I’d like to frame this report in the context of my training
leading up the race because that’s how I try to predict what I’m capable of
doing on race day. Within reason, I attempt to race at target power, pacing,
and perceived effort zones that I’ve shown myself that I can handle in
training. I completed two race simulation workouts in particular that gave me a
descent gauge of my capabilities. The first was a swim that included 2x (200 deep
water start speed + 400 mid race pace effort). For the 200's at start speed I was
around 1:04-1:06 pace and for the 400's I was around 1:09-1:10 pace. The second
was a brick workout of 2x(30 minute ride at race pace power + 3 mile run). I
was averaging 300 -325 watts (the norm power was roughly 10 watts higher) and
5:20-5:30 pace on the run. Compared to my fitness at this time last year, these
numbers are really great for me (with maybe the exception of the bike power
which is a little lower, but the watts/kg avg is a little higher because I’m
lighter). Needless to say, going into the race I was expecting somewhat similar
results and designed my race plan, with Cliff, with these efforts/times in mind.
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| The day before the race I felt well trained by Cliff and ready to rock! |
Race day morning was business as usual. It began with an
early wake-up at 4:15am. I ate my typical breakfast of oatmeal with some milk
and blueberries in addition to a cup of coffee. I made sure my bike was set and
that there was enough air in my tires. I placed my bike in the car and drove
for 15 minutes to the race site.
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| Race day morning wasn't so bad... |
I set up my transition area in roughly 3 minutes, making sure my helmet, glasses, race bib, shoes, and extra gels were set for the race. Then I went for a little warm-up jog of about 15 minutes which included 4 striders where I descended the effort from easy down to about 5k pace. After that, I went to the bathroom, rechecked my gear in transition, and walked to the area where I could get in a swim warm-up. I took my time getting in the water and getting comfortable. I swim best when I’m able to take my time warming up. Next, I did 3 short pick-ups followed by a steady-state effort of about 2 minutes at mid-race pace effort. I got out of the water at the call back, walked over the timing mat and then ran into the water with the rest of the guys to prepare for the in water swim start.
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Pro wave wading in prior to the deep water start
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The swim start was pretty normal. I went out as strong as I could without blowing up and tried to stay with the front pack as long as possible. My swim training has been going really well, based on the 200+400 swim simulation I mentioned above, and I felt like I was putting out the same type of effort I did for that simulation. By half way, I found myself swimming with a small group of 3-4 people around me. I made it my goal to race just up to the point where my form was about to fall apart but not over that effort. For the times I felt like I was really struggling, I focused in on the swim cues that I practiced (“tight kick” and “finish strong”) which helped me get through the rough patches. As I passed every swim buoy I reminded myself that I could swim faster and put in some stronger strokes. I ended up swimming 23:54 for 1500m, coming out of the water 16th male pro and achieving one of my modest, yet honest, goals of not getting past by any of the Pro women who started three minutes behind me. Although the speed that I have shown myself in the pool didn’t exactly translate to the open water meter for meter, the good training came out in the form of confidence. I’ve never felt more confident and connected in the swelling waves. My sighting was consistent, I swam relatively straight, I was able to bilateral breath, and I was able to use the draft off of those around me more effectively than ever.
I wanted to have a faster transition than last year and I achieved
that goal. I came out of the water with Alex Willis and we pushed each other
towards our bikes and jumped on. Sticking with my race plan, I took my time in
the first mile before getting to work and starting to catch other Pro’s ahead
of me. I felt like my bike effort was nice and consistent throughout; hard like
I’ve practiced in training but very much within myself because I wanted to run
as fast as I did in training. Because of the heat, I didn’t pay as much
attention to my power as I did to my perceived effort. If I was a little under
my planned target, that was fine if I could still run well off the bike. I took
in 2 gels and about 30-40oz of Gatorade along the way. In last mile, I backed
off the effort a bit. Traditionally, I road hard up to the last 100 feet but
Cliff and I thought that I might run faster if I backed off a little earlier. Coming
into transition, I felt like I set myself up to have a good run and was
mentally prepared to run just like I did in practice. If I could do that, I
knew I could at least hold my 10th position spot if not catch a few
more guys down the line. I road 56:51 for the 40k which was the 7th
best time of the day.
I transitioned quickly and then got to work easing my way
into the run, just like I’d done in that brick workout. My gps was not working
so I totally went by perceived effort. After the first half mile or so, I felt
like I was working hard and I was attempting to stick with the guy just ahead
of me. When I was out in AZ with Cliff, he noticed that I hold my shoulders and
hands pretty high and that I run best when I drop both of them. In our pre-race
talk, he suggested that I periodically shake out my arms and drop my shoulders
and I worked on this as I went. At mile 2 I took in another gel. A little
before the half way turn around, I was really starting to struggle, loosing
focus on the race. At the turn around, I thought about upping the effort like I
did in practice, but I couldn’t find a way to do it so I stuck with what I
could do. I heard someone yell out to me to pick up my cadence and I realized
just how slow it was but couldn’t seem to pick it up. My upper body felt like
it was on fire and I was having a tough time breathing, worse than my usual
race pace effort. My legs felt pretty
normal for a race pace effort. At one of the aid stations I grabbed some
water/ice and put it down my suit to cool off. The cool ice brought me to
the cruel realization that I was overheating and there was little I could do
about it. I got passed by three guys on mile four which was tough mentally, but
I kept pushing on. I was really struggling around mile 4.75 and I was slowing
down dramatically when my friend Sarah Alexander yelled out encouraging words to me
as she was going the other way. Her words really help me reboot my mindset. I
realized I only had 1.2 miles left, composed myself, took in a little more gel,
and decided to make the most of it like I had originally planned. I picked back
up my pace and descended that last mile like I’ve done so many times in
practice. With .2 miles left to go, I felt like I was sprinting and desperately
trying to close the gap to the guy in front of me, once again focusing on the
race rather than how I was feeling. At the finish line, I collapsed. The
volunteers helped me back up and helped me get in the kiddy pool filled with
ice. I rested there for about 15-20 minutes sipping on Gatorade and cooling
down. I ended up running a 38:31 for the 10k, at least 4 minutes slower than I planned
to run and 3minutes 30 seconds slower than I’ve done previously on this run course.
My time was good enough to take 13 out of the male pro’s. You can see me finish below.
Every race is a performance. This means that no matter how your training goes, what really matters is what you do up on stage: on one particular day and one particular time. To sum up my thoughts, my run performance didn’t reflect what I’ve done in training which is extremely disappointing; however, that’s the business that I’m in—the one that I’ve deliberately chosen—and I’ve got to adapt in order to have the performance I actually want. I did a lot of things well including my skills in the swim, backing off on the bike to adapt to the heat, and finishing strong despite my struggle on mile 4 of the run. It only takes one or two things to negatively affect the end result in a big way and I came up short of my expectations.
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| Sarah is awesome. Period. She also took first female Amateur over all! Congrats! |
There are two major things that I am going to consider in
the future. First, I’d like to do a better job adapting to the heat and
humidity for the first races of the year. I think my biggest struggle was dealing with the heat, something that
I haven’t had to deal with in Connecticut over the last month of 30-50 degree
days. I think I could have done a few more indoor workouts to prepare for that
heat, arrived a little bit earlier for more time to adapt, and/or backed off
the bike effort even more than I had (I averaged 295 watts, about 15-20 watts
lower than I originally planned). Second, I’d like to focus on turnover at the
start of the run. I think I was over-striding a bit at the beginning which had
a huge impact at the end of the race.
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| I also plan to put my numbers on the right way. I'm a professional after all... |
One of the best ways to get closure on a race is by putting up better results in your next race. I’m very excited to race Challenge Knoxville in a few weeks.
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| Many of the worlds best have raced St. Anthony's. I encourage you to put it on your schedule for next year! |
I'd like to thank St. Anthony's for putting on a great race. I really encourage any triathlete reading this post to go down there to race. They provide an outstanding experience for their athletes. Also, I'd like to thank Zane’s Cycles, CT Cycle Center, Muscle and Joint Chiropractic, 66 North Main Massage, Cliff English, Amber, and my parents for all your help!