Dominion's Sprint and Olympic Distance - OPEN !!! (Page 12)

Hi everyone, I'm back from my race weekend and will try to get caught up with some of the questions. I'll post a full race report when I get the time but the short version was that I had my best time in 4 tries at the Jekyll Course but still only managed a 3rd place Age Group. Wish I could have finished a little higher but a solid effort on the swim and bike, so I am content.

Nate,

Tri-top with sleeves. My brother wears the PI Octane suit and loves it. He won't race in anything else. Personally I like the sleeveless look and feel but the suit is supposed to be "faster" Not sure how much of a difference it really makes for average joes like you and me though.

Cassandra,

I've heard of tires wearing grooves in trainers before, but I don't think it is really normal. I know that if you use the same tire that you ride outside with, it can have small amounts of sand and grit and such embedded in the tire that can wear down the roller over time. I use a tire (and wheel) that is specifically for the trainer only. It's more of a convenience thing though and never thought much about it wearing down the roller. You might want to contact the trainer manufacturer and see what they say about it.

Monty,

How'd the big race go?

Scott,

Hang in there, warm weather is coming. You have the right approach. rearrange the schedule as needed to suit the conditions. You still have plenty of time and the real work hasn't yet begun!

Congrats on the PR Scott!

I've been wanting to follow up on BT since I got home but my PC is screwing up. So now I'm back at work and have a chance to play catch up.

There are so many crazy things about this race it's funny. I've already mentioned the bike course change and then shortened to 95 miles because of the flood. Friday morning the water in the canal that runs from the lake though the city was tested and deemed unsafe for swimming. This moved T1 from the city to the swim start out at the lake. They had a backup plan! Which really made no difference to the participants other than adding a mile back on the bike route, lol.

RaceDayWheels.com took 4.5 hours on Thursday to get my bike set up after telling me it would be ready in 2 hours. I spent WAY too much time walking around waiting on my bike in the heat and humidity. They only had one guy working the tent. Checking in bikes, answering questions, and doing the wheel swaps. I was a little peeved but finally got my bike and went to the hotel.

Instead of a practice swim in the lake Friday morning I decided to go for a ride and check out the feel of the new Zip 404's. My gears were completely screwed up!! I took the bike and all my gear to check in back to the tent and had the guy look at it. He swapped out the spacer between the hub and cassette and put it back together. There was still a big problem. He called over a mechanic from the next tent. The screw that fine tunes the derailleur had come out long ago and stripped all the threads. I didn't even know it! The dude pulled out a kit, tapped the threads, clipped some cable, added a new screw, and was done in less then 5 minutes. I tried to pay them but they refused and only said, have a good race. My bike worked flawlessly the entire race! (And those are some sweet wheels and hubs!!)

On the run we had a storm blow in from the north with rain, lightning, high winds, and some racers got hailed on. The race director stopped the race at all the timing mats and/or aid stations until it cleared. Of course some people weren't stopped so it didn't effect them, some it effected a little, and others (including me) it effected greatly. A small group of us, out of 200-300 or more standing in the trees, huddled up in a group hug to keep warm. The rain and wind temps dropped rapidly and left us all shivering with really tight legs. One person said it was 41 minutes that we stood there. How they sorted out the 75 slots for Kona I have no idea! I'm still waiting for my time to be adjusted and even sent an email today.

The main reason I really don't know how long we stood there is because my Garmin died at mile 35 of the bike. I guess just too many training miles on the battery! Imagine my shock when I realized I had no timer for nutrition/hydration, no pace/speed monitor, no HR monitor, no cadence, etc., etc. I saw a mileage marker and had an idea. I knew I was averaging 18 mph on the bike so I calculated my nutrition/hydration by mileage. I knew I had to have X amount ingested before the mile 50 marker but not more than X or I would have to take off from the next segment. Rinse and repeat at mile 60, or 70, or which ever marker came next. Darn if it didn't work out! I did realize that my one hit of Base Salt every hour was not going to cut it. Towards the end of the bike my quads started feeling crampy (if that's a word). I doubled up the salt and even increased it more on the run.

I approached the run the same way. I wanted to run a 10:30 - 11:00 m/m pace for the first lap and maybe a little faster on the second (depending on how I felt) then negative split the third and last lap. There were aid stations about every mile so I started doing the math. I only walked through the aid stations to drink and grab gels/blocks/etc to eat in between and I ran the rest of the time. I finished strong and had a fantastic race. I can't explain the emotional rush I had that last hour of the race knowing I had it right where I wanted it. No one passed me in that last hour, everyone was walking or doing a run/walk. I yelled, cried, did a little dance, celebrated, then turn the last corner and ran up the Ironman ramp and across the finish line in the rain!

I haven't filled out a race report yet because I'm waiting for my run time to be adjusted. But here's what it looks like:

Swim: 2.4 miles; 1:18:55; 2:02/100m pace (slower than what I wanted but I estimated 1:20 in open water)

Bike: 95 miles; 5:13:34; 18.2 mph (Slightly faster than I estimated, 16-18 mph)

Run: 26.2 miles; 5:39:52; 12:58 m/m

Run adjusted for rain delay based off 41 minutes: 4:58:52; 11:24 m/m (without anything to pace myself I finished with some gas in the tank but still around a 5 hr marathon. I wanted 4:30)

T1: 07:20 and T2: 09:29 (a long run from the dismount to the changing tent and I left my cycling shoes on for most of it until I realized what I was doing)

Race Time: 12:29:10

Adjusted Race Time: 11:48:10

w/o the rain delay I'm ranked 95 in my age group. With the rain delay I'm about 70th.

That's it in a nut shell. What an experience! If you go for it bring your family along for the full ride, from day one of training through race day. My wife and daughter had an absolute blast at the race and knew how hard I worked to get there. My daughter wants us to "do one together" and my wife said, "You know there's an Ironman in Boulder August, 3rd? Maybe you should do that one two!"

Sounds like a great race Monty, and very emotional time for you that last hour. That's what it is all about...setting a goal and then doing the work to make it possible, then just going out and doing it. Congrats!

Also, the Garmin dying may not have been such a bad thing in the end. I think we sometimes rely too much on the gadgets to tell how fast to pace or when we need the nutrition. Doing some of that math in your head probably kept your mind engaged and occupied on those long bike miles.

Yes, this was my first full Ironman. Thanks

I took my wife on a long weekend camping/kayaking/mtn biking trip to make up for some lost time. ;o)

Congrats of the bling! Nice medal!

Most of my close friends were road bikers years ago and switched to full time mountain bikes. They humor me by letting me to keep up. Everyone of them will tell you, "You want to get stronger on the road bike? Ride mountain bikes!"