Jorge Duque Victoria Race Report

Execute and the results will come… This is a story of execution, not your typical EN story where execution leads to winning your age group or something brutally amazing. This is the execution guide for the average Joe.

What the hell is execution? That has been the question in my mind for a couple years now and I think I am finding a decent answer: execution is a three-step process

1.       Know your limits: We train hard, work hard and strive to be better every day, as a result we have data that tells us what is realistic and what is wishful thinking. We know what we can do.

2.       Plan accordingly: If the plan is not realistic there is no chance of execution. If you want to be faster go back to step one and expand your limits (this is what I try to do every year – get a little bit better than before)

3.       Stick to your plan: If you can stick to it, that means you didn’t screw steps 1 or 2. If execute according to your plan you won regardless of the position you cross the finish line

I wrote this on my race plan: “Great chance to fine tune your swim, bike, and run. Take it easy, be focused, and stick to the freaking plan. Your goal is to follow your plan and execute: you want to perform, not survive.” That was the goal, nothing more nothing less.

Let’s see what happened:

Swim: The water was really nice (68 degrees). My average swim time during training had been 43 minutes so I lined up with the 40 min group. It was very busy, I think the bulk of the athletes decided to line up here. I swam inside the buoys as some members recommended and that helped a lot but there was a lot of people zigzagging the course creating some unnecessary contact during the swim.

I was able to be relaxed and focused on form while counting strokes. I wasn’t surprised when I saw my time: 00:43:52, just like training. So far things are moving according to plan.

T1: The distance from the water to the bike was kind of long. It took a decent jog to get there. I had a very focused transition, I rehearse it in my mind a million times. Didn’t waste any time; peel wetsuit, shoes on, helmet, glasses, arm warmers (it was cold and there was a chance of rain), and out. There was traffic getting out of T1. I thought it was a very fast T1, but later I found it wasn’t the case. It was a 3:49 T1. I was surprised it took so long considering I didn’t lose any time at all.

Bike: Mastering the art of being passed and not giving a f#ck. Telling myself a million times “you are setting your run, don’t go crazy”, “you are doing your own race, not anyone else”, “you will get them later”, "focus on your watts". The goal here was very clear: don’t screw your run. It is not a bike race, it’s a triathlon. Mentally, this was the toughest part of the day but also the greatest victory: keep your cool – execute, that’s what’s all about – have discipline.

The course was a nice mix of rolling hills, short nasty climbs and long flats. My goal was to keep my watts under control, especially during the climbs; it took insane discipline to avoid going over 300W but I managed to do it. No time was set as a target time, it was just about racing with discipline and managing nutrition correctly. The plan was to “lock yourself at 200W and keep your heart rate below 150bpm” the outcome was NP 205W and HR 138bpm. Nutrition was on spot too. I had to make a conscious effort to drink and eat according to plan. I reminded myself that it doesn’t matter if you lose 5 seconds or 10 but eat and drink. I refueled my bottle three times during the course and stopped once for peeing and checking the bike since there was some rubbing on the rear wheel. That took 3 minutes but I was able to clear the debris from the wheel and had a smooth ride afterwards.

I have mixed feelings about the course: on one hand the scenery was spectacular, but there was a lot of bike traffic which lead to some people doing insane drafting, additionally there was a lot of cars. The course is not closed to traffic so there where a couple of close calls and emergency brakes. Some parts of the course where also very rough, at some point I was hanging on the aero position for dear life.  

The final result was a total time of 3:07:16, for an average speed of 18 mph. Very happy with it, but happier with the fact that I was able to execute and stick to the plan. For the first time I was kind of looking forward for the run.

T2: Slower than expected. I took some time to say hello to the family.

Run: I have never been able to run the run portion of a half or full, I usually walk the second half of the race; the goal this time was to run the run. The plan was to run the first 5K at TRP (136bpm), then set up at 150bpm for the next 8 miles and go crazy on the last 2 miles. Pee once on the run and have three gels during the run.

The nutrition was on point again, but I was never able to bring the HR down. Mile 1-3 was 150 bpm, mile 4-6 was 153bpm, mile 7-11 was 160 and the last two miles at 170 bpm. I was able to run every single mile. I went to a dark place around mile 9 but passing a lot of walkers was my incentive to keep going; "I refuse to be that guy today, I won't walk". All the miles where at a very constant pace around 10:15, so there where no spikes, it was smooth!. Finally, my last two miles where the fastest miles of the day. At the end, the run came at 2:15:28, about 10 seconds slower than my training but this was my first trail run ever so I will take it.

Shit… I did it – This is how it feels to compete instead of survive!

Biggest lesson of the day:  Execute and the results will come. Executing is not a matter of speed, executing is not reserved for elite athletes, it’s a matter of discipline and self-awareness.

Next race will be IMLOU. I have to work a lot on my swim and run. I feel happy with my bike, but I am not sure I am ready to run a marathon yet.

Thanks for reading.