Race of my life

I am not sure why or how Buffalo Springs 70.3 became one of the premier races in the country. Every time I mention it people give me this lost look and say, "Really, a triathlon in Lubbock?". Yeah, and not just a triathlon, one of the premier Half Ironmans in the country. I think it is because it is one of the few HIMs that gives out qualifying spots to the World Championships in Kona but it would have to have been popular before that in order for the organizers of Ironman racing to allow this. Whatever it is all I know is that on Friday I will be headed that way for the biggest race of my life.

Last week I was very nervous and even doubted myself. I shouldn't though, I've done the distance. Yet again this course is tougher and more hilly (contrary to what people think about Lubbock). I think that I was nervous because of what is at stake. First there is Kona, which would be a dream come true, its a long shot but there is a shot. Then there is a bid to Clearwater and the 70.3 championship, not as long a shot but still out there. I am also nervous because at Longhorn 70.3 back in October I was disappointed in my performance. This always makes a person question their abilities. Throwing that out and trusting that I have learned and grown stronger my ultimate goal is to be able to have a good age group showing. I am looking for 5 hours. According to last years results that would put me in the top 20 in my age group. Solid showing for me and anything better is just the icing on the cake.

Today I am just excited. The nerves have calmed. I have had a few good training days and I am feeling ready. Now it is time to organize, do some light training and try not to panic!

Food

For the past year I have been going through a transformation. Lets call it a food transformation. For 34 years of my life I did not worry too much about what I ate. My views on diet consisted of eating everything in moderation. Then as I started to get more serious about triathlon I was overwhelmed with information on diet and performance. So without ever really trying I started to gather information and started trying to make sense of the convoluted, controversial, and confusing industry of food. Now, almost two years later I am still learning and trying to make some sense out of the endless contradiction we call food, but I have learned a lot, which only scratches the surface, but awareness is the key and knowing all sides of an issue is what allows us as humans to make an educated choice.


Anyway, I am not an expert, or even remotely qualified to tell anyone what to eat but I have started to develop a philosophy on food and the other day I did come across a quote that I think sums up my entire view. It is from The Omnivore's Dilemma by Michael Pollan. In his opening chapter there is this line. "A great number of the health and environmental problems created by our food system owe to our attempts to oversimplify nature's complexities". So what does this quote mean to me? It means eat as natural as possible. It means pay attention to where your food is coming from (i.e, preparation, origin). It means that we all know what food is better for us than others so just know that your health is a conscious choice that YOU make. It means eat variety and never an overabundance of any one type of food.



Food is a very personal choice, people eat for many different reasons. Mine are for the long term health of my body and my performance at a race. Identify yours and follow the steps above.

Cap Tex Tri 2009

Well, it is done. The Cap Tex Tri is in the books for 2009. Talk about improvement over '08. I cut 14.5 minutes off of my time from last year. (2:19:00 Vs 2:33:30) The biggest gains came on the run and the swim. I know that I have said before that I don't do race reports and I keep doing them but I have discovered that it is a way for me to assess the positive and the negative and organize my thoughts for the next race.

The swim: 23:14 excellent swim. Fast swim. About 400M in I was able to catch site of only one other person in my wave and he was even with me most of the way. Then at the halfway point I noticed that I was all alone in the water. For a second I thought that I may be way off course but it turned out to be a clearing between start waves. This allowed me to put on some speed. As I made the turn to the last buoy I was able to pull ahead of someone in my wave (not sure if it was the same person as before). Coming out of the water I knew that I was fast and figured I was at least in the top 10 of my wave in the swim. Turns out I was 6th in my wave and 11th in my AG and ended the day with the 65th fastest swim overall.

T1 is a long run. So transition times look huge but the majority of that is the run. I am not happy with my T1 time. My goal was 2 minutes and I ended up with 3:05. I guess the trouble with my wet suit was bigger than I though. My transition time from last year was 10 seconds faster. Looking at the T1 times of others in my AG I was 29th. There is definitely room for improvement there.

The Bike: I was a little disorganized on the bike. I waited until I was up the hill to put my shoes on but when I did my left shoe strap came completely out of the stay so I had to spend extra time putting it back on. This is not easy on a bike at 15 mph. Then my right shoe would not cooperate and it took me extra time. After about 3 tenths of a mile I was off but had lost position to at least 5 people. Then I realized that my helmet was loose because it kept slipping down and blocking my vision (another unnecessary adjustment to make)! The bike course has a lot of turns and 2 short hills so I would suspect my average speed would be low compared to an open course like back in April at the Lonestar. Even with the adjustment problems I was able to maintain a 22.4 mph average. A little under what I wanted but not bad. It put me at 1:06:23. This is 3 minutes faster than last year. but 4 minutes faster than I was hoping. The only other eventful thing that happened on the bike was that on my last lap I had an elbow rest on my aerobars come off somewhere. Not that big (except that I now have to replace it) of a deal just a little uncomfortable. Luckily it was my last lap.

In T2 I was still slow. I could have cut about 30 seconds at least but I remember mentally checking everything and making sure that I had everything with me. Kind of a mental lapse that should have been second nature.

The Run: Once out on the run course I quickly picked off a few people. I knew that anyone I could pass on my first lap moved me up but after my first lap I would be mixed with people who were still on their first lap and it would not be possible to tell who was ahead of me. I started strong on the run. I ran my first two miles sub 7 minutes, then I started to feel the legs and slowed down but only slightly. After about mile 3 I realized that my legs were cramping and I was cautious. I forgot to bring my e-caps so I was left with water and Gatorade on the course and I made sure not to pass any of them up. After mile 3 I set my sights on a runner in front of me. He was in a younger age group so I was not concerned if he beat me but he was looking strong still and I figured if I could hang with him I would finish strong. He and I battled for position and even exchanged a few words of encouragement for the next 2.5 miles. Then with about a half mile to go he came up beside me and said, "lets see how much energy you got", as he picked up the pace. I wasn't going to let that happen so I took the bait. As we came to the last 400 meters he dropped back and said, "take it". So I sprinted to the finish. I ran a 44:14. Just what I expected it to be.

Overall a great race. Finished 10th in AG and 63rd overall. Solid performance but the competition was a lot faster this year too. Last year my time would have won second in my AG. This year it was only good for 10th. Next year I will just have to be faster.

Back to training.