Rapp on his first world title
Jordan Rapp was on a roll with his first Ironman wins at Canada and Arizona in 2009. Then after a decent race at Abu Dhabi in March of 2010, a hit-and-run driver smashed into him on a training ride in California. Countless bones were smashed and he lost two liters of blood when broken glass sliced into his jugular vein. He would have bled out if an off duty Navy officer hadn’t run to the scene and applied first aid.
After enormous physical rehabilitation, it was a victory that Rapp simply managed to start to defend his title at Ironman Arizona eight months later. But Rapp was in the mix all day and managed a 4th place finish – the most emotional of his career. Still, you had to wonder if he could return to the upward arc of a budding career. A win at the Leadman Epic, a 3rd at Rev 3 Portland, a 2nd at Calgary 70.3, and a race-best bike and run while winning his second Ironman Canada underlined that he was back to a high level.
You’d think he could save the encores for 2012. Except this weekend he won his first world title, the 2011 ITU Long Distance World Championship in Henderson Nevada. This interview was conducted by telephone as Rapp relaxed in Nevada a few hours after his victory.
Slowtwitch: How did the cancellation of the swim play out?
Jordan Rapp: The swim was canceled early. They had no choice — standard ITU rules that specify that when the water and air temperature differential is too high, the swim is canceled. At the start time, the air was about 36 and the water was 54 or 55 degrees. It was definitely cold and that difference gave the race director no discretion. That is just the way it works.
ST: Why didn’t they make it a standard duathlon and substitute a shorter run for the swim?
Jordan: It was a split transition race, so everyone's run gear was at T2, which would have made a duathlon impossible even if they had managed to organize something somehow. And they would have had to extend all the road closures, which was not possible. It simply was not a realistic option.
ST: How tough was it to start the bike without a warm-up?
Jordan: It was a cold start as there were no trainers available in the transition. So we were all in jackets. Basically went there and waited to start. Most of the athletes had long sleeves, undershirts and gloves. And some put on Mylar sheets they give out at the finish of marathons. It was really cold the first hour.
ST: If the rules didn’t require cancellation, could the pros have done the swim?
Jordan: I don’t know that they needed to cancel the swim for the pros. But I am sure someone could get really sick and hypothermic and potentially could die among the age groupers due to having older athletes, less experienced athletes, etc. We just had to take it as it comes."
ST: How did the swim cancellation affect you?
Jordan: I thought the swim cancellation mighty have helped me in some ways. I have never done a race where the swim was canceled. Obviously it is nice not to have a big gap coming out of the water. But it changes a lot of factors. Some people get tired when the bike pace is on early. And obviously it makes the race shorter. But would have to have a chance to do it again with the swim to compare.
ST: How did start order affect your strategy?
Jordan: They started in ascending order of race number – five seconds apart. In that case it was a little tough for me. All the guys I thought I needed to beat started behind me. They included defending champion Sylvain Sudrie, Julien Loy, the 2007 and 2008 winner, Martin Jensen, who won two bronze medals at this race, and Michael Raelert – guys obviously everyone knows. And of course there were some guys well known in Europe that I have never raced. With all of those guys starting behind me, if we all crossed the line together, whoever started last would be the winner. So to win I needed to cross the line with a gap.
ST: How did the bike develop for you?
Jordan: At the beginning the bike the course was pretty technical. Some Europeans are better bike handlers than I and there was a stiff headwind. Martin Jensen caught me early, making up the 40 seconds gap from his start within about only 5km. Then we caught the lead – Massimo Cigana and Sylvain Sudrie – at about 30 minutes. At 35 miles, Martin broke away but only was able to get about a 200 meter lead until we made the U-turn at 40-ish miles, and then he was able to power away on the mostly downhill return to Lake Mead.
ST: With Martin Jensen several minutes ahead at the end of the bike, how did you start your run?
Jordan: When we started the run, Sylvain Sudrie was right behind me, so he would have won in a tie at the line. For the first lap, we did not gain any time on Martin. On the second lap, we started to gain time quickly. I caught Martin just past halfway, a mile into the 3rd lap.
ST: What about the fast runners behind you?
Jordan: Joe Gambles was the closest behind – especially since he had started almost two and a half minutes back. He gained a lot of time the first lap, and at one point was the virtual winner on the road. But I guess he went out too fast. Joe had a gap on Raelert, who was also moving well and is obviously a threat any time he's close to the front on the run.
ST: How tough was it to be aware of your closest competitors – both ahead and behind you on the road?
Jordan: On the run, I had to try to do the math and also focus on a lot of odd, new things. To start, I ran with Sylvain. I set the pace and he sat on my shoulder. Why not? Why should he take a risk and set the pace? But I realized I needed a bigger lead.
ST: How did you time when you were going to make a move on Sylvain?
Jordan: It was a four loop run course, 7.5 kilometers per lap, and it was mostly up and down; with 1/4 of each lap actually being a rather large net descent, and then 1/2 uphill, then the last 1/4 downhill. So I knew that if I went on the back 1/4 of the third lap, I'd have 1/2 a lap – almost 4km – of downhill running to try to get away. On the way down that hill I was feeling good and I thought I had the best opportunity to make a surge when a lot of runners’ quads are tired from biking. So I made a move there and gapped him with about a mile to go on the 3rd lap.
ST: How could you tell it worked? Did you look back to see?
Jordan: I could just hear the lead escort biker and could tell that the second man’s biker slid back. I knew there were a few U turns on the course and then I did not want to look back right away. I wanted to make my move and go. When I got to the next U turn 2 miles later after the surge, I saw I had enough margin that if I stayed at that pace I would have beaten Sylvain. At the same time, I did not want to get in slump. So I kept up the pace. I knew I could never feel comfortable with guys like Joe Gambles and Michael Raelert behind me. I was not just racing Sylvain. I was in some indeterminate position which makes it a worry to the end.
ST: Did that course with all its hills favor you?
Jordan: It is a very hilly course. But you can’t plan ahead how you are taking it. You have to go on your gut how you are feeling at each moment. I felt pretty good all day. It was especially nice without a swim.
ST: Why?
Jordan: A 5 hour race without a swim seems short compared to an Ironman. You are able to race a little bit more like a half Ironman than you would have because there was no swim. Generally even with a swim [scheduled distances 4k swim, 120 k bike, 30k run] it’s more like long half Ironman and the swim cancellation skews it even more. So I tried to race it harder. Near the end of the bike I paced at half Ironman power. On the run, I ran more like a half Ironman. In a half Ironman I am feeling the run is over by the time I got warmed up. So I felt really good the first two laps and better at the end. .
ST: What did attaining that world championship mean to you?
Jordan: When I heard they were going to bring the ITU long distance world championship back to the USA for the first time in 16 years [since Muncie in 1996] I thought the US should put together a good team to try to win it on US soil. This was an important race to me because it is a World Championship and it was on US soil.
ST: Will this race ever be on a par with or even close to Kona in importance?
Jordan: Obviously the Ironman World Championship will always be uniquely important. But there are other races and there is room in the sport for more than one big race. I think the ITU under-serves many of its world championships and does not do enough to make them comparable to their Dextro Energy World Championship Series. The other ITU championship races are more of an afterthought. If there are more good athletes who treat them as a meaningful race, they can become more significant and more like Kona.
ST: How well do you think the ITU has helped grow the sport outside of its Olympic focus?
Jordan: I appreciate what ITU has done for the sport. It is important to me that they have held this race on US soil and that the ITU puts it on. In the simplest sense it is great to see that there are a lot of races meaningful in this sport. I would like to see this one become more meaningful
ST: What does beating Michael Raelert, who has dominated the 70.3 distance for two years, mean to you?
Jordan: It’s hard to say because I think if had been a regular triathlon [meaning with a swim] I probably would have been down to Michael Raelert out of the water. I think it was also tough to have recovered as this was his 3rd race in 3 weeks. But I do not put any more or less stock in this victory because I beat him. I think Sylvain Sudrie is definitely a champion and Julien Loy won it twice. Not to discredit Michael, but I take more pride in beating guys who have won this race. Obviously Michael Raelert is a phenomenal athlete, one of the best in the world. But all credit to the French athletes who’ve shown they own this distance.
ST: Do you think people overreact to athletes with hot streaks?
Jordan: I think anytime someone had a series of phenomenal races, any time a guy gets on a hot streak like that, people get this idea that they are unbeatable and super human. But nobody is unbeatable. Look at Alistair Brownlee, and Javier Gomez and Jan Frodeno. They all got medals in big races. But they all have some bad races and get beat. The guys in the peanut gallery have an idea that all these guys are a cut above.
ST: Nonetheless, do you take special satisfaction in beating Michael Raelert?
Jordan: So does it matter to me? I do not think I have something on Michael Raelert. And if he beat me, he would not have something on me. Every race is different. I do not expect the next time we race he would say he was intimidated. He is a great athlete and I give him the respect he deserves.
ST: What did you think of the course and its hills?
Jordan: It’s a beautiful course, a very fair course. But I think every course is hard in its own way. The ITU does a great job picking courses. Their courses in general are challenging. And when I saw this course I went “Yeah, is a great course for me.” And relatively speaking, the run course was even hillier than the bike course. Given all the numbers that were cited, I’d say that a course with 9,700 feet of climbing over 70 miles is less demanding than a run course with the advertised 2,000 feet of climbing over 18 miles.
ST: What do you think the total of the climbs were on the bike and run?
Jordan: So I am sitting here after the race with Martin Jensen and he thinks there was 1000 feet of climbing – which is a more realistic estimate. The course length is accurate, but it is not as hilly as advertised. I think the bike course was closer to 5,000 to 6,000 feet of climbing. It is on the same roads used for the Leadman [which Rapp won] which has 223k on the bike and 9,700 feet of climbing. So this race with 120 km of the bike I’d say has 5,000 to 6,000 feet of climbing.
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