Rev3 Maine Half
Rev3 Maine was my first Half of the season. I picked it for several reasons… I really like Rev3 races. I thought it would be a nice “Race-cation”; it’s pretty flat and my Grandmother (who is no longer with is) always talked about Old Orchard Beach but I had never been.
We left Sat. am about 9am for the 3-hourish drive up to OOB. Arrived right around noon, threw my stuff down and headed over to transition for the typical packet pickup and bike check-in. I always feel a bit anxious doing this stuff as I just want to “get it over with” and get on with the day as there is typically lots to do. Got it done pretty quickly and then had some time to kill prior to the athlete’s meeting at 1:30. Sheri met me there and we looked around the “store”, stayed for the meeting then back to the room to get ready for a swim practice. Met up with the rest of my “cheerleaders” (my parents and headed to the beach) I wasn’t sure what wetsuit I’d wear, full or sleeveless. I feel more comfortable in the sleeveless (less constricted) so that is usually my preference, but the water in Maine is pretty cold, although less so this year. (About 67) I decided to try the full on and see how it felt. So down to the water I went, through the tourists, feeling like the creature from the black lagoon walking down to the water. (Although I’m sure I wasn’t the first that day) Actually felt pretty good so I was leaning towards the full suit. Gathered my crew for a drive of the bike course (some members more reluctant than others but was a nice drive. Very “bucolic” (my Mom’s word of the day for scenic, rural) but a few more rollers than I had expected but nothing like the Rev3 Quassy! When we got back, we were ready for dinner. We picked out a cute little Italian for dinner that was right next door! What’s better than that?
BTW, I don’t usually give my pre-race dinner this much space but it was just ridiculous how awful it was. Feel free to skip this paragraph if you want to get to the race details… We walked into the place and it looked more like a diner but nothing is that spectacular in “OOB” so no big deal. We sat down and looked at the menu. Ummmm, not much Italian stuff (which Sheri was hoping for) I decided on the lobster roll (the first one I had that day wasn’t great) No lobster! Really? In Maine you’re out of lobster? Fine, spaghetti and meatballs is more like my usual pre-race dinner. Dad orders a Coors Light (which is on the menu) but they don’t have that either. Sheri orders plain spaghetti with oil and garlic…. THEY DON’T HAVE GARLIC?? OMG We should have left…. We had several opportunities to give it up, but noooooo. Then they miraculously get lobster??? OK, good, lobster rolls on the way. “Dinner” comes (I use that term very loosely) Lobster roll is cold w mayo (I HATE that, esp when I had specifically asked for hot w/ butter… seriously, why would you want it any other way??) Sheri’s pasta tastes like crap… How you can screw up pasta w/ oil I dunno. Mom had chix which was probably the only decent thing we got but came w/ nasty looking canned green beans and instant mashed potatoes. When I went to pay and the owner asked how everything was, I just grunted I think. I didn’t have the heart at that moment to go on the rant I really wanted to. Anyway, needless to say, we needed to get more food. We bought some stuff to take back to the room and I had a bagel. Finally settled in back at the room and got my stuff all ready and hit the hay at 9:30ish.
Race morning up around 4. Usual waffles w/ PB, honey & banana and some Gatorade. Walked to transition which was about ½ mile. Got set up pretty quickly (still dark) and headed back to the room to change into wetsuit. (We could literally see the swim start from our room! Added bonus not to have to use porta-potties!) Sheri met me at the beach prior to the start which was nice because this is typically when I am the most nervous. Swim started without incident. Took me a bit to get into a groove with my kick but got the hang of it eventually. I was really looking forward to the 2nd turn buoy and heading back to the beach and catching some waves on the way back in. Of course it was fairly calm when I came in but was able to catch one. So much for body surfing my way into T1! It was a fairly long transition (I think they said .3mi) but after I stripped off my sleeves, I jogged up to T1 (which I rarely do) Got passed by some of the pro men doing the Oly race which was neat. Felt really good and ready to ride. Dad & Sheri were waiting for me by my bike but I had missed Mom somewhere along the way. (She was hiding on a bench somewhere.) Off on the bike, right behind the lead pro women! (Well, they were doing the Oly and had started like 30mins after me but still cool anyway, especially for a BOP’r!) Up a little hill to start the bike but then settled in. I made some decisions to pass some people early on in order to avoid the draft zone. I like to control the speed how I want to, especially where I am strong on the flats. Backed off the pace a bit after my passes and ended up at .819 IF for first 28 mi. (A bit higher than my target of .77) Drank one bottle of Perform for every 19 mi for a total of 3 bottles. Plus one GU or 2 Clif Shot blocks every 30 mins. (Alternating caffeinated w/ non) Roughly 400 calories/hour. (Tried to increase based on crappy RR 2 and new guidance that most "issues" are due to not enough) I felt pretty good on most of the ride, except maybe the last 10-ish miles. I thought perhaps because I had slacked a bit on the Perform, I was getting dehydrated so I worked on finishing that last bottle the last 30 mins to get in good position for the run. 2nd 28 miles at .71IF for an overall .769IF. (Goal of .77-.78 per EN "rules") No negative split but almost exact equal splits for 1st and 2nd half of the bike... (1:44:xx and 1:45:xx) Def. felt tired/drained heading out on the run. Not a good sign considering the run is my weakest, even without having biked 56 miles prior….. Stopped at a porta-potty to pee since I had to go for a good chunk of the bike but must have missed the stop on the bike course! Also, forgot my inhaler so went back to transition to grab it.
Saw a fellow EN’r heading out of T2. (I think he was done with the race! Go EN!) Mile 1 was slow but OK. Then a couple of hills so I walked the aid stations. After mile 3, we were on a trail so I started feeling OK. (I run mostly on a trail for my training so it felt familiar) Saw some more EN’rs and some other CT folks. Funny how “local” and semi-familiar people help you along. Had a good couple of miles…. But then it was over. Felt tired, sluggish. Didn’t necessarily feel really hot or in pain. Just couldn’t run. I had been stopping at each aid station for water over my head and a cup of Gatorade to drink. Continued w/ Clif blocks too. Even grabbed a salt cap at some point, wondering it was dehydration? One of the aids asked if I wanted to sit down for bit at one of the stops so I musta looked like hell. LOL But I said if I sat down, I might not get up. I negotiated with myself for a lot of the “run”, saying OK, just run to that next sign, then I can walk for a bit.
Finished the run (I swear I thought it would never end) in record (poor) time. Mustered a small “burst” of speed for the finish and felt good to be done! My supporters were waiting at the finish and the very nice announcer said I made it look easy which made me smile so hopefully I’ll have a good finish photo! It made me smile because it was probably my hardest run ever.
Stats (compared to Timberman Half Ironman last Aug.)
Timberman Maine
Swim 56:59 45:46 (Timberman lake- no wetsuit, Maine- Ocean w/ full wetsuit)
Bike 03:48:00 03:29:05 (Timberman may have been a bit hillier)
Run 03:02:31 03:12:20
Overall 07:56:00 07:39:08
Still a decent overall 17-ish min. improvement. (My goal was 7:30 and I was on track until the run)
My thoughts on the race (Teammate/coaches- please provide your comments here!)
1) Practice better pacing on the bike. Not sure if this impacted my run since my overall intensity was on target but perhaps the pushing too hard early on burned a few matches?
2) Practice nutrition more! Too many calories? I don’t think I had tried that amount of calories enough in training. I didn’t have any gastro issues but maybe too many calories made it difficult to run? I need to look back at what I had done for my first race rehersal and do that! No issues at all that time. 2nd RR not so much… EDIT: Just looked at RR 1 and it seems I had a lot less calories and was starving 30 mins into the run. Also, used Infinit/Gatorade mix w/ high protein in the Gatorade. I was starting to suspect the high protein giving me gastro-issues POST workout, but now I think it may be something I'm eating afterwards?? Still have some things to figure out nutrition -wise before FL but hopefully 9 weeks is long enough to sort it out.... And I'm going to take detailed notes about each Sat. brick nutrition and figure it out.
3) Focus on the run! If I have to cut a WKO short or skip one, NOT the run. Typically for the days that have an optional brick, I do it that way which gives me somewhere around 20-30 mins less running. Also, for interval run, I only do the MS (not significant WU or CD), thereby cutting my overall running time/mileage. I will re-read the “Focusify” section and see what I can do….
Overall, fairly pleased with the race but can't help but dwell on the run. (Isn't that typical of us to focus on the bad part??)
Anything else I may have missed?
Comments
Again - want to say Congrats on the improvement!! You are well on your way to killing it in Florida!
I only have a couple of thoughts:
1. Great improvement on the swim. For that magnitude of time it is doubtful to be attributable only to conditions and wetsuit.
2. You probably overcooked the first half of the bike by quite a margin. IF of 0.82 for the first half and 0.71 for the second half is a pretty big positive power split. So I think your comment #1 about bike pacing is right on. If you get that one wrong in the Ironman distance I think it will be even more costly.
3. I agree that skipping run workouts is really not good. Honestly in my experience it is running FREQUENCY that trumps mileage, hitting the zones, etc, etc. The HIM plan has us running 4-5x per week and I really do think you need to do 4 of those runs: the one 'quality run' (usually on Monday or Tuesday, with 2-3 mile repeats at z4), the long run, and two of the others (the weekend brick(s) and Friday run). If there are 5 runs in a week I can understand missing one for time reasons. But really I think running 4x/week is important and you will have an easier time running if you do that.
Cheers,
Matt
Congrats on the race and the PB.
FWIW, I am 5'9" 163lbs and take about 220cal/hr on the bike and a little less on the run for a 6hr 70.3.
Your point is well taken regarding not skipping the run workouts. I have been guilty of that here and there. My excuse has been that my joints dont like to run on consecutive days. I am going to have to rethink that. Even if it means some easy run sessions in between.
Great improvement on the swim! If that was due to your wetsuit, I'll take one.
Kim,
Congrats and Matts observations are spot on. Running frequency is huge and we are entering into the time of year where you can think and become a runner, making it habit to get out the door 4-5x/wk no matter what. Once you realign your perspective on what it means to run often (don't think far or fast for a while, just run) that perspective and those habits will serve you very well next season!