Racing Hurts, Quit Being a Pansy

The 2010 season has been another breakthrough year for me. Kicking things off with a half marathon in February running a 1:10 on a hilly course with heavy volume and limited tempo work to consistently performing in just about all of my races.

3 Podiums thus far:

1^st Miami International, 2^nd Monterrey World Cup, 2^nd Lifetime Fitness Triathlon.

Recently, I guess I should say I “took part” in the World Championship Series London. The race took place in Hyde Park and was a test run of the Olympic course. Just about all the athletes showed up 100% ready. I too thought I was one of those guys.

Now before I go on, I’m not one of those triathletes who writes Sappy-All-About-Me-Pathetic Post Race Blogs. Who actually read those? Boring! I’d rather have an extra bold 24 ounce coffee, eat a high fiber multigrain muffin, and watch an episode of Dr. Phil while stuck in traffic on a hot summer day with no A/C. Now if your bad race was epic in any way, do tell… I find it difficult to talk about myself on a regular basis, so as you can see my blog posts tend to be a bit limited.

Welp, I had a bad race. Yup. Late afternoon race starts have been my Achilles Heel. Looking at the performance of my “participation” (I dare not call it a “race”) now in hindsight, I think was a good thing. I had a great swim then a fairly solid bike. Things were going according to plan. After that it turned sour.

Could taking 51^st, having to hop the fence in the middle of the run to take a dump in a port-a-john then get back in only to have the same urge 1km again before the finish actually be a good thing? Perhaps. I had the same problem at the World Championships last year in Gold Coast. Just when I thought I solved the problem stemming mostly from a miscalculation of nutrition, I’m irritated and back to the drawing board 10 months later.

Consistency is the name of the game when you are a professional in any occupation. One hit wonders come and go. Doing it well is a priority if you want to make some money or go places. I’ve come into this sport from the bottom of the totem pole. I’ve made lots of mistakes… and repeated some of them. The key is you have to learn from your mistakes and make improvements, not make the same thing again, and carry on.

Performing fairly well for the past year has been great. But lately I’ve gotten lackadaisical; I’ve gone back to some bad habits. Staying up late and having a few drinks the night before key workouts, drinking too much coffee on occasion, and goofing off a little more than I should. Nothing excessive, but I know what my threshold is now. When you’re still kicking ass, making money you wonder where that tipping point is. The fine line between kicking back, and kicking too far back.

Losing to Matty Reed by less than 10 seconds at Lifetime Fitness Triathlon, taking 3^rd in a four way sprint for 3^rd place at a French Grand Prix the following weekend, and a pathetic showing on the Olympic course the third and final weekend; it’s time to trim the fat. Sunday’s piss poor performance in Hyde Park kicked me repeatedly in the nuts then said “wake up and stop screwing around!”

Ok, this sounds a bit better: Taking to 2^nd to one of the greatest non-drafting experts of our time while beating the current 2x Ironman World Champion by a minute, then the following weekend sprinting against two Olympians with multiple World Cup Victories (Kris Gemmell & Fred Belaubre) and the 2008 World Junior Champion (Vincent Luis) along with two of the best guys on the planet taking 1-2 (the Brownlee brothers) isn’t a bad two weeks. But! Capping a 3 weekend race series off with a 51^st place finish in London is bad and a good wake up call. That and a 26^th place finish at the Des Moines World Cup is both disappointing and unacceptable.

No, it’s not time to race less, but better preparation and more careful planning will do the trick.

The best triathletes in the world race towards Olympic glory in the ITU draft legal format. Period. Either I have to show up ready at 100% and throw down against the best, or pack up and “go longer”… oh don’t worry those are on my hit list, but further down the road… business first, fun later.

M

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Upcoming plans:

To get a month of high quality sea level training in at a training camp with Jarrod Shoemaker and Greg Rouault in Poissy, France after Kitzbuhel WCS beginning mid August to prepare for World Championships in Budapest in September.

For now, back to Colorado Springs.