11th at 5i50 New Orleans..No thanks to my bike..!

My race schedule brought me to New Orleans this weekend for another 5150. It boasted a quality field so I had my work cut out for me.

Let’s get into it-

Swim: 19:10, :52 back from leader, 11^th on the day.

No better speedsuit out there!

Easily the best swim of my career! My hard work as of late paid dividends on Sunday. During the swim, I didn’t quite know where I was in retrospect to the field. The course was shaped in an uppercase-N (starting in the bottom-left) and coming upon the second turn, I caught a glimpse of the swim leader and he wasn’t much more than 60 meters ahead with less than 400 to go! That was very motivating! The swim temp was warm, 81 degrees so no wetsuit obviously but I did wear my Xterra Velocity-M speedsuit and I’d be lying if I said it didn’t help!

Bike: 1:00:33, 13^th on the day.

Well, I look fast...

The course started out with a quick one mile out-and-back. At that point, I saw David Thompson, Karl Kahsar and Jordan Jones coming up behind me (again, great swim!) All were bike powerhouses and it didn’t take long for them to drop me. I felt good but I guess the rest of the field felt better because all they did was put time into me! Frankly, I can’t afford to be giving up so much time on the bike. It completely kills my race. I’ve put in the work to improve my swim and that’s paid off but now it’s time to improve the bike, because it NEEDS to happen. I ride a Cervelo, I have a great Cobb saddle and my DT Swiss Dicut race wheels are amazing. It’s the engine, NOT the components! Needs fixing…

Run: 33:15, 2^nd on the day.

Flyin...

...in the GoMeb's!

The next closest rider to me was almost 2:45 ahead, so I ran alone for the first 8k. It was an out-and-back, 2-lap course so I could see where the field stood but the gap just didn’t really seem to close until late. At the last turn-around (about 2.5k from the finish) I counted that Michael Poole, Allen Gardner, Barrett Brandon and James Seear had about 35-50 seconds on me. The first two looked to be straining a bit so I thought I might have a chance to catch them. I put my head down and eventually caught Poole and Gardner with about a mile to go. I next set my sights on Barrett and he was coming back to me! I charged but ultimately came up short missing both him and James by 5 and 8 seconds respectively.

So, bittersweet AGAIN. I’m super pumped about my swim and my run is coming on. My bike? Where is it? Not really sure, but I need to find it because it’s my total Achilles heel at this point. Maybe I’ll find it at Raleigh 70.3 this weekend?

ESPN's Outside the Lines reporting on safety in triathlons.

Thank you again to my sponsors as usual. Xterra Wetsuits, SkechersPerformance, Royal Hawaiian Orchards, DT Swiss, Champion System, Rudy Project and Evolution PT. Check their sites out on my sponsors page. Truly great companies with great products/services!

Thanks for checking in. Talk soon.

-HH

6th at 5150 Kansas!

This weekend took me to Kansas for another 5150 race. As we got closer to race time, the weather worsened. So much in fact, the county in which I was staying the night before was on tornado watch!

I made it through the night, arrived at transition the next morning and the rain started to come, then the thunder and the lightning. After a flash and a crack, the announcer told us the race was cancelled. A few minutes later, he retracted and said its postponed 30 minutes. A few minutes after that, a different guy came on the horn and said the swim was cancelled but the bike and run was still on after the delay. I still got to use my Xterra Vendetta wetsuit, though in a different capacity… Rather than getting soaked to the bone in a torrential downpour, I opted to throw my wetsuit on because I figured, “if you’re gonna get wet, you might as well…do your warm-up jog in your wetsuit?!”

The Bike – 10^th 1:01:24 Since we started with the bike, the organizers opted for a Time Trial start. It was a very rolling course with wind coming from all directions and some so strong it almost blew me over. I hung tough, playing leap frog with a few pros and was able to maintain a mid-pack position.

The Run – 1^st 33:39 I bounced out of T2 eager to wake-up the running legs. We hit the first hill about a ½ mile in and it took the wind right of my sail! Because this race started as a time trial, you weren’t technically the winner if you crossed the finish line first. Sooo, DROP THE HAMMER! Side note-- I rocked the Skechers GoMeb’s which I’m not sure are in stores yet but when they are, get a pair! I haven’t felt so good in a race shoe in a long time! I pressed on through the 2-lap run and felt comfortably-uncomfortable if that makes any sense. My bike and run training as of late have been a bit hindered due to a very annoying IT-Band injury so I was happy to see my fitness was able to pull off the fastest run split of the day (shared with champ Jordan Jones). Ironically, I’m in the best swim shape of my life but that clearly didn’t matter today! 

I hit the tape in 1:35:45 unaware of my finish but thinking it was definitely top-10 because of who had already finished and the 4 DNFs I saw on the bike. 6^th!!! I was pleased with EVERYTHING – my composure related to the weather audible; my bike fitness relative to the group and in comparison to last year; my run fitness despite my nagging IT-Band issue. I’m happy to be getting back out there next weekend in New Orleans for another 5150!

As usual, a big thank you is due to my sponsors! Amazing, amazing, amazing. Champion System, Skechers Performance, Royal Hawaiian Macadamia Nut Co., DT-Swiss, Xterra Wetsuits, Rudy Project, Evolution Physical Therapy.

Thanks for checking in.

-HH