Gabe Peterson's SuperFrog HIM Race Report
Race Report: SuperFrog Half Ironman
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Target Time: 5:45 |
Time: 5:44:52 (PR!) |
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AG Place: 13 / 51 |
Overall Place: 99 / 276 |
Pre-Race
The race director announced a major course change two weeks before the event, moving it to “the Stick,” the Naval Special Warfare base. Last year, I was able to walk over to the Strand beach from my hotel. That meant I had more admin overhead loading my bike onto the car and driving to the event.
I had also paid the extra $20 to have my race bib sent to me in advance. I just had to pick up my timing chip the morning of the event. Sounded simple. When I got to transition, they told me registration was a half mile away and I would have to go there to get my chip. I left my gear at transition and raced over. In the haste to get back to transition to setup, I didn’t notice they hadn’t given me a swim cap. I didn’t realize it until I was setup in transition with my wetsuit on. I asked one of the race officials, and he said I could swim without a cap. I was worried some rules Nazi would disqualify me, so I hid in the middle of my wave.
Lesson learned: make sure registration gives you everything.
Swim
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Target time: No target once I saw the surf |
Time: 54:31 |
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Target pace: Survive |
Pace: Who knows since I probably swam an extra 400m. |
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Overall place: Would rather not say. J |
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The swim course is two laps where you swim through the breakers, then go parallel to the beach, back in through the surf, and finally run back down the beach to do it all over again. The surf report was 1-2ft waves. When I walked down to the beach, it was more like 3-4ft. Even worse the waves were coming in tightly grouped sets. Some dude lost his goggles just doing a practice swim. I immediately set aside any time goals and just focused on making it. Under normal circumstances, I would not have chosen to swim under these conditions.
The elite wave went first. I loosely timed them and noticed the fastest swimmer did one lap in about 18 minutes. (Later I learned the average swim time was around 49 minutes). There was also a major current that was pushing the swimmer south off the course.
I lined up inside the buoy. The waves were relentless. I would dive under a wave, come up and see another coming. I felt like I was swimming in place. Finally, I made it through the breakers, but I was about 50-60 yards south of the buoy. After course correcting, I settled in and swam comfortably. The surf entry wasn’t too bad, only had to dive a couple times.
I ran down the beach and did it again. I almost lost my goggles when I came up from a dive and a wave hit me right in the face. Luckily, they just stayed on. I saw a few other swimmers who had lost their goggles, suffering in the salt water.
Lesson learned: Do more surf entry and exit drill next time. I had done a practice swim at La Jolla Cove, which doesn’t have much surf. I did a mile in just under 30 minutes and was feeling pretty good. The SuperFrog swim chewed me up and spat me out – twice.
http://www.strava.com/activities/200803865
T1
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Target time: 5min
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Time: 3:11 |
Despite the chaos of the morning, everything went smooth.
Bike
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Target time: 2:45 |
Time: 2:47:14 (last year 3:03) |
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Target NP: 175W |
NP: 172 with VI = 1.02 |
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Target TSS: 180 |
TSS: 171.5 |
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Target Speed: 20.3MPH |
Speed: 20.1MPH |
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Target IF: 0.8 |
IF: 0.78 |
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Overall Place: 88 / 276 |
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This course is four laps on the highway that runs down the Strand. It’s relatively flat and fast. My goal was to stay in aero the entire time, except for the turnarounds. It was a very good warm up for IM Arizona.
There was a 20+ MPH wind gusting from the south. The race course basically runs north-south. I would blast up the Strand at about 25-26MPH, and then crawl back down at 15-18MPH. The course definitely rewarded staying in aero. The couple times I popped up going against the wind, my speed would immediately drop. I had watched Coach Rich’s webinar on racing windy course, so I knew what to do – keep to my power targets and stay aero.
For nutrition, I had an aero water bottle with about 400 calories of Hammer Sustained Energy, about 300 calories of Hammer Hed in my Torhans 30 on the aero bars, and Gu Chomps and cutup Clif Bar in my bento box. I also had S-tabs salt tablets. My goal was to take in at least 800 calories and drop a salt tab every hour.
With the winds, I decided to take in nutrition from my aero bottle and bento box when I had the tailwind pushing me. I’d sip from my Torhans every 10-15 minutes. Then I’d tuck in tight for the ride into the headwinds.
I ended up draining both my bottles and taking in about 150-200 calories of food. I only took one salt pill because it gave me a rotten stomach. I’ll have to figure out my salt situation before IM Arizona.
I successfully stayed in aero about 99% of the ride. I set a PR on the bike split and beat my time from last year by 15 minutes, despite much worse conditions!
Lesson learned: Love the aero tuck and it will love you back.
http://www.strava.com/activities/200802903
T2
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Target time: 3:00
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Time: 3:17 |
Went super smooth.
Run
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Target time: 1:55min (before accounting for sand) |
Time: 1:56:41 |
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Target pace: Went by heart rate because of the poor surface |
Pace: 8:54min/mi |
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Target TSS: 120 |
TSS: 144.7 |
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Overall Place: 69 / 276 |
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The run course is two laps around the Stick, including running down the beach where the SEALs run in BUDS. Last year, the run was at low tide, making a very good run surface. This year, it was at high tide, forcing runners into the loose sand.
As soon as I noticed my heart rate climbing into high Z3 in the sand, I switched from pace targets to heart rate. I stayed at the top of Z2 for the first 10 miles. After that, I pushed up into mid-Z3.
I’ve made a special point to slow down going into the finish chute to enjoy it, even if it costs me a few seconds. I pumped my first in victory because I saw that I was right on my target of 5:45, even with a much tougher course than last year.
I set a PR for the run phase, and came within a minute of setting a PR for my open half-marathon time – on a course that was about half loose sand.
Lesson learned: Don’t be a slave to pace targets. Pay attention to heart rate and being will to adjust.
http://www.strava.com/activities/200803977
Key Take Aways
- Practice surf entry and exit the next time I do a race like this. I was happy to do a 1 mile open water swim in under 30 minutes two days before, but that was without surf.
- Aero is your friend. I was stoked to be able to hold the aero tuck the entire bike. I passed loads of people sitting up into the wind.
- Be willing to switch from pace targets to heart rate pacing when the course is more challenging than expected.
- Keep moving forward. I set a half ironman PR and beat my time from last year by 28 minutes, under much more difficult conditions and in spite of a crap swim!
Upcoming Races
- Ironman Arizona on November 16! October will be my hell month for training. I think the schedule has me doing a century ride every Saturday followed by a long run on Sunday. I’ll have to be able to stay aero for about 6 hours. Thank God there will not be any surf in Tempe Town Lake and I won’t have to run down a sandy beach! This will be my first full distance IM.
Comments
Good luck with IMAZ training sounds like you are on your way to a great first IM.
Thanks, Attila! I enjoyed reading your IM Chattanooga race report -- nice work out there!
Thanks, Ian!
Thanks, Shaughn! Looking forward to meeting you. Those are some monster workouts you've been putting up on Strava!
Great race! That one has always flown under the radar, curious to see where it goes now that WTC has acquired it?
I hope WTC is able to retain the small race feel and unique character of the association with the Navy. The race only had about 300 athletes this year. The course opened up pretty quickly. It was a pleasure not getting mauled in the swim. I didn't see any pelotons on the bike and think I only said "on your left" a couple of times despite passing lots of folks because there was plenty of room. Some dude tried drafting me, and a race marshall was all over him.
Of course, per my above report, the administration of the race was a bit shaky. No doubt WTC will improve that.
Well, I can promise you the small race feel will go away...big time. SoCal desperately needs a quality HIM in the fall. The only show in town has been, for years, IMCali. A couple others have tried to get events off the ground (Mountain Man in Castaic and Orange...Something...in OC) but have largely failed. So the race will be huge, guaranteed.
Here is the race director's announcement of the takeover by WTC and a summary of this year's race:
http://conta.cc/1rdwl01