BK's Quassy 70.3 Report
This was my first HALF ever...my first tri ever was an Olympic last year. My two year plan is to build up to Full distance in 2016.
Here is the Official Summary
Course Summary
| Course | Time | Pace | Distance |
|---|---|---|---|
| Swim | 00:39:13.640 | 02:02 /100m | 1.20 mi |
| Bike | 04:03:18.806 | 13.83 mph | 56.10 mi |
| Run | 02:52:27.416 | 13:10 /mi | 13.10 m |
First the Good: I finished! and I broke 8 hours which was goal #2
Pre Race - I woke up t 4am to have applesauce and protein powder, I used this combo for a recent half mary and it worked great. The plan was to leave the hotel at 5 am but I did not end up leaving until 5:15...which I did not think would be a big deal. The problem with leaving 15 minutes late is that I arrived at the race site when everyone else was arriving. The backup getting into the parking lot meant that I did not arrive in transition until 6 am. Since transition closed at 6:30 I barely had enough time to set up and relax before i had to head to the water.
Swim Warm-Up - I was able to get a 10 minute warmup in and that worked wonders on my nerves. By the time I was done with the warmup I was nicely relaxed. Now that my head was in a good place I realized that I forgot to bring a gel down to water. My haste setting up transition just cost me. Since there was nothing I could do to remedy my mistake I put it out of mind and focused on the race.
Swim - My plan was to complete the swim in 45 minutes. The course was a triangle so I decided to mentally break it into 3 segments of 15 minutes each. Segment 1 was to be nice and slow and steady and use the mantra "Swim your race". This worked very well in the crowded water and I was ready to turn the corner. The turn immediately presented challenges because the sun made it impossible to see the buoys, my only choice was to follow the herd and hope they were swimming straight. On the final turn my plan was to slowly increase speed into the swim finish. Now that I could see where I was going I executed my plan.
My official time for the swim was 39:13. I had a good swim and felt ready for the bike.
Bike - When I hopped on the bike I felt ready for the course -I had done a preview ride a month before and knew what lie ahead. My plan was to ride easy until the BIG hill at about mile 30, however, on the first few miles of the bike I was VERY wobbly. I am not sure if it was because of the swim or a nutrition issue, but it took until mile 20 before I felt i had my legs under me. Luckily I felt steady before the BIG hill and just kept focusing on that climb. All went according to plan until mile 50...my legs were cooked. I was in a lot of pain and simply exhausted. To make it though the last 6 miles I just focused on the downhills...got myself low and let gravity pull me down.
Bike Time was 4:03...plan was 3:45. I definitely need to work on bike fitness.
Run - I took my time in T2 to make sure I had all the proper fuel and even grabbed a few extra gels just in case. My quads were cramping at the end of the bike so I needed a banana and some salt. Unfortunately, bananas were not available until mile 2 aid station. Lesson learned - always have a banana packed for transitions.
As per RnP instructions I took the first 3 miles slow and made sure I had my legs under me. In training it typically would take me until mile 6 to get really warm and this was the case in the race as well. By the time I reached mile 6 I felt great...maybe I was just happy to be off the bike!! I continued to slowly increase my pace for next 3 miles and was convinced I could run the entire course. Then the hills and heat hit me like a freight train. Somewhere around mile 9-10 I started to get dizzy - despite pouring water over my head at each aid station and drinking Gatorade I was overheating. My race plan called for me to walk if I felt this way...so I did. For the next 3 miles I walked up the hills and then ran the flats/downhills. I had 1/2 a banana at the mile 11 aid station and that really gave me a boost. Once I reached the top of the final hill I had enough strength to run the last quarter mile - well maybe not strength but certainly determination...there was NO way I was walking across the finish line!!!
I ended up finishing with a time of 7:43...but was pretty delirious for about an hour after the race - partly due to excitement about finishing and partly due to exhaustion.
My takeaways:
1.) Plan on leaving 15 minutes before you think you should
2.) Talk to coaches about improving bike fitness
3.) Eat bananas
Of course I would welcome any thoughts from the team as your experience has proved invaluable thus far.
PS - I am pretty sure I have a "tri problem" as I have already been looking for another Half to do this year 
Comments
Congrats!