Racing and Training
update for Rev 3 Knoxville & Terre Haute Triathlon.
Hey guys,
It has been a bit since I updated this; been pretty busy
training, traveling, and racing. Anyway, I raced Rev 3 Olympic in Knoxville, TN
a few weeks ago on May 6. It was the first big race of the season for me but
only the 2nd race of the year. I was a little unsure of where my
fitness would be heading into the race but was prepared to give it everything I
had.
Training has been going really well for me all year. I have
only missed 3 workouts since December, two swims and a strength training
session. The swims were because pools were closed! That being said, my training has been focused on building a
super solid base and gradually add intensity without building too fast, to
avoid injury.
It has been working well so far in terms of feeling really
strong and having a great endurance base. I’ve improved swim, bike, and run
times with very little intensity. The down side, and what I feared would happen
at Rev3, is my speed just isn’t there yet; but for good reason. That being said,
I still expected to have a good race, unfortunately it didn’t pan out that way.
My swim has come a long way and was really the only big positive on the day. I
cut over 3 minutes of my swim time from last year at this race. But my bike,
and run times ended up being a little slower than last year.
My overall time was way off what I know it can be this year
for an Olympic distance race, but this race also featured a very hilly bike and
run course as well as a the longest transition runs to T1 and into T2. On the
flip side, I learned a little more about myself, and what I need to work on as
far as pacing, nutrition, and mental state while racing. These are all very
important aspects of racing, and probably the most important aspects for
learning to race fast on race day. Once the training has been put in, you still
need to master these aspects or your performances can still be poor.
After the race I took 2 days pretty easy but then starting
hitting the training hard again. Volume and intensity are starting to pick up
with Muncie 70.3 only a month and a half away. I put in a very tough week and
half and then decided to enter the Terre Haute Triathlon (800m Swim, 40k Bike,
8k Run). This is a unique race only an hour and a half away and sounded like a
fun way to end a big build week.
I wasn’t sure how my race would go with the accumulated
fatigue during the week, but just told myself to go out and have lots of fun- smile
a lot, and push myself just like I do in training. Don’t put any added pressure
on myself to do well like I tend to do in big races.
I ended up have a very solid race overall, and was pleased
with my effort. With the race featuring a short swim of only 800 meters I knew
it was going to be super fast. I also knew many of the guys racing, many of which
have a high school swimming background. My goal was to go out hard and see if I
could hang on for as long as possible. Well it didn’t last too long! The front
pack of guys took off and didn’t slow down. I tried to keep the pace hard
without completely blowing up. I ended up swimming a very strong pace (1:20 per
100 meters) but still came out of the water over 2 minutes down to the leaders.
Those dudes are like fish!
One reason for my improved swim performance this year is I
upgraded my wetsuit to the Full Sleeve Marlin from my sponsor, Profile Design.
It is super fast, light and comes off very easy with its reverse zipper design.
Next came a quick transition and out on the 40k out and back
course. The course had some decent rolling hills at the beginning and middle of
the ride but also some good stretches of mostly flat. We had a pretty solid
head wind going out, so I made sure to pace myself accordingly. This is definitely
a part of the race that I need to dial in. It is really easy to go out too hard
on the bike and then limp your way home and have a poor run. But, like
Knoxville, I didn’t want to ride too easy in fear of having a poor run, and end
up having a slow bike time.
Anyway, I let a few guys go ahead of me on the way out and
told myself I was going to ride hard on the way back and bring them back. I
ended up having a pretty good ride (24 mph avg) even though I could feel the
fatigue in my legs from the big week. Even with that being said, I rode hard,
brought quite a few guys back before the end of the ride.
Probably the best part of the ride was seeing my parents and
loving wife out on the bike course. My crazing-driving dad drove on some tiny
country back roads and found his way to a couple points on the open bike
course. It was definitely a boost to see them out there. They even made it back
to cheer me on the run.
I was off the bike and through T2 with the second fastest
transition on the day and second fastest combined transition times. On the 8k run
course I just tried to get my feet going and see if I could pick a few guys
off. I knew I was still pretty far down from the lead guys but just wanted to
run hard. For this race I decided to race all on feel; this is usually how I
have raced in the past, but for Knoxville I tried racing mainly off of heart
rate like I train. It seemed to work well; I know my own body very well and I
seem to have less distraction if I just focus on running. My run time was ok
(6:30 pace) but I know once I really start adding in the speed work it will
come around.
A lot of people ask me why I don’t just do more speed work;
the main reason is I have very long term goals. I’m not trying to be fast right
now, or for one race. I don’t want my fitness to peak in the first 2 months of
the race season when I have priority races in July and into late August. I’m
confident my fitness will continue to come around and if I stay injury free,
the possibilities are endless.
I think this is reinforced by my performance this past
weekend at Terre Haute. I was faster in all 3 sports, more confident, and had
more fun. All this coming only 2 weeks after Knoxville and coming off hard
training.
Thanks be to God, for he is always good, and has a perfect
plan. Thanks to the most supportive family anyone could ask for. And thanks for
all my sponsor and partners that help every step of the way.
Next up will be some more big build weeks of training as I
gear up for Muncie 70.3 in July, but I will tackle the super fun, local sprint
here in lake Monroe. http://www.hoosiermantri.com/
I hope to see you out there. Be sure to check out the
training article on the site written by yours truly. =)
Dream Big!