Lions' Spring Sprint Race Report
So, this weekend was my 2nd of two weeks of sprints, where I was hoping to finish in the top 10% of my AG in one in order to qualify to AG nationals. The first was an OK race, but I was pretty far off of qualifying. This week was going to be different. The race format is 250 yard swim in a pool, time trial start, swimming up and down one lane, duck under the lane line, up and down the next, etc for 5 lanes, then out on a 9.3mi rolling bike, and a 3.1 mi rolling run. I've done this race several times before, and had a few good benchmarks on what I thoght I could do.
The swim was about on par for me, similar time to previous years, but I felt more relaxed instead of worked. Which was good, because the plan was to frickin hammer the bike. I got through T1 quick, passing several people, and out on the bike to work. Passed seven people on the bike, and knew I was moving well. I feel like I saw mostly numbers in the 240-250+ range, though NP came back as 233 (two sections where I coasted at 40+mph probably didn't help).
Out on the run, the only goal was to have no regrets at the end. Surged often, and asked myself "can I run any faster than this" many times, with an answer of "no, this is all I have" each time. Flew down the final hill at 5:30's, carried that momentum onto the last 3/4 mile flat stretch, and absolutely left it all out there on the course. Averaged 6:40's on a hilly course, which was solid for my current fitness level
So, I finished with a 30 second PR, 11th OA, and the 5th OA bike split. I'm feeling very good about those stats. OTOH, I finished 2nd in the AG, meaning I didn't qualify for AG Nat's (there were only 7 guys in the AG today, unusual). The kicker was that the AG winner was 4 seconds ahead of me. Aargh!
The good news was that during the post-race awards, there was a raffle, and I won a new wetsuit! So, on the net, not a bad day!
Comments
You went for it! Gotta feel good about that. Oh so close!
sucks about the 4 seconds. Find a bigger race and you will qualify easy. TT start sucks as if you were running down the hill next to the guy it may have been different.
No matter how hard I have tried to hammer the bike in a sprint I have never managed to get it to more than like .92. The turning and the downhills make it impossible on most courses.
Nothing wrong with 2nd AG!
Nice work. It sounds like you gave it everything and that's all you can do.
Awesome work Mike.