John Withrow's "Breakthrough" race at the Patriot Half!
|
|
2012 |
2011 |
improvement |
|
Overall |
5:09:12 |
5:38:31 |
(29:19) |
|
Swim |
36:37 |
41:34 |
(4:57) |
|
T1 |
1:28 |
2:25 |
(0:57) |
|
Bike |
2:37:10 |
2:52:11 |
(15:01) |
|
T2 |
2:21 |
3:09 |
(0:48) |
|
Run |
1:51:37 |
1:59:15 |
(7:38) |
I finally had a “breakthrough” race at the Patriot Half. Wow! This really felt different than every race that came before it.
We had over 20 people from Team ReserveAid doing the race and another 5-10 EN peeps that I counted, so it really felt like a local race for me.
PreRace- I had some fresh pasta heated up in the microwave in our hotel room the night before and actually was asleep by ~9:15PM. Awoke at 4:30AM (before my alarm went off) and ate 1.5 bagels with peanut butter and jelly and a stinger waffle and 20 oz of Gatorade. Sipped on water the rest of the morning. Got to the race site early and had a nice relaxed setup.
Swim- Expected: ~38:00 Actual: 36:37 (4:57 improvement over 2011) [144 / 611 OA]
In fairness, I used a wetsuit this yr and did not last yr. My wetsuit is the best wetsuit in the whole wide world! It was the first use of my Huub Archimedes. Feels super thin and flexible up top and most importantly for me has a 1mm neoprene section in the front of the neck so it didn’t choke me at all. The swim was a little choppy because it was a bit windy. Last yr I swam wide right, which definitely added a lot of distance. This yr I definitely wanted to stay left and did so too successfully ending up far inside the rectangle of the course. I actually ahd to swim back out to get around the turn bouys. I kept feeling like I was zig-zagging the whole way, and thought for sure it was gonna be another 40 min swim. I was pleasantly surprised when I glanced at my watch as I was running through transition with my bike and say 37:xx.
T1- Actual: 1:28 (0:57 improvement over 2011)
I only put Transitions on here because I focussed on them and nailed them. For T1, I had my sunglasses, shoes, and RoadID all mounted somewhere on my bike. I got into T1, got my wetsuit off, put my helmet on, grabbed my bike and ran. Once I mounted my bike, I put on my shoes, glasses, and RoadID. Note to self “don’t forget to put your bike in an easy gear before the race”. Hard to get my feet into the shoes and pedal at the same time while in a big gear.
Bike- http://connect.garmin.com/activity/189796027
Expected: ~2:45:00, Actual: 2:37:10 (21.5mph) (15:01 improvement over 2011) [52 / 611 OA]
Power Data: 235W Goal. Actual NP 231W according to Garmin, 224W according to WKO+
VI: 1.02 Cadence: 92 Avg HR: 139 TSS: 154.4
I think my FTP is ~290W (it has drifted lower since last test and plan to test again in 1.5 weeks) so that puts my effort (IF) at 0.77-0.80 depending on which NP you use.
Bike leg was uneventful. My Garmin Edge 500 laps every 2 miles so I get a new “box” every 6 minutes or so. Because I finally have a bit of confidence in my running ability, I decided to push the bike a little bit more than normal. This is the first time I felt like I was ‘racing’ instead of just being a robot and following the plan. I tried to keep my lap NP pegged between 230-235W all the time. But I gave myself a little more freedom to push the watts a little bit coming out of the turns (there were 13 of them per lap). I also allowed myself to push a little harder up some of the mini hills or into the wind. I thought for sure my Variability index (VI) would be higher than normal for this race, but I told myself to not worry about it. I was surprised afterwards to learn that my VI ended up at 1.02, I guess all my mini surges were so short that they didn’t effect the entire ride.
I mostly stayed aggressive aero the whole time (especially in the really windy sections near the water). Each aid station (4x) I grabbed a water bottle at between 17-19mph, took a few gulps, squirted myself off and threw the bottle. My Infinit formula has 276 calories and 421mg of sodium and I drank every drop of my 2.25hr bottle. I took one S-Cap about halfway through and it burned my stomach a bit so no more salt pills for the rest of the day.
I’m used to riding on much hillier routes (this race only had ~1,900’ in 56mi) so very few breaks to coast or sit up. So probably about 2x per hour I stopped pedalling for a second or 2 and flexed my quads lightly to shake the blood out. Maybe it was mental, but this allowed me to regroup after my short mini-rest that I don’t think cost me any real time. My WKO+ power was 225W for the 1st lap and 223W for the 2nd lap but the lap splits were within a minute of each other, so I think it went well.
T2- Actual: 2:21 (0:48 improvement over 2011)
Nothing exciting here, dropped the bike, put on socks and my run shoes, grabbed my stuff and took off. I put on my EN visor, race number belt and my Camelback lumbar bottle fuel belt as I was running through Transition area.
Run- http://connect.garmin.com/activity/189670125
Expected: ~1:55:00 Actual: 1:51:37 for 8:31/mi pace (7:38 improvement over 2011) [174 / 611 OA]
Avg HR was 151 bpm, but it climbed steadily throughout the run peaking at 167 bpm
I was having a little conversation with myself as I exited T1 and said “Self, you already have a massive PB going, now lets prove you didn’t cook yourself on the bike and throw down a PB on the run also”. This course has lots of gradual uphills and downhills. Not crazy hilly, but definitely not flat. (my Gamin file said 400’, but last yr on the exact same course it said 675’, who knows which is correct).
I had hoped to be able to run ~8:30’s for as long as I could hold on. Didn’t really follow the 3-7-3 method of EN approved run execution. Also, for the first time in my entire life I was NOT a slave to my Garmin. I glanced down at least a couple of times per mile but only really looked at cadence. I also looked at my splits when it buzzed every mile. I also occasionally glanced at my pace, but only to keep me honest if I felt I was slacking for any reason. I literally took the whole OS off of running and simply worked on my core and glutes thanks to the miracle workers at PAP http://pursuitathleticperformance.c...-packages/
I was a little nervous to do this, but bought in completely to see how it would go. One thing I noticed is that I recover much faster this yr and overall simply feel better. For instance, last yr during HIM and IM training, I had to go to the chiropractor 1-2x per week every week for lower back, hip, and leg issues and I literally haven’t been there in over 3 months (knocking on wood). When I was running I just kept imagining perfect form and kept my head high and stayed straight with a fast turnover.
Anyways, it just “felt” right to run by feel. I didn’t want to force myself to run faster up the hills or force myself to run slower downhill. I just ran. And it felt good. I continued the internal conversation with myself by saying “Self… wow… I guess this is what it feels like to be a runner”.
I want to be very clear, I’m not that fast, but at least I’m not as pitifully slow as I used to be and I was certainly passed by a lot of people. I had a decent swim and a good bike, so I knew the elites were all way ahead of me, and all of the “runners” were behind me, so I didn’t sweat it and just played Forest Gump and kept running.
I think I also found some run nutrition that works for me. Gu’s and Gels used to make me sick during races. So for this race, I had 2 gel flasks full of Infinit Napalm. Every 2 miles I took a quick swig of it about 15-20 yds before the aid station. I power walked through every aid station and took a cup of water, took a large drink of it, swished it around in my mouth and swallowed, then dumped the rest of the cup on my head. It took me no more than like 10 steps and I did this every aid station. I ended up taking about 600-700 calories of Napalm on the run which is way more than I have ever had on a run before, but it seemed to work for me.
It wasn’t all me, though, the weather was PERFECT for a race. It was right around 70 degrees for the entire run and was shaded for most of the course. If you couldn’t PR that day…
Anyways, I just kept ticking off the miles and felt strong most of the time. I had a small pain under the ball of my left foot that I tried to ignore (near mile 9) and it mostly went away after a couple of miles. From about mile 8 or 9 on, I had the same 5-6 people that just stayed about 15-25 yds ahead of me the whole time. After about mile 10.5 I tried to dial my effort up a notch. I started to reel them in and by mile 12 had passed most of them. Unlike last yr when I was delirious at this point of the race, I felt great and simply wanted to run faster.
The last half a mile of this race is down through a camp running on a grassy trail and across a footbridge to then head up the finishing chute. I zipped up my kit top and took my fuel belt off for the finisher photos. I was going to drop my fuelbelt at the last corner to retrieve later when I actually saw my friend Val cheering for me. I surprised her by tossing the soaking wet pack to her which she accidentally caught! Then I literally SPRINTED up the finishing chute with perfect form and full of intent and excitement! (7:17/mi pace for this last split)
Epilogue-
A close friend of mine (and fellow Team ReserveAid member) Brian Lee was waiting for me at the finish line. He beat me by ~20 minutes in this race last yr and was talking a sufficiently large amount of smack in the week leading up to this race. His wave went off 8 minutes before mine and when I was coming into T2, I saw him leaving T2, but the run leg is his strength. Anyways, Brian couldn’t believe that I was upright after he has helped carry me to the med tent after numerous races. I gave him a big hug and I let out a scream as I fist pumped the air! I told him how awesome I felt! He showed me his watch and it said 5:09:47 (he had a ~10 min PR). I looked at my watch and was astonished to see 5:09:12 (29:19 PR). The look on his face was priceless!!! I then literally jogged over to the transition area to get my camera (before I even ate or drank anything) to come back over and watch my other teammates including my wife Jess finish the race.
More than two hours after I finished, and had eaten and taken our Team ReserveAid Team photo, we were still waiting for one final member of the team to finish (Tovah). Jess and I and Tovah’s mom waited in the finisher’s Coral and her mom started to get worried. I thought it might be lonely out there so to give her mom piece of mind, I grabbed my cell phone and started to run the course backwards to find her. I got to her after ~1.5 miles and called her mom to give her the okay, we ran it back to the finishing chute together. She did awesome with her 7:51:09 finish.
Only 8 Weeks until IMNYC! Can’t Wait!
Comments
Congrats on the huge PR! Nice work! Did you post this to a blog? If yes, please post the link so we can send some traffic your way!
And this Reserve Aid organization sounds like a pretty cool team!
@Rich-- Team ReserveAid is a very cool group. I don't have a blog, but I write my race reports mostly for EN, but also distribute it to other friends, family, and ReserveAid supporters. Don't worry, for the version that is for outside distribution I give a shameless plug at the top for EN along with the link to join. I kinda feel like that person that pedals weight loss products "Lose weight now, ask me how!" but for me it's "Train for an Ironman now, ask me how"...
My favorite responses from one of my "non-EN" teammates to my RR was: "Do you have a version where the bike write up is in English?"
Great race! I think that is the Race Report everyone dreams of writing at some point in their Tri journey. The fact you are doing it for a good cause is even better.
Congrats on the Breakthrough and good luck at the NYC IM