Matt Aaronson Steelhead 70.3 Race Report
Matt's on hiatus from EN as he works through some injuries, etc but thought folks may be interested in seeing his race report from last weekend...
Since fighting an injury beginning in February of 2015 and culminating in surgery in December of that year I have reset my perspective a bit. In prior years I have planned well in advance my races and the goals for each, and then set a training schedule to optimized for the "A races". This year I was totally sedentary for most of the winter recovering from the surgery and unable to know the sorts of activities in which I would be able to safely participate. So I didn't plan to do this race much in advance and signed up just a couple of weeks before race day. In fact, if we didn't just buy a vacation home ~30 minutes from the race venue, I can guarantee I wouldn't have done it.
I will spare you the medical report but the short version is that I still have some limitations to run training in particular:
- Hip arthroscopy to repair labrum and FAI successful. Hip doesn’t hurt anymore.
- The adductor / groin injury that existed before the surgery is still present. Diagnosis and treatment of that was delayed until hip was rehabbed fully. New pelvis MRI ordered in July and showed bone edema still there (a year after first MRI). Sports hernia was deemed low probability. Follow-up CT to pelvis was 3 weeks ago and suggested either osteitis pubis or a bone spur that is inflaming the adductor. Additional diagnostic activity planned including injections…this story isn't over yet. Run is pain free but post run is not.
I could go on about the sort of fitness I did and didn't have on race morning but the bottom line was:
- About as strong on the bike as in the past, but not a lot of long endurance rides. Almost all rides indoors. Lots of FTP sessions. Average weekly long-ride ~2 hours, only one ride longer than my projected bike split of 2:20.
- Minimal swimming. Resumed swimming in mid-June ~8 weeks prior to the race. Average 3087 weekly yardage. Did a "cram session" of swim training with 7000 yards the week before race week, then 4000 yards on theMonday/Wednesday of race week.
- Unorthodox run training. Still injured so no back-to-back run days. No runs over 60 minutes. Most importantly – and this had a major negative impact on my race I think – no structured run workouts. All runs were mod-hard RPE monitoring only cadence and not pace. My speed in training runs was about ~20 sec/mi off where I was when in peak run fitness in 2014 which isn't bad. But no LT work or longer efforts.
- No brick workouts and very few doubles. Average weekly volume 6:24 total time. More on the training at the end of this.
- Race weight measured on Saturday morning before the Sunday race was 142 lb. About 4-5 lb heavier than before most of my races in the past. I have not been prioritizing my body comp.
I had no time goals for this race. My goals were:
(a) prove I have "come back" from the surgery and ~6 months of no running to the point where a half-iron is possible
(b) see where my fitness is and thereby allow myself to set some new goals that will keep me active and motivated
(c) to lay down a good bike split, since I knew I would feel good to know that my bike fitness had come back to prior levels
This time around I loosely was expecting a time in the range of ~4:40-4:45 figuring a ~38-40' swim, <<span class="aQJ" data-term="goog_592675581" tabindex="0" style="border-bottom-width: 1px; border-bottom-style: dashed; border-bottom-color: #cccccc;">2:20 bike and therefore leaving 1:40-1:45 for the run with a bit of time for transitions. I figured sub-4:40 should be achievable but the run was a massive question mark given it would be 75% longer than any run I'd done in almost a year, plus off a bike that would be about equivalent to all my long rides in duration, but harder.
Overall I finished in 4:35:47. Not my fastest half-ironman but certainly not my slowest. My PR of 4:28:32 happens to be on this course so only being 7 minutes slower was pretty encouraging. My time was only good enough for 16th place out of 250 in the age division…the field was STACKED…the winner went 4:01 and won the race overall, 4 guys did 4:15 or better and 9 guys did 4:25 or better. My finish time would have been top 10 in every AG under 45 except my own and in the past two years would have put me in the top 10 (as high as 6th). It is a good reminder that you really just never know who will show up…you can only control the input…
Bike (https://connect.garmin.com/
My approach was to target IF 0.88 as I did in 2014 when got a breakthrough bike split PR of 2:12. In that PR bike I had NP 223 watts, VI 1.00 and an average speed of 25.0 mph. This time around I went a little harder, NP 229 watts (different powermeter this year, too, so maybe it's a wash). I didn't have many outdoor rides this year for comparison but this wattage was clearly on the high end – my ABP outdoor rides of similar duration have been NP 243, 216, 206, 226, 219, 235.
In any case, I was targeting 225 for this race based on my outdoor rides. My FTP inside is tested at 250 but outdoors I suspect it's higher and the IF is therefore overstated. Splits every 5 miles (excluding the admin):
A few observations:
- I probably went out a bit too hard – the power over the first 15 miles was high then got locked in for the next 20 miles. Then it was low for 5 miles before coming back as I got on the smooth road back southbound (the last lap is low power and high speed due to some downhill).
- HR came down from the swim pretty quickly and got locked-in at the low 140's. That is different from a lot of my races where I average about 5-8 bpm higher and get decoupling at the end. Surprising given the lack of long rides in training. Really encouraging. I was aware of this during the ride and perhaps I should have had the confidence to push harder.
- I positive split on the speed. That is the opposite of my 2014 ride. More on that below.
My average speed this time around was 24.7 mph and I'm not exactly sure why higher power didn't translate to higher speed. I have done a LOT of comparative analysis on the 2014 data and I think it was the confluence of several things:
- VI this time was 1.02 so AP was actually only 2 watts higher than 2014 even though NP was 6 watts higher
- I weighed 5 lb more this time around, so was actually riding the same 3.5 w/kg
- There was no tailwind for the final ~18 miles southbound like there was in 2014 when the wind built up over the course of the morning and gave a good boost on the way home without an equivalent punishment on the outbound
- The 25 second stop to fix the disc wheel
- I think I just pushed a little harder in the second half of the race in 2014. In both my rides my lowest average HR occurred in the 5-mile split around mile ~30-35. For the final 5-mile split on Sunday my average HR was 0.7% higher than that low point (1 bpm). In 2014 I was clearly pushing it with average HR in the final split 4.1% higher. Likewise it looks like I mailed it on power – if I set a baseline NP of a mid-race 5-mile split at mile 25-30 I see that the subsequent splits were 0.97, 1.00, 1.00, 0.96. Back in 2014 they were 1.00, 1.02, 1.03, 1.02.
I think the lack of big tailwind accounts for the majority of the difference although the higher VI and therefore a narrower difference in average power (vs. NP) probably is important. I actually think the extra weight is less relevant on this really fast and flat course. Finally I believe that not being as fixated as usual on hitting specific numbers was the driver for not pushing hard enough in the second half. At the time I felt really happy that my HR was so locked-in and not decoupling and that I was feeling so strong, but now examining comparative data I can see the mph cost.
Tactically it was an uneventful ride. I knew the course and there were no surprises. I was starting in the last swim wave so expecting to pass a lot of people. And that's what happened. At 25 mph there isn't much "legal drafting" or interaction with other riders. Mostly you just blow by people and say "on your left" a lot. I actually have a lot of fun with that and prefer it to an early start wave and riding FOP. I got water at two aid stations and took 3 gels on the bike.
About the only issue I had was that I got out of the saddle at one point in the last few miles and felt the onset of some major, major muscle cramps. that got me worried since every so often in my races I will get debilitating quad cramps on the run. But worrying wouldn't make me ride faster so I just pushed it out of my mind. Also I stopped for ~25 seconds about 2 minutes into the ride to remove a flapping piece of electrical tape from my disc wheel and then rode the whole race with half of the valve cutout exposed.
Run (https://connect.garmin.com/
As I said, I didn't know what to expect here. My strategy was to start really, really, REALLY easy. So that's what I did. It was an unshaded course on a day that was sunny and humid and yet I ran easy enough to keep my HR in the low 150's for the first half an hour (I run a half-marathon at 170-180 and hardly ever see my HR below 160 when running so 150's is LOW). Cadence was nice and pace was, well, slow. The ~1.5 mi of the course which has a big hill I ran at 7:31/mi. Then 7:14/mi for ~4 mi from the start of loop #1 to the bottom of the "big hill". I was feeling good and felt I could have moved faster but didn't want to take undue risk. I literally chatted to one guy for 10 minutes and overall just took kept comfortable. For the mile including the hill it was 7:38. For loop #2 I did the first ~4 mi at a 10sec/mi slower pace…by now the run was starting to feel like an effort and I knew that speeding would be a risk. I also knew that I was on track for a 1:35ish run as long as I didn't have a derailment, which would be a major victory. The mile with the big hill I actually did 10 sec FASTER…slower up the hill but starting just before mile 11 I decided I could pick up my pace and was feeling pretty good. For the last 2 miles I started to pick up the pace even more…about 7:00/mi to mile 12 (aided by a net downhill), then a final flat mile at ~7:06followed by a run down the finish chute at ~6:20 pace.
I'm not sure what to say other than it felt – surprisingly – like most other half-ironman runs I've done. I was really expecting the wheels to fall off at some point but it never happened. I was a bit more stiff after the finish than usual but given the run training for this I was pleased as punch. As I type this 36 hours later I will say the aftermath was minimal as well. A bit stiff but not bad at all. Some ankle muscle soreness from wearing race shoes that I never wear in training. Injury symptoms no worse than normal.
Transitions
- T1 very fast at 2:31. No wetsuit to remove
- T2 VERY SLOW at 3:45. Lost something like 1:30 to 2:00 on my AG there. Probably 30 sec due to cramping while putting on shoes. And about a minute using the porta-potty. Yes, I continued my unbroken streak of being unable to relieve myself while riding my bike.
Nutrition – I kept it very simple:
- Half a bagel with PB and a cup of coffee driving to the race at 5am
- A 280 cal protein bar just before 7am
- 5 gels (1 before the swim, 3 on the bike, 1 on the run at about mile 6)
OVERALL
It was a great race. It felt just like my other races. Not harder. Not easier. Just familiar. And therefore a lot of fun. There is an overhanging question of if I will be able to continue to have fun with this sport given my PRs are almost certainly in the rearview mirror, but for the time being it is still fun and provides the motivation I need to stay active and be challenged. Rebuilding my run will take a long time and so I will be able to see improvement which is always motivating.
Perhaps the biggest win in this return to racing was a reminder that "high ROI training" is possible. My training for this race was a shadow of my historical volume. For the 12 weeks leading to race day I averaged 6:24 training time per week, including 14.8mi weekly running, 3:47 average weekly biking and 3087 yards swimming. I had one bike ride of 2:57 but all the other weekly long rides were 2:15 with most of those on the trainer. Most other rides were FTP with MS of 2x15'(4') then the rest of the time at z3. For the first time I started going to spin classes at Flywheel while on business trips (because I couldn’t run as much). I did 5 long runs of 60 minutes with all the rest as 30 or 45 minute runs. No LT work or structure to the run workouts as I was focused on rebuilding without further injury – monitored only cadence during the runs and never pace. Swimming was very inconsistent and minimal but as I mentioned I crammed in a lot of yards the week before the race. Not ideal but massively high ROI to be sure.
I will say that with the biking and running I was very consistent. Almost all of the weeks were very close to the 12-week average although the 1-hour runs didn't start until the last 7 weeks before the race as I rebuilt the run volume. Also I did a big bike weekend about a month before the race where I rodeFriday/Saturday/Sunday/Tuesday for 3hr/2hr/2hr/2hr. I think that burst gave me some endurance for the race.
In terms of the PMC numbers, my CTL peaked the Wednesday before the race at 88.0. ATL never really broke 100 other than around that bike weekend when it hit ~135. This is a massive change from last year's IMWI training where CTL hit 162 and ATL had multiple spikes over 200. Looking back to 2013 and 2014 my CTL peaks were around 120 for half-ironman training. So, in other words, CTL was ~35% higher during other half-ironman builds.
More importantly, my weekends have really freed up for sleep and family. My wife is pregnant with our fourth (due in October) and I managed to train for this race without asking her to wake up with the kids on a single morning. Most of my long rides were on the trainer while our youngest was napping in the afternoon. I didn't do a single "crack of dawn ride". There were no stressful negotiations about when I was going to get my ride or run in on a weekend. That was all really awesome.
So what is next? Not sure. I did sign up for the Chicago Triathlon Olympic distance in a couple of weeks, but beyond that I am not sure. There is no question that rebuilding my run volume to 30+ mpw and working my long run up to the 90 minute range would yield a dramatic improvement. I suspect I could be back to a sub-1:30 half-ironman run split if I could do that with my running. And I need to resume the LT interval running in order to get my speed and LT back up to par. However I cannot do any of that without finishing the pelvis injury diagnosis and then treatment. With a new baby due in October things will get yet more chaotic at home…ideally I would do what I did when our daughter was born in 2013 and do marathon training since it is so time efficient and would really rebuild my running. Also I'd love to qualify for Boston again. But I think the likelihood I'm able to commit to marathon run volume is 50/50 at best given the injury situation, and I know enough not to push my luck on that.
We will see. Perhaps I'll see you at the races………..