Thursday, August 18, 2011

Ironman Steelhead 70.3 (or is it a 69.1?)



It’s hard to sum up a race like this.  The forecast on Saturday painted the picture of this race being very memorable:  2-4’ waves, rip currents, 15-25 mph winds and chance of rain.  On top of that severe thunderstorms were rolling through the area on Saturday and essentially blew the Transition Area and Finish Line apart.  During the pre-race briefing, there was already talk of cancelling the swim, but nothing else was said as to how the race would proceed if there were no swim.  They would make the call in the morning, so be ready for anything.  So with that being said, I proceeded as normal through my pre-race routine, while hoping for a swim: final review of bike, set out clothes for wet or dry, race morning schedule, etc. 

The alarm went off way too early…..was it 4:30 AM already ????  Time to get up and get going.  I was finally on my way to the race at about 5:30 and feeling ready for a great race.  I was in the parking area by 5:45, and by 6:00 I was arriving into the Transition Area to rack my bike and set up my equipment.  My plan was to drop off my bike and gear and then head back to my car for my warm-up and relax a bit before my swim start at 8:21.  As soon as I arrived I hear the news: Swim cancelled. Be back in the Transition Area by 7:00 AM so they can start the race with a time trial start with riders leaving in pairs every few seconds.  Damn!  This kind of messed up my plan for the morning.  I just assumed we would be swimming and left my swim stuff, HR strap and pre-race nutrition in the car.  Not a huge mistake, but I should’ve known better.  Also, my wave start was supposed to be 8:21, and now I needed to be ready by 7:00!  What this meant is I had to rack my bike by 6:30, then walk back to my car, which was about ¾ mile away (close to the southern swim start), then walk back to the Transition Area and complete my pre-race warm-up…all in half the time I planned.  So what was originally a long, relaxing morning, turned into rushing from place to place.  As it turned out, I really didn’t need to hurry.  My number was 1995, and the start was taking longer than expected, so I didn’t need to be ready until about 8:40, but I didn’t know it until then.

With the extra time I started to re-think my pacing strategy on the bike.  Typically I perform best when I start a bit conservative and build my power throughout.  But after some thought, I came to the conclusion to make a change based on 2 factors:

      1.     No swim meant I didn’t need to allow for time to my body to adjust cycling.
      2.     Strong winds from the North, would mean the first 9 miles would be straight into the wind, but the final 12 miles would be an awesome tailwind.  Also with the strong tailwind and rolling hills there was a good chance I would be spinning out on my gears and not hit my power target anyway (meaning under performing on the bike).

So my new strategy would be to start hard into the headwinds, pace steady through the cross wind, and as I picked up the tailwind, I would ease off on the power on the flats and downhills to allow for some recovery for the run.  While I was waiting, I ran into Coach Bonnie from Fraser Bicycle and before I said anything about my change in strategy, she began to tell me pretty much the same thing.  Great, we agreed this would be the most effective strategy for me, which confirmed my new plan.

Finally it was getting close to my start time, so I got in line and made my way to the start, and I was ready!  I felt good, my plan was solid and I was going to give it everything I had.  Then I walked up to the line and….GO!  I was off!  I quickly settled into my rhythm and started passing riders.  The biggest downside of starting so far back was the amount of people ahead of me.  I’ll admit there was some benefit of passing with the legal draft, but for the most part I was just riding down the left side of the lane trying to avoid tangling with the pack of people riding up the right side.  Generally, the bike was uneventful, just steady pacing, passing and avoiding obstacles in the road.  All was good until mile 38.  Then it happened.  Again.  Just like Ironman Coeur d’Alene.  I’m not sure if it’s the green jersey or the bright yellow helmet, but I started feeling a burning sensation on the front of my left shoulder!  Another bee sting!  At least this time, I don’t think it went in my jersey, but this one hurt!  I brushed it off and got back to riding and figured maybe it was a sign of good luck….



Once we made the turn to head South back to the transition area, I didn’t feel the wind too much, but I was cruising over 3 mph faster on 10 less watts than before.  It felt like I was flying.  I was still powering up the hills, but just cruising the flats and downhills, which started to bring my power down a bit to save my legs a little for the run.  Up until this point my average power was about 264w, and looking at the clock and my speed, I figured I could drop about 10w and still finish around 2:10, which was my goal at the start.  I kept it around 250-255w for 5 miles and then decided to bring it down a little more for the last 5 miles and dropped another 5-7w.  At the end, my split was 2:11 (25.6 mph) with an average power of 261w (263 normalized) at 0.82 IF.

My nutrition was similar to the past on the bike, because it works:  1 bottle of EFS drink per hour (I carried 2 with me and switched to on course sports drink if I needed more) and ½ flask (1 serving per hour) of a First Endurance Liquid shot flask.  The Liquid shot I tried something a little different this time: the First Endurance Hand-Grenade.  I took half a flask of the gel, and filled the remainder with water so it was not as thick, and I added ½ scoop of First Endurance Pre-Race.  I typically don’t use caffeine on the bike leg of races, but it worked in training so I wanted to test it out at race intensity.  For the bike it was awesome.  I felt great and my energy did not taper off at all during the race.  However, it may have come back to haunt me a little on the run, but more on that later….



T2 (or I guess this was really T1, not sure) went smoothly.  First I noticed there were not many bikes around, which was a good sign since so many started ahead of me, but not really knowing my placing, I still needed to push as hard I could.  I was already wearing my SLS3 Compression sleeves on the bike so all I needed to do was throw on my running socks on my shoes.  In and out of transition in 2 minutes; good for me.

Time for the run.  I settled into a steady pace for the first mile and tried to keep it steady up the first steep climb on the way to the loop part of the run.  After the climb, I was able to get into a steady rhythm and get settled on the flat before the next set of hills near the Whirlpool campus.  I was feeling good and my pace for those first 2 miles were 6:53 and 6:41, then on the flat I picked it up a little to 6:35.  As I dumped a cup of water over my head at the 3-mile aid station, my HR stopped reading.  Oh well, at least I knew my pace, so I could use that and RPE.  Part of racing of just adapting to the situation, the important part is to not let it distract you from your race.   I can’t change it now, so just keeping moving forward.



Just after the 3-mile mark, someone passed me in my age group.  For some reason, I had a feeling this was a critical part of the race and as he pulled ahead, I let him get a gap of about 50 yards, before I figured I need to speed up to his pace.  I staying within sight of him for the next 2 -2.5 miles, and at this point were at a steady 6:44 pace through the windy rolling path of the Whirlpool campus.  Once we left the Whirlpool campus and headed up the only notable hill on the loop course, I decided to make my move.  I noticed him slowing on the climb and I focused on my form and kept it steady up the hill.  Before the top I passed him and started to pull away.  For the next few miles (mile 6 to 9), I just focused on my form and nutrition.  I started to get an occasional stomach cramp, but after 10-20 seconds it would go away so I tried to ignore it.  I'm not sure if it was the "hand-grenade" from the bike causing issues or some other factor, but around mile 9.5 my stomach was rebelling, and I needed to make a stop.



I did the math in my head and figured I was running around 6:30 at this point and should be able to maintain that until the finish, but if I stopped I would lose about 1.5 minutes.  So if I stopped I needed to be sure I ran the last 3 miles at a 6:00 pace to make up for my lost time.  It seemed reasonable, so I stopped…and I did lose 1:30 (my pace for that mile was 8:06), so when I started running again I pushed as hard as I could.   Now I was running around 6 minutes flat, but up ahead I could see the same guy just ahead of me….by about 50 yards, as we were approaching the hill.  So just like the first lap, I kept it steady up the climb and was able to pass him before the top.   Pace at Mile 10: 6:20.  Great I passed my closest competitor and was holding close to my pace target.  The last 2 miles I continued pushing and finished with a 6:06 and 5:50.  As I sprinted down the finishing chute and stopped my watch: Run Split 1:28, total time 3:41.  Awesome!  I was very pleased with my performance and was curious how I ended up placing.

My nutrition plan for the run was typical of my last race in Knoxville.  I carried salt tabs and another First Endurance “Hand-Grenade”, but I would take my nutrition based on how I felt.  Typically I would take 1 or 2 gel shots, plus sips of shots drink at every aid station.  Given the cool conditions I really didn’t need to even carry salt tabs, but better to have them and not use them, than need them but not have any.  My energy was feeling good throughout, but once my stomach started to feel unsettled, I just stuck with sports drink.  In the end I didn’t even need to take a gel, so moving forward the amount of calories I take in during my half-Ironman run needs to be reviewed.  It seems reasonable I can take in less.  Either way given my stomach issues, I need a few more trials of the hand-grenade in my training to see if it's something I will use again in the future.



After I recovered for a few minutes, I noticed we could get back into the Transition area.  I went to collect my things and that’s when I found out…..I won my Age Group!  First place Men 30-34!  I looked at the standings and I was also 7th amateur and 35th overall.  Awesome!  This was my biggest AG win, and I feel great on how my day went as a whole.

The purpose of this race was a checkpoint in my Kona preparation, since we are 8 weeks until race day.  Most importantly, I executed the race I wanted, felt good and my pacing strategy worked well, but I will admit winning my AG is a huge bonus.  I also learned a few things I need still need to tweak for Kona, but I still have plenty of time for testing, so time to get a plan and get back to work.



With my placing I qualified for the Vegas 70.3 World Championships, while I would have loved to go, I am going to Kona, and another destination race is not in the cards for me this year.  The way I look at it is last year I took a roll-down spot to go to Clearwater, now I get to re-pay the favor and let someone else go.

Lastly, regarding the cancelled swim, I will admit I was disappointed in not being able to test my swim fitness, but I would have made the same decision.  The reality is that many of the race participants would have really struggled with the currents and the waves, and it’s not really worth the risk.