Pretty good swim, kept moving forward

Only problem was the start of the race... our wave got in the water and I was experiencing some leaking into the right eye of the goggles. I was tyring to fix it while swimming the 150 to 200 meters to the start line... but the cannon went off while I was still about 50 meters behind the start line... so I'd say that I swam a high 30 minute swim VS. the 31:49 as officially recorded... live and learn.

Decent T1, just a big area and had to go a long way from swim exit to bike to bike mount area... it took about 45 seconds alone to run with the bike to the mount line.

Simply, I moved from 25th out of the water to 9th place after T2. 5th overall in AG... not bad... thought I'd be faster on the planned race watts... was expecting a 2:23 according to the leading web-based analytical sites.

Data:

avg. speed - 22.62
avg. moving speed - 24
avg. watts - 260 (.82 IF)
NP watts - 290 (.89 IF)
est. CDA - .250 (new best aero data)

Equipment:
Bike: Specialized SHIV
Wheels: Flo 60/Disc
Tires: GP4000s II
Tubes: Vredstein Latex
Suit: PI Octane Half Sleeve
Helmet: LG Vortice (no visor)
Gears: Rotor Q rings 54/42 and 11/28

This course is a beast... with 3800 ft. of climbing... you're either going up at 5 plus percent or going down 5 plus percent.


I ran out of gear with a 54/11 on the downhills, if I did this again... I'd use a 55. A 42/25-28 was fine for going up snow canyon.

My goal was under 2:25, but missed it... the course is tough... I was right at race pace watts of 260 so... it's the course... it's tough.

Decent T2, right in line with others

I had a goal of 1:37 to 1:39.

A complete meltdown after 2 miles... I was pacing ok until the 5% grade stuff started.

My lower inner quad locked up, spasmed and all that on the uphills, so I was doing a lot of walking interspersed with some jogging until the next lock up and spasm... going downhill was ok, I was comfortable for a while and paced relatively well.

I got dehydrated too... just a complete and utter fail.

From 9th to 15th!!

Walking around in a daze


I guess I need to evaluate things

Only thing about dehydration... I lost about 5% body weight... I'm from AZ, so I know heat, but I didn't feel like I was sweating that much... but I probably underhydrated on the bike and it lead to a body meltdown.

2 days later, I'm still about 2.5 lbs lighter than race start day.


Overall, I was 8 minutes faster than last year, but 1 miunte slower in the run.

Good event with bad results.

I was looking for a WC Canada slot... but even if I would have maintained position at 9th after T2.. I still wouldn't have gotten a slot.

A 4:52 last year would have gotten 9th place and a slot (like 3 more slots available)... but this year, I would have had to go under 4:35... which at my best I don't think that I would have been able to do. I was aiming for around a 4:38 to 4:40.

ALL of the top 10 guys ran under 1:35... with the top 3 all under 1:30... f$%k me!

The only consolation that I have is that there is a time delta of about 20 to 25 minutes from this course to the local Tempe Town Lake course... so even with a meltdown... I would have been about or slightly under 4:30... that would be a PR.