Revolution3 Half Ironman Triathlon - Triathlon1/2 Ironman


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Knoxville, Tennessee
United States
Revolution3 Triathlon Series
59F / 15C
Overcast
Total Time = 6h 39m 32s
Overall Rank = 68/121
Age Group = 45-49
Age Group Rank = 6/12
Pre-race routine:

Pre Race
Two days prior: Increased water and took a Salt Stick cap at Breakfast, lunch and dinner. Increase carb consumption to 400g. Avoided caffeine other than morning coffee.
Day Before: Extra water throughout the day, 8oz Gatorade, 1 Salt Stick Cap at Breakfast, Lunch and Dinner, limited fiber significantly, limited caffeine to avoid any GI issues. Worked towards ingesting 500g CHO per Linda—pasta at lunch and dinner, added extra French bread, final snack 26g of Carb Pro and 3 small cookies before 9pm.
Went to bed at 9pm and slept reasonably well until 1:30am. Then woke up on the hour. Had a bottle of Carb Pro on the table and drank some of it, maybe another 13g CHO.
Race Day
Race Breakfast: Woke up at 4am to coffee/half half. Had one low fiber blueberry bagel (54g CHO), 1 TB Jam (13g CHO), some carb Pro (10g CHO). 77g CHO.
Right before swim: Ingested about 13g CHO in Carb Pro.
Total CHO before the start = 90 g

Event warmup:

Hung out with some of my great SWBKRUN mentor group friends, got video'd by by John (FattyfatFat) and told myself I was ready to roll.
Swim
  • 52m 51s
  • 2122 yards
  • 02m 29s / 100 yards
Comments:

Wasn’t really nervous despite not having a great practice swim the day before. I knew going in the water was cold and it shocked my lungs. I tried to do a few bobs before the gun went off and all that did was serve to get me to start hyperventilating. I’ve had nervous moments before, but never this. I realized before the practice swim my wetsuit is too tight so not sure if that contributed to the problem. It took me some time to settle down and I watched the pink caps start fading away. Not sure how much time passed (probably a 1’ or so), but I eventually was able to settle in and just swim. I thought I was doing pretty well, I was definitely wide on the way down, but hugged the buoy line on the way back. I was expecting a stronger current to push us down river, but it really didn’t exist. I got caught up with some of the male Oly swimmers swimming 5 abreast and got thrown around a little from that. I also got stuck behind some people, swam next to people that kept swatting me and I never really know what to do about that—stop? Swim faster? Swim off line? Finally hit the pier and had to do a belly flop to get up onto it-they have no stairs and they don’t assist you. I had swallowed a lot of air and water and tried to burp some of it out as I went running through a long transition, but I knew it was a problem. I contemplated hitting the bathroom which helped in IM, but there wasn’t one close to my bike location so bypassed it. Big mistake.
What would you do differently?:

Not do a HIM as my first OWS when I know I need a lot of dwell time in the water. Learn to breathe while swimming the way everyone else seems to.
Transition 1
  • 04m 8s
Comments:

Other than the heel of my suit getting caught on my left foot, things went ok.
Bike
  • 3h 27m
  • 58.2 miles
  • 16.87 mile/hr
Comments:

I know initially I wasn’t pushing as hard because of the stomach issues. I took Maalox twice and it didn’t touch the problem. I was worried about fueling so I waited for 30’ before starting. It didn’t sit well once I did start fueling, but I kept at it at a reduced level. I did continue to drink H20 consistently. I finally found a bathroom 1:45 into the ride and that helped. By the 2:00 hour mark, I felt better and pushed the effort. I passed quite a few people at this point, but it was late in the game and I was behind on fuel. Took in 288 calories/60 oz H20/1 Salt Stick. Should have been closer to 375-400 cals and 3 Salt Sticks.
What would you do differently?:

Two things-- Fix the gut on the swim. Don't make your second outdoor ride of the season a hilly HIM. I don't care what they say, CT's can't mimic hills the way real live hills do.
Transition 2
  • 01m 50s
Comments:

Better than normal.
What would you do differently?:

Nothing
Run
  • 2h 06m 52s
  • 13.1 miles
  • 09m 41s  min/mile
Comments:

The minute I started running, I had mid back pain at my ribs and right under them, both sides. The right side was far worse than the left. I ran until it hurt too much and the walked and tried to massage the area. It didn’t help. I eventually started fueling which was much later than normal and resorted to walking if the pain was too bad. There were points where I didn’t notice it as much, but by then I was really fatigued. When I tried to run up some of the hills, my quads hat that pre-cramp feeling. I looked at my watch a few times for HR and realized it was in Z2 at most. I couldn’t push it. I am guessing this is because I got behind on fueling. In IM, I was able to rise above it. Today that was not the case. It was a series of running, hit a steep hill where I would walk some of it, run some of it and on it went. I even walked parts of the last 2m which I normally never would do.
What would you do differently?:

Fix the swim to fix the fueling. Get back my mental toughness I had for the IM run. I'm sure it's in me somewhere :)
Post race
Warm down:

I was spent. I got my medal, shirt, food bag and sat there freezing with some of my awesome SWBKRUN mentor group friends who were kind enough to wait for me.

We had an awesome turn out for our second annual SWBKRUN Mentor Group. Loved seeing John, Dino, Tracy, Sam, Tony, Julia and their families!! Here's to next year.

What limited your ability to perform faster:

The swim.

Event comments:

First REV3 event. They have some kinks to work out in registration, swim buoy placement,transition and they need to ensure the course isn't long. If you have kids and you want to bring them along, this is very family friendly.




Last updated: 2010-09-23 12:00 AM
Swimming
00:52:51 | 2122 yards | 02m 29s / 100yards
Age Group: 10/12
Overall: 0/121
Performance: Bad
Suit:
Course: Swim is in the TN river. Not exactly a point to point. Go down maybe half a mile and then swim back the rest of the way to a different finishing point.
Start type: Deep Water Plus: Waves
Water temp: 65F / 18C Current: Medium
200M Perf. Bad Remainder: Below average
Breathing: Bad Drafting:
Waves: Navigation: Average
Rounding: Good
T1
Time: 04:08
Performance: Average
Cap removal: Below average Helmet on/
Suit off:
Wetsuit stuck? Yes Run with bike:
Jump on bike:
Getting up to speed:
Biking
03:27:00 | 58.2 miles | 16.87 mile/hr
Age Group: 7/12
Overall: 0/121
Performance: Below average
Was supposed to sit solidly in upper Z3/low Z4, never hit it.
Wind: Some
Course: Very hilly. Several of us noted the course was a 1-2m long. My Joule read 58.2m. Whatever.
Road: Smooth Dry Cadence: 87
Turns: Cornering:
Gear changes: Average Hills: Average
Race pace: Drinks: Just right
T2
Time: 01:50
Overall: Average
Riding w/ feet on shoes
Jumping off bike
Running with bike
Racking bike
Shoe and helmet removal
Running
02:06:52 | 13.1 miles | 09m 41s  min/mile
Age Group: 6/12
Overall: 0/121
Performance: Bad
Was supposed to sit solidly in Z4. Never even got in Z3.
Course: Hilly. I was told the course was pretty flat and I did not do a good job of reviewing it ahead of time. The sucker was hard and hilly. No excuses though.
Keeping cool Average Drinking Not enough
Post race
Weight change: %
Overall: Below average
Mental exertion [1-5] 2
Physical exertion [1-5] 2
Good race? No
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] 3