SUMMARY:
My highest Olympic Triathlon overall finish yet - 5th in a fast, deep field, and on a very hot and humid day. I had a killer run which sealed my high placing. I finally nailed my nutrition - something I've been working on for Olympic Distance races.
I was concerned in the hour before the race. When I rode my warm-up on the bike - my legs were dead and I was feeling pretty out of it. I was worried that doing this race was a mistake. My family was upset that I entered at the last minute, after having been traveling just before. I decided to get up at 2:45am to drive down to the race venue, so I could spend as much time at home with my family as possible. I then stupidly stayed up until almost 12:00 midnight watching the Tour after then went to bed. Ooops..
Prior to this race, I spent 2 weeks overseas - one in India, the other in Germany. Traveling takes it out of you, and I have very little time to train while I was gone. I ran 4 times in India - each time was a hot, sweaty mess - as you might expect... Germany was hot too (95-100F) and I was so busy and tired I could only muster a 5k run here and there... maybe my body used these two weeks to rebuild itself. Let's go with that...
I was still feeling flat when I went down to the water's edge. There were 650+ athletes buzzing around getting ready - and all of their support crew / family / friends. I just wasn't feeling it. I swam out for my last warm-up and to get some sighting landmarks... but still didn't feel my mojo. Maybe this was a huge mistake and waste of time today. Well - I'm here, I might as well make the best of it...
Count down to the Elite Men's start...
SWIM: (21st Overall - 22:49...)
I've been pushing the pace on the swim, and getting good results this season. My swim times are by no means "impressive" - but compared to my times last year - I've consistenly taken 3-4 minutes off my swim time vs 2010 - I'm so happy!
I pushed it hard from the shore, and was about the 3rd to the first turn buoy. Time to find some feet and a good fast pack, and see if I can hang with them. I quickly found some feet... then lost them... then found them... then lost them... then found them... then realized I was following someone who was having a difficult time holding a line and sighting. Not good. Problem was, when I went to find the rest of the lead pack - it was gone. I picked the wrong feet... and now I had to go it alone.
I was frustrated by this, but being inefficient and wasting energy wasn't going to make things better - so I quickly re-focused my mind on perfect form, and rapid turn-over. I did most of the first lap completely on my own. At the start of the second lap, I could see a group at a turn buoy - so I pushed it even harder to catch up to them. Eventually I did... and used the pack for a while - but then we got into the reminents of the sprint wave, and the pack broke up weaving in and out of them. I lost the pack again and finished the swim alone. Before I knew it, the swim was over, and I was scrambling onto my feet.
Running up the hill, I saw a friend and asked how many were ahead... I didn't like the number I heard... 15 or so... damn...
BIKE: (8th overall - 1:03:30)
The bike course was rolling and had a lot of twists and turns in it. Felt like I was never really in "steady-state", but rather always shifting or turning. I'd never been on this course before, and I'm better suited for the flat, steady-state courses, so I felt a disadvantage.
I pushed and pushed on the bike - trying to count how many I was passing that beat me in the swim. It just didn't seem like enough! The only good thing for me about this particular course, is that it had a long out-and-back section - where you get a chance to see who is in front of you, and by how much time... and also who is behind you. As I neared the turn-around, I realized that there weren't many people left in front of me- but the ones who were were a good few minutes ahead.
After the turn-around, I had one guy I could see to chase, and I caught him... after that, I was all alone... Sometimes that makes it difficult to keep pushing the pace when it hurts. That's why they have a "rabbit" at a lot of marathons... to keep the pack from getting complacent. I had no rabbit and no one to chase... My overall placement of 8th tells me I might have let off the gas a little in the last 5-7 miles. (I was 1st overall and 3rd overall fastest bike split in my two prior races this seaons).
I finally got my nutrition / hydration right on the bike! 2 races ago, I under did it and started to cramp the last 30 minutes of the race... this past race, I over did it and wanted to puke for an hour of racing... today - I nailed it! 20oz of HEED first, and then 20oz of a weak electrolyte only solution was just what I needed on this hot, steamy day.
Coming into transition, my legs felt pretty good... and my belly was very happy!
RUN: (5th overall - 42:47 - slow time, but this was a trail run and it was HOT)
I came out of transition with one other guy. I had never done this race, and was surprised to find it was a very uneven, rocky surface. In the first mile, I kept surging to drop this guy, but he kept hanging on. We came up to a gradual hill - and I decided that I was going to drop him on this hill - "because I was going to". I actually said that to myself... BOOM - I was off like a shot and ran full speed. I could hear his footsteps fading behind me, but didn't back off the pace because I wanted to break his spirit and not have him climb back on.
After the hill, I was flying and feeling strong. I saw my high school friend Darryl Miller finishing up the sprint race, and had a chance to say a quick "LOOKING GOOD DARRYL" and sneak a low-five as we passed each other. It was HOT and I was glad to have brought my fuel belt along with 2 bottles of electrolyte solution, and 2 bottles of plain water. Time for a drink. Most of the run was out in the exposed sun - and it was just hot. Did I mention it was hot?
I relized there were more targets in my sights ahead and kept the pace going hard. I could reel in and pass these guys one by one... each time, sneaking up on them quietly, pausing long enough to gather a little extra strength and then going full-speed to pass them and not have them try to stick with me.
At the 5k (half-way point of the run), I could see there were not many more in front of me... 3 or 4 tops. This was great! I just kept pushing it, and keeping the hydration coming. Last thing I wanted was to cramp up in this heat like so many others were. I kept fueling and dumping water on my head at the aid stations... and kept pushing. I only had one target to chase, and he was way in front of me (maybe 45 seconds at the last turn-around). I gave it everything I had... and closed 1/2 of the gap, but just couldn't catch him before the end of the race.
As I came to the finish chute - I heard them call my name and team (SnakeBite Racing)... then I saw my brother Steve, and his three kids waiting for me at the finish line. How very cool!
I felt exhausted, but really quite happy with how the day went for me. My strongest run placements for the season (relative to the field), and my highest overall placement in Olympic Distance - 5th and a time of 2:11:22. (I've won 1st overall duathlons and overall podiums in sprint triathlons... but this means more - the competition in Olympic Triathlon is so much stronger...)
Now, I have to focus my training on the 6 weeks between this race, and my "A" race - the USA Triathlon National Championships in Burlington, VT on August 20th.
No comments:
Post a Comment