Bitter-sweet St. Anthony's Result

ALRIGHT, as I had mentioned, the 2012 St. Anthony’s Triathlon pro field was BEYOND stacked. We’re talking Bennett, Reed, Dye, Collins, Osplay, Hayes, Odonnell, Bozone, Atkinson, Matthews, Yoder, and that’s not even a quarter of the field!! A world-class field to say the least! For crying out loud - all we were missing were Potts and the Brownlee's!

I finished 28th and with a result such as this, you can do nothing but look at the positives. My swim continues to improve and thanks to Xterra Wetsuits and my crazy fast Velocity M-speedsuit, I came out about 2:10 down from the 1st pack. To put it into perspective, in 2010 I raced here and came out of the water more than 5 minutes back! I also came out just behind Jordan Jones (most recently the triathlete who nipped L. Armstrong at the tape at the 70.3 Champs – big Ups) who has regularly whooped me in the water.

Out onto the bike, I was able to pick off several riders once I found my rhythm. My bike split wound up being more than 2 minutes faster than my 2010 split – pleased with that! Out of T2, I started a bit conservatively because I know my run fitness isn’t yet there and I didn’t want to go out hard and then die. This tactic worked great, as I was able to really warm up to a quicker pace and pick off some guys. I even had a little speed left at the end – found the tape first in a three-way sprint! Additionally, my new Skechers GOrun shoes were light weight, comfy and really effortless when I needed to get into sprint mode! I crossed the tape in 1:54:38, more than 5 minutes faster than 2010, yet 6 places lower – should give you another idea of how crazy this field was!

A bitter-sweet result. I still have A LOT of work to do and I've got a good three weeks at home to get ready for another hotly contested 5i50 in Columbia, MD on May 20. One of my goals for the season is to continue to chip away at that bike deficit!

A big thanks to all my sponsors: Xterra Wetsuits, Skechers, Kask Helmets, Gu, Zico, Champion Systems, and Evolution Physical Therapy!! Looking forward to more 2012 action! Let’s get into it!

Thanks for checking in. Talk soon.

-HH

'12 Season Opener - St. A's!

I've touched down in St. Petersburg, Florida for the first race of my 2012 season – the coveted St. Anthony’s Triathlon. I’m very excited to get the season going as I’ve had an interesting off-season. It got off to a bit of a late start since I was recovering from my psoaz injury from DuaWorlds, but once I healed up, things started progressing in the right direction!

As usual, I've worked hard in the pool and feel I’ve reached a new level in my swimming. I also linked up with Faster Fit Studios in AZ to conduct some wind tunnel testing. I got legitimately dialed in, having shed over 400 grams of aerodynamic drag!

One unrelated thing that also happened over the off-season was that I got into business school! Starting in September, I will be a member of UCLA’s Anderson FEMBA 2015 class!! I chose to pursue an MBA program on a part-time basis so that I could continue my full-time triathlon career. Anderson is the perfect fit since it’s my undergrad alma mater and I already train on-campus on a regular basis. Really looking forward to the next couple of years!

Back to this weekend’s race— the 45 participant Pro field is regarded as being arguably the deepest field of the year. I just came from the Mad Dog's tri club pasta dinner and there were a number of pros from a variety of countries - Canada, Hungary, Italy, Ireland, South Africa, and Australia to name a few - quite the international "championships"!

Not only is St. A’s a very popular triathlon, but it also marks the first 2012 event of the lucrative 5150 race series and crucial points are on the line in qualifying for the series finale in September. The way I see it, you can’t find a better measuring stick to gauge where your fitness falls this early in the season than a pro field like this!

Gun goes off Sunday. A full race report will follow. Let’s get into it!

Thanks for checking in. Talk soon.

-HH