Hongseong Double Olympic Race
O2 (Double Olympic). I have Raced this race for the past 2 years (2016 Recap, 2017 Recap) . this was my first year competing it as an elite/pro. I have always I enjoyed the double olympic format as I think it is a proper distance distribution of the 3 sports.
The Start: It was nice to have our own Pro wave start!
The rest of the age groupers had a rolling start after us.
I got off to a good start and sat on the hip/feet of a really good swimmer for about 3-400meters. Coming from a sprint swimming background, take-out speed is never a problem for me. It is easy and it does not “feel” like I am trying hard. However, without fail about 3-400m into the race I started slow and settle into a lope-ing freestyle, where I have a tendency to over-glide. I was mentally ready for this and I let the leader go as soon as I felt the “easy take-out speed” slip away. I did not try to to over stretch my abilities hanging on his feet, which realistically I could have only done for another 3-400m. Since the swim was 3+km I needed to swim MY race.
Huge thanks to Johan and Zone3 Korea for the vanquish wetsuit and Attack goggles! Last year I had a goggle fail at this same race and ended up swimming without goggles(link to blog post). This year, I finished the swim in 2nd, 4min. behind the leader but 7-8min. ahead of the rest of the field.
Swim to bike transition was a long 6-800m! I hate long transitions and I do not enjoy running barefoot.
The Bike:
Another one of the reasons I like this triathlon is because the bike course is great. It is a 4 lap course with some rolling hills.
After the long transition I was about 4:30min. behind the leader to start the bike. I had a strong bike and I caught the leader 2.5 laps into the course. Over the last 1.5 laps I was able to build a 3-4min. lead going into the run.
The Run:
The run was a 4 lap course with 2 turn arounds on each lap. This was great for keeping track of the chasing competitors, but more importantly I was cheered on by my family every 2.5km! I decided to push the first 5km hard with a strategy of showing strength to the chasers. My mini bluff appeared to work as my closest chaser slowed down quite a bit after 5km. The next 10km I stayed steady but then really started to fade during the last 5km. Fortunately my lead was big enough. 2nd and 3rd place closed quite a bit on me in the last 5km but I had enough of a lead, I just needed to get to the line without a "bonk"!