"Ground Zero": If there's one phrase I could use to define what Marquee Olympic Triathlon was for me, that is it. I wish I could say I had big aspirations for this day; but I knew it was going to be a gut check and a reality bites race. After taking a year completely off, I knew re-engaging into training was going to be challenging. When you're training every day, eating clean, resting sufficiently, and psychologically ready to take on a competitive training program, the stars will align and you become a lean mean fighting machine through your dedication and focus that YOU control. But then there's life and the wrenches that it throws at you---but not all wrenches are bad! Since my last race (IMAZ 2012), life has been full of change...good change. New place to call home on two fronts (work: left a flailing partnership, and home: moved into a new house two weeks prior to Marquee). With these changes, training has been more of a "I've got a free hour today, what am I gonna do?" kind of setup.
Most days though, there hasn't been much time for training. As Marquee approached and our move occurring 2 weeks prior to race day, I decided to switch my approach from getting into training mode to using Marquee as a benchmark--to simply see what would happen if I raced on almost no training (well, at least no focused training at all). No track workouts, no intervals on the bike, and just 2 swims in the week prior to the race---I was truly at zero going in. Not training, not eating clean, not resting enough, and psychologically too busy with other life events to focus on a training program and its outcome.
The great thing about our local races here put on by Lifetime is that they are predictable from sign up to awards---we don't need to think about the logistics because they are identical from race to race. That took a lot of concern off my mind going into the race---I know the course, the transition, the competition, and of course the sea of Orange that is ONE Multisport is a welcoming sight. I've raced this almost exact course 6 times now, so I knew I would at least be able to pull some good comparisons...
My race plan was very simple: find my threshold and sit on it all race long. That really has never changed, and it has always been self limiting for me. Its gotten to a point that I can fairly accurately predict my pacing based on my training results---I knew I wasn't going to be anywhere near my "norms," but now i was going to learn my "baselines."
Swim: I started front right as I almost always do, which allows me to see the rest of my wave as I primarily breathe to my left as we gas it off the line. There was only 79 octane in the tank on this day, and I watched 3-4 guys in my wave sail off ahead...podium fairy tales went out the window as the swim usually set me up for a "catch me if you can" type of race strategy that has worked well for me in the past. The swim was uneventful, and I got the first important gut check: 3m35s off my swim PR for this course, getting out of the water in 25:47 (PR is 22:06). Gulp...
T1: Getting shucked from my wetsuit was a perfect example of how not to get out of a wetsuit, but I made up for it with a helmet buckle and flying mount and nothing more. I came close to my 47 second PR for T1 with a respectable 49sec...like the seconds mattered on this day ;-)
Bike: "It is what it is." I went old school, no HR or power---just me and my bike. I settled into that threshold, and two laps later got gut check number two: 21.39mph average (because of the longer bike, the only relevant data is the mph). Previous best in 24mph...seemed about right. I could really feel how a lack of layered training affected my ability to suffer. I had no depth, just
T2: shoes left on pedals, helmet off while running, slide into shoes, grab glasses and bib number, and away I went.... 43 seconds.
Run: I decided I wanted to let Carlos Mendoza pass me, not once, but twice on this day---he passed me on the bike, I passed him back in T2, and he flew by me on the run...its always great to see Carlos, hahaha. Anyways, I shuffled along at ~7:10/mi pace with a guy from Tribe, and other than seeing Jenny and the kids at Mile 6, the run was something not to be proud of: 44:54 time versus a PR of 39:19.
Overall: Ground Zero sucks! Some solid training is in the works, and a clear path on all other fronts will be here very soon! Onwards and upwards!
Erik
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