HIM Miami RR - 1st HIM, 5th AG
Monday Oct 29, 2012, Hotel Room 2am
Always the same when I drink a lot, I don’t sleep well. So I might as well write my race repot 
I realize now that I wrote a pretty lengthy intro so if you’re not interested in my babble, just go to RACE DAY.
For a long time I’ve been hearing Ironman athletes’ stories and thought: ”wow pretty impressive!” without even thinking that I could one day compete. And then I met Mark, who had done about 10 IM. He told me that it wasn’t that hard to train for an IM and that I should give it a try. I almost laughed at him and continued to look at triathlon races on the sidewalk, cheering the athletes and thinking that I was not fit enough, trained enough, motivated enough, … to do even a sprint event. But he had planted a seed in me. What if me too, I could do triathlons? After all I was a runner and I liked water. Never been on road bike, but I could give it a try…
Less than a year ago, in November 2011, I decided to take the plunge and did my first sprint event. A local race: The Conchman in Freeport, Bahamas. And I won... I was hooked!
April 2012, without any specific race in mind I decided to start training for an IM, just to see if I could handle the training load. I downloaded a plan from the Internet and started to work out.
Wow big difference from my sprint triathlon training (what a surprise, right J). It was maybe not the best idea I had. I already had experienced a stress fracture a few years ago and didn’t want to increase the training too much too quick. So I backed off and found a HIM training plan that I started following.
In August 2012 I got a new job and decided to treat myself with my first HIM race. I registered the day after I got the job for HIM Miami and moved from the Bahamas to Bonaire – another small island in the Caribbean.
A couple of weeks after I relocated, there was an Olympic tri scheduled and decided to participate just for fun and won again. You gotta love small local races J It really pumped my confidence level.
I thought: “OK – now things are getting serious I need a coach!” This is when I joined EN. And I’m so glad I did.
The plan for HIM Miami:
- Experience my first “big race” (other than a small island race where you know by name all the (50) participants and (10) volunteers)
- Finish the race
- Have realistic expectations based on my level of fitness: finish in 6h
- Swim 45min
- Bike 3h
- Run 2h
I arrived in Miami a couple of days before the race and was supposed to meet with a friend on Friday to get set up on his bike. Yep, that right, I didn’t race on my bike. I have an old, heavy, squeaky road bike and a good friend of mine living in Florida was kind enough to drive to Miami and let me use his full carbon, profiled, DI2 equipped race machine.
I was of course concerned about the change and to break the rule #1 in tri –don’t do anything on race day you haven’t train with– but my bike was just too crapy. AND I asked fellows EN team members their opinion and everybody told me to enjoy the fast ride. EN team fellow, John Withrow, also gave me a lot of good advices and a lot of measurements to take on my bike so I could report them on my friend’s bike to make it as similar as mine as possible (thanks again John!). I religiously took all the measurements and then some more.
Once in Miami, I was told that my friend couldn’t make it on Friday and would arrive on Saturday around 1pm. First frustration… not much time to get my body accustom to the new bike. But it was what it was and I was (and still am) very thankful I got to ride his race machine.
I had my saddle with me, so my bottom could at least ride on what it was use to. But of course the screw to mount it was ripped and we couldn’t use my saddle. I had to ride on a different saddle. Second frustration.
Then I had to pick the wheel set. My bike doesn’t have any fancy wheels; just the good old non-aero, heavy wheels. So I had no idea how I would handle deep wheels especially because hurricane Sandy was still blowing some gust of wind of 16/20mph. We picked the full disc for the rear wheel and for the front I had to choose from a nice carbon wheel with a small rim, a deep (50) or a deeper (90) wheels. Got frustrated because I didn’t know what to pick, I wanted to be fast but didn’t want to crash… So I decided to be conservative for my first race on a bike I didn’t know and picked the wheel with the smallest rim.
Fourth frustration: I couldn’t find the document where I had all the measurements of my bike at home so we had to adjust the bike the best we could. I took quite some time and I got even more frustrated because it didn’t feel right. We tweaked it some more and found a spot that didn’t seem to hurt/cramp my legs. even though I rode it for only 10 minutes – downtown Miami – so really hard to tell if my position was optimum and if I’ll be able the next day to transfer a lot of power without cramping. But it was already 4 PM and I had been on my feet for more than 7h now and that was also a big no no, so I decided to check-in the bike and headed back to the hotel, stopping on the way at a restaurant where I had a soup and a big salad.
I was afraid I wouldn’t sleep well but soon-to-be-hubby had prepared me nice warm bubble bath with candles to relax me, topped with two glasses of wine and it did the trick. I fell asleep at 9pm like a baby.
RACE DAY
I woke up at 4.30 –45 min before the alarm– ate a bagel with peanut butter, tried to go back to bed and get some more sleep but I was just too excited… We left the hotel and arrived early enough; no queue for body marking. I went to the transition area, set up all my gear and was quite surprised that there was no Sport drinks to fill the bike bottles… I was lucky to find a booth at the expo were they were selling drinks, bought 3 of them, 2 on the bike and one to sip on before the beginning of the race and headed to the swim start.
SWIM
The water temperature was 65.4ºF (18.5ºC). It was wetsuit legal. Too bad... I don’t have a wetsuit. We don’t have any public pool on our island (yes it’s a very small island) so I only swim in the ocean and at this time of the year the temperature is about 80 – 82ºF (27 – 28ºC) so I was really worried about the cold water without swimsuit and got a pre-race massage with a product that warm up deep tissue (from Morgan Blue) that BelgiumBike was giving for free at the expo and it worked pretty well; I didn’t get cold.
The swim was in the harbor of Miami, pretty nasty waters compared to what I’m used to. The visibility was about 2 feet and I remember thinking: “I don’t think I’ll see any turtle or ray today, well I can just focus on the race then”. But apparently I was wrong as a dolphin was spotted as we were swimming…
It was a wave start so there were only about 80 athletes with me, and the start was not too bad. The course was triangle shaped and the first turn around buoy was pretty close to the start, our wave caught up with swimmers from the previous wave and I lost some time there because of the congestion.
As my head was out of the water, trying to find a way between all the swimmers, I got kicked pretty hard in the mouth with someone’s foot but kept swimming and I was kinda happy I kept all my teeth... I’m still not sure what that athlete’s foot was doing out of the water… Also got elbowed a few time too but tried to be the nicest swimmer around.
It was really hard to find my rhythm, I usually breath every 4 strokes and it’s only about half way into the swim that I could finally find my form and usual rhythm back. It was really hard to navigate between all the swimmers…
I also realized that when I breathe to the left I have a tendency to go to the left and when I breathe to the right I go right. I’ll try to alternate sides more often.
I did got “lost”. So bad that a boat had to wave at me and told me to got back into course. I was pretty surprised because I was swimming towards a buoy but apparently not the right one… So I got upset and disappointed because my swim time was now spoiled but snapped pretty quickly out of it and decided to swim faster to make up the time
Came out of the swim after 37 minutes.
I probably could have done 35 or less with a wetsuit and straight lines… but I was supper happy I was 8 minutes under my target time and came into transition with a smile on my face.
Transition was pretty smooth – 3:32
Note for the next tri:
- make sure to identify the buoys before the swim
- look where I’m going more often
- alternate the breathing side more often
- early in the swim identify swimmers in my wave that have my speed and try to draft them (not sure yet how I’m going to do that)
- get a wetsuit to get some free speed in the swim
BIKE
I was pretty anxious to jump on that brand new bike with a full disc. So I took it very easy as I was riding out of downtown Miami. A few minutes into the leg I checked my watched and realized that I had no HR feedback. Every time I would try to replace it, I got a reading of about 65-70 bpm then nothing again.
As I train on a small island with virtually no no-wind days, I’m use to strong head and tail winds and usually do like 15mhp with the headwind. I was riding at about 18mph with a strong headwind (reminiscences of Hurricane Sandy), and was thinking it was way too fast but had no way to check my HR. Next in line was to examine my RPE and it felt really easy. But this was my first HIM and the beginning of the leg and I knew that RPE was really not reliable in this case. So I started to freak out and didn’t know if I should slow down, keep the same speed, push a little harder… could it be that this new “fast” bike was really that much faster? What to do.
So I decided to check my pulse at the carotid, one hand on the bike, trying to stay kinda aero, the other on my neck to find my carotid and checked my watch for timing. I got a HR of 150 bmp. Perfect! A little bit higher than my target HR of 145 but it was okay as I knew I would have a strong tailwind for the second half and could cruise and recover on the way back.
Forty minutes into the bike I finally got my HR monitor working again and it made me feel much more comfortable. I peaked at 162 and decided to slow down. The rest of way to the turn around was uneventful; I rode steady trying to get into my best aero position possible.
Once on the way back we had a nice tailwind and I felt I was flying! Unbelievably fast with a HR around 142. Did up to 32mph on that flat course, averaging 20 mph; I was very happy.
Around mile 40 I really had to pee but this bike was not mine and didn’t want to pee on my friend’s saddle, tool box, etc and of course didn’t want to stop so hold it all the way to T2 (Todd, if you read this I’m sure you’re grateful I didn’t pee on your bike 
.
The bike was almost done. Time to eat/drink a little bit more to be ready for the run. So I drunk all the sport drink I still had in my water bottle and eat one more gel.
(Notice the smile at the end of the bike - just happy it went so well!)
I realized that if I wasn’t doing anything stupid on the run, I should be able to hit my target time of 6h. Thank you Todd Barber for letting me use you amazing bike! It wouldn’t have been possible without your fast racing machine 
T2 went very smooth - 2min19
Note for the next tri:
- ask Santa for a tri bike so I wouldn’t stress about riding a new bike on race day and would know before race day what I’m capable of riding
- Get a power meter to train/race more accurately in windy conditions and not leave anything on the table.
RUN
The day before the race, they announced that:
- There will be only 8 aid stations on the course and that they weren’t spaced every mile
- No coke
- No ice
I was very surprise about that (to not say panicked) the day before the race but on race day I was mentally prepared for a tough run.
Actually, it turned out that they did have ice at some station and coke at most, which was a nice surprise.
The volunteers were not the always on top of things but they were trying hard to help. So coming up at each aid station I was yelling the volunteers what I wanted (coke and water at each station).
At mile 8, I was asking for coke and no one had a cup of coke ready. As I continued to yell “coke, coke, coke”, a volunteer ran up to me and handed me a 2L bottle of coke. I look at him, trying to express my surprise but he didn’t react so I start to drink from the huge bottle. Two sips into it, another volunteer came up with a cup, but it was too late I was ready to start running again.
Because it was a two loops course, I was passing a lot of people and it felt pretty good.
We went twice over the causeway going over the bay and I managed to slow down going up and picking up some speed going down. I felt good all along. I could even pick up some speed for the last 3 miles. When I look at the data, my speed didn't really incrased, but my HR did.
500 yards before the end, a guy tried to pass my on the left, but for whatever reason I decided that he would not pass me. So I started to sprint and speed up every time he speeded up. Not sure shy I did that. I guess the adrenaline of the finish line. I finished before him.
I finished in 1h45min with an average pace of 8min/mile and I was shooting for 8.15.
Note for the next tri:
- keep sticking to the plan. Work WORKS. Just get faster
It all went so fast. I enjoyed every single minutes of it!
I finished in 5h13min. 47 minutes faster that my predicted time. I finished 5th in my age group. I was so blown away by my time that I had to ask 3 times to soon-to-be-hubby, if it was really my time.
Question for the team:
My ultimate goal is to go to Kona (what a surprise right?). My plan was to train and do HIM until I get fast enough, then switch to IM, and compete until I get my ticket to Kona.
Now the question is, how fast should I get on the HIM before switching to IM? I was initially thinking about 5:10. But maybe I should try to get sub 5 and then switch?
Comments
Some might disagree - in my opinion, a 5:10 or sub-5 (or any particular time) is not always a benchmark in determining when you might switch over to IM prep and/or racing. You will "know" if and when it is time to raise the bar.
If the goal is to qualify for Kona, look at events that feed your strengths. Are you a strong climber on the bike? Do you prefer running on a flat course? Review course profiles and plan well in advance, as many races are filling up shortly after registration opens. Choose an IM that works well for you - and give it a whirl. It is not unheard of to qualify for Kona during your first or second attempt at an IM - that said, (and this is in my humble opinion), your first attempt at long-course racing might be better focused on finishing the event. Each time you race, you will learn volumes about pack swimming, wet suits vs. non-wet suits, cycling, nutrition, pace/power, running strides, etc... Take this knowledge and every lesson from the many, many well-educated ENers and make it happen.
What a great read - and a great race.
Congrats on such a strong finish first time in!
Swim: I am totally jealous that all of your swim training is in a warm ocean. It may be useful to get a wetsuit closer to whatever your next big race is. If it is a wetsuit legal race, you will almost always be fasted and use less energy of you wear a wetsuit. The ricky racer stuff is hard on the swim and drafting if done properly will save energy, but might actually cost you more energy if you're doing it wrong... but definitely know the course and sight often.
Bike: You had a great bike, but wow, that was a high HR at the beginning. I would guess that you over-cooked yourself a bit in those winds. I really think you would benefit from a Powermeter if your goal is to KQ. You can cheat it a bit on a half, when you move up to IM execution becomes that much more important and small mistakes almost always come back to haunt you later. Final thing, I would have just peed on his bike and cleaned it up afterwards, but very honorable thing holding it in...
Run: Looking at your chart, it's is actually good that you were able to keep having your HR rising throughout the whole run. Many people can't push hard enough to keep their HR going up through the end. I also sprinted down some random dude at IMFL. Really dumb thing to do, but I totally get it... I'm jealous of your run speed!
Ironman dreams: I know plenty of people who have done an IM after starting from the couch and doing an IM a yr later. You could probably "finish" an IM next month if you had to. I also agree with Woody that you learn a lot in your first race and almost everyone (not named Chrissy Wellington) takes a few tries to get it right and really be "competing" for that KQ slot, even super fast people. So there are a couple of things to consider. If you want to keep getting faster, then crush the OS and do a get faster plan and a bunch of shorter races. There is no magic cutt-off for HIM times. Plenty of people that can break 5 hrs in a half, can't put it all together for a full IM to KQ. I for one like the IM distance much better than the shorter stuff because I'm just not fast enough for the short stuff. You could also crush the OS and sign up for a race next yr and have a really good starting point for the coming yrs. I think IMLou is still open and is a non-wetsuit swim with a rolling hills bike and flat run. The biggest issue most people have at IMLou is fighting the heat, but given where you will be training, you should be totally acclimated for that.
Good luck with that letter to Santa. I think you'd be better served with a "used" tri bike AND a Powermeter than with just getting a brand new Tri bike.
Catherine, congratulations on what sounds like a fun race for you.
First place in your first sprint tri? 5:13 in your first HIM, without a wet suit, going way off course on the swim, on 2:45 on a borrowed bike, and finishing with a 1:45 run? Girl, you've got a lot of talent, and you can literally do anything you want in this sport, if you do the work and get involved, which it sounds like you want to do.
An HIM and an IM are really two different beasts. IMO, the value of waiting to do an IM is not that you will "get faster" by doing HIMs or shorter races. Rather, you will be able to build up the miles you need to discover your abilities as a cyclist. You seem to already have the background you need in swimming and running. Some thoughts, instead of just trying to do more HIMs or ride forever on the same roads around the island... take a couple of trips a year to do long-distance multi-day cycling (7-10 days of 70-100 miles a day); or does Bonaire have some hills where you can mountain bike? The slower speeds and steeper hills can let you get more time in the saddle to supplement time on the road.
In any event, you can actually start doing IMs anytime you want. Just know two things: you need about 9 months lead time for your first one, 2/3rds of which is just "training to train" so you can most effectively use the final three month training cycle to best advantage. Second, no matter where you go in triathlon, it usually takes 3-5 years before you and your body begin to understand and develop the potential you have.
In terms of IM, take Al's advice. Personally I've only ever done HIM distance, but that's a function of time available to train. I don't think you have to master HIM to do IM. In terms of getting to Kona, I suspect natural ability is rarely enough. You will have to maximize every aspect and not make any mistakes. You would be wise to pick courses that suit you and to carefully study past race results for your AG (even who shows up at which races consistently) before you make a "bet" on which race will provide the best chance of a KQ.
In any event, a big congratulations and I look forward to reading more of your race reports.
Cheers,
Matt
@Woody: I think you're right. There is no specific time that indicates when you are ready to switch to an IM... It makes sense now. The perfect IM race for me would be flat, hot and humid. That would match what I'm use to. I'm thinking IMFL but it's already sold out. IMLou or Cozumel are the next to come in mind.
@Russell: Thanks mate
@John: You are welcome in Bonaire if you want to break the cold winter and enjoy warm ocean swims
I'm ready to crush the OS plan and do as many get faster plans as needed.
@Al: Yes, you're right. The bike is my weakest leg. And training without a power meter, on a windy island with a crappy road bike doesn't allow me to really gauge where I stand and how much I should push on race day. Would love to take cycling trips but will be tough with my job BUT Bonaire has some very exciting and challenging MTB trails and will make sure I integrate more MTB in my training. Thanks for the tip! 3 to 5 years to develop the potential I have? Mmh. I so thankful I started last year, only a couple more years to go and reach my goal
@Matt: thanks for you insight about my running speed/HR, I was indeed asking my self if I could have pushed harder or not. Seems like I did the right thing
I sounds like a Power meter is more important than a good bike to get the training to the next level. So I think I'll get one even before a tri bike.
Thank you all for your support and insightful comments!
Catherine
Moving from HIM to IM is available to anyone who makes the conscious choice to just go for it. I understand the urge to get to Kona (on many levels), but my first piece of advice would be to follow the guidance above and race your first IM detached from the outcome. You will learn so much about yourself and your limits on that journey to IM.
The longer a race is the more it becomes a function of nutrition and execution (less on fitness). Race results are more like guidelines as opposed to rules. There is a spectrum between a high vs low regression athlete. A high regression athlete will slow down significantly as the race distance becomes longer. A low regression athlete will slow down very little as the race distance increases. For example, I'm a low regression athlete. Assuming I'm able to execute at both distances and race on similar terrain, I can take my HIM time, add several minutes and I'll have my IM time. I'm faster than many people in my AG at IM, yet when I move down to HIM these same people kill me. So just know that the numbers at the HIM distance don't tell the full story. My advice would be to jump up to IM if you feel fuelled by the challenge, because physically you are ready and will learn so much. During my first 2 IM's I showed up 100% and executed at 75%. On my last one I showed up at 80% and executed at 100% and had the race of my life. We can never replace experience. Al is spot on with 3-5 years of developing potential. I've just entered that window and am beginning to experience that. WIth all your spending options available to you I would begin with a power meter, I wish I would have purchased mine day 1.
I purchased from: http://www.power2max.ca/index.php/
It's from Germany and is very popular there in the professional cycling circuit and was just introduced to North America this year. The North American rep. lives 5 minutes from my place. His name is Michael, great guy and I can give you his phone number if you'd like to chat with him to answer any of your questions. They claim to be as accurate as SRM and have a much better price point because they sell directly to the consumer (no middle man). I can attest, it's an excellent product and as a crank you can switch it to your new "bling" bike when you make that investment down the road. It has worked perfect for me over the past year (except when I forgot to replace the battery race day, live and learn... experience).
He gave me a great deal and I'm sure I can talk to him about setting up a team EN discount.
Congrats again Cat! Look forward to hearing about your progress.
S
I definitively feel the urge to move up to the full IM distance. But the more I think about it, the more I think I shouldn't do it before I'm able to invest in some gear that'll help me in my race execution. So #1 on my list now is a Power Meter. I'm going back to Europe for Xmas, so I'll try to see if there is some good options there. I might need that contact you have at Power2Max if I don't find anything. Thanks!! I guess time will tell if I'm a high or low regression athlete. But from my previous races I think I'm more a low regression athlete. Can't wait to do my first IM, and read you book!! I'm sure I'll learn a lot from both
@Sarah: Thanks!
very nice race.
yes must get wetsuit.
If you are looking to get the power meter below, make sure you know your current bike's bottom bracket and crank. And what would likely fit a future tri bike. If your current bike has something weird, may want to switch bottom brackets to what a future tri bike would likely have.
I think as others have said, half iron and iron much different animal. Move right up to Iron !!!
How about this, there are 4-6 half irons where you can kona qualify. If you hone your skills, the first place necessary at a half iron may be possible.