Congrats on the great race! It's been fun following your first year as a pro, and I'm looking forward to seeing how it progresses. Best of luck chasing your dream!

Thanks for the report. I think this was also your first race in the next%. Thoughts on those?

Great race well done! And thanks for the insight. You earned yourself a Instagram follow (or 2, not sure which of your channels to follow?).
Must be such a crazy/stressfull but also amazing experience living out of a van with your GF/wife doing what you are both passionate about!

It was #2 and he said he didn’t quite make it to the toilet in time. His back was evidence of that when he went by me for the second time...I’d guess it did cost him a minute or two.

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https://twitter.com/mungub

I guess I can’t claim TMI as I basically asked for that one!!

Congrats on the great result - solid progress all year! What prompted the switch to the Omni? Is that something you purchased or a sponsorship bike? Looks pretty sweet - how do you like those new TriRig arm cups?

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Blog: http://262toboylstonstreet.blogspot.com/
https://twitter.com/NateThomasTri
Coaching: https://bybtricoaching.com/ - accepting athletes for 2023

You are right. Correct pace is 5:32.75 min/mile.
Even more impressive.

Huh! We'll definitely have to look into Savageman more. Looks like its around the same time as Santa Cruz 70.3 which we loved last year, but still worth a look. And yeah, we're super excited to be going back to Virginia. Not so much looking forward to the humidity but both of our families live there and we've got lots of friends in the area still! Thanks for the tip!

Great question. I actually really like looking back at that one workout that kind of indicated I was capable of racing as well as I did. For the bike, my coach has been having me do a lot of bike strength work, mostly low cadence extended efforts around FTP. My best of these was probably a 2x20min overgear interval with 2 minutes rest between. Ended up going 326w @ 149bpm, 337w @ 159bpm. And it wasn't exceptionally hard. I know the low cadence stuff keeps the heart rate lower but I was still pretty happy with that workout and gave me some confidence to drop to a lower gear and just push hard for a bit while racing if I needed to.

On the running side, for the 5 weeks of training between Waco 70.3 and my taper for Indian Wells, I only averaged 23 miles a week. The run was not the focus at all. There was even more easy running in there than normal. Usually once a week my coach does have me do a hill workout consisting of 2min efforts that I usually end up doing on a treadmill. It's great for just getting the heart rate through the roof and recovering just enough to be able to spike it again. Really kind of crazy to look back at that mileage though and then the result from Sunday!

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Benjamin Deal - Professional - Instagram - TriRig - Lodi Cyclery
Deals on Wheels - Results, schedule, videos, sponsors

Yup! That's it. And like jkhayc said, 99% of the time I'm not losing time. Unless there was a really slick transition surface, I can run pretty fast in my cycling shoes as well. This one was not so much about a poor strategy, more so just poor execution.

Ha! A good idea, but considering his bathroom break, unfortunately he's still a much better runner and I like to believe I'm a much better swimmer (though not so much this race). I do have a great offer for a Catalina partner though! If Summer and I don't race together hopefully I can still make it fit into the schedule!

Thanks! This was my homework from my coach. I don't think there's any magic there aside from just practicing it more. Like almost everyone, its something I generally ignore until race week. I'm guessing 30 minutes every other week would be about the free-est 30 seconds I could find in every race! I think I'm going to continue to stay away from flying mounts for now as well. I have no doubt that with enough practice I could make it faster, but as of now I use lace up shoes with elastic laces and I enjoy watching others coast for 45 seconds fiddling with their shoes while I fly by them.

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Benjamin Deal - Professional - Instagram - TriRig - Lodi Cyclery
Deals on Wheels - Results, schedule, videos, sponsors

Yeah it was! The main thing I can think of right now is how painful walking around is. My feet are far more destroyed blister and rubbing wise than ever before. My heels have large wounds on them from that little heel foam thing. Worth it obviously, but still uncomfortable. Honestly I can't say I necessarily felt a "pop" like a lot of people claim. They did feel oddly squishy and bouncy but other than that I wouldn't say I felt different racing in them. It's hard to make solid statements about the speed of them because as of now my sample size is 1. Yup, I absolutely had the best run of my life, and I'd be lying if I thought the Next% didn't have something small to do with it, but I like to think I also just ran really hard. And based on how my body feels right now, I think that's the case.

Thank you! To be clear, we're not living out of the van right now. Just have it around for trips and camping and such, although it does need a new transmission at the moment so we're kind of waiting to find the money for that. As far as stress goes, I have always had this almost unnatural ability to not get stressed about anything. In school I would have a paper due in a few hours or a exam that I hadn't even remotely studied for and it wouldn't even phase me (I was not a good student and probably shouldn't have gone to school at all). This has been a good compliment to Summer, who is significantly more ambitious than me generally, and fills her life with all types of events and volunteering that can tend to stress her out. I'm able to keep her grounded and she keeps my life interesting :)

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Benjamin Deal - Professional - Instagram - TriRig - Lodi Cyclery
Deals on Wheels - Results, schedule, videos, sponsors

TriRig is a full on sponsor for us this year! I was never on any type of contract with Ceepo, just the affiliation so I was always free to use whatever. When Summer and I met Nick for the photoshoot with the Ceepos in August, he mentioned the possibility of us getting on the Omnis for 2020. I've always been a huge fan of bikes that stand out, and clearly Nick makes quality products. We got along well and after some discussion and not too much deliberation, we were totally on board. It means a lot to us to have a genuine relationship with companies, and the fact that we were able to drive up to TriRig HQ and build the bikes with Nick and Jeremiah over a weekend was awesome. If given the choice of any bike to ride, the Omni would have been at or near the top of the list, so this is kind of a dream come true. Plus it's really fun for Summer and I to have matching bikes :)

The Scoops and insanely comfortable. I run max tilt on my Alpha one bars plus the new 115mm rise extensions so my hands are pretty far up there. I added a spacer under the front bolt on the cups to add a bit more angle to the cups and it's absurd how locked in and relaxed I feel. Seriously game changing for us from a comfort perspective.

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Benjamin Deal - Professional - Instagram - TriRig - Lodi Cyclery
Deals on Wheels - Results, schedule, videos, sponsors

Ha one spot further down the pecking order for me! Or two when Summer beats me... It would be cool to see you guys there though - its an awesome event. Congrats on the race man

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You’re not wrong about the humidity. The humidity is BAD. I wouldn’t look forward to it either. 95% humidity and in the 60s today. In December.
But yes, definitely check out Savageman and The Big Savage Challenge. It’s a super cool event, definitely would be closer than Santa Cruz! And I bet Santa Cruz doesn’t have anything like The Westernport Wall

By way of followup - TriRig has onboarded several new athletes riding the Omni. Matt Russell was the first (and he will be with us again for 2020), and we've already added six more! Official announcements to follow. But we are THRILLED to have Ben and Summer on board, for all the reasons that have become obvious in this thread. Their fresh, positive, bootstrap-built energy is awesome enough on its own. But Ben's attention to detail on equipment, and his dedication to engaging on social media, documenting his experience for the benefit of public readership, and his great attitude and sense of humor (see Southpark meme above) brings very real value to TriRig. Plus Ben and Summer are just great people, and as he mentioned, we got along like a house on fire. Sponsorship was a no-brainer. CONGRATS on the great race, Ben!

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TriRig.com

You are now- Sophomore Pro.

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Washed up footy player turned Triathlete.

I've really started to become a big fan of Ben and his wife. So glad you had such a great race. Best of luck with the off season and hope that this race helps with the winter motivation!

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YouTube

Did you go sockless on the run?

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Let food be thy medicine...

Yup! I generally only put socks on if its cold enough to warrant a little additional warmth for the toes. This wasn't quite that. If you follow us on Instagram though, you'll know that my feet paid the price. The black tab of foam in the heel of the Next%, presumably to keep you locked in, rubbed hard and it's extremely uncomfortable for me to walk around in shoes right now. Wouldn't change it for anything though.

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Benjamin Deal - Professional - Instagram - TriRig - Lodi Cyclery
Deals on Wheels - Results, schedule, videos, sponsors

When you say you don't do a flying mount, are you referring to the actual act of leaping onto your bike as you run (across mount line) or do you mean that but with your shoes clipped in already? (Or something else entirely).

A flying mount in your cycling shoes is not difficult. That is an easy 5 bike lengths you gain on someone not doing that, if not more.

Or am I misinterpreting?

So far, I've stopped at the mount line and straddle my bike, clip in one foot, then start moving. I'm in the process of switching to Speedplay Zeros right now though. Not that it would have been difficult to do a flying mount even with my shoes on before, but it's probably worth learning now considering it's extra easy with the dual sided clip ins. I get that my process hasn't been the absolute fastest but I'm fairly efficient at what I do do.

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Benjamin Deal - Professional - Instagram - TriRig - Lodi Cyclery
Deals on Wheels - Results, schedule, videos, sponsors

You should start wearing socks homie!

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Washed up footy player turned Triathlete.

You need to start watching ITU races (they’re perfect for the trainer). The triathlonlive.tv is only like $30/yr or something, and you will get access to all the races from the last few years as well. Those folks have T1 dialed in (because they have to), and they practice a lot. Comparing yourself to other long course pros shouldn’t be your measure of success here, always strive to be world class in everything, even transition.

It’s not hard to have your shoes on your bike, and use rubber bands to hold them level (and wide open) so that when you land on the seat, you can slip your feet directly into the shoes. Then only have to tighten them up when you get a chance. I agree with you that putting your feet on top of your shoes and then having to work them in later isn’t very efficient.

Did you feel like you burned any extra matches going 1X (IE needed more gears) on the bike? Please bear in mind I'm unfamiliar with that bike course.

Yeah, I learned my lesson on going sock less with the Next% in the first race I did with them. And that was only a sprint. My feet were tore up badly, especially the heel area, just as you described. I'll never run in them without socks again.

I find that if I roll my socks and place them in my shoes it takes no longer than 10 seconds total to have both socks on - definitely worth it when blisters may be involved!

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Blog: http://262toboylstonstreet.blogspot.com/
https://twitter.com/NateThomasTri
Coaching: https://bybtricoaching.com/ - accepting athletes for 2023