A few weeks ago was the inaugural Tri Ft Worth.  Trident Sports teamed up with the city of Ft Worth to host the first 70.3 / 140.6 race in North Texas.  I wanted to support the race so I signed up for it a few months back.  Here’s how the day played out.

But first – my favorite shirt from he expo.  Pretty much sums up mine and Wakin’s friendship.

SWIM (48 minutes)

The morning of the race was kinda nuts.  I’m pretty sure the race was slotted for May simply because April weather can be crazy.  The forecast for Sunday had been changing daily but was most recently showing spectacular conditions.

Around 3:45 AM I was awakened by thunder.  I had an alarm set for 4 so I got up and immediately checked the weather.  Rain chances for 7 and 8 AM were back to 30-40%.  Great.  As I drove into Ft Worth around 5:45 AM there was an incredible light show going on in the western sky.

The 140.6 guys were supposed to go in the water around 6:45.  Finally by 7:30 the lightening had backed off enough that they started the race.  Even as we went into the water 30 minutes later I was still seeing an occasional strike off in the distance.  I made my way into the water and prayed for the best.

I settled into a decent rhythm fairly quickly.  It was a rolling start so there were lots of bodies around but there was definitely plenty of room to avoid contact.  The swim was fairly uneventful which is always a good thing.  I could tell my form was not great but felt like I was keeping a decent pace.  My goal had been to swim the 2100 yds in ~42 minutes.

As I came out of the water I glanced at my watch: 48 minutes.  Talk about knocking the wind out of your sails.  All hopes for a PR were immediately gone.  I saw that the swim was long, ~2400 yds, which means I swam my normal pace.  Still it was disheartening.

BIKE (2:53, 19.4 mph, 187 NP)

I got in and out of T1 as fast as possible and off I went on the bike.  I knew the chances were slim but if I could pull off a decent bike there was the slight possibility I could make up 5-10 minutes on the run and still PR.  I knew the rest of the day would have to go 100% perfectly.

There were two factors dictating how I chose to ride this course: elevation and weather.  The course was mainly uphill to mile ~35 and then largely downhill on the back side.  The weather had predicted light winds increasing each hour out of the N/NE.  The route was largely N and then S which meant there should be a tailwind coming on the back half if I could could simply get there.

With those factors in mind my plan was to push the power more than normal on the front half and hope to recover somewhat on the back half averaging 185W over the course of the day.  This was about to be a grand experiment.  Since I have started riding with a power meter the plan has always been to ride steady power beginning to end, usually around 175W.

There were a few hills early.  I was feeling good out of the water, I was behind schedule, and here was an opportunity to do something about it.  I typically cap my max power at 250W.  On one climb I glanced down and saw my power top 300.  There was a short decent followed by a short climb.  400.  Then 450 to top it.  Next climb 350.  My legs were not burning like I expected so I kept it up.  Over the course of the day I topped 300 W 16 different times (in comparison to my best bike ever the number was 4, with none of them over 350).  My early splits were impressive and the speed reflected it.  If in fact the winds and elevation played out there was still a chance.

As I neared the turn around I noticed there was not really a head wind.  It was somewhat of a crosswind.  I made the turn and sure enough – a cross wind now from the other side.  It was just one of those days.

I managed to hold my power steady on the back half but due to the increasing crosswinds my speed never really reflected it.  As I closed in on T2 it was painfully obvious that a PR day was out the window.  The only thing left to shoot for would be a PR run.

RUN (2:03, 9:32 pace)

I made my way through the convention center, dropping my bike and getting my run gear on.  As I left the building Sarah and the kids were there offering smiles and high fives.  It was probably the best 30 seconds of my day by a long shot.  I had yet to see my training buddy Wakin.  I asked her if he had come through yet knowing full well what the answer would be.  “Yeah, around 15 minutes ago.”  Well crud.

As I started down Lancaster street my brain went to doing the math.  If I were to put a minute into him every mile he would still have me by a few minutes.  The only way to beat him at this point would be the perfect storm of me killing the run and him absolutely blowing up.  I knew he had pushed the bike to be 15 minutes up on me so there was a faint chance if I could deliver on my part.

I clocked my first mile at 8:10, my fastest mile ever off the bike during a race.  My heart rate was hanging on right about where I hoped.  Over the next few miles my speeds slowly dropped as my HR slowly came up.  By mile 5 I was down to an 8:47 and starting to feel the effects of the bike.

As I closed in on the marker for mile six I saw two things forever etched into my mind.  The first was Wakin heading my way and running like a mad man.  I was not sure how far up he was but he looked ready to finish the race strong.  Then I saw the back side of a mile marker for runners that had already hit the turn around and were headed back towards me (aka Wakin).  As I passed it I turned and looked at it from the other side – mile nine.  That fool was three miles up on me.  Assuming a nine minute pace that meant he was now 27 minutes up on me.  After crushing a bike he had continued to put time into me on the run.  Mind.  Blown.

I gave him a high five and cheered him on as he passed.  About 30 seconds later I hit the brakes and took my first walk of the day.  A run PR was technically still a possibility but just didn’t seem worth the effort.  I took my time as I cruised through the final six miles.

The race did a pretty incredible job with the home stretch.  The finisher chute came in right in front of the convention center.  I claimed my medal, turned in my timing chip, and made my way over to Sarah and the kids.

THOUGHTS (5:52, 10th of 33 in AG)

First off, my thoughts on the venue.  For an inaugural event Trident put on a fantastic race.  I’d easily do it again.  The course was fair but challenging.  I think they placed it in the right time of year.  Some folks didn’t care for the bike course, namely the proximity to traffic, but I never found it to be problematic.  Finishing the bike by coming through the brick streets of Ft Worth were the ultimate combination of local flare and pure evil by the race director.  On course support was decent.  I hope the race gets the backing to continue.

Next, my thoughts on Wakin.  Holy moly dude.  Awesome day.  It nabbed him a qualification for AG Nationals.  He did what I was unwilling to do – push the pain limits for close to 5 hours.  Kudos and congrats on the PR.

Finally, thoughts on my day.  It’s safe to say I was a little disappointed with my performance across the board.  After having a not so great day at Galveston last year and still pulling off a 5:30 I honestly thought that was my new worst case scenario.  I’m starting to really appreciate the 5:21 I had at Redman a few years ago and wondering if it may stand as a permanent PR.  It’s been ~3 years since I went 5:51 or slower so it’s a tough pill to swallow.  On the bright side there are a few explanations that give me some hope for the days ahead.

OVERBIKING – I think it’s fair to say that I biked beyond my abilities this time around.  It’s hard to see because my bike power never really took a nosedive, but my run shows it.  I think the course had a little more elevation than I was ready for.  The frustrating thing is that this is the most power I’ve ever put out over this distance yet the pace didn’t reflect it.  Which leads me to my next point.

NUTRITION – Not race day nutrition, but overall nutrition.  I was a good 5-10 lbs over my normal race weight, and a good 15-20 lbs over my ideal race weight.  Maybe someday I’ll hit ideal race weight.  But probably not until I change my eating habits.  It’s a limiting factor and I know it.  Maybe this will finally push me over the edge.

RUN FOCUS – I think this was by far the most important factor.  This year my primary focus has been my run.  Which means less time devoted to the bike.  To do really well in triathlon the bike has to be the primary focus.  I’ll return there at some point, but all of my goals for the year revolve around improving my run.  There’s no doubt in my mind that running a marathon with 2k ft of elevation gain three weeks prior to this race played into my performance (or lack thereof).  Sometimes days like this make you take a step back and realize that even though it appears to be a setback that there are bigger things in play.  Like crushing a marathon this fall.

So what next?  Summer.  I may dial it back a little but I’ll continue to train through the Texas heat.  Maybe a shorter race here and there.  I’ll very like start a marathon build in late August that will hopefully play into me finally cracking a 4 hour marathon later in the fall.  But for now it’s just back to the normal routine with some family fun thrown into the mix.