Double Fun

This past weekend was double fun for Ann and I. We raced locally at Blue Lake, the sprint triathlon on Saturday, followed by an Olympic distance on Sunday. Pro male at the sprint and both pro male and female at Olympic...I guess they needed a workout, as this race is pretty local and no prize money.

Goal for me was to win the Masters division (40 and over) in both events to gain points in the masters division for the Tri-Northwest point system. Goal for Ann was to win the Sprint overall and place high in the olympic. Knowing a couple of female pros would be there on Sunday, very unlikely Ann would place at the top spot. For myself, a pro showed up also on Saturday...for a sprint? Regardless, I was never a pro runner, but when I was elite amateur, I would get in the big races often to compete with pro's and didnt usually jump into small 5k's and such, to whip on the local age groupers. Regardless, its enjoyable to compete in such a short distance with athletes under the age 30.

Sprint: 1:07.43
Swim 12:46
Bike 30:03 (Watts 329 ave, normal 332, rpm 74, Torque 378)
Run 20:24
T1 = 2:38, T2 = 1:52
Overall 4th and top master.

Olympic: 2:04.02 (Personal best)
Swim 22:56 (faster pace than the sprint)
Bike 58:36 (Watts 324, normal 327, rpm 79, Torque 349) (faster pace than the sprint)
Run 39:12 (faster pace than the sprint)
T1 = 2:02, T2= 1:15
Overall 5th and top master

Ann set personal bests in both the sprint and olympic and followed her win Saturday with a 4th overall Sunday and an age group win.

How can we race one day, and the next day double the distance and race even faster? Notice my transitions were even faster...I just simply took the olympic race more seriously mentally. I have to admit, my legs did feel ok on the run but I had a bit of trouble getting my HR into zone 5 on the sprint.
Now, if you cant get your HR into your zone 5 in a race or interval AND youre running slower pace than typical for that HR (like my 5k pace in the sprint), then youre a bit tired or flat. IF however, you cant get your HR up into your normal zone 5, but you are actually running faster than typical for that interval set or race, then you have gained fitness. These concepts can be tricky, and can vary, but that's a general rule. Had I not been able to run faster in the 10k at the oly the next day, I would have been a bit concerned that I was over-training in my Z5 work over the past 2 weeks. But, I had a good feeling I would both bike and run faster in the olympic the next day.

Racing Strategy

Another component is racing stress. I simply raced faster on Sunday because I had direct challenges I that weren't presented to me on Saturday.
I was passed very agressively by a male master, age 40, with 6 miles to go on the bike. I was in about 7th place overall at the time and I realized this guy just took the lead from me in the masters. I attempted to catch him briefly but my watts spiked up from mid 320's to 350 and I knew I could not maintain at that pace. So, I backed off to my racing watts and ever so lightly let up a bit. I kept him in site but decided to not challenge him and stay 30 seconds or so back. This was a tactical move by me. If I stayed back, I was betting the guy would not push as hard, thinking that he dropped me and that if I had the energy I would have caught him. So, he did let up as I thought, because he stayed about 30 seconds ahead of me for the next 5 miles and my watts were settled back down to mid 320's again, and I felt a bit of comfort. I was also gambling I would catch him on the run.

The run.
I caught the leading master at mile 1, right as we both crossed the marker. I settled down pace and ran with him for a few minutes then surged. He countered but didnt pass me. I waited another minute to bring my breathing down to a controlled level, then surged again. He countered again and caught me and stayed about 1/2 step behind me. I realized at this point he was either an unexperienced runner or just plain tired. If he was confident in his run, and felt race ready, he would have (or should have) surged past me and attempted to control the pace. Instead, he let me control the pace. We continued this surging 3-4 more times to the 3 mile mark and in the process made significant ground on the 6th place overall, Dave Campbell. Right about this time we started discussing Ironman times, and this guy probably shouldnt have inquired because when I told him I had run 9:33 and 9:11 in the past 6 months, I think I gained a significant psychological advantage, esp as his PR was around 9:50. Never, ever discuss past racing or personal bests with someone you are directly competing with in a race. You may not hear what you want to hear and it can have a negative impact on you if you realize the person you're competing against is faster. We passed Dave and I gave him some words of encouragement but he was hurting. I was fortunate because Dave has the ability to whip my ass at a moments notice...as he did 2 weeks ago at the sprint in Corvallis, putting 90 seconds on me in the sprint. He is a top amateur and I respect him alot. I finished ahead of him at CDA I remember, by about 10 minutes, 2005, and he then put 20 minutes on me at Kona that same year. When he is in a race, I know its going to be tough. I am never out to "beat" Dave, and I am only out there to race my best race. Start picking specific personal battles and you'll lose respect, as well as friends.
So, my final surge at the turn around 5k put an end to my master counterpart and he quickly faded. I had a goal to catch Dave Campbell in addition because I knew it would help my race. I was banking that the master running with me would decide I was too strong and as I surged past Dave, my competitor would decide to stay with Dave and race him instead of me. This is what happened briefly until Dave dropped him. So, I was now out alone and through this racing to mile 3, we had also come within 30 seconds of Aleck, a teammate ironhead. I was pretty happy where I was in the race and knew I was going to win the masters. After about 800 though I decided to push a bit to catch Aleck, and we ran together for awhile, to about the 5.5 mile mark. Aleck is tough and I threw in 2 surges at which he countered. My final surge at the 6 mile mark to the finish was enough to gain a few seconds on Aleck. I was thinking it would be cool to come in together but I dont know if Aleck would have liked that. We're good friends and training partners and I think Aleck would want me to give it my all and challenge him fully when going head to head. I was fortunate this time but Aleck will realize that it very well likely will be him next time who puts the final surge on me and gains those few seconds. That's how it is in races and this is why I genuinely love being an ironhead. Some of our strongest at this distance werent even racing this weekend, but a healthy competitive spirit and positive leadership can lift everyone up to a higher level. There are at least 5 or more men on our team that can out-race each other on any given day at any given distance and its healthy to have this level of amateur talent on the same team.

How the hell can I still be setting personal bests after 5 years and turning 43 this year....it's gotta slow down here soon, I'm not getting any younger.

So, Jason Lester is here in town (see last blog writing) and we swam together yesterday. While swimming, a team of about 25 came into the pool. The coach was nice enough to allow Jason and I to finish our 10x200 set and cooldown. When I asked the coach if we could stay in the pool, he looked over at Jason, in the midst of a 200 and said, "what the hell is that guy doing?" I told the coach Jasons situation with his use of only one arm and thus has to swim single arm...AND was keeping up with me. I quickly told the coach Jasons plans this summer of Ultraman Canada, Ironman Hawaii, then Ultraman Hawaii. The coach shook his head and said, "thats incredible".
So, I jumped back in the water and resumed swimming with Jason. On the next set, we looked over and all 25 kids were doing single arm. I looked up at the coach and he gave a nod, and at the same time Jason said, "look at all those kids doing single arm!". We quickly had to start our next 200 but I had to smile as I pushed off the wall. Jason is an inspiration, and that influences people, changes your perspective on what you think may be difficult. It will be put even more into perspective for me on what a true challenge is, in a few weeks, when Jason will be swimming 5x2000 on his 10k swims, single arm.

Check out the link: http://youtube.com/watch?v=vMCnjMbUOFg

-ciav