This race felt like a little redemption after an ok result at Chatt 3 weeks ago. Having raced DSM back-to-back years now, I’ve copied my 2023 race report and am editing as I go. I’ll try to draw some comparisons throughout as they come up.
Similar to last year, I didn’t get much a taper until Thursday. This
was something I requested from my coach after getting sick the previous weekend
and backing off on my weekend workouts.
Race morning:
We left the hotel just after 4:45 and were walking into transition
just after 5. I opted to forgo the flying mount this race with how close I was
to the bike out, which saved me a bit up set-up time. I met up with Drobs and
his wife to walk over to the swim start and we just chilled until we were 30
minutes out. Exactly the same as last year =)
Swim: 28:56 (26th overall)
I started in the 3rd wave of 3 getting into the water.
Normally everyone is fighting to start up front, but it seemed like they were
more timid this time. Before I got to the first buoy my chest felt tight, and I
was having a very hard time breathing. Now, let me leave the exact text
I had from my 2023 race report. “I had a first on the swim, and that was a
claustrophobic type breathing issue. 200 yards in, it felt like someone was
standing on my chest and gave me some heavy anxiety.” This was the exact same
thing that happened last year. The main difference is that it lifted after 500
yards back in 2023. This time I felt like I was limited the entire swim. So in typical Matt fashion, there is something
I am going to overanalyze here. Feel free to skip this next paragraph as I get
into it.
I don’t see this breathing issue as a coincidence and believe is has
something to do with the water. Here is why… Post race while driving home, I
started to have an allergic reaction to something in car. After a rest stop, I
started to improve. Once we got back into the car, I was sneezing and plugged
up again. When I finally got home and started handling my wetsuit to rinse it
off, the reaction came back. I am thinking something in the water triggered an allergic
reaction and tightened up my breathing. I will also say that 5-10 minutes into
the bike, I cleared right up and went on to have a strong race.
Back to the bike… Needless to say, I was not happy with my swim being
40s slower than last year. I know I’ve gotten faster and swam this same pace at
IMWI last fall. Regardless, I wasn’t overly concerned and was ready to hit it
on the bike.
T1: 1:56
Out of the water I had already planned on skipping the wetsuit
peelers. The run was also not very long so I wasn’t concerned with overheating.
As I mentioned in my race morning, I opted to put my shoes on at the rack. When
I leaned over to put them on, I felt dizzy and had to sit down. I was disoriented
and struggled to get my shoes on. Even with that issue, I was only 19s slower
than last year and I know I made some of that time back when I started
riding. Once I was upright again, I felt fine, got clipped in and off I went.
Bike: 2:14:28 (5th overall)
The bike was very solid for me. Since I opted to not pre-mount my
shoes, I went straight to race power and blew by 2 other athletes still messing
with their shoes. The first 5 miles were technical, but I had a good rider ahead
of me to see how he cornered. Once we got out onto the main roads, I was with 2
other athletes and jockeyed positions a few times. I was hitting my power
targets exactly how I wanted and let them do the work when it made sense. Once
my power started dropping, I opted to make a move on one of the faster descents
hitting 43mph. One thing I can say with confidence, my Ku descends incredibly
well and fast! Post race I was told I’m very “slippery” on the downhills.
When we got out to a 10-mile straight, we were heading west into
the wind (it was light). I was passed and decided to sit back for a bit to see where
my effort went. After about 5 minutes I felt I could go faster off the front
and put into a 20-minute effort around 270W. When we got to the turnaround, I
saw I had dropped 1 of the riders, but the other was still close. He came by me
up the main climb despite me pushing 305W. We exchanged a few pleasantries and confirmed
our gap to the front of the race was 7 minutes. We went back on forth 2-3 more
times until the end of the ride, and I felt very good holding my power numbers.
I took over again with 5 miles to go and pushed it through the technical
section back into T2.
Last year I made a wrong turn that cost me 2 minutes, biking 2:23.
Even if you remove those 2 minutes, I was still 6.5 minutes faster on my Ku. This
was also my 2nd time riding under 2:15 (but on a course with 4 U-turns
and more elevation).
T2: 2:31
Felt great getting off the bike and becoming confident in my
flying dismount on the Ku as well! It seemed efficient and I was 23s faster than
last year. I came into T2 with my buddy behind me, so I wanted to create a gap
if I could. Sock and shoes came on quickly and I was off.
Run: 1:18:54 (5th overall)
I felt better starting this run than I did last year despite pushing more power on the bike. I was told I had a 7-minute gap to the lead, but I wasn’t sure who was in 1st this point. The guy that won last year ran a 1:23, so I thought I had a shot. I had a slightly different HR plan to push harder early on and upped it every 2 miles. At 10K I reached true race effort and really started to work. Early on I was hitting 6:05-6:10 pace. I knew this wasn’t going to be enough, but it’s what I had at the time. I could see the 4 guys ahead of me at each turn around and measured each gap. It was clear I wasn’t gaining on 1st or 2nd, but I was gaining on 3rd and 4th. At mile 7, I decided it was time to dial it up a bit more. The next 3 miles I split 6:01, 5:58 and 5:58. The body was responding well to the push and that is when I caught 4th place at mile 10. This was timed well with my plan to lean into the final 5K. He didn’t try to go with me as I split 5:54, 6:03 (uphill) and then 5:48 down that long straight. I could barely see 3rd up the road but kept digging like I had last year. I ended up staying in 4th just 35s behind 3rd (and the winner of my AG).
Finish: 4:06:42 (4th overall)
A 4.5-minute 70.3 PR and my first time under 4:10. This was also 7
minutes faster than last year despite the warmer conditions. Although my time would
have won back in 2023, everyone was equally faster, and I finished 4th
once again.
Overall, I am very pleased with my effort and result on the day. But
relative to my competition also improving, I have plenty of work to do.
