Racine RR
Racine Race Report
Disclaimer: My lack of volume or preparation is nothing to aspire to.
My training leading up to Racine was certainly not that ideal. I thought I had would have had more time to ink some pretty long workouts up to this race however this was certainly not that case. In fact I never registered at KS because I was just not ready yet. Looking back I rode over 2 hrs only 4 times all year and most rides were around 55-60 minutes. I thought it was more and maybe it was and I deleted the files. I have been just simply too busy with my full time job and 4 part time gigs and 80+ hour work weeks to really be doing this distance at the level I have been able to perform at in previous years. My goal was to break 5 hrs which looking back seems a little ridiculous. Sarah Cooper had asked how I felt about the race, I think I told her something like I'll rock the swim, go easy on the bike then try and let it rip on the run. Well I did two of the 3.
I arrived in Racine late Saturday. Got a good night of sleep then showed up race morning and stood around a long time. Racine is kind of a dump if you are more than 3 blocks from the lake, I was quite surprised. I think I am going to stick w/ KS or Rev 3 Dells should I get unbusy enough to do this distance again even though this is a 'supported' race. My wave M30-34 didn’t start until after 8 AM. Lake Michigan is a pretty awesome swim venue. The water is pretty clean and it is nice and cold. The swim was probably the part of the race I was most ready for as I do my swim workouts 2-3k every 3rd day M-F and maybe an extra day here or there. I had certainly not done any open water swimming and a KS race bib from 2011 was still in my wetsuit bag. So it had been approximately 13 months since I had the suit on. I swam a 32:27, which is pretty much what I do in the half IM distance. I had very minimal contact with anybody and didn’t get too lost. It was my first time in open water as well since September of last year.
T1 smooth no issues.
Bike I kept is the power and HR pretty manageable, the road surface pretty much sucks in a lot of spots on the course. I felt as if every filling in my mouth was going to shake out of my head. I did not have a good handle on what my FTP on race day was though I would suspect somewhere between 260-275 watts. Surprisingly my neck felt pretty good at the end as well. I did have one small mechanical issue that cost me about 2 minutes. I ended up riding a 2:40
Entire workout (211 watts):
Duration: 2:39:35 (2:41:13)
Work: 2018 kJ
TSS: 175.6 (intensity factor 0.816)
Norm Power: 218
VI: 1.03
Pw:HR: 7.8%
Pa:HR: -0.84%
Distance: 55.517 mi
Elevation Gain: 822 ft
Elevation Loss: 869 ft
Grade: -0.0 % (-51 ft)
Min Max Avg
Power: 0 621 211 watts
Heart Rate: 127 163 153 bpm
Cadence: 33 196 93 rpm
Speed: 0 32.9 20.8 mph
Pace 1:49 0:00 2:53 min/mi
Hub Torque: 0 41 7 lb-in
Altitude: 485 691 605 ft
Crank Torque: 0 836 192 lb-in
Temperature: 80.6 96.8 85.3 Fahrenheit
T2 was pretty slow, I went pee and took my time.
The run I was fairly well trained for as I had inked a couple of weeks of around 40 plus miles while on a fishing trip but despite how well trained you are for the run if you don’t ride over two hours more than 4 times you are going to be paying the fiddler on the run just from a lack of adaptation and hardening. The TSS charts and execution guidance than RnP have work very well when you do the workouts they write and generally follow their guidance. I didn’t. Not from a perspective that I thought I knew better, I simply didn’t because life wouldn’t allow me to. I ended up running a 1:47:40. I walked every single aid station. I don’t think I was passed while running by more than 3 or 4 people. It got hot, I got hot, I suffered.
http://connect.garmin.com/activity/200279052
I finished 5:08 and got the hell out of town. Besides wanting to break 5 hours in the race I wanted to be back on the road, showered, car loaded by 2 PM. This was a goal I did achieve. It has been a hard year for training, general lack of motivation to go long a new part time job that has me traveling, a bathroom and bedroom remodel I did myself just got me burning the candle at both ends. I am certainly not disappointed in my performance as I definitely “earned” my time. I would not aspire to or recommend my lack of training this year. I should point out for those who don’t know me I have been doing triathlons since 1999 and did my first IM in 2004. That does count for something when you go in as unprepared as I did. Again do not do as I did.
Comments
Dan, when all was said and done, I bet it still felt good to race. You did the best with what you had and what the day gave you; that's all that matters in the end.