Wow Jorge, what an amazing race report. I am sorry you had a bad race, but your fortitude and commitment are awe inspiring. I am glad to see that you elite athletes are still a little human!! HA!

I will always remember this report when I race.

When will you start doing the Walden swims this year?

I liked the run leg part of this report. It's always good to keep putting on foot in front of the other, even if we don't want to. I'm really glad you didn't bag the race; that says something really awesome about you.

Can't wait to see how you approach the next one...

From your report, I can see some negatives and positives. 

-ve:  you raced in bad weather conditions
you had not enough rest after the FL 1/2
you made mistakes
it was a bad day in general

+ve:  even with your "poor" performance, you were still at the top of your AG 
You got over the cramps and ran with negative splits
You didn't quit
You didn't have the urge to go to the bathroom during your run   

Great job, Jorge! 

Jorge...it was nice to meet you this weekend!

Sorry you had a bad race. ..definitely a learning experience for you.   You are still incredibly fast in those tough conditions!!

 Those are good tips about your arms leading you, and also not drinking toward the end of the run...thanks.

I know you are disappointed with the race Jorge.  But I also KNOW that you will come back and get it done another day.  The reason I know this is becazuse of this attitude:

“if I quit now, it will become easier to quit in the future” is that what I want?

Obviously, your answer was a resounding NO!!!  You could easily have packed it in when you realized things were not going as you had planned, but instead you refocused and turned in a pretty very impressive run.  The results say you were 8min or 12 places away from your goal.  But you are closer than you think.

I think you still had a fantastic race and you certainly are one of my inspirations.  Every time in my own 1/2 marathon when I thought about walking, I said to myself "Jorge would never walk here...he would just keep running" so that's what I did.  It was a tough day for racing, with the cold temperature and the rain, and lots of us do better in the warmer weather.  At least you learn things about your body and what you can do under bad conditions.  The goal is still not to give up and when things are going bad, you readjust and make the best of it.

Thanks for hanging around on Sunday too.  Seeing you cheering me on at the end of the first bike loop and at the start of the run made me feel a lot better.  You're a great motivator for everyone here and it's a pleasure to watch you race!

Thanks, Jorge!  You are an inspiration to us all.  Too many athletes at your level, having a bad day would do exactly what you were tempted to do, that is throw in the towel.  Your determination in finishing the race, learning from it, and being willing to share your downfalls with those of us here in BT land speaks volumes about you!  And those volumes are filled with greatness.

You're story reminded me of a poem called "The Race" -- which I could recite but I'll spare you that, but the last line of the poem goes something like this

"Lifes battles don't always go to the stronger or faster man, but sooner or late the man who wins, is the man who thinks he can!" 

My observation, you think you can, and you do!   Great job.  Your next race will be better, I can guarantee it!

Way to persevere through tough conditions! And one heck of a blazing run! That would be the run of a lifetime for most of us mere mortals.  I'm sure the toughest part was the mental challenge to turn things around on the run. Once the idea of quitting creeps into your head, it's hard to shake it--but you did, and with style.

I'd just chalk this up to a very good learning experience. I'm sure your pro card is just around the corner.

Congrats!

Thank you everyone for the awesome responses! It is hard to remain upset, pessimistic or down with the fantastic support
I am back to normal and training with just one thing in my mind: to improve, get better and faster! I am yet to redefine my season goals but I think I’ll focus a bit more on the 70.3 Championship while I continue to develop speed for the Oly distance/pro card.

On a side note after analyzing thoroughly my bike leg I think I now what was the biggest factors affecting my speed and causing the “death legs” feeling: since I race with a power tap I bought a plastic disc cover for my back wheel and aero Hed wheel in front for races. (I used this combo at FL) the problem is that the disc if not fitted correct on the rim it rubs it with the chain on my smallest gear (39/23) For FL this wasn’t a problem cause the course was a pretty flat but for Mooseman which is a hilly course it affected as I didn’t have my easiest gear for climbing.

On top of that before I drove to the race I took my wheels off to place my bike in the car as it was raining and I didn’t want to rack my back on the trunk. BUT (another important here for you guys to remember) since I did it on a hurry I didn’t shift the gearing all the way to the biggest gear on the back (11). Why is this important? Well if you don’t do this when you place your back wheel on again you might risk to be placing the chain in the wrong gear (which I did) and since you have your bike tune to shift in a particular range previously set this can affect your gearing. For me THAT happened and it was my 2nd mistake! 

Having the 39/23 combo useless my next smallest gear combination for climbing was 39/21 but due to my 2nd mistake the chain wasn’t engaging and it was jumping so I lost my 2 easiest gear for climbing. Adding to that the fact I had no cadence, speed and power since the power tap wasn’t working I pretty much hammered every hill climbing out of the saddle at low cadence (which I NEVER do) while trying to push hard enough to avg 23 mph, and that ended up toasting my legs within 10-15 miles of the ride. THAT’S WHY I felt my legs so bad. Of course I still was carrying fatigue over from FL but not that much to feel my legs the way… Oh well good stuff for learning!

ditto isis54.   Thank you jorge for the tips and concise race report.

 The weather also was a large factor in many racers day, so give yourself a little break.