Brad Williams- Professional Triathlete ARCHIVES: Race Day in FL- World Championships

14 Nov- Clearwater Beach FL-

Well today was the big day and my last triathlon of the 2009 season. Wow what a year it has been, the year recap will come in a week or two. So the day started out bright and early at 445am with the usual routine. Had a bowl of oatmeal and a cup of coffee and sure enough it took care of the morning business. This year I have been 3 for 3 on taking care of things pre race and not having to stop during the race. It turned out to be a beautiful morning and the weather had really calmed down compared to earlier in the week. Since I was starting in the last wave I took my time to get down to transition area and get the bike setup. So after getting the bike setup myself and my mom headed down to the swim start and was able to catch the pros start, which was really cool.

Once the pros went off we just hung around and watched Eric, Petra, and Gary head out for their swim then I started to get ready. The start was supposed to be a swimmer in the water one after another and then a break in between each wave. Well the start didn’t go as planned and they just kept feeding people into the water so instead of having 1800 people on the course over an hour we were all in the water in 25 minutes. Well what that does is create some big packs on the bike course and a lot of drafting.

Swim- The swim went as expected considering the fact that I have not been able to get in the pool since it closed. Also with the crash in Germany I was not able to swim for 6 weeks. So I expected to swim around 34-37 minutes and sure enough I came out at 35 minutes. The swim course was great minus the first portion due to the fact that it was right into the sun. At the first turn buoy I felt the ground on my swim stroke and was able to stand up which was really weird out in the middle of the harbor.

T1- I felt like I had a great transition and felt really quick. The volunteers were great and really helpful at getting my wetsuit off quickly.

Bike- WOW is all I have to say. I knew the bike would be super fast and had heard that there would be a lot of drafting. Surprisingly through the first 15 miles I thought it was going to be a clean race. I was with a guy for the first 15 miles and we were pacing off of each other and were within a legal distance. At the first U turn onto the freeway I look back and see a pack of about 20 riders 200 meters behind me. So I knew it was going to start happening sooner or later so I slowed up and joined the group. This is when the fun began. For about the first 8 miles the group really didn’t want to push the pace but after that the group got frisky and we took off. Most of the time I would look down and we were above 25mph, at some points we were “cruising” at 30mph. At mile 45 a race marshal finally came along and broke up our group, but by this time it was so narrow on the road that it was hard not to stay in a pack. Overall I felt really strong on the bike and felt like I contributed to our group and helped to push the pace. This might not of been the smartest thing since I beat my legs up pretty good pushing the pace but at least we hammered out a good bike.

T2- Once again I had a quick transition but it would have been about 30 seconds faster if I would not have stopped to pee. I made sure to hydrate well on the bike since it was hot out and was producing quite a bit of sweat and salt.

Run- Well this is where things did not go as planned. I came into the race hoping to run 1:35 but knew it would be hard after an extremely fast and hard paced bike. The other down fall to the run course was that we had to cross a big bridge 4 times and it was steep! So the bridge really took a lot out of my legs the first two times and by the last time just shuffled up the bridge instead of attempting to run. So I came in a little off my goal but was overall very pleased with my run.

Overall I had a great race and was very happy with the results. Only being at the end of my second season and too of just competed in the World Championships makes me feel really good and happy with the success so far. This race was really just to see where I stand in the big scheme of things with a lot of great athletes to compete against. Now that my season is pretty much over it is time to relax and let the body rest from the long season.

Times/Results:

Swim- 35:44 1025^th/1652

T1- 3:11

Bike- 2:16:32 551^st/1652

T2- 3:15

Run- 1:40:46 714^th/1652

Total Time- 4:39:26

Age Group placing- 37^th/55

Overall Placing- 697^th/1652

I also just competed in a Track meet here on base on Wednesday the 18^th. I made sure to recover quickly so that I could try and run a good race against some of the local runners on base. I took an Ice bath right after the race in FL and then got a massage on Tuesday. My legs felt decent considering how hard I pushed on Saturday. Coming up to the line of the track meet I did not think many people would run the mile, it was a pretty small race. Well a lot of people decided to run the mile and I thought I might have had to run hard. I took off out the gate and pushed pretty hard. I stayed in the lead the whole time and out ran 12 other guys and won the mile with a 5:30 mile. Just a small race but it felt good to run a 5:30 4 days after a big race. Now I am on complete recovery for 6 weeks and just started Airman Leadership School, so I really don’t have time to train. We have to do some physical activity 2-3 times a week but it is very minimal.