Race Report – High Cliff Half 2010
A while ago we talked about having an EN Midwest Area Half Ironman that many people could do, but the group never agreed on a race. A few folks seemed interested in High Cliff, so I decided to do it as a C race and basically a Race Simulation for Racine 70.3.
I have mixed feelings about how it went. I am of course thrilled with the result of my race, but didn’t sleep the night after as I was going over everything in my head trying to figure out what happened and how I can improve.
The short story is, thanks to a short swim and run, I went 4:09:53 at the High Cliff Half which is a 15’ PR and got me 2nd AG and 4th OA. On the surface I’m thrilled, but my execution sucked and I had to walk (not by choice) about 2 minutes towards the end of the run.
Pre-race
I went into this race with no taper and on tired legs after a big bike weekend, a sprint tri and the fastest long run I have ever done all within the last 2 weeks. I did however take the day before the race easy and my TSB was back to normal training values.
I was much more relaxed than normal as I was doing this race for fun so I was walking around talking to people. I set up my bike and gear pretty early and went to talk to the rest of the EN crew (Beth, Dr. D, and Jim). I didn’t warm up or anything just got my wetsuit on and walked up about 5 minutes before the start and got ready to go.
Nutrition was same as normal, bagel and PB when I woke up, and a gel before the swim. I had a water bottle with me but only had a few sips as I just wasn’t thirsty.
Swim: 24:23
This race had an elite wave so I was able to sign up and start in the first wave which was definitely nice after last weekend’s wave 7 start. There were some waves and quite a bit of chop from the storms and wind the day before and over night. In fact the outside buoys kept getting pushed in by the waves, so the course ended up being short. I’m really pleased with the improvements in my swim and my watch had the swim at .95 miles, so almost a quarter mile short. This means I was pretty much right on pace to go about 30 minutes even and more importantly, it was a rough swim and I just put my head down and swam the entire time.
T1: 1:10
Bike: 2:18:37
There was a decent climb coming out of T1 that lasted a little under a mile and then it was most flat and rolling hills. The only problem is that the wind had picked up and was a very strong cross/head wind. I spun up the hill to get settled and then went to work. The first 45 minutes were right on target at 220 Watts, than my plan was to kick it up to 230, and push for 240 for the last 45 to 60 minutes. In the first 30 minutes I pasted about 10 people and then it was really far to the next guy. I spend the next half hour just catching him and riding solo. I passed the first bottle exchange only to find a box of bottles on the side of the road and no one there to hand them out so I keep going and didn’t stop
About an hour in my legs just didn’t have anything and I couldn’t hold more than 220 watts. I did not do a RS before this, but I have done many rides in the aero bars at 240+ watts for over 2 hours this year so I should not have had an issue. I was able to sit at 220ish watts so I did and just held steady. When I hit bottle exchange 2, again there was no one on the side of the road where I was but two people on the other side giving people going out bottles.
The rest of the ride was tough as the wind continued to pick up and I was pretty much riding solo the entire time. I was never able to catch up to anyone else (or even see them). I did finally get a replacement water bottle at the third and final aid station.
I took in all 375 cal of Infinit that was on my bike and I’m guessing I only got about 30 oz of water at most after the not exchanging bottles at two of the aid stations.
Entire workout (213 watts):
Duration: 2:19:48 (4:38:24)
Work: 1766 kJ
TSS: 132.8 (intensity factor 0.76) ß-- WTF
Norm Power: 216
VI: 1.01
Pw:HR: 3.09%
Pa:HR: -8.02%
Distance: 56.081 mi
Elevation Gain: 919 ft
Elevation Loss: 934 ft
Grade: -0.0 % (-15 ft)
Min Max Avg
Power: 0 475 213 watts
Heart Rate: 168 189 177 bpm ß- that is as high as my last FTT
Cadence: 20 117 85 rpm
Speed: 0 37.5 24.0 mph
Pace 1:36 0:00 2:30 min/mi
Altitude: 759 1005 879 ft
Crank Torque: 0 647 213 lb-in
Duration: 2:19:48 (4:38:24)
Work: 1766 kJ
TSS: 132.8 (intensity factor 0.76) ß-- WTF
Norm Power: 216
VI: 1.01
Pw:HR: 3.09%
Pa:HR: -8.02%
Distance: 56.081 mi
Elevation Gain: 919 ft
Elevation Loss: 934 ft
Grade: -0.0 % (-15 ft)
Min Max Avg
Power: 0 475 213 watts
Heart Rate: 168 189 177 bpm ß- that is as high as my last FTT
Cadence: 20 117 85 rpm
Speed: 0 37.5 24.0 mph
Pace 1:36 0:00 2:30 min/mi
Altitude: 759 1005 879 ft
Crank Torque: 0 647 213 lb-in
The numbers don’t add up to me. My ABP rides have been around 235 to 245 watts (.85ish) for over 2 hours and a few at 2:30, but on this day I was almost 30 watts lower than that and still went faster than usual on a windy day. Then I noticed my heart rate was 177, last FTT my heart rate was 179 so there is no way I should have been that high for over two hours.
T2: 0:46
Run 1:24:53
Coming out of T2 all I could think about was hoping my legs would wake up and have some power. Some days I can’t hit my power targets on the bike, but when I do the brick run I feel great… this day was not one of these days. Within a quarter mile I knew this was going to be a tough run.
I tried to hit my target pace for the first 3 miles of about 20 seconds slower than MP and couldn’t do it without working really hard. So I through my plan out the window and went into survival mode. I ran the entire run by feel and never once came close to any of the paces I should have. When I hit about 7 miles I got a split from a spectator and 2nd place was only 2 minutes up. I had no idea I was in 3rd place so I pushed really hard to try and catch up.
Well that lasted about 2 miles and then I started to get a side stitch. Same exact spot as IMWI last year and only the second time this ever happened to me. I pushed through it for another mile and tried to push on it, put my arms up, change my breathing, exhale one the opposite step but nothing worked. When I hit mile 10 I was done and had to slow down again to get the horrible pain to go away. I suffered through miles 10 – 12 and took to walk brakes and then when I hit the last downhill I sucked it up and went for it almost having to stop right before the finish line.
I was the third person to cross the line of the day, but someone in the second wave ended up beating me by about 20 seconds to get third overall.
So what happened?
The theories I have come up with are:
· I was dehydrated. From what I can tell I took in maybe 40oz or less of water then entire race as it just wasn’t going down on the run, and I didn’t get new bottles on the bike. FWIW, my sweat rate is about 3 lbs per hour in mild conditions like this race was.
· My PM was reading low and I was working harder than I thought I was
· Did not tapering finally catch up with me? Plus BBW, Sprint Race, and two fast long run in the two last weeks probably didn’t help either.
After thinking about both it all night long (instead of sleeping) I did some tests at 6 AM the next morning as I wasn’t sore at all from the race.
First I went for a run, at a comfortable pace I very easily covered 5 miles in 31 minutes, which is normal for me. The day before I never once hit that fast of a pace and I was pushing hard.
I also took the bike for a quick test around by the hotel and from everything I could tell the power numbers seemed right. There is only one time that my Quarq has weird readings before and it was off by a ton… like I was climbing a hill and it said I was putting out 75 watts, other than that I have never had an issue with it.
I will probably never know what the issue was, but I did learn a number of lessons to keep in mind for my next races:
· Have heart rate on my watch and check it when things don’t seem right
· Force myself to take in water ever if it isn’t going down
· Calibrate the PM right before leaving T1 to go to the swim start just to make sure it is correct
· Don’t try to run through a side stitch, once it starts change something to fix it quick
Thanks for reading!
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Comments
That HR thing seems weird to me. Does the garmin usually read it correctly? My 310 is pretty useless as a HRM and I would not put much stock in it. Unless you were really dehydrated going into the race it would not have effected HR or Power that quickly after the swim.
I know it sucks for you cause it is hard to complain when the result is good but does not change the way you felt. Hopefully it was a combo of the beating you put yourself through in the weeks leading up and the fact that you treated it like a C race and did not apply the usual Mancona focus that let those "issues" arise.
Oh and can you really swim 30 minutes these days? That would be very impressive :-)
Matt - your persistent self-reflection in the pursuit of triathlon excellence is one of your strengths. But I think there may be little to be learned for your bigger races upcoming this year from this experience. If you'd had these "troubles" during a race for which you tapered and warm-up and were treating mentally as A priority, then an in-depth evaluation would be fruitful. As it is, this is basically a harder training day for you, and you shouldn't obsess about inability to hold watts, or the development of the side stitch. The one kick in the head is the reminder about how critical hydration is.
Oh, and way to go on the 4th OA, and the "PR", spurious as it may be due to short swim and run (how short?).
Matt, love the pics! You in my opinion are EN's rockstar! great job! One question, why did they shorten the swim?
@Matt, Definitely enjoyed sharing the race with you, Jim and Beth. I remember you talking about the IMWI side stitch at dinner Friday night but never thought you'd see it Saturday.
Bike watts: I agree your numbers don't make a lot of sense. I found it hard to keep the watts even due to the gusting winds plus rollers but I doubt that would affect your performance. Agree that no water at aid stations was a problem. I finished the day with much more salty skin scale than I would have expected based on the ambient temperature. I suppose that 20 mph wind helped to cool us but also would have evaporated.
Run pace: the shade was great but trail running, watching your footing, accelerating/decelerating on the short steep hills would make it very hard to compare to a flat asphalt course unless you've got some prior timed trail experience. I really don't know what that side stitch is about.
Taper- as you said, this was a C race and not the usual taper or mental prep. Were your run TSB and bike TSB where you wanted on Saturday a.m. I've found the TSB helpful but the TSB after some recent crazy hard workouts may not represent how each part of your body has recovered from the training effort.
Racine will be a completely different day.
DrD
And what does wind do to us as athletes? The hardest bike ride I've done this year was my eighty-mile sufferfest on a dead flat road in North Dakota in the wind and heat -- THAT, oddly, made the Horribly Hilly look like child's play.
Seems like you have some really outstanding results when you're not feeling so great on the run
Congratulations on the podium finish!
Plus, I guess if you race lots you will have 'bad days' no matter what.
Thank you everyone for the feedback and complements. I am particularly hard on myself (even on C races) but I believe that is the main reason why I continue to improve as well.
@Chris - I didn't even consider that the HR monitor could have been off. I definitely felt like I was working hard on the bike, but no where near as hard as an FTT. I have done multiple 2000 M swims in the pool at just over 31 minutes so I do beleive I am capible of going 30 minutes in a HIM swim...who knows if I ever will or not.
@Al - I agree, the only reason I am worried about the side stitch is because it has happened twice now in the last year, IMWI and this race. My watch has the run at 12.5 miles, however as John mentioned it was a trail run complete with twists and turns, some short steep climbs, and not always the best footing. Considering it was only my second trail run in the last two years maybe that had something to do with the poor run performance.
@Kathy - i don't think it was on purpose they seemed to be having all kinds of trouble getting the buoys to stay in place. The race director was on the phone with two different boats 5 minutes before the start having them move the buoys around. The waves were definitely pushing the buoys in closer to shore and they were trying to move them back out from what I could tell.
@John - great to see you and Teresa out there as well! Great point about the constant wind making it not seem as warm out as it was. I was pretty saltly afterwards as well, and it was definitely warm when I stopped and was in the sun.
@Beth - yes the bike hyrdation could be much better. I'll keep in mind if I ever fo this race again that I should bring more water with me and not rely on the course aidstations, that might not even have people at them.
@Kitima - your comment made me also realized that in the last 2 weeks I've dropped about 4 pounds, mainly by eating better but maybe I did go into the race dehydrated in the first place. You are right, the IMWI run was soooo much worse than this one as I get the side stitch in the 2nd mile, and had 24 to go.
Thanks again for all the help thinking through this one. After a great runs on Sunday and Monday, plus an FTP this morning in my aerobars and only 2 watts under my highest ftp ever, I've moved on. One more race this weekend and then I get to take a weekend off for the first time in at least a month. BTW, I am purposely racing my way into shape and having fun at the moment, come 12 weeks prior to Kona, I will do zero races.
Considering you have won your AG at an IM or got 4 th OA each time you have gotten a side stitch while running maybe you should figure out how to make sure you have one when racing in the future? While most of the world will say this about YOU it is not a good piece of luck [in terms of winning your AG] to have Lavery in it. I am assuming that working for Trek has not made him any slower.
Oh and trail running is an entirely different animal hard to gage much from that.
PS- all that swimming work is certainly paying off for you! Nice improvement!
Hey Matt, everyone's already said it all, but I wanted to chime in and wish you congrats. You've already taken it as a learning expererience. On top of that, you did pretty damned well.
Dave
Contrats on a great race (again!) despite tough personal concitions.
What was the temp like at High Cliff? Although your performance and mine are in COMPLETELY different leagues, your description sounds eerily similar to a C-race I did a few weeks ago (Olympic distance). I won't bother with details, but inability to hit power, stitch on the run, etc.... all there for me. And again, you're in a completely different league than me, but we're both relatively small guys, though I'm in my 40s. I'm just interested to see if there are any parallels, given the totally parallel symptoms you mention.
I had written it up just to heat, but I kinda wonder if the real thing was dehydration that may have accumulated over the previous few days, plus some accumulated fatigue. Here's the race report if you're interested: http://wsjinames.blogspot.com/2010/05/bluff-creek-olympic-tri-race-report.html
William
Thanks Trent and William for the tips... I really appreciate the insight and suggestion on how to fix the side stitch!