SC Half Iron (aka RR#1 for Miami Man)
Race Review:
? 48:25 swim 79/99
? 3:51 T1
? 3:21:41 bike 83/99
? 2:29 T2
? 2:51:07 run 93/96
? 7:07:30 Total
? 1/2 Master Clydesdale; 90/96 male finishers; 113/123 finishers
? 133 started/123 finished = 7.5% DNF
Executive Report: Great venue but another small race from an entrant stand point; however Set-Up Events did a great job with the overall execution of the race. This was RR#1 for Miami Man so no real taper other than a few days off for travel. Overall happy with performance and this was a great training day. Course was a lot hillier that I expected (described as rolling) but I live and train in South Florida. Was hoping for a better time but the wind played a little havoc.
Pre-Race: We drove up from South Florida leaving on Wednesday. The highlight of the trip was stopping in Atlanta for my daughter’s birthday lunch at the American Girl Doll store, after lunch she spent ~ 2hours in the store looking around and getting a spa day with her doll. She had a blast. Spent Thursday night at my Mom’s house in Greenville SC then headed to Greenwood on Friday. Checked in and looked around the transition area then went to the race hotel (The Jameson Inn) and had dinner at Outback Steakhouse (Seared tuna, green beans and salad) ~ 7PM. Tried to find Naked Juice Protein smoothie but had no luck so passed on the 2AM feeding. In bed at 9:30 PM but youngest (4YO) had other plans. Finally to sleep ~ 11PM. Up at 5AM, had a bagel and banana then went to race site. Crisp cold morning (Temp ~ 50) Set-up, drank 200 cal of Heed then rested and sipped water. Water temp announce at 76 so put on wetsuit. Took Gel ~ 20 min before race start.
Swim: First ever water start. AWESOME!!! With the small field I took my chances and lined up in the front row middle. Horn sounded and we were off. I tried to stay with the lead swimmers to see if I could hang on in the draft. I could not. So slowed and caught my breath, refocused and got back in my box by counting strokes. The out leg of swim was into the sun and I had trouble sighting the buoys. Then we turned into the wind, steady at 5-7 MPH gusting to 15 mph leading to occasional white caps on the lake. Turned for home and was out. I am always a little wobbly getting out of the water and so am force to walk for the first 30-60 sec for fear of falling over.
T1: Little longer that planned. Had trouble getting out of wetsuit, almost fell over and put on cycling jacket.
Bike: First race with a power meter but still switching so raced with heart rate. Broke ride into 20 min warm-up at zone 2 (HR 126-134) with remaining at zone 3 (HR 134-141). Estimated FTP @ 240. Will actually test it in 2 weeks.
Overall course was challenging for me. No real flat area seemed I was either going up or down. Fist 5 miles was with a tail wind. Next 10 or so was with a cross tail wind, 20-40 was with a cross head wind, 40-50 into the wind and the remaining mostly with a tail wind. During ride winds picked up to 10-15 MPH gusting over 20 MPH. Rode EN style so was passed a lot on the up-hill and made a lot of passes on the downhill. Roads were a little iffy in spots no shoulder and some extremely bumpy. A couple of the downhill’s I feathered the brake as I thought the bumps might bounce me off the bike. Also dropped chain on 2 climbs.
Made a mistake in prepping and did not know that only Gatorde would be available at the second aid station (mile 30) so I ran out of water at ~ mile 38 and had to wait until mile 45 to refill also stopped here to pee.
Nutrition was fine with ~ 700 cal (~210/hr) as Heed, Perpetuen mix and Salt stick every 30 min, Total sodium ~2000 mg (~600 mg/hr). Took in ~ 125 oz fluids (~38 oz/hr) which was a little less than I had hoped for.
Numbers from the Garmin are below:
Overall
Duration: 3:20:41
TSS: 246.4 (intensity factor 0.859)
Norm Power: 206
VI: 1.15
Distance: 55.939 mi
Elevation Gain: 1192 ft
Min Max Avg
Power: 0 595 179 watts
Heart Rate: 95 142 124 bpm
Cadence: 19 239 78 rpm
Speed: 0 33.1 16.7 mph
Temperature: 57.2 68 62.4 Fahrenheit
T2: Uneventful and smooth. Did not take shoes off on bike as heading into transition were riding with runners and I did not feel safe so that added a little time here.
Run: My run seems to be where I need the work. Course was 2 loop out and back. Out was into the wind. Target was 12:30 pace for first 3 then drop to 12:00 and try to gradually build pace to MP (10:45). Also employed 30 step walk per aid station every mile. Nutrition plan was to take salt stick every odd aid station and a gel every even. Water only for fluids.
Legs started to cramp again ~ mile 10 right quad and hammy as well as left hammy forcing pace to slow. I could run just not very fast and seemed worse on uphill. At that point, I started to take a salt stick every aid station and increasing the 30 step walk to every ½ mile. Seemed to help and by mile 12 pace had been restored. Finish was up a steep hill and the entire way up legs were on the verge of locking up.
Nutrition ended up with 600 cal (~200/hr), Na 1720 mg (~ 600 mg/hr), and ~ 90 oz water (~30 oz/hr).
Mile 1: 12:13
Mile 2: 12:44
Mile 3: 14:41 (Bathroom break)
Mile 4: 12:57
Mile 5: 12:52
Mile 6: 12:42
Mile 7: 12:51
Mile 8: 13:28
Mile 9: 13:01
Mile 10: 14:30 (cramping)
Mile 11: 14:54 (cramping and Bathroom Break)
Mile 12: 12:52
Mile 13: 11:00
Post-Race: Gave medal to youngest who had a ball playing with it. Took daughter to medical tent to get a wound cleaned, she fell on a stick and scrapped her side pretty bad. Then went to pack up and head home. Transition was ~ ¼ mile away from finish and missed awards presentation, didn’t think I would get anything and was very surprised when my oldest son ran over to transition with the plaque after picked up the award for me. First time every finishing 1st at an individual athletic event though I was only in a group of 2. Not sure how I feel about getting a plaque when I was most definitely a BOP finisher.
Analysis:
· Overall solid training day for me, nothing stellar but felt I executed my plan well and made adjustments as needed. Ready for Miami Man.
· Need to swim in wetsuit more as shoulders and triceps were feeling the swim a lot more than normal but hard to do in SoFl for late season race as water temps are in the 80’s.
· Swim time was much slower than in pool and with wetsuit was expecting similar or better but may have cost myself a little trying to swim with the big fish.
· Bike splits show a progressive drop in avg HR and Avg power over the course results in a positive split. Not sure what happened here but certainly left some time on the bike course. Need to focus better on targets late in the bike leg.
· Know course and aid stations better on bike. Passed on driving course after packet pick up to get family out of van and into hotel then too lazy to drive back not sure it that was an issue but the aid station mix up surely was.
· Get bike tuned up prior to Miami Man.
· Run was a little slower than expected but still pushed it fairly hard and only walked at planned intervals. Need to figure out the cramping issue. Not sure it I need more water/fluids more Na, more of both or something else.
Comments
Dewey,
Nice race. I hear you on the hills, where I live it just grain fields and mostly flat so when you get a rolling hills course it's definitely more that you are used to. Not to mention at my weight of 230's going up those hills is a handicap.
I'd suggest that you may want to add the salt stick to your bike along with your current nutrition as it seems to clear up the problem on the run.
Gordon
Paul, Thanks I'm with you on that small race thing. I feel bad for Set Up Events. Not only did they have Augusta the week before but Rev 3 dropped the Anderson SC race in a week after. Looking forward to a flat course to end the season. Good luck in Clermont and Clearwater. May have to try and set up a training week end in Clermont next year. What do you think?
Dewey,
Keep working on the body composition as best you can. I did Lake Placid in 2004 at around 200. This year when I did some riding there while volunteering I was around 225 I defenitely noticed a difference. It is was it is you need X more watts to haul another 10lbs of beef up a hill.
Perhaps 600mg/h is not quite sufficient for you. The following is from a slowtwitch article:
"Extended periods of exercise at even moderate intensity can cause significant losses of fluid through sweating. Electrolytes, including sodium, potassium, magnesium and calcium, are present in this sweat at levels that over time will cause your body to become depleted. Muscle cramping, loss of performance, heat stress and other symptoms can result from reduced electrolyte levels and dehydration."
With the full article here: http://www.slowtwitch.com/Training/..._1093.html
The article has some numbers to look at but they are talking about 400mg/h for a 143 lb guy not being enough.
Maybe follow this up with a thread in the nutrition forum and Penny and other more knowledgeable will chime in.
Gordon
Yep! Don't worry though, as you get used to the power meter and practice riding steady you will get used to it. I'm sure it will significantly improve your run too, as you'll have burned less matches on the bike.