First of all great race! My question is about the swim: effort wise, how did it compare to an ITU swim.

Congrats! Ben do you have a coach, and where do you train out of?

Well done Ben. Was Alistair "tickling your toes" the whole way on that swim or did he take some pulls at the front?

Thanks for playing,

Hugh

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Genetics load the gun, lifestyle pulls the trigger.

Why did you not follow A Brownlee on the bike?

when i looked at the results yours was the one that stood out. where does this run leg stand against all the other runs you've had?

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Dan Empfield
aka Slowman

At what point in the race did you contemplate prison shiving AB as the best chance for someone to beat him? And if not, why not? Lol

Great race Ben. How do you approach stiff headwinds on the bike and brutal sections on the run like the first three miles up to Red Hills Parkway?

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2017 races: St. George 70.3 May 6 | Madison 70.3 June 11 | IM Zurich July 30 | Chicago Marathon October 8

Thanks! The swim actually started off surprisingly fast. I had to work pretty hard to get to the front before settling in. It overall is just more steady. It's a bit easier, but I think a lot of that comes from having clean water and swimming the pace I want to.

My coach is Jim Vance, and I spend a majority of the winter in Tucson. For the summer I travel quite a bit, so I will find myself in Chicago, San Diego, and possibly Boulder.

It's funny you mention that because he did remind me a few times he was on my feet. I though he was telling me to pick it up.

The same reason I did not follow Sanders and Kienle: I just couldn't. I tried for a bit! It's definitely a testament to his strength on the bike. Hopefully we will be able to do a writeup on my power file about the race, but I need a bit more time to look at it. I did avg quite a lot those first 20-30 min for me.

Well I only have one other 70.3 run course to compare it to (Puerto Rico) and I think I picked two of the most challenging run courses out there. St. George's run course is especially brutal. I felt great on the first 3 uphill miles, and the next 3 downhill, but turning around it is 4 miles of steep uphill. That hurt the most, and I was just trying to keep it together to the top so that I could use the downhill.

Most ITU courses are pretty flat, so the difficulty comes from the intensity.

I still think he would have won it. He just thrive on pain! And I would have had to shank a few more people if I wanted the win!

Thankfully the wind wasn't too stiff, but that is when I focus on the race unfolding around me. I can key off other guys, and I can also rely on my power to prove my effort is where it needs to be even if the speed feels slow.

Congratulations on a great race!

Are you racing solely 70.3 this year?

Did Ali take you out to dinner afterward for leading out the swim? What was your power and will you post it to Strava or are you going with the Chris Lieto (I'll never show race power file). Big congrats!!

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What do you think about running down the finishing chute for the win?
In a given week, how many times do you replay a portion of {high profile performance} in your head?
Who is the last athlete you'd want to battle for the win over the last mile?
How often do you come to Slowtwitch?
Is Eric Lagerstrom the hippest guy in Triathlon?

Pick one:
Spring or Fall?
Dogs or cats?
Swim, bike or run?
Dream or plan?
Lead or follow?
Talent or heart?
Sunrise or sunset?
Camping or hotel?
Fame or glory?
Electrical or mechanical?
Racing or training?
How or why?
Power or feel?
MaryAnn or Ginger?
Iron Man or Captain America?

Nope! I have a couple Major League Tri races coming up, Escape from Alcatraz, along with some WTS races (Hamburg and the Canadian races) coming up in the next couple months. I am mixing it up quite a bit this year.

No. Having a fast swim was just as beneficial to me. I may not be able to win the race after the swim, but I can sure as he'll take some people out of it. I also have a feeling someone else would have stepped up to the plate (including Ali) if I didn't push the pace.

I have not looked at my power file that closely yet. I have no problem sharing my power files (as you can see from the article posted about Puerto Rico and the previous one about the Olympics). I can look up some rough numbers if everyone is interested, but I usually leave the analysis to Jim (that's his specialty!).

OK I'll take a shot at all of these.

Running down a finishing chute for a win is awesome. It would have been incredible in St. George (mostly because it was so unlikely), but winning any race is a ton of fun. Each finish has its own unique atmosphere as well, which makes every one special.

I try to take 15 min a day to visualize my A race and everything going perfectly.

Well Lionel and Ali both come to mind. They have amazing pain tolerances, and both would rather collapse than end up 2nd.

I usually lurk a bit on Slowtwitch( I'm sure you can tell this is my first time posting. Being on Mobile and never doing this before probably stands out). I like to try to keep up with what is relevant in our sport and the front page usually gives a good summary of the weekends racing.

Eric is a pretty hip guy. Between the videos, beard, and the flow he has growing I am not sure who could top him.

Rapid fire answers: fall, dogs, yes, plan, lead, heart, Sunrise, camping, glory, electrical, racing, why, power, ginger, Captain america

Great race!

What do you think you can swim in an solo 1500m Long Course?
And what can you run in an 10km flat road race?

Would be very interesting to me!

Ps: And I would be very interested in your power numbers, especially in the first few kms.

I think it is funny how every AMA from a 9:xxh at IM Texas age grouper gets more attention than an AMA form an Olympian who did a get race and got 5th in St George

I really appreciate this honest and humble response. I hate reading cliched bogus answers to questions like that from professional athletes so I like that you're a realist. I read the question and wanted to answer it myself with "Because he can't." But I would've been a dick for doing so.

Congrats on a great race and you'll certainly make your mark on 70.3 racing this season.

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Favorite Gear: Dimond | Cadex | Desoto Sport | Hoka One One

That's an easy answer. We have more in common with the 9:30 IM AG finisher than we do with an Olympian. I get way more out of AMA posts from my so-called peers than I do from total genetic freaks and professionals like Ben or Matt Hanson or Jordan, etc.

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Favorite Gear: Dimond | Cadex | Desoto Sport | Hoka One One

I'd also say there's probably more divergence at the pro level in 70.3 racing than 140.6 racing. Pros tend to race (now, anyway) 70.3 races like "long Olympic distance" events. Whereas, for age-groupers, it really is more like half-an-Ironman. A sub-4hr race is just a lot more different from, say, a 5hr or 6hr race over the 70.3 distance than an 8hr race is from a 10 or 12hr race.

Nutrition is critical for all athletes at the Ironman distance. And that's always one of - if not the single - primary question in most of the AMAs I've done. But nutrition is way less critical for for a 3:45(ish) race.

So I think that's why a thread like this is maybe less popular. Half-Ironman racing in the pro ranks has really, really diverged over the past few years from the way in which age-groupers would race a 70.3.

Though, interestingly, because (IMO) of Brownlee's assault off the front, the race unfolded quite a bit differently than it has over the past few years. The spread from 1st to 10th was 16min this year and a sub-4 performance put you in the top-12. The last time I did the race (when the run was about 800m or so short, so add about 3min to run times), you had a spread from 1st to 10th of 4min. And even accounting for the margin in run times, 10th was faster in 2014 than in 2017. But the 2014 race - big pack on the bike, very "tactical" racing - is much more typical of how these races unfold lately.

This year, probably because of Brownlee and Kanute (on the swim) - ironic because they are the "draft-legal" racers, the race really shattered pretty quickly. You saw a lot more explosions than you do when everyone just rides together.

St. George is an interesting course, because it's point-to-point, so weather has a bigger impact on this course than on others.

Anyway...

For Ben, thanks for coming on and doing this. I'm really interested to hear some discussion of your power file when you are ready to share it. I'm curious about:
- VI
- peak 5min and when it came
- peak 10min and when it came
- peak 20min and when it came
- overall average power for the whole ride

Also, I was super impressed by your swim workout. The 3x25-50-75-100-75-50-25 all on 1:00. For you, obviously, you can break 1:00 pretty comfortably. Would you say that 56/57s per 100y is your 1650 pace? 500y pace? I'm just trying to figure out, if I wanted to copy that workout, what sort of send-off I'd go on. I'd guess 1:10 for me would be about right. But I'm curious how that pace stacks up for you. Thanks!

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