Time for Triathlon Travel Time

 Well the NC season is over for me. That means its time to go to SPAIN!

Ok, first off, how's it all going? Goals:

1. Travel as much as possible: Spain, Miami, Phoenix. That's what I have left for travel (that's after all the tri trips we've already taken). So some meat still left on the bone!

2. Win NCTS for AG: It's official! Their season is over and I'm first in my AG. Looks like I actually have 1st place in the AG division! 2 Advanced guys ahead of me so I guess 3rd overall! Not bad. I did 8 NCTS races. If you compare my USAT scores for the same race, I had my best race this year in 7 of the 8 (New River I did better last year and that actually caused me to change strategies and train more which WORKED!)

3. Win SCTS for AG: Not official yet since they have 2 races left. BUT, looks like a done deal to get 1st AG. Looks like Erik got first in the division, with me 2nd. 4 guys in Advanced were higher so I"m looking at 6th overall. Not too bad!

4. Get All American Status: Again, won't know until February I guess. But looks like a lock. 

5. Qualify for 2025: Decided we were all burned out on this and no appetite for Australia. Maybe another year. 

6. STRETCH - Top in AG for NC: So far so good but I'm not holding my breath. Likely just a matter of time.

When you take away all the strange things, this is measurably my best season ever already. I promised my wife that we wouldn't take the Worlds seriously this year since last year was THE most stressful time we've had. So going to take it easy and just enjoy it. I'm frankly burned out on all the Worlds stuff from last year still. Maybe once a decade and we do other less stress inducing races overseas. 

OH, and I got the new bike. Here's my impression:

1. My fit is better than my last bike. The guy who did it was a rock star and it feels great.

2. It feels fast but I am not sure I'm actually faster. I think I'm possibly a little less tired going to the run.

3. Also, I have a powermeter and I'm looking more at watts than speed which I think may be helping. 

But we'll see. I'll be taking it to Miami next month so should be interesting.

Already August?

I got super sad when I told my wife that I have only 11 triathlons left this year. She gave me the look but how are we already almost done already?! And if this is a safe place for me to vent, WHY DID THEY CANCEL THE KEY WEST TRI IN DECEMBER?! So bummed. Such a great little tradition I had going there too. And also, no Sun Devil Classic this November? AND no Havana triathlon next February? Bad enough the season is almost over, but no I'm scrambling to fill up the post Spain calendar. I know, boo hoo. But c'mon everybody!

But I still do have 8 more races before we head to Malaga for the World Championships. Frankly, last year was so MUCH stress, Covid/illness while there, logistics that it was a big turnoff. This year I promised my wife it would be low key. I wanted to do Australia in 2025 but it was a big no way and I had to agree actually. Just burnt out on these high stress events. Maybe I'll give it a few years off on them and travel other cool places (like there is a triathlon in Chile in December? Maybe next year!

I think I have some replacement races that should be pretty great lined up and if I were being honest, I can only do the same thing every year for so long before I need to mix it up and miss it a little bit (I'm going to enjoy the hell out of 2025 Key West!)

In the meantime, it's been a great season so far. I learned that if I train more, I do better. I think I'm on to something. While my absolute score is well below what it was last year (because I'm frankly not doing high profile races that draw other folks with high scores), my year over year times and scores have been going up. It's a real validation to the training changes I have made. 

AND, I've also purchased a NEW BIKE! I've been looking at this exact bike and color for about 2.5 years now. It is stuck in Germany right now but I should have it by the end of the season. AND I hit the go button on some brand new hookless Zipp 858 NSW's. I may even get the new disc this winter. I'm beyond excited (and frankly terrified to see if i see any measurable improvement). 

I am currently in a commanding (and frankly untouchable) position in the NCTS and SCTS standings for my age group (for Advanced and AG fwiw). I've also secured a USAT score that should all but guarantee an All American spot. I'm in my usual 1st place in the state position for this time of year (before the fast guys do their fall races). Should be top 3, hoping for #2 again but we'll see. I have 6 podiums so far this year which equals my full year total in 2022 and leaves me 2 away from my PR last season. I'm not sure I have "fixed" my podium problem but fwiw, I have 1 first, 4 seconds, 1 third so far. So it doesn't feel as bad as I finished last season. 

My official goals are killing it though:

1. Travel as much as possible. CHECK and more CHECK to come.

2. Win NCTS for AG: seems a done deal

3. Win SCTS for AG: seems a done deal (btw, I doubt I do this again next year. SO far from where I live, closer options, etc). 

4. Get All American Status: Seems like a shoe-in but we'll see

5. Qualify for 2025: Well, didn't go to Omaha because Australia didn't seem like a fun trip, more of a chore.

6. Stretch:  Top in AG in NC: Enjoy it while it lasts ;)

HAVANA NA NA NA

Spanish immersion triathlon 2 of 3 is done and it was an amazing trip. My wife, daughter, and I went down for a 9 day trip to Cuba to take in the culture, interact with the wonderful Cuban people, and participate in the 2024 Havana Triathlon.

As it turns out, sporting competition is one of the limited number of reasons to visit Cuba legally. We also were able to see a lot of friends and show Sofia the Havana that Emily (and to a much lesser extent) that I know and love. 

The race was the most surreal, unusual, crazy experience I have had in 25 years of racing. It was everything you'd expect a Cuban race to be. But I absolutely loved it and frankly can't wait to go back again next year. 

Sure, the race logistics were a bit unclear, wrong, miscommunicated, and confusing. We arrived to pick up the packet on Friday (note to self, just pick it up day before) and got some resistance. We stayed close to the Marina just before the race to make logistics easier (note to self, just stay closer to Hotel Nationale next time regardless of pre-race instructions). Sure, the race results times seemed to be randomly incorrect. But the placements seemed accurate and I managed to get 10th OA and 1ST AG (my first top AG placement for an international race). We met so many wonderful people at the race and the Cuban people have solidified a place in my heart as being some of the best, friendlies, and kindest people on the planet.

I was stretching and waiting for the start at the Marina when the elite women were finishing the swim and saw Gwen Jorgenson towards the lead of the pack. Later, I would see her at the Hotel Nationale preparing to accept her first place award and was lucky enough to snap some photos with her and my daughter. Just a really cool moment that I was glad to capture with Sofia. 

None of the actual times seem accurate on the website BUT I can say that my swimming was close to mid season form. My transitions were mostly good. My run was about average for me (mid 6:30s). My bike though... First off, I did get lost for about a minute. I was leading what turned out to be the third wave of triathletes and there was no one or police ahead of me. My GPS didn't work (a big thanks to Garmin for blocking maps in Cuba) and I made a bad call. I quickly recovered and finished back in the top placement of that group of cyclists (I had no idea there was another 2 groups of racers ahead of me but I did suspect I wasn't overall first). Also, I decided to try to turn my road bike into a tri bike. I don't think i was generating as much power as usual. Also, the potholes and "technical" challenges on Cuban streets, it was a learning experience. Just use my road bike like a road bike. PLUS, I really felt like I've already lost race conditioning despite all my huge bike training. You just can't train for race pace bike (or at least I can't). I get better and faster as the year gets on. I was somewhere in the 18mph range I think if my estimations are correct which is just terrible. Road conditions were bad and hey, at least I didnt flat. Probably should see what kind of drop off the pros saw;)

January and February races down for 2024. Next up I have Azalea next weekend and that's it for the rest of March. The longest stretch for months without races (not too bad). I wonder how my bike goes next weekend? I'll have my tri bike and a race under my belt within 2 weeks. Let's see if that makes any difference.

It's Going Great, But...Podiums

 Look, everything is going great. I've now podiumed every triathlon I've done since Pontevedra (5 straight races). I've podiumed 8 of my last 11 races. 8 of my career 13 triathlon podiums have come in the last 5 months. But there's something going on with me. I need to get in a better headspace over podiums.

When I look back at podiums for running, I didn't win/place/show anything FOREVER. It was only really in the last 2 years I ran (prior to knee injury) that I started winning races. And for a short time, I was winning and kind of often. I didn't really think about it at the time, but I got 10 podiums in about 3 years. Of the 10 podiums, I won 6 times, got 2nd one time, 3rd three times. That's pretty high for a winning percentage. Of the 6 wins in running, there were 5 unchallenged wins. In one (the second Vac and Dash) there was contention between miles 7-10 of the half (nothing at the end).

Now I know I've commented on podiums already. It's just a function of who shows up, etc. I tend to focus on scores that look beyond that (USAT does a good job, NCTS/SCTS a bit less so). But my goals are season long and sustained over timespans much longer than one race. But...

I had a look at my podiums for triathlon. 17 podiums all starting in 2022. 3 wins, 2nd place 8 times, 3rd 4 times. Whereas I was winning 60% of my podiums in running, I'm only winning 20% in triathlon. The three I won, they were all more or less uncontested. The second place finishes though... I can count at least 3 occasions where I fail to run down the winner including 2 times in the last 2 months.

In Orlando as well as in Sarasota, I was beat by the archetypical "Good Swimmer", "Decent Biker", "Poor Runner" triathlete (in the other occasion, the individual was a very strong runner and technically caught up to me although he started ahead of me so I see it as my inability to outpace him). These other two races got me thinking though... what can I do differently. 

And what kills is that I didn't lose to them by much. 10-20 seconds. In both situations I'm just unable to close the last little bit. And with running, you always have more to give so I want to blame my running. I think on both occasions I didn't have career days but I did have good running efforts. Maybe I could blame imperfect swims (which did occur in both of these races). But I really want to blame running since it was the last leg and probably my best leg. 

I think about Pontevdra and thinking about Emily and Sofia being in the stands and not caring about anything but finishing as strong as my body would allow. If I had that level of effort, I could have had 2 (maybe 3) more wins here. Just something for me to remember. 

EDIT: Had a thought. I remember in running only races, I would stress "running my race" and trying hard to block out the noise. I think that may help here too. There's a lot of weight and even stress if a podium is on the line. Maybe being focused on pace and work will help and then seeing where things are in key moments (towards end or at key spots where opportunities arise). More to do here for sure.