Emmetts Triathlon

Emmetts "most excellent" triathlon

2:02.07 (PR)
4th OA,
1st M40
Swim 22:11 (PR for Oly)
Bike 58:10 (PR) , 329 Watts (PR Watts for Oly), 80 rpm HR 130 ave (Z3), 159 max (Top Z5c)
Run 39:21 (yikes), ave HR 154 (mid Zone 5), max 162(top Z5c)

Emmett Idaho, yeah, 6 days after my Troika HIM race. I thought it would be a good idea if Ann and I knocked off our third and final TriNW Olympic race to end my olympic racing season a couple of weeks before ITU world long course champs. Coming off 3 contiguous days off M-W due to my quad strain at Troika. Thursdays bike, run and swim was ok as far as the quad goes. Tightness only occurred on the run (2.5 miles) and the bike was easy but no issues.

This is a pretty good race, but be ready for over 1/2 of the bike course on chipseal. The bike is rolling with 2 climbs requiring the 39 front chainring for a minute or so but not too bad. Not the fastest course I've run but it is still fairly fast.

It has to be fast...I again set a PR in the olympic distance with my 2:02.07 today, more than a 2 minute PR over my 2:04 at blue lake this past June. While the course is definately faster than blue lake, and a usat national olympic qualifier, its not the course that set my PR...it was me.
My fitness now is a giant step above that in June, but only need to maintain this and not try to push too hard, or go for too much. Sustainability is the key to get me to Kona strong and ready, and I'm not certain I can do this, but we'll see. I dont feel over trained, that's for sure.


2 male pro's showed up as well as a female pro. The top male pro, I think Kevin Everett, broke the course record with a 1:52, and is a legit fast pro. Scott Young the 40 yr old pro from Reno, who's won this race twice before also showed. Scott is the guy I finished ahead of at Pac Crest, but this guy can run, and the oly I think is his key distance.

Swim was average for me, 22 and change, about what I swim on a pretty good day. It was a PR by about 20 seconds though. My T1 was horrid as I lost about 30 seconds looking for my bike. I had a towel over my helmet on my aerobars to sight, and someone had knocked off the towel prior to the race. So, I looked around, didnt see the towel for about 20 seconds and finally decided just to look for the bike. Once found, I took off, realizing I just turned a super fast T1 into 90 seconds.

The bike is not an easy course here. A steady morning rain while we set up before the start left the pavement damp, and I cautioned on a few corners. This only lasted 10 min or so as the pavement soon dried in the hot sun. I caught 3 or so, then a 29 yr old caught me. We passed each other repeatedly to the second climb at which he hammered up the hill to pull within a few seconds of me. We were about 30 minutes into the race when I noticed two things. The top 3 males coming the other way, and the leader was uncatchable...but...my God, second place, Scott Young was only about 90 seconds ahead and third place a few seconds behind him. I then forgot about the younger guy racing me and put my gear in the 54/11, dropped my rpm down to 70 and said to myself, "ok..this is your 30 minute TT interval". I took off pretty hard focused on those in front of me.

The next turnround with about 8 miles to go..and there they were, about a minute in front of me. Suprised a bit, I realized the 29 yr old chasing me was still within about 15 seocnds at the final turn around but I said to myself, if he catches and passes me, he deserves it...becasue I was putting down around 335 watts at this point. By 5 miles to go, I could see both 2nd and 3rd up ahead about 20-30 seconds. I upped my rpm to about 75 and tried to maintain my 54/11 but had to take several quick 3-5 second breaks from pedalling from the legs burning. Once I pulled up to within 5 seconds, I took a 30 second break at 200 watts or so to clear the lactate. Then, I poured on hard, back in my biggest gear and passed both of them upwards of 30 mph. I didnt want to pick a fight and figured if I passed them very aggressively, they would not even think about going with me.

By this point, we had about 5 min left in the race which included the trek through town. Coming into town, a huge RV ahead of me going about 15 mph was literally blocking the road and half of the shoulder they had blocked off with tall orange cylinder cones. As I squeezed past the RV, I had to slam on the brakes and yank the bike to the right, almost hitting the curb, as the RV hit one of the cones and knocked it directly into my path. Once I cleared the cone, I passed the RV giving him a gesture with my left hand and checking my back at the same time. I saw both 2nd, 3rd, and 4th place within my view, about 20-30 seconds back.

I rolled into T2 a few seconds later, jumped off the bike and what do you know? Ran down the wrong bike rack lane. I paced quickly back and forth and didnt see my shoes and realized I was lost again in transition. I took a deep breath and said, "ok..look for the blue ironheads visor". This keyed me in quickly as I saw it about 10 ft away and in the next lane. I ducked under the rack and got my shoes and visor on and took off. Unfortunately, Young got out immediately ahead of me due to the 30 seconds I lost, and he was gone. There was no way I was catching this guy running sub 6 pace right off the bat.

The run course is fast, but not super fast. 2 loops blend in with the sprint tri going on and its tough to know where you're at with about 400 people on the course. You have to cross RR tracks twice each loop and that is pretty much the only hill, but the tracks arent completely smooth as I tripped on one coming back off the first loop. At 2 miles, the 29 yr old blew past me very decisively and within 800 meters gained about 20-30 seconds on me. I pushed and for the final 4 miles was high zone 5, higher than any HR I've raced in this year at 9 beats above the top of my zone 4. This didnt help as the guy stayed the same distance in front of me the rest of the course. I just couldnt catch him, even though once he made his move to get in front of me...he ran the same pace as I.

I was pleasantly happy with the 2nd fastest bike split of 58:10, a PR for me...off a 22:11 swim, another PR for me. My run of 39:21 was an average run for me, but that is not what dissapoints me. I would have taken 3rd overall and without a doubt run around a 1:01.30 something had I not had total debockles in my transitions. Well...you win some and lose some.

I did "win" the masters, as Young got bumped out of the age division due to his 2nd overall placing. For the TriNW masters, this was my 7th win...although dont really consider this race a masters win because a master was 2nd overall. But, he is from Nevada and this state is not counted in the TriNW ranking, so it is what it is.

Oh yeah, at the end of the awards, they raffled off a new carbon Felt TT frame...and I won it.

Ann had an "average" race in her mind, which is acceptable as she just hammered the Troika HIM last week, running the half marathon portion in 1:31. She gained an Ironheads Olympic record today with her 2:15, a personal best, and took third overall, winning cash (again) this season. She was not happy with her run and realized she didnt have it mentally this week to catch the 2nd overall woman, which was only 20 seconds ahead. Ann didnt have a super strong bike either, I think 3rd overall, but she could have gone faster...she just isnt used to stacking races like this and I take the blame for this one because I told her to race. In the long run, it will be good for her but depends on how we take the next week, then a week of strong training going into ITU worlds. This then puts us 6 weeks out from Kona.

Why am I racing so many TriNW races this year and not USAT? I want to compete locally and regionally directly with most of the athletes in my area this year. Havent been that happy with USAT ranking over the 4 yrs I've competed. The few local USAT races we have are small and without numbers, you get crappy ranking points, even if you place top 3 OA or win the age division. For the larger races, you have to travel far, and I am just not going to fly out to do an oly or sprint race every other weekend. Sure, I travel to do the 70.3 or IM races, many of which are USAT, but you dont get any more points for these compared to the guy that races an oly or sprint every other weekend and gains many more points...and of course you can only race a few 70.3 and an IM each season. Cant argue with this as Ann is the proof. She received higher points for finishing 13th AG at the california 70.3 then she did finishing 11th at Kona, world championships. She got less points winning USAT Nationals in F35 in addition. It's a bit like voodoo to me, not rocket science thats for sure.
So, the nice thing about racing locally, is that even though it's a different ranking system almost each weekend there is some race going on, and its far easier to race locally, esp in the short distance.