Matt Ward Mont Tremblant 70.3 Race Report
Like all the other racers have acknowledged, this is a phenomenal race. The execution of the organization was perfect, especially impressive for a first time event. The accommodations, food, pavement, entertainment, etc, is all first rate.
Overall, I'm pretty happy with how I executed. I went 4:50x (new PR) but left some time out there. I got a Vegas spot on the rolldown even.
The swim was perfect. I went about :32 which is a PR for me. I swam hard, and with my head out of the water because of the commotion and bumping for about 100 meters. Eventually, I settled in but never really found long stretches of clean water. I never felt overly tired although I was swimming fast.
The bike was fun. I went 2:33 but I thought it should be faster. There were several draft packs on part of the course (something I discussed with the RD afterwards) and I made a point to stay out of them. My biggest complaint was how variable I rode. I nailed my NP goal (182) but had an AP of 161 giving me a VI of 1.13. I gotta figure out how to stabilize that. For Ironman, this course is going to chew people up and if I ride like that I'll be one of them. I saw ~3200 ft of climbing on my Garmin. I rode ~0.83 IF and feel ok about riding ~.75 next time. I've dissected the power file pretty thoroughly and feel like I knew where it's easy to blow up (117 near the aid stations and Dupelleiss).
The run was just bad for me. Honestly, I didn't even notice the hills in the first 5K. I was nailing paces at 7:0x or 6:5x. I started thinking sub 4:40 at 10K. Then the hills came that ate my lunch. My run averaged ~7:0x for the first 10K then nearly 8:00s for the last 10K. Even walked a couple steep hills. Was not happy with how I finished.
Nutrition felt good. Breakfast was an Ensure (350 cals) + a Stinger (160) 2 hours before the race plus a gel ~20 mins before the swim. Bike was ~200 EFS and ~350 EFS gel. Run was one gel and random Coke and Perform. Took a fuel belt with 2 bottles of water on the run and totally loved that.
Big things to work on before IMMT:
1) Find a way to ride steadier. The 1.13 VI is just too high. What's interesting is that the VI was highest during the intervals that were easier. In other words, I kept my NP and AP closer together when the terrain was the toughest. Guessing that is a function of the hills. But, I do think I need to concentrate on riding easier up hills and harder in the down hills. Doh.
2) Run more hills in training. Being from Chicago, hills are scarce. I've gotta hit the treadmill and crank up the incline. My Garmin showed ~1800 feet of climbing on the run and that's no joke.
3) Be willing to walk aid stations. I have a phobia of this but I think it could be useful for IM to keep my HR lower. During the first 10K of the run (the good part), I was at a Z4 HR but only a Z2-ish pace. I don't know how to diagnose that (anyone?) but I know it's not good. From training, I thought I could hold that HR but I obviously was unable to after the hills started.
4) Get mean. I could have just HTFU and run harder and not walked any. I've gotta find a way to embrace the dark place better.
See everyone in August!
Comments
Curious on your bike split though. I think you outweigh me by 10-15lbs? You rode 13NP watts less and yes still rode 1.5 minutes faster. I was aero the entire ride unless under 12mph which wasnt often and bike is sleek. Could be the difference in our power meters and its all relative so its really not that important but still interesting. I did feel that my 21.7 mph avg seemed inline with NP 195 and my new power meter seems to be spot on these days?
I agree on the .75 and that will be a good goal for the IM.
The only thing I can say about the run was it was Hot and there was no wind. It did start to take its toll on people. I never felt like I slowed down from my pace but for about a mile it got cloudy and cool and I felt myself pick up the pace so it was a factor. If that was an IM run I think there would be alot of casualties on the second loop . Oh that and you did 70.3 miles in well under 5hrs you aint supposed to feel good LOL!
nice meeting you and nice job!
Curious what your W/kg is on the bike? I feel like 2:33 really is a pretty decent split for a hilly course on an NP of <200. As for the VI, always room for improvement there, but it's not horrible all things considered, think about how far off everyone else's VI is who isn't even thinking about this stuff. Learning to pace climbs at race wattage is definitely somewhat of an acquired skill, and can be hard if you don't have a lot of climbs to practice on out in IL. <br />
As for the run, killer effort at the start, bummer you couldn't hold it all the way through but I still think it's a pretty solid performance. I'm definitely going to continue to ramp up my hill running, I learned that lesson the very hard way at Wildflower and I don't need the masters thesis version of it at Tremblant.
Kind of curious though, I thought I read in one of the other RRs that the aid stations were something like 1.5m apart (since they were based on km). Did you notice this as well?
If so, this could actually be a pretty big detail for everyone racing the full and basing their run hydration/nutrition strategy on assuming aid stations will be every mile. I'd much rather have them and not need them then need them and not have them.
@Trevor: Based on FTP, I'm about 3.8 w/kg. Aid stations were probably between 1 and 1.5 miles apart. I took the Fuel Belt and highly recommend that. Good call on the hill training. The hills are in two flavors: From about 11K to about 15K it's a long, gradual climb. From about 2K to 5K and 17K to 21K, it's a series of short, steep ones. For reference, I ran 1:34 at Steelhead last year. It's got about the same elevation change as Tremblant. But it's up and down in tiny increments. - I negative split every mile on that course. What's tough about the MT run, to me, is the sustained nature of the climbs. On the back half of the loop, it's a sustained ~2 mile climb.
Sounds like a great race, maybe I'll convince my wife to put it on the family calendar for next summer!
Ah, 3.8 is certainly a respectable W/kg and 133lbs helps put the NP into perspective. I consider myself, or at least I should say everyone else considers me a lightweight, but at 160lbs I'd definitely be having to grind a bit more to put up a 2:33 bike split.
Was sitting at about 3.94 on my last FTP test, going to scramble for every last W/kg I can get before tremblant, sounds like I'm going to need it!
Thanks for the info.
Super job, Matt! You've now got your work cut out for you later this summer!
There's no question your run will improve if you walk x 20-30 steps each aid station on the IM. I refused out of pride for the first 5-6 years of my IM career. Then I adopted the strategy, and my run times started dropping both in races and in training. The only grade you get is on your time @ the end, there's no style points for running every step.