2010 70.3 Kansas Report
Just a little background before I start as I am new to EN, joined in May. The race report is not reflective of EN training as I have joined late for Kansas to be able to switch in time, so the race result is a product of my own self coaching. Three previous HIM times in 2009 are 4:47 70.3 NOLA, 4:44 70.3 Kansas, 4:39 Redman/ Nationals. This is my third season in triathlon, no background in any of the 3 sports.
I had a very disappointing race performance and a result at 2010 70.3 Kansas. Time 4:45:33. How I got there and how I completed it is very dear in my heart as many things went wrong, I just somehow found a way to deal with it and continue. The race time only tells one part of the story.
Pre race breakfast:
3 egg whites, 3 jelly and toast sandwiches, 1 bottle of 300cal Infinit, BCAA, 2 salt tabs, coffee
Weather:
It spanned from 65F, calm to 77F with N@10mph, pretty nice, could have been a lot worse
Pre swim:
1 Roctane+water
Water temp 77.8F, for me no wetsuit as I overheat easy, Xterra Velocity ++ instead.
Swim time: 31:22 ( last year with wetsuit 30:45)
Swim went good, smart, with drafting half of the course on someones feet, felt comfortable, effort while drafting below HIM level, navigation good, in the second half, pre cramp muscle twitching felt in quads. This is where first of the problems came up, pre cramping stiffness in quads during the last quarter of the swim.
T1: 02:17
Very slow as both of my hamstrings locked up running up the boat ramp to T1. I was thinking lovely, what a day I am having with cramps and I have not even started yet. I walked part of T1, took my skin off and tried stretching, collected my toys and went out of T1.
Bike: 02:33:44 It includes 4min drafting penalty and one mandatory dismount and mount due to spill ( last year 02:27:00)
Disclaimer on PM software, Apolo Race Day keeps calculating duration and averages even when PM is temporarily stopped, ie. penalty tent and stop for spill, so AP, NP, IF and TSS may not be entirely accurate, slightly lower than what Garmin TC recorded.
My FTP is 276W, 80-85% range is 221-235W.
AP 217W, NP 229W, IF .83, TSS 177
First 3-5mi was a cramp fast, I was climbing short steep rollers, cramping, stretching and drinking Infinit to alleviate the cramping. Than the next event was my FD got stuck in 53 front for the rest of the ride. Finally in the first flat stretch managed to settle in and ride at target Watts. 0-14mi AP was 226W, dead on where I wanted it. 14-28mi AP was 232W, which I maintained into the 28-42mi segment. This is not a course where you want to have a FD stuck on a big chainring. If it has to get stuck, might as well be it a small ring. Anyway, I knew that run was going to suck, but I dealt with that later. So far I am "only" dealing with cramping early on and a stuck FD. Climbing hills was a serious hold back job but with more torque and slower cadence. I am a spinner. My avg cad racing HIM is 103, this time it came down to 99 in a big ring. Oh, well, triathlon is about dealing with unplanned.
What hurt me emotionally was a draft penalty that I did get in accordance with the rules but in a practical sense I had no other choice passing large groups of slower riders. Anyway I don't draft and am against it, but did get one at mi 49, served 4min penalty at mi 50. What was funny, I thought a small brake would give cramps a chance to let up, but coming over the damn did not do any good. Mi 50-56 was way slower and below target Watts that dragged my bike split down further.
Consumed: 1000cal Infinit total in 3x24oz bottles, 2 water bottles, 750mg of sodium/hr
T2: 1:08, ok nothing spectacular
Run: 1:37:01 (last year 1:42:00)
No, I did not run it the EN way(I wished all along) as I did not train it the EN way. But I never walked it either. I was slowing down significantly in the second half. You guessed the continuing theme, cramps, cramps cramps. I would hold my pace and than cramps would appear, than slow down let it subside, than pick it up again and so on. Cardio system was not overloaded at any point, no real hard breathing but quads were stiffening up and twitching as in pre cramping conditions most of the time. Mentally, had plenty of reserve, but just could not get my body to cooperate. I thought that it was better to back off a little than walk later as I entirely cramp up.
Consumed 4 GU Roctane and 750mg sodium/hr, little stomach discomfort toward the end.
Total time 04:45:33
In summary, glad it was over. It was a long day of cramps, FD malfunctioning, draft penalties......Took a lot of effort to get through this. Now fully transitioning into EN plan and excited about less volume (had many weeks of 17-19hr/week) and more intensity for 70.3 Branson.
I need to figure out what is up with all this cramping early on.
Comments
Anyway, I'll let someone with more experience than I comment on what you could have done differently, if anything, but just the few things that jumped out to me. First, well wow, your times are great anyway for being new to the sport, I wish I could race a 4:45 on my best day let alone on a day with as many issues as you had. Beyond that, my next gut reaction was in regards to your nutrition, wow, that is way, way, way more than I took in.
My race day nutrition was like 1/2 a wheat bagel, some oatmeal, and one 5-hour energy extra strength pre-race. My bike nutrition was a 3x concentrated (3-scoop) bottle of EFS which I mixed into my aerodrink with water throughout the course. The EFS bottle was approx 300 calories with a metric shit-ton (real number) of electrolytes, on top of that I had a full flask of EFS LiquiShot at 400 calories and another 1,500mg of electrolytes. Total bike calories were less than 700 calories. On my run I had no gels, just gatorade and water. No additional nutrition, I'm not a big fan of gels at all.
I'm certainly not starting that your approach was wrong and mine was right, your run time was still certainly better than mine (1:40), but definitely struck me how different our nutrition was.
I second Trevor, Great time despite all the troubles. My quads were cramping too at KS, what's up with all the leg cramps. My second thought was also, WOW that is A LOT of calories. But then I thought about mine and I cosume about the same and I am a 120lb female. Now it does take me longer on the bike than you (40 minutes longer, ugh). For me B'fast is coffee and 2-350 cal ensure plus (1 @5am and 1 @ 6am) Then 7 scoops of infinite on bike (964cal). Run is 3 scoops of run formula infinit (343 cal mixed in 10oz of water). Enduralytes too. Everbody is different of course.
As far as what could have started that cramp in the quad, I am clueless. I have gotten them in the calf during the swim, but then it goes away. My qauds began hurting on the bike. Was anything at all different than your other races as far as pre race nutrition or schedule leading up to race? All in all, it sounds like you've got a great atitude about it all.
Good luck next time!
Jessica
At your speed and intensity level, all those calories before the race and during the bike are probably drawing needed blood flow away from your muscles and to your GI tract. You could probably do just fine with 2 bottles of Gatorade on the bike, more gatorade on the run, and a GU in each transition.
Thanks to all of you for commenting on the thread. Sorry, it took me so long to answer, I was on vacation and than kids had their swim meets.....
Very glad that all of you are looking into info I provided on the race nutrition. Trevor, I know 4:45 does not sound bad at all, however when I put in perspective how much I train, it really is not that great relatively speaking to my own previous performances. I highly respect everyone's own race time as it is a true reflection of some very hard work. Even though I feel for you and misfortune you had, it is great you stuck with it and measured it yourself. I would have done the same. I did the same thing 2 weeks before this race, at Kansas City Triathlon, I ripped the chip off during wetsuit removal and never new about it. I timed the race myself and kept going. This is happening to me 2 years in a row at the same race.
Let's share some thoughts on pre race and race nutrition, compare some notes. I am very happy that I may have something to learn here.
I have done a lots of reading and numerous chapters and articles on the subject. I did read EN guidance on race nutrition.
My pre race routine is a product of 3 previous HIMs and 4 olympic distance races and the tweaking that took in between. I think that there may be some merit in the suggestion that I am taking in too much and that water is being pulled for digestion. Great idea. I am going to go back and look into it and start experimenting with less before my RRs and long rides. But I have to tell you guys, I was hungry at the swim start. I mean hungry. Anyway here is my pre race calorie breakdown, please feel free to correct me:
At 4am:
3 egg whites 180cal
3 jelly/toast 690cal
1 salt stick salt tab containing 250mg sodium
While setting up T2 and T1:
300cal Infinit
Pre swim Roctane/ 100cal, 1 salt stick salt tab(250mg sodium)
Maybe not enough water along, had 3 trips to the bathroom for number 1 prior to race
Bike nutrition is a product of 2 years of tweaking with Infinit people, whose guidance I have been using through interview and their written material, never before have I cramped on the bike, not during swim or T1 either, but this time I sure did. I cramped during the run many times and attributed it to over exertion or not taking enough sodium.
I tested this amount through so many long and hard rides, I just never had issues with it before. I was stuck in big chainring though, maybe a part of it lies there.
3 bottles of Infinit, total 1000cal, each hour on the bike, I was taking 750mg of sodium
2 bottles of 20oz water
Never, for a moment did I feel bloated or any kind of GI distress on the bike. In the past I had to go number 1 on the bike once in the last quarter of the bike course at each HIM, on the fly for sure, spraying water down. This time, never did I have the urge to go. Maybe a hint there.
Nutrition on the run was what I described above, a lot less calories but equal amount of sodium. It feels like as if I should have taken more frequent sips out of the flask, I sucked 400cal in 3 sips, mi 2, mi 6 I believe and mi10, chasing it with water, all over 1:37.
I am 5'9", 155lbs, 5.6% body fat. My 80-85% bike power occurs in Z3 heart rate, 152-158. That is where I am, in Z3 racing the bike. The run occurs at the top of Z3 and into bottom of Z4 for me , 159-165.
So here it is. I can start toning down my breakfast or stick with more liquid calories, any other suggestions. Please have at it, I am grateful for you even reading this.
I also would love to share this with you. At one of my lowest points during the race, mi 8 run, a fellow competitor saw me struggling, nope did not know him, never seen him before, approached me as I was about to start walking it and said come on, join me, let's do it, he said , I joined him, half way limping and fighting my side stitch, he went on to tell me that he was throwing up at the exact spot in mi 2 of the run and managed to pull himself back, I sucked it up, but loved every moment of our conversation, I was barely able to talk at 9min/mi pace that he was running, I could not say enough times thank you to him, I started to come back and feel better, feeling cramps letting up and allowing somewhat of my stride, I stuck with him for another half a mile making sure he was ok and could continue as well, he said go, I know you are faster, I hated leaving him as I owe it to him for finishing the race, I asked him if he was ok and could for sure continue without me, he assured me and I reluctantly accelerated and completed this race. I owe this same humility to someone I see next time on the race course struggling, it was such an experience that I will never forget and never stop being grateful for what this person has done for me. This is another reason why this race is so dear to me as it taught me such a valuable lesson in life. I owe this same to you. It is not all about PRs and racing for time.
Anyway, thought, you may like this part and I shared it. These things make you a better person.
As far as your nutrition, if you want to go more liquid, I love enures. I get a lot of crazy looks in the grocery store when I am buying them, but I love em. Last year when I had to get up at 5am to do some of my off season rides I would drink one and then hop on the bike immedialty, no issues. I would also drink one before early morning swims, I too get very hungry.
Testing is the only sure way of knowing. It's crazy to think of all the different factors that could have come into play that day.