Toyota US Open

This past weekend I returned to racing after almost a two month hiatus (mostly due to a long, two-week trip to China to watch my friends race in the Olympics). The Toyota US Open in Dallas, TX was probably not the most relaxed way to ease back into competition, boasting a championship field certainly on par with the field at Lifetime Fitness, and easily one of the most competitive races of the year. All in all, it was an average day, which is both good and bad, depending on how you look at it.

About 21:30 on the swim (andy potts was fastest at 18:30), which is not great, but also not bad for me. It was a better swim than it looks. I was only 30sec back at the 800m buoy. Coming back was directly into the sun, so sighting was very hard. I was really close to that pack on the way out, so I'm getting closer to crossing that threshold of being able to stay in the pack.

Out on the bike, it was basically a tail wind the whole way (point to point) so that made it hard to really make progress, since you'd spin out the downhills. I just about even split the front group of five athletes, who made up five of the top six final placings, though Greg Bennett put about 35 seconds on me in total. Legs felt kind of flat without the snap you hope for, but I also think some of that was just the fast conditions, which make it harder to pound the pedals. 56:30 for 41km, so a fast day. Watts were not stellar, but again the wind was a large part of that.

Out on the run, I felt ok, but not great as I stood in 11th position overall. Focused on good turnover, and thought I might catch 10th, but Simon Thompson and Chris Forster ran by just after the turnaround, and I just barely missed catching 12th place in the final kilometers. I ran much better in the second 5km once I'd warmed up, running a 34:38 after a relatively slow opening 5-6km.

On the plus side, I was pleased that my "average" speed is better than it was, for example, at lifetime. I'm encouraged with that progress, and I'd like to do the Olympic distance races again next year, as I think a year from now, I'll be over that cusp and can consistently finish a handful of spots higher than I did this year. It's always good to see "representative" performances bringing me closer to the front, and I think it shows that I'm back on track with my training with two more races to finish up the year - a fun trip to Jamaica to race Greg Bennett head-to-head at the new Rosehall Triathlon near Montego Bay and then the big season finale at the second edition of Ironman Arizona, now on it's new date.

Thanks to Kerry Yndestad of Yndecam.com who always takes the best pictures. I think you can just spot the TargeTraining logo as I exit the swim.

© Kerry Yndestad