Post Race Recap IronMan Virginia 70.3
Race Name: IM 70.3 Virginia
Race Date: 5 May 2019
Finish Time & Placing: 6:03:48, 75 out of 146 AG/810 out of 1586 Overall
Weekend Execution
Traveled on Friday and arrived in Williamsburg early afternoon and went directly to packet pick-up and race brief. Expected water temp 73-74. Reviewed transition area and swim course. Had a decent low risk dinner (chicken and veggie pizza), then relaxed.
Saturday: Conducted bike and gear checks but did not do anything physical. Dropped off bike and did final walk through of transition. Had left over pasta on Saturday. My wife went shopping and I had an early dinner, early bed, early wake up time...
Sunday pre-race: Pre-race food. In transition at 5 to check bike and set up transition. Place nutrition on bike. Grabbed wetsuit and goggles and swim cap (and water and a Hammer gel) then relaxed prior to heading to swim start.
The swim (42:00)
Rain and storms the night prior left the course wet and humid…..Long wait for swim start. Finally go into the water at 8:08 with a rolling start.
Had a decent swim in part due to the favorable current. Still managed to bunch up and the buoys partly due to the course layout (choke points). Decent run to transition with a quick stop at the wetsuit peelers.
T1 (6:03)
Smooth is slow, slow is fast but the long distance from the swim finish to bike started still resulted in a 6:03 T1 time….need to work on that.
The bike (2:52:42)
I followed my race plan as best as possible and allowable. This was a relatively flat course for the first 15 miles so I used this time to set a good pace and get HR down to level of typical long ride. My “BUCKET OF CHICKEN” pace. I still felt I was passing a lot of riders without working very hard despite my zone 2 pace. Miles 15-45 of course has some rolling hills so I worked up to a good “do no harm, go all day, just riding along (JRA) pace and was still passing a lot of people. Again I felt like I wasn’t working hard enough almost to the point I was holding back…(but I didn’t want to become the 90%). Drank fluids as planned and never went through an aid station without topping off. Tried to pee once on the ride – but hard to concentrate and execute…..will have to fit that into my next training plan. I was fueling with gel every 40 minutes. Sodium every five miles. Miles 46-56 of course had a couple big climbs but nothing out of control. I started to pick it up and push at this point….was feeling pretty good.
T2 (4:09)
Smooth is slow, slow is fast but had to take my time to get my legs back under me.
The run (2:18:56)
It was getting really hot and humid once I started the run. I used pace to get my HR down and my legs under me but I could immediately knew I would have to manage cramps during the run….not sure what happened – I don’t feel as though I was one of the 90% but it appears that good bike split was going to be followed by a bad run. I was able to control a lot of the cramping during my 30 sec reward walks at each mile but into mile 7, I had to walk more often and further. Despite following my nutrition plan, I think I was just really dehydrated…..I drank a lot of the course fluids at every aid station – more than usual
I finished which has always my goal but I was disappointed in my overall result.
What Would You Do Differently?
My travel schedule really inhibited me from doing a lot of brick training….I need to find a way to execute more of that during my next train up.
I also need to speed up my transitions.
Nutrition – Nutrition – Nutrition
****Run in Team EN Gear
What Should We Know About This Race?
This was a great course for new triathletes. Stay an additional day so you can enjoy the area….Williamsburg is beautiful.
