mancona's 2011 Austin 70.3 race report
I wrote a slightly different than usual race report for this one on my blog: http://ironmancona.blogspot.com/201...t-its.html
Here is a quick summary my race:
- Swam 31:50 which is my 4th or 5th 31:XX swim in the last two years so at least I'm consistant (34th in AG and 2XXth overall all)
- Had a minor crash on the bike when a rider slide out in front of me and I took a detour off road and into a fence to avoid hitting him. No injuries and I only lost a minute or so.
- Rode 2:17:22 - 2nd fastest amateur bike split of the day and 1st in AG. I only rode at .82 as .85 felt too hard so I backed down.
- Got to T2 to find my bag had blown away. Took 4:39 as I had to go hunt for it in other rows of bags.
- Ran 1:26:43 - my legs felt like crap the entire time and my form was horrible but I just kept going. However, I had almost an even split which I'm pretty proud of considering the heat. I ended up with the 3rd fastest amateur run and 2nd in AG.
- 4:22:56 total - 5th overall amatuer but 4th in M30-34. 17th overall.
- Only 3 vegas slots for my AG, but I my luck turned around and I got the only roll down.
- FWIW, I don't think any vegas spots rolled more than 2 places and there were only about 6 roll downs total. Things are changing.
- I'm glad to share power or pace data or anything else but was too lazy to get it right now.
I'm very pleased with the race and glad I ended my season with this instead of after IMWI.
Like usual... my swim still needs help and i'm gonna keep working on it. But I skipped masters tonight to write my race report and go to sleep early.
0
Comments
Great work Matt.
Doing the best what you can with the day. We really do start every race with a big box of variables and mystery, don't we? To get up from a crash, and gear in the wrong place and keep racing? You can probably take anything that gets thrown at you in the future.
Matt,
Nice job keeping the mental game in check. This is definietely an aspect when things don't go as planned. As usual great race report.
Gordon
Thank you everyone!
P -
Actually, I had one great HIM run this year, and two that by the numbers don't like great, but given the race conditions I think were decent for me.
Here is the data, some excusses/justification and my thoughts....
My half marathon PR of 1:15:25 was at a 100% flat half marathon in May where the temp was 40 degrees (i.e. perfect conditions). I had just done a 6 week run focus for boston, and a 4 week run focus just for the half marathon and my swimming and cycling were in maintenance mode. I have run about 4 1:17:xx races but only gone under 1:17 once. Sure I had my best half and full marathons this year, but I was also injuried multiple times.
My best HIM run that same year was a 1:22:1X at Kansas which had two decent hills but was otherwise flat and it was 80s and humid on the run. So just under a 7' gap....not horrible, but not great either considering the vastly different conditions.
Since then, I am gotten much stronger in the swim and bike and put some weight on (muscle). I have lost a little of my top end run speed, but I haven't had an injury since and my running and all other training has been much more consistant.
This year, I only peaked for 1 half ironman, Oceanside, where I ran a 1:20:06 with a pit stop. Eitherway, it was a top 5 Amatuer run split in a VERY competitive race. FWIW, Miranda ran a 1:18:30ish and the fastest amateur run was a 1:18 and he is a 1:13 open runner. Therefore I think I had a very good run there. I targeted .85 for the bike at this race, but I was a wimp in the descents and ended up with a .83 for the full ride. The course is very flat and it was 60 so once again great conditions.
I did taper for Muncie but my training was geared around IMWI. I road .85 exactly. It was up 80s and a pretty hilly course. I ran 1:25:XX which was again a top 5 amateur run split with the fastest of the day being 1:23:50. Once again I was about 2' off the fastest Amateur run of the day and the guy that ran that is a 3:01 IM run guy and a sub 1:20 HIM guy.
For Austin I intended to ride .85, but ended up with .83 as my legs just didn't have anything. They felt like crap on the run as well, which was hilly, direct sun, and with a temp close to 90. I ended up 1:26:43 which was the 3rd fastest amateur run of the day. Fastest was 1:25:XX.
So that's my long winded reasons (excusses) why I don't thing my runs are that far off.
That said, I definitely think I can improve and am working on it:
- I've had major cramping issues in hot races, so I struggle to really push myself hard when it is hot. As i gain more confidence in my nutrition plan and ability to race in the heat I need to learn to push harder/earlier. This is why I wanted to get the Vegas slot out of the way now. My plan for next year is to do a few 70.3s with no pressure to have to qualify so I can test out different bike pacing, run pacing, and nutrition strategies.
- I think you may be on to something with the changing my bike target. If a race has an easy run, I can get a way with .85 or slightly high bike, but if it is a challenging run, I'm going to try to back down a bit on the bike and see if I can run better. Again, I have a few things I want to try next year.
- I'm a good distance runner, but I'm not strong and I'm not fast. When my legs are fresh, and it's an easy course I'm quick.... but after a swim/bike and on a tough course I'm not. My half marathon vdot is always 1-2 points higher then my 5k. I will be doing some specific functional strenght training and run training this off season to address this and try to improve my ability to run well (strong) off the bike.
- I find that I can run faster if I drop some weight, but the issue then is my bike power drops and I injuries start to pop up, so I don't know if it is worth it. My half marathon pr was at 134 lbs and I've had some really good runs at 132 but I was not doing full swim/bike training at the time. When doing HIM or IM training I tend to have issues (i.e. bad mood, can't recovery, injuries) if my weight is below 135. 137 to 138 seems to the best that I can hold for a full season and the 3 to 5 lbs makes a difference in my run.
I'm definitely interested in your thoughts (and others). In my head a 3 to 4' gap between an open and closed half in comparible conditions is my target. The best I've done is 4:37 and I want to improve that. I'm currious what others thing the gap should be.
A 5' gap seems reasonable to me. Moving down to a 3' to 4' minute gap I think I'd wonder if you were not overacheiving on your HIM but underacheiving on your open. Doesn't there have to be "some" effect from riding a bike for 56 miles beforehand? I know there are a lot of people that post equal or faster times on the run leg vs. open at all distances (myself included) but I mostly think that it's more from not properly warming up before an open run (which I also admit I don't enjoy doing) vs. actually being faster in a triathlon run.
After reading your response I realized that the point I was trying to get to in my thinking out loud and rambling response was that I don't think my open to closed delta is that far off, it can improve but probably not a ton. For me the low hanging fruit may be my cool weather/easy course to hot/hard course delta is off. 1:20 at oceanside (60 and flat) vs 1:25 at muncie and 1:26 at austin (both around 90 and hilly) seems a little high to me and I feel I should be able to get that down to 3 or 4 minutes as well.
Matt ... Congrats on a great race. 2nd & 3rd OA on the bike and run is not be be sneezed at. I guess now you have to decide where to invest your improvement capital. Some choices, as you look to the possibility of perfecting your performance over the next 3-5 years, which are the prime years for endurance racers.
Swim? I have no idea what your stroke looks like, but I suspect,given your overall athletic qualities, increased volume while attending to mechanics would yield maybe 2 more minutes. Don't ignore this, but time available may be a limiter.
Bike/run? These are going to move in tandem for you. Given your inverse VDOT, maybe some work at super short,super fast track work would give your 70.3 runs a little turbo boost. Possibly something as simple as doing 10 strides at the end of EVERY run.
Race execution? You've got that analyzed very well. My take on your heat performance is, hydration on the bike and early run is the key,but there will always be a pace decrement when you run in the 90s. In your 70.3s next year, take a Tanita scale to the races, and monitor your before and after body fat % for hydration status,as well as overall weight changes. Of course, aim for maximum of 1-2% water/weight loss.
I'm continuing to work on the swim but as you said I'm at that point were it is taking a TON of effort to see improvements (of course my bike and run are getting tough to improve as well). I do swim with a masters group at least 2-3 days a week and get feedback from some of the experienced guys and the coach regularly.
I feel like my low hang fruit at the moment is really learning how to race and push my body during races. Therefore my plan for next year is to race more often and experiment a little. I really like your suggestion on the scale and will do that at every race I can. I think I did pretty good at Austin as I didn't have any issues, but I'm sure there is always room for improvement.
Agree with you on the run stuff as well. My OS is going to be slightly more focused on VO2 work that usual and I'm also very seriously considering some plyometrics and function strength targeted at the primary running muscles. While strength training may not help at all... i haven't done any what so ever in over 13 years now, so I figure it can't hurt either. Plus it gives me something else to focus on for a short period this winter.
I'd be interested to see how much you can narrow that difference between hot and cold races. Hydration will probably have a lot to do with it in terms of keeping your core cool vs. having your body deal with loss of fluids and heat (I'm not sure if that makes sense...). What are you doing to keep yourself cool in races? Is it enough? Your comment about how to push your body during races reminded me of this NYT article on cooling collars and how they actually affect how much someone could push themselves mentally. http://well.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/06/29/lessons-from-exercising-in-the-heat/ Naturally you'd have to balance the effort with your core temp, but with experience during races I'm sure you could hone it.
No expert here. I think your run split vs. open time is very close. What is obscuring it is the vastly different conditions. You really cannot compare 40F run to 90+ and wind. That bridge will never be gapped. Also, running form attained for an open race when swim/bike are maintenance mode is also one thing vs. full blown tri race prep and running form coming from that.
Side note: pacing/hydration/nutrition/electrolytes in heat, agree on a strategy lower IF on the bike if run is tough, run is tough if it is going to be in anything over 70-75F, over 80F for sure, 90F you are hitting extremes. It will make the difference for sure going down to IF .81- .83, but will be hard to do on a hot and hilly bike course.
Electrolyte intake is where I would suggest you start looking. After 3 years of cramping in every race, and I may have mention this to you, cramping at night everywhere during long training in heat, I went with calcium supplement and upped the sodium now to 1400mg/hr for conditions like Austin, I have had now a season and a half of racing without a single twitch, inculding Soma on Sunday that ended in 96F. Look there.
You are a such a great athlete and are running into issue of finding places where to improve. Swimming is for sure a place to look, however I am not convinced that it will not come at the expense of the other two. To the contrary of a popular bilief here and elsewhere, hard swimming has a huge metabolic cost and will drag you down, will affect your overall recovery and energy levels. Swimming hard often as you will need to do now to get the return is tricky business, it is not recovery work as many paint. I am sure you are finding that out.
Weigh it seriously and decide wisely where to focus. Like my run times, your swim times are screaming in your face telling that relative placing during swim splits is your real weakness when compared to your level athlete. To drop 2min of swim time would be great, 3-4 even better. How to do it and not loose in other two is a key, I think. Talk to your coach, he should know.
I have no clue how to fix it. If I had known, I would have been at sub 4:30 by now.
I am sure with the your determination, attention to detail and support you have, you will have this figured out for next season. Keep up the work, you are such an inspiration.
I can't add much to the many comments above. It would seem to me that your run split vs. open time seems appropriate. And the hot vs. not run times don't seem wildly out of whack, but I suppose you could do some analysis on how different individuals at the top performance level are impacted by looking at some of the enhanced race results and picking different people and seeing how their splits were impacted. But I think you'll probably find it's a personal thing.
At this point I suspect you really have no more "low hanging fruit". Sure, there may be room in execution as you speculate. Racing more is probably a good idea. But your performance is at that elite point where the curve of "performance gain" vs. "what you put in" is insanely flat. But of course it is at this level where winners need that "0.05% advantage". The race report on your blog seems to imply you've come to terms with the flatness of the curve, but have you really? It would seem to me that at your level of performance, you need to spend a lot of time and be quite thoughtful about goal-setting. I know you have a coach, so you probably invest in that already. But I suspect it's going to be really important. I think that targeting discrete improvements and accepting tradeoffs is probably beyond the level at which you operate.
Regarding weight, that is tough. Personally I run very well and markedly faster at 134-135 vs. my "normal" 138-140. But anytime I'm below 137 no one in my house can live with me. For me the choice is easy, because I am not chasing 0.05%. For you, this is a much, much harder choice. I remember reading an article in Lava or Triathlete this year about a female pro who was training in Europe just after she went pro, and she talked a lot about getting weight down, always being hungry, and how if she was really, really starving the coach would tell her she could have an apple. I remember hearing that Apollo Ohno at the Olympic Training Center was required to weigh and log even single almonds. That is how the pros do it, it sounds miserable, but it works.
Oh, and of course, I really hope you are still having fun!
Btw, hopefully the Vegas rolldown situation was largely a factor of being early in the qualifying cycle and that Vegas is a reasonably close trip for many of the Austin 70.3 crowd. But with fewer slots for every qualifier race this year upcoming, a new date, and all the positive noise about the Vegas race this year, I suspect slots will be a lot harder to come by going forward.
Cheers,
"the other" Matt A