Wisconsin 70.3 Race Report - 06/12/2017

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IM Wisconsin 70.3 – June 11, 2017

Tony Ledden’s Race Report

Summary: Finished sub 6 hours and 22/119 in my age group.  There are some things to like and not like about this course: rolling start swim and grass transition are nice. A hilly bike course on crappy roads followed by a hilly run course on a windy 90 degree day seems a bit over the top to me.  Not sure I would do this race again. Came out of the race with sore quads, a sore left adductor and a sore left ankle with some chaffing in crotch and sunburn.

Details: Rose at 3am, took in 2 scoops of UCAN + vitamins + Ketones/MCT + Almond butter. 530 calories. Sipped on my electrolyte drink, Coco5, until exiting transition.  Stretched and rolled legs and upper body, lubed tri shorts, applied sunscreen, affixed chip and boarded the shuttle from the Alliant Energy Center at 5am.

New rule that bags must fit under the bike threw a curve at me.  Mt Zoot tri bag is huge and won’t fit under the bike. I transferred small items to a smaller back pack and carried wet suit, shoes and pump in a large Hefty bag, I carried a gallon of water in the other hand.

Arrived at transition at 5:20 and set up. The winds were gusting over 25 mph the day before so I had my bike racked by the handle bars. Re-racked the bike correctly, pump tires, added nutrition and CO2 cartridges, laid out my stuff, put shoes on pedals (allowed this race) since my plan was to run barefoot in the grass until reaching the road and then a few more feet – maybe about 20 feet in the road  – until the mount line and then step on the left down shoe and swing leg over to the other after pushing off with the right foot.  This worked for me and I had a great T1.  I do need to practice getting my feet into my shoes while the bike is in motion.

Put Garmin on bike but turned it off.  Turned it back on when got out of T1 and on to the bike course after I got my feet in my shoes. My power meter seems to lose its way when surrounded by the other bikes in transition and I don’t like to wear my huge Garmin 310XT in the swim.

Headed down to swim at 6:15.

Swim

I walked barefoot to the swim start. A lesson here is to wear cheap disposable flip flops to the swim start. We had to walk partway on an asphalt parking lot and the stones caused a problem for my bare feet.  I would have thought that at an IM sponsored race they would have at least swept the walk area. At least on the swim exit they had a narrow felt runway to run on back to T1.

There was supposed to be a practice swim  from 6:30 – 6:45 with the race start at 7. However, the practice swim was cancelled because an ambulance was late to the venue. So had to wait in the sun in a dark wet suit; I was losing my hydration through my pores without even starting the race!

At about 7:20 I lined up in the 37 – 40 min group and got into the water to start my day at 7:37. Couldn’t believe all the people walking in the shallows and not starting their swim – it’s always faster to swim until your hand touches bottom. I stepped on a rock just before laying out into the swim and it hurt until midway through the race.

The rolling swim start reduced the physicality of the swim dramatically, though there was still a little bumping. I was targeting 39 min and I came in at 37:43. This is a PR for me in a 70.3 event.

 

T1

Sprinted to T1. Again, couldn’t believe all the folks that were walking. Knew exactly where my bike was and got there fast. Put on my helmet. I decided I wasn’t going to wear socks in order to save time in T1. Grabbed my bike but couldn’t get it off the rack. It got hung up by the bag tucked under the bike! Moved the bag aside and I could tip the front and then back under the bar. Had a great T1 at 3:19.

Bike

Windy, hilly and bumpy on the bike. About 2500 ft of elevation gain. Tried to stay aero as much as possible.  As the day started to heat up towards 90, I felt the heat in the aero helmet. Took water at the aid stations to refill my torpedo. Took a salt stick every 20 min, at least 1x per hour I took 2 of them. Also took a base slat 1x per hour. My mixture of ketone/MCT/carb fuel, aminos and catalytes in both 26 oz bottles worked well. I took an almond butter mid ride and then a crank sport e-gel 30 minutes from T2 just to get some carbs primed for the run. Overall, I drank 104 ounces of fluid, or about 35 ounces / hour on the bike. Good thing I dialed in the EN resources on how to race in wind.

My goal for the bike was 2:55, but I came in at 3:04. Couldn’t hit my power targets or my IF. I was targeting 212 watts / .85 IF. Came in at 175 avg watts / 192 Normalized, and .77 IF. Guess I need to push the intervals in training harder. Perhaps also the heat, especially in the aero helmet, and chaffing in the crotch contributed to the weak power output, and perhaps could have increased the fluid intake by taking more at each of the 3 aid stations. Couldn’t get the pee flow started on the bike – just not enough of an urgency to get it started.

T2

Though I felt a hot spot on my right foot about 2 -3 miles outside of T2 while on the bike. So decided to spray Trislide Skin Slick and TriSlide on my right foot in T2. But first I had to rack the bike. Got disoriented and lost my way – one of the many rookie mistakes this day. Got to the rack and sprayed the foot. Put on socks, Hokas and grabbed Go bag. As I’m running to the exit, I drop the Go bag and couldn’t find my sun glasses. Did I leave them at the bike? Start to head back but then find them. Struggling to pull race belt over shoulders and pass up sun screen. Should have stopped for some – I’m paying the price today. Goal for T2 was about 1:30 – 2:00 but came in at 4:07.

Run

Based on the EN pace calculator for running in heat, I added about 25 seconds to my pace. But I still ran a slower half marathon than I wanted. My target was 1:55 and with the heat should have been about 2:01. I came in at 2:09. The good news was that I did manage a negative split: 1:04:40 on the first 6.5 and 1:04:21 on the last 6.6.  Also learned a new skill – I was able to pee while running. Couldn’t do it on the bike but was able on the run – go figure. Only peed 1 x on the run.

The big issues I had was a blister/hot spot and then a tightening adductor.

Another rookie mistake: running in the Hokas. In training, I would develop a hot spot under my little toe after 3 miles. Thought I had it solved with the TriSlide stuff so felt I could run in them for this race.  I like their plush feel vs. my Altras. Should have stuck with the Altras. After 3 miles, I had to stop and remove my sock. That made the toe feel better, but I needed to apply Vaseline at each aid station that had it in order to keep the hot spot under control. I estimate this added about 6-8 minutes to my run. I used the Go bag for ice early on, but couldn’t get it right under my cap or on my back and it was a pain holding my sock, bag and hand held Fuel Belt Gel container, so I diched the plastic Go bag midway through the race and just dumped ice down my shirt and in my cap, which seemed to work better than the Go bag.

Plenty of hills early on, which I ran and did not walk, and this may have lead to my adductor issue by mile 11. Fortunately, when the tightness came on, we had just run past Monona Terrace on the Capitol trail and I could run on a softer grass surface. Until then it was all asphalt and concrete. The softer surface seemed to help the adductor and I pretty much stuck to it for the last 2 miles. The finish is in Ohlin Park at the top of hill.  For the last 50 – 75 or so yards we have to run an incline to the top of the hill. I fired on all cylinders to finish strong with a total time of 5:58:23.

Key Learnings

·         Save the Hokas for training or cooler days; stick with the Altra Paradigm on race day.

·         Need to work the bike and run intervals harder in training in order to hit power and pace targets in races.

·         Do a better job of lubing the chamois if it will be a hot day.

·         Wear disposable flip flops to the swim start.

·         Ditch the Go bag as an ice container and just use my hat.

·         Every time I hit a bump my bike would rattle and that drove me nuts; need to find out what that was.

·         Do a better job of rehearsing bike in to T2, practice feet into pedals while moving and putting on race belt while running.

·         Take 2 seconds for sunscreen in T2.

·         Strengthen glutes and hammies to mitigate adductor issues.