比赛早上3点开始，但说实话，前一晚我打了三四次盹，所以我非常清醒，准备出发。在前一天晚上，我把所有东西都打包好准备出发，所以我可以慢慢放松，开始为一天加油。我早上的例行工作很简单，开始喝一瓶和我在自行车上喝的营养相同的饮料，洗个热水澡来清醒/放松，做一个伸展/伸展的例行工作，主要集中在我的下背部和腿筋上。从各方面考虑，今天早上我很平静。我设法坚持我的计划，保持冷静，成功到达T2，乘坐第一辆穿梭车前往阿尔塔湖游泳。在我下水前的20分钟里，我一直在补充燃料，穿上潜水服，在比赛前尽量和妮莎和她的父母一起放松。我知道一切都准备好了，装备方面，所有的工作都做好了，健康方面，所以我可以放松，享受早上的比赛前。这次游泳是一个自我种子的集体起跑，所以我抓住机会从前面开始，在整个努力过程中设定我自己的速度。两圈的水温是华氏70度，游了2.4英里，阿尔塔湖有我迄今为止参加过的最好的游泳条件。游泳的开始非常浅，所以当枪响的时候，我要确保我一直跑比我通常计划的时间要长，以确保我能到达深水区。 Right as I dove in my left goggle filled up, so when the opportunity presented itself about a minute into the swim I did a stroke of backstroke to clear my lens. Other than the water in my eye, I felt relaxed right from the start and for the first time this season was able to relax my breathing enough to settle into a normal breathing pattern. A few other swimmers stayed with me for about the first 500 yards but by the time we made it to the first turn I was able to take the lead and started focusing on efficient sighting and keeping my arm speed as high as possible. Almost everything about the swim was enjoyable, other that the competitor who sat on my feet the rest of the swim and pressed down on my feet seemingly every few seconds. I realize drafting off people is a big part of open water swimming but I am also aware of much less annoying ways to do so. I did my best to ignore this annoyance but at times he was pressing on my feet so hard it impacted my stroke and body position. I debated trying to drop him,(or kick him) but I had the long game on my mind so I did my best to ignore him and focused on myself. As soon as I came around the turn to start my second loop the stream of people on their first lap was immediately an issue. Luckily, most people were swimming quite wide of the buoys so I focused on staying right along the sighting buoys and weaving around people when I needed to. One of the best parts about the swim was the lack of sun in my eyes. Since we were surrounded by mountains on both sides it was bright without any direct sunlight. In general the swim felt great, I was able to keep a consistent pace without much trouble, my body felt great, I was focused and my breathing had remained relaxed throughout. Having completed the second lap I headed back to shore, making sure to kick a little so I had some blood in my legs. I finished with the second best overall swim behind one of the pros in a time of 51:14.

我当天的第一个错误是在T1时，我把志愿者说的是135而不是134，这让我打开包时大吃一惊。幸运的是，这是一个小错误，我花了不到一分钟的时间跑回去换包。尽管一开始我以为我已经跑得够远了，但我一定还是撞到了水底，因为我的脚趾头被划伤了。接下来的过渡很平静，我戴上头盔，穿上袜子和鞋子，找到我的自行车，然后就出发了。

就像游泳一样，自行车的第一圈很好，很安静。根据当天晚些时候的温度，这似乎很神奇，但在自行车开始的时候，它仍然在60度，所以动力和控制从一开始就很容易。赛道是三圈起伏的地形，每圈有两次实质性的爬坡。我非常专注于保持我的力量一致，不在陡峭的部分尖峰，不后退到山顶的坡度后退。几乎立刻，功率就来了，我没有问题保持我的标准功率在250，这是我想要的上限，至少在比赛的前半段。在最初的20分钟内，我被另外两条年龄相仿的石斑鱼超过，这两条在业余赛区以1比2的成绩结束比赛。我坚持自己的计划，他们以足够快的速度超过了我，我知道与他们匹配对跑步来说是一个坏主意。在接下来的比赛中，我没有再被70.3分或铁人三项的对手超越，在几乎整个自行车分裂的过程中，我能够完全专注于自己的努力。我坚持我的计划，拿一个水瓶来补充我前面的瓶子，并能够在9个援助站中的8个这样做。有了这种喝水的策略，再加上每30分钟吃两粒盐丸，我在整个骑行过程中都感到水分充足，而且在整个骑行过程中都能喝到白开水真是太好了。 I also thought my nutrition plan of having four fairly concentrated bottled of carbopro and scratch worked out quite well. I had no problem getting them down, I didn’t drop any of them and I was able to make each one last for a little over an hour which is what I needed to do. In addition to the water I was adding and the bottles I already had, I took six gels, four Maple Untapped and two Roctane gels. The one hiccup on the eating and drinking front was when the little plastic piece that allows you to refill but not spill water on my front bottle decided it had had enough. At about the 4th aid station the two pieces of this cover fell into the bottle, I tried for about 20 seconds to fix the problem but decided it was not worth it so I rode the second half with no cover on the top of my bottle. Turns out it is far easier to fill up, but of course I also got a nice shower every time I hit a bump, which I did not mind but my gears probably could have done without. Overall, I was very happy with my fueling and nutrition on the bike. I felt satisfied, fueled and hydrated throughout. Power wise on the bike I was able to do exactly what I wanted to do and felt controlled throughout the entire effort. I completed the 112 mile ride in 5:07.41 which was good for the 2nd fastest ride in my age-group and the 13th fastest overall including the pros. My normalized power was 251 which is exactly what I wanted to do and my average HR was 151 which again, is right where I wanted it to be. Despite an elevation gain of 7500 feet I was able to keep my variable index at 1.06 which is perhaps what I am most pleased about from the day. I spend a lot of time focusing on being consistent over uneven terrain and it was very enjoyable to put that to use on a challenging course. I averaged just under 22 miles per hour and hit a top speed of 53.1 which is all that really matters. During the ride the temperature ranged from 52 at the start to 93 by the time I got off the bike. I think one of the reasons I was able to be successful is that I focused on controlling my effort and fueling when I wasn’t hot and I wasn't hungry on the first lap so I wasn’t behind or panicking for nutrition once it was hot at the end. One of the added challenges of this race was the traffic on the second and third loops of the bike. The speed differential between the other bikes and myself was often high so I definitely had to devote a lot of mental energy towards staying aware, letting people know I was coming and always staying a bit up the road with my eyes to make sure I planned my passes effectively. As a whole, I really enjoyed this bike ride, everything went to plan and I started the run full of energy and confidence knowing that my hard work in training had worked.

T2是当天最热的部分之一。尽管穿着自行车鞋慢跑很尴尬，而且可能是计划外的，但走进过渡帐篷换鞋时我感觉很棒。幸运的是，我能够很快完成，因为那是我去过的最热的地方之一，死气沉沉的空气，出汗的铁人三项运动员和下午的阳光是令人痛苦的组合，我非常高兴走出帐篷来到马拉松。当我出发去跑步时，我带着两个小塑料箱里的10粒盐丸，三个辛烷凝胶和一小瓶碱盐。

比赛包括两个环湖赛道，赛道高度约1000英尺，有路面，也有一些碎石路段。在我的手表上，我只看一个心率场，并以英里为单位进行圈分。我的跑步从一开始就感觉很有力，很有控制。我非常努力地提醒自己，这是一个漫长的过程，如果我感觉良好，很好，保持控制。在前十英里的路程中，我的心率可以保持在150的范围内，没有太大的麻烦。我专注于我的形式，从给定的努力中提取出最大的速度。我的胃能接受我在救助站吃的或喝的任何东西。我在每个救助站都拿了水和冰，在接近每个救助区时交替服用两粒盐丸或一粒凝胶。手中的冰是弥合援助站之间差距的最大因素之一。如果我抓了足够多的冰块，我就能在手里还拿着冰块的情况下，从一个救助站走到另一个救助站。 Even if the ice isn’t doing that much to actually cool me down, the feeling of cold on my hands and the chance to occasionally eat a piece of ice made all the difference when it came to feeling cool. Another huge help on the run course was seeing friendly races at various points around the course. Cary, Nyssa's Dad, was biking around the run course giving me updates and splits which as I have mentioned before, can do a lot to calm you down or motivate you for an extra push when needed. Mistake number 2 of the race came in the mile 17-21 range. At the halfway point I started to let my heart rate rise towards 160 and while this felt great for the first 30 minutes of doing so when I reached the hottest part of the course for the second time I had a very bad 20 minutes. I had felt great for the entire race until this point, but I knew I was still about an hour from home so this problem was not something I could fake my way through to get to the end. My first goal was to get my heart rate under control, I had suddenly gone from comfortably running mid 7:00 pace at 150 to struggling in the high 8’s with a heart rate well over 160. I slowed my pace way down and focused on breathing and trying to just accept what was going on instead of panicking. I knew I was close to the lead of the age-group at this point so I wanted to avoid having to stop at all costs. I knew that managing my bad moment and being able to keep moving would always be better than ignoring the problem until I blew up. When I got to the next aid station I slowed way down, I took everything, water, ice, redbull, gel, salt pill and more water and ice at the end. I told myself that was the only break and I just started jogging at a very controlled pace again. It took about another 15 minutes but finally with about 5 miles to go I was able to start bringing my heart rate and pace back to their desired ranges. At mile 24 I passed the current leader of the age group as we went through an aid station, who I had not seen in five hours, when he passed me early on in the bike. I did not actually realize I had passed him until he re-passed me at a decent clip shortly thereafter. At this point we had a little over three miles left and were within five seconds of each other. I did my best to match his pace but he had another gear at that point and I was really just happy to be running at a decent pace again after the struggles of 30 minutes prior. The last two miles were a deep effort. I was able to see Cary, on his bike, as well as Nyssa and Kathy, Nyssa's Mom, within the last mile which helped keep the legs moving for a few more minutes when I really wanted to stop. Everything was ready to be done but I also knew I had had a great day so it was easy to keep going. There was also a family with super soakers at mile 25 so I was all good after I went through there for the last time. Final split for the run was 3:23.40 for the marathon with an average heart rate of 155 and an average pace of 7:48. I had three bad miles but I was very happy with how I managed the situation and recovered to finish strong and at least challenge for the age-group victory. Running has always been a struggle and has always lagged way behind my other two splits. Obviously there is still a long way to go to the top but this was a very satisfying run and a big step forward in what I think I can do in the coming years.

总成绩为9分29秒36，年龄组第二，业余第三，总第13。这个结果使我有资格参加今年10月在夏威夷举行的世界锦标赛，这对实现我的许多长期目标有很大的帮助。我很享受这场比赛的每一部分，即使是最后的十英里，我知道会发生什么，我知道如果有问题我可以做出反应。经过几周的休息，然后短暂的下降到奥运会距离比赛，它回到了两个月的铁人训练前科纳block。等不及了。