BlogMay 22, 2007 Lessons learned in Florida This past weekend I continued my season with a trip down to Orlando for the Disney World 70.3. By far the highlight of the trip was riding Space Mountain at Disney World after having not been on this ride since 1987. That's twenty years!!! What an amazing event this race turned out to be! Marc Rubin and I made the trip together both focused on a big result. I always like getting back to Florida as part of my childhood was spent growing up in Fort Myers. Whenever I feel that warm, humid, t-shirt-sticking-sensation, it gives me a powerful nostalgia that's hard to describe. There's no doubt that my racing this year is on a new level. Up to this point I haven't had the opportunity to race Simon Lessing and Craig Alexander. This event was the perfect opportunity to get out there and see what I could do. I planned to take over on the bike and try to get off with a little lead. Hopefully if I had good legs I could hold all but a couple guys off and finish at least on the podium like I did at the California 70.3. The swim started early at 6:20AM in almost complete darkness. A no wetsuit swim made it interesting, and I was excited to be busting out my new Blue-Seventy speedsuit. Right from the gun I knew that I lacked that extra "gear" required to kick-butt at the highest level. Two weeks ago at the Rocky Point Olympic Triathlon, I didn't feel good at all. Here I felt slightly better but definitely not like I did earlier in the year. I attribute this partially to deep fatigue from Ironman Arizona, and to a lack of good training since March. When I look back at my schedule I took the week before California pretty easy, the week after California pretty easy, the week before Ironman Arizona pretty easy, then the month after Ironman Arizona pretty easy. No wonder I didn't have "that extra gear"! In discovering this compromised feeling within, I found myself in a new position this year. Rather than racing with fantastic sensations I found myself with outright-poor sensations. Once the swim settled I got into a BIG swim group. We were going fairly easy, but I didn't mind as I knew it may be a long day for me and that I had better use as little energy as possible. Out of the water we were about 2-3 minutes down on a group of five. This group contained Bryan Rhodes, Simon Lessing, Craig Alexander, TJ Tollakson, and Luke Bell. Not a great group to be chasing. Onto the bike I found myself passing people and perhaps finding some good form. I was excited to catch great triathlete Michael Lovato at about mile 5 and we exchanged the lead back and forth a few times. The always positive and entertaining Lovato had a few comical comments as we went back and forth catching a few people. I'm not exactly sure what he was saying, but it had to be funny. By about mile twenty nobody behind had caught up, but Michael and I had caught maybe five more dudes. Our group had to have 8-10 guys and it included some Spaniards, Mexicans, Joe Gambles, James Bonney, Guembel the Canadian, and... That's all I can recall right now. JR was doing the draft-marshalling and he was doing a good job at that, but it was difficult having this many guys to work-but-not-really-work, with... I decided it was time to put in an effort and went pretty hard at the front for three miles. At this point, I looked back and EVERYBODY was still there. Not only were they there, but they looked painfully (for me) comfortable. This is when I decided to go to the back and cruise. No way was I going to do more work than I had to. This being a flat race, without wind on the day, I knew this group would basically hold tight all the way to the run. At one point on the bike we got to see the leaders. Five guys coming the other direction. They had to be 4-5 minutes ahead by now and they looked GOOD. Sitting on the back of this group, trying to conserve my legs, I actually found the last few miles fairly difficult. Guembel was the only one to get dropped out've the group, and only just in the last few miles. Lovato finally escaped with maybe 5-10 miles to go in the ride, I'd lost interest at this point. Around then a flying, compression-socked-out, Jordan Rapp, came cruising by. Again, it didn't inspire me much. Into transition I figured with an incredible run perhaps I could get into the top five. My legs were fairly tired, but this was my NEW plan! I saw a few old familiar faces from the crowd of people. Guys I used to know in my Florida days, ten years ago. I also saw a girl holding a sign that said,"Put Me in YOUR Race Report!" so there ya go. Right away my legs weren't great, but I was going to go for it. We had to do 3 times 4+ mile loops. Right away some Spanish dudes from our cycling group blasted out of transition. I settled in with Gambles, a new friend and great triathlete and we ran together for the first lap. I got to see Lessing and Rhodes on one shorter out and back section and unfortunately for us, they both looked good. Around then Guembel caught up and he looked strong too. Somewhere around five miles in the process of suffering a lot, and noticing that I was going to really have to work for a top ten, it all became too much for me. I decided that this would be my last lap and I would jog/walk back to transition and call it a day. I needed to recover and then retrain my body for my other goals this season. As many people on other laps, and my lap, paraded by an age-grouper named Lord caught me. (I know this because he had LORD on his race number). He was 23, and he told me he'd been seeing my results this season. I then told him this wasn't going to be a good one as I was only moving glacially back toward the Disney Wilderness Adventure starting line. After telling him I would run this lap with him, then quit, he called me a WUSS and told me not to quit races. He was right, and he inspired me to jog the last lap. Finishing in 18th in 4:11 was a small personal victory and provided me with a good opportunity to learn about myself. I learned not to give up, had I kept pushing hard and stayed focused maybe 4 hours would have been doable. I learned to not become entitled and ungracious, what I would've given for a top ten in a big 70.3 just one year ago. It probably could've happened today with an improved attitude. I also learned that I can learn a thing or two from non-professional athletes. I'd forgotten that my first goal in all these events is just to finish, I shouldn't need to be reminded. Congratulations to Alexander, Lessing, and Bell. These guys are the best of the best and I'm always excited to get to line up next to them. What a fantastic top 3 podium for those guys! Also thanks to Jordan Rapp. A super American up-and-comer and Princeton Grad, Jordan always provides me with a few cycling speed-secrets if I really twist his arm. People should come to realize that if Jordan's bike is this way, yours should be too, no questions needed. Jordan finished up somewhere in the back half of the top ten. Also a big thanks to Tom Zeibart, what an awesome race director. Tom also does the "Florida's Great Escape" race each March and I plan on being back to that one next year. After the race Marc and I headed for Disney World. In the race, Marc tore-it-up in 4:47, good job Marc! I tore up a turkey leg at Disney, this thing was HUGE! Lots of birds came around trying to dine with me, I only turned a few of them into cannibals. Space Mountain was pretty fun, as was Thunder Mountain, a haunted house we went into, and the Wet and Wild Adventure. I'm coming back to Disney next year and I plan on racing much, much better. Thanks again to all my sponsors, and thanks for reading. Cheers, Lewis « Back to Blogs |
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