Race Report - UK 70.3
Pre-Race Details & Condition:
(my later edits in blue)
My first 70.3, 2nd ever Triathlon (1st one a few weeks ago that I used as an RR and I quit mid-run).
Pre-Race Week – have been nursing a hamstring strain so my pre-race week included 2 swims & 2 easy bikes plus lots & lots of self-massage & light stretching – Leigh provided some info on taping the area which seemed to help a little. So not the best prep but hey, I’d entered and would bail out if the pain became acute.
Travelled to race site Saturday, took longer than expected (got lost! In part to organisers trying to divert traffic away from local villages) so with the time delay and remote location (45mins from motel) decided not to drive the course, a mistake as it turned out.
Got registered just inside the allotted time, just made it (=stress!) and then attended pre-race meeting which was fun – racked bike, next row from Pro’s (chatted to Phil Graves as we both checked out the Pro’s bikes!) I was #264, helped with bag drop too.
Nutrition: due to travel delays and location I was unable to eat a substantial meal until 1900 that evening; plan had been to eat at lunch time – lunch was sandwiches, dinner lasagna.
Kept hydrated all day on water & weak Infinit mix plus coffee.
Didn’t sleep much – dozed until 1am ‘ish and drank 1x 600kc Ensure Plus shake – woke at 3.30 & had 1 more Ensure, tea and slice of fruit malt bread. All OK.
Gel 30mins before swim – good to go, frickin cold standing around, did a few jogs to keep warm.
Swim – 41:05 (763rd overall, yikes!)
Swim was in a small lake (reservoir) which had been drained some in recent weeks unfortunately so some of the buoys were close to the shore at certain points – so start-like congestion at 2 of the turns.
In the water in good time but then spent 10mins trying to keep warm – fairly central, 3 rows from front in loads of space.
Kinda freaked again after getting swum over – think its more the fact that I was unable to settle-in and focus on stroke – HR goes up- I start doing a 2 stroke breath, start holding my breath etc. Not happy and for at one point considered quitting. Mentally got it together but still struggled to hit ‘right’ pace.
Although I know its much different, my RR in the pool was in 33mins – don’t think I got close to that pace at any point – disappointing!
Observation – I don’t kick in a wetsuit, maybe too much pull-buoy?
400m uphill jog to T1, found bag easy (rehearsed that bit at least).
Bike – 3:06:17 (124th O/A – only 59 did sub. 3hr bike incl. the 20 pro’s).
Entire workout (211 watts):
Duration: 3:06:40
Work: 2359 kJ
TSS: 214.3 (intensity factor 0.83)
Norm Power: 246
VI: 1.17
Pw:HR: n/a
Pa:HR: n/a
Distance: 57.341 mi
Elevation Gain: 5469 ft
Elevation Loss: 5485 ft
Grade: -0.0 % (-16 ft)
Min Max Avg
Power: 0 702 211 watts
Cadence: 30 212 88 rpm
Speed: 0 44.7 18.4 mph
Pace 1:20 0:00 3:15 min/mi
Hub Torque: 0 51 10 lb-in
Altitude: 120 1101 695 ft
Crank Torque: 0 932 216 lb-in
Bike Nutrition – 1 x 750ml feed bottle with 520kc of Infinit Ride + 1 x caffeine gel @ 114kc. Total of 643kc / 214kc per hour.
Started to get cramps at mile 40 in both quads – need to dial electrolytes /do a sweat test. Plan was to stick to a drinking from feed bottle every 15mins - I did lose track & messed that up (need to practice and/or use an alarm system) - did have 'extra' Infinit mix to consume in last 10miles so certainly did mess up. Started out with aerobottle with approx 750ml of water, messed up first top-up attempt, for some reason I didn't squeeze the aid-station bottle enough - went a 15min period when I felt thirsty but all I could drink was Infinit from feed bottle. Can't remember if this was before or after starting to experience cramps in the quads. Did fill up with water at next station but then recall feeling a little bloated on the water!
I’ve sent the file to Coach P, however I can see first 90mins @ .85, the second at .80. Difficult course to pace – very tough 14% climbs, had 39x27 which was still too big to keep watts down – stats showing peak 2mins @ 333w; peak 5 @ 299w and peak 10@267 (My .85 target was 252w).
So, hilly 2 lap course on small country roads, un-swept & technical – biggest headache I had was from fast swimmers/slow bikers with no bike handling skills at all – scary & dangerous riding trying to overtake especially at some roads were open to traffic, be it quiet at that time of day (did draft a car for a 30secs, I’ll admit, couldn’t resist!). Started to catch what looked like experienced triathletes & riders at about mile 40, bit late to start working with however.
Made all the gains on the few flat sections & gradual inclines where I could stay aero and power at target watts – was accused by a ‘Tri-Timmy’ of having a motor on my bike as I cruised a section J.
Run – 1:49:40 (243 OA). My vdot 48. Target MP of 7:15.
Swift T2 with no problems, only issue was that Garmin took what seemed like an age to locate a signal (only 2 mins however!) – felt OK and jogged out onto course.
Again, very hilly course with approx. 85% on off-road trails or freshly cut meadow grass – tough going & had to walk at mile 1 to pace a steep climb!
Nutrition a bit random but settled into coke with water chasers pretty quickly.
Nigh-on impossible (IMO) to use GPS to pace this kind of run, RPE was king which showed up my running inexperience. Hardly any flat sections to get into any rhythm with the steep downhills starting to play havoc with my quads and dodgy hamstring (which until the run had been OK).
Pace all off the pre-race plan:
Entire workout (8:34 min/mi):
Duration: 1:47:52
Work: n/a
rTSS: 136.9 (0.824)
NGP: 8:19 (193.5 m/min)
VI: n/a
Pw:HR: n/a
Pa:HR: n/a
Distance: 12.433 mi
Elevation Gain: 1015 ft
Elevation Loss: 938 ft
Grade: 0.1 % (77 ft)
Min Max Avg
Speed: 1.2 16 7.0 mph
Pace 3:45 48:17 8:34 min/mi
Altitude: 711 951 819 ft
Lap 1 (0:08:56.67):
Lap 2 (0:07:43.40):
Lap 3 (0:08:17.82):
Lap 4 (0:07:49.07):
Lap 5 (0:09:25.78):
Lap 6 (0:07:59.30):
Lap 7 (0:08:38.90):
Lap 8 (0:08:19.96):
Lap 9 (0:09:51.06):
Lap 10 (0:08:25.53):
Lap 11 (0:08:56.48):
Lap 12 (0:09:32.80):
Lap 13 (0:03:54.10):
The only other half mary I’d finished was at 1:34, so I think the tough course and too fast a bike took its toll. Felt OK at mile 10 and was psyching up to really push the pace, then the ‘hammer fell’!
OVERALL VIEW:
Good to finish my first triathlon – loved the occasion and event – after 2 years of back injuries while MTB racing it was great to complete something! Especially a 70.3 reputed to be the toughest out there!
Can look positively at the bike split BUT know it was crap ‘cos the run was poorly executed – lesson learnt. Perhaps should have dialled down the target IF to .80 considering the terrain.
In hindsight, this event probably required specific training, especially pacing hills. I’m also getting used to pacing the bike and knowing when to stay aero for best effect, i.e. using the gears effectively to keep up momentum in order to stay aero – definitely a skill (& I consider myself a fairly decent rider).
Nutrition needs looking at, definitely – I can usually tolerate eating loads on the bike & different products etc – perhaps that indicates that I need closer to 250kcal /hr even for HIM? Could be an electrolyte/salts issue however, will do sweat-test and try a custom Infinit formula now I have a good race example to draw upon.
Lots to work on but I know that BIG gains are to be had in the future – now need to rest up and sort out this re-occurring hammy strain!
Legs are (35hrs or so later) completely mashed, the downhill run sections have really hammered the quads - doing a great John Wayne stylee walk!
Its all good!! 
Late edit: just seen this on Phil Graves Twitter - a message to a buddy that raced : 'congratulations on finishing, that is one of the hardest you will ever do, its half way between a 70.3 and an Ironman. Well done!'
Comments
David - Remarkable performance, given it's your first real triathlon. WTC was touting this in advance as the "Toughest 70.3 in the world" or words to that effect. Given the hilly nature of the run, I would say a 1:49 shows SUPER execution, based on your 48 VDOT and 1:34 half mary time. It's impossible to make sense of your splits, of course, unless the terrain is factored in.
Give this medal a place of honor somewhere, forever into the future.
@Al - thanks for your comments, means a great deal. As probably the norm, I'm getting a different perspective as time goes by & remember little things that will help going forwards.
2 of the hills on each lap were little gear grinds - everyone going 5mph & BOP riders starting to weave/tack their way up the slope - you just knew that my 'matches' were being burnt at a fair old pace! After 30mins into the ride I was already thinking about dialling down the run to my 'B-Plan' which was to use my older Vdot from a poorly paced half-mara instead of the more recent 5k Vdot.
On the run it was either climbing or descending with what seemed little in between, so yep, the pace stats are pretty meaningless - as I mention, the GPS became pretty useless - running steep downhills quickly is definitely an art! A few elite guys passed me on the downhills and there's no way I couldve followed without falling forwards or loosing footing. Terrain was tough with rooty trails & loose gravel paths - folks trying to hug the grass verges to teh track to try and keep traction.
On the swim, I believe I perhaps should've been in 5mins quicker but not that concerned at this stage - have a nice cut-eye from getting whacked in the face in the final 500m!
Recover well.
Now enjoy some down time as you have a while untile IM COZ.