Jimmy Augustine's IMTX 70.3 Race Report
Summary - 5:27 is a 14min PR. 60th out of 261 in ag (247 finished) is 23% which is in line with last two races (IMCoz and Austin 70.3 last fall). The swim is a bit slower than most. Non wetsuit this year. This is a very fast bike course. After a few mi of admin at the start it is flat and straight with a turnaround at the 1/2 way point. Even in the rain this is a PR setting bike course. 3 loop run not that scenic and not that sheltered. Given the time of year the temps can be nice but this year was high 80's and humid. Single transition area. T's are quick. Overall this is a PR setting racecourse.
After two IM's last year and a ton of $ spent on tri, I decided this season that I would only do 1 IM, and generally stay closer to home. So Galveston seemed like a good choice as it is a 4hr drive and I could do it on the cheap. I also really wanted to do an OS this year. So I trained OS till about a month from the race date then built bike vol. I swam during the OS.
Training went well till towards the end. Picked up a cough and a sinus infection, and had a scare with a calf injury. All of it was cleared up completely by race day and I felt fine going in. I had been on the trainer all winter but didnt really have any conerns about that either. I had a new FTP of 227 but I didnt have enough time to hold that for long rides. I had no intention of trying to ride the .8 to .85IF that a fast course like this should allow someone who was better trained. I planned on .8 as a max but that I would ride by feel below that. I have learned the hard way that chasing a power number on race day can ruin me (IMTX) and that a 150bpm heart rate was a good number for me for 56mi because I will add 10bpm to that running and a 13.1 off of the bike past 160bpm is a problem for this old man. Vdot suggested that a 9min pace for the first 3mi then 8:30 was an ideal run. I know myself well enough to know that I'm not able to hold that just yet so really, 9min beccomes a govenor for the first few miles then I look for 160bpm.
So the goal going in was to belive that I was an above average swimmer and that I deserved my position, Bike around 150bpm, under 180w and run 9min the first few miles then 160bpm till I could smell the barn. Supersecret race goal was an audacious 11min pr of 5:30 based on a 40min swim, 2hr run and what best bike split said I could ride.
Logistics were easy. Came out by myself. Rented a condo on VRBO. Did team lunch (mosquito cafe was great. Thanks Chris for putting it together). I went to race site after lunch to register and check in my bike. Because of the heavy rains, the reistration line was a mile long. Seriously. They had two people checking names off and every triathlete in the world standing in line. I managed to end last year with AWA silver and that meant that I had my own check in. Zero line. All I had to do was have the nerve to walk past the mile of people. Which of course I did!
AWA also got us prime transition location. Really nice.
Race morning I got up at 4. I liketo log a mile and wake myself up. I dont do the ritual applesauce. I dont eat much sugar in general and prefer fat first thing in the morning. So I had a coffee with butter, made a peanut butter sandwich for later took a shower and was out the door by5 to head for transition. Even though it was only 4mi away I was worried about traffic and parking. Needless worries. I was there 10 min later parked close to the bikes. I set up transition and watched netflix on my phone till 6:45 and ate 1/2 my peanutbutter sandwich. Mostly out of boredom.
My wave didnt go off till 8. pros and cons to a late start. It will be hotter on the run but there are plenty of people to draft on and passing people is fun.
Swim - 39:54 80/261 in Ag. MY swim is still a major work in progress but I have progressed from back of pack to about the 33rd %. So I placed myself in the pack accordingly. Some contact right at the gun but we found our spaces pretty quickly. Non wetsuit but salt water. I did a bit of zigzagging. I seem to feel more comfortable swimming wide of the bouy line. I would like to correct that and swim a tighter line. I think that it has to do with sighting and how it is easier for me to sight if I swim wide. You cant see your hand at the end of your arm in this water by the way. I did have a few moments here and there when I felt like I was swimming well. I could feel my feet and legs high in the water and knew that I was moving efficiently. Then I would have to sight and my legs would drop and It would take 6 or so strokes to find my body position again. Then it would almost be time to sight again. I think that i could get faster on the same fitness if I could find that position again immediatly after sighting. All in all, 80/261 is a fine swim position for me. Pretty much right where I was in my past two races. and better than every race prior. I expect that with more practice I will move up further.
T1 was uneventful. My run speed was the limiter. I put my shoes on before running out but my run out was pretty short so I dont think it cost me more than a few seconds.
Bike - 2:35 IF .75 VI 1.02 NP 170 Avg HR 152. 51 /261 in Ag. We had a slight tail wind going out and a slight headwind coming back. But it was slight. I rode a little harder on the back 1/2 in terms of power and was about 1mp slower. My HR was 160 getting on the bike. The low point was 145 at about 1:30 then it gradually worked its way back to 150. I used 150 as a limit towards the end. Mostly because the rains had passed and it was getting hot and I was worried about the run. This is a simple bike course. Great first timer course. Great early season course. Easy to execute on. I rode an IF of .75 instead of .8 because in the moment riding at .8 just felt too hard. And HR was telling me the same thing. That .8 would leave me no where to go once I got off the bike. I drank 3 bottles. The first was nuun, the second was skratch and the 3rd was gatoraid off of the course. Salt sticks every 30 min to add sodium. No cal for first 30 min while I got my hr down then cliff blocks to supplement drinks. goal was between 100 and 200 per hour by feel.
T2 was easy. nothing to report.
Run 2:07 9.43 pace 60/261Ag. - As usual, it took me a mile or so to slow down to target pace. But even my first .7mi was 8:30 which is z2 so I didnt do too bad. By 1.5mi I had settled in to 9min/mi but my HR was already over 160 and I couldnt hold the pace. It just got hot. And it got hot out of nowhere. I slowed down as the run went on but so did lionel saunders and andy potts so at least I was in good company. Somewhere in mi4, I lost my heart rate monitor. Never could get it to come back. I figured that it was for the best at that point because I would not like what it was telling me anyway. Around mile 11 I felt cramp twinges but I had pickle juice on me as usual so they were quickly dealt with. Had salt stick every other mile. Drank gatoraid for the first 1/2 and coke for the 2nd. Ice down the shorts and in my hands. This run got unfun quite early. I started doing mental math to keep myself motivated. I was in a position to PR and that only happens every now and then. By mile 10 I realized that if I just held it together I could get in under 5:30. 5:29 sounded so much better to me than 5:30. All I had to do was not cave in. I am a VERY slow walker. Like 16min/mi walker. If I crack and have to walk I get super slow super fast. So my goal for the last few miles was to run at whatever pace I could hold without cracking.
Coming across at 5:27 was great. 14min 70.3 PR. I won't get the chance to go that fast again for a while. Although, if IMFL gives us the right kind of weather.... Who knows?
Comments
Jimmy,
Great report on a great day. Congrats on the PR! So looking forward to IMFL this fall. But that course in PCB is like this one in Galveston - it favors those with big FTPs over those with less pure power, regardless of the w/kg. I've been stuck ~255 for more than a year, and IMFL seemed like a good excuse to try to jack it up. I'm in Week 4/10 of some bike focus, with the expected surplus of pain, sweat and tears. To the extent you can get that 227 up some more, the sooner we can get to that finish line on Thomas Dr. and cheer KMF in.
Congrats again. See you this fall.
Mike
Great report and great training posts leading up to this day!
Just a lot of work and smart training getting to Galveston and then to see the payoff is HUGE bro!
So excited about going to IMFL with you and MR! Gonna need all the cheering I can get!
SS
Congrats on the PR! That's great! Sounds like you handled the day with wisdom - knowing when to push & when to lay off. It was great to finally meet you in person & our conversation about salt tab intake convinced me to change my race day strategy and double my S Cap intake. Not sure if it was THE reason but no calf cramping for me. So thanks for throwing that out there! I'm almost certain I'm going to sign up for Buffalo Springs and if so, I look forward to getting to race with you again!
It's cool to see that the OS + a little tweaking can have us more than prepared to do very well at HIM!
Looking back on it...would you have tweaked it any differently? And, what tweaks did you actually make? Just more volume to the long bike day and long run day?
I tried to keep my HR down while swimming though to give myself a little recovery. Lots of pull sets till the last few weeks before the race.
To be honest, I found myself pretty well buried by about week 8 of the OS. After testing in week 8 I was pretty well out of mojo. Got mildly ill and stayed that way for 2 or 3 weeks.
It was my first time with the OS and after getting through it, I'm not sure what to think.
Personally, I have a long way to go to bike/run at the numbers that my FTP and VDot suggest I should shoot for. I pushed this ride and ended up with an IF of .75 and my BEST IM run was last Nov in Coz and it was LRP+20. I got to EN from Tennis, BMX and crossfit. Points lasted 45sec, Races were 2 to 5 min. I think that I need some Far. But I didnt feel like a real EN never having done battle with the OS.
I also think that Texas weather makes the OS tough to schedule. The worst times to run outside here are really july/august not jan/feb. I like early season races like Galveston and IMTX for the training weather then late season races like IMFL for the same reason. Makes the OS a tough sell.
Which is a long winded way of saying that yes you can pop out of the OS a fw weeks before a 70.3 and show well but it was clearly not ideal.
I plan to hit IMTX next year. I may take november off then do some OS in Dec/Jan before getting down to IM prep