Syracuse 70.3 Race Report (Better Late Than Never)
Syracuse 70.3 Race Report (Race Day: Sunday, 6/22/14)
Arrived in Syracuse on Friday night for my first 70.3 (and race of any kind) of the season. Due to other family commitments, I was on my own this weekend. This was both good and bad as I was able to treat the weekend as a real race weekend with race prep instead of weekend away with the family that just happened to have a race attached to it.
Unpacked, light bite and to bed. All as planned in my Race Plan.
Stayed at the Crown Plaza (a race sponsor hotel) in Syracuse. A few minutes drive from the University and I-90 and seconds from I-81. For travel, this was perfect as it was easy on to 81 to get to and from race site (a state park in Jamesville, NY just outside Syracuse). However, much of the hotel is right next to the interstate, which was noisy at all hours of the day and night (keep this in mind if staying here and ask for a room that does not look out on the Interstate).
Saturday:
Slept as late as I could – 7 am!!! Went up to the University campus for my big breakfast. I didn’t have any restaurant in mind, but one of the City’s tourist magazines had a list and Funk ’n Waffles seemed perfect. It was. A local-owned restaurant specializing in sweet and savory waffles with a jazz music background and local art on the walls. Also, really good coffee. Try the waffle with bacon, banana, peanut butter and honey.
Sipped sports drink throughout the day, backing off as trips to the restroom became so frequent I started considering buying some Depends so I didn’t have to keep interrupting my plans for the day and hitting the drink a bit harder when those thoughts faded.
Picnic lunch with Mary Russo and Charles Hurd from the Team, athlete check-in, bike drop and scoped out the transitions/athlete village ensued. The race site is spread out between parking, athlete village, transition and swim start/finish. It was good to see and walk a bit to get a lay of the land. It was also a good reminder not to forget anything in the car on race morning otherwise there would be a lot of walking back and forth.
I was planning on driving the bike and run courses until Charles, who lives in the area and knew the course, offered to drive. This had to be the highlight of the day. A chauffeured, narrated recon tour of the course! I had researched the course using the IM provided map and a mapping site for elevation changes, marking the hills and was the beneficiary of some great advice and knowledge from the Team at large, but driving the course with someone who knew it well really put it in perspective and was a tremendous help on race day. As advised and advertised, both the bike and run are hilly. Not to get into the nitty gritty, but with a steady 12 mile climb from mile 1 to 13, it would be easy to get into the suck very early in the day.
Got back to the hotel late in the afternoon and chilled to the early rounds of the World Cup, continued to drink, had a light dinner, prepped my gear for the next day and went to bed.
Sunday/Race Day:
With rumors of ungodly traffic to the race site on race morning, I changed my time frames around so I could rest assured that I wouldn’t be caught in gridlock instead of in a nice, calm frame of mind. This turned out to be a good idea just for the peace of mind. It made for a slightly longer morning, but completely removed any possible panic from worrying about not having enough time to do what I wanted to do, how I wanted to do it.
1st feed: 1 a.m. (instead of 2); choked down 3.5 cups apple sauce, banana, 16 oz Perform; back to sleep.
Wake-up: 3:30 a.m. (instead of 4:15); ½ PowerBar, sip Perform; sunscreen; dress; head to race site by 4.
It was cooler then I expected during the pre-dawn hours. Next time would bring an additional layer to the light layer I had planned on. I was happy to have brought my headlamp as light in transition, which was good, wasn’t great for checking out my brakes and for giving my ride a final going over. As I had read of Ironman events, the volunteers were fantastic from check-in, being shown to my bike rack, to body marking and bike mechanic support (day before and race day). Pumps circulated freely, sunscreen was readily available and questions were answered. The only negative was that there was no Perform available at the race start. If available, this would have been the icing on the cake especially for those of us (e.g., me) that were going to live off the course. I had thought enough to ask about this on Saturday and when no one knew the answer (the only question the volunteers couldn’t find an answer to), I knew to bring my own bottles to start with on race day. I had my own GU and salt caps so I was only really concerned about Perform. But with pre-planning, this didn’t turn into an issue.
With my transition area set up and ready to go, I was able to window shop and see other athletes’ rides and set up. Some were truly bizarre (15 GU packs taped to the top bar!) others gave me set-up ideas of my own.
With the tensions starting to rise, I got out of transition and found a nice quiet spot near the swim start in the sun (to warm up my now bare feet) and watch the pros and early waves hit the water. With the race starting at 7 and my wave not until 8:15, I had plenty of time to sit, gather my thoughts, go over my plan in my head and get my game face on.
Ate ½ PowerBar at start of race with the last of my fluids. An hour later, had my pre-race GU. Got into the water to get used to it and a short warm up and then followed my wave into the starting corral.
Swim:
As a strong swimmer being plenty comfortable in the water, I still don’t like to be in the scrum of the start. So, I found myself hanging toward the back of the pack. But this was an in-water start and I found that most of the wave was hanging back separated by a couple of feet from the front-of-the-pack guys who were right up at the starting buoy. I made the decision to go for the gap. Starting at the back, I usually pass most of the people I try to stay away from at the very start. But in the gap, I found myself away from them without having use any energy to pass them first. With the starting horn and plenty of space, I was off to a good start. The pack evened out and it did get a little crowded, but it wasn’t a cage match situation. Some contact but mostly just jostling for position and no jabs, elbows, kicks or swim-overs. I settled into my groove, picked through the early waves that I’d caught up to and worked my way around the 3-sided rectangular course (moving clockwise, buoys on swimmer’s right). Sighting wasn’t great as I hadn’t had much open-water practice (weather in Connecticut wasn’t so cooperative this spring/early summer). I also thought the buoys on the way back in were zigzagging from wind and waves. That made for some extra distance as I followed a buoy or two but once I was able to spot the finish chute sighting became much easier as I could completely ignore the buoys. As rumored, there were some grasses/weeds either floating around in areas. Without knowing that coming into a patch might have thrown me off for a couple of seconds. But knowing it meant that if I hit any (I did), I knew what it was and just kept swimming. With some exaggerated torso rotations, I was able to untangle and put the weeds behind me.
Expected swim time: 29-33’; Actual swim time: 30:54
Very happy with the swim. Room for improvement, which would probably result in some time savings (better sighting; more confidence starting up front and drafting off a faster guy) little increase in energy expenditure.
T1:
The distance from water’s edge to T1 was probably around 200-300 yards. Not the worst thing since it allowed for HR to come down and blood to move around from horizontal orientation to vertical. Some athletes weren’t happy with this distance -- Whatever, that wasn’t in my box so didn’t bother me.
A cool transition discovery were the wetsuit strippers. I wasn’t sure there would be any and forgot to ask before the race. This was my first experience with wetsuit strippers and it was great. As taught in the House, I found a big guy and was about to point and call him out, but he beat me to it. Wetsuit stripped to my hips in no time. A second later, I was on my back and with one smooth pull, I was neoprene free. Awesome finish to the swim and very entertaining. With wetsuit neatly tucked under my arm and goggles and cap in hand I made my way into T1 proper.
Guessing at T1 time: 3-4’; Actual T1 time: 3:58
Bike
My plan was that for the first 20’, I would target a low Z2 HR. From 20’ on I would target low to mid Z2 and then high Z2 into low Z3 from the 40 mile point back into T2.
This didn’t go exactly as planned. For the first mile, all was on target, but then the climbing started. Now, I didn’t grind or stand or race up the hills as many around me did. But the climbing did send my HR into higher zones then I wanted. I was able to stabilize the spikes but was never able to get down to where I had planned. But since my legs were never burning, I did the best I could to keep things under control and kept moving forward. A good sign that I wasn’t over doing things was that on approaching hill crests and down the back sides, I was still pedaling and not gliding. I took note of my HR and zones and adjusted my targets accordingly. While I was above my planned zones, I didn’t feel that I was pushing too hard so I just made the decision to keep at it. My guess is that my testing numbers needed to be updated. I only tested once outside and on my new TT bike. Previous tests were all indoors and most were on my road bike. Also, as the season progressed, I definitely got stronger so the numbers I was using must have been off. I had expected to see this on race day so I wasn’t complete surprised. I adjusted a little and just kept at it. I did take a “rest” on the backs of a few downhills to be safe, but I figured I’d see what would come of my adjustments and face the music later if I had to.
After the initial steady climb to mile 12-13, the rest of the course rolled with gentle, steady ups and nice fast downs. A real fast down around mile 19 into a short but very steep climb. There may have been another like this around mile 30 and then a long steady climb between 37 to 40. The last 15 miles were a net downhill. I was able to turn it up a bit as others were clearly turning it off or had already turned it off. Having seen the course the day before and following the EN method certainly left me the legs to keep moving on the back end leaving the early mile grinders in the dust.
I had no mechanical issues (thankfully) and was able to restock fluids at all aid stations. It was my first time taking advantage of the aid stations so I really took it easy going through. Luckily, the volunteers were good, I was loud and clear as to what I wanted and really only worried about being taken out by another athlete who was either coming in too fast or not paying attention and cashing a pile up up ahead. Fortunately, none of that happened. My only criticism of the aid stations were that all of my Perform bottles leaked like crazy when I drank. Looking at the bottles left on my bike at the end of the day, I noticed that the safety rings were all under the screw top, so I guess that when the bottles were opened/loosened (all the volunteers opened the flow valves to make life easier!) the safety rings must have gotten stuck under the caps when tightened back down. A minor annoyance during the race as I did lose a bit of fluids to leakage. Of course, my bike was coated in Perform by the end of the ride and at points late in the ride, my bottle cages were so sticky I had to really yank out the bottles.
My nutrition plan was good. Started drinking at 20’ and every 10’ after that (2 bottles an hour), with a couple of skipped cycles as my fluid processing backed up. I was probably a little under hydrated as I really didn’t have to pee at all until late in the bike (during training and RR, I was easily peeing once an hour) and even then didn’t feel the need to slow or stop to unload. 1 GU an hour until the last hour and then I had 2. Took 2 salt caps in the last 2 hours for good measure.
I came into T2 feeling good. I didn’t think I had trashed my legs even having executed in higher HR zones then expected and possibly under hydrating. I was concerned with this though as the heat was picking up and the run had some serious hills. However, it was too late to worry about all that as it was time to ditch the bike and slip on my running shows. Whatever I did to myself on the bike, I’d have to deal with on the run.
Expected Bike Time: 3:20; Actual Bike Time: 3:10:54
T2
Kept my shoes on to force me to walk to my rack, get my blood circulating and HR down. Was pretty efficient changing from bike to run, popped a pre-emptive salt cap, got sunscreen re-applied and was across the mats. Smooth, great – not so fast, forgot to take my watch off the bike and put it on my wrist. Considered leaving it behind and going on perceived effort, but after 2 seconds the thought was gone and I turned around to go get my watch. This was a good choice as I wanted to be able to see my HR and pace especially as this was my first EN race and I needed to see how everything came together. So, some time lost but a good decision in the end. My only concern was whether this would throw off the timing chip or be a DQ (wasn’t sure what the rule about leaving T2 and then going back in), but in the end, it did neither.
Guessing at T2 time: 2-3’; Actual T2 time: 2:57
Run
After assessing the hills the day before, I decided to watch my pace and keep HR as a secondary monitor. As with the biking, I think my HR tests for the run were a bit dated and I never was able to get my pace and HR to coincide once I moved from treadmill training to outdoor training. The result, is that my testing paces were attainable and sustainable, but the HR always seemed to spike. I did dial it back a little due to the heat and figured I would then be able to make up time by not walking and by leaving some gas in the tank for the last miles.
The run was a two loop run -- 3.3 miles out, back, out and back. The first mile from T2 out of the race venue/park was a mix of paved path, gravel/dirt trail (not entirely flat) and grassy hill, some sideways and not just up and down), repeated four times for the two out and back loops. I took it easy on the first 3.3 mile segment. I saw a lot of vacant stares from runners that were ahead of me coming back in from their loop and was already passing a procession of walkers. I didn’t want to be those guys. I also wanted to run the entire course less 30 steps at the aid stations.
I did not hit my planned target paces. This did not surprise me. I wished I had, but it was a hilly bike and run and I was concerned about the impact of the heat of the day. I had not trained much in heat this season (again, thanks to uncooperative spring and early summer weather) for one. Also, one of my goals was not to walk (as I have in the past), significantly slow down as the miles crept up (as I have in the past), run the hills and not begin to suffer until later in the run. So my first segment pace was easy as planned (the Z2 +30” pace prescribed by EN). The last mile of each outgoing segment ended with a significant uphill, so those were slower miles. That mile was followed by the downhill return. While those miles could have been faster, they were significant downhills, so I took them conservatively to not trash my quads or force cramps. There were lesser downhills and flats to make up the time. And, mostly, I did as those time were faster then the others. In the end, I was able to run the hills, handle the heat, not significantly slow and didn’t really start to suffer until the last few miles. Overall, a good run. Not my fastest and I think I could do better now that I’ve experienced the course, but a good result.
I fueled as planned with 4 oz Perform at each aid station and GU as I could tolerate. Ice was a savior both due to its cooling effect but also as a distraction as I would hold it, move it around, etc. until gone. Popped a salt cap or two for good measure. Nutrition wise, I was very happy as hydrating on the run has never been a strong point. Practice has improved this though and I though this led to being able to tolerate the heat much better then in races past. As it turned out, the adjustments made on the bike did not impact my run in any big way. Hydration appears to have been fine (notwithstanding lack of need to pee from the bike) and my legs held up just fine.
It was also really nice to see Mary and Charles on the run. There were some other EN folks out there and words of encouragement were exchanged.
Expected Run Time: 1:45.00; Actual Run Time: 1:53:50
Expected Total Time: 5:45.00; Actual Total Time: 5:42:33
In the end, I feel like I’ve processed the EN methods pretty well. I’ve got a whole lot of room for improvement too. As my first race under EN, I was very happy with the results. It was good to finally put the teachings and methods to the test and now that I’ve done so I feel like I can stop thinking so much about whether it will work or not and just focus on execution knowing that it will work. Good to know as I have another 70.3 in early September (Firmman in RI) and my first 140.6 at the end of October (Beach2Battleship). Work works! Thanks for reading and happy training.
Comments
Question: I know this is a variable, but what were the temperatures though out the day? Was there heat and humidity?
Thanks so much!
Danielle
The temperatures were typical for summer in the northeast. Before the sun came up, it was cool with a touch of humidity. As the sun came up, it warmed up a bit and humidity stayed steady. It was comfortable at the start and while waiting around in my wetsuit for my wave to go off. If it got warm, there was plenty of room in the lake to cool off. The sun stayed up all day and it stayed humid but I don't remember it getting unbearable. The bike course is mostly exposed to the sun so make sure to keep on your hydration plan and use sunscreen. It did get warmer as the ride progressed which I think was a combination of the day heating up as normal and me heating up from exertion. By the time I hit the run, it was a full on summer afternoon. I have had problems with the heat while on the run in the past so I take notice -- I remember the heat and humidity but nothing overwhelming. There are good segments of shade on the run, so take advantage of that. Also, I found the aid stations to be very well stocked with ice, which I liberally helped myself too. Unless you happen to catch a heat wave on race weekend, I don't think your southern summer will leave you unprepared for the northern heat and humidity.
If you can, get out and see the bike and run courses. You'll get a better idea as to sun coverage and road conditions, which will make a huge difference in your day.