Perfect Race

I wouldn't define "perfect" as "executed exactly as planned". There are too many variables in a long race day, so I have to say "executed perfectly" has to include responding to changes perfectly.  For example, during the IMAZ 2008 the run was super hot, but I doggedly stuck with my hydration plan too long.  Eventually I figured out I sticking to the plan was nuts, and I fixed it.  So the error there was sticking to the planned.

I've had many marathons or half marathons where things went was just about perfect, but I wouldn't say any HIM or IM.

But like you, I've gotten better at it, and racing more often the last two years has really helped.

Once.  As perfect as I could get from the uncontrollable factors such as the weather (FL 1st cold front of the year 2 days beforehand) and others around me in the swim (only one issue), to the controllable such as hitting all the training plan goals and the planned race efforts.  Result was 1st place AG.

I do some of the same 5Ks and half marathons each year, but I do a lot of destination races.  Most of the time I've never even seen the course before, and I usually don't drive it.

I've done IMAZ four times, but 3 of them were in '06, '07, and '08 then they moved it to November.  I did IM Canada twice, but the weather was quite different.  I did IM Los Cabos and IM Cozumel when it was their very first year, so nobody knew what to expect.  I did IM Coeur d'Alene and IM Lake Placid once each, and never saw the bike course before I raced it.  I did IM 70.3 Boise twice, but they changed the bike course in between.  I did IM Boulder two years ago, hard to train for 6000' altitude here in the Puget Sound.  I hadn't seen the bike course but I had run the run course along Boulder Creek many times before.

A couple weeks ago I did IM 70.3 Hawaii; I biked 20 miles of the bike course but the run course was the golf course and instant DQ if we tried to run it. I did get to swim in the a half mile of the buoy line in the ocean the day before the race, that was super helpful because it was my first ocean swim in 4 years.

So for me, most race plans are about wattage on the bike, pacing on the run, nutrition and hydration, and after that go with the flow.

I kind of laugh when people emphasize over and over "nothing new on race day".  Well, no new equipment is a good idea, but after that pretty much everything else is usually new to me.  New hill, new weather, new water, new course.

I've had a couple.  My first marathon I had a sub 4 hour goal which was a stretch given I did my first half marathon 4 weeks prior in 1:55.  Managed 3:58:32 with a 1:59:35 first half split.  So a very slight negative split and the most brutal agony the last 10k hanging on for dear life.  At no point, until maybe the last mile did I think I had it in the bag.  If anything, with 10k to go I thought for sure it would slip away.

Other than that, maybe a few time trials where I was able to hit my wattage goals as well as my time goals.  Usually, the shorter the race, and the less variables in play, the more realistic it is to have a race where you not only execute properly, but hit your goals.  

I've had other races where maybe I didn't hit my time goal, or wattage goal for a bike time trial or uphill road race (which essentially becomes a TT), but I know that I executed to the best of my ability that day given how I felt and the weather conditions.

Yeah, pretty much.  I've done these courses enough times where I generally know what wattage will translate to what time so long as I stay down on the bars.  I have had an instance where I did put out 5 more watts than a previous year and gone 22 seconds slower, but I knew ahead of time that the wind was stronger and the road surface had deteriorated in some sections so my expectations of time were lower going in assuming I did the same watts.

I think there is a difference between leaving time on the table and having realistic expectations of what time you can put up for your maximum effort on a given day.  If a perfect race means that you have to achieve your fastest possible time, even if conditions don't allow for it, then I suppose you could say that when you toe the line at any given race, probably half of them, or maybe more than half have absolutely no shot of being a perfect race.

If on the other hand you say you hit your goal wattages, but you left time on the table because you did something stupid like forget to zip up your skin suit (don't ask me why I would use such an example), then yes, I suppose it's possible to nail your race effort and pacing wise, but still leave time on the table and not be a perfect race.

If not perfect, my race at Savageman in 2011 was very close to it.  I drafted and paced very well on the swim to achieve a HIM swim PR, had some of the fastest transitions of the field, selected the right clothing for the bike and run on a day that started with temps in the 60's and rose into the 70's by the end of the race, paced the bike perfectly to allow a solid run where the last 3 miles felt like heII on earth.  It was the slowest time I've ever had in a HIM, but I feel it's the best execution I've ever achieved.

Originally posted by mike761

Originally posted by Goggles Pizzano Have you had a perfect race ?

When I beat you last summer by 20 seconds, wearing my daughter pink/purple paisley helmet, flat peddles and old sneakers because I left half my gear at home Other than leaving my gear at home, I executed that race pretty good.

It was 8 seconds.  By next year you'll be saying an hour.  Everyone knows a pink/purple paisley helmet is the most aero helmet so I do think this was you perfect race.  You planned it that way. 

Man up and wear something by Betty designs this year.