The Swim: 24:15 and 4th out of the water, but 1st on the bike.
The swim course was beautiful, simple, and calm waters. Right from the start I settled into a good rhythm and I was happy to have some company with a few other young Korean Elite triathletes. I have been focusing on maintaining a higher cadence in my workouts. I think this really helped me stay on the feet of these fast young guns. I was 4th to exit the water, but I had good transition and I was in 1st heading out on the bike. Transitions are important!
The Bike: PUNCTURE!
Bam! Right at the beginning of the bike I blew my front tire! The lead motor bike was really confused when I all the sudden took a right turn towards the finish line to get help haha. Stupid me didn’t have a spare.. The first thing I did was find someone who let me call Kristin. Then I found a spare wheel, took a selfie with the Good Samaritans, called Kristin again, and took off. I had dropped from 1st to 400+? place in a little over 22min. After a quick mental recalibration, I ended up having one of the most enjoyable races I have ever had.
I rode the bike as planned and I resisted the urge to try to ‘make it all up’ in the first half of the bike. I measured and paced my effort as if I was just starting the bike and nothing had happened. My Wahhoo element bolt was able to accurately track my actual data so that I could get a real assessment of my performance. In the end I was pleased with my bike .
The run:
I made a decision before the race that I was not going to “go to the well” on this race. I had another race just 2 weeks away and I was competing as exhibition anyways(no PRO category).
I ran the first 5km at normal race effort and then backed off. I felt pretty good! Might have been the fact that I was wearing my new Hoka CarbonX shoes! I can’t wait to fully Unleash them at the next race!
The best part of this run was I joined up with teammate and friend Hansuk and ran the remaining 16km together. He gutted out a courageous run on a tough course showing a lot of heart. Best part, he qualified for 70.3 Worlds in Niece! Way to go Hansuk!
