5150 Columbia Triathlon (12th Professional)

Over the weekend I raced the 5150 Columbia Triathlon.  Before I write about the race, I'd like to thank Tri Columbia for putting on a great race.  I'd also like to thank Jeanine and Jim for hosting me in Maryland.  Having homestays are always great and I know professional athletes appreciate it, thanks guys!    

As for the race, unfortunately, I raced poorly again.  Coming into the race I felt I could hit a top 10 and maybe even a top 5 performance if I nailed every aspect of the race.  The key to such performance was having a swim that put me out with the main group of contenders.  I had been swimming and running great throughout the week, but come race day I just did not have it.  Throughout the race, I could never get my effort level higher than 75%, and basically had sub par performances in each of the three activities.  I felt as if I was racing at 10% deficiency.  

Two positive take aways: (i) I stayed focused and psoitive even as I did not race well and (ii) I scored 240 points with a 12th place finish in the 5150 Hyvee points race.  If I score a few top 5-10 races in the next 3 races I may be in the running for scoring a race entry.  However, I'll need to over come my recent race issues.  

After speaking with my coach, we think my warm up is partly to blame for my lack of success in the last two races.  I don't think I was sufficiently warmed up to go out at the break neck speed that Olympic distance racing is.  I'll be working on this for the next race.  I'll also mix up my pre race nutrition since I've had the same meal for each of the past two races, and they clearly have been two of my poorest performances.   

Next up is Mooseman 70.3 on June 3.  Looking forward to finally putting together a good race in 2012. 

A few pictures of the race are below:



REV 3 KNOXVILLE

I headed west to Knoxville, TN to compete in a REV 3 Olympic Distance Race.  I really enjoy racing Rev 3 events, the Rev 3 staff is excellent, and they've done a wonderful job organizing and putting on races at every distance.

Leading up to the race I felt great.  I had been hitting all of my workouts and I was ready for a break through performance.  

Unfortunately, things did not go as planned.  I simply had a sub par performance in each aspect of the race.  From the start of the swim, onto the bike and run, and even stumbling through T1, I just did not perform well.  One of the few positive aspects of the race, was that I finished and in finishing I learned a little more about racing.  

Back to training and to better races in the future.  Next up is the 5150 Columbia Tri on May 20th.  

Race Stats: 

Swim: 18:19

Bike: 59:26

Run: 35:42

Total: 1:56:50



I was running well here; it's only when I had to go uphill did I slow significantly.


 



Coming down the finishing chute.