To be completely honest I just don't know how I feel about today's race here in Des Moines, Iowa.
In our sport you don't have many chances to race for a $200,000 first place prize and when it drops to $40,000 for second and eventually $12,500 for fifth you're simply left with that "if only" feeling. Especially when, in the history of our sport we've only had a handful of "the BIG checks" given out and I've been 2nd, 2nd, 5th and 6th..... Close but no cigar (and no mortgage helper).
I feel like I did race well today, I just simply didn't "take" the opportunity that was there. Having worked so hard on my swimming its been, quite frankly, fun standing on the start line with the attitude "I'll be first pack no matter what" (a change from days gone by where I stood on the line and just fought to keep the anxiety at bay)
The swim was fairly smooth and uneventful. I actually didn't make the first pack of 5 who bolted away from us at the beginning but Brent McMahon and I led the second pack into the beach and when Paul Tichelaar, Brent and Colin Jenkins hit the front of our chase pack we quickly reeled in the early break of 4 (Colin dropped back and helped us chase). We did however make the tactical error of not maintaining the pace when we caught the front group and then allowed Greg Bennett's pack to catch us (Greg is my Aussie "older brother" – who has likely taught me more them anyone else on how to be a true professional over the last 13 years). We all paid for this mistake when we hit the run as Benno executed like a true veteran and almost ran himself back on to Rasmus Henning (Denmark) on the final lap after he had powered away from our running pack of 5 at the 7km mark when he opened a gap on the downhill that Benno, Bevan and I just couldn't close on the subsequent uphill. We lost contact, "gap and go" (as Benno used to say), which proved to be the winning move. Benno, Bevan, Ivan Rana and I tried to swap turns and run back on but the Dane was just two strong for the second year in a row.
Bevan finished 2nd, Benno 3rd and I finished 5th, not bad for the "old boys".
I did manage to work out some pre-race food issues I had been having, it's hard to race at 4:30 p.m. If only after all these years I'd kept a better training log and could just look back at what worked in the past.
"Relearning" it every year is terribly inefficient.
Speaking of log books this reminded me of something I learned/stole from Benno. Back in 1997 we raced in Embrum, France, Benno had been working with a new coach for about a year and was seeing huge improvements. The day after the race, where he came top 4 and I jogged in outside the top 40 I went by his hotel (likely hoping he would buy me lunch ....) he was on his way out the door for a 45-minute run, he invited me along to which I replied "I think I'll just crash here and watch TV for a bit". Benno left for his run and for 44 minutes and 59 seconds I frantically copied his training log and up coming workouts onto one of those small hotel stationary pads so later I could pour over the details and follow it workout for workout, starting with that 45- min run.
Years later when I told Benno this story he smiled and said "yes, you were a resourceful little shit weren't you" .
Love him like a brother....
..........
Kyle Jones is at the door, the TV in his room is "broken" and I'm off for a run. He appears to have his camera with him.....
Ah the age of digital.
S
