Pre Race: I
knew I still had some good fitness based on power & pace in specific
workouts but no doubt I wasn’t able to do some key sessions 6 weeks out and 4
weeks. As well as missing some of the training in those periods, which really wasn’t
the biggest issue, it was my professional commitments creating fatigue that was
more detrimental. Coming out of those 3-4 day periods I needed to get energy
back and slowly build back into training. I ended up with a good solid 17 day
block leading into a 10 day freshening period that culminated with the race. As
I planned the race I thought if I played it VERY smart and let other people
fall apart in the rolling hills of the bike and then the heat of the run I
could get that top ten I thought possible weeks previous.
... friendly faces on race day
My Version Of The Race
SWIM … this was a no
wetsuit (85 degree water), time trial swim start where some people start lining
up as early as 5am considering there is no starting order you are given. My
only concern initially was starting early enough that I didn’t get hung up in a
mass of cyclists in a section of out and back that has a fast descent in it. I
ended up starting about 23 minutes after the first swimmer went off. Un-forseen
Mistake #1
As soon as I jumped in
the water the stroke felt very good and I was cruising nicely and wanted to
swim strong until we got out into the river and were able to jump on the
current and roll downstream. Come to find out there was no current in the river
this year (lack of rain) and swim times were slower across the board. The plan was
to get to the downstream section by swimming a strong the first 1000 meters,
then relax on the downstream section to conserve for the rest of the day and
try not to overheat in the swim. In the end I had a solid swim but was out
there longer than expected.
… 22nd out of the swim
Things I might change (or
advise) considering I swim relatively well compared to the field:
-Start earlier … that
swim was so congested it was like playing Frogger (the video game) in the water
(what a mess)
-Not sure if it’s
legal but I would have taken my swim cap off and stuffed it in my suit … I
think the 85 degree water started the warming process much early (plus I
expected an easier ride to T1 with the current)
BIKE
I had a pretty simple
plan considering a hot humid day was expected … ride very light on power across
the first hour and then ride about 5-7% lighter than my effort from 9 weeks
previous and execute a slightly adapted nutrition plan from 9 weeks previous.
On top of that I had to be really secure in letting everyone else destroy
themselves in the first 70 miles of the bike knowing the weather forecast for
the run
The execution started
out perfect as I was moving quickly with a light tailwind, sling-shotting early
starters, and with very low wattage. Overall it was pretty uneventful but I had
little bad patch starting mile 45’ish (that lasted about 10 miles) as the course
drops into some low lying areas that seemed hotter than elsewhere (a good
little yellow flag for me to watch pacing) After that I was feeling very good
and really just need to keep holding back, keeping even pressure on the pedals
and staying fueled. Late in the bike (mile 90;ish) I actually had real low
point where I thought maybe the race was in jeopardy (bad stomach and it felt a
little warmer) so I switched to on course sports drink and tried to stay
focused into the solid headwind the last 25 miles home. Fortunately I was feeling
a little better just past mile 100 and even noticed more athletes sitting in
the shade likely out of the race. Heck, I even had to back off power a little
as the wattage numbers were creeping up. The other thing that was encouraging
was after a long period of riding by myself I must have passed 15-20 riders in
the last 10 miles of the ride
…16th off the bike
Things I’d change (or
advise) based on the days conditions and how I rode:
-Maybe even ride
another 1-2% easier … not sure where … maybe on the first of the loop sections?
-Considering my
wattage and kilojoules expended (AND heat stress) I would have gone lighter on
calories and added a little more water and electrolytes
... ice everywhere ;-)
RUN … the plan was to
open running 8:30’s and do everything possible to stay cool the first 3 miles
and then just settle in to what was possible. I had done this in training (even
up to 6 miles) so I knew I could auto pilot the first part of the plan.
I stuck very solid to
that plan up through mile 3 and decided to wait even longer to see if I could
move quicker later. As we got away from town it seemed to get hotter and or
more humid as we hit residential sections with vegetation, plus my stomach
wasn’t super happy. Even though I was taking advantage of the cooling tricks
all the signs were pointing to me getting very hot. So I tried to back off even
more, stay cool and try to get some fluids to stay down. By mile 13 I told my
sister it was crisis management but she felt she needed to tell me I had moved
up to 12th and everyone else was fading even worse than me. GREAT …
now I had to decide how much the top 10 or maybe better meant to me … what I
found out is 10th was enough motivation to just keep moving, and on
this day moving was actually getting it done. While moving I was actually at a
decent pace but I had to take really long walk breaks to get ice and cold
sponges and drinks to try and cool down. There were times between miles 15-23
that I thought the day was done … until I get the word with 3 to go that I’m 10th
or 11th. Honestly the last three miles were like running in
the black hole as I was so overheated and under fueled by this point. I really
wish I could have enjoyed the finish chute or the finish line but it’s all a
blur. My buddy Mike reminded me post race that when we talked about finish
placing I said; “for me to go top 10 I might have to get dragged off in a wheel
chair” … ironic as it was, a wheelchair ride and two liters of IV later I found
I got my10th
… 10th at the finish
As per my previous
blog entry I talked about my three year plan. I’m still 6 months+ away from that
and as my wife said, I was 11 minutes away from pulling off the Christmas Day
miracle on the day (a kona spot). That
was not even a focus of the day but it’s fun to be back in the game to the
point where you can sniff it. When you come up a little short of the big goal
it’s an indication the goal was/is respectfully challenging, BUT achievable …
plus as a consolation it was nice to hit that top 10 again. In the end it’s not
about the Kona spot but because we don’t have control over who shows up BUT it
is about the day when I get back to a flow, get the execution right AND take
advantage of all the pieces of the puzzle and wisdom gained over time.
At the end of the
experiment I’m not sure if I can answer if it was a success because I’m not sure
what I was looking for in the outcome. If I was looking to see how patient I
could be, let go of expectations, not be afraid of failing, and to learn if I
could go really deep again? … then it was a success, I know it wasn’t a failure
In the end I don’t
know that I’d roll that kind f experiment again with the time commitments
between races but I sure had some learning that I can use for my athletes and
myself:
-Hot weather races are
tricky … racing in 85 degree water, 90+ degree heat and humidity is not even
close to racing in a cool weather, cold water, wetsuit swim. My Kona athletes
will get this reminder as they finish their preps. Though I had a lot of the
pieces of the puzzle in place … 10 years removed from racing in the REAL heat
reminded of a couple lessons.
... we had to sample some of the local pastries ;-)
Stay Engaged … DL
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