Maurice Matthews Ironman Gulf Goast 70.3
Ironman Gulf Coast 70.3 Race Report - Long Read!!!!
Never written a race report but I’ve read a ton in here so
here is my best shot. This was my first Ironman 70.3 and first half of three
this season. I had no time goals. My goals were execution goals: Finish swim
feeling decent, don’t cramp on the bike (drink all nutrition) and don’t walk
during the run. Those were my goals. I drove from Ft. Lauderdale to Panama City
Florida on Thursday. The only other time I’ve ever visited Panama City was
during spring break in college which means if you asked me to describe the city
prior to this weekend, your description would be as good as mine 
. Anyhow, I stopped in
Gainesville Thursday night and woke up early on Friday morning to break up the
9hr drive. I was eager to check-in to my hotel, visit ironman village, check my
bike-in and get off my feet since the race was early Saturday morning. I also
had to pick up my wife from the airport that night since she flew in after work.
Ironman goes full out with all the things they offer for sale and exhibitions
they had set up. I bought a few shirts and figured I should listen to the
pre-race brief seeing how I’m a total noob.
The only thing I wanted to know was the water report which of course wouldn’t be
known until 4am the next morning. Either way even if was not wet-suit legal, I
would have still wore mine. I’m not qualifying for anyone’s World Championship
anytime soon so I don’t have to worry about not being allowed to win a slot if
I wore a wetsuit. After all the hoopla, went back to my hotel, laid down and
rested until it was time to pick up my wife. I laid out all my gear and went to
bed around 10:30pm.
Race Day:
Woke up at 3:30 since the race began at 6am which I believe is early for these environments. I assume it was to beat the Florida heat, but I have no idea. I’m not a “breakfast” person, so admittedly this is tough for me. I did my best to get in 600-800 calories. I had a cup full of brown rice, a smoothie and hydration. I tried to use the toilet to do my thing, but it never materialized. Packed all my stuff and got in the car to head to the race which was about 15 mins away. I start taking out my gear to walk over to transition and low and behold I forget my wetsuit in the hotel……luckily my super awesome wife drove back to the hotel to get my safety net. While she did that I layout my transition area. They packed the bikes together like sardines. There was no extra space at all. I laid out my gear in front of my bike in the order I thought I’d need it. The wife came back and I just relaxed, used the bathroom several times, but never doing the doo which worried me. Time goes by and head down to the beach for the start.
Swim
This was a self-seeded swim which worked perfectly for me. I knew I would have wrestle folks in the water or have people trying to swim over the top of me. I seeded myself in the 46-50min group which I knew I could comfortably swim. The water was beautiful, you could see clear to the bottom. I was focused on keeping my form together and staying relaxed in the water. At one point I actually thought, “Oh this isn’t that bad” and then I got stung in the face by a jellyfish and another and another. I don’t like things touching me, nonetheless in the ocean and then all I could see was jellyfish. I knew there was nothing I could do, so I tried to stay close to people and hope the jellyfish stung them instead of me lol. That didn’t work too well so I just sucked it up lol. Finally finished in the time frame I assumed I would, did a little fist pump since swimming is not my thing and did a walk/run to T1 which was over a quarter mile away from the beach. I actually ran into another EN guy as I rinsed off the salt, so that was cool.
T1
Had my wetsuit off before I got to my bike which was kind of far from the entrance, used the potty and threw on all my bike gear. Admittedly, the run from the beach, my potty break and putting on all my stuff had me in T1 for about 8 mins hahaha.
Bike
My bike plan was to be conservative (0.70 – 0.75IF) since I tend to cramp very bad due to having a high sweat rate and not fueling properly historically. The first 30-50 minutes was my do no harm time frame. I started fueling as soon as got on the bike since I knew it was going to be a warm day. My heart rate was sky high (180>) and never came down although I was in my power zone. I didn’t feel like I was overtaxing myself so I just focused on power and let the chips fall. The bad part of being a back of the pack swimmer is it’s generally not that good of bikers on the course at that point. I literally rode to the left probably 85% of the time passing people. First aid station, my body finally said no more, it’s time to do the doo. That was terrible especially having on a one-piece (I’ll be ordering a two-piece when the ordering window opens lol). I spent a solid 10mins in there but at least it was out. Back on the bike taking in my nutrients and just moving along. One of the older gentleman I passed was friendly and called out “Hey speedy, where’d you come from I thought you passed me already”. I chuckled and wished him luck on a long day. Finally made the turn-around and felt good so I decided to push it a wee bit. I pushed my speed above 20mph for the back half, could have gone harder but I had my plan and stuck to it. My IF was 0.73 for the ride which again was in the zone I wanted.
Training Peak Bike File:
http://tpks.ws/PSQH7CWBVOF4GKTHGH6KVS46IY
T2
Put on my nutrition belt, grabbed my ice bag, hat and headed out for the run.
Run
My goal for the run was to not stop and walk the aid stations. At this point it felt very hot outside and there was little shade to be had. It was a 3 loop course which is very spectator friendly. My wife had a cool spot at mile 2 which boosted my spirits. First loop wasn’t terrible as I was running defensively at this point. Each aid station I drank the Gatorade, Pepsi and dumped ice water on my head. I had my run belt with Gatorade and base salt inside, but I didn’t want my mix so I ran with extra weight for no reason so that was a lesson learned. After mile 4, there was a gal and guy who just happened to be running next to me. She began chatting which was a cool reprieve from just listening to personal thoughts of how hot it was. They were cool peeps, but lost her at 5 mile and the guy at mile 6 since I never stopped running which they did. I was going slowly (11min miles), but I never stopped running. Saw my wife again and she told me to keep getting ice since it was 93 degrees outside. My saving grace was several random people outside had water hoses and were spraying us. I wish they provided that at every aid station but sadly they didn’t. I just thought make it to the next aid station. Admittedly, I probably languished at stations wayyyy too long (20-30secs) but I needed to make sure I drank enough liquids and got the good ice (chunks of ice stuck together for my hands and small pieces for my race saver bag) lol. Mile 12 the cramps started to come and I had a talk with my body to just hold it together. Mile 13 my left foot seized up and as I entered the finishers chute my left leg and foot did not want to cooperate so I did a run/drag of my leg. I crossed the line and a medical volunteer came over to escort me to the medical tent. I told them I felt “fine” but my leg seized up. I got my medal, sat down, put a cold towel over my head and drank Gatorade which I about had enough of but at least I was down. Its funny my age heart rate for the run was 158 versus 180 on the bike which was crazy to me and the run was an IF of 0.73 which was the same as the bike.
I learned a ton from the race and know the areas I need to
improve upon. I ran the race my body gave me in the heat and I wanted to be conservative
overall and not experience the myriad of cramping issues I normally have. One question I have is how do folks fuel
themselves on the run taking on course things. I know I don’t want to carry any
bottles anymore and I can’t stomach gels. Guess that just leaves me with
drinking the cups of Gatorade and taking base salt for electrolytes.
Training Peak Run file:
http://tpks.ws/RT3RDWELRUMTSSB7SJDKZRHZJM
Key Takeaways:
Swim
I was swimming 4 days a week but I only started back swimming first week of April after several month hiatus. I attended a few swim clinics down here in Ft. Lauderdale and I do open water swims once a week in the ocean. To get faster I need to work on increasing my stroke rate with my tempo trainer and continue to hone my technique. My major worry was completing the distance. Now that I know I can do that, it’s time to push harder on the swims. I swim solo, but debating joining a Masters Swim class again. If I do, I hope we swim in one lane as opposed to single lanes for myself because I might as well swim alone. I like to be pushed which several people in one lane allows.
Bike
Finally figured out my nutrition which is great and been my main inhibitor due to my high sweat rate (I lose 4,192 mg per hr during training/competition, USDA recommends consuming 1500-2300 mg of sodium PER DAY!.) Work on increasing my FTP and riding the 56 mile distance at a higher IF level. This will mainly be done through Zwift races and pushing myself to hang with the big boys & gals on the ABP rides or on the local group rides in my area.
Run
This is the big area for me. Stand-alone half distance I can run 1:40-1:45, but race time it’s not happening. I need to focus on getting below 10min/ miles at the end. This will come from more run durability. I conquered the first step for me which was not stopping during the run portion. Now it’s getting faster during the run portion and figuring out how to stay hydrated. I thought I had my game plan since I practiced with a run belt carrying Gatorade with my electrolytes, but I didn’t want it during the run. I liked the lighter version they served in the cups but I just don’t know how you prepare for that when training. Do I drink two cups every aid station? 3 cups?
Overall
I never felt truly terrible during this race which was good.
It wasn’t fun, but it wasn’t terrible. I'm ready to get back at it because I know I can go much faster. It will be
a matter of slowly putting the pieces together and being diligent about my
efforts. That’s about it folks. Excuse any typo.
Comments
See you on Le Zwift
Did you do either Skratch or OSMO preload in the morning? You would benefit from loading up on the electrolytes to improve blood volume. Go into the race plumed up! No need to carry fuel belt. Does your fuel belt have a little pouch to carry tabs? I recommend Salt Stick over Base Salt. You need ALL the electrolytes.
You could carry the EN race saver bag full of ice.
One thing to remember, you can't fight the heat. You just have to (a) do everything you can to counteract it (race saver ice bag, plenty of fluids, etc) and (b) run at the pace the heat dictates, not your training or expectations. On a day like that, I would think the expected pace (while running, not overall time - walking thru the aid stations is a good thing) would be maybe even 1.5 minutes/mile slower than your TRP.
I agree, a triathlon is catered, you should not bring any excess nutrition or fluids on the run. It all tastes like crap anyway at that point, so just take what they got and keep going.
Sheila is pointing you in the right direction. Improving your swim efficiency will help bring down that high bike HR, I bet. I'm usually 10 bpm higher for the same watts following a race swim, compared to biking without swimming first.
@Al Truscott Thanks for the solid words. You hit it on the head. Me walking the aid stations was 1.5min slower than my TRP. I did feel like a carpenter on the run course with my fuel belt lol, but now I know. It's crazy because my swim HR is almost always Z1 but I think the getting stung by jellyfish had me all out of wack.
@Alicia Chase Derrek Sanks and I use to be in the same Masters club. I love master swim classes when people swim together in a single lane...not so much if I'm in a lane alone. That's the equivalent of swimming solo to me. But I think I'm going to check it out again.
A few thoughts for you. Nutrition day or two before and morning of can help give you your pit stop in the morning instead of at random on course. Banana and the right amount of applesauce at the right time in the morning will typically do the trick.
When racing, I look to my HR as the guide and the power number as the nice to know, not the opposite. Job one when exiting the water is to get my HR down to the appropriate number and build it from there. Going based on power only can lead to doing too much too soon for your body and causing issues that show up in the run.
As as you said, you are a faster runner, but that heat will slow you down. Plus if you did over cook the bike, that’s a way it can show up. You don’t necessarily blow up spectacularly, you just underperform. I’m not saying that’s what happened, especially given those temps, but it could show up that way in races when your not running on the surface of the sun.
All in all, you accomplished what you set out to do despite the obstacles put in your way and learned some lessons to take into other races. Anyway you slice it, that sounds like a success to me.
I enjoyed following your training this year. That heat is double tough on us bigger guys. Our bodies just produce more heat/sweat than those smaller bodies and we are less efficient in that regard. We have to take extra measures, i.e., slow the pace, focus more on getting ice in our hands, in our mouth, on our head, down our shirt, sodium, etc.....
Fantastic job holding it together on the last leg and making it through. That says you did an awful lot of things right! You represented strong!
Congratulations!
SS
Congratulations on your race. I'm the old EN guy who came out of the water with you. Needless to say it was the last time I saw you. Look forward to seeing you again soon.