Racine 70.3 - Brian Comiskey RR
2012 RACINE 70.3 Race Report
By Brian Comiskey (43)
Background: I raced the Spirit Of Racine Half in 2009 before WTC acquired the race under perfect conditions (low 60’s, cloudy, no wind, short swim). Back then, the wave starts would go in ascending order resulting in huge draft packs among the M30-45 groups. Since WTC acquired the race in 2010, they smartly put the M40-44 in early waves and the M35-39 in the final waves. This has dramatically reduced the amount of drafting on the bike course. I also did Racine last year under similar conditions in terms of heat and humidity and completely messed up my hydration on the bike.
The EN Chi South Faction was well represented with John Molchin, Kim Chaput, Brian Pautsch, Tom Randich, and Mel Neumann all racing. There was also great support from EN’s Jeff Shoemaker and his wife, Barbara. I also had another 15-20 people from my local tri club either racing or spectating. My wife and kids got to the race at 10am and just hung out at the beach all day.
Pre-Race: Nutrition:?Shotgun two Ensures at 1:45am for 500 cal and go back to bed. Breakfast at 4:00am consisting of 2 cups TJ unsweetened applesauce with one scoop vanilla protein powder and another Ensure. Total of about 530 cal. Had 3 Starbucks Via with 8 oz cold water. Went to transition at 5am to get body marked, put bottles on bike, and air up tires. On bike nutrition consists of 32oz Aqualite with water in front, 750 cal bottle of Infinit on down tube, and two team EN 26 oz Purist water bottles in back. Had a part of a Roctane gel about 20’ before swim start with some water and two S-Caps about 30’ before swim start.
Went to the EN team picture at 6:15am at bike start and met the other EN peeps racing. Matt Aaronson, who raced very well at Racine in 2011 and got a Vegas slot, suggested that the most important thing with racing in the heat was to not stop running.
Swim: Goal Time: 35:00/Race Time: 35:18
Wave start at 7:26am. The swim is point to point so you need to walk 1.2 miles up the beach to the swim start. I walked with my buddy, John Molchin, and he told me he had the song Idioteque by Radiohead in his head that morning. He also asked me about the quick release strap for his 910, which I wrongly advised should work well on the swim (it did not and he lost his 910 in the first 200 yards). Small start waves and the water temp was reported at 69 degrees. Air temp was probably 80 degrees. Water was very calm first half and got a little choppy in second half. It is really nice to swim without a brawl at every turn. Long ass beach run up to transition.
Bike: Goal Time: 2:30::/Race Time: 2:30:18
I completely screwed up my race last year by only drinking 36oz of water/hour and got very dehydrated and faded at the end of the bike and could not run. After getting some great advice post race last year in the forums and doing several sweat tests, I targeted 80oz water/hour. The temperature at the start of the bike was 82 degrees and climbed to 91 degrees at the end. My plan was to decrease my target watts by 5% as a result of the heat. The adjusted target would be Z2 (200-215 watts) for first 10 miles and then build up to Z3 (230 - 245 watts) for the remainder of the ride. This is off of a FTP test of 305 watts from earlier in the week.
For nutrition, I drank water only the first thirty minutes and then two sips of Infinit every 15’ (about 60 cal) to average out to 240 cal/hour. I did not finish the bottle but always ride with a 750 cal bottle and wanted consistency with the concentration. There were aid stations at mile 15, 34, and 49. I rolled the first aid station and got two water bottles. The second aid station could not come soon enough as I was almost out of water before hitting it. At the second aid station, I knew I could not grab enough water on the go so I stopped to fill up two bottles and chugged a third quickly. I took 4 S-Caps every 45’. Rolled through the third station and got another 1.5 bottles.
I hit my target watts with an NP of 212 for first 10 miles and then averaged 227, 233, 235, 229, and 230 for the remaining segments respectively. Total ride was NP of 227 with an average speed of 22.4mph. Total elevation gain was about 1,500 feet.
This is a really fun bike course as I would bomb the descents without spinning out (50/34 and 11/23) and have enough momentum to make it up the next hill without doing much work at all. A lot of other people would be out of the aero bars for the climb and then coast down the hill. It is just so easy to move around the bike course. I would stand and pedal out of the turns just to stretch at bit. I also had the advantage of being in the first group of M40-44’s on the course with the prior waves being much older and younger athletes. I passed hundreds of people and did not get passed once. Had tailwind most of the way back. I had that Radiohead song in my head the entire ride and kept hearing, “here I am alive, everything all of the time” and just made me happy that I was riding well and doing what I love.
Run: Goal Time: JKR /Race Time: 2:06
I got out on the run course and kept thinking about how much better I felt than last year. My intital target was MP + 30” for first 3 miles and added another 30” for the heat to get to a target of 8:40. I was spot on and averaged 8:40 for the first 3.4 miles. After that, I realized there was no way I was going to be able to drop down to an 8:10 and just kept thinking about what Matt said about “just keep running” (aka JKR). I also remembered Coach P’s racing in the heat tips and focused on my position in my AG rather than the time I wanted. I only walked the aid stations and took 4 S-Caps at mile 4 and mile 9. Only calories from coke at aid stations and put ice in my hat every aid station. I averaged a very slow 10:07 pace for the remaining 9.7 miles. I picked up one of those Mission Enduracool Instant Cool towels the week before the race. Fortunately, Coach P was online for chat on Friday and told me the details on how to use. Not exactly a bad ass look but seems to work.
After the race, I walked to the beach to find my family and stepped into in the lake and went aaaahhhh. The cool water felt so good. I finished 60/341 in my AG which is top 18% and much better than the top 33% from last year. My overall time was 5:26 which was 14’ faster than last year. I also never cramped and as much as the run sucked, I felt like I was in control. I will definitely be back for Racine in 2013.
Comments
Brian - Smart application of your learning from last year's race. Glad you had a much more fun race this year than last. Well done!!