Race morning:
Woke up, at 4:20AM and had a greek yogurt with honey, 2 homemade blueberry scones. The coffee maker was broken, so I picked up one at a nearby gas station.
Pre-race:
Drank 1-1/2 bottles of my own sports drink mix + 1 gel with caffine. I made hte mistake of drinking a bunch of water before swim warm-up. I think I should have skipped the gel and extra water. I was a little bloated on the run and possibly impacted the bike.
Warm-up was 5 minutes easy jog, some strides, then 600y swim mixed pace.
Swim:
We had to wait in the water for a while. I'm so used to 85F water combined with some nerves and I was shaking. But off we went. I went out fast, faded hard and found a rythem. I didn't fade as bad as before, but just don't have the feel of my water I had 3-4 weeks ago. I'll have to work hard the next few weeks with drills to get that back. My pace overall was very good. 1:14/100y. TIME: 6:11 (400M) 13 seconds faster than last year. Not bad, as that's about 3 seconds faster per 100y.
T1:
Solid transition. I made up my 3 sec gap to Kevin Nickes, and held there next to him. No issues with my helmet and getting out. The rubber bands didn't go perfectly but it was still a lot faster. Fastest T1 on the day! 1:25
Bike:
I held just behind Nickel the first mile out then made a pass on the flat before the downhill sweeper, hoping to carry momentum up the hill and hold a solid pace from there. That didn't happen. I got passed 1/2 way up the hill, and he never looked back. I didn't have the legs to hold pace, but looking my power numbers I was capable of it, but i could convince my mind to ignore the fatigue and HTFU. My overall power was 267 Average, 284NP. Pretty weak for me. I've ridden harder than that for 60 minutes indoors on the trainer. I felt like I was going a LOT harder. Specifity? That being said, I held a solid pace I think for those power numbers, so my work on position and little details are paying off. 33:21 (GPS says 13.2mi). No splits last year, but I suspect this was almost 2 minutes faster.
T2: I came screaming into transition. Hit the ground pretty fast and just kept control of my bike. Got it rackeed, shoes on pretty quick and I was off. Faster T2 of the day! 1:06
Run:
I found my rythem pretty quick. I was told one guy was 15 seconds up. I knew he was a "fish" so I was guessing that he wasn't a strong runner. Kevin was now 45 sec up, so unless he blew up, he was long gone. I settled into a steady pace and started closing the gap. I caught him around mile 1.5, paced him for a while then made a solid pace I knew would be hard ot match. He accelerated for a few hundred feet, but I countered and I was gone. He was breathing really hard and I felt like I was at a fast Tempo, maybe open 1/2 marathon or Olympic pace. I picked it up a bit in the final 1/4 miles and cruised on home. 15:52 (rumor is its 2.9 miles) That's a 5:30 pace. No splits last year, but I suspect this was almost 1 minute faster.
UPDATE... it's 2.8 miles based on another racer's GPS file. So that was a 5:40 pace. I'll take that. It felt like threshold to me. Lets hope I can run 5:40's at Geode and Hyvee. That would be a 35:08. Not necessarily a stretch since I went under 37 at Geode last year.
Overall: 57:53 . 3 minute PR!!!
I felt like I could have held that for 3.2 more miles if needed. I also feel like I could have held that bike pace for 11 more miles. Overall I think I validated the training I've done the last 4 months. Cruising the run will allow me put in some solid runs this week and finish my Kansas 70.3 prep. Onward and upward.
Overall a great result and validation that my training is delivering results.
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