Dave Gardners Texas 70.3 Race Report
First race with EN / First 70.3 / First Race Report
Lots more firsts here but you get the idea! I have really enjoyed my time with EN the past 5 months, and become a better, much smarter athlete in this short time. The coaching support, training plans, immense archives of video, podcast and wiki material, and the knowledge base and support of the community are unparalleled.
Short version
Numbers going in to the race-
Age- 48 VDOT- 46 FTP- 229 Race weight- 164
Goals- swim confidently, nail my nutrition, run strong (ok, soft goal of 1:45)
Results- swim 44:06 bike 2:57:04 run 1:50:16 Total 5:44
I am very happy with the execution of my swim, bike, run, nutrition and the overall result. Armed with my EN knowledge I felt like I punched well above my weight for my first long course race. I need to work on my transitions as they were very slow, but it was intentional as I took time to chat with my wife, pose for a few pics, etc, and it might have caused me to slide to 78th from 72nd place lol. My feet became macerated during the run, even after changing socks after the bike. Need to figure out how to deal with this better.
Thanks @Coach Patrick, @Coach Rich, @Mark Maurer, @Peter Noyes, and @Gabe Peterson that gave me specific help along the way. And @Shaun Simmons, dude your like the most encouraging guy out there! Never underestimate the power of a Strava Kudos coming from you man, it really means a lot.
Longer version
Background/Preparation
So im relatively new to endurance sports. Lifelong jogger, cycling and backpacking for 7 years, first sprint tri in ’13, first olympic and 1/2 marathon in ’14, first marathon in ’15, second marathon in ’16. I ran race support for my good friend Shiela at IMTX last year. A few days later Alaskaman was announced. Shiela (who doesn't like cold BTW), sent me the link for it and asked if Id be her race support captain. Total chum in the water. I was hooked the second I read about it! When I told her I wanted to do the race, she quickly said she's be my support and her and our families could build a vacay around it! Yes, she duped me, but honestly it it didn't take much convincing. I studied the race closely, and after consulting with my individual coach at the time, decided it was something that I could do with careful and extensive preparation. And we decided an early season 1/2 to check my progress would be important, so I signed up for the Texas 70.3.
I only had a few problems. I had never done an extreme triathlon, or a full…or even a 1/2! My swim was still really bad. I epitomize the stereotypical life long runner-adult-onset-swimmer. I live so far from a pool I hadn't made the effort to really do what was needed to get better. After running the Chicago Marathon in October and getting the BQ I had trained and hoped for, I decided I needed more from my coaching to get ready for this beast in the summer. I literally stumbled on EN at the end of October and entered the November Outseason. And I finally joined Masters swimming at the beginning of November, and committed to driving an hour each way twice a wee to get this monkey off my back.
The Outseason went very well for me. I had no trouble adapting to the work as it was very similar to the style and volume I had been doing with my previous coach. I was also swimming in the Outseason, not recommended by our coaches but it was something I HAD to do. I switched to the beginner 1/2 Iron plan in early Januaryand within a few weeks was running into a brick wall. I really struggled to adapt to the 30% increase in volume over anything I’d done before, esp with the intensity thrown in. I consulted with Coach P and we backed off my intensity. Within a few weeks my body adapted and I started adding some of the intensity back each week. As a result I did prolly 90-95 % of the volume but maybe 40-50% of the intensity work over the plan. Mentally it took a little bit of time to adjust to the fact that I didn't have to do everything in the plan just because it said to. I found the fine line that allowed me to build without falling over the cliff again. I was able to figure out my nutrition, electrolyte, and hydration needs, as well as my target race wattage that I could still run well afterwards. By the last few weeks before the race I was physically and mentally healthy, feeling great and nailing my workouts at almost the full volume and intensity. I love the idea of the sport specific taper and found it worked really well for me.
Oh, and the Masters swimming finally began paying dividends. I got much better in the pool. And I swim a lot in the open water because lakes are close, this really helps me as my open water skills (in a wetsuit) are much better than my pool swimming. This turned out to be a good thing.
Travel / pre race
My wife and I drove down on Friday morning, arriving just in time for a short run, shower, and dinner with my social tri team, the Cobb Mobb. The Cobb Mobb had a good showing, with lots of like minded positive, enthusiastic and supportive folks with lots of long course and specifically Galveston experience. This was hugely helpful!
Saturday I did a 45 minute easy ride with the Mobb.
The crosswinds were crazy, even for Galveston. I did this ride with my rear wheel cover on, but after one gust nearly blew my wheel out from under me I decided I was not going to risk racing with it. The forecast for race day was gloom, crazy crosswinds, and more doom. 100 % chance of rain, with some coverage of severe storms and chance of hail/tornados.
Putting wheel back on after removing disk cover...never trust this woman with a phone in her hands!
A couple friends told me about a secret spot for a practice swim in the bay as we were not allowed to swim at the race site. Since my swim is so weak it was very important to me to get in this water. What a great morale booster it was. I swam great (for me), dealing with small waves and chop, and the occasional salt water blast down the throat. This really eased my pre race nerves.
Race Day
Transition
Its awesome to stay at the race site. I actually slept pretty well, but woke up early at hit the transition opening. I set up my bike and run in sealed plastic bags for the forecast weather, thinking Id at least start each off dry. The winds were blowing but it was starting to look like the rain and storms might hold off. I set up and went back to my room in the hotel for over an hour.
Swim 44:06
Race started at 7, my wave at 7:56. I was very nervous before getting in the water. Made some friends in M45-49 before getting in. And then we were off. The first 400 yards were straight into the wind and chop. The water was rough, I was moving slow. I saw several swimmers around me struggling. From my pre race swim I knew It would be better on the long down wind portion, I stopped to give encouragement to a couple of struggling swimmers and too them to hang on and just get to the turn around. Despite the conditions, I remained calm and confident. The going was much better after turning the corner. I got into a rhythm, and was surprised that I was hanging (albeit at the back) of my swim wave. I only allowed myself to look at my watch 3 times. I focused on my form, and remained calm and confident. My mind wanted to get outta that water, and tried to drift to the bike, but Id reel it back in. I tried a few times to draft off similar paced athletes, but found it difficult as Im a left breather and they were right so we drifted into each other. I witnessed a lot of courage out there as struggling swimmers dealt with their fears. It was slow going the last 250 yards as we turned to shore, but I became overcome with joy. I came out of the water, was stripped quickly of my wetsuit, and immediately saw my smiling wife!
I was so happy, and very proud of myself as this has been such a difficult thing for me. The rest of the race could have gone badly and I still would have been happy just from the swim.
T1 (slow)
Fortunately my spot was close to the railing so I could chat with Vickie, and someone offered to take our picture.
I ran to my spot and downed an Ensure. The guy next to me told me to wash out my shorts with fresh water or pay the price later. Damn, hadn't thought of that! Didn't have any water but he kindly offered some of his. Man, I love this community! Rinsed my shorts, applied some more lube, changed and was off. Well, after posing for a pic and stopping again to talk to Vickie!
Bike 2:57:04 19.1 MPH NP 157 IF 0.67 Avg HR 144 (max is 197)
Goal was to ease in around 155 W and build to 160-165, and pedal a 1.02 VI. Im not strong or fast on the bike (yet) but I am smooth. From my training rides I knew this would bring me in around 3 hours +/- 5 min. I even told Vickie if I came in sooner than 2:55 that I had screwed up. As we got out onto the seawall I was very glad I didn't have my disk cover on. The winds were howling! But seemed to be almost a straight crosswind. I held my watts in the low 150s, my HR stayed in the mid 140s for the entire ride. I passed more people than I expected. One guy with a disk passed me and it really looked like he was struggling to control his bike. Now the pros, different story. Less than 1/2 had disks but they didn't seem to have issues as they came back from the 1/2 way point. Galveston is a simple out and back course, beautiful scenery although I saw little of it as I stayed aero. But I did stop, once at the 1/2 way, to hit the port a potty. No wait, peed, in/out. Cost 2 minutes, resulted in another happy 90 minutes on the way back. Now if I was competitive for AG awards, or even if it had been raining, maybe different story. The way back was fine, saw a few friend and made a few others. Took 2 Tylenol just after 1/2 way. I had 3 bottles of Tailwind and a packet for a fourth. 6 Belvita snack cookies and a honey stinger waffle. I had trained in non humid conditions with 3 bottles for 56 miles but expected to need a forth in Galveston. I was right, it was VERY humid. When I reached back in my jersey pocket to get the TW packet it was gone. Damn! I thought through the best way to replace the lost calories/electrolytes. I decided that my calories were fine, didn't need any more. So instead of Gatorade at the next stop I picked up a water bottle and took 2 salt tabs that I had packed as a just in case. Tried to pick up 5 watts or so but just didn't feel right so I kept it consistent. Picked up a water bottle at the last stop so I could douse myself in T2 to pre cool for the expected hot/humid run.
T2 (turtle taking a nap)
I was very happy to get off the bike, my a$$ hurt. But i felt great. Pulled into T2, ran in to portapotty to pee, swapped gear, doused water on my head and down shorts, kissed Vickie, and was off.
Run 1:50:16
I felt great starting the run. It was time to do what I do! I ran confident and happy. I held back for 3 miles trying to keep my HR to 145 which it was during all the bike. It was simply too slow, I decided to keep it to below 155 which was still an easy PE, and this gave me 9:00 min pace or so. It was very humid, I figured that was the increase in 10 beats. The run is a 3 loop course. Lots of crowd/cheer support. Im a very happy and encouraging runner, and I did not disappoint here.
My fav thing to do is to co-opt large cheer groups and act like they are there for me. I did this with the 2 loudest groups and by the 3rd lap they were going wild for me lol. I stopped and gave 2 cramping/suffering runners some of my base salt early on. Then I realized there were simply too many and I couldn't help everyone! I picked up the pace after mile 3 and HR went into the upper 160s. I stopped and walked most aid stations, not cause I needed a break from running but to douse water on head, in shorts, drink, and get 2 ice sponges. My pace was around 8:30 in these middle miles, I still felt great. Then at mile 7 I ran out of base salt…uh oh. I gave too much away. I kept my pace and figured Id switch to Gatorade and hope I wouldn't run out of steam. The Line for me was really more at Mile 10. It really was pretty easy up to then, tolerable anyways. And then it got hard. My goal was to push it to Z2 (7:50) for the last 3 miles. I stepped up my effort but saw myself still going 8:10-8:15. It got really hard those last 3 miles. But I did not relent. I kept the pressure on myself and kept the pace. Walked the aid stations, douse head, shorts, drink Gatorade, 2 ice sponges.
The other problem which developed early were the feeling of impending blisters on the bottom of both feet. Ive never hard issues in races, even rainy puddle stomping ones. My feet had become macerated and felt like they were blistering bad. Oh well, its a race. I worried about it but pressed on.
I met my first EN athlete in real person, Dana Sutter, on the run. Hi Dana! And got shout outs of “Go EN!” once a lap from someone I found out later as Scott Alexander, thanks man! And he took this pic sometime during the run-
The finish was awesome. Ran through the finish feeling like I was about to pass out. Finishing your first of anything big is always a great feeling, this did not disappoint. My feet were very soft from absorbed water, but did not blister.
In a longer race they would have been trashed. I gotta figure out what to do different here.
Post Race
Completing a 1/2 was a necessary step in my journey towards Alaskaman. I didn't realize I that needed a big success in Galveston but mentally I did. And now tis time to turn my focus to the Beast- 14 weeks and a day to go…
If you've hung all the way through the long version, I certainly didn't expect it. But thank you. Heres your bonus Cats of the Gardner House Entertainment-
Comments
Regarding socks: I switched to Swiftwick socks and like them a lot; but keeping feet dry is critical ... rather than dousing water on yourself try using the RaceSaver run bag with ice to keep cool. Good luck at Alaskaman, that looks like a great event!
I love Swiftwicks too! I dried my feet after the swim, put on Swiftwicks for the bike. Curiously they were soaked after the ride (I didn't pee on the bike lol) and since I expected rain I had a pair of fresh dry Swiftwicks to change into for the run.
I'll have to try the Racesaver run bag technique
I think you were heading into the finish line when I got that pic.