I guess the best place to start would be this time last year. The format of the race is an 800yd pool swim ~9am, a 20k computrainer bike ride ~noon, followed by a 5k track run ~4pm. Last year I posted a 9:11 swim, 33:34 ride and a 17:38 run for an overall time of 1:00:25. I had individual goals for each discipline, but the primary overall goals were to a.) beat my times from last year and b.) go under an hour overall.
I'd been having some really good workouts towards the end of this past week, and then woke up on Saturday sniffly and with some stuff in my lungs. I took the day before the race to take it easy and try to lose whatever I was coming down with. I think I did a pretty good job of it as I felt a lot better Sunday, but still not great. That's the way it goes though, no one's going to postpone a race for you so might as well give it your best shot.
The race:
For the swim, I took the first half of the race at my pace and was feeling pretty good. I actually came through the 500yd point at ~5:33, and felt like I had a lot left. Then suddenly my legs started to hurt... pretty badly. I wasn't even kicking very hard so I'm not sure why it happened. I limped in at a painfully slow 1:15 pace from there and finished the swim in 9:15. My swim has been going really well this year, so I wasn't too happy about adding 4 seconds from 2010, but it also wasn't a disaster. I should be able to sustain that effort on a better day. I was determined to hit the ride hard and make up time, since I was 45 seconds behind the leader and in 6th overall.
The bike ride was much different than your normal outdoor ride. The computrainers allowed heats of 8 people to be head to head, with all of your data displayed up front for all to see. The ride began and I started strong, but held back enough where I thought I could sustain my power the entire way. The ride was very hard, with some incredibly difficult "hills" (where the tension on the computrainer is increased) but I held it together and moved into first about 2/3 through the ride. My chain actually fell off twice towards the beginning of the ride, each time taking 10 sec or so to reset and get back up to speed. This would have panicked many athletes, causing a subsequent above threshold effort in an attempt to catch back up quickly, but I stayed calm and kept to my plan. There was plenty of time left, and things like that are in the nature of the race. You roll with the punches for best results. I finished the bike ride in 32:00 (from 33:34 last year) with an average power higher than I have ever done for a race of that distance. Success! The bike has been my achilles heel since I started the sport but today it was my strength. My winning bike split moved me from 6th to 3rd overall.
Over the past year or so I have made some real progress with my running, to the point where it has been consistently my strength. Today, however it let me down. I actually posted my slowest 5k in over a year, an 18:08. Two weeks ago I ran a 17:01 and was looking to beat it... but today was not the day for that. The first mile was good; I actually felt comfortable running a 5:21, but not long after really started to hurt. My calves screamed and the energy just left me. I held on just enough to keep 2nd place in the run, and moved into 2nd overall for the time trials. Congrats to Alex Dean for putting together 3 great legs to win!
Finishing off a triathlon with a strong run has been the one puzzle piece that I have put the most mental and physical energy into for the past couple years. My open run is great, but until last year my triathlon run seemed random. Would I have a good run, or terrible? I never would know until I was at mile 2 in the race. I made lots of progress towards conquering this problem last year, with really only 1 sub-par triathlon run last season, as opposed to ~50% as it had been in the past. I also used my run to consistently move up in the field in 2010, as opposed to just trying to hold on. So at first look this performance was a setback and might send me back to the drawing board. However I'm not really looking at it that way because there were some unique factors yesterday. First I did wake up feeling sick, perhaps I just didn't have the energy to last through the day at top shape. Secondly, I was wearing some track spikes that I have used to success in workouts of 800m intervals or shorter, but had never worn for a 5k. They get you on your forefoot but place a lot more stress on the calves than even a racing flat or the vibram 5-fingers. I've been working a lot on strengthening my feet/calves but I don't think they're quite ready for that yet.
Overall my time this year was 59:23, so just over a minute better than 2010. My primary goal was achieved! However in this sport there is always something to improve upon. That run split cannot be repeated and the swim really wasn't what I need, either. However at the same time I really outdid my expectations on the bike and am very pleased with how my weakest discipline is moving forward. So "A good start" is probably the best way to sum up this weekend. I'm happy with it for now, but it's only the beginning. Nothing more. It boosts my confidence and lights a fire at the same time.
Before I sign off today I also want to congratulate my teammates on the UW Triathlon team. (even though we're technically not teammates since I'm an alum, we train together, therefore I consider us teammates) This was really their day, not mine. A great group qualified for Collegiate Nationals, and I can't wait to see how they improve and perform in April. I'm feeling UW's best finish in some years.
If I had awards to give out for the trials, these would be some of them:
Chain Breaker: Dave Nguyen- Your quads have earned you this award... first time I've ever seen it happen and also a much better nickname than your last one.
Sleeper: Jordan Hibbard- Didn't see that bike split coming, but that really changed things up.
Best post race vomit I've seen in awhile: Will Weggel- made even better by the look on the Shell staff's faces when they saw it.
Top single discipline performance- Kristin Doster on the bike... you chicked over half the guys!
Most improved overall: Michael Zorniak- 1:18 to 1:11 in one year?!?! You've been doing something right, that's for sure.
Top overall performance: Gotta give it to Alex Dean for having no weakness and made even more impressive considering he broke his neck less than two years ago.
Best Dressed: Gotta give a shout out to Andrew Bossler keeping it professional in the classy suit and tie.
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