Danielle Santucci Raleigh 70.3 Race Report
The past few weeks since Raleigh have been a whirlwind. With the end of school for my 4 little ones and the transition into training for IMMT it has been so difficult to find the time to put this together. But alas, here is the recap of my best 70.3 race to date.
IM70.3 Raleigh Race Report
To begin, I came into this race the most prepared I have ever felt coming into a race. It was also the first time I came into a 70.3 with no injury (or healing from one). My running over the past months had increasingly gotten better and with that I felt confident that a decent run split was in my future. Given this, I had high expectations for a PR.
Initially, the plan was to drive to Raleigh from NoVA (about 5hrs away) on Friday, but due to multiple commitments with the kids, an early Saturday morning drive was to be. Friday evening I packed the car and went to bed early. Got up at 4am and was on the road to Raleigh by 4:30. Traffic was smooth and I was able to get down there just before 10am. For breakfast food, I had black coffee, a banana and 4 of the amazingly yummy "Racing Weight" pancakes…if you haven't made these, do so, they are awesome hot, but just as good cold.
After checking in to the Marriott Downtown hotel, I went over to pick up my packet. Was very happy to have the AWA status, as the registration line was about 100 people deep. Got in in 5 minutes, grabbed a visor and water bottle from the IM store and went back to the hotel. Met the team for lunch at noon then drove the 40 minutes to the lake to drop the bike off in T1. Back to the hotel to get my bags together. Bike: shoes, socks, helmet, sunglasses, bento of salt tabs and 3pkgs of cliff blocks, 1 20oz bottle grape cytomax & 1 20oz bottle Perform (mixed in the morning). Run: shoes, extra socks, flask of Naplam, EN visor, race belt with bib. Morning: wetsuit, cap, goggles, bottle of perform, aquaphor, sunscreen, caramel GU, small water bottle. Then I ate a dinner of grilled chicken, brown rice, steamed asparagus that I had made and brought with me. 2 chocolate chip cookies and a glass of milk…then off to an early bed (9:30). Slept surprisingly well for the night before a race.
Race Morning:
Woke at 4am and had my 280 calorie protein shake and a cup of black coffee. Gathered my bags and headed out to drop off my Run bag in T2. Caught one of the early shuttles to the lake. While on the shuttle, I had a banana and half a sesame bagel with Justins Almond butter and sipped on a bottle of Perform. Once at the lake, I found a friend and borrowed her pump. Set up the bike and headed to the bathroom. As always the lines were very long. While waiting, I chatted with a few guys who had raced Raleigh last year. Both said the bike course was great, but to hold a little back because around mile 40 there would be a good climb before a few rollers into town. They forgot to mention the 50 miles of headwind 
. In and out of the bathroom and headed toward the morning bag drop off. Met up with a few ladies from home that were in my age group and racing as well. Got my wetsuit on, chatted with them and filed in to the appropriate swim wave. About 20 minutes before our wave was ready to go, I had a salted caramel GU and a small bottle of water. Side note: Ive never have stomach issues (nerves, etc) before a race, but today my stomach was cramping (yep ladies…started in the porta potty, ugh!)-Oh well, can't do anything about it now.
Swim: Goal was under 35:00 Actual: 35:03
First time ever putting myself right in the front and Im so glad I did! Was I the fastest swimmer out there, heck no, but it was so much better being swum over than fighting to swim over people. Felt really strong the entire swim and managed to catch up and swim past a lot of folks in the waves ahead. Looking at my swim file, I stayed pretty much on course as well with swimming maybe 200m more than the 1.2miles. Once out of the water, I looked down…darn it 35:00. Was hoping for a 32-33:00. Wetsuit stripped and off to T1.
T1: Goal: under 3:00 Actual: 2:43
Uneventful transition, found my bike, packed all swim stuff into the bike bag, helmet on, sunglasses on, socks on, bike shoes on…go!
Bike: Goal ~2:45 Actual: 2:46:44
So the hardest thing for me to do is to hold back on the bike (and sadly the run too) like we are taught to do for the first 20-30 minutes. I really did my best and given the steady incline leaving the lake, it became inevitable. Had a good 20 minutes of drinking and getting settled before I started to actually bike. It was a nice day with a small but manageable wind. That manageable wind would soon become a nagging headwind for the a lot of the ride. Overall the bike was really great. Tried to keep my power between 160-165W as I felt given my race rehearsal this was a good place to be and run well. After reviewing the Garmin data, I was happy with my NP but confused as to why my IF was so high. Here is my ride data:
|
Avg Power: |
146 W |
|
Max Power: |
448 W |
|
Max Avg Power (20 min): |
170 W |
|
Normalized Power (NP): |
161 W |
|
Intensity Factor (IF): |
0.919 |
|
Training Stress Score (TSS): |
225.6 |
|
Work: |
1,407 kJ |
For nutrition, I had a total of 2.5 bottles of perform (started burping it up around mile 45, so I backed off), 3 margarita cliff blocks on the 30' (s)and 1 S!Cap on the 60'(s). Coming into transition, I felt ready to run.
T2: Goal: 2:00 Actual: 2:10
Rack bike. Lose helmet and shoes. EN visor, shoes, flask of Infinit…go!
Run: Goal 1:48-1:50 Actual: 1:53:30
Once again, hold back girl! Ugh, so hard to do when all you want to do is get from point A to point B as fast as you can. Tried my best to stay within the Z2+30" (for me this would be 9 min miles). Even with using Porta Potty #1 my pace was too fast and later on I felt it. First loop I felt really good. Stopped at every aid station, sipped my Infinit and had a gulp of water. For me the heat wasn't a factor in the first loop. I was consistent and strong. Once I made the loop in town near the finish I knew I was half way there. The second loop became very challenging. I knew that miles 7-11 were climbing miles and at that point I started to feel the fatigue in my legs and the heat of the sun on my shoulders. Those 3-4 miles were toughest of the day for me. I remember saying to myself just get to the top and you can cruise downhill into the finish. Had to walk a few more steps at each aid station to grab sponges and ice. Stopped sipping on the Infinit and went with Perform and had one coke. Finally made it to the turnaround and thought "lets get this done"…well my mind said go, my legs were saying "we can go but not as fast as you want to move" Even with the steady decline into the finish, I just could not get my cadence back. It was within the last 2 miles I saw 4 women in my age group pass me. Err… Here is my run data:
|
Split |
Time |
Distance |
Avg Pace |
|
1 |
8:17.2 |
1.00 |
8:17 |
|
2 |
8:12.2 |
1.00 |
8:12 |
|
3 |
8:27.7 |
1.00 |
8:28 |
|
4 |
8:16.7 |
1.00 |
8:17 |
|
5 |
8:28.0 |
1.00 |
8:28 |
|
6 |
8:38.6 |
1.00 |
8:38 |
|
7 |
8:25.7 |
1.00 |
8:26 |
|
8 |
8:43.0 |
1.00 |
8:43 |
|
9 |
8:59.0 |
1.00 |
8:59 |
|
10 |
9:14.0 |
1.00 |
9:14 |
|
11 |
9:13.7 |
1.00 |
9:14 |
|
12 |
8:57.4 |
1.00 |
8:57 |
|
13 |
8:22.1 |
1.00 |
8:22 |
|
14 |
|||
Final thoughts: All in all, I am very happy with my performance at this race. I was able to beat my best HIM time by 7 minutes and place in the top 10 within my age group, proving that hard work really does pay off. Im thrilled to have met some great people and to have had you all out there with me. I'm committed to becoming a better triathlete and I am so fortunate to have found EN, because yes work works!!!
Comments
Danielle, congratulations again for a great race and thanks for the thoughtful RR. Well-written too. As for you high IF, did you up your FTP in your bike computer profile the last time you tested? I made that power rookie mistake. Looking forward to racing with you and meeting your family at IMMT.
Bob, I truly am a rookie with this power stuff. For my race rehearsal, my FTP was set too high, skewing my numbers. After receiving great feedback on my rehearsal, I adjusted it on the Garmin a week before the race and it looks like I apparently set it too low. I think I really need to talk to someone locally to help me set it up properly. It most likely wasn't too big of an issue for this HIM, but for IMMT I need to have it on target.
Im testing on the bike tomorrow so I'll have some new numbers (hopefully) to plug in.
@Trish, thanks! Looking forward to racing with you too!!