First Race of 2012

There is two and a half months left to the big event and I’m dialing it up by day. I just wrapped the first race of the season and I’m very happy about my performance. Milton is a pretty challenging spring course but certainly a great race to kick off the season. While I have seen big improvements in my run and bike, my swimming stays constant. To make any significant changes to my swimming pace, I will have to spend a lot of time and that’s not a luxury I can afford right now. I’m just going to focus on endurance and strength and try to wrap it up with a decent pace, I will have quite a bit of time to move up the ranks on the ride.

In Milton though, I was happy with my swimming, it was pretty straight and right around 2 min pace. I did drop the pace just a bit towards the end but I think that was mainly because I miscalculated the depth and stopped to start running out of the water:
https://www.trainingpeaks.com/sw/JHPPSW5O2EIFSIPAOX5VP4GSSA

The bike course was as difficult as I expected it. It was certainly a smart idea to go and checkout the course a day before, the 6th line hill could shock you if you haven’t seen it before the race. As per Sylvie’s instructions, I kept a steady watt around 250 on the hill. I made sure that I have enough power to push over the top and attack the rest of rollers. For the next 10 K of the ride I pushed hard and rode smart, approached every hill with a good momentum and made sure I push off the top of it. My power averaging around 210 watts.
The ride back to T2 was pretty fast. I made sure that I give my legs a bit of rest for the hilly run course
http://www.trainingpeaks.com/sw/55NPUEND4VXX56PQYVJ6PPEOA4

The run was the portion of the race I had the least idea about. With the exception of the short hill right out of the transition area, I did not know much about the rest of the course. It actually turned out to be a good thing at the end or otherwise it could have slowed me down.  I ended up setting one of my fastest runs despite the challening and up hill first 4 KM of the run. I ran a 4:02 on the second half of the course for a total average pace of 4:25.
http://www.trainingpeaks.com/sw/U2SBOEZN5S6YQAPBANCNMLSNQI

Overall I’m very happy with my performance, Its now time to log some 5 hour rides and get ready for the half Ironman race. This is going to be really good.

Lastly, here is the link to my pre-race warm up track, one of my most favorite essential mixes of all time.


 

Comments are closed.