Tim Cronk 2015 Quassy Challenge OLY/HIM Double RR
I signed up for the Quassy Challenge as a big training weekend for IMLP... I did not write up a race plan because I didnt really have one and fully expected the weekend to be quite dynamic as I was going into unchartered territory... Past experience with a back to back race's was the Old Mooseman OLY/HIM weekend which resulted in a DNF on the OLY day 1 due to my poor choices in 48 degree rainy weather and then a slow over dressed day 2 on the HIM... My unwritten plan for the Quassy weekend was quite simple, RACE the OLY on day one for all I had and go by feel on the HIM day 2.... This was my 3rd consecutive Quassy OLY and I have never done the HIM or even seen the course...
Day 1 -OLY- Quite possibly my perfect race... 3.5 min Course PR , Swim course PR, Bike missed PR by 4 seconds and rode at IF .96 , Run was all time OLY 10k run PR and only 56 seconds or 9 seconds per mile slower than my best open 10k (result of my huge run block this winter? maybe I hope)...Run pace came in at 6:54 which is right on my EN Z3 HM pace....Transitions were a thing of beauty just smooth , fluid, and fast.... Unfortunately even though I was 3.5 minutes faster than the year I actually won my AG I was only good enough for 4th place.... My hats are off to the 3 guys who beat me.... I never saw anyone pass me on the bike and the 1 guy I saw go by me on the run was untouchable! Very happy with results/effort on day 1.
Team Lunch at 1pm , meet new EN peeps, re-unite with old ones , lunch back to hotel for rest , more food , easy walk , lights out early...
Day 2- HIM- This is actually a story of a RACE .... Usually everyone who is going to beat me is already in front of me so I never see anyone in my AG until the race is over...Woke up feeling good... Dialed up expectations and gave Heather my estimates of 32 swim , 2:50 bike , 1:45 run , 5:15 or less total....
SWIM - lined in front of my wave(7) with M50-54AG and the Clydesdales...guy next to me looks down and says lemme guess your not a Clydesdale... Nope maybe half a Clydesdale....1st out of the water in my AG out of 60... Swim appears to be improving :-).... Of course I had no idea at the time .... Swim 32:32 (we think some of this is the run to transition) close to my estimate of 32
T1 - stumbled and bumbled my way thru transition.... as I was running my bike out I even said to Heather who observed the whole thing , well that wasnt as smooth as yesterday LOL...2:07 vs 1:05 for the OLY but not sure if the moved a timing mat between the swim and transition to account for some of this?
Bike - Bumbled the clip in but got to business fast... Was cold for 1st half hour... Did not know the course, didnt take the time to drive it... On paper it shared half the OLY course and thought I would be familiar with it but it went out differently and I was completely lost without the benefit of knowing what was coming up next or the major turns.... I know better than this and wont do that again specially if I have the time to drive the course.... I normally ride a HIM at IF .85 so was targeting this if I felt good and I was..... Pushed the hills with an extra 10-15% , allowed a 10-15% reduction on the descents and lots of coasting if really fast.... Saw 2 guys pass me on the bike ... Stayed in my box and continued to ride my race! So I knew I was at least 3rd but expected lower as I am never first out of the water ... Bike 2:54 - 4 minutes slower than my estimate of 2:50 but no surprise this course is legit!
T-2 repeat T1 stumble and bumble but 55 seconds vs 50 seconds on the OLY .... NOTE my rack in Transistions was same location for each day....
Run - The RACE! With the race of the the day before in my legs and these Quassy hills it was complete RPE pacing.... I dont use HR and pace is a fools game on this course... Settled in and paid attention to effort and feel... Around mile 3 an AG guy passes me with authority... Well this is way too early , I dont know how this is going to go for me later in the run, and he appeared to be much faster... But everytime we had a straight away he was still in sight but with what appeared to be an untouchable gap..... This continued from mile 3-10.... Somewhere in the second half of the run and before mile 10 I passed the 2 guys that had passed me on the bike... I could still see the one guy who passed me on the run but continued to assume there were more in front that I just hadnt seen....After mile 10 I noticed the gap starting to close up a bit...Now my thoughts were torn , before the gap was untouchable and now I may have to actually race this guy... I'd never forgive myself if I just settled , even though I still believed I was racing for 3rd or 4th.... Mile 11 a little closer... Mile 11.5 a little closer.... Mile 12 I'm almost behind him , he slows at the 12 mile aid station , I skip it and make my move... As I go by he says , nice job, OH wait NO not nice job, then he goes to work to stay with me , I can hear him breathing , a hack , a cough , I push a little more to show him I gonna push , I can still hear him , push more , still there, mile 12.5 I see Steve West coming the other way , just a tiny nod and point to him , PUSH more , I can't hear him anymore but I won' look , That last mile has a vicious hill and then a flat finish.... Pushed all the way to the finish and waited for him to come in 34 seconds behind me... He came up with big congrats and said if I'm second I'm gonna die... I said NO way we are 1st and 2nd at 5:10-5:11 the winning time in this AG is usually 4:55-5:05.... Lets go see... Sure enough I was 1st and he was 2nd... We thanked each other for a great race! Run was 1:41:17 , 3.5 minutes faster than estimate, 7:44 pace right in the middle of my EN Z1 EP and Z2 MP vs. his 1:39:39 so he had out Run split me but I out kicked him on the finish... Again its all about who shows up, most of the time we really never know where we are position wise , just gotta keep executing our race on that day and if/when the time is right RACE....
Some thoughts...
Racing is the best training, you get test yourself, practice nutrition, pacing , peeing on the bike, and transitions... Back to back days are really good for transition practice even though I did better on day one than day two in this respect...
Transitions Matter- In the run race story above it all adds up , 2nd place guy out split me on the run but I out split him by 12 seconds on the transitions and almost a minute each on the swim/bike... It all adds up and it all counts... Dont leave free seconds in transition cause you just never know... If I was a further 12 seconds behind him on that run the race might not have materialized....
Bottomline- I think worst case scenario by racing the OLY all out on day one that I only left maybe 5-8 watts on the table day 2 and maybe 10 seconds per mile on the run... Swim nothing!
Questions , comments, etc are always welcome....
Anything? Files for bike run? Nutrition detail before , during , between , or after race's ? Training? Taper?
Special thanks to my Heather Sherpa and Driver home on Day 2... She raced the OLY for a Quassy PR on Day one... And to all the EN team MOJO at Quassy this year !
Comments
Loved the final mile by mile account of that AG win! Hugely inspirational!
Thoughts:
Agree that racing really is the best way to get faster. I tell people this all the time but I don't do it very often and need to do it more.
You forgot to tell everyone about your secret weapon. I've seen you come into a transition, look over, find Heather then light up like a light bulb and take care of business!!
Well done as always!
KMF!
Anyway, great to see you and Heather and congrats!
Tim, as usual, you continue to inspire us all. Congrats on another stellar performance and win(s). I learn a lot from your attention to detail and competitiveness. I'm also glad you're so young!
Your ultra training and racing this winter and spring seems to have paid off in getting you to the finish line so fast in the second race. Your nutrition and hydration leading up to the first race, during and after that first race and during the second race must have also been spot on to allow you to skip the last aid station. Good work! Say hi to Heather.
It really says something about nutrition and recovery I think to be able to place that high on back to back days. ALso good to see where you ran vs your z1 2 and 3 paces.
For what it's worth, my friend Rick who lives in my town, took 1st in your AG in the OLY on Saturday. I have no idea what he has been having for breakfast, but he has been absolutely crushing it in the sprint/Oly distance lately. Untouchable. But then again, he doesn't race long course distance!
Congrats on a superb weekend!
Great report!!! Enjoyed reading it and made me want to race "back-to-back-anything" ASAP!!!
Well done Tim! Those boys in LP should be very afraid.
Well, that's the way to do it. Run within, but at the edge of your envelope, and you will always miraculously have something to race with in the last 10 minutes. Nothing like being the hunted to keep you going. You've learned your final lesson, you are now officially a Big Time Racer. See ya in LP/
Do you think driving the course would have improved your bike split for the half? Would that have changed the way you approached the run? If yours and 2nd place guy's roles were reversed would you have been aware of that and been able to react if he made the same move?
Did you do anything special between day 1 and day 2 to recover and get ready for the half? Feel any different after the half than you normally do?
@Bob and Jimmy... Nutrition/Recovery are always a big role...As both you guys probably know I have been a Vegan/Plant based athlete for 6 years now... I dont think it makes me any faster but it sure isnt hurting me any.... I pretty much treat the day before an OLY-IM race the same as a good carbo-load day with minimal activity...
Friday was oatmeal breakfast, sweet potato w/applesauce lunch , 2 bananas on the way to Quassy, white rice for dinner , after dinner was carbopro with coconut water...
Saturday OLY... coffee, white rice breakfast , Gatorade and gel before swim , 3/4 bottle gatorade on bike, 1 gel on run, so 600-700 cal before race and 300-350 cal during race
Between OLY-HIM bottle gatorade immediately after OLY , Bean Salad Sandwhich and pickles at the event after Heather finished , Edamame Potstickers and sweet potato french fries at the EN lunch , dinner of white rice , bottle of carbopro w/coconut water
Sunday.... coffee ,sesame seed bagel w/almond butter and dates, gatorade and gel before swim , 1.75 bottles gatorade on the bike with 6 clif blocks , 3 gels on the run w/water but drank gatorade otherwise
After HIM- immediate bottle of gatorade , couple bean sandwhiches and pickles at the venue , bagel w/almond butter dates after awards , granola bar on way home, Boloco bowl of brown rice, black bean, veggies, mushrooms, squash, cranberries, guacomole, salsa for dinner that night
Monday Day After ...Breakfast Chocolate chip pancakes , Lunch Humus Kale wrap with salad of beets, tomatoes, avocado, blackberries, strawberries, pineapple, Dinner was a Tofu Spinach Quiche and banana sweet potato whole wheat bisquits
Keep in mind a lot of those carb meals were topped with proteins and fats and more carbs like hemp seed , coconut oil, almond butter, maple syrup
I had a good discussion with Steve West about nutrition... One comment he had that stood out and made sense and I totally agree was distinguishing training racing nutrition from general nutrition. As you can see when racing I focus on easy to digest simple calories fairly low on fiber vs. my normal nutritional diet of many colors and lots of fiber..
@Brad cool the OLY winner was local... Yes them old guys are kicking ass and everywhere you go its about who shows up.... Looking at the results in the M55-59 AG above me I would have won the OLY but only place 4th in the HIM .... The guy who won the HIM in the 55-59 when deep under 5hrs , like to know his breakfast!
@Brian you were looking really strong on the bike, I wasnt a bit surprised to see you at the turn around , I kept waiting for you to come by the last 20 miles.... 5:21 damn nice race !
Nutrition difference HIM vs IM.... Same prep day before , read post above and some of my other Race Reports for IM's they have lots of detail in them... The swim prep is the same w/gatorade and gel pre-swim... Bike on HIM is 2 bottles or less and I eat 60 cals every 45 minutes vs. IM 1 bottle per hr 16-30 oz per hr depending on heat , eat 60 calories every 30 minutes.... Run HIM usually 3 gels at miles 1,5,9 ish taken with water and gatorade all other aid stations vs. IM I use gel in a flask and sip every 3 miles with water and gatorade all other aid stations, switching to coke at mile 20ish... 50-100 cals per hr more for a IM vs. HIM .... definitely more fluid per hr , Caffeine HIM is more front loaded with the gels, blocks, salt pills vs. the IM where I tend to go minimal caffeine until around 4hrs on the bike then start to pick it up.... Sodium is usually the same at 400-600 per hour although I am experimenting with a little higher level this year. Almost all of my IM's have been race at 120'lbs with 250-280 cals per hr ...
@Carol , Juan , Turby and David big thanks everybody
@Doug... Thanks and good Q's.... No doubt I would have been faster on the bike had I driven the course first... How much is definitely hard to quantify but I would have been much more comfortable... I always at least drive the course but on paper it looked like it shared most of the OLY and I didnt have that much time... In retrospect it was an error and I should have done it anyway... I'm racing Patriotman in 2 weeks with plans to arrive in time to drive the course... I dont think it would have affected my run at all... I do like to see the run courses before hand but have found very little performance benefit reconning a run course so its low priority... If our roles were reversed , I would not have known he was there, In general I dont look behind me (when I did pass him I honestly never looked back again) but I would have rallied to race him.... I would certainly rather do it the way it turned out as I had the advantage.... Pretty much covered the nutrition in the post above but after the EN lunch it was back to the hotel with lots of feet up time, before dinner I went out for an easy 10 minute walk in the flat parking lot , then back to feet up, NO stretching , Rolling ETC.... Just food and rest.... Its in the post above but I have become a fan of the carbopro/coconut water after dinner bottle as its another 300 cals of carbs and hydration..... I cannot tell a lie I felt like crap all the way home (but I always do after a hard effort) I don't think it was any worse than after a single HIM , but I do think I was a little worse off on monday.... I woke with plans of a recovery swim but the water was rough and so was I so went with pancakes and a walk instead!
@ALL- this course is definitely legit.... I punched my data into bestbikesplit.com and they missed my actual bike split by 15 minutes ... Thats not even close for a HIM , they usually guess my IM's within 10 min...
Great report and read. Thanks for the inspiration. I'm sitting here two days after my OLY with legs that still don't want to move they are so sore. Don't know how you did that.
From our conversations I knew you had planned on racing the Olympic and PR's on 2 of the 3 disciplines leading up to a 3.5 minute course PR is a testament to that. Great job on that one. Too bad a few fast peeps showed up to dash your podium plans. Could be that the race being the USAT NE Regional Championship brought those guys in.
When I saw you on Sunday at mile 12 grinding up the hill, you were completely dialed in. The look of focus and determination on you face let me know you were RACING! I was glad see it in action, especially once I knew the details of the run. If you slowed to chat or do anything other than the simple nod would have been grounds for a 'dope slap'... Doh!!
It is amazing what you are capable of doing. To pace the Oly bike at 95% the day before, put up the 85% bike for the 70.3, then run hard without fading, wow! I've done 6 HIM double weekends and have always felt the need to hold back some on both running 88-90% and 80-82% which for me has been as close to max effort as I dare for concern of stupid, preventable injuries. Kudos to you and your training to have that kind of fitness and the wisdom to use it.
Congrats again Tim for a well deserved AG win. I can't wait to see what you can do at Lake Placid.
way to go.
glad you didn't let me beat you.
in future seasons i hope to add more shorter races. fully scheduled out this year though with work and family.
what are your 2016 iron plans? try to race together or not?
Tim, Congrats on another stellar race weekend. I think that big run block is gonna pay off come October!!
@Robin , what are you crazy? Arent you in my AG next year or is it 2017? Don't forget we do get to race together this year at IMAZ .... For 2016 I'm looking at only 1 IM and it will be either IMLOU or IMMD.... Heather's choice and she wants IMLOU , I've done IMLOU twice and think I would prefer to do IMMD , since they are only a week apart we just may hit both but I will still only do ONE, but that is the plan for now....
timbuk. arizona this year may or may not happen depending on work and family stuff.
lake placid is july. ironman maryland is october this year. will maryland be different time for 2016 ? would like to do that sometime as it is near family.
i am 50 yo february 2016. so for 2016 we will be same group right?
Well done!
@Scott thanks buddy!