JUAN VERGARA RACE REPORT IM703WC
RACE REPORT IM703WC
THE WEEK BEFORE:
- Mon: arrival in PE noon / mount bike
- Tue morning: Full BIKE course inspection by car followed by ride in key segments without disk. 50.7km / 1h26 / 93TSS -
- Tue after bike: RUN not a brick. Had to bring bike to room followed by pre registration biometrics. Easy run, felt good. 9km / 44m / 65TSS
- Wed morning: SWIM at official course. Two easy loops of the reduced course mainly to feel the cold water. Loop 1, 668mts / 12min / 15TSS - Loop 2, 654mts / 12min / 14TSS .... Cold shock on first entry lasted about 300mts, after that ok. No issue with the cold on loop 2
- Wed at noon: RUN 10k 47min 75TSSS. Pushed hard in the end to simulate fighting for position. Felt great.
- Wed late afternoon: MASSAGE
- Thu morning: BIKE went out on the official escorted ride to test mount and T1 exit gearing and the “uphill” the first 11km of the race. Turned around half way and rode home on the course by the sea (with disk). 45.5km / 1h36 / 70TSS
- Fri morning: Last SWIM for final “mind” adjustment to the cold water and rehearse start from the beach and exit from the water using the waves. Felt good at race pace. Loop 1: 744mt / 13min /18TSS - Loop 2: 749mt / 13min / 19TSS
- Fri late afternoon: MASSAGE
- Saturday: watch ladies race on TV, rest all morning, check in bike and bags 2:30pm, rest all afternoon. Light dinner early ... bed 9pm ... lights off 10pm ... slept very well until 5am.
THE RACE
- SWIM: Plan 00:35:00 / Actual 00:35:08 (69th place) - while the swim was as planned (time wise), I was hoping to gain 2 minutes on the target. Main reason I did not was poor navigation which added meters to my swim and prevented me from drafting. All the swim on my own. A terrible mistake was not to have goggles for very low light as back up. Had a hard time finding the buoys making me lose momentum each time I found my form.
- T1: Plan 00:03:00 / Actual 00:03:33 - uneventful T1. Had the minimum in my bag: helmet, vest, gloves. Executed as planned, sit down at the last chair closest to the exit, helmet out, wetsuit in, helmet on, run out and put vest/gloves on the run. Lost a “bit” of time going past my bike and back.
- BIKE: Plan 02:30:00 / Actual 02:38:32 (26th place) - Calmly mounted and up the little ramp out of T1. Gearing was perfect. Once on the road ate my bar, then went out on my aero bars and began drinking as planned. First 11k went as planned avg. 190 watts (though legs felt cold and heavy) and HR going down from 155 to 145 while gradually climbing. Next 8k downhill averaged 173watts / 47k/h. Could have pushed a bit faster but winds were strong, Road was WET and did not want to risk it at the beginning. Next 22k (rolling hills) were BAD .... my legs felt even heavier and could only avg 177watts / 37k/h. Next 27k (the 3 hills on the course out and back) I began feeling better but decided to remain disciplined on the climbs at around 200watts average (and max 250), and remained cautious on the downhills (road still very wet and crossed wind by the ocean). From there on my legs felt a bit better at 185 watts but could not hit the desired 190watt average. Nutrition executed as planned: Power bar at the beginning, drink every 5 minutes max, one gel every 30 minutes, 1 salt pill every hour.
- T2: Plan 00:03:00 / Actual 00:03:07: another uneventful transition with minimum parts in the bag. Just my shoes, socks and my “go-bag”. Drop bike with catchers, grab bag, sit on last chair close to exit, drop contents, Put socks/shoes on, then take helmet of place in bag, vest and gloves off, place in bag, grab go-bag and run out (take out go-bag contents on the run and out on: glasses, cap, number belt with nutrition in it, 1 banana).
- RUN: Plan 01:47:00 / Actual 01:43:30 (68th place) - went totally into “my box” on the run. Felt mentally strong, legs loosened quite fast (at around 2k when it usually takes 3k) but remained disciplined running a bit faster than planned but not much and still within my “ideal” 135 HR (saving for the second half, and last 5k). Drank isotonic at every station taking a few walking steps to drink the whole cup, then back to run. One cliff block with caffeine every 3k, 1 gel with caffeine at 12k, one salt pill on the hour. Gave it all I had last 5k taking my HR to a max of 154, average pace 04:39.
- TOTAL: Plan 04:58:00 / Actual 05:03:47 (40th place).
Net: except for the bike all went as planned. Importantly my plan was not my wish but it was what I knew I was prepared to do.
Did the plan restrict me? Not at all.
In retrospect and as lesson for the next one I would say:
SWIM: I can push harder in the water and the extra effort shall not affect my energy reserves as much /
BIKE: except for the climbs, where I was purposely controlling my watts and the downhills controlling my risk, I was trying hard /
RUN: I will never know if I could have gone a bit faster the first 15k .... but if that is the case not much faster I think.
Net-Net: My race execution discipline and mental strength continue in place. However, I certainly need to move to that “NEXT LEVEL” to make it back to KONA and train hard for that we shall!!!
#LETSPUSH 💪🏻
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Comments
Congratulations on a well executed race!! Sounds like you put out your best effort givin the obstacles of that day...Well done!!
@Juan Vergara Congrats on the 70.3 WC . I love your enthusiasm for this. In your summary you mentioned you could push harder in the swim without effecting your energy too much. But in your Bike description your legs felt heavy/dead and had issues maintaining power? If not the swim , what do you credit the lack of power to on the bike? Could it have been the taper? Some of those wko's carried a lot of TSS? Could it have been the 2x massage? I am a huge fan of massage but my window is 1-2 weeks pre-race and 1-2 weeks post-race.
@tim cronk as always asking the right questions to make me think!!! Tks for that. My best guess for the lack of power on the bike is the cold/rainy weather. As for the other variables both massage and taper I did absolutely nothing different from what I did on pre race week since 2015. But I’ll continue digging for answers .... “guessing” is not my favorite way of solving problems .... finding the root cause is!!! Tks again for asking the hard questions. Lots of food for thought in them.
@Derrek Sanks ALOHA!!! wish you all the best in Kona!!
sound like a great race and that you executed well. I really enjoyed your social media posts through the weeks, as usual you were living the moments! thanks for inspiring and the quick turnaround on the RR as I am sure you are off to exploring the great continent of Africa!
Juan - you knocked it out of the park!! I wouldn't worry about the place given that there is really tough competition and, I suspect, there percentage of dopers is a lot higher at the WC than you would find at your regular 70.3. One of my LL for any future 70.3 WC, presuming I qualify, would be to arrive 1 to 2 days earlier than I did. The 2 day WC format has made it a MUCH bigger race than it used to be, and the airlines struggled to get all the bikes and bags to P.E. in time for the race. Having a 1 day delay on my baggage threw my taper plans out the window. You were wise to get there when you did. But all told it was a great event.
Juan - sorry delayed response, I've been heavy into training in the mountains this week...
Great confidence builder, especially exceeding expectations on the run - that's a great sign for rolling your fitness into twit the distance.