Greg Dowd - Quassy Half RR
Pre-race:
My family and I stayed at my cousin’s house who lives in the next town over, so we spent a lot of time with them, which was really nice. For this reason, I didn’t get to meet any other ENers, unfortunately. But I WAS able to introduce my cousin’s family to triathlon and they were PUMPED afterwards. They loved watching it and they are already making plans for next year. Future ENers!!
A few details so I remember:
Race weight: 220#s. I really need to try to lose 10 more before IMLP, but I do love to eat and drink. It was funny to see “Big” Matty Reed in person. He’s the same height as me but 50lbs less. “Big” haha.
Pre race nutrition: 2am – 2 bottles Ensure (500 cals). 5am – 1 bottle Ensure, banana, coffee. Note: this was my first time trying Ensure and the 2am thing and I think it worked great. My stomach was rumbling before the race and I was a bit worried, but I felt great throughout the race and never felt deprived.
Equipment: Cervelo P2C, Neuvation wheels with wheel cover, latex tubes, Conti4000s, aero helmet, New Balance MR890 with socks for the run.
The first thing I noticed walking around transition is how freaking fit everyone looked and how nice the bikes were. You could tell this was a different level race than I was used to. It looked like everyone was a Kona qualifier. That’s ok, though, I had a plan which was to use this as a mental race prep for IMLP rather than a competitive race. Plan was to swim hard, bike with no ego, and run a steady pace. Also, I did not want to torch myself as I'm headed to the IMLP rally this weekend.
The Race: M40-44 Age Group
Swim: 35:29 (1:50/100). 45/149 AG.
Swimming has always been my weakest link. Before I joined EN and learned about their approach towards swimming, I prepaid for a year’s worth of Masters (doh!). So, I’ve been pretty consistent at going to practice 2 to 3 times a week since September. My previous best Half swim was 40:51, so a 5+ min improvement is very satisfying. This swim went well, except for the blinding sun when we turned the first buoy. I was swimming blind for much of that stretch. Otherwise, it was great and I felt strong coming out of the agua.
Bike: 2:59:11 (18.75mph) 46/149 AG.
This was more of a mental test for me. Normally I like to hammer the bike as it is my relative strength. But I know that is not going to work in LP. So I stuck to the plan to stay in Z2 for the first 30 minutes and see how I felt. Well, it seemed like the whole world was passing me. Women from waves behind me were passing me. According to the results in the first 38.6 miles I lost 13 places in my age group averaging 18.5mph. But I stayed cool and just chugged along. I upped it to Z3 after about 30-40 minutes and was feeling good even on the huge hills. With 10 miles left to go I was feeling so good I couldn’t take it anymore and started pick up the pace just a little bit. This brought my last 17.4 mile pace to 19.2mph and I ended up passing 14 people from my age group in that stretch. I actually gained a spot from the start, re-passing all those folks that had passed me earlier, and I felt great. I loved this strategy.
Nutrition: 2 bottles IM Perform (made me burp a lot…I think I will try Infinit). 2 water pick-ups. 3 gels. About 600-700 calories total…felt perfect.
Run: 1:47:24 (8:12/m) 48/149 AG.
I have never felt this good on a run. And this was the hardest run I have ever done. It felt like we were scaling cliffs at time. Relentless hills. I came off the bike running what I thought was way too fast and did the first mile (mostly downhill) sub 7min. Gave myself a good scolding and told myself to chill out and follow the plan. Plan was all based on HR per the EN guidelines: High Z1 for the first 3 miles, Z2 for the next 7, and then best effort for the last 3. Even with the hills I felt has though I was just clicking off the miles. It’s tough to explain in words, but most of the other runs I have done I have begged the mile markers to come more quickly. This run I remarked how quickly the mile markers were going by. It was weird. This was a HIM run PR for me of 4 min and the course was easily twice as hard.
Nutrition: Ate some GU chomps at the beginning. Took water for the first few miles. Then water/Gatorade for the middle. Towards last few miles I started taking some coke. Always dumped several waters over my head to keep cool. This all seemed to work really well as I had no cramping or stitches. The weather was perfect so i didn't overheat. I don't do well in heat!
Overall: 5:26:10. 42/149 AG.
I’m really happy with this performance and I will be heading to IMLP with confidence. I still can’t fathom doubling the distances, but I know I can trust the plan. So much seems to come down to execution. This venue was great. It was a challenge for sure, but it was what I needed. And I loved the fact that the kids could hand out in an amusement park and ride rides while dad was out doing his goofy thing!
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