2025 Clash Miami Sprint

Sunday, I participated at the Clash Endurance Miami event competing in the Sprint Duathlon. The venue is one of my favorite places to race as like, Clash Endurance Daytona, it’s held on an epic NASCAR racetrack. This one being the Homestead-Miami Speedway.

This was race number two in my season in preparation for the Olympic Distance National and World Championships in June. This was also my first sprint distance race since August so max speed and power would be a test for the day.

I drove down with Lauren Friday night from Safety Harbor where we had a nice time on Pompano Beach Saturday before making our final trip to the speedway Saturday afternoon. Sunday morning came quickly. In warmups I felt ok. A typical niggle here and there but nothing to hold back 100% effort and mentally ready to roll.

The race consisted of – 1 mile run – 16 mile bike – 5k (3.1 mile) run. The first run was rough and I knew it under a quarter mile in. My legs felt sluggish, no pop, and I worked for the pace I achieved. I was about seven seconds slower than I was targeting and labored for it. It was a decent pace but not great by any means.

I had a sluggish transition and headed out on the bike I believe 7th overall as I lost a spot in transition to one of my Team USA Age Group teammates, Brad Galbraith. We battled on the bike for 56 miles at Daytona in December, so I knew this was going to be a true test to see where my bike fitness was as he is top notch. I caught him early and he overtook me right back and we caught another one of our competitors shortly thereafter. I then led the three of us through mile 15 as we simply were hammering what power we had. Brad took over the lead then and I came in close behind into Transition #2.

We both were lightning fast in transition knowing we had no time to spare in a sprint with only a 5k run remaining. Up to the bike my nutrition and hydration went to plan with a lack of hydrating on the bike being a negative and I knew it. I sacrificed to not let a second or two elapse with us battling to the end. That lack of hydration did come into play as in transition my head was not all there. I felt the lack of electrolytes, but my legs although numb from the ride, were not wobbly yet. Thank goodness it was a sprint…

As I headed out of transition, Brad was maybe 20-30 meters ahead of me. I didn’t know what I had yet other than my head spinning a bit and legs the usual numb coming off the bike. I quickly decided as I normally do at that stage to run focused entirely on myself and figure out the racing aspect of it when I determined my overall body assessment. As bad as I was struggling, he seemed to as well as I passed him about a quarter mile into the first mile. All respect to Brad as we were simply battling with what we had.

I really struggled all over my body for the first mile and to about the halfway mark, then I got into a groove and cut my pace with the last mile being the fastest. I came through the finish and in my typical fashion at a warm or long race, charley horsed in my hamstring and went down. I felt miserable physically and good mentally as I fought with what I had for the day.

I finished fourth overall to an extremely fast and competitive group while winning my age group. Lots of learning from the race with my grading:

• Preparation = B – I was a bit under hydrated the day before. The lack of pop in my legs I attribute to a big block of training I’m about to finish up along with only a couple day taper vs. a traditional taper week. That sluggish feel cannot happen at the big races or I’m behind an 8-Ball. I will test out a taper next race as part of my overall plan at the midway point to the big races. I also have heat acclimation to do as that was not a good body response on this day.
• Run 1 = C – Labored the entire way working much too hard for a first run at the pace I was going. Not good enough two months down the road. I could have been a bit tighter in Transition #1 as well.
• Bike = B – I was much improved from race #1 from a technical perspective. I have only been on two wheels twice this year (on a trainer for everything else), both in races, so I mentally reviewed what I needed to do technically and executed that much better. This course was entirely flat. I will be getting outside the final two months and practice the technical components up and down hills. Power wise I was average and like the first run, not good enough two months down the road.
• Run 2 = C – The first half of the 5k simply was not good enough. I was not ready for a sprint and it showed. Broken record…not good enough for two months down the road.
• Mental = A – As much as I didn’t have it physically on this day, I did mentally. I was engaged and trying to figure it out the entire way. I was focused on the technicalities of the bike handling and as bad as I was suffering on Run 2, I fought and raced to the finish and had a good result.

I am approaching the end of my first of two training blocks to June. My base is set with more race specific training on deck. I am looking forward to Cocoa Beach in two weeks and then the challenge of block #2 heading to June. It was great to have Lauren travel with me and support me on race day!

– Add Health to Your Life