THE AFTERMATH: 70.3 Oregon
I came in 29th at 70.3 Oregon. With question marks about my fitness going in, I demonstrated that I can still go deep and compete no matter what the lead up to a race is like.
Race result
1.2mi swim, 56mi bike, and 13.1mi run.
20:00 swim | Actual - 17:49 - turns out the river was fast! The course was pretty hard to sight due to the glare of the sun and sporadic rapids.
T1 - 3:29 - lot of work is needed here! I lost about a minute to the people I came out of the water with and people behind me (like Lionel sanders) passed me in T-1. This really matters since it dictates who I bike with. I’ll be practicing some transition drills moving forward to ensure I can run fast while disoriented.
2:06 bike | Actual - 2:12:32 - This was probably my best bike yet in a race. I really took some risks early on and got in a solid pack. My 2 minute peak was 408 watts and my 20 min was 334 watts. More on that below. I wasn’t sure how I’d feel overall going in since I struggled to hit easier numbers on workouts but come race day, I was still able to dig deep and battle. This is a good sign.
T2 - 2:47 - I messed up again and got my shoes on wrong. I was the last one in my bike back out so needs more work!!
1:19 run | Actual - 1:22:23 - My coach said “Not great, not bad”, and I’d agree. My legs never felt great and I actually hadn’t run more than 9 quality miles since my full Ironman. This showed, and it was a mental battle to stay steady.
Overall ~3:58:58 time, breaking four hours for the first time. I think this is a great sign that on a so-so day I’m improving and getting faster. I also think the swim and bike pack learnings I had at this race were invaluable.
Race thoughts / focus areas
I purposely kept my race focus areas short and sweet so I’d have a greater chance of making progress on each.
Swim hard enough to stay close with the pack (because it’ll be easier to do so) Compared to other races, I swam extremely hard in the beginning of the swim. This paid off, because basically, everyone starts the swim with monster speed, but then everyone gets in a steady, slower pace. This was one of very few races where I made it further in the swim pack. The race dynamics are coming along for sure.
Push my limits on the bike. Be less cautious about energy conservation. This was my best bike performance, on a surprisingly slower course (some elevation gain + curvy turns in the road.) This race, I was in tune with the athletes in front of me instead of prioritizing the numbers on my bike computer. I pushed when I needed to stay in contact with the pack, and I went way over the watt cap in my race plan, but it kept me in contention in my group. I’m proud that took this risk, because the new learning was that my body could handle a pretty steady run after such a spikey bike effort. I’ll definitely take that learning with me to my next race.
When people passed me on the bike, I felt a little discouraged. I didn’t have the legs to follow them. Later, when I looked on the tracker, I saw they were only a minute ahead. This is related to the topic Michelle keeps asking me about: am I over cautious about leaving my bike pack to seek an unknown pack ahead of me? In this case, I just didn’t have the legs, but I think under more fit conditions, I do need to be taking more risks to climb up the bike rankings. I feel more confident that my run legs can handle those types of spikes. And also…how else are you supposed to be in contention for winning?
One thing I’ve noticed in photos is that my aero position doesn’t look so aero anymore. I’ll aim to get another bike fit in October, when I’m in Tucson for training camp. With my w/kg I think this will make a big difference.
Thank you to my sponsors, Zoot, The Feed, and Firefly Recovery!
Stay sterdy,
Ben