Beach to Battleship HIM - Triathlon1/2 Ironman


View Member's Race Log View other race reports
Wilmington, North Carolina
United States
Set Up Events
65F / 18C
Sunny
Total Time = 5h 58m 3s
Overall Rank = 199/441
Age Group = M30-34
Age Group Rank = 25/48
Pre-race routine:

Left for Oak Island on Thursday evening after work. Got there fairly late and unloaded all the crap that would have to get repacked for the race. Watched a little TV and fell asleep.

Left for Wilmington about 10:30 Friday morning to eat some lunch and take care of all the pre-race activities. After lunch we went and picked up our packets and tried to find some swim booties since I had ordered the wrong sizes. The ones I got for me ended up being my wife's size. Oops! No luck since everybody was sold out. I figured I would just have to deal with it like I did during the sprint race. Took our bikes out to T1 and stopped in for the 2:00 meeting on the way back through Wilmington. Headed back to the condo and I packed all of our stuff in the various bags and got it all ready to go.

Went to get some Chinese takeout when my parents got into town. Ate dinner and relaxed a little while before heading to bed at 9. Woke up the next morning at 4:30 and fixed our usual breakfast on bagel thins with peanut butter and honey. Left for Wrightsville Beach at 5.
Event warmup:

Got to T1 around 6 and went straight to body marking. Dropped the T2 bags off and headed into the transition are to get everything set up. Finished setting everything up a little after 6:30. We waited in the warm car until about 7:20 and went to catch a bus to the swim start.

We got a good view of the full distance racers as we drove out the start. There were still quite a few people coming by when we got there. I thought that that would probably be me if I were doing the full. Stood around and shivered for a while before I took my last bathroom break. After that we got into our wetsuits and waited for everything to start.

I took my shoes off and put my start gear bag in the pile. That asphalt was cold! My feet took a few minutes to get adjusted but the bonus was the water felt good when I finally got to wade in. Found a friend of mine that was in my wave and waited for the guys in front of us to start so that we could move out into the channel.
Swim
  • 42m 22s
  • 2078 yards
  • 02m 02s / 100 yards
Comments:

This swim wasn't what I was expecting in the least. We had done the YMCA sprint back in September on the same course minus 400 meters. That swim including the run to transition took me 26 minutes without a wetsuit. So I went into this race planning for about 30 minutes. Needless to say I was shocked when I saw my swim time.

I managed to get myself in the front of the group close to the dock. This wasn't what I had planned on doing! The current just kind of made it that way. I then resigned myself to the inevitable beating that was about to come. And it did. I got punched, kicked and lord knows what else for a short time right at the start. I managed to escape the washing machine and get my goggles cleared of the water that they had acquired in the melee.

By the time I hit the first turn buoy it felt like I had been swimming for an eternity and was getting a little worried. If that was only 400 meters then the rest of this swim is going to take forever. Luckily one I made the turn things seemed to move a little quicker. The wind was causing some decent chop in the main channel and it seemed better after the turn.

Before much longer I was surprised to see the dock up ahead. Got to a ladder and found a couple of wetsuit strippers. This being the first race that I had this experience it was kind of a comedy of errors. I was trying to get my arms out and both strippers were tugging as well. Anyway, they finally got me to follow their instructions and it was over with in a flash. Ran through the freshwater shower and hit the timing mat.
What would you do differently?:

Keep swimming with the masters group. Hopefully it will payoff.
Transition 1
  • 06m 28s
Comments:

Made the run from the timing mat into the transition area which was about 300 yards. My feet were numb so the run wasn't too painful but it wasn't comfortable either. I was wishing for my swim booties!

Took the time to dry off and put on a dry jersey over my tri top. Decided against my arm warmers and gloves since I was feeling pretty warm. Put on socks and shoes. Stuffed everything back into the transition bag and ran to the mount line.

I was hoping for a much faster transition but without having done one with so many steps I think I was being a little over optimistic.
What would you do differently?:

Not too much.
Bike
  • 2h 52m 43s
  • 56 miles
  • 19.45 mile/hr
Comments:

I should have known this was going to be a tough bike when I lost a bottle right after making the first turn. I stopped and ran back a few yards to recover it since it was my nutrition bottle. Once I got going things felt pretty good except for the constant headwind on the way out to 140. I was probably averaging 18 mph during that stretch on Military Cutoff Rd. Once I got to 140 I was able to pick up the pace a little bit and hit the first hour at a 19.5 overall. That was about the time that I got to 421 and found that headwind again.

Slowed down again and started to eat some fig newtons. Finally made it to the turn around and my glutes and lower back were not happy at all. I spent the rest of the ride on Blueberry Road just trying to stayed stretched and as loose as possible. I was looking forward to the run at the point just so I could get in a different position. Once I made it back to 421 I picked the pace up again with the help of the tailwind.

Finished with a 19.5 average speed so I wasn't too far off my goal of 20 mph. I'm not so sure that it was a good idea though since I think I payed for it in the run a little bit. I was also not used to the constant effort level that riding flat requires. I train on hills and never have really long stretches that are flat. I think the constant pedaling was what was killing my glutes and back.
What would you do differently?:

Maybe pull the effort back a little bit. Do some extending sessions on the trainer in aero position to try to adapt to the flat ride.
Transition 2
  • 437m
Comments:

Once again slower than I had anticipated. I didn't have too much trouble finding my bag location. I can't really remember what all I did during the time.
What would you do differently?:

I'm sure that I could have been more efficient and saved a decent amount of time.
Run
  • 2h 11m 55s
  • 13.1 miles
  • 10m 04s  min/mile
Comments:

I went into the race a little worried about the run. I have had a good run training volume this year and was hoping that I could put in a good run leg. But I also knew that I could blow up if I pushed the bike too much.

I started out faster than I wanted but I wasn't too concerned since the effort felt appropriate and I knew that I would keep dialing it back to my target pace once I got everything feeling like it was supposed to. The second and third miles were a few seconds per mile faster than target but not much and I was feeling great. The section down Water St was amazing. The crowd energy was awesome and I ate it up!

At the mile 3 water stop I accidentally grabbed HEED instead of water so I went ahead and drank it even though I don't care for it. In fact I find it pretty nasty!

By about mile 4 I started to feel some indigestion coming on. I'm going to blame the HEED! But in reality I'm not sure where it came from. But it hit hard and I had to take my first walk break. Things just weren't sitting right in my stomach and everything I took in just seemed to make it worse. So I stopped taking in all nutrition after the mile 5 rest stop which I knew wasn't the ideal thing to do but I couldn't think of anything else to do.

I was able to run up until probably mile 8 before I needed another walk break. I knew that I was quickly running out of energy without taking on any calories. And by this time the ball of my right foot was in some significant pain and I couldn't figure out why! After that point I used a run/walk strategy until I crested the last bridge and finished strong. My stomach seemed to get a little better and I started taking in Pepsi at mile 10 which helped get me going a little better.

I knew that I was going to be close to beating my goal of sub 6 so once I got to the top of the last bridge I knew that I could finish it out running. I passed several people on the run into the park and was able to finish with a smile on my face.
What would you do differently?:

Ease back on the bike some. Work on nutrition more. And I finally figured out why my foot was in so much pain after I finally got back to the condo. I had worn through the covering on my orthodic!
Post race
Warm down:

Walked around and drank water and chocolate milk. Waited with the parents for my wife to finish. Got to cheer her on coming through the line. She did awesome out there and better than she though she would. I was glad to see her finish so well. A camera man filming for PPD got a shot of me cheering her on. Maybe I'll be famous!

What limited your ability to perform faster:

I knew that bike my bike training was lacking this year. I just didn't have to volume that I needed to be able to race this the way I wanted to.

Event comments:

What a great race. It is kind of a pain having to worry about all the logistics of separate transition areas but they do a great job keeping things organized. I'm considering coming back for the full next year but I'm going to wait for the soreness to subside before I make any rash decisions!




Last updated: 2009-12-06 12:00 AM
Swimming
00:42:22 | 2078 yards | 02m 02s / 100yards
Age Group: 38/48
Overall: 335/441
Performance: Average
Suit: Xterra Vortex 3
Course: Swim from Wrightsville Beach in the Banks Channel. One 90 degree turn and then two 45's. Finish at a marina.
Start type: Deep Water Plus: Waves
Water temp: 63F / 17C Current: Medium
200M Perf. Below average Remainder: Average
Breathing: Average Drafting: Below average
Waves: Navigation: Average
Rounding: Good
T1
Time: 06:28
Performance: Average
Cap removal: Below average Helmet on/
Suit off:
No
Wetsuit stuck? No Run with bike: Yes
Jump on bike: No
Getting up to speed: Average
Biking
02:52:43 | 56 miles | 19.45 mile/hr
Age Group: 24/48
Overall: 178/441
Performance: Good
Wind: Headwind
Course: Route leaves Wrightsville beach and heads north to I-140 and then west to 421. North up 421 to and two land road to the turn around. Comes back south on 421 to the battleship.
Road: Smooth Dry Cadence: 79
Turns: Average Cornering: Average
Gear changes: Good Hills: Good
Race pace: Too hard Drinks: Just right
T2
Time: 437:00
Overall: Below average
Riding w/ feet on shoes
Jumping off bike
Running with bike Good
Racking bike
Shoe and helmet removal
Running
02:11:55 | 13.1 miles | 10m 04s  min/mile
Age Group: 23/48
Overall: 188/441
Performance: Below average
Course: Out and back from the battleship into downtown Wilmington and then turn around at Greenfield Lake. Two bridge crossings within the first two miles meaning you get to cross them again the last two miles.
Keeping cool Average Drinking Not enough
Post race
Weight change: %
Overall: Average
Mental exertion [1-5] 4
Physical exertion [1-5] 4
Good race? Yes
Evaluation
Course challenge Just right
Organized? Yes
Events on-time? Yes
Lots of volunteers? Yes
Plenty of drinks? Yes
Post race activities: Average
Race evaluation [1-5] 5