Well this is took a little longer than expected to write,
but better late than never right? As
I sure most of you know, due to the record high temperatures on race day, the
race was shortened from a 70.3 to a “long-Olympic” distance race. The format went from 1.2-mile swim,
56-mile bike and 13.1-mile run to a 1.0 mile swim, 30 mile bike (as reported by
race management, although I measured 29 miles on race day) and a 6.2 mile
(10km) run, hence the Muncie 37.2 distance. Since these are not a standard Olympic distances I can’t compare
my overall time to other races, although each segment can still be evaluated
separately with how I raced at Rev3 Knoxville back in May.
For me, shortening the race was far-less than ideal for a
couple of reasons. Most
importantly, my focus on long course racing, HIM and IM distance, for the past
3 years has left me missing the peak raw power and speed required for the
Olympic distance, and secondly, the swim is my weakest leg, so by keeping
essentially the same length swim, but cutting the bike and run courses in half,
I was not able to race my strengths and make up some of my time losses in the
water. Regardless of these
factors, it doesn’t change the race format and I don’t want to make excuses
(although maybe I just did?) since we all have to race the same course under
the same conditions. So I adapted
my race strategy for the shorter distance and prepared as well as I could. The only significant change to my
equipment was instead of wearing my SLS3 Fobic ITU suit over my standard race
kit as a swim skin, I decided to save the time in T1 and wear the Fobic suit
from start to finish. Also, I
deiced to keep 2 bottles on the bike since I knew I would need 2 to stay
hydrated for the run, and by carrying them with me, I could skip the congestion
of the aid stations. With everything all set, now on to the race!
Pre-Race:
With the earlier start and staying about 30 miles away in
Anderson, I was up waaaayyyy earlier than I have ever been for a race. Alarm went off at 2:45, and my feet
were on the floor by 3. Went
through my normal pre-race routine, packed up the room and was on my way to
Transition by 4:15….which was still pretty early for me! After arriving at the race site, I went
through my normal check-list and start time countdown, got in my warm-up run
and headed down to the water by 6:00.
Even though it was still dark and early morning, the temperature was
still in the mid-80s. As I entered
the water, it immediately hit me how warm it was. It felt like bath water, and was officially measured at 88
F. By far this was the warmetsst water I have ever swum in. After a few minutes of swimming around
the warm-up area, I headed to the start corral. It was go time!
With this being my first pro-race I really didn’t know what
to expect, and my expectations were realistic. I was lining up against some of the best triathletes in the
world so my plan was simple: hang on the to the feet of the pack as long as
possible and emerge within 5 minutes of the leaders. Then when it came to the bike and run, I knew what power and
pace I was capable of and just go by feel from there. No problem….right?
Swim:
We lined up in about knee-deep water and the gun went
off. Starting in a small wave was
nice. It was easy to find the
space needed to get into a normal rhythm relatively quickly. So now I just needed hang on to the
feet in front of me…..which lasted about 200m until a gap started to form. Then after another 150-200m of swimming
next to someone else, I decided to slip behind the person next to me and get
whatever draft I could. That only
lasted another 150-200m until another gap started to form. By now I was swimming essentially solo,
so my plan was just hold onto my form, push the pace as much as possible,
without over-cooking the swim. And
yes, overcooking is the right word.
I have never swam in water so warm, and I have never experienced what it
was like to overheat in the water.
The heat was unbelievable.
After we made the turn, I could not ignore the fact that I was hot. Just Hot. I could feel the heat in my face and there was absolutely no
relief from the water. About half
way back to shore, I even started to get a slight side cramp, which has never
happened before. Finally, I was
out of the water with the time of 27:28, which put me in 22nd place
after the swim.
As we left the water and ran up the hill to Transition,
there just was no relief from the heat.
I was warm and couldn’t wait to get on my bike and cool off with some water
down my back and the air blowing.
T1 went smoothly, and I was out on the bike in 2:29.
Bike:
My plan at this point was to ride at my expected Olympic
power and try to catch back up to the rest of the men’s field. As I tried to increase my power over
the first few miles, felt like I was working way too hard for the power I was
putting out, and I was still really hot.
I am pretty certain I was overheating from the swim so my body was
slowing down until I could shed some excess heat. The only way to speed this process up was to dump more water
down my back, which felt great. It
took me about 30 minutes into the bike, until I felt “normal” again. After the first 10 miles, my HR began
to drop and my power went back up; it was like I finally got my temperature
under control. The second half of
the ride was pretty uneventful, with just trying to catch the riders in front of
me, and I was able to make a couple of passes. My average power of 263w produced a ride time was 1:08:18 (26.4
mph avg as reported by race and 25.5 mph from my Garmin). My bike split ranked 18th
and moved me up to 21st Overall.
Just like T1, T2 was typical. A quick rack of the bike and switching of shoes and I was
out on the run course in 1:11.
Run:
Just like the bike, my plan for the run was pretty simple;
try to catch whoever was in front of me.
As usual, I took off quickly for the first ½ mile and then backed down a
little since I feel the start of a side cramp. As soon as my pace lowed, I was passed by two of the guys I
passed on the bike. As they pulled
away, the cramp started to go away, and I was able to keep pace with the second
passer and kept the gap at about 100 feet. We raced this way until the turnaround mile 3, where I was
finally able to catch him and make the pass. I was feeling really good now, and just kept my foot on the
gas and made another pass just after mile 5. At this point I couldn’t see anyone else in front of me and
no one behind me, so,I tried to take it all in as I ran down the finish chute
as my first finish as a pro. My
final run split was 38:28 which ranked 17th and put me in at 21st
Male Pro with a overall time of 2:17:54.
Overall, I am happy with my race, and my experience in
Muncie. Obviously I was
disappointed the race was shortened; however for the majority of the field I
believe it was the correct call. It
was really fun to race as a pro and line up in the first wave, race on a
relatively clear course (except the second loop part of the bike) and test
myself against some phenomenal athletes. Going in I had realistic expectations
on how I would finish had it been a 70.3, but the short course added an
interesting twist since my training was not focused on short course speed. Regardless,
I was still able to learn a lot about my own fitness and where I need to improve to move up in the future (swim focus anyone?).
That’s it for now, time to get ready for Ironman Louisville!
