(My motivational note before a hard trainer ride earlier this week, inspired by Chuckie's post from a few days ago.)
Pro triathletes struggle to define how they add value to the races they compete in. One common argument against pros adding value to Ironman-branded races is that the races sell out extremely fast, in fact before participants even know what pros will be racing. A pro cannot add value in terms of increasing the number of entrants to a race, some people reason, if the race sells out even without knowledge that that specific pro will be racing.
I disagree with that line of thinking. First, I know that several pros will be racing each Ironman I sign up for. So even though I don't know which specific pros will be racing, I know some will be there. When I sign up for an IM race, I have the expectation that a competitive field will be present. Racing against a competitive field is one reason I am more excited for IM branded races than, say, the Race for Recovery half I've done the past two years. In a variant of Groucho Marx's famous quote, "I don't want to be a member of any club that would have me as a member," I say, "I am not that excited about any race that I might actually win." As such, any pro field adds value.
Second, given the opportunity I'll select a more prestigious race that I know will have a good pro field over a lesser regarded race that may or may not have a solid pro field. A higher quality pro field is one reason I'm more excited to race Cali 70.3 and Boulder 70.3 than I would be to race Steelhead. As another example, a few years ago there were rumors that Normann Stadler was going to race Lake Placid. Even though these rumors were swirling just a week or two before the race - and long after the race had sold out - the rumors made entrants excited. Had Normann raced, it would have increased the prestige of the event. Top pros increase the appeal of races that they consistently enter in. Given this, a great pro field adds more value than a mediocre pro field.
Finally, if the pro fields at IM races were to be siphoned off by, say, Rev3, I think that over time many AGers would be drawn to that race series as well. The temporal aspect is key -- things aren't going to change over night. It takes time to establish prestige and to change consumers' expectations. Yes, each IM race will continue to sell out for a while regardless of the pro field, but over time I believe a shift in popularity would occur. I want to race where the competition is, and I think most other AGers do as well.
Anyhow, back to my training, on Saturday I did a 3:40 ride on the flats outside of Boulder. It was my first ride outside on my tri bike in several months. Even though I've been doing all my indoor riding on the tri bike, handling felt very odd and I wasn't entirely comfortable. Instead of targeting HIM wattage for a few hours during the ride like I initially planned, I instead elected to just ride however hard I felt like to get reacquainted with my bike. Before starting a cool-down I looked at my average watts and HR - 186 W at 122 bpm including an easy 15 minute warm-up. Not too bad for a fairly easy ride.
I tried to make up for Saturday's relatively easy ride on Sunday. I got a late start after watching the Olympic hockey final, but still managed a solid workout: 10 min at each of 260, 265, 270, 275, 280, 275, 270, 265, and 260 W with 5 min easy in between, followed by an hour transition run.
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