Race Report Raleigh 70.3 2013
<p>Raleigh 70.3 2013 Race Report</p>
<p>Raleigh 70.3 would be one of several half ironman distance races but the first with significant hills. It was intended for preparation of my 4<sup>th</sup> IM – IMLP.</p>
<p>My training going into this race had been highlighted with some of the best hills riding I had done. I had managed to do both a big tri-week and big bike week in the past 9 weeks. Unfortunately, left knee (patellofemoral syndrome) had been nagging me for the past 2 weeks. The discomfort has been mainly on the bike but not severe enough to make me stop.</p>
<p>The combination of the heat (86 deg), hills that I don’t have much to train on, and knee injury, I had reduced my performance expectations considerably and had decided to rely heavily in Rate of Perceived Exertion and not to exceed my power limits on the bike and pace limits on the run at any cost. The only exception would be in the last 3 miles of the run.</p>
<p>Then the day before the race I fell of the bike going 1 mile/hr on some gravel resulting in minor contusions and road crude stuck in my palm which I felt would be a difficult injury for my favorite part of the race – the swim. After cleaning and bandaging up and saying goodbye to my wonderful wife and kids who were going to a dance recital that night(I at least attended the opening night performance on Friday) I made the 3 hour drive to Raleigh making sure to wear compression tights. I usually were them on long drives after training to prevent deep venous thrombosis.</p>
<p>At the Raleigh convention center I met Dave Campell, a fellow EN athlete. Dave had done the Mountain of Misery the week after I did Storming of Thunder Ridge 3 weeks ago. It was nice to be able to put a face with a name.</p>
<p>This race would be a point to point event with T1 at Jordan Lake and T2 in downtown Raleigh in front of the convention center. When dropping off the bike at Jordan Lake the water temp was 78 and the swim was predicted to be non wetsuit. So, I made a decision to not leave my wetsuit.</p>
<p>Prerace nutrition was a chocolate banana Naked Juice protein smoothly at 5am. Then, GU right before the race. I elected not to take electrolyte pills due to GI discomfort on a recent long ride from salt tabs. Went to bed a little late assembling the bike.</p>
<p>Swim (00:33:46)<img alt="" src="http://members.endurancenation.us/LinkClick.aspx?fileticket=7mm-rGere2Q=" /></p>
<p>Sunday morning was overcast with air temps in the low 70s. 45 min before race start the officials announced that this would be a legal wetsuit swim and I had no wetsuit - oops. Somehow the seemingly scorching heat of yesterday had convinced myself that I would not need a wetsuit. So, the first lesson of this race was always take your wetsuit unless you are in the tropics, i.e. Philippines 70.3. </p>
<p>Otherwise the swim went smoothly and served as my warm-up as planned. I swam without a singlet because I dislike the drag I feel from the extra material about the torso. I drafted off of the same guy just about the entire 1.2 miles and was able to focus on the forward quadrant and gliding. Overall, I felt good on the swim despite the lake of wet suit and may have benefited from not sweating in it.</p>
<p>T1: Had trouble getting my singlet on (rookie mistake). No other problems.</p>
<p>Bike: (02:46:28) <img alt="" src="http://members.endurancenation.us/LinkClick.aspx?fileticket=BGK1SOKf6ZA=" /> <img alt="" src="http://members.endurancenation.us/LinkClick.aspx?fileticket=Jawd1NqloEM=" /></p>
<p>My recon of the course the evening before paid off. I was ready for the hills and kept my watts in check. I kept to my nutrition plan of 1 GU/hr and plenty of water. The bike course was extremely scenic and I took advantage of the view of Jordan Lake on several occasions. I had some saddle discomfort after 2 hours which persisted through the rest of the bike. It was just a little reminder that ISM stopped making the saddle that I like. But, the cheering fans during most of the bike kept my mind off the discomfort. I noticed after about an hour that I had forgotten to attach wheelbuilder sticker to the stem opening. Way too late now to worry about it.</p>
<p>TSS: 173 (Goal TSS: 178), IF: 1.02 (Goal IF: = 1.04)</p>
<p>T2: Fumbled with my shoe insert trying to get off the bike. This was the first time I have had this problem and just kept thinking not to fall and make sure I don’t leave anything on the course – don’t want a penalty. No other issues in T2.</p>
<p>Run: (02:00:05) This was a significant run for me. I train in pancake flat land with only a couple of overpasses and treadmill to get hill work. So I know going in the race there would be challenges but I felt I needed to face the beast in preparation for IMLP. I reconed the course the evening before and know the 1<sup>st</sup> half was basically uphill with hill loop on the trail at about mile 6. Little did I know the middle half of the course was in a park with repeated monster hills. As I approached each hill I kept thinking of the hill strides in the plan and kept focusing on technique. But after what seemed the 20<sup>th</sup> hill the thought crossed my mind that this was nuts and I should have done more hill strides. This heat of the day was another factor and I kept thinking of Petes Jacobs advice at the Philippines 70.3 last year that the priority was to “keep the core cool.” So ice went into every space available at every opportunity and this turned into a walk the aid stations run. The result was a cool core with very soggy shoes and orthotics from all the ice. The race could have had more ice but the volunteers were super nice. </p>
<p>Finish: (05:25:50) 15<sup>th</sup> in AG, 278 overall. It was cool to meet Emily Brinkley at the post race pizza and beer area. </p>
<p>Recap: This was a geographically challenging course for me due to hills, hills, and more hills. Which just makes me want to do it again so I can feel like I mastered the beast.</p>
<p>Lessons Learned:</p>
<p style="text-indent: -0.25in;">1. Take the wet suit.</p>
<p style="text-indent: -0.25in;">2. Prepare with more hill strides.</p>
<p>Raleigh 70.3 would be one of several half ironman distance races but the first with significant hills. It was intended for preparation of my 4<sup>th</sup> IM – IMLP.</p>
<p>My training going into this race had been highlighted with some of the best hills riding I had done. I had managed to do both a big tri-week and big bike week in the past 9 weeks. Unfortunately, left knee (patellofemoral syndrome) had been nagging me for the past 2 weeks. The discomfort has been mainly on the bike but not severe enough to make me stop.</p>
<p>The combination of the heat (86 deg), hills that I don’t have much to train on, and knee injury, I had reduced my performance expectations considerably and had decided to rely heavily in Rate of Perceived Exertion and not to exceed my power limits on the bike and pace limits on the run at any cost. The only exception would be in the last 3 miles of the run.</p>
<p>Then the day before the race I fell of the bike going 1 mile/hr on some gravel resulting in minor contusions and road crude stuck in my palm which I felt would be a difficult injury for my favorite part of the race – the swim. After cleaning and bandaging up and saying goodbye to my wonderful wife and kids who were going to a dance recital that night(I at least attended the opening night performance on Friday) I made the 3 hour drive to Raleigh making sure to wear compression tights. I usually were them on long drives after training to prevent deep venous thrombosis.</p>
<p>At the Raleigh convention center I met Dave Campell, a fellow EN athlete. Dave had done the Mountain of Misery the week after I did Storming of Thunder Ridge 3 weeks ago. It was nice to be able to put a face with a name.</p>
<p>This race would be a point to point event with T1 at Jordan Lake and T2 in downtown Raleigh in front of the convention center. When dropping off the bike at Jordan Lake the water temp was 78 and the swim was predicted to be non wetsuit. So, I made a decision to not leave my wetsuit.</p>
<p>Prerace nutrition was a chocolate banana Naked Juice protein smoothly at 5am. Then, GU right before the race. I elected not to take electrolyte pills due to GI discomfort on a recent long ride from salt tabs. Went to bed a little late assembling the bike.</p>
<p>Swim (00:33:46)<img alt="" src="http://members.endurancenation.us/LinkClick.aspx?fileticket=7mm-rGere2Q=" /></p>
<p>Sunday morning was overcast with air temps in the low 70s. 45 min before race start the officials announced that this would be a legal wetsuit swim and I had no wetsuit - oops. Somehow the seemingly scorching heat of yesterday had convinced myself that I would not need a wetsuit. So, the first lesson of this race was always take your wetsuit unless you are in the tropics, i.e. Philippines 70.3. </p>
<p>Otherwise the swim went smoothly and served as my warm-up as planned. I swam without a singlet because I dislike the drag I feel from the extra material about the torso. I drafted off of the same guy just about the entire 1.2 miles and was able to focus on the forward quadrant and gliding. Overall, I felt good on the swim despite the lake of wet suit and may have benefited from not sweating in it.</p>
<p>T1: Had trouble getting my singlet on (rookie mistake). No other problems.</p>
<p>Bike: (02:46:28) <img alt="" src="http://members.endurancenation.us/LinkClick.aspx?fileticket=BGK1SOKf6ZA=" /> <img alt="" src="http://members.endurancenation.us/LinkClick.aspx?fileticket=Jawd1NqloEM=" /></p>
<p>My recon of the course the evening before paid off. I was ready for the hills and kept my watts in check. I kept to my nutrition plan of 1 GU/hr and plenty of water. The bike course was extremely scenic and I took advantage of the view of Jordan Lake on several occasions. I had some saddle discomfort after 2 hours which persisted through the rest of the bike. It was just a little reminder that ISM stopped making the saddle that I like. But, the cheering fans during most of the bike kept my mind off the discomfort. I noticed after about an hour that I had forgotten to attach wheelbuilder sticker to the stem opening. Way too late now to worry about it.</p>
<p>TSS: 173 (Goal TSS: 178), IF: 1.02 (Goal IF: = 1.04)</p>
<p>T2: Fumbled with my shoe insert trying to get off the bike. This was the first time I have had this problem and just kept thinking not to fall and make sure I don’t leave anything on the course – don’t want a penalty. No other issues in T2.</p>
<p>Run: (02:00:05) This was a significant run for me. I train in pancake flat land with only a couple of overpasses and treadmill to get hill work. So I know going in the race there would be challenges but I felt I needed to face the beast in preparation for IMLP. I reconed the course the evening before and know the 1<sup>st</sup> half was basically uphill with hill loop on the trail at about mile 6. Little did I know the middle half of the course was in a park with repeated monster hills. As I approached each hill I kept thinking of the hill strides in the plan and kept focusing on technique. But after what seemed the 20<sup>th</sup> hill the thought crossed my mind that this was nuts and I should have done more hill strides. This heat of the day was another factor and I kept thinking of Petes Jacobs advice at the Philippines 70.3 last year that the priority was to “keep the core cool.” So ice went into every space available at every opportunity and this turned into a walk the aid stations run. The result was a cool core with very soggy shoes and orthotics from all the ice. The race could have had more ice but the volunteers were super nice. </p>
<p>Finish: (05:25:50) 15<sup>th</sup> in AG, 278 overall. It was cool to meet Emily Brinkley at the post race pizza and beer area. </p>
<p>Recap: This was a geographically challenging course for me due to hills, hills, and more hills. Which just makes me want to do it again so I can feel like I mastered the beast.</p>
<p>Lessons Learned:</p>
<p style="text-indent: -0.25in;">1. Take the wet suit.</p>
<p style="text-indent: -0.25in;">2. Prepare with more hill strides.</p>
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