Behler IM Puerto Rico 70.3 Race Report
I tend to go overboard on these so for those short on time here is the short version:
Total Time 4:33:54 which was good for 3rd in M40-44, 30th overall, and 14th age grouper. Also earned me a roll down slot for 70.3 Worlds in Chattanooga.
Steady performance across all disciplines moving up from 5th after the swim of 30:50 to 4th after the bike of 2:21:45 (5th fastest bike in AG) and 3rd after the run of 1:35:19 (4th fastest run in AG).
For those with a bit more free time….the full version
Wow…what a weekend. Not only were the performances great but the team and people made the entire experience even more memorable. So much camaraderie, laughs, and of course tri geekery.
This is by far the earliest I’ve had a race in the season. Training through a WI winter meant swimming and biking were 100% indoors and running was probably 50% indoors. I didn’t know what to expect going from temperatures in the mid 20s to mid 80s. I don’t put much value in the heat acclimatization tactics so I just put in my training as planned. I managed the heat pretty well in Kona last October so that gave me some confidence, even If it was a false confidence. I entered taper week well trained, hitting all of my key training sessions and power/pace numbers consistent with my Kona prep (albeit at much lower volume) so felt confident in my fitness for a solid race. I only had one real goal which was to qualify for 70.3 worlds. I didn’t have a specific time goal but figured I would need to be right around 4:30 to secure that.
I arrived in San Juan on Friday afternoon around 4PM. It was a long day starting with a 3AM wake up (believe it or not flying from Wisconsin to Puerto Rico isn’t easy) to catch my 5:40AM first leg. Landed in Charlotte and was able to catch breakfast with Mike Roberts and Danielle Santucci. Mike’s flight left after breakfast and Danielle and I were on the same connecting flight an hour later. We landed around 4PM in San Juan and headed straight to the hotel where Roberts and I, along with Scott Dinhofer, were staying. We dropped our gear off and immediately went to TBT to get our bikes and registration to check in before they closed at 6. Got our gear, Dinhofer met up with us after his flight landed, checked in, and headed back to the ‘Family Suite’ at the Hilton Condado Plaza. The term ‘suite’ we learned is used very loosely in PR, but we all had our own bed and room for our bikes so it was manageable and anyway…who wants to spend time indoors when you are in PR in March?!?!? We met EN Chica and hostess extraordinaire Mariah back at the hotel. Her condo was a few doors down from us which was very convenient. After she and Danielle took their stuff to her condo then the five of us grabbed dinner. I had met Dinhofer three times before, Mariah twice, Danielle once, and Roberts was new but the five of us had a great time at dinner as if we were old friends.
Saturday morning, we went for a quick 2-mile shakeout run, a 500m practice swim in the race venue which was conveniently located at the base of our hotel, and prepped our bikes and gear for drop-off later that day.
We went to drop off our gear around 2PM and
got a sense for the heat and winds we would be facing. Lots of freaking out among the team (some
more than others!) but the forecast called for calmer winds on Sunday and
regardless of the weather it would impact everyone so there was no use worrying
about something you can’t change. We
had a team rack which was great and everyone was there except Roberts who was
too cool and wanted to be in the AWA racks.
Also ran into a few other teammates including Mark Maurer and Susan
Johnson. Maybe if he would have been
with the team we could have told him to take off his swim skin before leaving
on the bike! 
After bike check we
walked to the expo for some last-minute nutrition buys. Collectively this involved a lot of walking
and we began to comment/joke that we were being a bit cavalier that this was
‘only’ a half ironman as we would have long since been ‘legs up’ for an IM
race. Dinner of pasta (3 cheese ravioli
here) at an outdoor restaurant nearby joined by Wendy Watson and we all headed
home around 6:30.
Race Morning
Woke up around 4AM to take in a bottle of Naked Juice and laid in bed for about an hour in light sleep. Around 5 we all awoke and prepared to head to transition. We walked to transition and found that it had rained overnight…wasn’t too much but enough to make the grass field of transition a bit sticky and require a wipe down of the bikes. Quick checks to ensure bike gearing was correct, shoes clipped in, and sunglasses/arm coolers mounted to the aerobars all looked good. Set out my shoes and ‘go bag’ for the run and headed to the swim start. The swim is a point-to-point so this involved a ~3/4 mile walk back to our hotel which was great as we could all go back to the hotel to wait for our swim waves. The earlier waves were a few minutes past 7. I went off at 7:20, the first of two waves for M40-44 (the only AG with multiple waves).
Swim | 30:50 | 1:27/100yd pace | 5th of 79 in M40-44 | 1:17 slower than fastest in AG | Garmin Link
The swim course goes out about 500 yards, turns 90 degrees for a hundred yards, then another 90 degrees for the remainder of the race (with a slight bend to the right). With four minutes between waves I expected the first 500 yards to be pretty open after which I’d be overtaking the slower swimmers from the previous 6-7 waves. I lined up in the very front and felt good from the start. I love salt water non-wetsuit swims as I find my times are comparable to freshwater wetsuit swims when many others see paces drop a bit. I settled in to a comfortable groove but was surprised to begin overtaking swimmers after the first 300 yards. I saw people breast stroking, back stroking, and treading water less than a third of the way into the swim which was shocking. I had to do some maneuvering here and there to pass swimmers and as a result never got into a groove, but fortunately didn’t feel too constrained either. Things moved along pretty well until the last 3-400 yards after going under the bridge. At this point the bay gets shallow and there is little protection from the easterly winds off the ocean. The current was pretty strong as evidenced by the seaweed moving along the bottom. It often felt like you were ‘swimming on a treadmill’ as you were generating propulsion but weren’t covering much linear distance. I arrived at the steps and cycled my Garmin to see a time of 30:44 which was right in line with what I expected.
T1 | 4:19 | 5th of 179 in M40-44 | 2:22 slower than fastest in AG
This is a long T1….longer than IM Wisconsin (but not as slow without the helix climbs). Some people choose to leave spare shoes for the 0.7ish mile run but I didn’t and was happy with the decision. I jogged the entire time, peeling off my skin suit. When I got to transition, I realized I should have multitasked and put on the top to my EN trisuit while running, as it took a good 10-15 seconds to do it when I was sitting in transition. Joel Bell came into T1 shortly after me and I knew we’d be close the whole day based on our previous race times. Helmet on and I was out of there
Bike | 2:21:45| 23.7mph | 5th of 79 in M40-44 | 3:50 slower than fastest in AG | 210NP | Garmin Link
The bike starts out the first few hundred yards on a sidewalk. The first bump I hit sent my bento that was velcroid to my top tube flying. It had GU and a stoopwaffle that were ‘nice to have’ but not needed so I let them go and would go with on-course nutrition. Because of this I’m going to bolt some bento bolts in my Ventum hydration bottle. The Velcro worked in Kona but one failure is one too many. The roads were slick from the rain, so I took it slowly on the turns and saw several guys lay down their bikes. Conditions were good…modest winds and a relatively flat course which promised to give some fast times. My goal for the race was 235NP which would yield a split in the 2:15 range per BBS. I had nailed this on multiple race rehearsals so felt confident in those numbers. My plan was to be a bit on the high side and then let the HR come down in the last 10-15 miles. Felt great from the start…HR was a bit high as expected but everything else looked good. First 5 miles clipped by at a 23.5MPH pace and 239NP. After the first few miles out of town it cleared up and roads were flat and smooth, save the few dozen iguana road kills. Since I was a later wave there were lots of passing opportunities on both loops of the ‘lollipop’ course. Mentally I let myself get lazy as I saw the speeds my power was generating (I know…I shouldn’t even have speed on my race screen….I can’t help it!!). As such, my power numbers dropped a bit…mostly in the 220 range, give or take. I made it a point to hydrate regularly as the heat and humidity were high. I passed Rob Sabo around mile 10-15 and a bit later I passed Roberts around mile 15-20, just before the top of the ‘lollipop’.
They were doing a good job of monitoring the course…saw a few people get tagged with drafting penalties so I was very aware and counting for each pass I made, with a 5 second buffer to give no room for interpretation. I felt the sensation to pee around mile 35 but it wasn’t until mile 40 that I peed for the first and only time on the bike. I crossed the turnaround around mile 45 I took the right lane toward the finish (vs. the second loop of the ‘lollipop’ and the traffic lightened up significantly. There were a few guys (a couple in my AG) that were all in the same area so my goal was to stay close to them. I knew based upon the swim and progress on the bike I should be in the top 3-5 if prior year races were any indication. As I approached the highway ramp in the last 5 miles or so I passed Danielle. She mentioned that Joel was just ahead of me (I didn’t remember him passing me) and since I knew at this point my power was a bit conservative I decided to use that as the carrot to push a bit in the final stretch. I passed Joel a mile or so later and after that it was wide open until reaching T2. My time was 5th fastest in the AG, but because some of those guys had slow swims I came into T2 4th in my AG.
T2 | 1:41 | 3rd of 179 in M40-44 | 0:01 slower than fastest in AG which was ENer Joel Bell!
T2 was simple and easy as normal….rack bike, put on shoes and socks, grab go bag, and start running. By the time I was out of T2 I had put on my race belt, hat, and Race Saver bag all of which were in the go bag.
Run | 1:35:19| 7:16/mile pace | 4th of 79 in M40-44 | 6:04 slower than fastest in AG | Garmin Link
This was probably my biggest concern going into the race. I hadn’t run in weather like this since Kona. I took it a bit conservative out of the gate, partly for this reason and partly because it rained a bit and the walkway was very slippery. I was running primarily by HR and I was dialed in. I saw Mariah around mile 1 and was happy to flash the gang sign for her camera.
First mile was 6:50 (but net downhill) and second mile was a 7:08 which included the first big climb in old San Juan. I ‘ran’ the climb, with a hard ceiling of 160 on the heart rate. Most were already walking. It was hot….but not as hot as it felt in Kona so I focused on keeping my HR around 150. It was relatively quiet on the first lap and aid stations were easy to navigate. Ice in my Race Saver bag and under my hat at each station and Gatorade for the first 5-6 then switching to cola. Reached the entry to ‘the microwave’ which is a massive downhill for 50 yards on cobblestone…not much opportunity for speed given the terrain and sharp, blind turns at the bottom. Once out on ‘the microwave’ which is a sidewalk right on the coast alongside a 30 foot wall that radiates the solar heat. It was hot, but not as hot as some of the prior race descriptions have indicated. I saw Joel right after the turnaround (mile 3) so he was just 10-20 seconds behind me. Just before the turn back out of ‘the microwave’ I saw Rob Mohr running about 2 miles back despite starting 2 waves back. I want his running skills…so smooth and fast. On the way back I saw a number of teammates. Rob Sabo, , Scott, Mike, Wendy, Danielle, and Mark. Hit the turnaround which wasn’t well marked but fortunately I looked at the ground where the arrows were marked. Multiple people had issues here including our own Mike Roberts.
The second lap felt similar to the first, although my data shows me slowing down a bit from mile 5-9. The aid stations at this point were overwhelmed and there wasn’t ice ready at many but the ice in my Race Saver would last for a couple aid stations so it didn’t matter too much. I did have a couple times where I needed to serve myself to drinks in an effort to stay hydrated (which clearly worked as I had to pee on the run which is rare for me in a 70.3. At this point I hadn’t passed a single person in my AG, nor had I been passed so I felt pretty good about where I was. I started to assess when I could make my final push and decided that if I wasn’t passed I would turn it up around mile 11. Sure enough mile 11 came and I slowly pushed the pace. It felt very good and in retrospect I should have pushed harder on the run earlier. Since it felt good I dialed it up a bit more. I passed someone in my age group around mile 12. As I approached him I decided to make a strong move past and not look back. By this point I was running a 6:45ish pace and he was likely running 8 min pace or more. I maintained this pace until the turnaround/split to the finish. After that it’s about a quarter mile to go with a small hill to crest midway. As I crested the hill I looked back and didn’t see anyone so I cruised in to the finishing chute.
Post Race
Enjoyed watching many of the EN crew come in to the finishing chute. After watching for an hour we decided to get our bikes and return to the hotel. This is where the difference of a 70.3 and IM is really apparently. Not only are you finishing around lunch vs. after dinner. You aren’t as shelled and can enjoy the rest of the day. What did that mean for us? Headed to the hotel pool’s swim-up bar, of course.
Without incriminating anyone I can only say that post race drinks for someone that doesn’t drink much to begin with can bring out the lightweights pretty quickly! After a few hours at the pool we cleaned up and returned to the host hotel for the awards ceremony where we felt pretty good about our chances given six top-five performances (top five counted toward the team score). Of course we got there a bit early so someone had the great idea to go to the bar there. Great idea….as we took those drinks to the front row of the awards ceremony where some of us were a bit rowdy while others just having fun and others closing important business deals.
After all of the individual awards (which we got our fair share of) they announced the tri club awards. And as you all know by now we won…convincingly. And for that effort we received a very cool award and a not-so-impressive bottle of champagne.
From there we went to the allocations for 70.3 worlds in Chattanooga. Rob Mohr (1st) and Danielle (2nd) earned theirs outright. Both Roberts and I had rolldown slots, but only I claimed mine. My 40-44 age group was the only AG with two swim waves so the fact we only had 2 spots surprised me, but with only 30 spots in total they don’t go very deep. I was only one out and the AG winner didn’t claim his.
Great to see everyone in PR and thanks for all of the great camaraderie, laughs, and memories.
Thoughts and Plans for 2017
Looking back on the race I feel like I could have gone harder on the bike and run without much risk. I’ve always pushed hard, but conservatively in my races and have had the good fortune of many great races and never really having a bad race. Because of that I wonder were ‘the line’ really is for me. Now that I have a ticket to Chattanooga I think I am still going to race Racine 70.3 and push hard in that race, to a point where I’m ok if I crack as it will help me learn where that point is. Beyond that, 2017 will be more of a fun year for me as I won’t be doing any IM distance races do things like Al’s Colorado Camp and the Ragnar Ultra relay without any worry about timing or impact on my races. And with Chattanooga not until Sept the real build doesn’t even start until July.
I also want to dig more into my running and see what I’m capable of doing. I just bought “Running with Power” and will be reading that and I’ve been collecting lots of data as I run with my Stryd power meter, but haven’t used it to tweak my training and/or racing. I do know that my cadence is very low (both in general and when compared to other relatively fast runners. This is typically correlated with being more prone to injury but I haven’t seen that. I don’t know what I could do differently, but it certainly seems like there could be an opportunity there. I will never be a 180 cadence guy (I don’t think a lot of 6’2” guys are) but I have to imagine 165-170 could yield some benefit. Any thoughts from the team would be much appreciated here.
Comments
I really appreciate you taking the time to post the pictures with the write up. Great pics!
With a 1:35 Half Mary, all I can say is congratulations JB and what a talented man!
fantastic work!
SS
when i get to 40-44 I wanna be fast like you !
grats again !!
It was so much fun watching three of the fastest runners on the team - and on the course - mow through the field. Sabo and Mohr are so efficient and light on their feet. You don't look like you're running fast because you cover about 30 feet with each stride, but it obviously works for you. But it is a very noticeable stride and quite different from the masses. Does it mean that your 150 turnover is bad? Hell if I know. If you don't get injured and don't fade at the end, then it seems to work. But if you over-stride even a bit and put on the brakes with an out-front heel strike, then you're slowing down and are at a heightened risk of injury. Likewise, if you're on your feet too long and tend to drop your hips (can't really tell in your photos), then you have room to improve. Which, if true, is frightening. What you can see in one of the run photos you posted above, you swing your hand/arms really low, and the arms are really what sets the tempo. You might pick up some turnover just by simplifying and compacting that arm motion (Coach P and Tallo are big proponents of high hands, compact arm swing). I saw Rapp (6'3") run at Texas one year and he has a similarly long and loping stride, but Strava usually shows his cadence in the high 160s/low 170s. Trevor Wurtele is 6'3" and runs 166-68. Coach P is tall and was in the mid-160s back when he used to exercise. Jesse Thomas is 6'1" and he races in the 170s (low 170s for IM, higher 170s for 70.3). Once you get to the "shorter" guys like Hoffman (5'11", 175-77) and Mohr (I think he's 5'8" and is usually in the mid-170s), the turnover tends to increase. I always seem to run right around 180, but given my run splits, I obviously cover a few inches per stride and need to get more hip extension if I have any hope of getting faster. So, I suspect that you might see some speed/health improvements if you move into that mid-160s range you mention. It'll be interesting to see how/whether Stryd can deliver any insight/benefits for you.
Looking forward to following the rest of your '17 and to a reunion race sometime sooner than later.
@Danielle Santucci
Btw, I feel like your powermeter must be reading low. My NP was 210 and our bike splits were identical! 2:21:45 on the nose!