinda Carfrae

Day 2 - Tuesday

After waking up from a nice sleep in i was jet lagged as hell so the lads and I decided hit up a traditional south american breakfast at a local diner. It was the first meal i had got from the states and it lived up to all my expectations.... 1 million calories and huge haha! I wish i got a photo for you all to see but never got the chance coz it was demolished pretty quickly after having crappy plane food for the entire previous day.

Later that day I unpacked my Transition S-works and headed out for a ride out of town for 2 hours towards the town Lyons along 36th highway. It was a cruisy ride with my coach Tim Reed and 2 of the other lads joe and al from livestrong and jelly belly. Joe and Al had only arrived back into boulder a few days earlier than me after competing in europe so we all were happy to just spin the legs. I learnt pretty quickly you need some strong sunscreen around this town coz i came back home after only 2 hours abit like a cooked lobster.

Not living in the new house yet we all went out for a sushi dinner in town. I though we had good sushi back home but this place knocked my socks off. We were in a private asian style room like booth with the thin walls and a dinning table that was just above floor height. The menu was abit different with weird names like the dragon ball. They brought the sushi out on a big wooden boat and it was awesome, i even ended up going back and having it for lunch!

Day 3 - Wednesday

The best thing about Boulder is we get to watch the tour de france in normal day hours unlike back home in perth. With the town being full of athletes and hardly any 1 working we get up when we want to cruise down to the local coffee shop and watch the end of the tour before heading out for our ride which is usually around 9am.

Back home i was up at 4:45am most mornings so im already loving this lifestyle :)

I was lucky all the boys were on their taper week otherwise i was in for a spanking...

Later that afternoon it was time to put on the speedo's and hit my first swim session at altitude. We went to the north boulder rec centre which isnt to far away from were my new house was to be. They have an indoor 25 except its an american 25 so its a about half a meter or so shorter than back home which means you always gotta do the math and add up so your not short and with my math skills im lucky reedy's there to do it for me.

My first dive in i quickly figured out what the altitude does to you in the water with having 2 gasp for air for the first 5 strokes. After that it wasnt to bad until you got to the wall for a tumble turn. I ended up with a 2.5km set in the bank.

After the swim and some food joe, al and ike picked me up to help me move into the new house. With renting an un-furnished room we had to go bed shopping. After thinking bout it the easiest thing to do for now was to get a blow up mattress until i get a proper bed so we headed to target. The idea kind of bit me in the bum after waking up in the middle of the night to find it was deflated and i was sleeping on the floor :( until i realised the next morning i didnt put the cap on properly.. idiot i know

All in all the house im in is in a great spot where i dont have to cycle through town and theres plenty of shops and everything i need pretty close.

Day 4 - Thursday

It was back off to amante's coffee shop for 9am to meet the boys, watch the end of the tour and roll out on the bikes out of town. There were a few more people this time with the lads from the avanti team joining the group. Its been great here meeting a lot of people and most of them have actually been aussies.. I only had 2.5hrs on the program so kept on the flats when the other lads headed up left hand into the mountains.

Day 5 - Friday

After watching the tour again reedy came to pick me up n we were off for a few chores including my first food shop. I couldnt believe my eyes when i seen banana's for 55cents when back home their $18 per kg.. everything was cheap as chips with my total coming to $70 which got me everything i needed for more than a week which blew me away!

On the program was an easy swim at the rec centre for another 2km and then it was time for lunch! I was in for a treat as Reedy took me out for my first american burrito at Qdoba. This thing was the size of my head haha and by far the best burrito iv had!

Later on that arvo I put the runners on and headed out for an easy 30min run. The legs felt reasonably good but the effort in to out was definitely negative even tho i was only running 5min pace the lungs were feeling it. All in all i enjoyed my first run and did it around town getting my bearings right and looking around.

Day 6 - Saturday

With the race 2moro it was an easy day on the cards to make sure i was all loose after hitting up a 1hr ride and jumping on the foam roller before heading down to transition at the res for registration. The 5150 series puts on a great expo for an olympic course compared to back home so it was good to spend a little bit of time down there and check a few things out we dont have.

Later that day i got another 30min run in the legs with a nice stretch back at home and was in bed early after making a nice pasta dinner and getting the bike and gear all set up.

Day 7 - Sunday

Boulder Peak 5150

The Boulder Peak is the most high profile olympic race of the year for this town.

Now run by WTC and labelled as a 5150 series race it attracted over 1000 athletes and is one of the best run short courses I have seen and competed in. A unique part of this race is that they plan the wave starts for the pros to set off last. With the first wave starting at 6:30am and then a roll down to the the pros at 9am. It was awesome to have the event set up like this as my wave was at 6:55am and i would be finished for the pros just coming out of the water and heading on to the bike.

It was an awesome race to watch with alot of the top pros racing. They had altered the run course to a shorter 3 lap for the pros for it to be more spectator friendly.