Mark Cardinale - Platte River HM Race Report
I added the Platte River HM to my race calendar about 3 weeks ago when it became clear my run strength and durability were going to allow me to race St. George 70.3.
4 months and 1 week ago i broke my hip in bike crash. December and most of January were spent in crutches and about the only things i could do were swim, strength train, and focus on body comp by limiting and watching closely what i was eating. By the end of January i was off crutches and able to get back on the trainer. My first "run" if you could call it that was 1/4 mile at a time at about a 10min/mile pace. My plan was to run a little bit every day to get my muscles used to running again. The good news was my hip was not the problem, but the rest of my body hurt like hell, especially my knees. All of shoes were uncomfortable. I completely replaced all my footwear. Running, shoes, casual shoes, dress shoes....What i had worn previously just hurt too much to wear.
It was a long slow process of building back mileage first and then adding speed back in. I ran 11 miles on March 17th that included 3 x 1 mile repeats at TP and that's when i knew i was back in the game. My intention behind signing up for Platte was to assess my durability and to put me in a race environment prior to st. george. The weather in CO is tricky this time of year. Very cold mornings, but things tend to warm up quickly. The temp at race time was in the low 40's and sunny. I didn't do a taper for this race. In fact quite the opposite. On saturday i did a 70 mile ride and racked up 228 TSS points.
I've been reading the threads on pacing and my plan today was to go out for the first 3miles at about 7:20, drop to about 7:05-7:10 for miles 4-10, and then empty the tank for the last 3. I started out the first 2 a little bit faster than i was planning, but felt very good and decided to pick up the pace. I more or less kept that same pace for the rest of the race. I figured i was going faster than i was planning, earlier than i was planning, so my new plan was to try and hold a roughly steady pace for the remainder of the race. The course was basically flat, but there were frequent short uphills and downhills. I was amazed at the number of people who slowed down dramatically on the uphills. I picked off so many people on those little elevation changes and i thought to myself that's a direct result of the incline training we do inside EN. It felt just like the 3% incline runs. Toward the end of the race, i was running pretty much at TP and again, i knew i had the fitness to hold that pace for the last couple of miles based on my training. i caught a lot of people in those final 2 miles and when it started to hurt i kept reminding myself this is the same feeling i get during training and i can keep going. I just felt like i had an edge all day and that's something i wasn't planning.
Final result came in at 1:32:51 (I forgot to push stop on my garmin) - 9th place in my age group and 74th overall. And this was a new PR for me. I was realistically hoping to go sub 1:40, but to set a PR was beyond expectations. Post race i feel really good, but will probably take tomorrow very easy. Maybe a recovery swim but that's about it. Now it's on to training for st. george and CDA. Lots of work to do between now and then to get myself ready but today was a very good day!
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Comments
WOW - that really shows your commitment to your recovery. Marvelous steady pacing, proving that RPE, and not getting locked into a particular pace, is the route to a successful race. Finally, you demonstrate one of the less discussed values in the "Work is speed entering the body" training mentality: "Toward the end of the race, i was running pretty much at TP and again, i knew i had the fitness to hold that pace for the last couple of miles based on my training." The mental fitness we gain from high intensity intervals in all three sports is of equal value to the actual physical changes we undergo.
Looking forward to meeting you in St George ...
Mark,
Congratulations on a great race and recovery from a bad injury. Couple of questions, if you don't mind?:
1. What HR/power did you ride at?
2. Did you run the aid stations too, or walk 30 steps, etc?
Trying to hone my HIM skills.
Thanks. Jeff
@Matt - Thanks! I'm feeling really good right now physically. I just need to focus on getting my mental game back in order on the bike. I'm hoping that's just a function of time in the saddle.
@Al - Thank you for more clearly phrasing what i was trying to say. I just had the feeling that i had outworked everyone else and I could feel myself gaining strength throughout the race. Don't want to get all philosophical but this was a pleasant surprise to me that i was not expecting. I'm hoping i can continue to draw upon this in future races. A quick note on recovery.....Let me just say i did everything i could think of from eating as much variety and color as possible, to trying to sleep 8-10 hrs per night, to taking mega doses of vitamin D, green tea, and tumeric.. Not sure what impact any one thing had, but taken in combination i feel it make a difference.
@Jeff - Thanks! My race this past weekend was a Half Marathon, not a Half Ironman, but i think i can help answer your questions.
1> The guidance in the haus for HIM is to ride at 80-85% of your FTP if your are training with power. For me my current FTP is 237 and that puts my HIM target pnorm at 190-195. However....I am relatively new to power and my 237 is based indoor trainer road virtual power. I have only been able to ride outside recently and i'm still trying to determine how my indoor FTP correlates to outdoor. I should probably test outdoors, but haven't yet done so, but that being said i think the numbers will be pretty close. If you are not riding with power, the 80-85% translates to zone 3 or ABP (Always be Pushing).
2> For the run during an open half marathon or marathon, i personally do not stop at each of the aid stations. But if i do stop to grab something to drink i walk a few steps while i'm drinking so i can get most of it in my mouth and not all over me. For a half ironman, i do walk the aid stations and i always grab a water/sponges to dump over me and then whatever i feel like drinking although i don't take in liquids at all the aid stations. Also, for me, i'm not much of at eater while on the run. All of my calories are liquid at that point.
If you have more questions just tee up a question in the race execution forum and you'll get a boat load of responses from the team.
Mark, Thanks. I read too quickly sometime. Clearly this was a HM, no HIM! My bad. Thanks again.