Chris Knighton 70.3 Texas Race Report
Target Time: 4:25
Actual Time: 4:39:59
Swim
Target: 30-31 min
Actual: 34:56
Swim was wetsuit optional so I swam in my swim skin. I was in the 14th wave that started at 7:52, so I had a lot of time to wait until my turn. Swim was uneventful, had minimal contact, felt good, and believed I was on target. I took a decent line and didn’t zig zag very much. When I exited the water and looked at my watch I was surprised and a bit disappointed.
Bike
Target: 2:22 (Bestbikesplit.com)
Actual: 2:16:29
The plan was to bike the first 10 or so miles at 220-230w (to get my HR in check) then bump it up to around 240w no more than 245w for the duration. Since I started so late, I was passing people nearly the whole way. In fact, there were probably only two times where I had truly open road, and that only lasted maybe 10 minutes total. On the way out, I kept seeing 25+MPH on the Garmin and kept thinking I must be having help with the wind, and worrying about paying for it coming back. (This was only my 3rd outdoor ride since August of last year, so power has been my only real metric. I've had no clear correlation of power to speed lately). I started getting very sporadic power readings, a lot of power and cadence drops, and only the occasional real number. I just tried to pay more attention to my perceived exertion and my heart rate, and as long as those remained the same I knew I was on track. At the turnaround I thought I was going to start slowing down, again believing I had a little tailwind going out, but that wasn’t the case as I never had to slow up a bit. Other than being rained on from miles 20-50 it was basically a flat and uneventful ride. When I looked down at my time coming into transition, I was pleased that I had made up some of the time I lost in the swim.
Run
Target 1:33 (7:08/mile)
Actual: 1:43:33 (7:54/mile)
My running plan left me choices based on what the race day temperature was:
If 65 degrees or below and no wind: (Goal Pace 6:56/mile) BEST CASE SCENERIO
If 75 Degrees and no wind: (Goal Pace 7:05/mile)
If 80 Degrees and no wind: (Goal Pace 7:08/mile)
It was 81 degrees so I targeted 7:08/mile.
My miles were supposed to go like this:
Miles 1-3 7:27 plus 20 second walk/mile/aid station
MIles 4-10 6:56 plus 20 second walk/mile/aid station
Miles 8-13 6:44 (or best effort) plus 20 second walk/mile/aid station
What ended up happening was:
Mile 1 7:05
Mile 2 7:12
Mile 3 7:25
Mile 4 7:20
Mile 5 7:36
Mile 6 7:49
Mile 7 7:57
Mile 8 8:39
Mile 9 8:31
Mile 10 8:04
Mile 11 8:19
Mile 12 8:10
Mile 13 8:03
7:54/mile avg
I started the run feeling well and went out a few seconds/mile faster than planned. At mile 4, when I was supposed to increase my pace, I could only muster a mere 5 seconds/mile faster, and then faded from there. I was getting hot and my HR was steadily increasing. I walked every aid station and felt my nutrition was right on track. I had 1-2 cups/perform at each aid station and a Powerbar Gel every 30 minutes. Started pouring ice in my top and bottoms in the last few miles. I never felt sick or underfueled, just flat. I just didn’t have it.
Takeaways:
Swim:
Based on RR swims, I was a good 4 minutes slow. My short distance pool swimming has improved over the last year, i.e. 100s, 200s, even 400s. But that’s not translating into faster swim splits. I think this is for several reasons. 1) My form breaks down and I fall into old (and easier to maintain) bad habits. A lot of that is just the way it goes on race day by default, but much of it I believe is representative of the amount of time I swim. 2) I think I swim too conservatively, fearing exhaustion coming into the bike. That goes back to #1; and 3) I just don’t get to swim in open water often enough to get proficient at it. My plan between now and IMFL is to really focus on my swim. (see Mike Roberts swim thread)
Bike:
This last 8 week block I’ve had to shorten up some of the longer rides due to family obligations. I always rode, but sometimes I had to break them up into two or three separate rides on Saturday and/or I would just hit the Z4 and Z3 stuff. So coming into the race, I was allowing doubts to creep in that I hadn’t done the work. Well I had done the work. I was very pleased with my bike split. I didn’t overcook it, and probably even have undercooked it some based on the good data I had. Really disappointed that I don’t have the data to see the full picture. Looking ahead, my goal is to raise the roof and ceiling some and some short course stuff this summer will allow some shorter high intensity FTP building stuff.
Run:
I went out a little too fast in the first couple of miles and although it was just a little bit, I think know it cost me later on. Also, my temperature adjustment didn’t take into account the 93% humidity on the day, so had I adjusted my pace up AND executed it properly I might have had a little better result? I should have been using ice at every aid station, but I waited until I felt hot before I got any ice…mistake!
I did all of my long runs in this block on a treadmill, mainly because I could control the conditions, fueling, potty breaks, etc. Not having done my long runs in conditions similar to race day could have had some effect too? However, we haven’t had any days similar to race day conditions, so I don’t know whether it would have been possible to get acclimated. Moving forward, my goal is to raise my VDOT some over the course of the summer while training for and racing short course stuff.
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Comments
Just a fantastic race. Very happy for you. I know you dedicated yourself after IMTX last year to getting faster. And you did. It seemed like everyone's swims were slow in Galveston (except for the pros, as usual), so I wouldn't worry too much about a couple of minutes. The big FTP you developed the last year really played well on this flat bike course, and the result was nothing short of spectacular. That will set you up very well for IMFL, where sub-5 will be quite doable if you get in the training and the weather is somewhat cooperative. And you already figured out your run "problem." I've only run two good 70.3's, and both times I went out easy and slowly started to build at around 1/2 mile and didn't get into my goal pace until 2 miles in. Every other time, when I would go out in the low 7's, I would crack and struggle to go sub-2. Easy to say, more difficult to do (especially when you're coming off a 2:16 and think you're invincible). Again, congrats. Looking forward to sharing the journey to PCB with you.
Mike
Interesting to me to read because I had a very very similar experience. Just slower across all 3 sports. I felt like I had a good swim and was a few minutes slower than I expected. The bike was faster than BBS said it would be. And when it came time to speed up on the run I didnt have it and faded. I felt good about nutrition and hydration but once on the run my HR got high fast.
Subjectively, the run felt really hot. Like, "I wasn't ready for this" hot. And EVERYONE faded on the run. Look at the splits from the pros. I spot checked randomly because I was curious and even the most experienced faded. MAkes me wonder why. Could be early season. Could have been the heat. Could have been going out too fast. But I dont think so. 3 seconds ahead of pace in mile 1 was not that big a deal IMO.
I think it was the heat and lack of heat acclimitization. I know that I wasnt ready for it. I felt like I kept adjusting down my pace on the fly to try and get my HR under controll.
WOW, fast and well executed IMO. Good swim, focused and blistering fast bike, and then, a great run holding the line in humid warm temps (very hard to do coming off of a bike like that one).......just shows ALOT of mental character and maturity to get that done the way you did it bro!
I'll be at IMFL with MR and Jimmy Augustine cheering you (from behind) all the way!
HUGE race bro!
SS
@Al - Thanks and you're right, not much easing into short course running. It's just balls to the wall from start to finish.
@MR - I was hoping my excuse for the slow swim was a long course, but according to my Garmin file, it wasn't. "I wouldn't worry that much about a couple of minutes" Ha! coming from the Andy Potts of EN. Run execution is always the most frustrating thing for me. Swimming usually is what it is, the bike is just holding power, but the run is so finicky. Nothing new or profound about that though. Getting the best out ourselves in all three events on the same day is what we're all working towards. Thanks for always being an encourager. Look forward to our IMFL journey.
@Stephanie - Thanks for the support!
@Jimmy- I really didn't feel hot until I was too hot, if that makes sense? By then it was too late. Like you, I just didn't anticipate it. You're right about the combination of zeal, heat, humidity and acclimatization. I think I lost the most of my time with my overzealous first 3 miles. BTW - I ran the first mile 22 seconds faster than planned. I was supposed to run the first 3 in 7:27. 22 seconds for me is huge. The difference in my Z2 and Z3 is only 18 seconds and that's a world of difference. Congrats on your race and see you in FL.
@SS - Thanks for the constant encouragement bro. Your IMTX leadership last year was a major motivator for me to keep plugging away...as is your constant workout exhibitions that cause to rest of us to question our level of committment. You make me and many others dig that much deeper!
Congrats!