Turby's Challenge AC (sorry late)
My wife Carol and I had done IMMT 70.3 the weekend before and had decided to do the Aquabike as a training day for IM Maryland in September because of the similar conditions. Also we had friends doing the full distance and wanted to cheer them on.
We got to Atlantic City early Sat morning and had a good practice swim with some current present but no hint of the what was to come. After the swim we had a great breakfast in Margate which is a beautiful town. Thanks Rob Sabo! Our only mistake of the weekend was staying at a casino instead of the perfectly good Comfort Inn that we've used for other races which turned out to be about 10 minutes away! The whole casino stunk of smoke and God knows what else! Not to mention the hell raising going on in the hall all night! Never again!!
We got to the race to find out there were no wetsuits allowed. They claimed the water was 80 (no way) unless the official checked the temp where he had just peed.Since it was a workout for us and because we are poor swimmers we decided to wear suits. A few hundred yards with the current then things went downhill! The current was bad enough but it was the layout of the course that was the real problem. I guess there is a reason Ironman swim courses are out and back or two square loops! This zig zagged several times to the point it was confusing on which buoy to swim to. At about 3/4 through two guys in a boat were yelling for us to go around the left of the buoy after keeping all the buoys on our left as we were told! I came out with a time of 1:30 and was a little disappointed (two other IM swims were 1:27 and 1:24) until I talked to people later on. Many were 20-30 minutes slower than their usual times.
The bike course was great. About 30 miles out the AC Expressway and then two big loops through the blueberry farms and through the really nice town of Hammonton. Then back the last 30 miles (into a nasty headwind) to transition.
I had a great day on the bike: Time-5:22, IF-.73, VI-1.02, TSS-284. Second 56 mile NP was 4 watts higher than first 56. This was the second time (after Mt Tremblant) I have used Lap NP with 5 mile auto lap on the Garmin (thanks to Tim C. and Al T.). This is a HUGE advantage. It makes it very easy to manage your power! The last 30 miles were hard but I know I could have have run well after.
We both had a good day and will take some confidence to IM Maryland!
Thanks for listening!
Comments
Congrats on your race and it sounds like a rough swim!
What's your impression of CAC as an event? Quality of the course, support, race direction, etc.
Thanks Rich,
I think they have some work to do. The swim course needs to be redone into something much more simple. The bike course was great in all areas. The run course looked to be a nightmare to me. Three loops on the boardwalk with a million people walking around. It wasn't roped or taped off at all. One row of cones which no tourist knew what the hell was for! Also the volunteers who certainly meant well were not trained well at all
.Mt Tremblant 70.3 the week before was the polar opposite. I have to WTC credit, they have their act together.
Turby - very very strong bike, my friend. That "training day" should set you up perfectly for IM MD, as long as you don't try to replicate your IF in the IM.