12 months ago this was my first ever long-distance race. (Double Olympic 2016) This time around, I was excited to test myself and see how far I have come from in the last 12 months.  

I was a little nervous because after my small crash in the last race, my back (SI joint) flamed up preventing me from running for almost 2 weeks leading up to this race. Through the recovery time I tried to stay positive and just told myself that it was a forced taper!  

2017 Result: 1st overall 4:17:23

2016 Result: 4th Overall 4:29:53

The Swim

My pre-race plan was to push the swim hard and get out of sight and out of mind.  100m into the race I felt good and I was following the feet of 2 Korean elite athletes. To be honest I was happy to have a chance to draft my way to a great swim. Then, all the sudden, BAM!, I hit something and my goggles were split in 2 and were broken.  Well, there goes my pre-race plan… After an array of feelings I recalibrated and carried on, goggle-less.  To get the full story of my swim you should read my blog post “Linked Here” about how to swim without goggles.  

I exited the swim 4:10 behind the elite leader, first in the age-groupers.

3km Swim Time - 41:50

2016 Swim Time - 39:43

*They did add about 150m to the swim course this year making us come into the harbor, exit, and dive back in for our second loop.  In 2016 we stayed out for our second lap.

The Bike

Kristin and the boys where at T1 to give me the time gap and remind me to stay calm and breathe.  When I got on my bike I knew I had work to do.  I pushed hard with a nice high cadence of about 90-95 rpms. The bike course was simple but nice, a 20km out and back loop that we repeated 4 times.  Gentle curves and slight rolling hills enabled me to keep my speed high through the course, with the exceptions of the 8 U-turns.  

I calculated that I was 3:40 down on the leader at the first turn around, about 10km into the ride.   Along with the leader, I was also keeping track of several competitors just behind me that I knew had solid runs.  It was difficult managing energy expenditure chasing down the leader and also trying to not blow-up my chances on the run; knowing that there where several quality runners behind me, I did my best to balance the two. By the second lap of the bike I could not pick out the leader anymore, because the bike course was populated with riders on different laps and there was not a motorbike brigade leading him on the middle laps. Much to my surprise, around 65km I caught and past the leader.  I knew it was him because of the race number and his speed suit.   In the last 15km of the ride I was able to gain a 1 minute advantage going in to T2.

80km Bike Time - 2:00:05

2016 Bike Time - 2:04:57 *Yeah! Almost a 5min improvement in 12 months!

The Run

Last year I suffered on the run having to stop several times for cramps after naively pushing too hard o the bike. Had I learned my lesson? When I started running I was very nervous that I over extended on the bike. During the first few km’s I had a few mini cramps or “tingling’s” that felt like any moment could develop into a full-blown muscle seize. I was worried so I walked the first aid station and made sure I got a good gulp of coke and washed it down with a swig of water.  During the first 5km the Korean Elite athlete started gain back on me, but then I was very surprised around 7km that he practically disappeared.  Throughout the first 10km my legs actually felt progressively better!  10km to15km fatigue really started to set in and I started to play the math game for the last 5km.  The game went like this; “if I slow down to 5:30+ per km then I might get caught and loose. If I continue to push sub 4:30 per km I think I might cramp or bonk.” I ended up backing off to about 4:45’s and crossed the finish line still upright but on empty! 

 20km Run Time - 1:32

2016 Run Time- 1:45