Things went good and not as good...
First the DL Sprint:
I honestly expected to place around 15th in this race. There were a lot of good athletes there and I wasn't at my best. My swim was at about 90%, my bike and run were about 80%, still I did better than I expected.
I swam conservative at first which was probably a good decision. I stayed out of trouble and picked it up after the first turn where I passed about 25 people and came out of the water about 2 min down from the leaders but only about 10 sec behind a decent group of riders.
When I got on the bike I quickly caught a group of 5 riders and stayed with them, the group swelled to about 20 riders between the previous wave, then later waves. I was one of 6 riders doing the work but needed to go hard enough to keep faster runners behind me so I never went into the red zone.
I got off the bike in fairly good condition but was only able to run a 23' 5K because of the heat (90°F and 80% Humidity) and my poor run conditioning. Because of that I managed to finish 11th in my AG and was just out of the qualifying position.
By some stroke of luck either someone got a DQ in front of me or a previous qualification (there were 2 people in front of me that already qualified for Cozumel) I was given a slot to ITU Worlds in Cozumel Mexico.
What I need to do to better my performance:
The fastest swimmers came out of the water in about 11 minutes and I came out in 13:25. Realistically I think I can get under 12 minutes but 11 will be a stretch. If I came out of the water at 12 minutes I could catch the guys just in front of me by my transition speed and biking ability but probably only about 15-20 seconds. I feel with a good focus on swimming I will be able to swim a 750 meter open water swim near 12 minutes and get into a good group of riders.
The fastest runners in my AG run near 18 for the day. That is much quicker than I have ever gone and feel that is out of my reach even on a cooler day. However I do feel that running under 20 minutes is achievable. It will take a lot of running this winter and a good focus during the summer to achieve this but I feel it's within my reach.
Challenge Florida was a bust:
The swim went well and statistically I do well in no-wetsuit swims. However it was very hot again (same as above) and I wasn't in the best running shape. I tried to go really easy on the bike and I probably went too easy. I had a goal of keeping my HR down near 130 and that was just too low, my power was closer to 150 watts and I should have just rode nearer 160-165 to come in about 10 minutes faster.
The run was just a death march. Hot on the way out, turn along the canal was just baking hot with no wind, turn around into a slight breeze then turn back to the transition area where there was no wind again. Turned around and did the course again but a little slower. A 1:58 is all I could manage but with my less than optimal running condition I was happy with it.
Lesson learned: 6 weeks is not enough time between two HIM's to do well at both, especially when the first on was Long Course Nationals and I went in unprepared for that one as well. I think that if the first one was built up to and the second one was race prepped I could have done better. This was not the case as Caseville (earlier in the season) was the build up and LCN was the race prepped one.
Also, 4 HIM's in one season is too many bigger races for me. Next season will have to big races and one bigger race to build up to mid season.
First the DL Sprint:
I honestly expected to place around 15th in this race. There were a lot of good athletes there and I wasn't at my best. My swim was at about 90%, my bike and run were about 80%, still I did better than I expected.
I swam conservative at first which was probably a good decision. I stayed out of trouble and picked it up after the first turn where I passed about 25 people and came out of the water about 2 min down from the leaders but only about 10 sec behind a decent group of riders.
When I got on the bike I quickly caught a group of 5 riders and stayed with them, the group swelled to about 20 riders between the previous wave, then later waves. I was one of 6 riders doing the work but needed to go hard enough to keep faster runners behind me so I never went into the red zone.
I got off the bike in fairly good condition but was only able to run a 23' 5K because of the heat (90°F and 80% Humidity) and my poor run conditioning. Because of that I managed to finish 11th in my AG and was just out of the qualifying position.
By some stroke of luck either someone got a DQ in front of me or a previous qualification (there were 2 people in front of me that already qualified for Cozumel) I was given a slot to ITU Worlds in Cozumel Mexico.
What I need to do to better my performance:
The fastest swimmers came out of the water in about 11 minutes and I came out in 13:25. Realistically I think I can get under 12 minutes but 11 will be a stretch. If I came out of the water at 12 minutes I could catch the guys just in front of me by my transition speed and biking ability but probably only about 15-20 seconds. I feel with a good focus on swimming I will be able to swim a 750 meter open water swim near 12 minutes and get into a good group of riders.
The fastest runners in my AG run near 18 for the day. That is much quicker than I have ever gone and feel that is out of my reach even on a cooler day. However I do feel that running under 20 minutes is achievable. It will take a lot of running this winter and a good focus during the summer to achieve this but I feel it's within my reach.
Challenge Florida was a bust:
The swim went well and statistically I do well in no-wetsuit swims. However it was very hot again (same as above) and I wasn't in the best running shape. I tried to go really easy on the bike and I probably went too easy. I had a goal of keeping my HR down near 130 and that was just too low, my power was closer to 150 watts and I should have just rode nearer 160-165 to come in about 10 minutes faster.
The run was just a death march. Hot on the way out, turn along the canal was just baking hot with no wind, turn around into a slight breeze then turn back to the transition area where there was no wind again. Turned around and did the course again but a little slower. A 1:58 is all I could manage but with my less than optimal running condition I was happy with it.
Lesson learned: 6 weeks is not enough time between two HIM's to do well at both, especially when the first on was Long Course Nationals and I went in unprepared for that one as well. I think that if the first one was built up to and the second one was race prepped I could have done better. This was not the case as Caseville (earlier in the season) was the build up and LCN was the race prepped one.
Also, 4 HIM's in one season is too many bigger races for me. Next season will have to big races and one bigger race to build up to mid season.
