Rev3 Anderson Race Report
1st of all, forgive me in advance, this will probably not follow a logical flow or be entertaining at all. I'm an engineer, not a writer 
Rev3 Anderson Race Report ...
The short and sweet version. 11/26 in AG
Swim - 35:16 connect.garmin.com/activity/233693041
Bike - 2:51:47 connect.garmin.com/activity/233693181
Run - 2:15:35 connect.garmin.com/activity/233693057
Extended Version
Race Morning
Woke up at 5 just to get going, at breakfast about 5:45. Couple cups of apple sauce and a pop tart (one tart, not the pack), this is the same breakfast I've used for my Race Pace Bricks. I don't measure the apple sauce but it's close to the same because it always goes in the same bowl. Made a bottle of perform to sip on and a little diet mtn dew to get some wake up caffeine. Probably 6-8 oz. Got my stuff together and made my way over to the race site.
Everything I was doing getting ready to go was to stay calm and not be too amped up. I get excited and go out too hard so I wanted to be really relaxed because this was all about the run and I wanted to run well
Swim
I had planned from the beginning to take it easy on the swim and be really relaxed. The swim is probably my best of the 3 for some reason but I didn't want to swim too hard and suffer more later. Just get in a good easy groove. The only mistake I made here was not starting out front. I figured I'd let the folks who wanted to go hard off the front and I'd just cruise. The first 300-400 yards was a slug fest. That doesn't bother me but does expend more energy than just swimming harder off the front I believe. After the first bouy I just kept finding feet to latch on to and swam easy. It's amazing how many people slow down so much as the swim goes on. by the time I turned at the 2nd to last bouy I was in cruise control and passing folks left and right. Got out of the water made my way to transition relaxed and go ready to ride the bike
Bike
TSS = 163
NP = 193
VI = 1.05
Got out on the bike and HR was high as it always is. Felt good, didn't feel out of breath and felt REALLY relaxed (i.e. not sucking wind) so in my head I thought I was doing better. Normally I'm just dying at this point early in the bike. My Power goal for the bike was 195 watts and I planned on calming down and then getting into a groove. Only problem with that is the HUGE hill out of transition which I wasn't climbing at 200w without falling over. Needless to say the NP for the first lap was high even though I granny geared it up the hill. Rest of the bike was rolling hilly, lots of turns, lots of changes in road type, downhill, uphill, you name it. I did my best to keep my power numbers constant which meant I got passed a lot going uphill but caught everyone and out ran them going down.
These are the splits from Garmin Connect (5 mile increments). I noticed the normalized power drop off after about mile 35 but I wasn't feeling bad I wasn't hurting and I felt really calm and strong. I felt like I was in cruise control which is what I wanted
| Split | Time | Moving Time | Distance | Elevation Gain | Elevation Loss | Avg Speed | Avg Moving Speed | Max Speed | Avg HR | Max HR | Avg Bike Cadence | Max Bike Cadence | Normalized Power (NP) | Avg Power | Max Power | Max Avg Power (20 min) | Avg Temperature | Calories | |||
| 1 | 17:48.4 | 17:47 | 5.00 | 357 | 122 | 16.8 | 16.9 | 36.9 | 170 | 181 | 85 | 109 | 202 | 192 | 583 | -- | 53.7 | 287 | |||
| 2 | 13:54.5 | 13:56 | 5.00 | 187 | 319 | 21.6 | 21.5 | 34.8 | 165 | 173 | 87 | 111 | 196 | 190 | 383 | -- | 54.8 | 214 | |||
| 3 | 16:20.1 | 16:20 | 5.00 | 322 | 244 | 18.4 | 18.4 | 42.5 | 165 | 176 | 89 | 119 | 199 | 193 | 400 | -- | 55.4 | 249 | |||
| 4 | 15:10.0 | 15:11 | 5.00 | 305 | 290 | 19.8 | 19.8 | 37.1 | 164 | 172 | 85 | 114 | 195 | 190 | 359 | -- | 56.2 | 225 | |||
| 5 | 13:55.4 | 13:54 | 5.00 | 218 | 210 | 21.5 | 21.6 | 35.8 | 165 | 174 | 85 | 105 | 202 | 196 | 400 | -- | 55.4 | 208 | |||
| 6 | 15:21.6 | 15:22 | 5.00 | 271 | 324 | 19.5 | 19.5 | 37.1 | 158 | 174 | 83 | 141 | 194 | 177 | 674 | -- | 57.0 | 179 | |||
| 7 | 15:28.3 | 15:28 | 5.00 | 284 | 221 | 19.4 | 19.4 | 31.7 | 159 | 170 | 80 | 108 | 195 | 191 | 474 | -- | 57.2 | 192 | |||
| 8 | 14:31.8 | 14:33 | 5.00 | 241 | 264 | 20.6 | 20.6 | 35.8 | 164 | 172 | 84 | 99 | 196 | 191 | 435 | -- | 57.2 | 203 | |||
| 9 | 14:45.8 | 14:46 | 5.00 | 248 | 295 | 20.3 | 20.3 | 40.5 | 159 | 170 | 82 | 109 | 191 | 185 | 545 | -- | 58.3 | 164 | |||
| 10 | 14:58.4 | 14:58 | 5.00 | 277 | 296 | 20.0 | 20.0 | 37.3 | 162 | 168 | 85 | 105 | 191 | 185 | 434 | -- | 59.0 | 197 | |||
| 11 | 14:57.3 | 14:58 | 5.00 | 324 | 314 | 20.1 | 20.0 | 42.8 | 163 | 172 | 87 | 118 | 191 | 183 | 458 | -- | 59.5 | 195 | |||
| 12 | 4:35.7 | 4:35 | 1.52 | 61 | 75 | 19.9 | 19.9 | 32.4 | 158 | 169 | 85 | 117 | 180 | 160 | 402 | -- | 60.8 | 46 | |||
| Summary | 2:51:47.4 | 2:51:48.0 | 56.52 | "3 | 095" | "2 | 973" | 19.7 | 19.7 | 42.8 | 163 | 181 | 85 | 141 | 196 | 188 | 674 | 196 | 56.8 | "2 | 359" |
Run
Sigh ... the run is always my nemesis in a triathlon. If you looked at my open races you think.. "hey, this guy isn't a bad runner". Look at triathlon results .. and you wonder if I do any run training at all..
I left T2 and felt good. HR was low, felt like I had lots of energy and was very relaxed. Ran the first two miles at goal pace and thought.. "hey, even if I slow down some I'll still have a good day because I know this course is tough". At mile 4 the wheels started to fall off. I felt like I had gone 5 rounds with Tyson in his heyday. My entire core started to hurt so bad. Didn't feel like a side stitch but the pain set in and I couldn't get relaxed any more. To top it off my left lat muscle cramped which has never happened to me in a run and I couldn't get it calmed down either. So the next 8+ miles was a struggle. I decided then that I would run the flatter portions best I could and then walk on the ups. I felt like I had been hit by a truck. My nutrition was the same as I practiced. Same nutrition as when I ran 6 miles at sub 8:30 pace with a HR in the low 150's. Not on this day though
For reference, my open Half Marathon time is about 1:46. According to Mcmillian my Marathon pace would be an 8:32, figuring tougher course etc I though 8:45 - 9:00 would be a good run. I ran 10:15's overall and am disspointed
My run training had been good, I had hit the LT paces and intervals and my long runs had mostly gone well, I didn't miss runs and felt ready.
Overall
Yes it was a big PR and YES I am happy about that but my dissappointment in yet another run in a triathlon is getting me down. I know I'm not exceptionally fast but I can't figure out why:
A. I can't put it together on race day
B. Can't ride in the appropriate zone and still run half way decent
C. Just give out after a certain amount of time no matter what the effort
D. Any or all of the above or something else
Comments
Jamie,
IMO, that's a pretty tough course.
I just glanced at the power file and the only thing that jumped out were the number of matches. Many spots were low/zero watts one second and then 250-400 watts right after. These burnt matches add up. I've learned this the hard way. It doesn't take very many to go and screw up our plan, our VI, our execution. If I remember that course right, there are several turns and also a couple of hills where you descend, then have to slow/stop, then start climbing? Your NP did start drifting down but that might have alot to do with the fact that there was a net drop in elevation coming down the home stretch. Which is why your speed stayed strong.
This is a great course for the EN power monitorring athlete, once we've developed the discipline to pull off riding the right way. Gearing has a ton to do with it, but I don't think I can use the course as a reason anymore. Now, that I know where my numbers fall, if I don't control my effort, then I will pay for it a little later. It's about how many watts we can use. Hilly or flat, I have a baseline that I learned in training and if I let spikes happen over 56 or 112 miles then I'm going to be risking a slower run. EN has this down to a science.
I did the same thing at Anderson last year.
1 season of power training with EN. Thought I had it down. Went to race. Had the same spikes over the bike. Thought I was in the 'Not Just Right, but Acceptable' range, but it wasn't. And, like you, I was dissapointed in my run, too. After Patrick analyzed my ride data, he pointed out these same things and this year I understand that even little spikes can come back to bite you. It's like Denial. I chose to say 300-350 watts was ok if it was just for a split second. And, I was wrong.
All I'm saying is that I can relate.
You had a great PR on a tough course! Absorb it and smile. That's a hard sweat. But, like you mentioned we can always take a lesson from a workout/race and see what we can do with it with the proper focus and hard work.
Congrats, maybe we'll get some riding in this offseason, eh?
A couple of very quick thoughts:
- Agree with Chris' comment on the burnt matches. A VI of 1.05 is too high even for a "hilly course".
- What was your IF? The Garmin link says 0.75 but that can't be right. If it's over 0.8 then I'd say target lower next time.
- You may have felt like you were crusin' on the bike, but were you? Three of the power splits in the first half of your race were well above your goal watts. The other two were at target. In the last 15 miles all were below target. Further, you were doing 194-195 watts at 158-159 HR at the midpoint, but 191 watts at 162-163 bpm by the end.
- Did you start out too hard on the run? I don't know what HR you were expecting but you sure got to a high level quickly.
- No idea on the lat thing...sounds random
Here's a link to training peaks, it might provide a little more information than GC (http://tpks.ws/nbn5mCdd)
I tried to target an if of 78% according to the EN power racing tables. That was a 2:52 split and the lower end of the green boxes as I'm not the strongest runner. That would produce a TSS of 170 according to the tables and I came in at 163
More information from TP
20s Peak power = 364
30s Peak Power = 329
60s PP = 262
2m = 237
5m = 217
6m = 213
10m = 202
12m = 199
The start of the course is the toughest part, hence the higher NP. I doubt I could ride it much lower. I couldn't go up the hills otherwise. I run a 50/34 and 11-28 and had it in granny gear going as easy as possible. I was getting crushed going uphill, it was almost comical but still the first 5 miles was all climbing
The last 15 miles is the easiest part of hte course with a lot of downhill. I was on 50/11 a lot during that stretch and running 100 rpm cadence and still not approaching 180w so I assumed that's why I finished with a lower NP for that stretch. I probably backed off a touch the last couple miles. I didn't feel bad, in fact felt very strong but wanted to just spin the legs and get ready to run
I started out the run 15s / mile slower than my race pace bricks which I thought was the smart thing to do. I expected high 150s on the HR but couldn't even walk and keep that for some reason
So, again I guess I overcooked the bike and I thought I was doing better, frustrating to say the least
And thanks for the feedback guys.
Chris, sure, I'm planning some down time until January, I'll still get out and ride whenever (mtn or road) though. Wife is expecting our first child early December so I won't commit to anything in December right now but I'll sure try when that time comes if I can pull it off.
I'm debating between Augusta and Anderson next year. I kind of want to go back to Anderson to see if I could make these same adjustments and what kind of results it would bring.
I know exactly how your feeling!
One good thing about the frustration is that it will fuel many of your OS workouts!