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Grand Rapids 70.3 race report (Anna S.)

This was a B-Race and my goals for this 70.3 were: practice race execution and have fun

The week before the event I went to Snowmass, CO to the fabulous bike camp organized by Al (Thank you Al!). That was awesome. I did 4 days of biking (+some running) and participated in the relay trail race on Friday/Saturday.

I swam on Monday, went for an easy bike ride / slow short run on Tuesday which was terrible! Ran on Wednesday again and swam on Friday. That’s it. I was hoping that would give me sufficient recovery. Not sure it did…

Pre-Race: In bed at 10:15 pm and got up at 4:15 am. Breakfast bagel + cream cheese, 1 honey stinger waffle. 1 bonk breaker a little later.

Swim: The water temperature was perfect, started somewhere in the middle – it got really crowded and chaotic in the beginning. It took a while to get my rhythm. Didn’t manage to find anybody to draft off, so I just focused on myself. Time: 50 min. (swim time closer to 49 – timing matt was not at the exit). I was OK with that. That’s PR on the half swim so far and I didn’t swim much leading to this event.

T1: 4:10: I still have a hard time going fast through transition. With the high heart rate, cold hands, and slow thinking, there is still a lot of time to be saved in T1.

Bike: 3:21:19: Based on my FTP (151), I was supposed to ride 113 W for the first 20 min and then 116 W. I managed only 109 N, VI 1.04. Just couldn’t handle more. For some reason Best Bike Split was pretty accurate when it predicted 3:20 based on my FTP even though I didn’t hit the numbers during the ride. I drank 2 bottles (24 oz) of Roctane and Scratch and had 2 packages of chews. I was planning on drinking more, but it was cool and I didn’t want to take time to slow down to refill… I needed a bathroom in the last 30-60 min, but didn’t want to stop again. I was waiting for T2. We did have head wind for a big part of the ride. Overall a little disappointed with the bike time. I was hoping to do better. Execution: VI of 1.04 (not bad for me), stayed aero most of the time, should have been drinking / eating a little more.

T2: 03:40 Couldn’t run after the bike, legs were not working well even after the weak performance on the bike. Wanted to use the bathroom, but didn’t see one at the end of transition and decided to do it later. Need to practice running with the bike after dismount instead of walking.

Run: 2:23:30: I was hoping for a faster run. The course is relatively flat and the temperature was not bad. But as soon as I started, I knew I was in trouble. My muscles were hurting and it was just getting worse with every mile. I think I was hurting more during this run than during my full IM last summer. I ran with a hand-held bottle filled with Scratch and refilled it after about 1 h (added scratch again). I grabbed some ice for my plastic bag even though it wasn’t hot. I thought it can’t hurt… I didn’t manage to find an available bathroom in the first hour and gave up on it after that. I had a hard time drinking scratch after a while and was craving water which I took at some aid stations. I walked the steep hills and from time to time when I thought I needed couple of steps. I wanted to just give up many times during the run, but I guess I’m too stubborn to do that.

Overall not a very good race result (I finished somewhere at the bottom of my AG - usually I’m somewhere in the middle). I know: the goal was to practice race execution and it was a B race, but I still wanted to do well. Nice location, good experience and great opportunity to discover improvement possibilities.

Comments

  • Anna ok so you showed up maybe a bit fatigued from the AL CAMP.... Lots of little things to improve on , no biggie...But you gotta take care of your basic needs like fueling and going to the bathroom without exception... Congrats on your stubbornness but don't forget those basic needs!
  • Anna - Pretty good effort considering all the miles you rode in CO.  I am sure that was still in your legs and certainly affected your run.  Those 3 hills between mile 3 and 5 are tough on the second loop!  Sounds like you were successful at your goals of practicing race execution and having fun!

  • Great job Anna! Doing a HIM a week after High AL(titude) Bike Camp is a tall order. At the very least you have a better understanding of your recovery profile that will help you better separate key training blocks from future A races.
  • Anna - doing an HIM a week after doing Independence Pass followed by three trail runs in 24 hours (the long run in the middle of the night!) is success all by itself. A swim PR, hitting the Best Bike Split prediction, and running a half marathon ... sounds pretty good to me. Keep the training consistency going, and your race performances will take care of themselves.

  • Anna, I'm sorry that I did not get to meet you while I was up at this race from Arkansas. Your report sounds like a very strong effort coming off the Colorado camp. I'm with Al.
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