Danielle Santucci IMSyracuse 70.3 RR
IM70.3 Syracuse 2016 Race Report
After last year's dreadful performance racing Syracuse, I decided to go against my "never repeat a race" motto. Here it was again, Fathers Day weekend and I was packed up and heading to upstate New York to claim redemption on a course that chewed me up and spit me out last year. I look back and remember how great I felt going into this race last year. I thought I was in the best shape of my life; swimming effortlessly solid, stronger than ever before on the bike and faster than I have been running in years. And injury free too! I was set up to have a great day and my expectations were very high. What happened? Yep, I crashed and burned. Months later and many licked wounds (mostly my ego), I decided to sign up for 2016. I wanted and needed a good day there.
I headed up to Syracuse on Friday morning to get in, get settled and not stress about logistics. The race site is about 15' south of the hotel I was staying in so I chose to grab my packet first and then head to the hotel. Registered and headed out. Checked into the hotel and decided to run a few miles on the hotel treadmill to do something active after being in a car for 6hrs. This is a first for me, I typically NEVER run 2 days before a race. It was good to move the legs and get the HR up. Rest of the evening was low key.
Saturday morning, I got up and headed over to the race site, wetsuit and bike in hand. Last year they let us do a practice swim around 10am, so that was what I had planned to do. Except when I got there, the lifeguards told everyone that we couldn't swim until 1pm because they were conducting lifeguard training. Ok, this is a first for me too…no swim recon the day before a race. I was not waiting until 1pm to swim, I needed lunch and food trumped swimming that day. Went to plan B and got my bike out and went for a small spin (so small, not Strava worthy 
) to check brakes, gears, etc. Everything on my bike was perfect, except OOOPS I forgot my aero cage/bottle!!! Went to the village and purchased one, mounted it on my bike then checked the bike into transition. Headed over to the 11am Athlete Briefing to hear the announcer say "just rode the new bike course yesterday. Those of you that raced last year, guess what, the bike course is harder" Oh great and I was mostly worried about the run! Oh well at least there is no chance of rain tomorrow, that is good news. Left the village and went to a local Wegmans to pick up lunch (Salad with veggie and chicken, oil and vinegar) and what I was going to have for dinner later (rice, chicken, broccoli and 2 chocolate chip cookies).
Back at the hotel I prepared my stuff for the next morning. Swim: sleeveless wetsuit, 2 pair goggles, Cap, Caramel GU, sunscreen Bike: Helmet, sunglasses, bento of salt tabs and Lara Bar, Aero Bottle was (6 scoops-650calories) of GURoctane Grape (no caffeine), 2nd bottle (3 scoops-325cal) GURoctane Tropical Fruit (caffeine) Run: Hokas, socks, EN Visor, race belt with salt tabs and 3 GUs. Had dinner, watched some tv and was in bed by 9pm.
RACE MORNING:
As I typically do, I woke before the 4am alarm. There was no point in trying to get the extra 30' of sleep when I was wide awake. Had my 280 calorie protein/meal shake and a cup of black coffee. I had already organized all of my stuff the night before so in the morning it was just a matter of getting my clothes on, packing the car and heading out. From downtown Syracuse it takes about 30' to get to Jamesville Beach and the one road in tends to back up if you wait too long. Like last year I chose to get there early and get my transition area set. My swim wave did not go off until 8am so after getting set up and body marked I went back to my car to drop off my pump, eat a snack and chill until around 7 when I headed back to the beach to watch the earlier waves take off.
SWIM: Goal 33-35:00 Actual: 35:53 (last year was 34:38) AG Position 20th
WHAT HAPPENED HERE?!?!? I have no idea. I consider myself a decent swimmer so when I line up I usually line up in the front row. I do this because I would much prefer to have people swim over me than to swim over people. First 500m is the typical chaos; arms and legs everywhere and breathing/HR is rapid. Once it spaces out that feeling usually subsides and I get into a rhythm. The sighting for the Syracuse swim is really good and I had the buoys to my right which for me is ideal as I am more comfortable breathing to my right. I remember thinking as I hit the 3rd yellow buoy why this swim seemed to difficult. My breathing was labored and it was a struggle to get my arms to turn over. This feeling did not subside until I was about 300m from the swim finish. In my head I thought "maybe I am feeling this way because I am having an amazingly fast swim and not being able to catch my breath is how fast swims are supposed to be" Yeah, well clearly that was not the case when I stood up on the beach and looked at my time….ARE YOU KIDDING ME?! Shoot, this is not good. I ran as fast as I could (after getting my wetsuit stripped) to T1 when I was confronted with the sad reality: my bike was alone on the rack.
T1: Goal:~4:00 Actual: 3:33 (same 1/4 mile run from the beach into transition, but unlike last year I ran rather than jogged) Helmet on, shoes, glasses and another 1/4 mile out of transition up the hill). I didn't like this transition set up last year and felt the same about it this year.
BIKE: Goal ~2:40 Actual: 2:58:11 AG Position 3rd
In and out of transition and I was off for 56 miles of fun. What I did notice early is how good I felt from the first pedal stroke. Typically, it takes a good 15-20' to get myself ready to ride and on this course this is a good thing given the first 10-15miles are climbing. Similar to last year, I was faced with a lot of congestion (2nd to last swim wave will do that) and had to weave in and out of many cyclists. On a flat course this would be somewhat easy, when it is hilly it becomes a challenging game to not hit (or be hit) by those not so skilled at climbing. I felt really good for the entire bike continuing to pass people effortlessly. I strongly believe that attending Al Truscott's Aspen Camp two weeks earlier had an enormous impact on how I was riding today. I never once felt like I was overextending my capabilities. My nutrition was 100% fluid. I drank on the 10' and had salt tabs on the 60'. This was also a first for me and it worked out quite well. I basically put 3 bottles of Gu Roctane into 2 (1 aero, 1 down tube). After my aero bottle was finished I grabbed a water bottle at one of the aid stations for the extra fluid. Had a Lara Bar as a back up in case the hunger pangs came. The course was definitely more challenging this year and my ride data proved this. Last year I had a 7 min faster time (2:51) with an ~30watt lower NP (156W) This year's ride data:
166 W
Avg Power
428 W
Max Power
196 W
Max Avg Power (20 min)
181 W
Normalized Power® (NP®
0.883
Intensity Factor® (IF®
I will be honest after seeing all the bikes on my rack out of T1, I was very concerned coming into T2. My watch was showing a much slower time than last year and although I felt like I passed a lot of people on the course I was completely unaware of how many of those that I passed were in my AG. In my head, I just told myself "you had a good bike, lets just get this run done…no blowing up like last year." So to my surprise when I got in to T2 and saw that my bike rack was still empty it fueled me with the energy and motivation I needed to address this run.
T2: Goal <2:30 Actual 2:16 Socks, Hokas, EN Visor, Race Belt with GU and Salt Tabs, GO</p>
Run: GOAL: <2:00 Actual: 1:55:17</p>
This was my nemesis last year. The part of the race that broke me. I was not going to let that happen today. Run smart, execute properly and do not let your HR spike until the last 2-3miles. That was the plan. Going into the run I didn't know what place I was in, I just knew that if the lack of bikes on the rack was any indication, I was in a good position to make the Top 10. The run course was the same. The hilly field area was still there in the beginning and you guessed it the relentless hills at the turnaround were there too. My objective was to keep the HR between 140-145 until I got to the hills. When I approached the hills I would run until my HR got over 145 then I would (in the words of John Withrow) walk like an angry old man. That is exactly what I did both loops. First loop I walked a lot faster up and went easier on the decent to not fry the quads. The second loop I knew I was coming home so even though my walk up was slower I prepared myself to barrel down the hills. I drank GE and water at every aid station until the last 4 then started drinking coke. I had a salt tab when I started the run and another at 60'. I had (or tried at least to choke down) a GU every 4 miles. Aside from the hills and the heat I felt strong and determined. I kept my head down and just ran. During the last mile and a half I heard footsteps approaching and as the woman passed me she said "great job" I had a feeling she was in my AG and sure enough the black mark of 40 was on her calf. Ugh, not one female in my AG had passed me on the run until this point. Run data:
|
Mile |
Pace |
|
|
1 |
8:36 |
|
|
2 |
8:11 |
|
|
3 |
9:38 |
|
|
4 |
8:50 |
|
|
5 |
8:24 |
|
|
6 |
8:24 |
|
|
7 |
8:54 |
|
|
8 |
9:12 |
|
|
9 |
8:35 |
|
|
10 |
10:56 |
|
|
11 |
7:43 |
|
|
12 |
8:38 |
|
|
13 |
8:36 |
|
|
|
|
|
The last 3 miles of this run was all business. It was hot, my sunscreen had worn off and I could feel my skin burning with every step I took but didn't care. I had gotten over the hills and I was on my way to the finish. At last the finish! Looking at my watch I could see that I was not going to have any kind of PR today but was so happy that I had raced this course a million times better than I had the year before and going in to it that is all I had hoped to achieve. What came as a big surprise was when I finally retrieved my phone and I had message after message from people congratulating me on my 4th place finish. What top 5?!? No way this could be true, but it was!
I could not have been happier with the day; a solid race, a podium finish and a WC slot (turned down-couldnt go to Australia 
). As I've mentioned before, I am not a big fan of repeating races, but am so glad I chose to with this one! Up next…IMLP
Comments
Great report on an amazing day. I know a lot of pretty fast guys who can't put out 181 watts over 56 miles. And running sub-2 after that . . . over a hot, hilly course? Well, that's how you snag a podium spot. Extremely impressive, and I'm so happy I wasn't racing with you, because my ego can only bend so much. My guess on the swim is that you didn't warm up enough and/or went out a bit too fast for too long. I've had some dreadful swims where I (stupidly) listened to my brain and chased artificial, short- term goals like, "go all out to the first buoy, then settle in." But if I go anaerobic for too long, it can be nearly impossible to get into a good, aerobic groove thereafter. I'm gonna work on the opening 400 yards or so in race prep and rehearsals this year, trying to gain a better understanding of when I really need to settle in.
Congrats again.
MR
That sums it up for me regarding your mental state, your commitment, and really, your race performance. Very easy for all of us to make judgements/comments but, when you are racing in the heat like that, everything from eating to executing just changes and it boils down to your ability to execute through mental strength.
You represented very strong in the Mental Strength and overall performance categories chica!
Congratulations!
SS
Great performance! No doubt that the week in Colorado played a key role...the timing couldn't have been better. Those early season volume boosts are huge. I saw it with TOC last year too. The way you rode and ran in Colorado gave us all a hint of what was to come in Syracuse.
Congrats on slaying the beast and snagging a podium spot and a 70.3 WC spot. You have the mental and physical readiness. Look forward to your performance in Lake Placid.
I've followed you training on stava, and SYRACUSE was the pay day for all that hard work.
By running the way you did on the last 3M, just proove that you are a stud and a real bad-ass!
Looking fwd to see what you can do on LP course! wish you the best and hope you will achieve your goals!!
Hey, you;re one Bad-Ass, Sister...I think that final extra credit run you did with Trish and Teri at the end of Ragnar played a small role in giving you the confidence to be "all business" at the end of the run despite the risk of sunburn. Keep that mind set rolling into this weekend, OK?
@Al, I will do my very best to remember your words this weekend!