Tuesday, August 24, 2010

ITU Sprint World Champs


I knew the warm up was going to be incredibly important since the race was going to start and end at full speed with no time to get warmed up once the gun went off. I rode a lot and did a bit of running and swimming but in hind site don't think I put in enough efforts to get my HR comfortable being elevated. When the gun went off I had a good dive off the pontoon and some good dolphin kicks but after about 100m started to tie up a bit and was subsequently kicked in the teeth which threw me off a bit. I didn't have a bad swim, but rounding the last bouy and heading for home I was in a single file line about 10 deep. Problem was with 100m to go the two guys directly in front of me slowed up leaving a gap that I couldn't close before exiting Lake Geneva.

On the bike I did my thing and immediately went to catch the break, but in the end all I did was successfully tow the entire race back together. On lap 2 I attempted a break away through transition but the legs just didn't have the kick and the guy that went with me couldn't pull through so we were gobbled up and spend the last two laps just in the group.

Once on the run I did a reasonable job of holding my own, but I still struggle getting out of transition at 3:10 pace or whatever the Brownlee's are running and it takes me a while to settle in. I actually felt better on the 2nd loop and for the first time in my life wish the run had been longer than it was. On the day I was 39th, which considering it was a world champs, and a full 75 man field wasn't a bad result, it just wasn't the breakthrough I had been hoping for.

But the next day was the relay so it was easy to warm down and get ready for race number deux...