USAT Long Course Nationals - Myrtle Beach Tri(Bi)athlon
RACE REPORT
MYRTLE BEACH TRIATHLON
USAT LONG COURSE NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIPS
Pre-race plan:
Despite being in the middle of training for IMAZ, I decided to do a pretty complete taper for this race. I needed to perform at my best to try and qualify for Long Course World Championships next year. Despite the fact that I consider IMAZ an “A” race, it is my first ironman and my goal is just to execute my race plan and have the best race my fitness will allow. There is nothing else at stake for me there.
As for this race, I had lofty goals. I have felt great about my swim lately so I really thought I could go under 32:00. As for the bike, my FTP is 245. My plan was for first half hour at ~ 190 NP and remainder of race at about 200 (82% IF). My goal was to PR and go under 2:35. My run plan was based on VDot of 49 but I modified the usual strategy to try and achieve a PR and go under 1:40 so first 2 miles at 7:45 (MP + 15”) with next 8 miles at 7:15 (HMP) then whatever I had left. I thought I had a great chance to go under 5 hours for the first time with a very legitimate shot at going under 4:50.
Pre-race routine:
Usual bagel & cream cheese with coffee plus a bottle of Infinit leading up to race start. I got to transition early and found out the swim was cancelled due to E. Coli contamination.
Event warmup:
None
They decided to do a TT start with one person going every 3 seconds starting at swim exit site so that everyone had a T1 time. I was in line for about 50 minutes before I got to the fron of the line. Everyone was supposed to be wearing only what they would be wearing coming out of the water except wetsuit, cap, and goggles. Of course there were tons of people wearing socks, bike gloves, sunglasses, and even shoes and one helmet. Oh well. Winners never cheat and cheaters never win.
T1 – 2:17
Jog to bike. Smooth is fast.
Bike – 2:28:20 (22.7 mph)
I had a very good ride. The course was pretty much flat but there was definitely a wind to contend with. I was watching my power closely but not really paying attention to time or distance. Then I noticed that my NP hadn’t changed in a while and looked down to find out my clock had stopped and my distance measured 6 miles (I was over 20 miles in). This is the problem with the joule. A bump must have knocked my speed sensor away from the magnet on the spoke just enough that it wasn’t picking up anymore. The joule still reads current power (from my Quarq) but can’t compute anything else (NP, TSS, IF, etc.) because it stops recording time and distance. By the time I figured it out I wasn’t sure how to remedy it. I didn’t want to stop so I clicked out and kicked the speed sensor closer to the spokes. It got too close and so the magnet hit it on every pass, but at least it started reading again. But I had to live with that clicking noise for the next 30+ miles. When it started working again, the numbers seemed a little high so I zeroed on the fly and then it worked fine. My IF reading at the end was .85 (NP 209) but I think it was really closer to .83. Nutrition went well with 2½ 24 ounce bottles of Infinit (300 cals, 650mg sodium, and 72 grams carbs per bottle), half a bottle of water and half a bottle of Gatorade I picked up on the course. This was more calories and fluid than I planned but I have really been working on taking more of both on the bike. No GI problems encountered and peed twice.
T2 – 2:07
No issues
Run – 1:36:18 (7:22 min/mi avg pace)
I nailed this perfectly to plan. This time I hit the lap button at every mile marker so I could know exactly what my pace was relative to the 7:35 average I needed to break 1:40:00. I alternated water and Gatorade from the aid stations and took 2 Thermolyte caps on each of the two laps. I executed perfectly en route to a huge PR.
Overall – 4:09:02 (21/71 AG, 115/753 OA)
I still don't know if I qualified for World Championships. USAT hasn't gotten their act together yet. I'm also aging up and on the bubble. I guess we'll see.
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Comments
Great race, always makes me smile and nod when the run portion of the race reports starts with 'I nailed this......"
Agreed! Nicely done! Always tough to readjust on the fly when they kill the swim, and you did so marvelously. Congrats!
Normally I wouldn't take a rolldown, but I swam in college and had really prepped for the swim. I was very frustrated that morning. But am pretty confident I would have gotten an auto qualification in 35-39 had there been a swim.
Hopefully I'll see you in vegas next year.
nice run btw. we're about the same vdot...but I fell apart because i rode too hard into the wind. lost 2-3 minutes in the last 2-3 miles. :-(
Thanks for the much needed challenge!
And thanks for your comments and support. It's great having you back!
So how did you finish your residency and fellowship----and still be under 45 years old?
@Kitboo - easy. I gave up my 20's