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 Swim
Comments: Intended to seed myself in the 40-42 minute wave, based on my time in St.George in May and lack of good swim training, but wound up on the wrong side of the rope in the 38-40 group. Then put in a reasonably strong swim, deciding to push fairly hard since the run was in question and I needed all the help I could get from the swim and bike. I usually swim breathing every stroke, but decided to push some portions at every other breath, which I think sped things up. What would you do differently?: Navigate a little better on the last inbound leg - I was aiming for the finish arch the whole time and probably would have done better sighting off the buoys and sticking closer to them. Otherwise, exceeded expectations.  Transition 1
Comments: Maybe a bit better than usual for a T1 for me, but nothing to be proud of. What would you do differently?: Consider body glide on ankles and wrists.  Bike
Comments: My best ride in a race to date - felt strong the whole way, never really took a break, stayed in aero as much as possible. I really enjoyed this ride, the weather was perfect (Garmin recorded between 63 and 79deg), very little wind, and the air was crystal clear - just a beautiful morning for a bike race. Probably pushed beyond my training level a bit (172W avg, NP 189), but again was uncertain about the run and felt good, so I decided to see how much of a bike PR I could set for a HIM, turned out the answer was about 8 minutes. What would you do differently?: Need to corner faster, part of my plan to get more courage on the bike this summer. Still lots more work to do. Transition 2
Comments: Nothing special. What would you do differently?: Decided to roll my socks to put them on faster, but couldn't figure out which way was up, so had to unroll them anyway. Maybe next time.  Run
Comments: Rather than let me off the hook by acting up and preventing me from finishing, my left knee held up fine and thus I had no good reason to put this run out of its misery early. My worst run in a race to date - when trained, I should be able to run about 9:30's in mid-zone 2 at altitude, here I ran 11:30's in mid-zone 2. The lesson, as always - training matters, and I didn't have much in the month leading up to this race. I did follow my plan to stay in zone 2 rather than blow up by going higher, knowing that I probably had no business trying a half marathon on this day. What would you do differently?: Avoid injury, mainly, but I have a rule that I'll always run the last two miles of a race , no matter what, which I didn't do here - disappointed with that. Post race
Warm down: Was quite beat after the race, so settled down with my family, and then got some food, which was really good. Then gathered my stuff and headed home, stopping at the gym for a soak in the hot tub after a long day. I was more tired and sore the day after this race than any previous HIM I've done. What limited your ability to perform faster: Lack of training, especially on the run - that, and being a slow runner to begin with. Event comments: As for the race, the volunteers were fantastic, and the race execution and organization was top notch. As for me, not what I intended when I signed up for the race months ago, but I did manage to hit both my goals, although barely on the HIM PR, but solid on the bike PR. So I'm satisfied if not overjoyed, and glad that I made it through to the finish line despite the challenges getting there. Now for six weeks of solid training in an attempt to have a strong day at Savageman. Last updated: 2012-11-17 12:00 AM
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United States
World Triathlon Corporation
80F / 27C
Sunny
Overall Rank = 724/1580
Age Group = M45-49
Age Group Rank = 82/135
So when I signed up for this race, the goal was to set a solid PR at the HIM distance, along with a solid bike PR at the HIM distance. Neither of these should have been a problem, until my left knee developed minor issues while on vacation a month before the race, and then serious issues as I continued to run on it 10 miles a week. Two weeks before the race I could barely walk back to the car during a hike, so I decided to shut running down and take four Aleve everyday for two weeks, which had cured a similar issue in the past. On the Friday before the race, I went for a 4 mile run and felt OK, so I figured I'd give the race a shot, and drop out somewhere along the way if my knee couldn't make it through. But a relatively mediocre training buildup to begin with had turned to seriously undertrained on the run, and moderately undertrained on the bike and swim, so both my original goals were in question as I headed up to Boulder.
Drove up the Saturday before and checked in quickly, before the big storm hit, then stayed at a hotel 15 minutes away. Race morning got to the reservoir around 5:30, had a simple breakfast of Pop Tarts and Gatorade. No issues setting up transition, then hung around the start on a beautiful morning.