Oceanside 70.3 - First HIM...and a crampfest!

[Deleted User]

This was my first HIM, and first big race of 2013! My last big race was Vineman Full, which was 8 months ago, so I've been out of the racing loop for a bit.

Swim (40:52)

• This was my first ocean swim (well, it was in a harbor...), so I was a bit anxious about the water temperatures and conditions. The water was on the cold side, but I coped surprisingly well. Salt water is still icky though.
• Nothing special about the swim itself, and I think I put in a solid effort. Didn't fatigue significantly or have to stop to catch my breath like every other race I've done in the past. I'm still not a terribly good swimmer, but I can definitely see improvement!! Pretty happy overall. I still have lots of work to do in the pool though...
• My goal was to go sub-40, but just missed that. I think I lost at least a minute due to sighting issues, so I gotta practice that more. Also, I have a feeling that my wetsuit makes it hard to hold a high elbow position, so that might be another thing to look into. 
• Apparently I had really bad chafing on my neck because of my wetsuit. This is the first time it happened, so I'm guessing it's because of the salt water? I was only slightly irritating during the swim and I didn't notice it much, but apparently I have this HUGE and ugly rash on the back of my neck. 

Bike (3:02)

• My training and RRs on the bike went really well, so I definitely had a good amount of bike fitness going in. However, I had a really hard time getting the watts up. My goal was to hold around 200-210W, but I think I was averaging around 170-180W . I think this is at least partially due to not enough swim fitness, which tires me out once I get out of the water and on the bike. In fact, I observed this happening when I would do my weekly swim-bike (trainer) bricks: it feels pretty hard to get my watts up to Z3 after a solid swim!
• My nutrition was basically ~three bottles of Infinit tucked away in my Speedfil and Aerodrink bottle. Very simple and minimalist. I also took a salt tab per hour just in case, but apparently that wasn't enough...
• I was aiming for a ~2:50 split, but I just couldn't get those watts up to where I wanted. Speed aside, it was a pretty good effort. There were a bunch of challenging climbs, but climbing is one of my strengths so I really wasn't rattled too much.

Run: (1:57)

• I had high hopes for the run (wanted to run around a 1:35), but had to throw that plan out the window. Right when I got out of T2, my legs started feeling pretty bad and crampy . I took another salt pill to ease it, but the pain was still there. After about two miles, I knew I had to slow down a lot or risk walking a significant portion. I reached for another salt pill, and then realized that my little bag fell out of my pocket somewhere along the way .
• So now I'm jogging along at 8-9 minutes miles, feeling the quad cramps every step of the way and no salt to spare. I even had to throw in a short walk break every mile. I took in a few cups of the sports drink they had so I could get some electrolytes, but I was very well aware that I could give myself even more trouble if I had too many calories. The cramps eased up a bit in the second half of the run, but man, it was truly slow and miserable. 

Total: 5:49

Okay, not the race I wanted, but it was still a valuable learning experience and I had a great time. This was my first WTC race, and I really enjoyed the atmosphere of it all . Plus, I got to see fellow teammates Dino and Ben V. tear it up on the course! Some takeaways from all this:

• Swim more to bike faster. I realized that it's almost a waste of time to spend so much time gunning for a higher FTP if I'm being limited by swim fitness. That is, I don't necessarily need a higher FTP (~250W is good enough for now), but I need a more swim-resistant FTP, if that makes sense.
• Salt is a major food group that I shouldn't neglect (at least on race day). And I need to get another Saltstick for the run.
• I should probably do a sprint/oly tune-up race before a big race like this, especially if I haven't raced in a while. There are a lot of small details and quirks that I tend to forget after a layoff, and it kinda sucks having to relearn all that stuff on race day when it matters.
• Triathlons are hard. Also, the pros are freaks . 

Dino Sarti

Great race, Anson! I really loved seeing you out there. Sorry you suffered on the the run. I think we all did. The day turned out to be warmer and sunnier than many expected.

Thinking about it, I blame your UCLA kit. I have heard Cardinal and Gold colors are much faster. Perhaps something to consider....

What's next on the calendar? Are going to come up to Wildflower???

Chris Kuebert

The suffering out there yesterday was huge.  Nice work out there!

MattAaronson

Congrats on the race Anson. I have been brutalized by the quad cramps before...check out the thread I started on this topic after Racine last year where I experiemnted with a pre-race sodium loading protocol that worked pretty well for me. Totally agree on some tune-up races ans also on swim better to bike faster.

You are a strong runner...no way you ought to have a 2 hour HIM run. I suspect based on being so far under your goal watts on the bike that you probably screwed yourself on the bike...sounds like it was an off day for you.

tgarson

Warmer DIno? What did it hit, the high 60s? Yeah that's toasty! 

On a more serious note, I applaud all you guys for your temerity to do a half in March. I would have been suffering immensely out there on Saturday because I just don't have my sh!t together fitness-wise this early in the year to do a big-boy race.

A few other misc points:

• Swimming in the ocean is awesome and that water wasn't that cold, trust me on that! But you do need practice in the ocean and in cold water, tough to come straight from the pool into an ocean swim.
• I used to have a ton of problems with cramping that I attribute to 3 principle causes. A) poor fitness. poor pre-race nutrition, way too much water in the build up to the race basically flushing all the salt out of my system C) not enough fluid / electrolytes during the bike. 3 bottles in 3 hours would not be nearly enough for me, for HIM intensity I need at 1.5 bottles per hour, for IM I'd target 2 bottles per hour.
• For the run and the bike in general, I obviously can't speak for your or anyone else's training, but while I may feel that I have a solid enough base at this time of the year, the truth that it's not even in the same stratosphere as what it will be in a few months. Quite frankly, I wouldn't have the fitness is the bank to have the type of race I'd want in March, but don't get too discouraged if your bike or run weren't quite what you wanted them to be in March, you might be a whole different animal at peak season. 

rbogle

Well Done Anson! Way to hang in there with the cramping....

I have had similar experiences at the HIM distance with brutal quad cramps. It is MISERABLE! So research and experimentation has yielded these points for me:

• Electrolytes have little influence on stoping or curing muscular cramping ( pre loading/maintaining levels MAY help prevent, but not stop, research is inconclusive.)
• Over-exertion / too fast pacing -- seems to be the leading cause, along with if you've cramped in the past, you more likely to experience cramping.
• Pickle Juice / or dilute Vinegar will stop cramping in 30"-60". Research shows its likely Neuro-Muscular effect (a reset to nerve firing sequence) vs Electrolytic effect as it's too rapid to be the salt absorption. I along with many others have experienced this. 

My protocol is: 4-6 oz of Pickle Juice before the race, and in each transition. Then take enough on the run with you to last for the race.  4-6oz will stop and hold off cramping for about 30-45 minutes. So 1-2 fuel belt bottles on the HIM should be enough. Taking the Pickle Juice in Transitions seems to help reduce the severity or onset later in the run, but the fuel belt bottles are my insurance. 

Anyway hope that helps, try the PJ see if it works.

 

Dino Sarti

Hahahaha!!!!

@ Trevor - Did the guy on the sidelines that didn't do the race just say in one post that the weather was not that warm and that the water was not that cold! That's the best yet!

My point was that it was warmer than I planned. A lot of people got sunburned running on the shadeless course and I didn't wear the jacket on the bike like I planned.... IIt was a nicer then forecast and better by far then the day before.....

benvanmarcke

I thought it was hot and never even thought about sunscreen. Got lots of sun burn - looking totally dumb (and it's painful).

[Deleted User]

Thanks for the support all!

@ Dino: Actually, cardinal and gold were Arcadia's colors, so I won't disagree too much . I'm still kinda planning out the rest of the season, but I'll probably do a lot of short course racing (Bonelli, etc.). Still undecided about Wildflower, but there is going to be a pretty large contingent of Bruins doing the collegiate oly race up there. 

@ Chris: Thanks, congrats to you too! I'm pretty sure I saw you out there with your EN top, but I couldn't match a name to the jersey in my haze of delirium, doh...

@ Matt: Ahh, I remember peeking in at that thread; I'll have to revisit it. Pre-loading on salt was something I didn't do, and probably should have done in retrospect. Might have been an off day, but I think I'll have to race more often this year (hence, my decision to focus on SC races) to I can tell what's "off" and what are common trends (like not having enough swim fitness!)

@ Trevor: Yeah, the ocean wasn't as bad as I thought. I feel silly for not having ocean swimming experience, seeing that I only live ~20 min away from the beach. I agree that I probably have a bit of fitness that I can build up this season, especially for swimming!

@ Rian: Interesting...never considered that it might be a neuromuscular effect. It might take me a while to appreciate pickle juice though, since I've always hated pickles . Then again, I've always hated swimming growing up as a kid...

@ Ben: Oh man, sorry to hear about the sun burn. I don't burn myself, but I do tan really easily and end up with really stupid lines. Believe it or not, I had the same skin color as you before I started this sport... 

MattAaronson

Posted By Anson Lam on 02 Apr 2013 11:24 PM

@ Matt: Ahh, I remember peeking in at that thread; I'll have to revisit it. Pre-loading on salt was something I didn't do, and probably should have done in retrospect. Might have been an off day, but I think I'll have to race more often this year (hence, my decision to focus on SC races) to I can tell what's "off" and what are common trends (like not having enough swim fitness!)

 

Two thoughts:

1. Lack of swim fitness will really screw you in SC racing because (a) the swim is a more significant portion of the event and (b) the bike is short so if your HR is jacked coming out of the water and you have to ride 0.95+ IFon the bike you are in trouble...in fact you could easily spend a third or half of the bike trying to get your HR down...and if your HR comes down quicker it's becuase you're not riding hard enough...

2. I think SC racing is of limited use in practicing and experimenting for some things you want to make work in half-iron distance. Stuff to prevent cramping is one of those things. SC is a different enough animal physiologically that the cramping dynamics (for example, origination or even prevelance) are not too relevant to HIM.

Al Truscott

Anson - I love your positive attitude, and the courage you show to keep the race going despite not having the day you planned.

Some thoughts:

• Wetsuit hickey can often be avoided by liberal use of Body Glide. Now you know where to put it.
• I'm one who is not convinced cramps on the run are always caused by electrolyte deficiency. Alternative possibility: uneven pacing on bike or run or both. Going too hard, even for short periods of 2-5 minutes on either will lead to run cramps for me, which no amount of salt can prevent. OTOH, if I pace properly, and never get anaerobic on bike or run, I don't get cramps, even if I take no added salt. Also, insufficient training for the pace on race day can be a cramp producer. Finally, too much training the wek before the race has also been a trigger for some. Just food for thought.