Ironman 70.3 California - Ben V
This was my first triathlon since moving to Cleveland and it’s obvious training for an early season HIM isn’t that straight forward with the local weather. Prior to this race I had only been able to do 4 training rides outside in 2013. My main focus for the first 5 months of the season is also IM 70.3 St George in May, so I wasn’ too well prepared for Oceanside, including no race rehearsals, no long rides in aerobars etc. It was intended to be a training event, a fitness test, go out and have fun and the end result didn’t really matter.
Flew in on Thursday and drove straight to Oceanside and went to pick up my race packet at registration. Did a 30’ brick on Friday, dropped of my run gear at T2, and then had dinner with Dino in Carlsbad.
Saturday – race day! I didn’t really have firm goals for the race but when adding estimated splits up a good race would be around 5h15’. Last year I did a 5h04’ with better fitness (I was preparing for IM SG at the time) and the key to going sub 5h was all about the swim (I had a 44’ swim in 2012 and a 45’ swim in 2011). So if I’d have a really fast swim in the 38-39’ range, i.e. 5 minutes faster than last year, I’d race for a sub 5h finish and hope for the best.
Boom! 7.08 and my wave was ready to start. Water was 60 degrees F, which I knew was kinda warm but it felt really cold, probably from being used to a swimming pool with very hot water. I had a lot of difficulty swimming to the start location, couldn’t stick my head in the water and definitely couldn’t breathe or exhale under water! Crap! When we got officially started I was struggling to get into some rhythm, just wasn’t comfortable and relaxed in the water and could maybe do 20 strokes before I was gasping for air and had to take a break. This lasted for about 15 minutes I’d say, when I finally started to get into a nice rhythm and could enjoy the swim and focus on my stroke. This winter I’ve been taking masters swim classes with Liquid Lifestyles which have really helped me with my technique, so I was hoping to be significantly faster than last year’s 44 min swim. Once I got into that rhythm the swim felt great and when I reached T2 my official split would be 38’09”, so about 6 minutes faster than last year. I was super stoked, and this meant it was GAME ON and I’d be chasing that sub 5h finish time! The only problem was when stepping onto the boat ramp I hit my big left toe quite hard against the concrete ramp and it was hurting quite a bit as I was running through T1. Hopefully it’d go away soon!
SWIM 38’09” – 1452th Overall, 228th in AG
Due to lack of outdoor riding and riding in aero position I didn’t know what I could expect from the bike, but given the good swim I had to ride hard. Last year my average power on the bike was 278 watts so in order to go sub 5h I’d have to ride and run just as fast as last year. So I pushed for similar power numbers and for the most part they’d be slightly higher, averaging around 281 watts. My nutrition on the bike was simple, I had 2 bottles with Infinit nutrition with me and two or three times I’d grab a waterbottle at the aid station to drink from it and immediately throw away. This worked great for the first hour, when my first bottle was almost empty until suddenly the full bottle launched itself out of the cage and away it went! I didn’t go recover it but made the decision to get Powerbar Perform at the next aid station even though I knew it was gonna give me stomach issues. It was a gamble and I was hoping for the best given I’d only be drinking one of those bottles. Throughout the bike leg I felt powerful but knew I was riding at a level that was beyond my current fitness. That toe I’d bumped also started to make his presence known every now and then. But the race was on, no turning back.
BIKE 2h 35’ 06”, moved up to 302 Overall and 55th in age group.
Looked at the Garmin and was right on track – last year I ran a 1h39’ half marathon and all I had to do now was repeat that (run 7’30”/mile) and I’d be sub 5h. Took a Gu in T2 and flushed it down with some water. Immediately my stomach was protesting, got all bloated and was compressing my lungs. My toe wasn’t complaining too much yet but that would change as soon as we had to run down the ramp from the pier level to the strand. Ouch! The beginning of the run was a struggle, couldn’t breathe which forced me to walk quite a bit, had to stretch out the hamstrings a couple times, and had to start and restart the running several times. Everytime I’d drink (even a small sip of water) it felt as if my lung volume only had 1/5th of its capacity but it would gradually get better as long as I didn’t drink anything. So that became my only strategy, don’t eat or drink, knowing there was no way I’d still make that sub 5h finish time (with all the stops and walks I was averaging 8’40”/mile ) or I’d be able to complete the half marathon run without bonking but that was the best I could come up with.
I got into a bit more of a rhythm as much as my lungs and stomach would allow. They were the limiters of my speed now, not the legs themselves. My core temperature started to get really hot and I continuously poured water and ice over my head but it wasn’t enough. By mile 9 I was so hot I thought I’d throw up, and at the same time I was starting to bonk so I had no choice but to force myself to take a Gu and hope for the best (again). It actually worked well, was able to pick up the pace to around 8’/mile and I was able to catch and drop Dino who had caught me and dropped me a few minutes earlier. The energy didn’t quite last till the finish but I did the best effort I could.
RUN – 1h52’59”
FINAL TIME – 5h13’12”, 393rd Overall and 68th in age group.
As I ran through the finish my first thought was where the Medical tent was cause I felt so overheated and urgently needed fluids and a way to let my body cool down. Couldn’t find it, tried to find a space to sit or lay down but there was no shade to be found (plus there was a band playing in the athlete’s recovery area – last thing I needed right now!) so ended up grabbing some food and several bottles of water and went to sit in the car with air conditioning at max capacity which helped a lot.
Main conclusions from this race:
- It was so much fun to do another triathlon, last one was IM ST George 11 months ago so it was great to be back!
- My fitness is definitely good, have some work to do but with only so little outdoor training it’s about as good as it can really get.
- Swim training has been helping a lot! Knocking off 6 mins is a big gain. It confirms I need to keep doing what I’m doing.
- Despite total lack of quality time with the TT bike so far we seemed to be reunited and ready to kick more ass in 2013.
- When losing a bottle, turning back to go get it will save more time than using a sports drink you know doesn’t work for you. It’s stupid not to go get it.
- Gotta sort out those bloating and breathing issues on the run.
- My race strategy was one of ‘winging it’ and taking risks. I tried but I failed (you could say I was being stupid) but that’s OK. My final result was within the most realistic target, and it was a great training for IM 70.3 SG.
- My toe is protesting today, all swollen and blue. Probably getting it X-rayed tomorrow.
- Don’t forget the sunscreen! Yeah I totally forgot since sunscreen is the last thing you need in Ohio right now. Lots of sunburn.
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Next up: IM 70.3 St George.
Comments
Your issue in the beginning of the swim sounds like a normal reaction to cold water immersion. Next time you have a cold water race, be sure to get a few minutes of 'face' time in the water to de-sensitize your body to the cold.
Last year I did a 2 multi-race weekends (sprint-HIM; Oly-HIM) where I had no concrete race plan. I went at all of them from a pre-determined RPE perspective and just adjusted on the fly. Very encouraging to rely on knowledge and experience and do well. You did well managing you day.
Overall a great race.
Glad I got to see you fly by on the bike course. Always fun to see familiar faces on the course out there.
Three comments on your race...
1. I'm not sure I agree with turning around for a bottle. Maybe I agree with that if you have no gameplan for what to do in the event you launch a bottle. But I think you absolutely need a gameplan for what to do in case of a bottle launch. For me, that plan is Gu+water+salt capsules.
2. What was your bike IF? I wonder if your run issues were due to overbiking. The statement I felt powerful but knew I was riding at a level that was beyond my current fitness is ominous. The reality is that EN execution works, and there's no such thing as a great bike followed by a bad run. Perhaps the Perform was the cause. But most likely it was only a contributing or agitating factor. Probably lack of heat acclimatization was another factor (although you didn't mention it). But really if you biked beyond your fitness, i.e. your "could split" not your "should split" then you're screwing yourself for the run...the manifestation of that may does not have to be "legs"
3. Was your fueling plan tailored to an HIM? You mentioned your last race was an IM an year ago and with no race rehearsals I wonder if the bloating, etc. was due to an IM sort of fueling strategy. Obviously you successfully fueled this same HIM last year but I do think that bloating usually comes from too much going in and that in general people overfuel the HIM distance.
Best of luck at St George!
Anson - great seeing you! I didn't know what time your wave started but I remembered you mentioning here racing in a UCLA kit so as I was approaching you I thought I should slow down and check if it was you.
Chris - Nice seeing you also!!!
Matt - couple thoughts:
- I was carrying two 'emergency' Gu gels with me but no electrolyte pills. I totally relied on the salt in my Infinit, and also I didn't have any water to flush it down. Lesson learned for next time , i.e. my backup solution needs to be better thought through.
- I haven't downloaded my race data yet since my garmin is still on my bike, which is still in my bike case, which is still in my car. After taking a red eye saturday night / sunday morning back to Cleveland I was too lazy to get it and download the data. Regarding IF, my indoor FTP was 302 watts in the last test but my outdoor FTP must be higher. I don't know how much higher but I'm estimating 325-330 watts at the moment. Estimating because I just haven't been able to test outside. That would put my IF around 0.86-0.87 probably. So already a bit too high per execution guidelines.
- I didn't take that much nutrition on the bike - approx 250 kcal Infinit, and then one bottle of Perform (guessing maybe another 200kcal)? Which would be about 450kcal during the bike. At 2.5h, that's 180 kcal / hr which would seem to be in line with what I recall from one of the video casts from Rich.
- AT IMSG last year I also had these terrible bloating issues but it was much worse there, and I really suffered from it already on the bike. Key things there were a really rough swim (maybe swallowed too much water or air) and my intention of doing the entire race on Ironman Perform sports drink. So something must be similar between that race and this HIM - my hope was racing the bike with Infinit would take care of it since I think I may have some problems with the fructose. Now stupid me never checked the ingredients in Gu but it seems they contain fructose also, and maybe that Gu I took in T2 was the culprit? Because I really didn't have any problems on the bike this time.
- Last year I had stomach issues during this race also but of a totally different kind! I had fueled on Hammer Sustained energy and with Powerbar gels on the run, and it created massive gas buildup in my intestines. Unlike now, where there is massive pressure in my stomach pushing upwards towards my lungs, then I had massive pressure pushing downwards through my intestines causing major uh farting.
- Heat acclimatization definitely may have been an issue, maybe part of the suffering during the run is sun / heat related? Not sure.
As to the calories, that ends up being a personal thing to find what works. Although in each race I experiment with something different, my usual approach for a half-iron taking 4:40-5:00 is 4 gels and ~120 cal of Gatorade for the whole race (that includes the customary pre-swim gel). So about 100/hour (but I weight 140 so if you are heavier you probably need more). I don't do any nutrition after mile 45 of the bike. On the run I stash some Gatorade in my T2 bag (another techique if you don't like Perform) and take some swigs early on the run. Otherwise I'm water-only on the run.