Ben tried to be prepared for the descent, but once he was alone, he was at a big disadvantage. And with the center line rule coming into play, he of course wasn’t able to descend as fast as maybe some could or did. (Center line rule is a whole different conversation, and given that Ben’s run wasn’t up to snuff, it didn’t really matter much to him).
It’s interesting that Ben is generally lauded as being one of the better cyclists in American triathlon but was significantly gapped on the descent. How will that technical deficiency affect Ben’s training moving forward?
In this video RVB didn’t obviously break centerline except when passing AB, so I’m curious if you have other video evidence of centerline violations.
The technicality of the course and the handling was a weakness we addressed. Ben realizes and takes responsibility that he wasn’t skilled or comfortable enough with the course for the descent, and we will address it further. He was not willing to break the center line rule to make up for it. Being solo on the descent didn’t help him to judge corners, etc.
Ben tried to be prepared for the descent, but once he was alone, he was at a big disadvantage. And with the center line rule coming into play, he of course wasn’t able to descend as fast as maybe some could or did. (Center line rule is a whole different conversation, and given that Ben’s run wasn’t up to snuff, it didn’t really matter much to him).
It’s interesting that Ben is generally lauded as being one of the better cyclists in American triathlon but was significantly gapped on the descent. How will that technical deficiency affect Ben’s training moving forward?
In this video RVB didn’t obviously break centerline except when passing AB, so I’m curious if you have other video evidence of centerline violations.
The technicality of the course and the handling was a weakness we addressed. Ben realizes and takes responsibility that he wasn’t skilled or comfortable enough with the course for the descent, and we will address it further. He was not willing to break the center line rule to make up for it. Being solo on the descent didn’t help him to judge corners, etc.
So the descent was decisive. Were you guys threshold based in training for the climb or AWC based for the all-out sprints out of each hairpin after a long climbing effort? I haven’t seen the course, and also assume that physiologically the descent was similar to a spirited ITU course with a lot of u-turns.
IOW, which did you weight more heavily, the climb or the descent?
In what way have you addressed the mental aspect? What did he need to improve in his mental approach?
Well, there’s a 10,000ft view of the mental work, and then the mental focus in the moments of racing.
The 10,000ft mental approach deals with consistent performance improvements, which lead to more confidence. That confidence led to more clear racing strategies and goals, race selection. This brought more positive thoughts, expectations, excitement to race, and more consistency of performance.
The focus in the moments of racing deals with the technical things he needed to execute, especially as he fatigues. His pacing and his arm carriage are two items in the run. He has a whole checklist to follow, and he executes and assesses himself on those as he races.
Was there any discussion before the race to use his Madone disc and clip on bars?
Seeing the data on his descent (compared with Iden), Do you think the Madone would have been the better choice?
There was no real discussion of using the Madone. Trek had his TT bike ready, with one small change, no disc. They went with a wheelset that could sustain climbing and descending better.
I don’t know that a Madone would have helped, as I didn’t ride the race. Ben may have some thoughts on that, but I haven’t asked him about that yet. Maybe the ability for a supertuck at some times, but it may have also cost him a lot on the flats. Iden said a TT bike would have been better, and as I saw someone mention, if Iden had finished 2nd, he probably would have been ripped for not riding a TT bike.
So the descent was decisive. Were you guys threshold based in training for the climb or AWC based for the all-out sprints out of each hairpin after a long climbing effort? I haven’t seen the course, and also assume that physiologically the descent was similar to a spirited ITU course with a lot of u-turns.
IOW, which did you weight more heavily, the climb or the descent?
We weighed the output of the climb, and the output on the descent, along with the ability to run off that, as the top priority. Apparently, I need to reassess what that preparation was. I can tell you he was fitter than 2017 and 2018, with more risk in the training, and yet had a poorer result. That’s racing sometimes, as there are a number of variables which can differ from race to race.
2019 has been the best year of his career. He’s disappointed in the race, but he’s young enough, and I’m old enough, to know there are a lot of World Championships ahead, and other big races to be down about the result here, especially when his preparation showed him to be ready. And truth be told, there were only 4 guys at the top of the Col de Vence that had a chance to win the race, AB, RVB, BK and GI.
That’s racing sometimes, as there are a number of variables which can differ from race to race.
2019 has been the best year of his career. He’s disappointed in the race, but he’s young enough, and I’m old enough, to know there are a lot of World Championships ahead, and other big races to be down about the result here, especially when his preparation showed him to be ready.
Hats off to you, Jim, and Ben. What your juggling with short course ITU + 70’s demands of competition is unreal. I think at the end of the day if you can look back and see/know that you did everything correctly to prep for that sometimes you just get that “meh” result. Leaves you a bit disappointed but also I think atleast confident that the “prep work” was there…the result simply wasn’t. And yes at the end of the day it’s about the result, but it’s also about the prep and if you nail that consistently you’ll have these types of results less and less.
So it seems like it was a race that everything gets a check mark except the race result. And I think in the high performance world, you can live with that every so often.
That’s racing sometimes, as there are a number of variables which can differ from race to race.
2019 has been the best year of his career. He’s disappointed in the race, but he’s young enough, and I’m old enough, to know there are a lot of World Championships ahead, and other big races to be down about the result here, especially when his preparation showed him to be ready.
Hats off to you, Jim, and Ben. What your juggling with short course ITU + 70’s demands of competition is unreal. I think at the end of the day if you can look back and see/know that you did everything correctly to prep for that sometimes you just get that “meh” result. Leaves you a bit disappointed but also I think atleast confident that the “prep work” was there…the result simply wasn’t. And yes at the end of the day it’s about the result, but it’s also about the prep and if you nail that consistently you’ll have these types of results less and less.
So it seems like it was a race that everything gets a check mark except the race result. And I think in the high performance world, you can live with that every so often.
What is Ben’s background in swimming??? Did he swim D1??? Distance freestyler or IMer or??? What kind of time do you think he could do for the 1650 say in a Masters meet if he were rested??? Maybe around 16:15, e.g. about 59 per 100 yd???
I did Google this but only got his tri accomplishments, nothing specific to swimming. He has no results listed in USA Swimming nor in USMS. Perhaps he just grew up as a straight tri guy. I saw that he graduated from U of Arizona in three yrs and won both the collegiate sprint and Oly dist titles in 2013. I wonder if he perhaps trained with the team at AZ, and maybe swam in a few meets??? Just curious.
I wonder if he perhaps trained with the team at AZ, and maybe swam in a few meets??? Just curious.
If you mean 'Zona D1 swim team, no and I’m pretty sure that would have been an ncaa violation for the team based on Kanute’s “professional” status and/or not being an official team member. Could he have snuck in a few workouts etc, I’m sure it happens on campuses, but D1 sports are very heavily regulated that if your not an official team member, you aint practicing/racing/apart of said program.
Did Ben climb Col de Vence as planned? I can see that Gustav averaged 366 for that climb and they look to be almost the same weight, yet here we see that Gustav caught up to him on the climb. I was also noticing that these W/Kg numbers are pretty impressive for doing in a race. You had posted a blog a while ago about pro triathlete power numbers
Have the athletes gotten that much fitter on the bike since you wrote this? Both Ben and Gustav would be near the top of this chart. Does Ben have much more room to improve on the bike or are you mainly focus on improving his run.
I wonder if he perhaps trained with the team at AZ, and maybe swam in a few meets??? Just curious.
If you mean 'Zona D1 swim team, no and I’m pretty sure that would have been an ncaa violation for the team based on Kanute’s “professional” status and/or not being an official team member. Could he have snuck in a few workouts etc, I’m sure it happens on campuses, but D1 sports are very heavily regulated that if your not an official team member, you aint practicing/racing/apart of said program.
Ah, I see, had not thought of that angle. Thanks for this info.
Ah, I was searching for “Ben” not “Benjamin” and USA Swimming was not showing anyone, but “Benjamin” worked. He was an all-rounder including a 2:01 200 yd fly.
