Quassy Half 2014 - Brad's race report - FAST IS STOOPID, STOOPID IS SLOW!
Quassy was my 4th 70.3 distance race, and suffice to say the most difficult in terms of the course. I hand picked this race for a few reasons: It was an EN focus race, it lined up nicely with IMLP (my 1st full), and the proximity to my home. Going into this, I can honesty say that I didn't have very specific time goals, rather my goals were to stick as close as possible to my plan of staying within power numbers on the bike and HR / RPE for the run while testing my improved nutrition that I've worked on this season. Although I met most of these goals, I ran into a bit of a debacle on the latter part of the bike which ultimately destroyed my overall finishing times. However, it was a great learning experience that is now in my mind for future races.
PreRace - I won't bore you with my wake up, breakfast, bathroom, etc. But, I will say that for all the work I put into training, I know that going forward I need to be better prepared in a few areas going into a race. I need to pack my race gear earlier - there is no reason to be stressing the evening prior, which I always seem to do. I need to go over my race plan earlier and document that plan and my numbers. I need to re-familiarize myself with the course, the coach's and team's take on the course, earlier than the night before. All that last minute stuff freaks me out and I have to figure out a ways avoid it, especially leading up to what is my ultimate goal - IMLP!
Swim - goal :36 - :37 --- actual :38
I'm not a great swimmer. I'm especially slow in the pool. When I wear a wetsuit, my times are greatly improved. Heavy legs kill me. My plan was to start front and wide left and avoid as much contact as possible and get into a rhythm. This went fairly well. I surprisingly found myself alone after 500 yards or so. Alone except for the guy drafting behind me and slapping my feet on every other stroke....Stroke, Stroke, Slap...Stay in your box....Stroke, Stroke, Slap...stay in your box! I managed to do so and eventually lost the guy. Aside from swallowing one huge gulp of water at some point, which freaked me out, everything was going ok till the first turn. At that turn, the sun glare was VERY bad. So bad, that I couldn't sight a buoy and the fact that no one was close to me, I had some issues with direction. I spent more time than normal sighting in that stretch which I think affected my time, but nothing horrible. At the next turn, it was a smooth swim back to shore.
T1 - 3:24
It was a cool morning. I made the mistake of trying to get arm warmers on in transition. With wet arms, this was impossible and I bailed on the idea, but probably wasted some time here. Otherwise, everything was ok.
Bike - No real time goal, but estimated 3hr-3hr 15min ----actual 3hr50min**
The bike was important for me more in terms of execution than actual times. My plan was to ride at 175 watts for 20 min, and then take it to 190-195watts for remainder. I knew this would be a challenge due to the hills on this course. Everything was going very well for most of the bike. Going into this race, I was concerned about controlling my VI. I've found that in climbing, I'm much better able to control this than on the downhills. On the steepest section of the bike, my VI was 1.03. I'm very happy to see this. I had to contend with a car in front of me for a couple of miles who wouldn't speed up due to a bike riding in the center of the road and there was no way I could pass. Power dropped there. That same bike almost took me out through the last aid station when he reached for a bottle and missed and then swerved in my direction. Other than, all was good until mile 44. This is where my race went south. I was descending down a steep hill when I heard an awful rubbing sound from my rear wheel. I figured my brake pad had shifted. I pulled over at the bottom of the hill and hopped off. At this point the entire rear wheel was seized up. After a quick inspection, I noticed a 2-3" section of my tire had become unseated from the wheel and was rubbing against the frame. My head told me "calm down, slow is smooth, smooth is fast". My nerves didn't agree and tried to move as fast as I could to get going. As I removed the wheel, my tube went POP! Not unexpected. I removed my tire and tube, switched out the tube and got the tire back on....pretty fast for me. I had some probs with the co2 but got it inflated. I went to mount the wheel and realized that the nut on the end of the skewer was GONE! I figured I unscrewed it too much and being in tall grass didn't help. I searched high and low to no avail. Time was getting away from me as I watched 100 bikes pass by me. Full panic mode set in and turned to despair as I realized my day was probably over. Who carries an extra skewer nut? As I pondered what to do I looked at my rear wheel and noticed a buldge in the tire. After looking closely, I could swear that that buldge was shaped just like the missing nut! In my haste of changing the flat, the nut must have dropped off the skewer and into the wheel. I deflated the tire, and fished out my missing part. Re-inflated the tire, got it back on the bike and checked everything over. All looked good, but an entire 45 minutes had been lost on the side of the road with 12 miles to go. Those last 12 miles were not executed well...but I got it done. Lesson learned "Fast is Stoopid, Stoopid is Slow!" Nutrition wise, I think I had a breakthrough. 3 bottles of Gatorade (probably needed more), 1 cliff bar, 2/3 powerbar, one gel, and 2 saltsticks. I was feeling ready to run.
T2 - 2.56
The fact that most of the bikes were racked in my area bothered me. When I got to my spot, someone had taken my bike space. I had to search for an unoccupied area to stow my bike. At this point, I wasn't worried about time. I was gearing up to have a decent run.
Run - goal 1:50-2:00 --- actual 1:49
I ran the first 3 miles mostly by pace. Zone 2 plus 30 seconds. I hit the Porto potty at mile 2 and lost a minute or so. After that, my plan was to hit the hills of Quassy using HR as my guide since I knew I couldn't run a 7.30-7.40 pace. I dialed in my heart rate to 145 and just ran, hills and all. I past a bunch who were walking. I figured I should salvage the day and do my best to have a decent run. The hills are tough and the temps were climbing. After getting through the hills, I kept my HR at 145ish and my splits improved. By mile 9, I had more in the tank and decided to take the HR to 155 and my splits improved again. The last mile, was a tough one, where there was a final climb and my HR hit 160+. I took in gatoraide at the aid stations until mile 8 where I switched to coke. Also I took in 2 salt tabs and used the ice to cool down my body. I was happy with the run and had a solid negative split. In retrospect, I probably could've pushed a bit harder, but overall, a success.
Summary: It was a tough day considering my bike issues and my overall time. That being said, I learned a lot and took away some real positives in my execution. It was great having the EN team out there on the course (and my wife who also flatted!) to lift my spirits.
My final time was 6:24. I figure if I add back in the lost 45 min, I would've had a good shot at 5:40-5:45. I would've been very happy with that time. I am only happy that I didn't throw in the towel and figured out a way to get back on my bike and put together a solid run. My eye is on the prize of IMLP in July and I will revisit Quassy at some point for revenge.
Thanks for reading
PreRace - I won't bore you with my wake up, breakfast, bathroom, etc. But, I will say that for all the work I put into training, I know that going forward I need to be better prepared in a few areas going into a race. I need to pack my race gear earlier - there is no reason to be stressing the evening prior, which I always seem to do. I need to go over my race plan earlier and document that plan and my numbers. I need to re-familiarize myself with the course, the coach's and team's take on the course, earlier than the night before. All that last minute stuff freaks me out and I have to figure out a ways avoid it, especially leading up to what is my ultimate goal - IMLP!
Swim - goal :36 - :37 --- actual :38
I'm not a great swimmer. I'm especially slow in the pool. When I wear a wetsuit, my times are greatly improved. Heavy legs kill me. My plan was to start front and wide left and avoid as much contact as possible and get into a rhythm. This went fairly well. I surprisingly found myself alone after 500 yards or so. Alone except for the guy drafting behind me and slapping my feet on every other stroke....Stroke, Stroke, Slap...Stay in your box....Stroke, Stroke, Slap...stay in your box! I managed to do so and eventually lost the guy. Aside from swallowing one huge gulp of water at some point, which freaked me out, everything was going ok till the first turn. At that turn, the sun glare was VERY bad. So bad, that I couldn't sight a buoy and the fact that no one was close to me, I had some issues with direction. I spent more time than normal sighting in that stretch which I think affected my time, but nothing horrible. At the next turn, it was a smooth swim back to shore.
T1 - 3:24
It was a cool morning. I made the mistake of trying to get arm warmers on in transition. With wet arms, this was impossible and I bailed on the idea, but probably wasted some time here. Otherwise, everything was ok.
Bike - No real time goal, but estimated 3hr-3hr 15min ----actual 3hr50min**
The bike was important for me more in terms of execution than actual times. My plan was to ride at 175 watts for 20 min, and then take it to 190-195watts for remainder. I knew this would be a challenge due to the hills on this course. Everything was going very well for most of the bike. Going into this race, I was concerned about controlling my VI. I've found that in climbing, I'm much better able to control this than on the downhills. On the steepest section of the bike, my VI was 1.03. I'm very happy to see this. I had to contend with a car in front of me for a couple of miles who wouldn't speed up due to a bike riding in the center of the road and there was no way I could pass. Power dropped there. That same bike almost took me out through the last aid station when he reached for a bottle and missed and then swerved in my direction. Other than, all was good until mile 44. This is where my race went south. I was descending down a steep hill when I heard an awful rubbing sound from my rear wheel. I figured my brake pad had shifted. I pulled over at the bottom of the hill and hopped off. At this point the entire rear wheel was seized up. After a quick inspection, I noticed a 2-3" section of my tire had become unseated from the wheel and was rubbing against the frame. My head told me "calm down, slow is smooth, smooth is fast". My nerves didn't agree and tried to move as fast as I could to get going. As I removed the wheel, my tube went POP! Not unexpected. I removed my tire and tube, switched out the tube and got the tire back on....pretty fast for me. I had some probs with the co2 but got it inflated. I went to mount the wheel and realized that the nut on the end of the skewer was GONE! I figured I unscrewed it too much and being in tall grass didn't help. I searched high and low to no avail. Time was getting away from me as I watched 100 bikes pass by me. Full panic mode set in and turned to despair as I realized my day was probably over. Who carries an extra skewer nut? As I pondered what to do I looked at my rear wheel and noticed a buldge in the tire. After looking closely, I could swear that that buldge was shaped just like the missing nut! In my haste of changing the flat, the nut must have dropped off the skewer and into the wheel. I deflated the tire, and fished out my missing part. Re-inflated the tire, got it back on the bike and checked everything over. All looked good, but an entire 45 minutes had been lost on the side of the road with 12 miles to go. Those last 12 miles were not executed well...but I got it done. Lesson learned "Fast is Stoopid, Stoopid is Slow!" Nutrition wise, I think I had a breakthrough. 3 bottles of Gatorade (probably needed more), 1 cliff bar, 2/3 powerbar, one gel, and 2 saltsticks. I was feeling ready to run.
T2 - 2.56
The fact that most of the bikes were racked in my area bothered me. When I got to my spot, someone had taken my bike space. I had to search for an unoccupied area to stow my bike. At this point, I wasn't worried about time. I was gearing up to have a decent run.
Run - goal 1:50-2:00 --- actual 1:49
I ran the first 3 miles mostly by pace. Zone 2 plus 30 seconds. I hit the Porto potty at mile 2 and lost a minute or so. After that, my plan was to hit the hills of Quassy using HR as my guide since I knew I couldn't run a 7.30-7.40 pace. I dialed in my heart rate to 145 and just ran, hills and all. I past a bunch who were walking. I figured I should salvage the day and do my best to have a decent run. The hills are tough and the temps were climbing. After getting through the hills, I kept my HR at 145ish and my splits improved. By mile 9, I had more in the tank and decided to take the HR to 155 and my splits improved again. The last mile, was a tough one, where there was a final climb and my HR hit 160+. I took in gatoraide at the aid stations until mile 8 where I switched to coke. Also I took in 2 salt tabs and used the ice to cool down my body. I was happy with the run and had a solid negative split. In retrospect, I probably could've pushed a bit harder, but overall, a success.
Summary: It was a tough day considering my bike issues and my overall time. That being said, I learned a lot and took away some real positives in my execution. It was great having the EN team out there on the course (and my wife who also flatted!) to lift my spirits.
My final time was 6:24. I figure if I add back in the lost 45 min, I would've had a good shot at 5:40-5:45. I would've been very happy with that time. I am only happy that I didn't throw in the towel and figured out a way to get back on my bike and put together a solid run. My eye is on the prize of IMLP in July and I will revisit Quassy at some point for revenge.
Thanks for reading
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Comments
Brad - that was an ideal tune-up for IMLP! In addition to all the up and down on the run, you got all the bad mojo out of the way. FWIW, I have had way more luck in IMs than HIMs. I have had a flat tire in literally half of the HIMs I have done, and only one in 25 IMs, and that was the first one.
You learned a LOT - the need to stay solidly in your box, what happens when you don't, how to pace a run with HR, how to ratchet up the effort thru out the run, how to cruise through transitions, etc etc. Proving to yourself that run strategy and execution will go a long way towards making IMLP a success. Just remember, you won't have had the advantage of a 40 minute rest on the bike before going out on the run.
Really enjoyed reading your race report Brad as well as meeting you. Love your positive outlook on the race as whole and the fun humor you got in there! Glad you finished on a good note and look forward to seeing you at future races!
Cheers, Michelle