Henry's Rev2 Quassy 2011 Race Report

henry282

I took part in the 20wk Dec Advanced OS group. Leading up to this race, I have been doing some road racing and running: Battenkill, Boston and the American Zofingen. So far, I have been treating these C/D races as block training and didn't commence tapering for them. Consequently, the results were less than what I thought I could achieve, and now, I need something to boost my confidence.

Quassy half was a B-race that I do to give myself a needed checkpoint before the upcoming IMLP. It is also the only race so far this year that I have a decent 1-wk taper. I had been doing Mooseman for the last 2 years, and this is my first time doing and visiting Quassy. I did not preview the course, except relying on the mapmyride charts and google map street views.



I spent Saturday soaking in the race site atmosphere, watching the olympic-distance racers completing their goals. After picking up the race bibs, I took a quick nap before meeting fellow ENers for a team picture and the dinner at an Italian pasta place. I put on the bodymark tattoos, set my alarms and went to bed at 10pm.

2:15am: Ate a large salami sandwich, 1 can of Ensure, water. Went to bed again.

4:30am: Large bowl of cereal with Starbuck's Vanilla coffe drink instead of milk.

5:15am: Start driving and arrived at the race site by 5:40am.



SWIM

M30-34 wave 2. I did not swim until April this year and it showed. Not wanting anyone to touch me, I started wide, way too wide, and shortly after, lost the pack. A slow swimmer to start with, and even worse, I had trouble sighting and not stalled. I made the turns really wide and as a result, swam about ~200m extra.

Swim time: 44:28 91/102



T1

The day gets better from here. The transition was uneventful. I have no issues removing my wetsuit. I put on the helmet and shoes, gel flask in my pocket and rolled out. I clipped my sunglasses to my handlebars so I could put it on when the bike rolls downhill.

T1 time: 2:29



Cycle

I biked conservatively according to my powermeter. I kept the ride to avg 190W (250-275W on hills). I managed to pass a few people, especially at the flats right after big hills, which most went too hard and were recovering. I took gels, water and Perpeteum. At the final 2km, I shifted to the small ring and spin back to the transition at a recovery effort. (Avg cadence 98, Avg Pwr 189W, Norm.Pwr 216W)

Cycle time: 2:44:00 33/102



T2

I found my spot without too much trouble. Racked the bike and then picked up my visor, with a ziplock bag of 6 salt tablets taped to it. I also picked up a can of Ensure.

T2 time: 1:34



Run

I took in the full can of Ensure with some water before the 1st mile marker, taking quick and short strides. By mile 1, my quads suddenly started cramping up. Not now! I took 2 salt tablets immediately, shorten and quicken my strides even more, as if I'm doing aerobics in front of a TV. At that rate, I am still passing people. These are the ones that I biked with, and went ahead when I did my 2km "spin". One in a white suit says "nice bike ride" as I passed him. In no time, the cramps were gone. I continued to run relaxed and rythmic, taking in water and gatorade, expecting the upcoming hills. At this point I felt so great that I made a challenge to myself to see if I could run the whole course without walking, not even at the aid stations. The hills came and gone, one after another, but all were spaced reasonably with flat sections. I just adjusted my stride length so as to keep the same cadence. Then came the last hill, someone was right behind me and I could hear his bib flapping. Kept moving until the slope leveled out, then I poured in the last pieces of coal in me and accelerated. I almost tripped myself dipping into the lawn at the finishing chute. Rounding the final corner and there, the finish line. I did not walk.

Run time: 1:38:55 32/102

Total time: 5:11:29 32/102



Conclusion: This was my "Rev2" race. I really need to swim better and practice sighting. Turn the bad swim over, and then it is Rev 3.

kmepham

Wow, Henry, nice bike and run times. Congrats. I enjoyed meeting you at the team dinner. Thanks for explaining how to do the aid station water bottle handoff; knowing what to expect, I was able to handle it without problems.

henry282

Kevin,

Thanks. Congratulations to your breakthroughs, keep at them and good luck at Timberman!

[Deleted User]

Nice race Henry!  What was your TSS and VI, if you don't mind me asking?

henry282

Hi Jim,

My TSS and VI for the entire ride are: 228.1 and 1.14. Are these good or bad? I coasted as much as I could get away with.
I use an older SRM, so these are not used for pacing, but calculated by WKO after the fact.

[Deleted User]

I am fairly new to power, but the numbers you gave are not considered "good". That is a high TSS for a half and and a very variable ride - which I thought would be the case when you said you were shooting for an average of 190 watts, but went 250 - 275 on the uphills. According to the book you should have been completely fried for the run. But in fact you had a great run and a great race. That's all I can say and will let the WSM's chime in if they are reading.

henry282

Thanks Jim. I definitely rode with a perceived effort of about 75% on average. It's more likely that my FTP is not the most up to date.
I probably did the FTP tests when I was not well-recovered. Another caveat could be that my FTP was set to 235W determined by a TT on the computrainer, and my race power was measured by an SRM. There is a ~20W difference due to drive train loss. If I use FTP=257W, then my TSS is 193. The power variance is still 1.14, but I reason that for a hilly course, I would have a higher overall average speed if I invest more energy on the climbs than to spread it out evenly.