Nicely done, very happy for you. Enjoy the big dance.

Thanks for the report. I cannot stand cold raining conditions like that, on the bike, so you are certainly more mentally tough than me. Congratulations on making it to Kona!!!

Great write up! Congrats!

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https://www.strava.com/athletes/4391866

Congratulations, take a good rest & get back at it! Have to one up you though...years ago I missed a KQ once at a race by 3 seconds. But did get one at the next race a few months later. ;-)

Fred, I'm so excited that you finally got what you've been striving towards!! We both shared that 7 second miss on a KQ. I hope to join you in Kona - maybe it's our time!

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

Congrats! From watching your progress over the years at BT, I know how hard you worked for that day. That KQ must be incredibly sweet..

As you know, I'm super happy for you Fred! You've been oh, so close and you've had great training cycles for years so it is just reward for the hard working and talented guy you are.

3AG is just AWESOME and you crushed the bike, as I hoped, but your run got you there. The time constraints of the job you do is probably underappreciated by most.

(I had previously told Bobby that Jake was special, BTW, with his 10 OA, 1 AG-he proved that...)

Rest, recover and enjoy the moment. Conditions are never gonna be like they were at Kona again-just sayin' ;)

Fred,
Your going to love it there. Congrats!

Awesome job man. Simply awesome!

Nice write up and great result. I’m always interested in folks who have a similar life setup to me and have to fit the training in. Could you share a typical week and how you fit your training in?
Thanks,
Tubs

Congrats on your success at IM Louisville. From everyone I spoke with...it was a very tough day!

Do you mind sharing some details on your nutrician plan for this race?

Nutrition was gels and Gatorade endurance, mostly on course stuff. I did have about 6 gels on my bike setup as they are small and easy to fit into the storage of the plasma.

Goal was to max out calories on the bike. I didn't get all the liquid in I planned to, but that was because of the cold and rain.

2 gels an hour, which I think I actually might have taken in 11, maybe 10.

How to fit it in? Ie the training...

Zwift racing is great, high intensity stuff that is usually less than an hour.

Swim early, we only have 1 pool that PSU hasn't banned the general public from lol, and that's the only chance I get to swim. 2x a week at most.

I run at lunch hour when I can as we have a shower in the office to clean up after.

Most long rides are done post call, i.e. I work a 24 or 48 hour shift (i'm an OB / GYN) and ride when my kids are in school.

It works for me, in fact the training is my stress relief so it's vital for keeping my sane lol.

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Founder of THE TRIATHLON COLLECTIVE (Closed Facebook Group). A SBR discussion group without the white noise/trolling!

Congratulations, great race and thanks for the RR.

Congrats Fred!!!

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AV8 | Team Wattie Ink Elite 2019

Congratulations, Fred. Sounds like you worked really hard to get to this point and a well deserved spot to Kona. Impressive.

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"If it costs you 30 minutes at Maryland so what" -dwreal

Congrats!!!

Your Training Peaks (if up to date and correct), indicates a body weight of 80.5 kg. How tall are you?

What type of power meter do those power #'s come from?

I don't know why that's in my TP account. I'm usually about 164-166 lbs, ie; 74ish Kg. I try not to weigh much, but suspect I could have been at 168 for the race. I've raced as low as 158, but did not feel good at that weight.

5'11"

I use a powertap wheel on a Zipp 808 (2014), I've tested it against my P1 pedals from the road bike and the 808 reads about 1.4% lower than the P1.

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Founder of THE TRIATHLON COLLECTIVE (Closed Facebook Group). A SBR discussion group without the white noise/trolling!

It just occurred to me-you changed from ucan (I thought that was your ‘go to’ liquid calorie mix)...why?

And what was you max long run, and what type of intensity for harder run workouts? And ‘off the bike’ bricks?

And if I may ask, why do you think you finally broke through?

Prior Plateau? Series of ‘‘fortunate events’? Consistency? Not caring about Kona? Race conditions?

Oh, and congratulations again. I bet you just sometimes think about that day and just have a huge smile-and you deserve to smile.
😊😊

Thanks!

I used UCAN for several years with success, but fell short late into the run. I think it's a good product, but would suggest it's better to use at the start of the race and then transition to simple sugars.

I worked with a nutritionist who made a plan leading up to the race and race day. It was mainly simple sugars. I did make adjustments on the fly as it was a shortened swim and the weather was pretty cold.

I'm not sure why I broke thru?

I've had good results before, 8th-10th in 3/4 IMs last completed, so it wasn't a crazy leap ahead. I really think it came down to 3 things:

1. Terrible weather. I was somehow able to deal with it better than some. I can compartmentalize reasonably well, maybe that was it?

2. Much better nutrition plan. Felt strong all day.

3. My training, which was extremely bike heavy and high intensity compared to prior races. I feel like it gave me the ability to ride the course at a NP of 224 (15 watts better than anything recent at the distance) and yet feel good for the run. I've heard it discussed here before, the concept of improving your bike durability, ie; not feeling trashed after the ride.

Lastly, who knows? I was primarily making the workouts up every day. Maybe it was some luck, years of training and base and a different approach this year?

Thanks again, always appreciate your support!

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Founder of THE TRIATHLON COLLECTIVE (Closed Facebook Group). A SBR discussion group without the white noise/trolling!

That struck me as funny, as I do mostly the same thing. I do know this though, Zwift racing (or some other simliar version in the future) will always be my primary method of getting intensity. IMO, there's just no more enjoyable way to go hard on a trainer.

Congrats on the awesome race!

Yeah, I really believe the Innsbruck course helped me a ton. Holding those 20' intervals chasing much faster cyclists really got me to increase my FTP.

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Founder of THE TRIATHLON COLLECTIVE (Closed Facebook Group). A SBR discussion group without the white noise/trolling!

Congrats Fred! Way to Race strong in some cruel and cold conditions. As someone who followed your journey closely since 2007 (also the year I started tri's) this is a long time coming and well deserved!! I look forward to continuing to follow your journey up to and at Kona.