This was my last triathlon of the year – I had signed up months ago – feeling pretty motivated coming off some summer down time and looking to race well at the end of the season. I did IMFL in 1999, and it was hard it was to train deep into October, and now I remember oh so clearly why that was. After months of swimming, and riding and in great weather, it gets hard to get up and out the door when it’s below 40 or even 50 degrees. I love to run in any weather, the more foul the weather, and the better I probably do actually. But the swim and run – I am much more motivated to train when the weather is better. Anyhow – my mojo was slipping when we hit the beginning of September, at least for the swim and slightly for the bike – I didn’t get much of either in - to say I was in ‘peak’ condition would be misleading so I like to use the term “very rested”. I had plenty of fitness from earlier in the season and I have been running quite a bit and I was hoping I could play the law of averages and win. My goals coming into the race were:

Swim:
A Goal: 29-29:30
B Goal: 29:00-30:40

Bike:
A Goal: Under 2:30
B Goal: Under 2:35

Run:
A Goal: Sub 1:30
B Goal: Sub 1:35

Last years Top 5 in my AG:
4:28 (1) - 4:45 (5)

4:45 would be a PR for me – and that was my overall goal. Placing high would be great but with 1600 people in the race, it wouldn’t be easy.

The race organization was great – it had a good atmosphere in the morning – could have used some better music, as it was quite quiet before the race, but it was definitely well organized and things went off without a hitch. We did start a few minutes late, but not a big deal.

My wave had about 150 people in it. I took my place in the first row on the swim – started my watch 20 seconds early, in order that I wouldn’t have to deal with it - and we were off. Before I took my first stroke the front of my neck cramped up. Sometimes I get these weird front neck cramps – and they will last 10 minutes or they will last 6 hours – I think mostly due to grinding my teeth and stuff – but I had a cramp in my neck from the get go and I was focused on a) breathing and b) keeping everyone in sight. I certainly didn’t swim fast, just easy and steady effort. After the first turn buoy I stopped and tried to massage the cramp out – to no avail. I couldn’t get it to release and I’d have to live with it until I get out of the water. About half way through the swim, I picked up my pace and started picking off people – we were running into the AG in front of us, but it wasn’t too crowded and I was able to get through with little bumping. By the time we hit the furthest buoy I was swimming full speed and moving up quickly.

When I stood up my watch read 31:16 – and taking off my 20 seconds I was around 30:55 or so- not too far off my B goal – it was worth 11th in my AG. I’ll give myself a B on the swim. I managed the issues and still swam close to where I should have been. The cramping seemed to go away as soon I as stood up- that was good news.

Onto the bike – this was a 3 loop course, but each loop consisted of 3 out/back legs that had out/back legs off of them –once you were up to speed for 2 miles at the most, you had to turn 90 or 180 degrees. Right off the bat I was moving pretty well, but my watts were high – I threw my strategy out the window and decided to ride pretty hard to see how long I could hang with the fast dudes. Soon after, a HUGE pack formed and I just sat off the back about 4 bike lengths back and kept them within reach until about 30 miles – I was starting to feel my legs were getting fatigued, as I was afraid they might since I hadn’t been riding as many long rides vs. doing some climbing. From mile 30 to about 40 something I rode legally with this one guy and we talked a bit and traded out the lead – and then another guy joined us and the three of us kept a nice even pace going. I had to pee at the start of the last loop – and on a downhill I took my opportunity. As I was coasting the two guys I was riding with passed me and so did a pack of about 30 guys! Another huge pack! Well, my legs were pretty tired at this point and I knew if I tried to stay with them I would be in trouble. From then on I rode to HR/watts and did my own thing. I completely messed up my bike plan as you can see from my wattage numbers:

1st Half: 227 watt average/238 Normalized Power/140 HR/22.2 mph/ Time of 1:15:31
2nd Half: 200 watt average/212 Normalized Power/140 HR/ 21.1 mph/Time of 1:1747

Total: 213 watt average/226 Normalized Power/140 HR/21.7 average/2:33 58

From the numbers, I was still pushing my HR up, but the watts were much lower. I was working just as hard, but going slower. Not a good sign going into the run. I was in trouble. Overall my pacing was good as I rode steady, but my execution was terrible. I’ll give myself a C+ on the bike.

I rolled into T2 solo – got off my bike and my back was pretty tight/stiff and I could barely hobble to my rack. Yep, more time in the aero position would have helped me too. ;-) The run course was 2 loops around the Tempe Lake/River – with a short out/back at mile 5 on some gravel, similar to the Boulder Peak race. I changed quickly and headed out, just going slow, keeping the cadence high, and the HR low. Both quads were cramping – and I used a Bobby McGee trick to get those to go away – it doesn’t involve stopping – just the power of the mind. It worked. I went through mile 1 at a very easy effort. I drank as much Gatorade as I could get down and kept moving. I let 3 or 4 guys drop me as I needed to stick to my run plan: 5 miles easy/5 miles Zone 3 effort/5k as fast as I can! My first mile was 7:23 – not bad considering I was shuffling. Mile 2 was 14:53 – a 7:30 mile. I took water at Mile 2, but that’s it. I was starting to feel better energy wise but still pretty stiff. I didn’t look at my watch at mile 3 or mile 4 but my mile 5 split was 37:06 – 7:25 pace. I skipped taking anything at mile 3 and at Mile 4 I took a small Gatorade. At mile 5 I decided it was time to start running – hard. If I blew up, so be it. I pushed hard through the half way point. My time was 47:15 for 6.55 miles or 7:13 a mile. I had just run about 6:30 pace between 5 and 6.55 – I was starting to feel better, finally. I passed by Melanie and her Mom and Mel told me I was close to the top 10 in my AG, so I pressed on. I was passing guys in my AG now and I was catching a lot of the bike drafters. That fired me up! As quickly as I felt good, I was starting to feel lousy again – right about mile 8. Ugh. I was running under 7:00 pace now, but mentally I was getting drained. I told myself to push to the 10 mile mark, and then see how it goes from there. (I can trick myself into ‘only’ running a few more miles, and then telling myself, “hey its only another 5k”). I pushed past 10 miles picking off some more people. I looked at my watch and I was 35:30, or 7:06 pace for the 2nd 5 miles. My legs were cramping badly, and all I wanted was to stop running. I knew the only way to do this was to run faster. I didn’t look at my watch from 10 miles on, but I knew I was moving pretty well – turns out my last 5k was 20:39, or 6:40 pace. My 2nd half split was 46:06 or 7:03 pace. I was pretty happy with my running execution. My run was 9th overall in the AG. I would give myself an A+ on race execution. I counted one guy in front of my in the race standings that ran a negative split, and I am pretty happy with that.

Run data:
1st 5 miles: 37:06/7:25 pace/147 avg HR
2nd 5 miles: 35:30/7:06 pace/154 avg HR
Last 5k: 20:39/6:40 pace/157 HR
(LT is 160 btw).

Turns out I finished in 4:42, a PR from 4:49 at Buff Springs this season. I moved up to 10th in my AG, and 50th overall. The same time last year would have had me 30th overall and 4th AG. People are getting faster every year. :0

Things I would do better/differently:
More aero bar riding in training.
Ride slower at the start.
More yoga/flexibility work

Next up for me is Las the Vegas Marathon coming up in 6 weeks. I also need to get to work on my swim and bike training. I hope to keep building on my improvement on the bike this season and into next. Cheers!

Thanks for reading!
Mike