Beach2Battleship Race Rehearsal 2 Recap
To make things shorter, I’m cutting out a lot of the rehearsal plan details, so if something seems less detailed then you’d like, check out my race rehearsal post from last week.
All of a sudden, my solid fall weather seemed downright winterlike – I left at 8 a.m. and it was about 39 degrees. While I wanted an actual dress rehearsal, it was too cold for no socks, shorts and arm-warmers with EN singlet. Dressed warmly and sold myself on the idea that as the day warmed up, I would be overdressed and therefore prepared for a warm race day. It warmed up after about 2.5 hours and the cool weather gear was fine for the day.
I do not expect it to be as cool in NC in 2 weeks as it is now in CT, so I feel ready for any temperature conditions.
Me
42yrs old; 177 lbs.; HR Athlete; VDot 48. Sore/tight lower back and ankle, not an issue.
1st & 2nd Breakfasts
Went according to plan. I’ve gone the way of up early for breakfast 1, back to bed and then up later for 2nds (Coach R’s method – see wiki), but I sometimes have trouble falling back to sleep, so I may just get as much sleep as possible (especially if I have trouble falling asleep initially) and then get up early and get my day going (Coach P’s method). I’ve done both and haven’t had issues with either so this may be a game time decision on race weekend.
Bike
Set out for 6.5 hours which I estimate for race day. I have a 45 mile out and back course that is not as hilly as many of my other routes and added and extra section to fill in the distance I think I’ll cover.
With a few pee breaks (didn’t want to do it on the bike in the cold and with extra layers on and wanted to avoid unnecessary chaffing) and a longer water bottle resupply stop, I covered my course in 6:06 (5:46 moving time). This came to 99.5 miles. I sooo wanted to see 100 (never have gone that far)! The wiki suggests an estimated time on the bike b/c its hard to match the race course from your home terrain. With the actual time and distance covered, I am comfortable on the physical ability front, especially with some of the hills I did have to climb that I know won’t exist in NC.
On the nutrition front, I feel like I still have some room to improve and will have to give some more energy focusing on on race day. On an hourly basis, I planned on 2 Clif gels, 3 saltcaps and a 1/3 Clif bar. No issues. Felt a little full at time but I think that was the timing of the Clif bar over the course of each hour, that and maybe introducing an actual solid to my generally liquid/liquid-like diet.
I feel that I may have shorted a bit on the hyrdration end. The first 2-3 hours were cold (numb fingers and toes) and very cool. I drank steadily, but I wasn’t getting 2 bottles an hour down (the approximate sweat-test resulting amount) as I usually do. I figure I was 25% short an hour (1.5 bottles/hr instead of 2). At times, my stomach felt full and I ate/drank until burping, then eased up. But as the day went on and warmed up, I just felt like I was behind. At that point, its hard to catch up and not totally overdo it. So I just kept focused on drinking on my intervals and maybe taking an extra sip or 2 each time.
I faced my mental ups and downs. Used the ups to my advantage, and was prepared for the downs and able to refocus my energy in a productive way though. I finished the ride strong, so on a physical management front, I was happy. If I was able to do that then my nutrition couldn’t have been that off (I’ve been off before and know what that is like), but will just have to be mindful on race day.
Transition: No pre-planned time goals, but focused on smooth, steady shift from bike to run. 8 minutes overall including some walking from dismount to bike storage and leaving for my run.
I didn’t feel gassed off the bike and felt my legs come back pretty quickly. This made me happy as I have not done many brick WOs to prepare for the noodle-leg feeling.
Run
1 hour or 6 miles, whichever comes first. Zone 1 plus 30” = 9:19/mi. (at this pace, then 6 miles will come before the hour).
Weather was cool and breezy with the sun out. If race day weather is similar, my planned gear (hat, shades, singlet, shorts, socks, shoes) will work out just fine. Might throw arm warmers or a light L/S run shirt in my T2 and RSN bags just in case.
From a pacing perspective, my legs came back to me pretty fast. I credit this to proper bike pacing and also took it as a sign that bike nutrition (even hydration) was on target. Fluids in my stomach were even sloshing around (loudly so)! Again, I guess I wasn’t too far off on bike hyrdration then. Took a saltcap right away and within minutes, the excess “baggage” was processed.
One mantra for the run is definitely going to be “more slower.” Even without other racers around, I had to be mindful of pace and really struggled to keep to my Z1+30” pace. A terrible curse, right!?! I kept reminding myself that I was running the first hour of a marathon in a 140.6 and that I was not out for a 6 mile/1 hour run. On race day, this will be true but I’m going to be sick of hearing “more slower” in my head by the end of the day.
On the nutrition front, I think things went well. I took in my saltcaps every 20 minutes and gel every 30. I even messed around with a few Clif Bloks while I was feeling good (as suggested in the race execution wiki). I don’t really like chewing while running, but trying to eat and run was a good distraction so may be worthwhile to do on race day if needed.
Hydration went well also. 3-4 oz per mile. I did not take my 30 steps but will on race day, which will make drinking even easier. This will come in handy later in the day when I typically don’t want to drink (but have to). My stomach felt generally fine, but I’ll have to pay close attention on race day. A salty solid food may be necessary along the way to counter all the sweet drinks/gels/bloks. I definitely felt that the sweet eats day was taking its toll. I’ve felt this way on previous rehearsals/big days so I was not surprised and didn’t cause me to panic. I just kept on “more slower” and moved on.
The end of the run came and I was happy. I was gassed in the way you are when the workout you’ve prepared for is over. I wasn’t gassed to the point where I was questioning my ability to cover 140.6 in 2 weeks. My stomach had had enough of the HEED, gels and bloks but as it was the end of the planned workout, I figure that I should be at that point. I didn’t feel a full GI rebellion and don’t expect too on race day once I set my head straight for the challenges of the day.
Post-RR: As usual, I can’t eat or drink for close to an hour. Stomach needs to settle down. Light stretching/walking and then cold bath (hurts so good). Took it easy the rest of the day. By this afternoon (about 24 hours later), I feel like I had a hard workout yesterday (which I did) but nothing to set off alarm bells. I take this as a good sign that I am physically prepared and had proper the nutrition in place.
Overall Goal
Was happy with my nutrition plan and know that I will need to continue to focus on the hydration aspect of things. No major concerns with stomach/bloating and feel I can counter any of that as I’m rolling along.
I have some tweaking to do on my bike pacing as I may have been pushing a little on the high side. But without the hills I train on as part of the race, my pacing may be right on.
My run pacing for the first hour/6 miles, will have to be a conscious effort at “more slower.” Keeping in mind that I have a 26 mile run ahead of me instead of a simulated one should keep me on track though. My goal is to not slow down in any significant way. I may not speed up and I may have slower segments but I would like to feel that I was steady overall. In my mind, the key to this is a “more slower” starting segment. I’ll be prepared for the dark patches and the onset of the suck, but once I can set the overall tone of my run, I hope to be good to go.
Comments
Gerry, I have had a similar problem where I have my nutrition pretty well dialed in for hot weather but have to pee like 6 times on the bike in cooler weather. Race day weather will be the find determinant I guess.
Otherwise it looks like you are doing great.