Race conditions were great. It was a calm morning, in contrast to the pretty much daily winds in Ann Arbor. And while it was hot and sunny, the temperature never rose above 85, so it was tolerable.
The First Run [5K] went exactly as planned. In the face of the increasing [over the course of the race] heat and a very hilly course profile, Coach Doug wanted me to take this very conservatively. The plan was to go out at 6:20, which is right around my half-marathon pace. It took discipline to temper the pace, especially when lots of former collegiate distance runners flew out the gates, but I managed to complete this first leg at precisely a 6:20 clip. The run concluded with a mile climb which no doubt took something out of my legs, but all and all, I hit transition* feeling extremely good.
The Bike [35K] consisted of two laps, which in the words of the locals, “didn’t have a flat piece of road.” The course was rolling the entire way. There were no intense climbs, but rather, many elongated [think 3-6 minute] steady climbs and descents. I pre-road the course a few days earlier and decided I would stay in the big ring at all times. It didn’t take long for me to realize that the conservative first run was a good idea. Just 4 minutes into the bike, I found myself in a great rhythm, and passing nearly 2 athletes per minute. After I finally got some clearance, I continued to settle in, working about 15% harder on the uphills than on the downhills. We anticipated I would average around 21mph for the entire bike, and at the end of the first lap, my computer had me at a 21.5mph average. At this point, a few things happened: 1) I spotted a pack of athletes in my age group just 40-50 seconds behind me, 2) I got passed by Greater > Than teammate Jenn Finn, and 3) I took in my largest single caloric nutrition of the day. Those 3 things worked together to have an “OK, time to leave it all out there” affect on me.
I vividly remember telling myself “trust your training,” and then something more eloquent along the lines of “F* it, let’s go…” I can confidently say that the next 11 miles on the bike was one of the better athletic performances of my life. I’m not really sure what got into me, but I just kind of accepted a new sensation of pain in my legs, and hammered hard over the rollers at 23.2mph. I would find out later that when I started the second lap, the chasers in my age-group were anywhere from 45 seconds to 2 minutes back. By the time we hit transition 11 miles later, I had put a good 3-5 minutes into them, dropped over 15 other athletes, and didn’t get passed by a single person. I netted a 22.3mph average on the bike and took down 300 calories with no stomach issues. This amounts to a big ride for me.
The Second Run [5K] can be characterized by a shift in focus from “F* it, let’s go,” to “be smart and make sure you finish where you need to.” The run course took us through numerous turn-arounds, so I could pretty much always figure out where my age-group competition was, and develop a subsequent strategy in real-time. I quickly caught sight of 2 racers about 90 seconds ahead of me, but I knew both of these guys were former collegiate runners. They were flying at well under a 6:00 pace; I wasn’t going to catch them. On the flip side, I started to see a handful of other guys in my age-group over 2 minutes behind me. These guys were not collegiate runners, and visibly bigger dudes. Aware that the last mile of the run was a straight-up climb, and that things had gotten pretty hot, I was confident that if I could just hold a good pace, I would be able to stay comfortably ahead of this relatively “bike-strong” chase pack.
Meanwhile, I had a decently painful [e.g., more than annoying] cramp come on, so I decided to tentatively slow things down very early in the run. I dropped my pace from about 6:10 to 6:40. At the next couple of “viewpoints” I realized I was still putting time into most of the guys behind me [who all looked pretty uncomfortable], so I just sat at my relaxed pace. By the time I hit the 2 mile mark and saw the final climb ahead of me, my cramp had dissipated enough for me to confidently pick things up to complete the race. I charged up the hill [eerily familiar to Broadway St. for those familiar with Ann Arbor] hard and crossed the finish line in 1:39:48 [leg-by-leg: 6:20, 22.3mph, 6:29].
Although we wanted to negative split my runs [e.g., faster in the second run], given the circumstances, it was no big deal that I didn’t. This race was about that second lap on the bike. That is where I made my time and earned my spot on the map. That said, there are still some encouraging take-aways from this run. Mainly and obviously, I could have run faster. And, my training, which is explicitly built for me to be a strong runner off the bike, is clearly accomplishing its purpose; my super-controlled [of a somewhat out of control bike leg] second run was still the 44th fastest of the day, making it by far my best single split compared to the field.
Overall, a solid result in a stacked field. My celebration with friends and teammates was great, but also time-bound, since I’m racing again in just 6 days. As I get back to work, I’ll focus mainly on recovery and just a few quality workouts to get my body ready to roll at the Willow Duathlon next weekend.
*Note: Transition(s) One and Two were both uneventful. This is a big deal for me. Just a few weeks back at my first race of the season I struggled mightily in transition and lost 3 places in that race as a result, which in this sport, is inexcusable. I focused heavily on working out those kinks. I can still improve here, but the bottom line is, my transitions were pretty neutral in the championships.
Wow!! That must feel fantastic when it all comes together so well. Congrats on an outstanding performance. I look forward to following your progress to worlds.
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