We were told the temp at IMCDA this year was 54-55 degrees. Why was the swim cancelled for this event if it was 54 degrees?
I noticed that you had a TYR tri suit for this race. Why weren’t you wearing a Zoot tri suit? I’ve seen the AUS athletes wear different-branded tri suits with the gold and green. Was it because TYR is an official sponsor of Team USA?
Great result, well done.
Given that Joe Gambles is a 50/51 min IM swimmer do you think that the cancellation of the swim leg changed the result? Not trying to lessen your achievement in any way, you all raced under the same conditions and you deserved the win thoroughly. Just interested in your perspective.
Congrats on the world championship, Jordan!
What was your cadence on the bike? How about your turnover on the run? Or do you know?
In this case I think it has less to do with absolute water temperature, more to do with air/water temperature differential.
Congrats on the win! Excellent representation
Congratulations, Jordan. A well deserved win.
You represented the US as an elite. I’m curious as to the support you were provided by USA Triathlon…travel expenses, physio, mechanical…ect.
USAT covered race entry fee, which is $350 (I think). We were also provided with up to $1000 in expenses for travel/lodging/etc. And they provided the race kit, race warm-ups, polo shirt, etc.
They had a team manager on site, who would have picked us up at airport, driven bike course, etc. But, given that I never rely on someone at races, I wasn’t about to rely on someone I’d never met for a big race. But she did help with communicating with the ITU on logistics.
Zoot prototype. Different version of the same shoe that I wore in Canada. Coming to you Spring '13 (probably). It’s a great shoe. Gets better each version.
Really, the Spring of 2013 (not 12)? Is that not a pretty large lead-time for a shoe that apparently is already pretty good.
Well, you need to get all sizes right. And there is still some work to be done. So I’m fairly certain Spring '13.
Congrats, Jordan! I love the finish photo of you holding up your son!
Question: I see in the bike pix you are wearing gloves and toe caps. I know the weather warranted that.
a. I thought I had read that toe caps actually increase drag. Is that your thought?
b. Which gloves and toe caps did you wear? as I assume your selection was on warmth but also decreased drag.
Thanks!
a: i’m sure it does, to some extent. but, what is the cost of not being able to shift? or feel your feet at the start of the run? or comfortably hold a bottle? not everything can be quantified (sorry jackmott…)
b: the drag of a pair of gloves and toe covers never crossed my mind. being able to feel my fingers and toes did.
We were told the temp at IMCDA this year was 54-55 degrees. Why was the swim cancelled for this event if it was 54 degrees?
The air temperature was 37F.
I noticed that you had a TYR tri suit for this race. Why weren’t you wearing a Zoot tri suit? I’ve seen the AUS athletes wear different-branded tri suits with the gold and green. Was it because TYR is an official sponsor of Team USA?
Zoot could have made me a custom suit in red/white/blue colors that matched the general “theme” of the USA suit. TYR is the official sponsor, but both Zerod - Hunter Kemper - and ChampSys - Laura Bennett - make suits that are allowed by the ITU for USA athletes. But the folks from Zoot were fine with me wearing the TYR suit for one race. It’s expensive to do a custom suit for one race and also takes a fair amount of time, especially when it’d be different colors/patterning than my current custom suit. So, Zoot just didn’t see it as a viable use of resources, especially since it would have been very tight to get it done.
I was very happy with the TYR suit, and the TYR folks are first rate. They were super helpful getting me the right size, logoing, etc. They are/were respectful of the fact that Zoot is my sponsor, and I think Zoot respects that TYR is investing in sponsoring USAT, which is an important thing to do.
Great result, well done.
Given that Joe Gambles is a 50/51 min IM swimmer do you think that the cancellation of the swim leg changed the result? Not trying to lessen your achievement in any way, you all raced under the same conditions and you deserved the win thoroughly. Just interested in your perspective.
I’m actually a fairly close swimmer to Joe. Or, I have been at races in the past. Sometimes he beats me out of the water, but not at every race. He’s certainly faster, but he’s not a guaranteed first pack guy. He’s a guy who can - but doesn’t always - make the first pack. Especially with how fast the front swimmers are, I actually suspect that there’s a reasonably good chance that Joe would end up in the 2nd pack. Joe is a 50/51 IM swimmer. I’m a 51/52 IM swimmer. But the top guys at this race were like 46-48min swimmers.
But, I don’t think that you can just add ~4min (what I expected to lose to the top swimmers) to my time and say that’s how it would have played out.
I really don’t have a good answer, as I’ve not raced most of these guys before.
Did the canceled swim favor me? Probably. But I think I had a good chance to medal even with a swim. Would I still have won? I have no idea. Then again, I don’t even know for certain that I would have won if we did the exact same race again. Every race is different. I tend to race well in cold weather, so perhaps having a cold swim would have favored me even more. Or perhaps someone else entirely would have been on top. The staggered TT start - especially with only 5sec between athletes - changed things a lot. Very hard to know how it would have changed the tactics. For example, Sylvain Sudrie couldn’t have just sat on me during the run, knowing that even if I outsprinted him, I’d need to do so by more than 5sec to actually win.
I will say that I was as disappointed in the swim being cancelled as everyone else. I didn’t look at it as giving me a better chance to win. I looked at it as a disappointing - but understandable - decision.
Congrats on the world championship, Jordan!
What was your cadence on the bike? How about your turnover on the run? Or do you know?
Usually ride about 80rpm, but it’d be lower on this course because of the hills. On the run, I tend to run a reasonably high turnover. 90+. But I’m not certain of my run cadence. I haven’t download the ride file yet, but I’d wager it’d be high 70s.
Jordan-
Perhaps you (or maybe Brian) could talk a bit about what changes you made nutritionally given the cooler temperatures. Your general nutrition plan has been widely discussed in the past, but I don’t remember any of those races being cold.
And if your plan was different (salt & calorie intake etc), was that through experience in colder races or more of an “audible” race morning?
And re: Zoot making another custom suit- I’m sure they’d be happy to make one with rainbow stripes if you asked. (nicely done)
What was your nutrition and other consumables during the race ?
What was your nutrition and other consumables during the race ?
Without the swim, it made things a bit easier WRT to nutrition. And cooler temps as well.
Had my usual breakfast (~1200cal)
Just prior to start, I had one scoop of 1st endurance prerace with 2 scoops EFS.
On the bike, I then drank 1 26oz bottle with 3 scoops EFS and 3 SaltStick caps (300 cals). I also drank my 20oz Virtue aerobottle which contained 2 scoops of EFS and 1 EFS liquid shot flask and 3 salt stick caps (600 cals). It was pretty much freezing, so I didn’t feel very thirsty during the ride. So over the 3hrs of riding, I had 68oz of fluid and a total of 1100 cals, which is low - fluid-wise - for a race, but pretty normal for a ride in cooler conditions with regards to fluids, and totally normal for calories during the race. I peed once during the bike, so I knew I was hydrated. And I felt hydrated.
A cup of coke or gatorade at each aid station. So less fluid than Ironman, but I was well fueled going in. And with it only being 5hrs, I had plenty of calories based off experience in 1/2IM. I.e., I had similar calories to a 1/2, and it’s not like I’m bonking at the end.
Jordan-
Perhaps you (or maybe Brian) could talk a bit about what changes you made nutritionally given the cooler temperatures. Your general nutrition plan has been widely discussed in the past, but I don’t remember any of those races being cold.
And if your plan was different (salt & calorie intake etc), was that through experience in colder races or more of an “audible” race morning?
And re: Zoot making another custom suit- I’m sure they’d be happy to make one with rainbow stripes if you asked. (nicely done)
Less fluid. Same calories. And less additional salt. Gave the breakdown above. Let me know if that answers it.
I already have my IMAZ kit - with World Bicycle Relief trim - but for next year, I’m sure they’ll do some SUBTLE rainbow trim…
Thanks, your openness helps the lil guy a(and old guys like me.) out a lot :0)
.
Congratulations on being A World Champion.
IMAZ is next, correct?
Are you doing Abu Dhabi again?
Seems like there’s never really much of an ‘off-season’ when you want to be the Best in the World.
For lesser mortals, but those who still want to kick-ass, what are your suggestions in order of importance
1
2
3
For recovering from the last race to get ready for the next race?
Congratulations on being A World Champion.
IMAZ is next, correct?
Are you doing Abu Dhabi again?
Seems like there’s never really much of an ‘off-season’ when you want to be the Best in the World.
For lesser mortals, but those who still want to kick-ass, what are your suggestions in order of importance
1
2
3
For recovering from the last race to get ready for the next race?
Not sure about Abu Dhabi. My coach wants to really focus on my swim for a few months, as that’s really the big limiter for me. We’d like to see if I can get to the 1st pack. So, to really focus on swimming for 2-3mos (or more), I’ll need to back off biking, which would make Abu Dhabi a tough go. So I’m still not sure…
-
Sleep
-
Quality foods with lots of protein. Eat a LOT after a race. Not like right after, but in the days after, really focus on what you eat. Good protein. Lots of water. Clean food. Etc. What you eat is what your body uses to repair the damage. So that’s massively important.
-
Training. Doing something is the best way to get back to feeling normal. Get in the pool, on your bike, etc. Swimming especially, because it’s non-impact, is great. It helps restore your bodies normal equilibrium with hormones, etc. I’m not saying jump back into training. But you need to stay active. It’s better to start doing some very light training sooner than to take a long break and try to jump right back into hard training. Just getting out and moving does wonders for bringing the body back “online.”