Month: August 2015

IRONMAN 70.3 Timberman

SWIM: 
Target Time: 0:35:00
Race Time: 0:43:02
I guess the best way to describe the swim was a complete shit show. The swim started good, and I was quickly off the front with the top couple of guys. I caught a wave over my head that caused me to drink a little water and all of a sudden I was having a full blown panic attack. I managed to get to a kayak to hold onto and try to get my head back in the game, but it was over. I pretty much swam from kayak to kayak for the first third of the race just trying to get the swim over with. I managed to swim the last two thirds of the swim by myself way to the outside of the course, but every time someone got near me I freaked out. At some point I swore that I would never do another triathlon again. F-

T1: 0:04:28
I took a little extra time here to try and get my head back into the race. 

BIKE: 
Target Time: 2:35:00
Race Time: 2:44:06
I was targeting 90% of my FTP for the bike. I did a really good job of controlling myself on the out bound part of the course and hit the turnaround averaging 22.5 mph. At some point on the return trip I forgot about my nutrition completely. D- because of the nutrition

T2: 0:01:48
Really happy about my T2 times as of late.

RUN: 
Target Time: 1:50:00
Race Time: 2:26:35
The run started out really good, but after about a mile and a half I started cramping. This was about when I started thinking about it and realized that I hadn’t had anything to eat in a while. The day before I had bought some BASE Electrolyte Salt and had brought some with me. It really did help out a lot with the cramps, but once the tank is empty it is pretty hard to recover. I managed to mostly jog from aid station to aid station for the rest of the run, but it was not really what I wanted to do. It also ended up a little hotter than I was expecting.  C+

Overall: 5:59:59

Summary:
The good. I was pretty happy to get under the 6 hour mark for a IRONMAN 70.3 for the first time. I was also really happy with how I felt on the bike. I held a good pace and was still feeling pretty good coming off the bike. I was also happy with how the BASE Electrolyte Salt worked on the run. Even though my nutrition let me down, it wasn’t because it wasn’t working, it was because I forgot about it in the heat of the moment. I’m pretty sure that I do have it figured out.

The bad. It doesn’t matter how much training you do, if you forget something simple like eating, your day is over. My swim is killingly me during races.

Nutrition Plan: Plan A, Execution C-
Race Morning: I had an Ensure and part of a bagel with cream cheese. Unfortunately my pre-race nerves kept me from eating more than a couple of bites. I also drank a couple bottles of water and my have been over hydrated at the start.

Bike: 1 Race bottle containing 3 scoops of Strawberry HEED, 6 scoops of CarboPro and 8 Endurolytes capsules split open and added to the bottle. Two bottles of plain water and 3 packs of GU Energy Chews. I ended up drinking half the race bottle and took a couple of sips from one of the water bottles. That is never going to cut it in a race.

Run: 1 Race bottle containing 2 scoops of Heed and 4 scoops of CarboPro. I was also carrying 2 packs of GU Energy Chews and a container of the BASE Salt. I pretty much finished the race bottle and was doing a lick of the salt every mile with a glass of water at the aid stations. I never fully recovered from my mistake on the bike, but I held together better than I would have expected considering the heat.

Blackstone Valley Olympic Tri

SWIM: 
Target Time: 0:30:00
Race Time: 0:33:40
Going into this race I had been swimming really well and was hoping to put together a really good swim. Unfortunately this was not to be. During check-in we were informed that the swim would not be wetsuit legal. I do almost all my open water swimming by myself, so I never get to try swimming these distances without a wetsuit on. I decided to race with my wetsuit, which makes you ineligible for awards. The swim started good, but once I started to get mixed in with the slower swimmers that I was catching I started to have panic issues. I still haven’t figured out why this happed during races, but it needs to get figured out. I ended up swimming the long way around to stay away from the other swimmers. F

T1: 0:03:34
There is a big hill you have to run up coming out of the water, so I just wanted to get to the bike.

BIKE: 
Target Time: 1:12:00
Race Time: 1:12:01
Everything went pretty much like I was hoping for. I was targeting an average of 210 watts on the bike and averaged 213 watts. With the exception of one climb on the course, I was faster at every stage of the course. The first half of the course was pretty flat, so it was a case of maintain a good pace and save something for the hills in the second half. A+

T2: 0:01:07
Finally starting to understand how to get through T2 a little quicker. Grab and go, don’t stand there making sure that everything is perfect.

RUN: 
Target Time: 0:49:30
Race Time: 0:50:02
As anyone who knows me can attest, I am not generally a fast runner. I really wanted to go hard right from the start of the run and see what happens. I was targeting an 8:00 pace on the run. I managed to hold my pace for the first 3 miles before cracking a little on the hill in mile 4, but I did recover pretty well at the top and managed to run a 7:53 for the last mile. A++

Overall: 2:40:30

Summary:
The biggest thing I need to work on is the swim. Currently I am having a really hard time during races, and it is putting me into a really bad head space going into the bike.

The bike and run are coming along nicely and I’m happy where I am at this point of the season. Let’s see if I can carry some of this over to Timberman in a couple of weeks.