This was my first ever time racing the Malibu Tri, which happens every year right down the road from where I live in Santa Monica. Was a blast. Itās so nice to sleep in your own bed the night before, and again the night after. Had so many friends and CryBabies racing. I had a plan going in - swim easy, bike the most ridiculous split I have ever biked, and leave my watch behind so I could just move my feet on the run. And dammit, that was a plan I could get behind. Lately my power on the bike has been so high, I even tweeted the night before about Greg Bennettās bike course record because I was gunning for it. Customary ridiculous. One thing that was certainly different about my approach going into this one was that I really didnāt care how I did. Thatās the truth.
About a month ago, when I was hastily changing out pedals at CryBaby, I slipped and likely bruised but possibly broke a rib or ribs in my upper chest when I fell hard against the seat. If youāve never done this, what started out as a minor ache turned into full blown I cannot do anything with my body that doesnāt result in extreme pain and spasm. Iām talking about getting out of bed, sure as hell not swimming or running.Ā So over the last month, maybe I fit in 7500 yards in the pool. And maybe I fit in 15 miles in the run. But they were BAD yards and miles. Sneezing was the worst thing ever. I also couldnāt hang around funny friends because so was laughing. Laughing! Week by week, it got a little bit better. With about 5 days to go, I was pulling full strength in the pool with some pain, and running okay...but everything was somewhat manageable. So I knew I could at least give Malibu a go.Ā
I rode through the entire injury indoors. It wasnāt pretty, and there were moments when I was riding where my dramatic voice was telling me,Ā āThis is how you die you fucking moron. Because your head is just too goddamned hard to let it go. Splinters of your broken rib are going to stab through your heart and thatās how itās going to end for you.ā I kept going. Not saying that because Iām proud of it. Just saying it. Riding hard through my injury was the main determinant in howĀ I came up with my plan - because I had no other tactical options.
My whole career, Iāve somewhat known what to expect going into a race. I could always gauge the shape I was in, have a plan, and execute that plan somewhere in the neighborhood of my target. When something didnāt go right - there was always a factor I could point to, and though I would bitch a little bit, I mostly always came away with some form of understanding. This year has been completely different. Every race has been off significantly. At Mailbu, I knew I hadnāt been swimming. So I told myself to swim a 6/10 effort to not give anything up on the bike. So I cruised. Came out a bit slow, and my forearms and elbows are days later sore from the effort, but it went according to plan. Actually, I came out EXACTLY behind the person I thought I would going into the race. On the run, I left my watch behind. I knew I would blow up chasing any pace, so I committed to a...strong, blind shuffle (?).Ā And I ended up finishing with a 6:34 pace for the 10k. Nothing close to my best, but it was pretty damn close to what I expected to run, if not faster than I expected. But the bike. Oh, the bike. My 2015 bastard child. Every time I drop into aero, I feel like someone has started an hourglass, and from the moment I begin, my sand is just POURING out. The bike leg has been consistently SO DIFFICULT for me all year. And even though the same thing keeps happening, when I go back to the drawing board, my solution is always, GET MORE POWER!! And so I do. And because my head is so hard, it may have taken this long to realize that is not the answer. Power never hurts - actually, in my experience, power is key as long as your skills are solid. But if there is something wrong with your setup, nothing matters until you fix that setup. I finally have this strong suspicion thatās sending meĀ to the drawing board on my front end.Ā
No doubt this has beenĀ been a tough performance year for me. But Iām not really deterred by that. Or the fact that Iāve noticed over the years that itās difficult to turn performance tides on short notice. Meaning, even though I intend to have a great personal race at Cabo 70.3 in 5 weeks to close out the year, thatās unlikely to happen. It just is. Because itās not like I havenāt been working hard, thoughtfully, and diligently in preparation of all my big races this year while still coming up short. This is a bit of a hail-mary at the end of the season - but Iām thinking back to last year, and a moment in pre-season where I played with my fit to a point where the feel just CLICKED. And I had leverage, and I was comfortable if not a bit high, and I was driving the bike. Havenāt felt like that at all this year. Not even close. Sad/hopeful thing about all this is that my power has never been higher. If you canāt do it in aero, though, who cares??
So aside from the training, and technical tweaks, there are only a few things left for me to do to help ensure I go out on a high note - bring back the mullet, fashion my kit into a flowing crop top, shrink 8 inches, and assume a thick New Englanderās accent.Ā
Yes, these are Doug Flutie refs. Damn you for making me spell it out.Ā
