Tim Cronk 2016 Rev3 OOB HIM
The Good- Rev3 puts on a good race and this one is awesome. I have raced it twice but attended it 4-5 times. The course is incredible with an ocean swim, the bike measures a little short at just over 54 miles, is more difficult than appears on paper, and almost all really nice smooth pavement, the run also a little short at 13 miles is mostly flat and most of it is on some old rail trails with equal amounts of sun and shade . Access in and out of the venue is easy with parking right next to the start/finish. It remains fairly small race (must be the time of year) but seems to be growing from 283 in 2014 to 363 in 2016. It also tends to have really nice weather and this year was no exception.
The Bad- They totally boned the food this year. All that was available was burgers (turkey, beef, veggie) no chips or anything else just burger. Good concept and the burgers were huge, but they ran out of turkey, the beef burgers were being returned or thrown out since they were serving them almost raw (that is what happens when you cook them frozen) and the veggies were cold also cause cooked frozen. The line was ridiculous cause they couldn't cook them fast enough on the grill. Timing was delayed for 1.5 hrs due to cell reception, this has been an on going issue here that should resolved by just changing the chip out of timing box and delivering to the finish every half hour or so. Lastly was a porto potty on the course with NO TP and I was in 25th place how could it be empty already? ... Still highly recommend this race!
Short results and comps from 2014 and 2016.... I was slower across the board this year but not by much... Quite amazing how close some of the splits were year to year...
2014 2016
AG 1/21 2/29
OA 16/283 25/363
4:37:52 4:42:32 4:40 slower
Swim 28:52 31:19 2:27 slower (2014 was very low tide w/lots of running, this year we swam more)
T1 3:38 4:00 22 sec slower
Bike 2:26:23 2:26:48 25 sec slower (new Ventum vs. Felt but less watts)
T2 1:26 1:43 17 sec slower (went with socks this year)
Run 1:37:31 1:38:41 1:10 slower (spent 75sec in PP vs. 57 sec in 2014 so net only 52 sec slower)
I came out of the water in 2nd, off the bike in 1st , and finished in 2nd after the run.
Swim- Love this swim with a run down beach to the water . 2nd wave lined up front and went off at 6:25. Swam nice and hard, no contact until the second turn buoy, I was trying to get around the buoy and inside another guy when he actually stopped swimming to kick me 3-4 times , these were like karate kicks, I was laughing me a$$ off and holding my hands up in the air going WTF dude ??? When he was finished , I went wide around him, thinking well I bet he has a crappy day:-) Coming out of the water to a short run back up the beach...
T1- very long run to transition and passed many people here... Smooth and Fast.
The Bike- Rode the first 10-15 miles nice clean and steady but just like in 2014 I ended up with a few guys around me that I couldnt get past , everytime I went by they would catch me , pass me, and then slow down again... My file shows this quite obviously... By the last 10 miles I was finally able to drop them and ride steady again... I'm riding a new Ventum which I absolutely love but I am struggling with finding my power numbers since I have also switched to a pair of P1 pedals vs. the Quarq I have had for ages... Indications are 5-10 watts lower so I am getting used to looking at lower numbers.... I used the Ventum hydration bottle with 48oz of tailwinds for nutrition hydration. Bike file below and not very pretty , AP 174 / NP 179, lowest watts ever on a HIM further indication my P1 pedals are at least 5-10 watts lower than my Quarq..... avg HR 147....
https://connect.garmin.com/modern/activity/1325315058
T2- uneventully smooth but a tad slower since I added socks this year... usually go sockless for the HIM distance but wasnt confident enough in my shoes this year... Got some pretty good blisters at Eagleman.
The Run- My first really hard run since my injuries last November... Big success and confidence builder going into IMMD.. Mostly flat course so pretty much run by RPE and correlate to Pace.... I wore HR and never ever looked at it.. Around .5 miles I get passed by a 53 yr old with authority. Well I am now at least 2nd. But there is almost 13 miles for this to shake out. I was already running 7:30's and that felt hard enough. Settled in and went to work. I kept him in sight for quite a while which mean t he slowed, so I had hope to race him in the future. Well that hope kinda went south when I had to stop at a porto potty just after 5 miles, took 75 seconds vs. my 57 seconds porto potty stop in 2014... Back to work, had a gel flask with 3 gels in it sipping every few miles, drank whatever I got a each aid station, ran with a 30 year old for the first half and a 48 yr old for the second half , swapping leads with both of those guys was fun, ran into Heather for short stop/kiss at mile 10 and then finished up strong. File is below and unlike my bike I couldnt ask for a prettier file .... 13 miles at 7:37 pace - remove the PoP stop 7:32 pace and very happy with how the body held up. Average HR was 159...
https://connect.garmin.com/modern/activity/1325343510
Continued HR thoughts - I dont like to look at HR because I dont want it to limit me... My bike/run HR for Eagleman earlier this year was 164/166 vs. the bike/run HR for OOB 147/159.... I would have guessed via RPE that my OOB race would have been higher... I was working much much harder at OOB than Eagleman yet HR does not reflect this... Granted Eagleman was much warmer and earlier in my season but I felt like I was redlined at OOB and could not have pushed that HR any higher no matter how hard I tried.
Misc- So cool seeing one other EN member out on the OLY course even though I have no idea who it was.... Laura Becker on course and after the race just a smiling away as she erased any bad memories from IMLP... And accepting my Rev3 2nd place prize from our one and only Mariah which was $20 dollar coupon at trisports.com.
Comments
Tim, thanks for taking the time to share and post the details and the comparisons.
I always note your low VI and steady riding, NP 179, Avg Power 174........very efficient on a .814 IF........with low temps do you feel there was room to push the bike more?
Looks like you had great temps with the bike leg ending around 71 degrees and favorable temps for the run as well.
Is this part of the reason for the RPE being so different compared to your other race? Or were temps similar?
2nd place coming back from Injury looks to me like a confidence builder and Right on Track situation from where I sit.
Nice work as always!
SS
It must feel good to see the confidence building at just the right time for your ONE IM this year. See ya soon!