Decatur Lakeside Tri 1200m/19 miles/4.5 miles
Swim: 15:38 3rd fastest
Bike: 41:42 27.6mph 317 watts Fastest split
First half: 324w 27.0mph 115ft elevation gain cross/tail wind
Second half: 309w 28.2mph 115ft elevation loss cross/head wind
Power file: http://connect.garmin.com/activity/339555955
Run: 24:53 3rd fastest
Overall: 1:23:33 Career win #42
Swim was pretty average, by myself entire way, out of the water in third, minute down. Got to work on the bike, had good legs. Wanted to push 320w for the ride. Was at 324w at the turnaround but couldn't quite sustain it the second half. Took the lead just before halfway and pulled away pretty quickly. Lead moto was staying way too close and I was catching a bit of a draft and getting some of the cross wind blocked. Doubt it made any difference in the race outcome. Fastest bike split by nearly 2 minutes and onto the run course with a 2 minute lead and the only real runner threat 5 minutes down. Legs took first 5 minutes to recover then were good. Ran an honest pace but without being pressed never went to that last gear. Good win, racing well right now, especially on the bike, never had legs like this before. 27.6mph my fastest average speed ever. Perfect tuneup for Muncie, excited to see what I can do there. Thinking my 3:52 PR from 2008 should be going down.
Monday, July 8, 2013
Monday, June 10, 2013
Kansas 70.3-Dueling Crowie
Swim: 6th fastest split
The times on the results are screwed up, I don't know it. This was a good, not great, swim for me. I didn't swim awful like I have most races so far this year, and I hung on the back of the lead group until the turnaround which was good. It wasn't great because I got dropped at the turnaround. Still I came out just a minute down on the lead 5 guys, I'll take that. With a challenging bike course ahead I knew I was in good position.
Bike: 2:09:54 25.6mph Fastest split!
Got on the bike and my HR was over 170 following the swim. I knew I had to chill and let that come down to something sustainable and was forced to ride easier than planned first 10min. Finally after 10min or so the HR got down and with that I found my legs and was off. Solo TT for 40min when I made up the minute from the swim and caught the group. As I caught them I realized Crowie was already off the front. It took a pretty good effort the first 40min and I wasn't confident I had the fitness to sustain that so I hung in the back of the group for the next 38 minutes or so and conserved. Crowie was putting time into all of us but I wasn't even thinking about racing him, just waiting to make a move on the group in a bid for second place. Finally around 35 miles I made the move up the biggest hill on the course and had no trouble separating, then it was off after Crowie 3 minutes up the road. All out solo time trial those last 20 miles and in that span I rode over 3 minutes into the chase pack and brought Crowie's lead from 3 minutes down to 45 seconds by the time we hit T2. I knew I was riding hard enough those last 20 miles I was hurting my run, but I thought it was worth it to get as big a gap as possible on 3rd place starting the run. If you can beat them mentally you don't have to beat them physically. Grabbed fastest bike split on the day by 14 seconds over Crowie.
Run: 1:16:38 4th fastest split
Hit the run just 45s down on Crowie and truth be told I didn't think I had any shot, I ran entirely trying to fend off 3rd not even taking splits to Crowie. First 10k of the run my lead on third only grew and finally midway through the run I knew there was nobody running me down from behind and I turned my sights ahead where surprisingly Crowie's lead was only about a minute. Tried to dig deep, but just didn't have it. Still a very good run for me and truth be told I think Crowie probably had plenty more fight in him than he showed.
Overall: 3:52:54 2nd place.
Great result for me, had over 6 minutes on third place and just 1.5 back from the win. Got WAY more attention from this result than from winning Steelhead last year, guess that's what happens when a 5x world champ is in the race. Really excited for this season, will not allow myself to be satisfied. A great race does not make a great season. Onto the next.
Monday, June 3, 2013
Pigman Sprint aka Iowa World Championships
Pigman Sprint Triathlon 500/25k/5k
Swim: 6:26 8th fastest split
Bike: 37:01 25.8mph 313 average watts 2nd fastest split
Power file: http://connect.garmin.com/activity/322085522
Run: 16:45 4th fastest split
Overall: 1:02:51 2nd
The swim wasn't good, but it was much better than my first two races this year and showed promise. But with it being just a 6 minute swim I'm not going to pass too much judgement, anyone with any type of fitness can fake a 6 minute swim. Came out right in the middle of the action, first 6 guys all out of T1 within about 15 seconds. Pace was all out start of the bike and good thing I got going cause top 3 guys separated from next 3 within the first 5 minutes, then the whole bike it was myself, David Thompson, and Dan Hedgecock together. I'm pretty confident I was the strongest on the bike, I lead a lot of the way but am not strong enough to overcome the 3 bike length draft zone of an age group race in order to drop the other two. In hindsight maybe I should have sat in the back more, conserved, and then launched a big attack. Leading into the headwind wasn't the smartest, I just allowed the other two to rest. Dan ran a 14:09 5k on the track in college so I knew it was a tall task trying to win starting the run with him. Managed to split just 20 seconds slower than him on the run, was able to drop DKT at 2 miles to bring home second. I wanted to win, but this race was definitely a step forward and my best performance of the year. Excited to see what happens next weekend, I think the fitness is there for a good race. The competitive side of me can't help but wonder if I had raced different could I have gotten away on the bike and been able to win today, a little disappointed I admit. My Iowa win streak is over, since 2007 I've raced 10 triathlons in Iowa, I won the first 9, today I didn't. Just have to start a new streak.
Monday, May 20, 2013
Memphis in May-Second Again
Memphis in May
Swim: 21:13 5th fastest split
Bike: 55:28 26.5mph, 299 watts 2nd fastest split
Power file: https://connect.garmin.com/activity/315845105
Run: 35:57 2nd fastest split
Overall: 1:54:08 Second place
Swim was awful for the second race in a row and continues to be a mystery to me. The way I'm training and feeling heading into a race seems to have zero correlation to how I will actually swim. I can have a pretty good sense for how a bike and run will go beforehand, the swim I have no idea. It's very possible that I threw away a professional win with the way I swam today.
I struggled on the bike and never felt good or like I had strong legs. Just battled the entire way. Stiff headwind on the way out, first 14 miles @ 23.9mph and 308 watts. Last 10 miles @ 31.2mph and 283 watts. Good news is that despite feeling bad and not producing the power I was expecting I still rode pretty fast and passed a lot of people. I came into this race off my biggest bike training week of the year and a 9 hour drive the day before. Not a huge surprise or mystery that my legs were not sharp.
The run was the bright spot. With the 10:30am start we hit the run at noon under the strong southern sun, with humidity and the heat index in the upper 80s. Despite coming from Iowa the heat never bothered me. It slowed things no doubt, but not as much for me as for most others.
Overall I was disappointed with my swim, pleased with my run, and most happy that despite not feeling 'on' in this race I stayed mentally engaged in the race the entire way which is something I haven't always done in the past. I credit staying mentally in the race through the rough times with getting me the second place finish. Also the very weak pro field in the race didn't hurt my cause either. In a normal pro field I wouldn't have placed with this performance after the way I swam and biked. Good race choice for early in the season to get a good result and some confidence moving forward. My fourth time to race MIM and my fourth second place at MIM. Looking forward to Kansas 70.3 in 3 weeks which will be my first focus race of the year.
Swim: 21:13 5th fastest split
Bike: 55:28 26.5mph, 299 watts 2nd fastest split
Power file: https://connect.garmin.com/activity/315845105
Run: 35:57 2nd fastest split
Overall: 1:54:08 Second place
Swim was awful for the second race in a row and continues to be a mystery to me. The way I'm training and feeling heading into a race seems to have zero correlation to how I will actually swim. I can have a pretty good sense for how a bike and run will go beforehand, the swim I have no idea. It's very possible that I threw away a professional win with the way I swam today.
I struggled on the bike and never felt good or like I had strong legs. Just battled the entire way. Stiff headwind on the way out, first 14 miles @ 23.9mph and 308 watts. Last 10 miles @ 31.2mph and 283 watts. Good news is that despite feeling bad and not producing the power I was expecting I still rode pretty fast and passed a lot of people. I came into this race off my biggest bike training week of the year and a 9 hour drive the day before. Not a huge surprise or mystery that my legs were not sharp.
The run was the bright spot. With the 10:30am start we hit the run at noon under the strong southern sun, with humidity and the heat index in the upper 80s. Despite coming from Iowa the heat never bothered me. It slowed things no doubt, but not as much for me as for most others.
Overall I was disappointed with my swim, pleased with my run, and most happy that despite not feeling 'on' in this race I stayed mentally engaged in the race the entire way which is something I haven't always done in the past. I credit staying mentally in the race through the rough times with getting me the second place finish. Also the very weak pro field in the race didn't hurt my cause either. In a normal pro field I wouldn't have placed with this performance after the way I swam and biked. Good race choice for early in the season to get a good result and some confidence moving forward. My fourth time to race MIM and my fourth second place at MIM. Looking forward to Kansas 70.3 in 3 weeks which will be my first focus race of the year.
Monday, April 22, 2013
New Orleans 70.3-Early Start
New Orleans 70.3
Swim: 26:16 14th fastest split
Swim was one of those deals where you feel good and think you're swimming well during the race, but then looking at the results after you realize it wasn't as good as you thought. A little surprised how much time I lost here.
Bike: 2:14:05 14th fastest split
Power file: http://connect.garmin.com/activity/311306000
Dead flat entire way with a decent headwind first half/tailwind second half. Started the bike with a group of 4 and pushed harder than I wanted the first half because I knew I didn't want to get separated with the headwind. Hit the turnaround and felt my strongest all day from 30-45 miles, was able to drop 2 of the guys with the tailwind. First time racing with a powermeter, ended up not really paying attention to it and just collected the data after.
Run: 1:17:55 13th fastest split
Pretty ideal run conditions, ran almost the entire way by myself. Happy I didn't feel too terrible off the bike since I really haven't done any bricks this year. Overall a better run than I thought coming in, had great speed last half mile to makeup two positions at the very end.
Overall: 4:01:16 12th place
Overall I feel my race was a pretty accurate reflection of my current fitness, I just haven't done the volume of work to be competitive yet. Swim was a little worse than I guessed, bike about what I thought, run a little better than I guessed. I knew going in to the race there was a very slim chance of being competitive, but thanks to Ron it was logistically a pretty simple and fun trip. And ultimately a bad result is no worse than not racing at all. Plus now I have data from my power meter to utilize going forward. This is the earliest I've ever done my first big race of the year and did so coming off the longest winter I've ever had to train through.
Here are bike stats off my Garmin
Time: 2:13:xx
25.2mph
Normalized power: 281w
Average power: 277w
Average heart rate: 159
Average cadence: 88
Normalized power first half (headwind): 285
Normalized power second half (tailwind): 277
Swim: 26:16 14th fastest split
Swim was one of those deals where you feel good and think you're swimming well during the race, but then looking at the results after you realize it wasn't as good as you thought. A little surprised how much time I lost here.
Bike: 2:14:05 14th fastest split
Power file: http://connect.garmin.com/activity/311306000
Dead flat entire way with a decent headwind first half/tailwind second half. Started the bike with a group of 4 and pushed harder than I wanted the first half because I knew I didn't want to get separated with the headwind. Hit the turnaround and felt my strongest all day from 30-45 miles, was able to drop 2 of the guys with the tailwind. First time racing with a powermeter, ended up not really paying attention to it and just collected the data after.
Run: 1:17:55 13th fastest split
Pretty ideal run conditions, ran almost the entire way by myself. Happy I didn't feel too terrible off the bike since I really haven't done any bricks this year. Overall a better run than I thought coming in, had great speed last half mile to makeup two positions at the very end.
Overall: 4:01:16 12th place
Overall I feel my race was a pretty accurate reflection of my current fitness, I just haven't done the volume of work to be competitive yet. Swim was a little worse than I guessed, bike about what I thought, run a little better than I guessed. I knew going in to the race there was a very slim chance of being competitive, but thanks to Ron it was logistically a pretty simple and fun trip. And ultimately a bad result is no worse than not racing at all. Plus now I have data from my power meter to utilize going forward. This is the earliest I've ever done my first big race of the year and did so coming off the longest winter I've ever had to train through.
Here are bike stats off my Garmin
Time: 2:13:xx
25.2mph
Normalized power: 281w
Average power: 277w
Average heart rate: 159
Average cadence: 88
Normalized power first half (headwind): 285
Normalized power second half (tailwind): 277
Saturday, January 12, 2013
2012 Year End Training Volumes
Below are my training totals for the 2012 calendar year
Swim: 1,050,000 yards
Bike: 9780 miles
Run: 2171 miles
See you on the circuit in 2013!
Swim: 1,050,000 yards
Bike: 9780 miles
Run: 2171 miles
See you on the circuit in 2013!
Friday, November 9, 2012
Ironman Florida-Disappointing End to a Great Season
I finished off my 2012 race season this past weekend with my 5th Ironman, Ironman Florida in Panama City Beach. Although this race itself was a little disappointing, I am very proud of my season as a whole. Here is how my day went.
Swim: 54:01 12th fastest split
Thankfully the swim was pretty uneventful for me. Despite there being no wind whatsoever the surf was pretty substantial. Once navigating through the breakers the water wasn't calm as I expected, there were still large swells the entire duration. I ended up swimming a little easier than I planned on account of the surf which I think was the right move since it limited the amount of ocean water I choked on and I knew that drafting would be pretty much negated by the rough sea. I excited the water in pretty good position, 12th place and right in the middle of the action.
Bike: 4:20:49 25.8mph 11th fastest split
I went into this race mentally prepared for anything on the bike. I hoped for a spread out bike, yet I was also very aware of what 41 pro men on a flat course could mean. I ended up getting a mix of everything. Things were pretty spread out initially and my legs were very strong right from the start. I steadily worked my way through the field the first two hours. I would ride hard until I caught the first person in sight, relax for a bit, decide the pace was too easy, work hard to drop the rider, and then bridge up to the next rider in sight. After a very fast first 55 miles I made it into a large pack when we came to the out and back. I was pumped when I saw that our group was in second place overall but that excitement was short lived when we made the turnaround as I saw we were about to be caught by another even larger group from behind. I rode at the front in second place overall from about 60-65 miles and then steadily slipped back through the pack, making note that many of the riders I had worked to drop had gotten picked up from the group behind and were now in the same pack. I counted 17 guys in our group. Thankfully we also had four officials with us pretty much the entire way back to T2 so guys were not tempted to push the boundaries of the draft zone. People tend to think that riding in such a group is easy work but when everyone is spaced legally it is anything but. The pace and effort were extremely inconsistent and punchy, as guys made moves at the front it'd be 2-3 minutes of near all out effort followed by a few minutes of easy riding. I'm sure this makes for a great workout, but when your goal is to run a marathon as fast as possible after it's not such a good thing. After surging like that for two hours under a strong sun and temperatures rising into the 80s I was really feeling fried towards the end of the bike as were many others. I stayed with the pack until 5k to go when I knew I was in no shape the start the marathon and sat up to try to get my body temperature down, relieve myself, hose myself down with water, and recover some semblance of running legs.
Run: 3:14:00 14th fastest split
Starting the run I was a complete mess. I saw 5:20 on the clock as I crossed the marathon start timing mat and knew that I was a 2:59 marathon away from breaking 8:20, my ultimate time goal for the day. The only problem is for the first few miles of the run I was cooked from the bike, I was just out for an easy recovery jog, couldn't even maintain 3 hour pace for the first few miles. I wasn't alone though, I could tell the guys around me were wilted as well and I was gaining positions running 7 minute pace. Through a steady diet of coke and ice the first 10k I was actually able to bring my body temperature down, started to find my stride and got moving the second 10k. I picked up Tom Gerlach for several miles and we both agreed that a strong last 13.1 would bring home the money on this day. I got faster the second 10k, felt much better, hit 13.1 in 1:30 in 8th place and just over 2 minutes out of 6th. Then, out of nowhere, not even a quarter mile into the second lap, I strained my right calf pretty substantially. I didn't step funny or anything and thought it was a cramp initially. I couldn't push off at all with my right foot and hoped it would work itself out but after a few miles of borrowing salt tablets from fellow age groupers I knew it either wasn't a cramp or wasn't going to alleviate itself. At this point if this had been any race other than my last of the season I would have bagged it and walked the last 10 miles. But with it being the last race of the season I wasn't quite as apprehensive about continuing on a bad calf since I didn't feel I was making the strain any worse. It was a hard pill to swallow that I wouldn't be racing for money or chasing a massive PR in the low 8:20s, but I had to quickly change my mental approach and realize that I still had something to race for, I could still PR and break 8:30 so that was what I set out for. I limped as fast as I could, but not being able to push off of my right foot I was limited to a max speed around 8:20 pace. I hit 10k to go, did the math, and realized breaking 8:30 for the race wasn't going to happen. But there was still my PR, 8:35. I was running exactly the pace that would put me at my PR. Quick decision, keep chasing or just bag it and walk home, I decide to keep chasing. Every mile mark I'm doing the math and am staying exactly on pace. Then with 5k to go I have the vision of putting myself through all this discomfort and missing my PR by a few seconds and decide no way. I push the pace really hard down below 8min pace the last 5k and in the end it's about a 90 second overall PR which comes off of my slowest marathon ever.
Overall: 8:34:00 12th place
Initially I was pretty disappointed with how things went for me but having had a few days I feel better about it and there's a lot of positive to take away. A PR is a PR and you can't ever shrug at such a result. 12th place is far from what I envisioned for the day, but we did have 41 male pros on the start line, the largest pro field I've ever raced for a full 140.6. Even putting the calf issue aside I don't think this would have been a stellar result as it was shaping up. Riding a hard solo effort the first 2 hours on the bike followed by responding to all of the surges and changes in pace of the pack the last two hours left me in no shape to run a strong marathon. Thinking back over my history of 140.6 racing this was the first time I've ever not done a solo effort the entire way on the bike and it makes for a much different challenge than the constant steady state effort I'm accustomed to. In hindsight I don't feel my disappointing performance was an indication of any lacking fitness or poor race execution on my part, I feel it is an indication of Ironman Florida simply being a race that doesn't suite me well or play to my strengths. I thrive off of long, steady state efforts. Thinking back over my history of pack racing in 70.3s I don't think I've ever had a good race result in that type of racing. I need at least some hills and a more spread out race than I'm going to find at Ironman Florida. As always it's a learning experience and I'll take this experience forward into future races.
Although Ironman Florida didn't go how I wanted I'm still very happy that I did this race and there's a lot that will benefit me going forward into 2013 and beyond. For one, I'm in Ironman shape in November, I've never been this fit so late into the year. Last year I was currently five weeks into my offseason at this point. To me that's five fewer weeks to get out of shape heading into 2013. Another big takeaway is that I learned a lot about myself, and how my body recovers in the 8 weeks between Rev 3 Cedar Point and Ironman Florida. What I learned is that I don't recover particularly fast compared to others. It took me a full month before I felt 100% and could resume full training following Cedar Point. That left just two quality weeks where I was able to push the limits in training and make significant gains in fitness. Looking back I think I was probably only able to replicate my fitness from Cedar Point into Florida, I wasn't able to further it by any appreciable margin. In the future I think I'm going to try to schedule multiple Ironmans with a minimum of 10 weeks separation, more ideally 12 or more weeks.
2012 was a great year for me overall that I am very proud of. There were many highlights and at the top of the list is my dominating win at the Steelhead 70.3. Winning a 70.3 is a major goal for pros in this sport and something that I am aware most will not get to experience. I know that whatever I do or don't accomplish the rest of my racing career winning the 2012 Steelhead 70.3 is something I'll be able to look back on and really appreciate long after my racing days have finished. I'm very excited for what journey this path with take me on in 2013. There are big changes coming as I'll be getting married and moving to Iowa in the next two months. Catch you on the flip side, here's to a great 2013!
Swim: 54:01 12th fastest split
Thankfully the swim was pretty uneventful for me. Despite there being no wind whatsoever the surf was pretty substantial. Once navigating through the breakers the water wasn't calm as I expected, there were still large swells the entire duration. I ended up swimming a little easier than I planned on account of the surf which I think was the right move since it limited the amount of ocean water I choked on and I knew that drafting would be pretty much negated by the rough sea. I excited the water in pretty good position, 12th place and right in the middle of the action.
Bike: 4:20:49 25.8mph 11th fastest split
I went into this race mentally prepared for anything on the bike. I hoped for a spread out bike, yet I was also very aware of what 41 pro men on a flat course could mean. I ended up getting a mix of everything. Things were pretty spread out initially and my legs were very strong right from the start. I steadily worked my way through the field the first two hours. I would ride hard until I caught the first person in sight, relax for a bit, decide the pace was too easy, work hard to drop the rider, and then bridge up to the next rider in sight. After a very fast first 55 miles I made it into a large pack when we came to the out and back. I was pumped when I saw that our group was in second place overall but that excitement was short lived when we made the turnaround as I saw we were about to be caught by another even larger group from behind. I rode at the front in second place overall from about 60-65 miles and then steadily slipped back through the pack, making note that many of the riders I had worked to drop had gotten picked up from the group behind and were now in the same pack. I counted 17 guys in our group. Thankfully we also had four officials with us pretty much the entire way back to T2 so guys were not tempted to push the boundaries of the draft zone. People tend to think that riding in such a group is easy work but when everyone is spaced legally it is anything but. The pace and effort were extremely inconsistent and punchy, as guys made moves at the front it'd be 2-3 minutes of near all out effort followed by a few minutes of easy riding. I'm sure this makes for a great workout, but when your goal is to run a marathon as fast as possible after it's not such a good thing. After surging like that for two hours under a strong sun and temperatures rising into the 80s I was really feeling fried towards the end of the bike as were many others. I stayed with the pack until 5k to go when I knew I was in no shape the start the marathon and sat up to try to get my body temperature down, relieve myself, hose myself down with water, and recover some semblance of running legs.
Run: 3:14:00 14th fastest split
Starting the run I was a complete mess. I saw 5:20 on the clock as I crossed the marathon start timing mat and knew that I was a 2:59 marathon away from breaking 8:20, my ultimate time goal for the day. The only problem is for the first few miles of the run I was cooked from the bike, I was just out for an easy recovery jog, couldn't even maintain 3 hour pace for the first few miles. I wasn't alone though, I could tell the guys around me were wilted as well and I was gaining positions running 7 minute pace. Through a steady diet of coke and ice the first 10k I was actually able to bring my body temperature down, started to find my stride and got moving the second 10k. I picked up Tom Gerlach for several miles and we both agreed that a strong last 13.1 would bring home the money on this day. I got faster the second 10k, felt much better, hit 13.1 in 1:30 in 8th place and just over 2 minutes out of 6th. Then, out of nowhere, not even a quarter mile into the second lap, I strained my right calf pretty substantially. I didn't step funny or anything and thought it was a cramp initially. I couldn't push off at all with my right foot and hoped it would work itself out but after a few miles of borrowing salt tablets from fellow age groupers I knew it either wasn't a cramp or wasn't going to alleviate itself. At this point if this had been any race other than my last of the season I would have bagged it and walked the last 10 miles. But with it being the last race of the season I wasn't quite as apprehensive about continuing on a bad calf since I didn't feel I was making the strain any worse. It was a hard pill to swallow that I wouldn't be racing for money or chasing a massive PR in the low 8:20s, but I had to quickly change my mental approach and realize that I still had something to race for, I could still PR and break 8:30 so that was what I set out for. I limped as fast as I could, but not being able to push off of my right foot I was limited to a max speed around 8:20 pace. I hit 10k to go, did the math, and realized breaking 8:30 for the race wasn't going to happen. But there was still my PR, 8:35. I was running exactly the pace that would put me at my PR. Quick decision, keep chasing or just bag it and walk home, I decide to keep chasing. Every mile mark I'm doing the math and am staying exactly on pace. Then with 5k to go I have the vision of putting myself through all this discomfort and missing my PR by a few seconds and decide no way. I push the pace really hard down below 8min pace the last 5k and in the end it's about a 90 second overall PR which comes off of my slowest marathon ever.
Overall: 8:34:00 12th place
Initially I was pretty disappointed with how things went for me but having had a few days I feel better about it and there's a lot of positive to take away. A PR is a PR and you can't ever shrug at such a result. 12th place is far from what I envisioned for the day, but we did have 41 male pros on the start line, the largest pro field I've ever raced for a full 140.6. Even putting the calf issue aside I don't think this would have been a stellar result as it was shaping up. Riding a hard solo effort the first 2 hours on the bike followed by responding to all of the surges and changes in pace of the pack the last two hours left me in no shape to run a strong marathon. Thinking back over my history of 140.6 racing this was the first time I've ever not done a solo effort the entire way on the bike and it makes for a much different challenge than the constant steady state effort I'm accustomed to. In hindsight I don't feel my disappointing performance was an indication of any lacking fitness or poor race execution on my part, I feel it is an indication of Ironman Florida simply being a race that doesn't suite me well or play to my strengths. I thrive off of long, steady state efforts. Thinking back over my history of pack racing in 70.3s I don't think I've ever had a good race result in that type of racing. I need at least some hills and a more spread out race than I'm going to find at Ironman Florida. As always it's a learning experience and I'll take this experience forward into future races.
Although Ironman Florida didn't go how I wanted I'm still very happy that I did this race and there's a lot that will benefit me going forward into 2013 and beyond. For one, I'm in Ironman shape in November, I've never been this fit so late into the year. Last year I was currently five weeks into my offseason at this point. To me that's five fewer weeks to get out of shape heading into 2013. Another big takeaway is that I learned a lot about myself, and how my body recovers in the 8 weeks between Rev 3 Cedar Point and Ironman Florida. What I learned is that I don't recover particularly fast compared to others. It took me a full month before I felt 100% and could resume full training following Cedar Point. That left just two quality weeks where I was able to push the limits in training and make significant gains in fitness. Looking back I think I was probably only able to replicate my fitness from Cedar Point into Florida, I wasn't able to further it by any appreciable margin. In the future I think I'm going to try to schedule multiple Ironmans with a minimum of 10 weeks separation, more ideally 12 or more weeks.
2012 was a great year for me overall that I am very proud of. There were many highlights and at the top of the list is my dominating win at the Steelhead 70.3. Winning a 70.3 is a major goal for pros in this sport and something that I am aware most will not get to experience. I know that whatever I do or don't accomplish the rest of my racing career winning the 2012 Steelhead 70.3 is something I'll be able to look back on and really appreciate long after my racing days have finished. I'm very excited for what journey this path with take me on in 2013. There are big changes coming as I'll be getting married and moving to Iowa in the next two months. Catch you on the flip side, here's to a great 2013!
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