Kinetic Half 2012 Race Report
Kinetic Half
Lake Anna State Park - Spotsylvania, VA
5/12/2012
7:15AM
Finish: 5:09:32 -- Swim: 32:21 // Bike: 2:45:26 // Run: 1:46:34 -- A New Half PR by 15:51!
Background:
This was my 4th race at this distance.
This was my first race racing with power. I'd had been training with power for over a year with a CompuTrainer but hadn't been able to take that info outside. Rich was able to set me up with a Quarq Cinqo and Garmin 910XT just in time for this race.
Training:
November Outseason followed by 7 weeks of the HIM plan.
The Swim:
32:21 (current PR 30:53 Savageman 2010)
Nothing remarkable, not my worst swim and not my best swim. Considering how little swimming I've done this season I'm not disappointed at all.
This was a simple single loop triangle swim in Lake Anna. The water was in the upper 60s and felt great.
The Bike:
2:45:26 (previous PR 2:45:44 Eagleman 2011)
Not a huge improvement on the surface but this ride set me up for a great run. This was my first time riding outside with power. This was only my second time using the Quarq Cinqo/Garmin 910XT. It was installed by the LBS on Thursday. I made sure the watts matched up with the CompuTrainer on Friday. Now I was racing with it on Saturday.
I quickly learned racing with power takes discipline and as the race progressed I lost a little of that discipline. I saw this show up in the form of wattage spikes in the second half of the race that I didn’t have in the first half. This was a two loop bike course so the course certainly didn't change, it must have been me.
The bike course was open to traffic which resulted in a couple of rolling road blocks. The first was a horse trailer that held a group of us up for several miles. The second was a piece of farm equipment; fortunately that was only a half mile of forced rest.
The nutrition for the bike was a 3 hour bottle using the EN Ironman Distance Fruit Punch. I would take down a sixth of the bottle every 10 miles. This was the first time I raced with just liquid nutrition. No complaints here.
I set the Garmin up for auto lap every 5 miles. This broke the bike in to 11 mini races. It was nice knowing how I did for the last five miles and allow me to start fresh if the watts came in a little high or a little low.
The entire bike averaged 185 watts. My goal was 180 for the first 10 miles and the 190 for the rest, so I came pretty close to hitting my numbers. Of course the devil is in the details, I went out a little harder than the 180 and paid it back at the end of the ride with some intervals in the 170s.
The Run:
1:46:34 (previous PR 1:58:01 Eagleman 2011)
This is where the EN race execution showed up. This was a hilly run and I knocked 11 minutes off of my PR. I wasn't quite able to hit my pace numbers, but I didn't crash and burn.
Like on the bike I set the Garmin up for auto lap, this time every 1 mile. I was very surprised I hit my first mile right at my target pace since the first mile was entirely up hill (415 feet of climb). I should have realized then that I had come a little fast out of the gate. This was confirmed when I found myself at the race pace at mile 2. I'm sure excitement and going downhill most of this second mile contributed to the pace.
The average pace for the run was 8:10. My goal was 8:00 for the first 3 miles and then 7:30 for the rest of the run. I chalk it up to the hills. Maybe it is time I find the Elevation Impact Race Calculator, I'm sure there is one buried somewhere in the wiki.
Post Race:
I felt pretty good after the race but the real highlight of the race was seeing my wife finish her first half iron.
I need to give her a huge shout out. Jennifer finished 2nd in her age group, 20th overall for women. Her stats: Swim: 33:58 // Bike: 2:48:34 // Run: 1:54:14
I also had a chance to chat with a fellow team Mike Bennett while he waited for his wife to finish. A pleasure meeting you Mike and I'll be looking for you at the JMLS.
Time to rest my head for a week and then start thinking about Ironman U.S. Championships (NY/NJ)!!!
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Comments
Feels good, doesn't it? Congrats to the whole family.
Congrats on a great race!