70.3 Oregon: Pre-race thoughts
Below-average fitness, opportunities to experiment, and broken chain rings
Oregon’s on Sunday. This week, slowly but surely, I’ve been feeling closer to my normal fitness (I’ve been wearing my fireflies every night to accelerate the recovery, too.)
Taking a week off to vacation was both much needed, but also a setback in fitness that I’m not used to. It’s forced me to downplay my expectations a little. But regardless, I’m ready to race hard and experiment with changing my race approach.
Also, I’m pretty pumped about all the upgrades I’ve got for this race:
New Zoot Ultra P1 suit🔥🔥🔥
HED disc wheel🙌
54/42 chain ring, upgraded from a 50/34💯
So, here’s my plan:
Race plan
1.2mi swim, 56mi bike, and 13.1mi run.
20:00 swim??? - Oregon is a downriver swim, so faster times all around. Last year I swam for 17 minutes, which is about 10 minutes faster than a normal 70.3 swim. I don’t know what to expect but it will probably be quick!
2:06 bike - Hopefully in the low two hours. I just want to bike hard like it’s a Tucson Saturday shootout ride. This is my first race with a disc wheel and a bigger chain ring (apparently my 50T was likely the smallest chainring in all of pro triathlon….) More on that below.
1:19 run - Last year this race was one of the first time in my season when i strung together a fast run and a decent bike. I’m gonna keep some loose expectations on the run given that I’m going harder on the bike.
Overall ~3:50, inclusive of transitions. I got 4:16:33 last year. This race is pretty stacked, 45 guys or so, so it’ll be a more competitive!
Race thoughts / focus areas
Not gonna overcomplicate this one, since I could easily be in over my head in terms of fitness.
Swim hard enough to stay close with the pack (because it’ll be easier to do so) Don’t let up on the gas pedal. Especially since I’m a slower T1 guy, I need to make sure I don’t miss the fast bike packs coming out of the swim. My swim has been the first to break down in my races, and so instead of trying out a bunch of new techniques, I’m keeping it simple and familiar, except for one thing: harder pulls (which I’ve been practicing with.)
Push my limits on the bike. Be less cautious about energy conservation. In all of my races, I’ve never gone balls to the wall on the bike. This usually gives me a respectable bike time, but puts me further back in the run pack - though it also means I simply do not bonk on the run, because #sterdy and what not. However, further back means less “in the mix”, and less fuel from competition. My coach says he notices me push 2x harder in training camps, when I’m surrounded by fast people. So, Oregon is gonna be an experiment/a chance to change up my approach and see what happens.
I’ll treat it like a shootout ride, in that I’ll try to ride as front pack as I can get, hard, for the first hour. Even if it’s uncomfortable, even if it feels like I’m not saving enough for the run. We’ll see where that takes me.
The unknowns are:
how will my legs feel on the run?
will the competitive rush of “being more in the mix” make up for whatever deficit I’ve acquired?
If I accomplish this focus area correctly, the optimistic part of me thinks I could be on the top 10 board during the bike. Of course, this race is stacked deep so who knows. On the other hand, if I do this focus area diligently, I could be seen walking on the run 🤷♂️. That’s a good learning too, though.
On another note - there was a small hiccup after I landed in Portland. I discovered my brand new Shimano 54/42 chain ring had gotten bent on 4 of the teeth. I called Michelle, panicked, but also too tired to worry about it until the next morning. Luckily, the Portland Trek shop fixed it up, and straightened out other pieces of my bike. Hopefully we don’t see me dropping my chain a bunch of times on the bike :)
Ah, triathlon invigorates, but it also bankrupts!
Thank you to my sponsors, Zoot, The Feed, and Firefly Recovery!
Stay sterdy,
Ben