USAT 1/2 IM Nationals

Race report of USAT Halfmax Nationals.
This was a TOUGH course!
2900 ft climbing on the bike
1150 ft climbing on the run
Very competitive with all the qualifiers in one race. Always battling those around you. Difference in this race from other USAT's I've done, every person is fighting for just one position. Constanly holding off those trying to overtake me, while trying to overtake as many as I could. Almost "balls to the wall" the entire way, except for a couple distractions I had on the bike. My legs, quads and hams, as well as my low back are killing me. Very few times have I run very hard down hill like today. It just shredded my legs.

Very happy with my PR swim of 26:01. They added the 150 meter uphill run, about nearly 2 minutes, to the overall swim time. Doesnt bother me, but I know what my watch read as I crossed the mat out of the water. Last year the T1 was directly out of the water, so this year, moving it back to the road added a minute or 2 on everyone's time. Regardless, this swim was fast...the water flat like glass. Got 2 solid 5+ minute drafts too, which helped.

I was pretty happy thurs and friday as the wind was out of the west and the only relatively flat part of the race was a 6 mile stretch heading west to east. Well, a cold front moved in last night and the wind of course changed, east to west. Of course we had a head wind on this only flat stretch. This bike course is also quite technical, not only the 4 turn arounds. But, about 12 miles through Innsbrooke resort. Many speed bumps...and speed bumps at the bottom of downhills. Sucks to have to brake leading into a 10 inch high speed bump on a steep down hill, but, like everything...all athletes are at the same disadvantage.

Let me say though...I will take the temp drop as a positive. The cold front knocked down the temp to 70 degrees for the run. Its been in the low 90's and humid all week, and the cold front made for a very nice run. Even though the run was constantly...no exaggeration...constantly either up or down with 4 noticable 12% inclines for about 600 meters each, the cool temps resulted in minimal fluid losses and I was able to hold zone 4 for 10 miles. A guy stalked me from mile 2 and every one of the 6 or so turn arounds...he closed. Started 90 seconds behind me, and at mile 11 was 10 seconds back. Man I hate being stalked!
I (wisely) held my HR though. Not 1 beat over zone 5 until mile 10. This resulted in a couple of 8 min miles but I was happy this strategy worked. Mile 12 was 6:10.
I checked my back on a 90 degree turn at mile 12 and this guy was about 5 seconds behind me! It was easy to keep track because there werent many runners...we were both in the top 15 overall at this point.
I took my HR to high zone 5, 160-162, and posted a 6:16 final 3.1 mile and put my lead on him back to 20 seconds by the finish. This is the first race I've run where the next person behind me gave me a bear hug at the finish. He thanked me for making him work....and gaining his PR of about a 1:23 for his 1/2 split. He of course was around 32. I had him pegged for a 40 year old when I first saw him which is why I focused on him so much. He and I caught about 5-6 other runners in the final 10k during our self proclaimed "battle", ingnoring everyone around us. His goal was to catch me..I sensed this because he stared me down at the first turn around. My goal was to hold him off because I could see this guy was a fantastic runner.

Could I have run a better race? Yes, but not much. I had to stop to tie my shoe at mile 2 on the run. Had a slight problem getting out of my shoes at the end of the bike. I could have pushed the bike a wee bit harder. My crank/BB began making a loud "grinding" noise about mile 40. This really bugged me and I spend the majority of the next 3-4 miles trying to figure out what was going on. I realized it was distracting me and the 3 guys I was catching were now out of sight. I got my head back into the game and realized, screw it! If my crank goes, race over. So, I kicked up my power and by mile 54 came within sight of the 3 guys leading me the entire second lap. I caught all 3 on the final 2 minute climb going into transition. 2 of the 3 were in my age group.

Time 4:24.19
Overall Place, 14 (including a few pros in the field)
M40-44 Place, 2nd (13 overall was in my age group damit!)
Top 3 gain a spot on Team USA for 1/2 IM worlds, Netherlands 2008. Since both of us qualified...hmmm, we may go.

Very happy considering this course was over 4000 ft of total climbing and far from easy.
My new training is paying off. Holding an average power of over 300 in a 1/2 IM is a PR for me.
Of course, 4:24 is a 4 minute PR over my Florida PR in May 2008.

Never satisfied.
The winner of my age group, exactly 1 minute in front of me. Could I have caught him? Not on the run. However, I was slightly disapointed that his transitions were 30 seconds faster and I could have pushed just a little harder on the bike without sacrificing my run. The period where I was worried about my crank, and dropped my speed for 10 minutes or so likely cost me the win. No excuses...but...these highly competitive races, you have GOT to push if you want to win the age group or place high overall. You cant be falling asleep or be worried about a potential mechanical problem you can do nothing about. You just have to push hard, and keep pushing. I really felt like I could have biked about 2 minutes faster on the bike. Had I seen the AG winner in front of me in the latter part of the run, that would have given me a good shot. However, I didnt have real visual contact on catching him in that final 5K. I saw him with a group at the 10K turnaound and remember them being about 2 minutes ahead of me. That's an aweful lot of time to make up with all these high competitors. In perspective, my time today would have placed me 2nd last year also. The third place in my AG today? I believe was 14 minutes back.

Ann? What a MONSTER!
4:48, a 6 minute PR. 4th OVERALL female and FIRST in her W35-39 age group. She continues to be undefeated in her age group in every single race she has done in 2008ranging from Olympic to Ironman distances. Her 1:35 run on this course, on these hills....is unbelievable. She simply just hammered. She has the intensity in her eyes when I see her on the course that is flat out intimidating. Considering the girls ahead of her are closer to age 30...and Ann will be 37 in 3 weeks...it puts it in perspective. No doubt that increasing her lactate threshold on the bike since Roth IM in June has made significant difference in her ability to handle higher intensity, and get off and still run. 1:35 on this course? Unreal....this girl ROCKS!