Quote for the day:

"A balanced diet is a cookie in each hand"
- S-Group advertisement

"I am Darby Thomas and I approve this message..."

Official Race Report

2008 Ironman 70.3 Race Report

The Preparations

The Ironman 70.3 world championships is a crazy circus of over 1500 athletes from around the globe, many thousands of spectators and an energy that is hard to describe. In only two years of racing triathlon, qualifying for this spectacular event was a huge success in itself.

In the lead up the the race, I was very optimistic, ready to race and honestly felt like it was going to be my day to break into the top level of triathlon. After qualifying for the 2008 Ironman 70.3 world championships in Antwerp at the beginning of August, my one focus was building up to the peak of the season in Clearwater. Earlier in the year, my fitness and results had been up and down depending on injuries and other situations in life such as new jobs, my wedding, and the birth of my daughter. But in the three months of training before the world championships I had the most consistent training in many years giving me a positive overall feeling of readiness before the race.

The Race

Swim

Swimming is my weak spot in triathlon and I knew this swim would be difficult. However, I would never have expected it to go the way it did. I carefully picked my starting position and about one minute before the start, the defending world champion decided he would start next to me. Right about then my heart skipped a beat and I realized how important this race was.

When the gun went off I started to sprint into the water but right as I took my first steps into the water, my legs were kicked out by accident by a fellow competitor. I fell into the water and the remaining competitors ran over the top of me. After getting back onto my feet, the entire field was in front of me. I tried desperately to catch the main group but they quickly swam away from me. The rest of the swim was simply struggling and fighting my way to the end. I never got the rhythm I needed to go fast.

Bike

I knew after the swim I had a lot of work to do to catch the front group on the bicycle section and I quickly tried to find a fast tempo that would bring me to the front. My mind was still clear and focused despite my poor swim and I could still picture a top 10 result coming from the race if I could go well on the bike and run. I struggled some near the beginning of the bike to get comfortable, but I still started to pass riders quickly. After about 30 minutes I caught one athlete and we ended up riding together all the way to the finish of the bike. During the ride I tried to push the pace but still remained careful not to destroy my legs for the important run.

Run

Getting off the bike I was already feeling fatigue, soreness, and cramping in my legs. But I forced myself to focus on the running and breakdown the final hour into small sections. I started my run and the legs felt like rubber. I had no control of what they were doing and no power. I kept pushing but the legs would not respond. By halfway through the race, it was clear my run was not going to be my best. I tried to find a comfortable rhythm for the remainder of the race but found my legs were slowing down every step. The final time running over the large bridge almost forced me to a walk in the blazing heat. I struggled to the finish and tried to keep positive as I plodded along the final steps. Crossing the finish line I glanced up to see my time of 4:01, which was about 15 minutes slower than I had hoped.

Post Race

Disappointed beyond words was my first reaction after completing the race. I had just trained insanely hard and focused for three months and ended up racing about 5 minutes SLOWER than my last race, which was on a slower course. I tried to keep my head high but the disappointment was clear on my face. This was hard to understand how so much hard work could result in a loss.

But after more time away from the race and a chance to talk with others, I started to see the positive side of the story. This was my first time racing at the highest level and it is entirely normal to have problems during the first try at the world championships. Most people experience the same thing, including this year's winner who last year was leading the race with 5kms to only to fall apart and finish outside of the top 5. Also encouraging for me was to think that my race was clearly a bad day for me, however, I still managed a time of 4:01, which even one year ago was unthinkably fast for me. This proved that I have made huge improvements in the past year but was unfortunate to have a bad day on race day.

Future Direction

Everyone tells you after an experience like this that you always learn more from mistakes and bad days than from instant success. My career so far in triathlon has been marked by instant success and a fast rise to the top. Now I feel like the poor result from world championships is going to really help me in the coming years. I have learned many aspects of my triathlon game that can be improved such as swim speed and power on the bike.

However, the most important aspect I have learned from this experience is that it is possible to be over prepared. I started specific preparations for the event more than three months before, and spent the final four weeks in Florida training by myself. I think this was too much and in the future I will do a better result if I stay at home for longer where I can train with my normal routine until only 1-2 weeks before the race.

I feel like my race would have gone better if I had kept training with my regular groups and training partners. They provide powerful training tools to motive and push that are not easily replicated while training by myself. Additionally, having the opportunity to work directly with my coaches makes a huge difference in mental as well as physical preparedness.

Now I look more clearly at my race and preparations I feel like I know what I need to do to accomplish a top 5 placing and know it is possible. Motivation for the coming season is already building even though I am just starting my 'vacation.' I am now even more confident that with the support of my sponsors, training partners, coaches, and family, next year will be the time I step up to the highest level of endurance triathlon racing.

On a positive note...

My head is still spinning and trying to understand how yesterday turned out so badly.

However, when I woke up this morning, my beautiful wife reminded me of something much more important than a bad day on the race course...

Today is Father's day! (in Finland)

That instantly brought a smile to my face and is something to really be proud of.

Now we go to Disney World and start vacation time!

Post race

Just a quick update here...

Unfortunately I do not have any good news to share with my readers. Despite having perfect preparation and a great feeling before the race, today was quite simply a bad day.

I am not sure why it happened, but it did. I started the race feeling super positive and optimistic but right from the beginning something was wrong. The swim was not at all what I am capable of, despite pushing 100% the whole time. Partly the new experience of swimming in salt water could explain some of my poor performance or also my inexperience in swimming in a group. But for sure today was below my capability.

Then onto the bike I thought I was doing a relatively good ride, but looking at the results now, I was still 5 minutes off the pace I should have done.

But the real problem came on the run. Basically my legs would not respond when I wanted to increase the pace. The energy was gone and I had no power. I did everything I could to try and push harder but my legs would not respond. It felt like heavy weights were tied to my ankles and slowly pulling me down.

I guess everyone has bad days. I am extremely frustrated my bad day came today when I have prepared so well for many months for this one day. Now it is time to recover mentally, which could take some time. I am sure I have learned a lot from this experience, but at the moment that doesn't make me feel much better.

So, I thank everyone for supporting me in the lead up to this race. I am very sorry to not have a result from this. As they say, "back to the drawing board." (time to start over)

All the best,
Darby

Final prep

The final week of preparations for the 70.3 world championships have gone very well. This past weekend I participated in a great local event, the Clearwater Beach Biathlon. I want to quickly thank Park, the event director, for organizing the event.

The unique event was a 2 mile run, 1/3 mile swim, followed by another 2 mile run. Definitely a first for me and a very enjoyable event, although the shock of running into the chilly water after a 2 mile run was pretty intense. The first 200 meters I was barely able to swim as my body just stopped working in the cold. After fighting through the waves to get out I eventually found some tempo but still had a poor feeling in the water.

Onto the final run I had to close a 200 meter gap to the first place and got that done by the turn around point. By the finish I had a sizable gap and started to feel good. A positive sign to feel good considering only two days before I had done a super tough 20 km run, which generally takes a few days to recover from.

Since last weekend I have had a couple rest days mixed with a couple final speed workouts to fine tune. Just trying to relax now and get mentally ready for a day of tough racing. Really looking forward to this race now I as feel as prepared as possible.

One final update to come just before the race.

Thanks for reading,
Darby

Election Day

Today is a big day... my daughter's 4 month birthday, and of course the presidential election in the United States of America.

Having been in Florida for three weeks now and we have been watching a constant stream of political news almost every minute of everyday. At times it has made me sick but over the course it has become clear how important this election has become.

After 8 years of being slightly embarrassed to say I am an American, today I am proud to say that America has turned a corner and is beginning to move in a positive direction. While I have much respect for McCain and everything he has done for the US, Obama represents a needed change in the direction of the US.

Sitting here now watching Obama give his victory speech is something I will remember the rest of my life. I hope the rest of the world sees the significance of what happened today.

After I recover from today I will get back to writing about my preparations for world championships.

All the best,

Darby