Quassy Race report- Keith W

Cut it close in getting there as I had to wait all day Saturday on a car repair.  Made it to pick up in time and then headed for the hotel, which was 40 minutes away.  I kept this in mind since someone texted about getting at the site early because of the line to get parking…..needless to say, my 40 minute ride was only 20 minutes if I took the highway in the morning and there wasn’t a line so I was in the parking lot on race day at 4:45 am…..I could have used that extra ½ hour sleep.

In transition, met and said hi to folks I haven’t seen in over a year (the Canadians), Grant, Coach P….also met some new folks and saw people who were at AZof, which was really nice….sorry, I suck at names.  Picture at EN tent, gather some intel about the course as I didn’t have time to drive it.

Swim 38:31

Just tried to swim smooth.  I’ve been in the pool about 10 times over the past 3 weeks so there was no pushing in this leg.  I’d tried to start swimming in early April, but my shoulder wasn’t having it based on last years’ surgery. 

T1 5:24

Way to slow to get organized once I got to my bike.  Also put on my bike shoes without socks and immediately ripped open a cut on my toe, thus forcing me to go back to socks….ouch!

Bike  3:17:25

I went into the bike without an outside FTP and uncertain about the accuracy of my inside FTP, so I WAG’d it vs. SWAG’d it.  I watched the course preview, so I knew to hold back and kept flip flopping with this one guy on the first part of the course.  He even commented nicely, “Are we going to do this all day?”  Eventually, he lost his mojo chasing me as I went flying past on the downhills.  Only had 1 sketchy moment where a guy went far left around a turn and I had to split 2 people, locked up the rear and motocrossed it to make it through---some people need to stay right if they can’t handle the bike!!!  I started to push the second half of the bike more, which was motivated by Steve R. & Bridget coming past---hit 51.3 mph on one of them hills---fun!!!  Data is below and I don’t think I could have been any steadier during the ride, although I wonder if I left too much time here.

Entire workout (176 watts):

    Duration:                3:16:42

    Work:                     2077 kJ

    TSS:                       208.8 (intensity factor 0.799)

    Norm Power:          180

    VI:                           1.02

    Pw:HR:                   n/a

    Pa:HR:                   n/a

    Distance:               54.71 mi

    Elevation Gain:      3477 ft

    Elevation Loss:      3495 ft

    Grade:                    -0.0 %  (-17 ft)

                                   Min       Max      Avg

    Power:                    0           379       176       watts

    Cadence:               14         231       87         rpm

    Speed:                    0           51.3      16.7      mph

    Pace                       1:10      0:00      3:36      min/mi

    Altitude:                  327       1142     753       ft

    Crank Torque:       0           1189     178       lb-in

T2 2:32

Better, but still not good.

Run 2:05:00

The run was uneventful until about mile 5 or 6.  I was running the uphills steady and felt good/holding back on the downhills, although I really couldn’t open up on the downs because of a little hammy twinge/pull.  Around mile 5-6, I was starting to get some IT band pain, which I knew would come at some point.  What I didn’t know was that it would make me stop for 20-30 seconds to stretch before each downhill so that I could jog that section.  Was small stepping the downhills and just not able to stride.  Continued to run until the last hill and just powerwalked it—I probably should have ran it, but I lost my mental game at this point.  It wasn’t my legs or physical, just a mental thing which I need to correct.

Overall 6:08:54

Not a great race for me, but a good first race back.  I didn’t drown (step #1), ran the run portion (except the last hill), and really enjoyed the day without much suffering---some IT band pain, but not suffering.  Things to consider going forward:

1. Do a bike test to figure out my FTP.  I think I played it too conservative and should have pushed more.

2. Continue to try out Lara bars for nutrition on the bike vs gels, blocks.  I liked having food vs. a sugar substance

3. Really start to learn to push my body harder at this distance vs. be afraid of the run.

4. Umm….stretching, stretching, foam rolling, etc……can’t ignore this any longer.