Well, I have just finished my first race of the season. I competed in the Nautica Miami International Triathlon which was a 2/3 Olympic distance race here on South Beach. South Beach is an amazing place to be especially early on a sunday morning. This is a party town and as we were getting up to go down to the beach to start our race, the clubs and streets were still packed with party goers from the saturday evening. It had a really great ambience and is a really happening town.

I was prepared to not have much speed but was looking for a race in warm weather where I could really hit the engine hard and try to blow out the cobwebs to begin the season. I like to look for short events at this time of year as the base work leaves you a little flat and a good hard short hit out is always nice. The race went well but not great. I exited the water in 2nd position and felt great in the swim. It was a solid swim pace with a few of the ITU boys really pushing the swim section. I was very comfortable and the swimming I have been doing in LA has really given me some solid strength. I look forward to adding some intensity come May to my swim program to develop a great swim for Ironman Germany. Onto the bike I felt strong but lacked a lot of power.

I simply did not have the power and the anaerobic engine to put out the high watts for such a short period.

I was really disapointed with my bike today and lost about 2 minutes to the two leaders Chris Lieto and Ben Collins. I usually ride with these guys comfortably but lacked torque and power. My Team had told me this week that I might not have the power on a flat course like this to hold the watts on the bike yet. I have been doing some big miles in the mountains on my road bike and have not been in the aero position this season. Riding hard on a TT bike is something that you need to train for and I had done nothing yet. I thought I would be able to muscle my way through the bike and hold the tempo, but the guys were too fast early and broke me on the sharp turns and the wide open sections. My Team were right and I was wrong.

My run was controlled and the fastest of the day

I thought I would be fine but my efficiency was down and my power was down. The bike was were I lost this race today. My run was controlled and the fastest of the day, but it was a little bit too little too late and I finishes about 1 minute from the win. Overall I was disappointed not to win but after speaking to my crew they have made me feel better. I had an email in my inbox from Mick that basically summed up the race before it happened. I spoke with him after the race and he said check your email. When I opened the email it was exactly as he predicted. I guess these guys know me better than I give them credit for. Anyway that’s my race from Miami. I head back to LA tomorrow afternoon and have two more weeks of heavy mileage before the program shifts into more pre competition stuff. I will be racing Wildflower a little on the base phase side but expect more power here and will then look for my speed to come back for the race in Hawaii and UK and then obviously my assault on the Germans in early July. My season has begun and now the racing begins. I love the racing and love this time of year.