Tom's Florida 70.3 race report
Ironman Florida 70.3 race report
The short:
Age 56, second year with EN.
My 9th HIM, 4th in Florida, first at the new Florida location in Haines City. Second HIM training with EN.
Listed in order are my most recent 70.3 results (Florida 2010, Lake Stevens 2014, Florida 2015)
Swim: 35:29, 31:17, 35:18
T1: 3:46, 3:29, 3:48
Bike: 2:41:55, 3:03:30, 2:39:32
T2: 3:06, 4:09, 3:57
Run: 2:10:31, 1:51:40, 2:01:23
Overall: 5:34:47, 5:34:05, 5:23:23
The long:
Travelled from Oregon to Florida on Friday. Reassembled my bike (used my new Ruster sports armored hen house case for the first time), registered Saturday and then met teammates Paul, Jan and Melissa for an early dinner at the Olive Garden. We had the option of dropping off our bikes in transition Saturday but I'm glad I chose not to because there was a thunderstorm that evening that dumped so much rain I thought my bike would have floated away.
Leading up to the race my training had a little hiccup. About four weeks out on a long run I noticed some pain in my hip, iliac spine area. In the remaining 4 weeks before the race I ended up doing very little running as I tried to let it heal. My therapist had me do some underwater running and some exercises. On a couple slow paced runs the week before I didn't have any pain so I was encouraged. However, they were very slow runs and I knew I wanted to run at my goal pace so I wasn't sure how things would go during the race. During those four weeks of limited run volume I bumped my swim volume and tried to substitute a bike ride for a missed run here and there. No pain at all during cycling or swimming.
Race day I was up early for breakfast and got to the race site early enough to get a decent parking spot. Once my transition area was set, I waited for the swim start. The old guys were in the second wave behind the relay wave. This meant it shouldn't be too crowded by the time I got on the bike course which was a new experience for me. So often the old guys are in the later waves so I was looking forward to the possibility of mostly open roads.
The swim start is in neck high water in Lake Eva. Once you navigate the thick underwater grasses you get to the start line. Warm up in the water was not allowed so I tried to do a light jog barefoot on the sidewalk and some push-ups to get the blood moving. I had thought about bringing my swim cords but unfortunately had left them back in Oregon. My intent was to start up front since I'm usually in the top 10% or so of my age group of the swim and hopefully find some feet right away to draft on. I ended up starting right on the buoy line which ended up hurting me a little because after the start I found myself drifting to the right a little and away from my competitors. We were to keep buoys to our right and so by the time I got back on line I couldn't find any feet to draft on. Finally, about half way through the swim I found someone swimming at my speed or slightly faster and just followed him the rest of the way. Out of the water in a slightly slow 35:18 and in 12th place in my age group.
My main focus for this race was to really practice staying aero as much as possible and keeping my power right at my pre planned wattage (1.05 VI or less). This has been a weakness and an area I need to improve if I'm to succeed at IM Chattanooga later this year. Because of the hip injury and the usual heat/humidity in Florida I decided to target about .72-.73 IF for the first 15-20 minutes and then .75 the rest of the way. There were times when my perceived exertion seemed high at the .75 range but other times when it seemed real doable. There was some actual fog and low clouds through most of my bike so that helped keep the temps down. 66 degrees to start the bike and 80 at the finish. In the end I averaged 219 watts at an IF of .755 (1.03 VI) and came off the bike in 11th.
Then came the run. Started off well at my goal pace of around 8:30. My heart rate was high so backed off on the pace a little. Then at about 3 miles I started to feel twinges in my hip. The run is three loops around lake Eva and actually has some rollers to the course. On the second loop my hip really was starting to act up. Ice in my TRI short pocket which happened to be right over the affected area got me through loop two. Loop three was a struggle mainly because of my hip but the heat was also a factor. Limped across the line for a surprising 10 minute HIM PR. 16th in my age group out of about 70 starters. Pretty sure I lost those 5 places in that third loop and they were all within about 3-4 minutes ahead of me.
Overall pleased with my bike execution and PR. Disappointed that I have this run injury thing now and I'm left with what could have been.
Nutrition was right in line with my plan 36 ounces/hour on the bike and about 400 calories an hour. Run nutrition was drink 1-2 cups of Gatorade at every aid station and 2 gels evenly spaced.
Thanks for reading
The short:
Age 56, second year with EN.
My 9th HIM, 4th in Florida, first at the new Florida location in Haines City. Second HIM training with EN.
Listed in order are my most recent 70.3 results (Florida 2010, Lake Stevens 2014, Florida 2015)
Swim: 35:29, 31:17, 35:18
T1: 3:46, 3:29, 3:48
Bike: 2:41:55, 3:03:30, 2:39:32
T2: 3:06, 4:09, 3:57
Run: 2:10:31, 1:51:40, 2:01:23
Overall: 5:34:47, 5:34:05, 5:23:23
The long:
Travelled from Oregon to Florida on Friday. Reassembled my bike (used my new Ruster sports armored hen house case for the first time), registered Saturday and then met teammates Paul, Jan and Melissa for an early dinner at the Olive Garden. We had the option of dropping off our bikes in transition Saturday but I'm glad I chose not to because there was a thunderstorm that evening that dumped so much rain I thought my bike would have floated away.
Leading up to the race my training had a little hiccup. About four weeks out on a long run I noticed some pain in my hip, iliac spine area. In the remaining 4 weeks before the race I ended up doing very little running as I tried to let it heal. My therapist had me do some underwater running and some exercises. On a couple slow paced runs the week before I didn't have any pain so I was encouraged. However, they were very slow runs and I knew I wanted to run at my goal pace so I wasn't sure how things would go during the race. During those four weeks of limited run volume I bumped my swim volume and tried to substitute a bike ride for a missed run here and there. No pain at all during cycling or swimming.
Race day I was up early for breakfast and got to the race site early enough to get a decent parking spot. Once my transition area was set, I waited for the swim start. The old guys were in the second wave behind the relay wave. This meant it shouldn't be too crowded by the time I got on the bike course which was a new experience for me. So often the old guys are in the later waves so I was looking forward to the possibility of mostly open roads.
The swim start is in neck high water in Lake Eva. Once you navigate the thick underwater grasses you get to the start line. Warm up in the water was not allowed so I tried to do a light jog barefoot on the sidewalk and some push-ups to get the blood moving. I had thought about bringing my swim cords but unfortunately had left them back in Oregon. My intent was to start up front since I'm usually in the top 10% or so of my age group of the swim and hopefully find some feet right away to draft on. I ended up starting right on the buoy line which ended up hurting me a little because after the start I found myself drifting to the right a little and away from my competitors. We were to keep buoys to our right and so by the time I got back on line I couldn't find any feet to draft on. Finally, about half way through the swim I found someone swimming at my speed or slightly faster and just followed him the rest of the way. Out of the water in a slightly slow 35:18 and in 12th place in my age group.
My main focus for this race was to really practice staying aero as much as possible and keeping my power right at my pre planned wattage (1.05 VI or less). This has been a weakness and an area I need to improve if I'm to succeed at IM Chattanooga later this year. Because of the hip injury and the usual heat/humidity in Florida I decided to target about .72-.73 IF for the first 15-20 minutes and then .75 the rest of the way. There were times when my perceived exertion seemed high at the .75 range but other times when it seemed real doable. There was some actual fog and low clouds through most of my bike so that helped keep the temps down. 66 degrees to start the bike and 80 at the finish. In the end I averaged 219 watts at an IF of .755 (1.03 VI) and came off the bike in 11th.
Then came the run. Started off well at my goal pace of around 8:30. My heart rate was high so backed off on the pace a little. Then at about 3 miles I started to feel twinges in my hip. The run is three loops around lake Eva and actually has some rollers to the course. On the second loop my hip really was starting to act up. Ice in my TRI short pocket which happened to be right over the affected area got me through loop two. Loop three was a struggle mainly because of my hip but the heat was also a factor. Limped across the line for a surprising 10 minute HIM PR. 16th in my age group out of about 70 starters. Pretty sure I lost those 5 places in that third loop and they were all within about 3-4 minutes ahead of me.
Overall pleased with my bike execution and PR. Disappointed that I have this run injury thing now and I'm left with what could have been.
Nutrition was right in line with my plan 36 ounces/hour on the bike and about 400 calories an hour. Run nutrition was drink 1-2 cups of Gatorade at every aid station and 2 gels evenly spaced.
Thanks for reading
0
Comments
Any issues with your Ruster case at the airport?
I'm trying to buy one, but there seems to be a bug when I go through the checkout process, and even though I emailed customer service 6 days ago, they haven't responded. Did you have any issues when ordering?
Also, some reviews said that when the agent saw the word "sports" on the bag, it seemed like a give away that it was a bike. I've noticed some pictures on the web site does not include "sports" anymore, just Ruster, so maybe they've updated the logo.
I still haven't heard back from them. Although, I found a phone number on their facebook page, 515-343-7143, and it went to voicemail. I'll let you know if or when they respond.
FYI - Southwest is probably one of the few airlines that a Ruster can get away with no charge since virtually every other airline now charges for a second bag if not all bags. Actually $75 each way is pretty cheap, but as it turns out, it was my most expensive airline last year when it came to bike fees (Pika Packworks). I flew Jet Blue to San Juan this year for $0 so I'm off to a good start.