JUAN VERGARA MIAMI 70.3 RACE REPORT
JUAN VERGARA IRONMAN MIAMI 70.3 RACE REPORT
OCTOBER 27, 2013
First of all, the obvious: #workworks !!!!
Happy with a 4:45:42 personal best (7 minute improvement versus previous PB at this same race last year). Detailed splits at the end of this report.
So why did I choose to return to Miami? (1) I love Miami in general (and so does my always supportive wife …. Very important) (2) I wanted to compare my season apples to apples versus 2012 and to do so repeated ALL the same races (with major improvements in all of them) (3) I love the fact that the Intercontinental hotel is just a few yards from transition …. Literally!!!!
RACE PREP.
Took two weeks off (totally off) after Florida 70.3 in may. The went straight into GET FAST plan for 8 weeks followed by HIM Race Prep ending on Miami (today). Basically followed both GF and HIM as prescribed with a two week pre-planned family vacation interruption on weeks 16 and 17 which became a BIG RUN WEEK (16) and a BIG BIKE WEEK (17).
How so? This is the story: annually my wife and I (with a group of friends) go on a one week “leisure” bike trip (somewhere in the world) plus one “honey moon” trip before or after the bike trip (this year before). That said, and given that none of the 5 hotels had a decent size swimming pool I planned (a) that the “honey moon” week would be a run only week and (b) the “leisure bike trip” would be transformed (for me) into a BIG BIKE WEEK.
The run week: focused on running faster and ALWAYS with a negative split (never more than 8 miles for “safety reasons” ….. safety as in I could not escape from the honey moon longer than “acceptable” for obvious reasons or ……..
The bike week: it was a 6 day biking (combination of dirt and asphalt for which I had two bikes so I could ABP in either terraine while my wife and friends enjoyed their leisure trip (I basically went out hard to the next point of reunion as defined by the guides, sprinted on my own, flipped, went all the way to the back of the pack, flipped and repeated as many times as possible). I did continue running a couple times that week to make up for the non-swim situation.
While BIG BIKE WEEKS are usually recommended earlier in the season, scheduling differently was not an option (it is what it is) and I just had to make the best out of it.
The result: as soon as I arrived back home I tested and surprise-surprise …. FTP had gone up from 236 to 250 …. yes , I could not believe it myself but that’s what the numbers said and that’s what I did my RR with (to find out that yes, I could sustain the watts for the 90k followed by a negative split run RR).
My run test after the trip was a huge flop, but I concluded that I had gone out to aggressive on the test and blew up on kilometer 4.5. Decided not to test again but dialed my training zones by 10% for the remainder of the race prep.
With that scenario I planned my race based on 250 watts / 49 Vdot and with that travelled to Miami with my brand new SCICON AEROCONFORT bike bag (http://www.sciconbags.com/bike-bags...t-2-0.html) which for me is a blessing given I do not have the skills to dismount/mount my P5 and with this new bag even I can do it (just take the wheels and pedals off …. That’s it …. Even I can do that!!!!). They will soon be selling the triathlon specific version (http://www.sciconbags.com/bike-bags/aerocomfort-triathlon.html) . Most important: the bike travelled from Brazil to Miami and it survived!!!! Not a scratch.
Well, and before I forget, one more thing I did “differently” for this race was to race 2 pounds lighter and sustaining that weight during tapper was VERY VERY difficult. But I managed and only started eating more as of Friday per my nutrition plan.
Got a good night sleep on Friday after my BIG DINNER and on Saturday (also different from other races) I did ABSOLUTELY NOTHING!!!!
Well I did do one thing and that was to get out of my room for a couple hours to watch all those athletes doing the opposite of what EN does: running and biking hard in circles around the hotel …. Some of them without a helmet …. Lots of compression socks in all colors …. A couple guys wearing their race numbers …. And so on …. Time to go back to the room … to do NOTHING …. Legs up and Netflix!!!!
Small bawl of pasta and grilled chicken at 6:30pm …. More Netflix …. Read a bit of the new Armstrong saga book (quite good actually) and lights off at 9:30pm.
Alarm went off at 4:30 am and ….. apple sauce time!!! 3 cups!!! + whey and one bottle of perform.
No rush to get to transition once it is (as said above) a few yards from the hotel (what a blessing) …. Not only the fact that one can leave the room later but, most important, MOST IMPORTANT!!! That one can go to the room toilet after setting up transition!!! That’s a MasterCard moment PRICELESS!!!! (will spare the details here!!!!).
THE SWIM (Planned 36:00 / Executed 36:21)
Non wetsuit legal race (different from last year). Start at 7:47 sharp lined up to the outside (which has been my choice lately given I usually encounter about 30 guys faster than me and this time it was not different). Went out a bit harder until the first turn buoy (about 300-400 yards) and then found my rhythm. Except for the huge sea weed “island” around turn buoy 2 (which forced us all to go around adding a few yards to the swim) and a kick on the head by a slower “lady” from a previous wave, the swim was basically “smooth” and I stayed focused on form-form-form …. Climb the ladder …. Rotation-rotation …. Stay on course …. “don’t worry, this wont go on forever … the fun part will start soon …. Stay focused of your form!!!” …..
Out of the water in 32nd place but feeling good.
T1 (Planned 02:30 / Executed 02:35)
While organization in general was very good, transition was to tight. Incredibly crowded, very little space between bikes and very narrow corridors. But I managed to go through T1 ok (though I did have to carry my bike twice in the corridor to go over the set up of a few athletes in need of a LOT of space).
THE BIKE (Planned 2:33:00 / Executed 2:27:53)
Stayed on first gear for a while, (going through downtown Miami until we hit the freeway), targeting 200 watts I would say for about 20 minutes and dialed up to 2nd gear (213) watts once on the freeway. And basically stayed focused on that 213 average throughout the bike course. The bike events: (1) cross wind out and back in the free way or 80% of the course. Miami’s bike course is flat-flat but those winds can be quite challenging at times. (2) the drafters: you get many of those in Miami. I did burn a few matches tryibg to get out of those drafting pelotons which I finally let go but not before I memorized their numbers to look for them in the run!!! (I did find them …. Bye-bye drafters!!!! I hate cheaters!!!! But it does feel great to pass them with ease during the run). (3) Ops “wrong way”: Towards the end of the bike I got mistaken by a police woman’s signal to a car and took a right where I should go straight …. No major harm (about 10 seconds) but I had to share that …. Yes stupid mistake!!!
Bike nutrition as planned: ½ power bar @ minute 45, ½ power bar @ 1h15, from there on Power Gel every 30 minutes + 3 bottles of fully loaded Perform (which became 4 bottles). Peed twice obviously!!!
Came in on 14th at the end of the bike (gained 18 positions)
T2 (Planned 02:30 / Executed 01:59)
Well, at least I gained back those 10 seconds on uneventful T2!!!!
The Run (Planned 1:36:00 / Executed 1:36:54)
Why do we all go out faster than we should???? I guess it is because otherwise we would take the fun out of RnP kicking our butts!!! But I did correct myself on time!!!
Found my rhythm …. Walked all the stations (20 steps) … grabbed all the ice I could find and managed to maintain HR @ 145 as planned. Had to cross the bridge 4 times and that slowed us down a bit but allowed by legs to run freely to catch the free speed and stay not on but close to average on those bridges. As said above … has a blast overtaking the drafters (and crossing by the pros a couple times … that’s another nice thing about the Miami course).
Around mile 10 saw a EN shirt which screamed GO EN at me … but I could not see who it was (thanks it gave a boost)
With 3 miles to go I was feeling good, decided to give it all and I did. Payed off with 5 positions gained!!!
Came in on 5th … 9 positions gained during the run.
Happy with my performance and extremely thankful to the EN community which has been absolutely instrumental in my journey …. And will continue to be.
Next up: 2 weeks rest and the journey towards my first full IM begins with 8 weeks of GF followed by IM race prep ending March 30th in LOS CABOS!!!!! Anybody care to join me in LOS CABOS?????
One very important thing for that next race: today it was tough to race the 50 year olds. Given I will be in the 55-59 AG in Los Cabos … I will work very hard to make the best out of my “very young” status in the new category!!!
Thanks again EN!!!!
And if you are still reading …. Detailed results below:
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JUAN |
VERGARA |
778 |
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RANK |
183 |
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SWIM |
0:36:21 |
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BIKE |
2:27:53 |
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RUN |
1:36:54 |
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TOTAL |
4:45:42 |
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Category |
Country |
Gender |
Share |
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M50-54 |
BRA |
M |
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Residence |
Sao Paulo |
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Occupation |
Business Owner # of |
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Participants |
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Race |
3133 |
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Gender (M) |
2447 |
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Category (M50-54) |
203 |
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Split Name |
Distance |
Time |
Pace |
Race Time |
Overall |
Gender |
Category |
Time Of Day |
|
Swim |
1.2 miles |
0:36:21 |
1:52/100m |
0:36:21 |
675 |
584 |
32 |
8:23:21 |
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Bike 2 |
56 miles |
2:27:53 |
22.72 mph |
3:06:49 |
250 |
234 |
14 |
10:53:49 |
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Bike |
56 miles |
2:27:53 |
22.72 mph |
3:06:49 |
250 |
234 |
14 |
10:53:49 |
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Run 1 |
1.6 miles |
0:11:07 |
6:57/mile |
3:19:55 |
227 |
208 |
13 |
11:06:55 |
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Run 2 |
2.8 miles |
0:09:10 |
7:23/mile |
3:29:05 |
209 |
192 |
11 |
11:16:05 |
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Run 3 |
3.3 miles |
0:04:11 |
8:12/mile |
3:33:16 |
209 |
190 |
10 |
11:20:16 |
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Run 4 |
3.9 miles |
0:04:06 |
7:52/mile |
3:37:22 |
230 |
210 |
12 |
11:24:22 |
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Run 5 |
6.5 miles |
0:19:17 |
7:19/mile |
3:56:39 |
204 |
183 |
11 |
11:43:39 |
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Run 6 |
8 miles |
0:11:24 |
7:21/mile |
4:08:03 |
189 |
170 |
11 |
11:55:03 |
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Run 7 |
9.3 miles |
0:09:21 |
7:36/mile |
4:17:24 |
186 |
167 |
9 |
12:04:24 |
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Run 8 |
9.8 miles |
0:04:14 |
8:08/mile |
4:21:38 |
174 |
155 |
8 |
12:08:38 |
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Run 9 |
10.3 miles |
0:04:08 |
8:06/mile |
4:25:46 |
185 |
164 |
10 |
12:12:46 |
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Run 10 |
13.1 miles |
0:19:56 |
7:08/mile |
4:45:42 |
191 |
172 |
5 |
12:32:42 |
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Run |
13.1 miles |
1:36:54 |
7:23/mile |
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Comments
Btw based on the pros' times it looks like that is a damn fast course. What was the temp and humidity? I now for sure have the race on my list of possible future races to go for a PB.
With your age-up you're going to kick some serious ass at Los Cabos...I can't wait to watch that.
Los Cabos is tempting, but I like to ski too much to get the training done right.
Yo hice 34,3:05,2:28 , mejore mucho de mi HIM Panamá, pero tengo que trabajar mucho la bike y el run