Brad Williams- Professional Triathlete ARCHIVES: Hoengseong Half IM- 1st Long Course OA WIN!

26 Aug-

It had been 4 weeks since my last race and I was ready to race again. The last race was the Cascade Cycling Classic in Bend, Oregon. I was a little worn out by that point as I had been racing for quite a few weeks in a row and I had been back in the states for 4 weeks by that time. It was also my first race as a CAT2, and needless to say I got a taste of what racing with the fast guys was all about. I came back to Korea and got right back after it. I started my training focus for Kona and picked back up with my tri coach Scott. We had 10 weeks to work with and came up with a solid idea of where things needed to be fine tuned and we got right to work.

I had been lacking the run mileage with the heavy cycling focus over the last month so we were a little worried about that. Over the 4 weeks leading into this race though the miles started adding up and the legs came around quite quickly. I was feeling good with the 4 week block and was excited to see where I was at in terms of Long Course shape.

The race was a first year race, so it was quite a small race. They had 111 people finish and I would estimate about 150 on the start line. One of my teammates from my Korean cycling team is also a triathlete and didn't show up as he was aiming for a full IM in a few weeks, I was bummed as it would of been a great race between the two of us.

Swim- 1.9K- 30:29

My swim has been coming around so I was looking forward to see how I would perform in the race. I had a good starting position and went out hard for the first 200m. I opened up a nice gap and just continued to build on it throughout the swim. It was a 2 lap swim, but you didn't exit the water and just swam around the buoy. Luckily I didn't have to deal with lapping anyone, but I stayed out front the whole swim. I came out of the water with about a minute lead, yes very rare for me to be leading out of the water. Second time this year that has happened out here in Korea ;)

Bike- 91K- 2:40:36

I had seen the bike course profile and wasn't really worried about it. I knew it was going to be hilly and was thankful for that. With the bike being one of the stronger points of my race it is nice to have a tough course which helps keep the others from drafting, which is common out here in Korea. What I didn't know is how brutal the bike course would be. I brought an 11-28 for the rear and was still struggling for the last 1K of a 5K climb, it ended up being a CAT2 climb according to Strava. Later on I had heard that there were a lot of people walking up that section. The plan going into the race was to hammer the bike and just see what happened from there. I felt good on the bike and held on to the lead throughout the whole bike, I actually never saw anyone. Looking at the results I out rode the 2nd fastest bike split by 17 minutes, so that would explain that.

Run- 21K- 1:35:57

Prior to the race I had talked to my coach and we had a conversation about the race. He told me to cruise the run, but also said if I was in a position to win I had the green light to go for it. Well I didn't know how big my lead was getting off the bike so I came off the bike and ran hard. The problem was it was super hot and humid out, heat index of 97*F. I came of the bike running well holding 6:30-6:40 pace for the first 3 miles. Then I decided to back off into "cruise" mode and stopped at all the aid stations and shoved ice down my suit and took in some calories. It was a 2 loop run course and I turned around at 5.5K and ended up not seeing anyone for another 8 minutes, and it was a relay runner. At that point I knew I had a huge lead but still wanted to get a solid workout in. I just ran between each aid station at a comfortable pace and got in a solid workout.

Total Time- 4:49:43

Swim- 30:29-1st
Bike- 2:40:36-1st Link to Strava: http://app.strava.com/rides/19765308
Run- 1:35:57-1st Link to Strava:http://app.strava.com/runs/19766179
Total- 4:49:43

Overall I was really happy with how the race played out and I was just happy to walk away with the overall win. Even though it was a small field it was still nice to have a great race and execute the plan we laid out prior to the race. It was by far the toughest course I have done for a half, not the toughest race as 70.3 China and 70.3 Germany were really tough days for me, but overall it was a tough day.

Thanks again to everyone for all of the support. Special Thanks to: Honey Stinger, FRS Healthy Performance, HED Cycling and all of my family and friends!

If you would like information on my nutrition plan for this race please email me at: airforcebadbrad@yahoo.com

A few pictures from the race: