Lonestar 70.3 Race Racap

This race recap is long overdue. On April 26, 2010 myself and other
ProSoapers competed at the Lonestar 70.3 in Galveston.
My primary goal going into this race was to secure a 70.3 World
Championship spot and improve on my time from last year, especially my
run split. Last year I had a 1:28 run split. At the start of the day,
the windy conditions would change my thoughts on improving my 4:25
from last year. This thought was strengthen further when I emerged
from the choppy water swim 2min behind my goal pace, with a 35 min
swim. It didn't let this derail my race stratgey. Once on my bike (a
new bike which hadn't been ridden further than 10 miles prior to
today, not a recommend decision) I got into a rythym quickly and
settled into my goal pacing. This year's bike course was a full 56
miles (last year the course was 2 miles shorter due damage done by
hurricane Ike). As I progressed on the bike I continue to feel
stronger which resulted in 2:17 bike split a slightly slower split
from last year, but faster avg. speed sincevit was a longer course. (A
cool moment for me was that my bike split was better than Andy Potts,
however Chris Lieto crushed the bike with a 2:04 split....sick).
Transitioning from the bike, I knew if I ran what I wanted to run (sub
1:25) I would have chance to improve on my overall time despite my
slower swim split and the longer bike course. With this motivation I
started pounding the pavement, but I still had no idea where I was in
my age group until I complete my first lap of the 4 loop run course.
When my personal support team (my wife and kids) informed me I was
leading my age group and had a 7 min lead. Something I learned about
myself that day was mentally I am a better chaser than being chased.
As the miles went by and I began hurting more the mental stress of
being caught and passed drained me over the last lap. Despite my
concern I was able to hang on to my age group lead and increase my
lead. I finished in a 4:21:58, improving on my time from last year by
3 min. In winning the M35-39 age group secure my spot to the 2010 70.3
World Championships. Mission accomplished all the way around.

"it's never easier, just faster!"

Michael Dawdy
Maximum VO2 Training Systems
www.max-vo2.com