Steelhead 09 Race Report

Steelhead 09 Race Report

Last Saturday was my 3rd Half Ironman and my first time racing the Steelhead 70.3. While it wasn't an A race for me I viewed it as a chance to practice what I've been learning from my coaches and on-line team (Endurance Nation). This race was also the A race for my friends EX and again, she asked me to beat him. This time I had a couple days of rest going into it so I was pretty confident.

Race day Plan:

Wake up early to allow time chug an Ensure, shower/shave (helps to get my head right), and use the bathroom. At the race site, power on the Garmin 305 to give it time to sync and set up transition. One new thing this race was to bring my Blackberry on the bike and run so friends back home can test tracking me with the GPS. Then hit the beach to get water in the wetsuit and a good warm up swim.

On the bike drink Infinit from bottles behind seat, gulp every 10min, and water as thirsty from aero bottle. Follow the EN power pacing from chart and to helll with what everyone else is doing. The weather report said 15 - 25mph winds so no expecting a fast bike!

Bike Pacing:

Gear	Half Ironman Wattage Guidance		Max
1st	0-.5hrs, slight downhills	GW - 5%	174
2nd	Goal Watts (GW)	GW	183
3rd	Long hills (>~3')	GW + 5%	192
4th	Short hills (<~1-2')	GW + 10%	202

On the run drink Gatorade and water at each aid station and walk for just long enough to take in the nutrition. Follow the run pacing based on new and older VDot. After mile 10, start counting the people passed. :)

Run Pacing:

Miles	Half Ironman VDot Guidance	Pace
0-3	VDot 42 Marathon Pace + 30sec	8:55
3-6	VDot 42 Marathon Pace	8:25
6-9	VDot 44 Marathon Pace	8:06
9-12	VDot 44 Half Marathon Pace	7:48
12-13.1	Whatever is left	ou:ch!

Race Day Reality:

Did a poor job of planning out how much time would be needed with 4 people and one bathroom so was rushed and didn't get the shave in. Did get one Ensure in and was sipping on second as we drove to race site. Set up the race site in the dark, powered on the Garmin, placed blackberry in bento box to test tracking, and relaxed with a few friends. Started the walk to the swim start and ran into friends from the Element tri club, as well as Team In Training, and even Matt Sullivan from EN. Got on the wetsuit and waited. And waited. And waited. My wave wasn't until 8:24 which is the second latest start I've had. The latest being at the Chicago Tri where I just took a 90min nap before the start.

The Swim:

I've only been in the open water a few times this year and really haven't been doing too many swim workouts compared to previous years. Overall the swim wasn't bad. Towards the end there were some pretty large, rolling waves that were slowly getting worse until I turned the corner and used them to almost body surf in. Quick jog up the sandy beach while getting much luv and support from friends who came out to cheer and I'm in T1.

SteelHead 40:31

Vineman 08 41:15

EX 44:46

T1:

Forgot that my bike was the second rack in which cost me a few seconds but it was strange seeing all of the bikes gone from transition. I was in the second to last wave so I should have expected this. Carried my bike shoes across the super long transition and put them on just before the mount line and away I go!

SteelHead 2:45

Vineman 08 2:53

EX 3:17

The Bike:

First thing I did on the bike was turn on the PowerTap (PT) to start getting in my wattage zones and do some ridding! Then the (PT) doesn't detect the wheel so I try it again, and again, and again. No dice and no power readings. OK, no panicking I've been training with power for a while now and should be able to gauge what the ranges are, right? So I take it super easy for the first 30min and just drink a little water here and there. Watch timer is set and i'm drinking the Infinit every 10min. Mile 18 there was a section of road that was cut out and filled with sand and gravel. No big deal except I launched an Infinit bottle on the bump and stop to go back and get it. Slightly frustrating but no biggie. Then later after rounding a turn another racer catches up to me to let me know I launched another bottle about 1/4 mile back. DAMN! I determine that 1/4 mile is too far to back track and I can just drink the course Gatorade. This decision will haunt me on the run. The bike goes on and the wind gets worse and worse. I'm trying to take it easy but am not really sure what's going on. I don't trust the Garmin form MPH because the wind will throw that off but I'm still passing people and being passed. Oh well, just take it easy and trust that I'm saving my legs for the run. I'm done with the Infinit bottle (1.5hrs worth) and on to Gatorade. Bad mix in the gut and it tells me pretty quick. I try to take in more water but that isn't really helping. Finally the bike is over and I'm headed into transition.

SteelHead 3:03:50

Vineman 08 3:02:51

EX 3:31:28

T2:

Rack the bike, grab the phone and shoes, and I'm out.

SteelHead 2:28

Vineman 08 4:53 (hit the bathroom)

EX 3:17

The Run:

Thinking that I was going to be smart about the run I programed the run pacing into the Garmin like I would a workout. Little did I know about the hill that is just outside of transition. I don't include any hills in my run workouts and really have no hills around me to train on so I walk the hill. This throws the Garmin pacing completely out of wack and despite picking up my pace, mistake, to compensate the damn thing won't stop beeping. Finally I end the workout and just keep my pace about 9:30 to recover the legs a bit from the higher paces. Ultimately, I end up only able to keep around a pace of about 9/mi and my stomach is letting me know just how much it enjoys Gatorade. I walk the big hill and try to keep running the course but end up stopping at a couple points. My left calf/achillies is bothering me and I have no energy to keep going. The whole time I'm passing people left and right, and on my second loop I can see my friends ex about 1/2 mile away. He's clearly struggling and I start thinking that keeping my current pace I'll over take him. I get within a 1/4 mile of him and I think he spots me because he starts to really pick up the pace and he slowly pulls away. About mile 11 I realize that I don't have to keep hurting myself with Gatorade because the aid stations have gels! Yes, I was so bad with my nutrition that it took me 11 miles to realize this. WTF!?! Finally ran into the finish were there were many friends cheering and crossed the line about 5min before the storm hit.

Steelhead 2:16:54

Vineman 08 2:13:00

EX 2:12:17

The Summary:

Between the wind and the storm, this was a rough day for racing. I'm not sure which failure affected me most: the powertap or my nutrition. Either way, I'm glad to have raced and will review what happened to come back stronger. The silver linings are that on a horrible day of racing I managed about the same time of a well raced HIM last year and I managed to beat my friends EX for her.

SteelHead 6:06:27

Vineman 08 6:04:53

EX 6:36:01

09 Harbor Lights Race Report

09 Harbor Lights Race Report

While this is my third year doing triathlon, last Sunday (719/09) was my first Sprint Distance race. I signed up on a whim after finding out that several friends who are new to the sport were doing it. For two of them it was their second race and two of them it was their first. A couple of us went up to Waukegan Saturday night and the other two met up with us the morning of the race. There were no goals for this other than one that a friend gave me: Beat her ex. We've race before and he usually beats me due to a much stronger run. However, that was before Endurance Nation.

Night before we went to Olive Garden for a high class dinner. While in high school I was a cook at one and hadn't been back since. From the bread sticks to the clapping "Happy Birthday" singing, this place was everything I remembered. That night while everyone went to WalMart I put an aero bottle on the front of my bike. I've never used one before but didn't think it would be a big deal for this race. A friend set the alarm for 3:45am and off to bed about 10:30pm

Race Morning

I woke up because there was sunlight coming in from the window and I was wondering why I was so rested and there was no alarm. Turns out it was 5am and the alarm was set wrong so it wasn't going off until Monday morning at 3:45am. Doh! Everyone jumps out of bed and scrambles around the room to quickly get ready. Fortunately we are a pretty organized crew and are out the door within 30min and at the race site by 6:00 with 45 minutes to get to transition and test the water. On the way to the race I realize that I forgot my timing chip and numbers at home and have to make a stop with the Race Director to get a new number.

Pre-Race: I drink an Ensure after waking up and sip on an FRS (first time trying this too) while setting up transition.

Swim: 800yrds

Me: 11:03

Ex: 13:15

The water was CUH-HOLD! There were some who braved it without a wetsuit but I have nothing to prove and prefer the benefits they provide to the swim. I had a hard time settling into a rhythm and was unable to get comfortable out there. Still, this was the 3rd time in open water all year so it's not too bad.

T1:

Me: 3:10

Ex: 4:35

Not my fastest T1 but considering there was a run up the beach, to the far side of transition, and had to strip off the wetsuit it wasn't bad. Felt like I was moving in slow motion and not really into the race.

Bike: 13.2mi

Me: 38:02

Ex: 39:30

The bike has a short jaunt to/from an out and back loop with a completely torn up road. Once on the loop, there is a nice down hill like an entrance to an express way from an overpass. Tried to keep the watts around 230 - 240 but my legs felt flat from a 4 hour bike the day before. I still managed to keep my mph pretty high during the 2 loops but lost a lot on the potholes on the road to/from the main portion of the bike.

T2:

Me: 1:45

Ex: 2:40

This was a race of firsts for me as I slipped my feet out of my shoes and placed them on top before going into transition. This went extremely well and made running with the bike incredibly easy. Still, my head wasn't in the race and I spent too much time screwing around and can't even recall what it was that I was doing.

Run: 4mi

Me: 32:43

Ex: 29:48

Heading out on the run wasn't bad. Not much scenery through out the whole race as it mostly takes place in an industrial park. The first mile my PRE was pretty high but when I checked my pace it was SLOW. 8:45. After the first mile and up a quick hill the pace started to drop and with a lower PRE I was running just over 7 minute miles. Legs were feeling much better and I was cruising, well at least for me. Coming up on the last 1/4 mile my quads started to burn some but I didn't slow down or pause. However, I did note how familiar that feeling had become since joining EN.

Final Times

Me: 1:26:40

Ex: 1:28:53

Turns out he's still a stronger runner but can no longer keep up when all three sports are put together.