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Ironman 70.3 Lake Placid
This day went as badly as it could've gone, and as well as it could've gone. I had revised my race plan the day before the race based on the weather reports for the day and expected water temps. I pretty much nailed my plan, except I was waaaay optimistic on the swim.
Stayed at home for this race (I live about 45 miles away). Got up at 4:00, had oatmeal--I was able to eat just fine, which is the 1st thing that was different from IMLP in July, when I was very sick starting on the 2nd loop of the bike. On the road, by 4:30, in Placid and car parked at a friend's business by 5:30. Body marked, transition set up, back to car to stay warm and get some hot liquids in. Headed to beach at 6:50, didn't do a warmup swim, couldn't get anywhere near the beach. Got in the water about 7:35, I was freezing by then. Took a few minutes to try to get myself acclimated, but it never happened. Couldn't swim more than 15-20 strokes without feeling breathless and having my heart rate soar. I was exhaling as strongly as I could, but I'm not a good cold water swimmer (very small and lean), and I never got into a good rhythm. After a while, my arms felt extremely heavy. I was rotating so far just to try to get them out of the water, and it was an incredibly hard effort. Finally finished--I expected 45 min, ended up being 53 min. I was shocked--didn't seem that long. Shivering badly when I got to the strippers. I wrapped my wetsuit around me and left my caps and booties on for the run to T1, but I still was very, very cold. Transition took me 17 min. My hands just wouldn't work. Dried off and struggled to get things zipped; arm warmers, leg warmers and socks pulled up; pushing little buttons on my Garmin...Anything that required fine motor skills felt like I was wearing boxing gloves. Expected time--7-8 min, took 17 min.
Still shivering badly for the start of the bike. Completely forgot to start eating until about 15 min in. I finally started warming up, remembered food, took in about 150 calories right away, then made myself focus. Kept IF around .75 until I got to the bottom of Keene. Now feeling much warmer, and started to push the pace to Ausable. Stopped at the turnaround and tossed my jacket to volunteers. Was eating a 40 cal BonkBreaker chunk every 15 min, then switched to GUs in the last half hour. Only drank less than 2 bottles of Skratch, but drank to thirst and felt fine. Peed once on the bike. I planned total IF of .80-.81 and time of 3:15-3:20. Finished with IF of .82 and 3:19:51, avg HR 143.
T2 was pretty quick, predicted 3-4 min, did in just under 4. Plan was to hold HR around 145 for first 3 miles, then let it go to 150-155 until mile 10, then every woman for herself the rest of the race. HR ranged from 144-149 for first 3 miles, 148-152 from miles 4 through 10, then 155-161 for the last 3.1. I did three gels with water--spaced about every 3 aide stations; Coke twice--mile 5 and 10; and water with Base salt any other time I drank. I haven't had a good triathlon run since late 2015--partly because I can't resist the urge to go too hard on the bike. I had hoped for under 2 hours. I did 2:04 which was a 30 sec HIM PR for me.
Takeaways: I used the exact same nutrition plan that I've used for the past three years of training and racing. I was so sick for IMLP, and now I feel validated that it wasn't from getting my nutrition wrong. Worked perfectly for me for this race. The bike leg did prove to me that I do need to learn to pace myself better if I want to have a good run. I was in such a hole by the time I got on the bike, that I knew I couldn't make up the time, so I felt I had nothing to lose but stick to the plan and see what happens. I had hoped to finish in around 6:15, ended up with 6:38:48--almost all of that difference attributable to the swim and T1. Very happy with my bike and run, and looking forward to applying this to IMLP 2018. Not sure I'll ever do this 70.3 again. I can fix a lot of things with training and nutrition--not becoming hypothermic in cold water is probably not one of them.
Stayed at home for this race (I live about 45 miles away). Got up at 4:00, had oatmeal--I was able to eat just fine, which is the 1st thing that was different from IMLP in July, when I was very sick starting on the 2nd loop of the bike. On the road, by 4:30, in Placid and car parked at a friend's business by 5:30. Body marked, transition set up, back to car to stay warm and get some hot liquids in. Headed to beach at 6:50, didn't do a warmup swim, couldn't get anywhere near the beach. Got in the water about 7:35, I was freezing by then. Took a few minutes to try to get myself acclimated, but it never happened. Couldn't swim more than 15-20 strokes without feeling breathless and having my heart rate soar. I was exhaling as strongly as I could, but I'm not a good cold water swimmer (very small and lean), and I never got into a good rhythm. After a while, my arms felt extremely heavy. I was rotating so far just to try to get them out of the water, and it was an incredibly hard effort. Finally finished--I expected 45 min, ended up being 53 min. I was shocked--didn't seem that long. Shivering badly when I got to the strippers. I wrapped my wetsuit around me and left my caps and booties on for the run to T1, but I still was very, very cold. Transition took me 17 min. My hands just wouldn't work. Dried off and struggled to get things zipped; arm warmers, leg warmers and socks pulled up; pushing little buttons on my Garmin...Anything that required fine motor skills felt like I was wearing boxing gloves. Expected time--7-8 min, took 17 min.
Still shivering badly for the start of the bike. Completely forgot to start eating until about 15 min in. I finally started warming up, remembered food, took in about 150 calories right away, then made myself focus. Kept IF around .75 until I got to the bottom of Keene. Now feeling much warmer, and started to push the pace to Ausable. Stopped at the turnaround and tossed my jacket to volunteers. Was eating a 40 cal BonkBreaker chunk every 15 min, then switched to GUs in the last half hour. Only drank less than 2 bottles of Skratch, but drank to thirst and felt fine. Peed once on the bike. I planned total IF of .80-.81 and time of 3:15-3:20. Finished with IF of .82 and 3:19:51, avg HR 143.
T2 was pretty quick, predicted 3-4 min, did in just under 4. Plan was to hold HR around 145 for first 3 miles, then let it go to 150-155 until mile 10, then every woman for herself the rest of the race. HR ranged from 144-149 for first 3 miles, 148-152 from miles 4 through 10, then 155-161 for the last 3.1. I did three gels with water--spaced about every 3 aide stations; Coke twice--mile 5 and 10; and water with Base salt any other time I drank. I haven't had a good triathlon run since late 2015--partly because I can't resist the urge to go too hard on the bike. I had hoped for under 2 hours. I did 2:04 which was a 30 sec HIM PR for me.
Takeaways: I used the exact same nutrition plan that I've used for the past three years of training and racing. I was so sick for IMLP, and now I feel validated that it wasn't from getting my nutrition wrong. Worked perfectly for me for this race. The bike leg did prove to me that I do need to learn to pace myself better if I want to have a good run. I was in such a hole by the time I got on the bike, that I knew I couldn't make up the time, so I felt I had nothing to lose but stick to the plan and see what happens. I had hoped to finish in around 6:15, ended up with 6:38:48--almost all of that difference attributable to the swim and T1. Very happy with my bike and run, and looking forward to applying this to IMLP 2018. Not sure I'll ever do this 70.3 again. I can fix a lot of things with training and nutrition--not becoming hypothermic in cold water is probably not one of them.
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Congrats and enjoy the recovery. 2018 LP is going to be a great day for you!!!
And yes, I was sick with something viral before Ironman. I think that's what caused my issues that day, or at least, contributed significantly to it. Thanks for reading!