Race Recap: Newport Dunes Sprint 2024
I’m writing this from my phone so forgive any typos. I’m not proofreading or anything.
When I signed up for this race o just wanted to have some carrot on a stick in front me to keep training after Mission Bay. To be honest, I thought the race was in December when I signed up. So three weeks after MB, I’m up in Newport racing again.
Initial Thoughts
I’m pretty damn proud. I finished 6th in my age group and 30 overall in the men’s division. Not bad for a guy that, 16 weeks ago, couldn’t run a mile without waking.
My overall time was much faster than MB because the course was shorter. 400 yard swim and 8 mile bike accounts for most of that time. I will say that my Garmin has me at 1:20 per 100 so I was definitely moving.
My average power touched 200 watts which was great. I think I could’ve done better but I’ve always got that run in the back of my mind.
Speaking of the run, I held around 8:30/mile pace which is what I expect of me right now. I definitely think if I pushed that down more I would blow up a bit. I’m really going to focus on Z2 training the next few months. I really want to improve this the best way possible.
I’m proud that I didn’t use the rough night of sleep as an excuse. My daughter has had a cough and since they came to watch, we all stayed in the hotel room together. Her rough night of sleeping was rough for all of us. I just convinced my self that I would’ve been waking up anyway, anxious about the race.
Really the excitement of racing was all that I needed.
Some Learnings
I didn’t eat much before the race
I liked waking up later
I didn’t warm up much and I’m not sure that affected me that much. I think considering my night of sleep it was wise not to over do it
My stomach did not like the gel during the run so much. Will need to acclimate to that
Moving the bottle from behind my seat to the bike frame was wise though it was hard to get it out at times.
Having a marker in transition was helpful. Someone nearby had an orange bandana and it made it easy spot my gear
I need to smile more even though I’m hurting
Loving the sport again