Mike B's Rev3 Wisc Dells Race Report
Short Version
Although I did not meet my goal of 6:00:00 or better I finished Rev3 Wisconsin Dells in 7:26:14 and I am satisfied with my performance and lessons learned. This race was about changing my strategy to match race conditions and stay inside my box. I am a beginning swimmer, having learned to swim 20 months ago, I expected my swim to be 1 hour, I came in 56:24 and am happy with my time. I expected 3:00 – 3:15 on the bike and came in at 3:32:03, not too far from my estimation. The run is what really killed me in this race, I estimated 1:50:00 and came in at 2:44:30, I simply could not execute on the hills and had to change to a walk (with power) up the hills, unfortunately this course was pretty evenly split up in terms of distance with up hills and down hills.
Long Version
Goal: 1) Finish 6 hours or less, 2) Swim under 1 hour, 3) test my execution with power in real world race conditions, 4) Test my nutrition and fueling strategy pre-race and on the bike. 5) Complete my 2nd Half Iron distance race to prove my first was not a fluke. I knew 6 Hours was a stretch goal, but with good execution I felt I could do it, after driving the bike course on Saturday, I did not have a chance to ride it prior to the race, I felt that 6 Hours was still possible if everything went right, but I was not going to push to make it happen and blow-up the rest of my season as my prize is IMWI.
Training: I have been an EN Member since Dec ’13, getting started on the JOS in Jan ’14. Training leading up to the Rev3 Wisc Dells was very good in all 3 disciplines. In swimming, I have been able to improve my form, distance, and comfort in the water and was confident I would be able to swim the distance in the cut-off time. I know I have a long way to go with swim, especially if I ever hope to be competitive – even with the MOP crowd. Bike training went very well during the out-season and in to the outdoor season, living in Chicago I spent a fair amount of time on the trainer and was really able to improve my stamina and power hitting and training at a 233 FTP prior to the race. Run wise I felt strong and had both 5K and ½ Marathon PRs leading up to this race. I even did a little hill training, in my relatively flat area… Ha!
Pre-Race: I drove up to Wisc Dells the Saturday Morning before the race; I though it would be plenty of time to settle in, drive the course, and get prepared for the race. I ended up feeling rushed all day moving from place to place. By the time I drove the course it was pouring rain and 3pm in the afternoon, not quite the relaxed day I had hoped for. I was not able to preview the run course but did get an update from EN’r Carl Noftsger, this was not pretty. I got settled in for the night, slept as well as one could expect… Since my hotel was so close to transition I elected not to rack my bike the night before since there was the possibility of rain and/or storms over night.
On race day, breakfast was according to EN Guidance, 2 Naked Juices at 2am followed by a cup of Coffee and Apple Sauce at 4:30 am. Since I was at the hotel right next to transition I did not need to leave until 6-6:15am, I got suited up, applied my race tattoos, pumped my bike tires, grabbed my transition bag and headed over to transition. I got everything racked and packed and had a few minutes to chat with friends prior to getting in the water before the race to get the jitters out and warm up a little.
Swim: Rev3 Wisc Dells was a time trial start, being in the 50+ Age Group put me in the 2nd wave, my plan was to start toward the end but somehow ended up in the middle of the pack. The swim started just fine, about 600 M out I got swam over by a couple of people, but it was really no big deal for me – I just kind of thought really… It’s not like there was a massive pack around me, but no matter. I did have a little trouble sighting and ended up sighting off the wrong buoys a couple of times so I have to adjust course a few times. I ended up swimming 1.36 miles in 56:29. Coming out of the water I felt good but took it easy up the hill in to transition while I took my wetsuit off.
T1: Since it a uphill climb to transition and already wet from (pretty much everyone) before me, I took it slow and steady also making sure not to elevate my Heart Rate needlessly, after all I needed to save my heart beats for the bike & run. I got right to my bike, switched on my bike Garmin, stripped of the rest of my wetsuit, dried off, put on my socks, head sweat cap, helmet, and shoes and headed out of transition. Slow and steady (and slow) with a T1 time of 8:51.
Bike: I think my bike went pretty well, I made a conscious effort to stay in Z2 for the first 30 min, my NP was 165 (170 goal) with a VI of 1.15. I am not sure how to flatten that out on the hills. Suggestions? The rest of the ride I was shooting for a Z3 effort of 190 and came in with a NP of 170, 0.73 IF and VI 1.20. Given the hills (3556 ft gain) I am not sure how to even the power out. There were 3 long hills 430 ft over 2.2 miles, 651 ft over 4.2 miles, and 327 ft over 1.8 miles along with various shorter length hills scattered throughout, the descents were also mixed, some were very technical and curvy with sharp turns mid hill, other were long and straight. Over all I felt good on the bike and generally felt I biked the race I should, not the race I could. Maybe you experts will tell me differently.
As far a nutrition and liquid goes, I struggled with my solution a little, Speedfil A2 – I cut my straw too short and that made it more difficult than it should have been to drink. I ate 2-Gels, a pack of Beans, and Salt tablet at regular intervals. I stopped at 1 aid station to pee (no bike peeing this time) and to get some more G-aide JIC. I used Infinit Go Far and it seemed to work for me, more testing required.
T2: I thought about changing socks to Toe Socks, but my feet felt good and decided to stay in the socks I had on. Put on my compression calf sleeves and shoes. Reapplied Sunscreen, grabbed my Race Belt, Hat, and Sunglasses. Time: 4:20, it seemed faster, but it went smooth.
Run: I was really pleased with my run for the first 2 miles, I felt good at a 9:30 pace, which was about 30 seconds slower than I planned for the first 3 miles, but hey it was starting to heat up and there was very little shade on the course. At this point I hit the first hill and things started to deteriorate for me, I knew the hills would be a problem. When I hit the big hill (154 ft over 1 mile) I knew I would not be able to run it and switched to a run/walk strategy – Run down hill and the flats, walk up hills. This was the point I knew my time goal was shot. I don’t know if it was will, energy, or heat that kept me down – I had a serious conversation with myself, Is my race self letting my training self down? In the end, yes probably – but this was not my A race for the year so I sacrificed time for experience and kept it to a moderate pace while pushing on the flats and down hills to minimize my recovery time to start in with IMWI Race Prep.
Lessons:
1. Get to the race venue earlier, feeling rushed did not help my mojo for the weekend.
2. When ever possible ride the bike course and the run course to mentally prepare for what you will see. I do have concrete plans to do this for IMWI.
3. I still have to tweak my bike nutrition strategy. I was better this race, but I have more to do.
4. I usually carry liquid when I run, I did not this race – not sure why – this was a mistake. While there were many aid stations, there was one stretch where they were spaced too far apart for me. CARRY LIQUID
Comments
Please don't take this the wrong way, but let me suggest you have some work cut out for you in the lead-up to IMWI. One question: was the 6-hour goal set based on your Race Rehearsal performances, or was it more of an aspiration? I am asking because you missed it by quite a bit. If it was in range based on your RR's, that suggests to me that either something went quite wrong (although your race report doesn't suggest anything big), or your execution wasn't what you planned.
There are three things you may want to consider:
1. Swim coaching. I am worried that you will be very close to the IMWI swim cut-off time of 2:20. With a 56-minute half-iron swim I am sure there is some real "low-hanging fruit" for you to gain in the water. I was a self-taught swimmer when I started doing triathlon in 2010 and when I took only 5 private lessons with a coach in the space of 6 weeks I was able to drop almost 20 seconds/100yd from my swim t-pace.
2. On the bike you should really try to "flatten the course". As Rachel points out, it is hard to learn to ride well on hills in the Chicagoland area, but for IMWI it is simply a must-do. You should go out to Madison and ride on the course at least 3-4 times before the race. I have never done the race but I've ridden that course during the EN camp at 1.03 VI. It is possible. The main this is concentrating on (a) going to an easier gear and keeping to your target watts on the uphills, (b) maintaining power over the crest of each hill, and (c) pedaling hard on the first third or so of each downhill to get a lot of speed so you can maintain momentum into the next hill. Coach Rich is an expert in teaching this at the IMWI camp. You cannot underestimate the impact that riding a 1.15 to 1.2 VI had on your run.
3. Check your head and know your "one thing" so that when you have another conversation with yourself while running (and you WILL), the conversation ends with you running and not walking. Maybe running slowly. But running. Be the "12-minute superstar" that EN says is possible. Running really slowly and way slower than your goal time is a LOT faster than walking. So unless there is a physical limitation, injury, gastric distress or other issues that force you to run, RUN!!
Points 2 and 3 above are all related to EXECUTION. If your 6-hour goal time was within the realm of reason based on RR's then I really think riding such a high VI may have screwed you. That is somthing that, with a bit of practice, you can address.
Best of luck and I look forward to seeing what you can do at IMWI!
No offense taken, Thank You for your suggestions. Upon reflection I think my 6 hour goal was more of an aspiration and certainly not well thought out in terms of the actual course, that said at no time during the race did I look at my time. On the bike I was strictly focused on Power and the Run I was focused on Pace.
You are right about swim coaching, I know there is 'low hanging fruit' out there and I know I am on the cusp of a break-through. One of the things I enjoyed about the swim at Rev3 was it did give me an opportunity to try some new things (of course a race isn't really the place to be practicing).
As for riding 'The Loop' my plan, right now, is to get out there at least twice and hopefully three times before the race - including the EN Camp. With family obligations it is tough for me, but I am working to get there when I can.
Salient point about 'One Thing', this is the place that I feel I screwed up the most on this race. My run time of 2:44 was horrible, not really a run time as much as a walk time. Physically my body was functioning I made the conscious choice not to push, I had dropped out of the race at that point and was simply a participant - there were many factors that pointed me to that decision, but the 'One Thing' was not there.
Rachael,
Thanks for your comments, I do see areas where I can make some improvements on the bike. I would generally say that I stayed inside my box except for the areas where it was ridiculously steep and on these areas I did my best to get up the hill without racing or pushing harder than absolutely necessary, sometimes it comes to a point where (at least for me) I had to say 'lets get up this mother and put it behind me'. There may have been one or two times I pushed a little to pass someone after being behind them (completely inside my box) for sometime, I think that was just the racer in me - but I really worked to keep that in check and only did this when it was a short effort in a safe area on course that would not result in me having to continue the effort or they would likely pass me back. There is no point in passing someone just to pass them, i.e. see-saw...
-Mike