I'm still reflecting of what happened in Clearwater last saturday, there are hundred of thing to learn from, and as I said, I still have to find out what went wrong or right, because it was a bittersweet race, a couple of bad things and also some nice things occurred that day.
First it was race week, my last post was on Tuesday morning, & the day before was an off day with a well deserved massage, Tuesday I was preparing to do a couple of things that I was postponing due to training all year, they ended up being more time consuming and a little bit more stressful than I thought, being one of them finding a new house to live.....
So the previous week was not what I wished it to be.
Then....... here comes the first mistake that ended up having an influence in the outcome of my race, for some reason I thought that the race was Sunday, so we had our flight scheduled for Thursday, too close to the race, but I bought these plane tickets months ago and they were non refundable, so in the back of my mind I knew that it was a little bit dangerous to have only one day to prep for a World Championship, anyway I tried not to think to much about it, but that ended as soon as we were on the counter of Mexicana Airlines.
The flight plan was Mexico City/Miami, Miami/Tampa, not ideal but it was ok, so it was a surprise when the lady of Mexicana tell us that first the plane was going to Cancun! I couldn't believe that just like that! they can change the flight schedule, I had in my hands the online ticket and it clearly didn't have a stop in Cancun, in that second I knew there will be problems with my bike, it's not that I can predict the future, but surely I can recognize Disorder when I see it., and what happened next just confirmed it, they sent us to the other side of Mexico City's Airport because now...we were departing "Domestic" but after a long walk and once inside the domestic gates, we had to walk back to the "International" gates, it was just dumb.
When we arrived to Miami after a 60 minute stop in Cancun, my worst and every other Triathletes nightmare came true, My Bike didn't arrived.
They told me to continue my trip to Tampa and that the bike will come 3 hours later in another plane, they even gave me the plane number, so we spent 3 hours at the Tampa Airport just to find out that again, my bike didn't arrived, I tried to talk to the same person who assured me that in 3 hours I will have my bike, but we was already gone, so there was no ones fault.
Again they told me that it will arrive to my hotel in Clearwater at midnight, so I couldn't sleep well, waiting for the Bike that never arrived!
Friday was pretty much the same, they kept telling me that it should arrive in the next "few" hours and that I should stay in my hotel, so there I was.... making phone calls, trying to rent another bike just in case, and having to register.
When I had a rental bike ready and with just one hour left for the mandatory bike check in, my bike arrived, so I didn't even had time to ride it more than the 800 meters from my hotel to transition.
After I left my bike at T1, I realized that I haven't hydrated or eaten properly, so we went to the first place to eat and to the hotel to get some sleep.
At morning race I found out that they changed the swim to a canal, just because Friday the sea was a little rough, very disappointing because I like swimming at the sea, and if it's choppy, better.
The swim start was supposed to be on waves, so it really took my by surprise when we got to a little dock and everyone was already entering the water one by one, so before I knew what the hell was going on, I was already racing, I didn't even had a chance to start my watch.
(I missed the compulsory race meeting due to the bike issue)
My swim was a disaster, I couldn't see the buoys because the sun was hitting right in our faces, and I didn't really knew where they were supposed to be, in fewer words, I didn't knew where we were going, but I knew I wasn't swimming straight, as I found out later after the finish, the swim course was not a rectangle, it had a few non straight lines in the middle.
I also didn't got into a rhythm at any point of the swim, so when I saw my slow swim split in 32 minutes, it really wasn't a surprise. I was very UN-concentrated, at the point that I couldn't find my transition bag!
Once in the Bike I screamed to myself " Jano, just get it together! " So I did, I found my focus, and started passing people, I was flying, there was always someone in front to pass, so I even thought that a slow swim was a good thing, that coming late out of the water gave me the chanceway to pass slower riders and avoid drafting issues with guys with the same physical abilities.
It all went "Perfect" until the 65km mark, I was on my way to a 2:07 bike split and suddenly here comes a " drafting group" and absorbs me, almost at the same time the Marshall comes in a motorcycle screaming the numbers he could see, and there was my number and my first drafting penalty in my life. Even worse is that I slowed down my pace! Because I couldn't break out from the group, It was very stressful.
I got into T2 in 2:10 and headed to the penalty box, after 4 minutes of waiting and seeing people passing by, I headed into the 21km run.
At this point I knew that even if I had a lousy run I would still break my 4:34 pb for a Half Ironman distance.
But still I set my mind to no matter what, I had to run like never before, and hold a 7 minute a mile pace for the 13 miles, that's the pace I've been training, and I was on mode of succeed or blow up!
First mile 6:50, last mile 7:00. There was a bridge that we had to climb 4 times, and in those miles was where I pushed it the most, so at the end the pace was exactly 7 minutes per mile. Right On!
My placing is not even worth mention it, but the time was ok, 4:23 with a 4 minute penalty is not so bad, at the end I had a good year and I'm very excited to start the 2010 racing season with the Abu Dhabi Triathlon in March.
I still don't know if I will come back to Clearwater next year, focus in Kona, 70.3s or 140's but I will have time to think about it later next week.
Right now I have more important things to decide on, I have to enjoy my rest week in Vegas, and I still don't know if I will have the Cheesecake, or the Brownie Chocolate Delight for dessert.
