Friday, July 30, 2010

Tin Man, Honolulu. 2nd Place

I have to love HONOLULU! is the second time that I come back to Kona with a better result than I expected, last time I was fried from overtraining and came back with a 1st place, and this time.....

Well........This time, the same (no first place but Overtrained ha ha! )

No seriously! I've been doing the same mistake since I got to Kona 3 months ago, overtraining and at the same time, not running enough! How I managed to do this? Well first of all, I've been trying to take my Half Ironman Training and by just adding more here and there, convert it into an Ironman Training, the result is that every single week, before the long and important runs, I'm already fried in the Legs. And that's how I was feeling Friday before Tin Man. Saturday I went for an easy ride and came back to the hotel really scared, If I wasgoing to feel like that in the Race, a long and painful day was waiting for me.

Race day came and I simply forgot about it, I was leading the swim for the first 300 meters, then Gregory Price passed me, I came out of the water 2nd in 10:51 just 25 seconds behind him, after a 1:41 transition I managed to pass him (he did 2:04) But around 10k into the Bike he passed me again. I didn't even tried to speed it up, I was feeling OK but it was like I didn't have another gear, I wanted to go faster, but that was my pace, my legs refused to make any changes, it seemed that even if I tried to go faster for a moment, or even a little easier, the pace didn't change a bit, that day my legs had their own mind and there was nothing I could do about it. It was a little windy and we had to take on 2 times the climb to Diamond Head, and feeling not at 100% is was not a ride in the park.I got to T2 after a 1:02 Bike split, not bad for the course, I knew that I was in 2nd place, and that gave me the incentive to start as fast a possible, I didn't want to be passed and loose that place, so I went strong from the beginning. Paola was there cheering, and started to run behind me, Out of T2 we had to go around Kapiolani Park, and I could hear her shouting, but what took me by surprise is that after a couple of minutes I could still hear her, so I was like "I must be going too slow" Then my brain started to work a little better and I saw that she just cut the corner and then crossed the park in the middle, ha ha! I wasn't going that slow, but not that fast either, but after the first climb, I kind of found what seemed to be sub 7 minute mile pace, there were no km or mile marks ( I hate that ) so I never knew if that was correct until the finish line, I gave it all in the run, enough for a 40 minutes 10k.I was 2nd in my Age Group and 7th Overall with a total time of 1:56 It was a good result, but at the same time this race opened my eyes, I know I can't continue with this type of erratic training.
Louisville is only 5 weeks away, and I still haven't found my training formula, maybe is time for a big change.