Des Moines Tri Race Report and Weekly Wrap-up

RACE REPORT:

Lets preface the report by saying that I went into this one knowing it would be a "C" race and I wouldn't have great legs.  It really wasn't on my radar at all, but we happened to be going to Iowa to visit family and a friend that works for PEM threw a free entry at me and a free place to stay downtown.   So WTH, why not, free training race right?  I would have Sat. off for travel and Friday wasn't too heavy, though it had some intervals and my legs were feeling the previous 10 days of training at that point.  I also have been in the long course mindset, so normally making myself slow down rather than go fast.

I think you're all seeing where I'm going, the race report will be a long list of explanations and excuses. It is what it is.  I like to be honest about why I did or didn't perform 100%.  I also want to learn from my mistakes and understand what happened.  What made having a mediocre effort harder to swallow was that 1) there was prize money and I finished 6th (1st loser...haha) 2) 5th place passed me after making a wrong turn 3) I mentally checked out and thought I was in 7th or 8th place and way out of money. 4) I thought prizes went deeper than 5 places as they had in the past.  5) I missed an opportunity to almost literally run alongside the best runner in the sport of triathlon.  I still say Marinda Carfrae pass the opposite way, but much cooler to follow the legend right out of T2.

With all that, I was optimistic as usual and went into it excited that I could knock out another strong performance, at least on the bike.  My goals were to test out the sleeve suit with a swim skin.  I picked up a ORCA swim skin on sale and this would be my 1st time wearing it.  I knew I'd have a slow transition, but it was worth it for the practice.

I arrived at transition very early, as there was no traffic and the drive from my friends apartment to Grays Lake was all of 8-10 minutes....should have slept another 30 minutes.  I got set up, chatted for a few minutes with some racers around me, and with a long line at the portajohns, I went ahead and walked around to the swim start to use the bathroom there.   I carried a large bottle of sports drink and a gel.  I chatted with 3 other racers there early and pretty soon others started to arrive.

For warm-up I swam out to the 1st buoy and back.  The water was warm, murky, my back was stiff, but I felt fast in the new swim skin. I met up with my my friends that drove up to watch.  Their daughter is the one that works for PEM.  We watched the mens race go off, and I headed to the swim corral.  It was a small elite wave field.  But I figured there were some fast swimmers, but took my chances and lined up near the front.  Here I made my 1st mistake and lined up to the right.   I pull to the left, and the 1st turn in to the right, so I was right on the race line near "pole position".   Overall though I'm pretty relaxed.  Nothing to lose or really gain in this race, just enjoy the morning and put in some good work and race!

Gun goes off and it's pretty frenzied.  I get his in the goggles pretty quick and they take in a little water.  Great, can't sight as well now.  I stay relaxed and just keep the turnover high and pull strong fighting to a place to put my arms.  I try and go right, and there's someone there...left is the same.  I ease off and I start getting run over.   I'm pretty much boxed it, so I just try and stay right on someones feet.  All of these folks are prolific kickers too...lucky me.  I'm stuck and just hang in there.  I'm not redlined, but I'm swimming harder than I want for sure.

1st turn thins things out and I find a perfect spot but the the guys I'm following is kicking like it's an open 800M and I'm getting drowned trying to stay there.  I finally keep pulling to the left and end up on my own a little off course....as usual.  I try and stay within the general draft of that group, but they slowly pull away.   I have a feeling that's a 21xx high, 22 low group I'm letting get away.  In hindsight, it might have been worth it to push a little harder.  OTOH, I knew that I'm have a slow transition with this suit so getting comfortable mattered more.   It felt like a steady breeze was coming across us and sighting was hard going into the sun.  i put in a few more efforts to close the gap, but was mainly focused on going straight.  The last 400y I feel like I found my stroke a little, but too little too late.  The swim felt a little long and the finish finally arrived.

Up the hill and into transition.  I got the swim skin zipper open on the 2nd try and started peeling down and finding my sleeves.  This isn't easy while running, even slow.  I end up taking a few seconds at my spot getting the last sleeve on and trying to straighten out the suit a little.  It's not fast... at all.  I lost maybe 45" in transition.

I get on the bike and HR is really high, my leg are pretty flat and I try and just settle in and focus on staying aero, lean on my advantage.  Overall I feel a little bloated and just can't find any power.  I ease off to Zone 2 power but it's not helping much.   the good news, is at Zone 2 watts, I'm not losing much ground and still passing folks.  I get up to tempo for most of the ride and near threshold up the hills, but it takes a focused effort the whole time.  I end up riding 79% or 240W NP, I think 235AP.  SO very even, but weak.  As I mentioned after Steelhead, I suspect my real power numbers are at as much as 10% off due to R/L imbalance.  Hard to say.  No longer a big fan of single sided meters as I've become more serious about aerodynamics and using Bestbikesplit.com to compare courses and performances.  Bottom line, I rode as hard as I could, but legs weren't there, but I still rode sub 1:00 for the 1st time ever in an Olympic. So I'll take it.  I did have fun in a few turns and accidentally overcooked one a little, even possibly sliding the rear around just a tad.

Rolled into T2 and decided that I "earned" socks, meaning I was not longer racing and just ready for a 10k tempo run and blisters weren't going to help me in my last few weeks of Kona prep.  2 guys passed me in transition and i set about running nice and steady.  My stomach continue to feel a little bloated.  Legs felt OK.  HR was just above Tempo, but not too high.  Breathing was pretty relaxed and I put on a smile and went about the business on finishing up the race.

Most noteable was watching Haskins and Rinny fly past the other way.  Going much faster than I was.  No catching them.  I slowly reeled in 1 athlete.  We both figured were were in like 10th place way out of it.  We chatted for a minute and I continued on trying to pick it up just a bit.  I went out around 6:30 with a goal of starting out at that pace and running 6:00 the last 5k miles.  SO out around 20:00, back around 18:45-19:00.  I haven't checked my file, but what actually happened, was I went out around 20:30, OK there, but never sped up.  I also added 1/4 mile detour making a wrong turn before volunteers stopped my from cutting 1.5 miles off the course, crossing a timing mat and probably getting DQ'd.  Oops.

I mentally checked out at that point.  IT was getting harder to run tempo and I was still feeling bloated but also felt thirsty and noticed the heat.  I kept a steady pace and slowly reeled back in the guy in front of me.   I was only 100y back at the base of the hill, but I had a decision, bury myself and out sprint him, or just cruise up the hill and live to fight another day.  It was mentally hard because I rarely if ever pass at the opportunity for a finishing kick.  It's a habit I started back in high school cross country 23 years ago, and continue today...even in long course.

Final time 2:08, run split 42:xx.  My slowest Olympic run in maybe 7 or 8 years.  But I will say, it was my easiest Olympic run ever, easiest bike split and not my hardest swim.  I give it a "C" for effort, "B+" for having the fitness to go fast without going hard if that counts for anything.

I'm keeping my eye on the prize, and looking forward to Kona.  The bike tells me what pace I can ride at just above IM watts.  I can cruise on moderately hilly terrain (equivalent to 4000ft uncorrected elevation for 115 miles)  IMWI in comparison is around 7500ft uncorrected) with a descent wind and lots of turns.  On ward and upward!   Last week of solid training!


The Positives!!!
1) I didn't crash on the bike
2) 3rd fastest amateur bike split, 19th overall.  Not bad for just over IM watts.
3) I didn't injure myself running too hard or sprinting to the line up that hill for 5th
4) I overall had fun and got to meet and chat with a lot of great triathletes
5) I had a good washing machine swim experience and survived
6) I swam mostly straight
7) I got a solid workout it
8) I ran almost negative splits.
9) I managed the heat well and mentally feel like it wasn't the primary factor
10) I learned about drinking too much pre-race in warm weather.
11) I rode under 1:00 for the 1st time ever.


BESTBIKESPLIT!
Putting my actual wattage in there, it predicted my time within 2 seconds.  Spot on a gain.  Maybe just luck.  But I plugged in 72% for Kona with the weather tool, and it spits out a 4:41.  At 75% I get 4:36 with 258TSS.  That's still easier than I rode at IMWI.  Actually, the same TSS would be a 4:30 @ 0.79... basically a pro level ride.   But I think you need to factor in the heat and come up a little lower and the wind gusts will slow things down.  I think hitting the same number of calories may prove challenging as well.  I want to have a complete race, not a killer bike split then blow up on the run.  I figure the wind is about 5' deduct from that estimate.

TRAINING WEEK:


The training week otherwise was pretty routine in terms of just fitting workouts in.  Nothing noteable, but good consistency, focusing on run consistency as usual.  Really light on swimming and biking.

By the numbers:

Swim: 2h08m, 9,350y
Bike: 6h29m, 139mi
Run: 5h59m, 49mi
TOTAL: 14h39m
TSS: 919

Not a high volume week, as expected with a day off in there and a sprint race on Sunday, but you have to view it as a 21 day stretch, rather than in 7 day blocks.  the middle 7 days are soft, but the 1st 7 and last 7 are pretty solid.  It's going to be a challenging week, but hopefully it's pays off come race day.