最近我在赛前的一个改进包括能够吃真正的食物和在比赛早上不呕吐。而且赛前的紧张情绪也稍微缓和了一些。还是一样的压力和期望不断增加，但我不再在每次出发前48小时发抖。在过去的六个月里，这是一个令人愉快的发展，然而我担心我会在我的第一场职业比赛中回到起点。我显然非常兴奋，终于在最高水平的比赛，但也充满了很多不确定的开始。比赛将如何展开，我能否跟上这些人的步伐，是否有人会和我交谈，我是否做好了充分的准备，我的装备是否正常，我在马拉松比赛中会有什么样的腿?尽管有这些想法，我在比赛的早上还是相对平静的，而且能睡个好觉，醒来没有任何困难，在热身和准备比赛的过程中消耗了大约1000卡路里。

距离比赛开始还有大约五分钟的时候，职业选手被叫到水边。这已经不一样了，3000人的自我种子线索消失了，取而代之的是一个由25名运动员组成的有序队列。虽然时间很短，但我在游泳热身后感觉很好，并准备好了最初的速度激增。(非常响亮的)炮声响起，接下来的30秒是疯狂的组合，我在水中高膝跳跃，希望我能在跳水时把握好时机，然后在评估情况之前，进行了几次真正的艰难游泳循环。事后看来，我想这应该不会让我感到惊讶，但这是我参加过的最有序的游泳起跑之一。当我们分出队伍时，我看到有两三个运动员已经很快地游走了，但我还能看见主要队伍的前面。第一段游到一半的时候，这群人开始变少了，最后我带着一个不错的背包在前面游过了一半。游完1.2英里后，我觉得有控制的努力是明智的，随着我们继续游，我的呼吸变得越来越放松。主要的问题是我的泳帽，在第二个转弯时，它开始滑落，所以我决定停下来划水，把它拉下来。我还不确定我是否应该放手，但我总是在脑海里乱扔垃圾，希望它不会对后面的人造成太大的干扰。 As we headed back towards shore my coach and fellow racer, Andrew Yoder came by looking like he wanted to push the pace, so I happily found his feet and did my best to get the draft without running into him every stroke. I can only speculate, but I think he would give me a 5/10 for that. Always learning. As we approached the shore I was feeling good but ready to be done swimming. I switched to a six beat kick from the last buoy into shore in the hopes of getting some blood flowing. This proved less than useful and I was definitely hanging on for a moment or two during the run to T1. By the end of the carpeted jog towards the changing tent I had regained my wits and was focused on being efficient and getting everything right through transition. My wetsuit came off easily, socks went on without any creases, gels and salt pills all made it into my pockets and I even remembered to put my helmet on. Progress. I finished the swim in a time of 50:30, which put me 5th in the pro field out of the water and 10th overall.

自从三周前我在比赛中途停了下来，我就一直期待着重新骑上自行车。我对我的身体在训练负荷中处理摇摆的方式很满意，所以这个计划基本上是相同的力量和营养明智的。唯一的变化是，主菜的营养是BASE而不是佳得乐，我没有练习过，所以，为了尝试向新西兰学习，我身上多带了500卡路里。为了开始自行车吐槽，我的前蓄水池大约满了50%(主要是为了不溢出到架子上)，我的下管瓶有1580卡路里(15勺碳水精，1刮伤)，6个凝胶和一个盐丸膜罐。正好在2300 - 2400卡范围内，这是我最近的目标。在自行车分裂的早期，我不断提醒自己要坚持自己的计划。260瓦的功率在第一个小时感觉不太好，而且很难看到三个运动员从我身边经过。然而，说服自己放弃追逐并不难，我知道我想跑一场成功的马拉松，过去三周我的身体状况没有任何改变，所以控制住了。除了那些在出城的头几英里超过我的人，我基本上都能骑自己的自行车比赛。特伦布兰特山赛道本质上是两个来回的循环，第一个主要是在不断起伏的地形上的高速公路上，第二个较短的部分由重复的短而陡峭的小山组成。 On the highway section I focused on maintaining consistent power and good aerodynamic posture. The aid stations seemed to be spaced perfectly for my needs as I was getting through an entire front reservoir between each station. Throughout the course the volunteers were attentive and engaged, making life easy for us athletes. On the hillier, second section of the loop I knew it was going to be hard to control power so I did my best to at least keep the effort within reason while also using the steeper parts as a good chance to stretch the legs and back. As was my experience three years ago, this hillier section was a great change of pace and I left feeling better than on the way in. The second loop on the bike was very similar to the first, although as everyone's pace settled a bit I passed one fading athlete and was pleasantly surprised with how things were opening up behind me. I worked through a few small waves of feelings from various parts of the body, but in general things felt great on the bike and I really enjoyed the effort. Through half way I was about 263 watts and my goal way 260 watts so I knew it was all about controlling the pressure and getting all of my nutrition down and processed for the rest of my time on the bike. I was very pleased with how my 1500 calorie bottle worked out, I never had any stomach issues and was able to space it evenly over the first 4.5 hours, keeping the concentration correct in my stomach with copious amounts of water. I ate all six gels at about 45 minute intervals and consumed about 10 of my salt pills on the bike split. Recently, I have been trying to consume just water for the last portion of the bike split, my thought is that it will clear things out and avoid the concentrated sugar gut that can often form. I finished the second lap feeling in control and ready to run, things were going well aerobically and I was really enjoying racing. I finished the bike in 4:51:02 which was 8th in the pro field and 9th overall. I normalized 261 watts and consumed all of the 2380 calories I brought with me. Two down, one to go.

今天腿还好，也是时候了。走出帐篷，我感到非常强壮，我不得不不断地放慢自己的速度。我看到我手腕上的速度，我不应该跑，只要有可能就控制住。在前半英里内，我的胃已经决定可以跑步了，从那以后，我的消化系统没有任何问题。这太棒了。在大约两英里的路程中，我被一个选手超过，大部分时间我都在第8名。我对比赛的结果感到非常惊讶，没有想到自己会赢钱，但我确实赢了，没有时间表现出惊讶，我是在比赛中。在最初的7英里中，我的速度保持在7英里以下，比预期略快，但身体感觉良好，我还没有感到任何失控或碰撞的迹象。我的第一个想法是，天哪，你最好控制一下，在10英里的时候。在训练和比赛中，我已经发现了足够多的极限，可以知道事情何时会脱轨的早期迹象。 I was not going to allow that to happen here, so I dialed back the pace to low 7:00’s from mile 10 - 20. I focused on consuming as much as possible at every aid station as well as not taking anything out of my legs on the hills. One of the unique challenges on the Mont Tremblant run course is the drastic change in feel and emotion on various points of the course. As you run through and then leave town, you are surrounded by people on all sides, sitting, biking and even riding the bus. There is energy everywhere, which can make you push too hard or get you out of a rut during a bad moment. The middle portion of the course is on a bike path, which has no people, just lots of athletes trying to race their own Ironman. There is also a change in terrain, out of town the roads are open and rolling, on the path it is flat with full shade but no wind. The first lap reminded me of all these small nuances and I felt like I was able to control my effort at key times much more effectively on the second lap. Nutrition wise, this was by far the most successful I have ever been at eating on an IM run. I never had any issues of feeling full or any other GI distress. I ate 4 of the 6 gels I brought, had at least another 4 salt pills, water at both ends of every aid station and was even able to add in coke or redbull depending on what was handed in my direction. It felt like I was actually racing and making decisions for probably the first time in an IM run. More of that please. The last 8 miles were hard. Legs were screaming big time on every stride by the last 30 minutes. The biggest things missing from my last three attempts at the IM distance was this feeling. It hurt very good. I enjoyed every moment of it, I knew I had gotten the effort right, probably couldn't have really gone any harder and as long as I kept my head down and kept working I would make it to the line. The crowds of the last two miles were a welcomed boost, everything hurt, even muscles that have nothing to do with running, but I had allowed myself to do some math and I knew I was close to an 8 something Ironman. There was nothing left in the tank for the hills so even at the end I controlled up the inclines with the hope of maintaining some semblance of form over the line. I crossed the line with about three seconds to spare to 9 hours and I was done. I enjoyed the whole 8:59:57, but it felt so good to stop. In the end I finished in 7th place in the M Pro field and 10th overall. I had no idea where my fitness and race execution was going to get me at the end of the day so 7th place was a great surprise and a nice bonus to the weekend. What I am most pleased with is how I was able to stick to a plan and have it go almost exactly as intended. I know, more often that not this will not be the case, so I can appreciate the days when it all goes to plan. Days like last Sunday are the reason I do this sport.

我今年剩下的时间将是9月29日的查塔努加IM，然后是12月8日的印第安维尔斯70.3。回去工作吧。