Patriot Half, Russ G
Night Before, Race Morning and t0
Forecast: low 60’s at the start, rising to 80 by mid-day. Perfect (or close enough).
Hydration and nutrition: Decided to carry everything I needed for the ride in 4 bottles: 3 x 1.5 scoops Perpetuem in green tea (PerpeTEAuem?), and 1 x 1.5 scoops HEED in green tea. Planned to switch to HEED getting close to the run because the Pertpetuem is a little heavy by comparison. That’s about 700 calories in 72oz of tea, plus electrolytes and maybe 250mg of caffeine. Popped a 35mm film-canister (Remember film?) filled with Salt-Stick caps and two Vanilla Gu into the bento box.
Green tea – I don’t take in a lot of caffeine daily, and I don’t use it in training; it helps me stay alert on the bike, though, and green tea provides a nice slow drip over the course of the ride, which carries me through the run. I have tested this in the field.
Up at 3:30AM
Breakfast: 1 jar 365 brand applesauce, Raw Protein Powder (Garden of Life; works better than Whey for me, especially in the mornings) and some of my wife’s homemade granola. It worked for me for two RR…
Worked down the checklist: bike, helmet, mixed drinks… (the Perpetuem and HEED, not Margaritas and Martinis) out the door by 4:30 for a planned 5:45 arrival at the venue.
Reviewed race plan on the way down. The key to a good race was going to be staying cool; the line was going to be just after mile 9, when the course becomes very exposed and then decidedly up-hill. I knew this from recon – the race would be all about being ready for those last four miles… and this is pretty close to how it worked out.
T0
Arrived 5:40… shorts and tri-top, porta-visit, air, numbers, timing chip, rack… if you're reading this then you know the drill.
In the rack my Garmin 310xt couldn’t pick up my power. Worse, I couldn’t re-scan because there were 500 other power meters in a short radius. I thought about leaving T but people were already filing down to the beach for start, so… I figured I could recalibrate on my way out of transition, or ride based on RPE if I had to…
Swim
7:20 wave start was RIGHT on time. I had no swim warm-up, so I had to submerge in the few minutes between wave-in-the-water and swim-start. I was surprised because the water was dark and murky – coffee-dark-brown – and not all that easy to see through. Not a problem… just not what I expected…
Right after swim start I got kicked in the face and my eyecups filled with water, and I had to shut my eyes so the contacts didn’t float away. There was apparently no bottom beneath my feet so I bobbed for a moment in the wetsuit while I drained the cups, re-oriented and restarted, all while people were trying to swim over me, but I got it done.
My challenge after that was sighting. The buoys were small and pretty far apart, and vision was compromised at best. At one point I found I had been sighting off an orange kayak and had pulled some distance off course. More than once I had to stop and lift the cups, to see where I was going and spread a little spit, which would clear the goggles for another few minutes. The bright side is that I had brought an endless supply of spit with me, so I was able to clear the goggles as often as I was willing to stop.
44 minutes after the start I was again surprised, this time to find myself at the end of the swim.
Swim split summary:
Goal: 37:00
Actual: 44:34
2:07 per 100, faster if you count the extra half-mile I swam
40/59 in AG
T1
3:20, roughly MOP, uneventful
This is one event where sockless would be the way to go, versus jogging down the field in cleats…
I could shave 20s here by going barefoot.
New for this event: added a Desoto Skin Cooler Helmet Beanie (http://www.desotosport.com/product/SHB)
This comes into play later.
Bike
Scanned for power after the mount out of T1, and … check!
Gradually picked it up to about 210W or so and stayed there for a really long time.
LOVE this route (adrenaline always has a positive affect on my feelings, but it is a fast and scenic route with just enough roll to make it fun).
I had planned to skip the bottle hand-ups; instead I tossed my first bottle and grabbed water at the hand-ups, which I poured generously through the vents in my helmet, on my top, shorts – auxiliary cooling!
The Desoto helmet beanie holds the water really well, which makes for a lasting cooling effect. When it wears off, more water… this really worked for me. And it kept the sweat out of my eyes. I was skeptical about the beanie but now I’m a beanie-believer.
Went through two bottles of PerpeTEAuem on the first loop, one bottle of Perp and one of HEED on the second.
Had to pee like you read about (assuming you read about these things) Tried to pee on the bike more than once. Couldn’t make it happen.
I did not opt for the Gu. I could feel the heat coming on, and I knew from RR that gel had not been good for me in the heat. It’s great at 70F; at 80 leads to GI-distress. Ergo no gel. Still, 700 calories on the bike... I knew I would be ok.
Bike split summary:
Goal: 2:48, 215W NP
Actual: 2:47, 195W NP (75% IF)
Average speed: 20mph
VI: 1.02
25/59 in AG
--
I divided the bike into 8 splits; the splits are even, except for a small planned easing in the 8th split to generate reserves for the bike.
When I was watching power, I kept my 30s at 215W; this resulted in a 195W NP due to turns and letting people pass (drafting rules). I was surprised at the magnitude of this difference. I’ll go out harder on the bike next time, and I'll keep an eye on split NP, not just last 30s.
T2
Bike in helmet off glasses off cold water on head cap on head cycling shoes off running shoes on race belt in hand and out the run-out quick stop in the porta (finally!) and out of the chute…
3:12, MOP, uneventful
Run
Felt good going into the run. This was in part planned - those last four miles were on my mind – and in part because I ended up going easier on the bike than I had planned, although it’s unclear to me how much time I really lost going easy on the bike. I certainly got some of that time back toward the end of the run.
1: 9mm, all good, running by RPE but checking the pace
2: 8:10… still running by RPE, still checking pace. Note to self: take it down a little…
Ice in the cap at every station (and down the shorts a little after each station, attribution to The Book of Jenks for this handy tip).
HEED at the first two but I started to feel sloshy so for the next few it was just ice, then salt and HEED… I let thirst be my guide.
3: 8:26… still a little fast
And so it went. I landed at about an 8:50 pace, which is probably about right for 80F and a 44 VDOT.
I felt great until a little past mile 9, but I was still ok... nothing I couldn't work through, and (best of all) no GI issues.
Mile 11 was the toughest… big exposed up-hill… but I kept it going. It really helped that I was passing a number of people at this point – that’s a real booster. Of course, once you're past that, then you get a nice long coast into the big uphill at 12.
And then… I was in the chute to the finish… and then… I was still in the chute to the finish… and then… I was STILL in the chute to the finish… and then I heard my kids yelling for me and there was the finish line and I really didn’t have anything left after I crossed.
Run split summary:
1:55:24 (8:49/mile)
13/59 in AG (!)
3 people passed me on the run, all in the first half. I didn’t think 8:49 is that fast, but I guess the heat really changes things for everyone, not just for me. I am pretty psyched about that 13/59 in AG on the run.
Results
5:34:42, 20/59 in AG, 151/559 overall
This is a PR by 22m over my first (only prior) half, Pumpkinman 2012. Of course, if you factor out the flat at Pumpkin, it’s closer to 11 or 12m. But then if you look at the top race times, you’ll see that this race was 15m slower for whatever reason; you can compare the top 10 or you can compare athlete to athlete (there’s a pretty good population of racers who have done both) No matter how you slice it, it’s a solid PR.
And… there’s still plenty of room to PR again.
Great race.
From here
I really want a 5:20. Not sure if I can do it yet, but I’ll chip away at it and perhaps I can.
My swim… it’s come a long way in five years… I clearly need to keep working the swim. There’s still a lot of opportunity in my swim.
My VDOT hasn’t budged since OS, although I’ve hit most of my run workouts. I need to figure out how to unstick that needle.
I just re-tested my FTP and bumped it to 260; I can’t wait to hit some FTP intervals and solidify that power.
I have three races on the calendar:
· 7/28 Lowell Olympic
· 8/11 Sharon Sprint
· 9/8 Pumpkinman Half
I can either jump back into week 10 of the HIM program and work around the short-course races or I can spend 5 weeks in the Get Faster plan and then a few weeks in HIM. I am undecided; advice is always welcome.
Thanks for reading and best in your own training and racing!
Comments
Great report, great plan, great race. I also had the same issue with the sighting during the swim. It sounds like I need a beanie. I was putting ice chips under my hat on my long walk.
--Larry
...bike...being willing to go harder, find out where the edge of the envelope is that starts to impact your run. You're not there yet. That oly and sprint are great places to see what happens to your run when you pump up the volume on the bike (that's alspeak for go harder)
...swim...you already know the problems you had in race execution. Were your goggle straps under your cap? To learn how to swim straighter, try 2 things. In the pool, hug the lane line. Then, you'll know immediately if you're off course. And get out into the middle of a lake once a week and just swim and practice sighting off trres or something far away on shore. Swimming straight in the open water is a learned skill, requiring practice in OWS.
As to what plan, Macro Thread Rich; its what you pay him for.
Again, congratulations. For HIM #2, you showed a lot of poise and discipline. Now go work that bike!