This was one of those days when everything just clicks. Leading up to the race I knew I was queued up for a solid performance as I felt much stronger, confident, and relaxed than I can remember prior to any race in the past. I knew if I had a good day I would be under 4:30 and if I had a great day I might break the 4:25 mark. Never did I dream that I would have a fantastic day and go 4:17.
The swim was on par with my swims from the past and I was 40th out of the water. My bike was where I made a big jump from last year’s results at this race. My average bike speed was just shy of 1 MPH faster (0.8 to be exact) than last year. In both my previous experiences with this race I remember being passed by a good number of guys during the bike. This year I was only passed by 2 guys. The bike course is a 2 lap format and at the end of the 1st lap I was still feeling strong and I was confident that during the 2nd lap I could sustain my effort level. My power numbers were extremely steady through the entire ride (as you can see from the graph below). I ended up finishing 39th on the bike, by far and away my best long course bike result to-date.
I exited T2 feeling primed up for a fantastic run so I started out with a reasonably fast pace. The 1st loop passed surprisingly quickly and as I headed out for the 2nd lap the finish clock read 3:34. Seeing this totally amped me up as I knew that barring a complete disaster I would finish high in the overall rankings. As I make the final turn towards the line I see a beautiful 4:17 on the clock and a wave of complete joy engulfs my body. All my work over the past 5 years came together for a flawless PR race. To say I was ecstatic is a complete understatement.
I closed out the race with the 16th fastest ½ marathon pulling it off in a respectable 1:25, still I ended up missing the podium by 1 slot, finishing 4th in my age group and 17th overall. Minus the 10 pros that finished in front of me, I was the 7th age grouper out of the starting field of 1060. Not bad at all. It’s funny how 2 weeks ago I never imagined I was capable of a race like this, but this is now the new benchmark. Looking forward I still have a lot of strength still to gain on the bike and with the right combo of training and recovery there’s absolutely no reason why I can’t break the 4:10 mark.
This race was the absolute best performance I’ve put in to date for any distance, including Ironman. An awesome finish like this is exactly what I needed to motivate my training for the next few months as I prepare for my season’s A-race at IMAZ. In a short 5 weeks from now I'll take another stab at the ½ IM distance out at the Aurora Rez at the Harvest Moon Long Course. Harvest Moon offers a slightly tougher bike course than the 5430 so it should be another good indication of where things are at before my final 10 weeks of training leading up to AZ.
Thinking back on my results I’m still totally amped about when a fantastic day I had. It’s not often in life when we’re able to totally surprise ourselves so it’s pretty special when we shatter our pre-conceived notion of what is possible. I remember the finish of my first ½ IM thinking that was the toughest thing I’ve ever done and how it was pure misery. The next summer after a few more ½ IM I started to believe that someday I might be able to do well at long course triathlons. At this last race, my 10th ½ IM, I actually enjoyed the entire event and now I can't wait to race another. Even last year I never really had fun with the ½ IM format as the combo of longer distance paired with higher intensity makes for a really tough race, however somewhere in the past several months there's been a significant change in my strength and endurance where I now am able to thrive in both the distance and intensity. Going forward I have a newfound confidence in my multisport endurance as I see how far I can go with the triathlon thing. Today was a very special day.
Until next time…
-Maxwell
Results
Overall : 17th (1060)
Age Group : 4th (103)
Time : 4:17:45 (28:57, 2:21:32, 1:25:23)
The swim was on par with my swims from the past and I was 40th out of the water. My bike was where I made a big jump from last year’s results at this race. My average bike speed was just shy of 1 MPH faster (0.8 to be exact) than last year. In both my previous experiences with this race I remember being passed by a good number of guys during the bike. This year I was only passed by 2 guys. The bike course is a 2 lap format and at the end of the 1st lap I was still feeling strong and I was confident that during the 2nd lap I could sustain my effort level. My power numbers were extremely steady through the entire ride (as you can see from the graph below). I ended up finishing 39th on the bike, by far and away my best long course bike result to-date.
I exited T2 feeling primed up for a fantastic run so I started out with a reasonably fast pace. The 1st loop passed surprisingly quickly and as I headed out for the 2nd lap the finish clock read 3:34. Seeing this totally amped me up as I knew that barring a complete disaster I would finish high in the overall rankings. As I make the final turn towards the line I see a beautiful 4:17 on the clock and a wave of complete joy engulfs my body. All my work over the past 5 years came together for a flawless PR race. To say I was ecstatic is a complete understatement.I closed out the race with the 16th fastest ½ marathon pulling it off in a respectable 1:25, still I ended up missing the podium by 1 slot, finishing 4th in my age group and 17th overall. Minus the 10 pros that finished in front of me, I was the 7th age grouper out of the starting field of 1060. Not bad at all. It’s funny how 2 weeks ago I never imagined I was capable of a race like this, but this is now the new benchmark. Looking forward I still have a lot of strength still to gain on the bike and with the right combo of training and recovery there’s absolutely no reason why I can’t break the 4:10 mark.
This race was the absolute best performance I’ve put in to date for any distance, including Ironman. An awesome finish like this is exactly what I needed to motivate my training for the next few months as I prepare for my season’s A-race at IMAZ. In a short 5 weeks from now I'll take another stab at the ½ IM distance out at the Aurora Rez at the Harvest Moon Long Course. Harvest Moon offers a slightly tougher bike course than the 5430 so it should be another good indication of where things are at before my final 10 weeks of training leading up to AZ.
Thinking back on my results I’m still totally amped about when a fantastic day I had. It’s not often in life when we’re able to totally surprise ourselves so it’s pretty special when we shatter our pre-conceived notion of what is possible. I remember the finish of my first ½ IM thinking that was the toughest thing I’ve ever done and how it was pure misery. The next summer after a few more ½ IM I started to believe that someday I might be able to do well at long course triathlons. At this last race, my 10th ½ IM, I actually enjoyed the entire event and now I can't wait to race another. Even last year I never really had fun with the ½ IM format as the combo of longer distance paired with higher intensity makes for a really tough race, however somewhere in the past several months there's been a significant change in my strength and endurance where I now am able to thrive in both the distance and intensity. Going forward I have a newfound confidence in my multisport endurance as I see how far I can go with the triathlon thing. Today was a very special day.Until next time…
-Maxwell
Results
Overall : 17th (1060)
Age Group : 4th (103)
Time : 4:17:45 (28:57, 2:21:32, 1:25:23)
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