Notes
I felt like I raced very well on the bike... I was really controled on the first lap and kept telling myself that I had to do it again. I was passing quite a few people on the second lap, but probably pushed it a little too hard near the middle, instead of saving it for the end, because I defentily faded some on the hills at the end. Nonetheless, I exceeded my expectations by at least .4 mph, and really I was questioning before the race if I was going to actually do avg 19 mph on this course.
Some top level thoughts:
• The 1/2 Ironman (70.3) is tougher to train for than the Marathon (at least training enough to race the thing)
• The Marathon is much tougher to race. Despite puking at the end it was never as hard as the last 10k of the mary.
• You have to bike more to run faster. There is no doubt that you are better off spending as much time on the bike as possible, not only do those gains translate into a faster bike time, you can run faster off the bike if you have better bike endurance.
• A wetsuit is a must
• For me, do not underestimate the heat. This is true in any race I think but I seem to be particularly sensitive to it and I had not been exposed to anything like the temps we had on race day. I was a little to slow to pull back.
• Triathlons are freaking awesome!
The details..
First I had a pretty good summer of training and an exceptional August. I was not undertrained in any of the three disciplines. While I do whish I had spent some more time on the bike, it would have been icing. Second, I practiced my nutrition strategy in two other race simulation workouts and felt good about it heading into race day. There is no doubt that at this distance and more is all about nutrition and correct pacing.
My nutrition plan for race day was to consume six Gus on the bike, along with two 24 ounce bottles of Gatorade, laced with two endurolite tablets a piece. I wanted to have all of this in by mile 50. Then the plan was two Gus on the run, and alternate between Gatorade and water at each aid station (every mile). I had practiced exactly this twice and it felt pretty good.
My pacing was determined very scientifically. 1) I compared people who I had raced against in this years Heart of the Lake’s triathlon that had also completed the Square Lake 70.3 in 2008. I developed a ratio of there times in both races and used it to develop a best and worst case scenario for me. This put me in the range of 5:15 to 6:00. 2) I looked at how I ranked in the three sports in HOTL overall, my swim was above average, my bike was below average, and my run was above average. I assumed the same for Square Lake. 3) I used the two simulation race workouts that I did to hone in on the strategy, especially the one where I swam a mile, biked ~24 miles on hills (similar to the course), and ran 10k with splits of 8:15, 8:00, 8:00, 7:50, 7:30, 7:00. Based on these things, this was my plan:
• Swim 2 laps, first comfortable, second comfortable but a little harder
• Bike 2 laps, first easy, remind self it was going to be a long day, second a little harder, push the rollers easy on the hills.
• Run 1m ~ 8:45, 2m ~ 8:30, 3m – 6m ~ 8:15, 6m – 13 8:00
• Build the race, bring it to me, don’t fade. That was my plan.
So three days out from the race the weather man says low of 46, high of 63. I was worried I was going to be a little chilly on the bike and was trying to figure out if I needed arm warmers. I wake up the next morning and now its looking like 58 and 78. This kept creeping up and up. It was 87 and completely sunny on the run, with not a drop of shade anywhere!!!
I had all bags and car packed and loaded the night before. I woke up, had some oatmeal and a glass of OJ.. just like every other morning. I drove to the race site, got a good spot in the transition area. Meet up with Nate and headed down to get marked. We had to go down about 50 wooden stairs from the transition area to the beach… we were shocked and not happy about the prospect of having to freaking run up stairs to the transition area.
I was a little stunned to see the course laid out in the lake, it looks so long like that and the thought that I would have to do two laps was pretty freaky. Nonetheless, I got into the wetsuit and Nate and I went for a 100 yd warm up swim. (Bill if you did not do this before yours, it is a must. It really takes away from the shock of the swim start).
Nate is younger, so he went first, launched in a wave 4 minutes before me. It was a waist deep swim start so I waded out into the water and took a place on the front left. I expected to be a mid front packer in this race and was not at all daunted by the molestation that occurred during the swim start at HOTL. The start was as I expected. I got slapped, punched, kicked and shoved. I held my line and my space and kept at it. I had a super smooth swim. I went exactly to plan. I swam straight, sighting very well, and focused on a good pull and glide. I was being drafted off of for much of the first lap as I kept getting my feet slapped. I managed to find the feet of someone for half of the second lap around and that was pretty nice. I turned it up just a bit as we rounded the furthest buoy. I saw the tent near the exit that I had planned to site off of, thinking about that landmark ahead of time was a great idea. I came out of the water and got the wetsuit halfway down as I made my way up the stairs. I was stunned when I got to the top of the stairs and saw so many bikes, including Nate’s, still there.
I had a great T1. Got the rest of the wetsuit off fast, got my socks and shoes on, sun glasses on, helmet on, grabbed the bike and went. Turns out I had a pretty fast time.
Once on the bike I told myself that I have a long day and keep it real easy the first ten miles. Well since I was out of the water and T1 so fast, many people began to catch and pass me through out the first loop on the bike. Including Nate, around the halfway mark on the first lap. It was everything I could do not to speed up, but I didn’t. After climbing the big hill and making my into the second lap, I began to catch people who were fading from their early effort. This is why you win in the end by restraining in the beginning. It gives you extra motivation when you are the one doing the passing at the end instead of the one being passed. So I had an outstanding second lap where I was passing person after person. I did probably push it a little too hard on the big hill at the end but other than that I was feeling pretty awesome heading into T2. I remember thinking, “This is the best day ever. Things are going exactly to plan. I love triathlons. I found my sport.”
T2 was near perfection. I got out of my shoes on the bike, and pedaled on top of them. I had two people in front of me heading into the transition area that forced me to slow down, but I was all business. I racked the bike, ditched the helmet, put on the shoes, grabbed my garmin, belt, and gu, and took off. Had one of the best T2 times of the day.
Run. Well I figured out just about instantly that it was hot out. Its funny how you just don’t feel it on the bike. The thought never crossed my mind on the bike that it was that bad out. My heart rate started climbing pretty fast (I didn’t have my hr monitor on but I could tell from the pounding in my chest). The first mile was pretty much downhill so the full impact of the heat and corresponding effort took awhile to really dial in. About half a mile in I decided that I would back off and try for a 9 min first mile to see how that felt. About a quarter mile later I was like, I thought I should pull the pace back to 9:30, then 10, then 10:30…
At mile three I was wondering if I was going to survive the day. My heart rate was through the roof and I was creeping along at maybe 10:45s. At mile four, I knew that I had to do something drastic or I was going to fall over and pass out. I decided I would walk through the next aid station and see if that helped. It didn’t.
I was down to 11 min miles, I was taking two waters and dumping them on me and sipping some Gatoraid at every water stop. The sun was unrelenting. It was beating, beating down on me. My feet felt like they were on fire. I have never seen so many people walking, even at the end of a marathon. I told myself that if I could make it to the turn around point I would walk for two minutes and see if I could get myself back together. That helped. I then told myself I would walk a tenth of a mile at each aid station on the way back. At mile 10 I forced a GU down….ugh.
Sarah and the kids where there to cheer me on through the last two miles. These miles were beyond excruciating. Unlike the last miles of the marathon, it wasn’t at all muscle or cardio pain. It was, I can’t get cool, and I feel like I am going to throw up and pass out.
No one else was insight of me at the finish, which was great because I had nothing left to throw down a sprint. I finshed, took a drink of water, and then walked over behind the pavilion and barffed.
I got home and threw up a few more times. Then feel asleep.
Overall I beat my goal of sub 6 hours. I am super excited about the race because I know I can run better… that is the easy part
My winter training plan, get my swim to sub 1:40, bike twice a week on the trainer, and run lots.