where to start on this one. seemed like a good idea at the time, i've been focused on long course, so why not squeeze in a sprint to get in some speed work.
arrive at the race site early, and had to park about 1 mile away, so a nice easy bike ride over to transition, pick out a spot, get thing set up, and then go for an easy spin with some higher efforts to guage how my legs are feeling (did a longer ride yesterday with some good efforts on the climbs). legs are a little flat for the climbs, but i'm sure it will work itself out.
rack my bike again, and set it up for transition, then an easy little run to spin my legs out a bit. now it's about 20 minutes until the racing begins, time to put on the wetsuit, and get in a little pre race swim.
the water is pretty chilly, it's been some time since i've experienced these temperatures (probably in march at ralph's 1/2). but it's ok, so lets see, 800m swim (1/2 mile), 12 mile bike over some hilly terrain, and 5k (3.1 mile) run. i'm generally just getting warmed up at these times, but speed is a totally different ball game, so let's have at it.
the swim starts on the beach with a 25 m dash to the ocean then making your way through some minor bumps and swim.
I'm lined up and ready, the horn sounds, and it's a faster jog to the water, a couple porpoise dives and onto swimming, unfortunately i neglect to sight the buoy i should be chasing and swim a bit off course, no big deal, i work my way back to the turn buoy and make the turn, then start churning some water, not an incredible swim, relatively uneventful, I round the last buoy and turn in for shore, make a semi surge for the beach, as i am coming out of the water, i see a familiar race suit, Thorin is about 5 seconds ahead of me out of the water.
the run up to transition is a bit of a climb, i chat a bit with him on the way up, then into transition, as usual, i am a little slow getting the wetsuit off (i haven't worn a wetsuit since lake placid 5weeks prior), as i get out of my wetsuit, thorin is off on his bike, no worries, i'll be 10 - 15 seconds back on him (actually it was closer to 30 seconds).
i come out pretty good on the bike, down the first hill, and then the climbing starts, generally i love this part, but my legs just aren't having it today, there is a deep lingering tiredness in there (perhaps they aren't completely recovered from my 50k run 2 weeks ago). regardless, it's a lovely day, so i'll keep turning the pedals, and on the flats and dowhills i can get a bit of speed, it's just the climbing that i'm suffering a bit on.
these efforts are significantly higher than i am used to, so i'm breathing a little hard, and my muscles are warming up pretty quick. just before the turn around, i see thorin blast by, i'm still about 30 seconds behind him, there are a couple more hills in the other direction which take a bit of a toll on me, the 2nd turn around and thorin has put some time in on me, maybe 45 - 60 seconds up on me now.
1 lap of 2 completed, and my legs are still feeling sluggish. the climbs are pretty much the same on lap 2, then after the 2nd turn around, my legs start to come around a bit, still have a deep tired feeling, but they are turning a bit better, just in time to enter T2 and get ready for a run.
as i am coming in to T2, the 2nd cyclist of the day passes me, i have a decent T2, and come out running pretty strong, there aren't many people on the run yet, and the few that are there i'm reeling in pretty well. just past the 1/2 way point, the guy that past me on the bike coming into
T2 goes running by, i could make an effort to hold on to him for the remainder of the run, and do keep him in sight until we hit sand. what the ??? this is a pleasant suprise, or not.
everybody else gets the same course, so i slow my pace slightly, and try to stick to the hard pack sand by the waters edge. at this point i can hear a runner sitting just on my heels, he's been there for long enough that i'm sure he is in my division, and just sitting back there waiting to move in the final sprint to the finish.
do i pick up the pace and turn myself inside out to drop him, or hold out for the finish and try to outsprint him? at this point i'm pretty well beyond my comfort zone, so i'll just sit on it, maybe make a small surge on the climb back up off the beach and see what happens.
on the climb, my legs are starting to hurt, there is no coming around for them on the run, and this brutal climb to finish things off isn't helping, so my surges are very short lived, and rather pathetic (more hill running to come in training). then it levels off, and my tail whips around for a 200m sprint, he goes, and i start to follow, but my legs aren't turning over like they should.
this is peculiar, as i am generally game for a good sprint into the finish, and rarely come up on the short side of these, but looks like todays effort is just a bit higher effort than my body is ready for, so he slips away to finish 3 seconds ahead of me. now had there been another 20 or 30 miles on the bike, that would have been more my game, or the hills could have killed me just as easily?
all in all it was a good race, my stomach was twisted, my legs were burning, and my mind was trying to figure out why my body wouldn't respond to it's requests for speed. the answer, very simple, i have been focusing on slow steady efforts lasting hours, not short bursty efforts lasting just about 1 hour.
the remedy: more speed work during my workouts, not a lot, as i am still focusing on long course, but i do plan on throwing in a spattering of extra high efforts.
as for thorin, he went on to pull 4th place in a very tough division, and acredits his success to cheetos, beer, and hanging out with his newborn daughter.
personally i think he just has a better stomach for going well beyond his comfort zone than i do, i can go a little out of it, and stay there for a long time, but seem to have a little trouble going terribly far out of it even for short periods.
No comments:
Post a Comment