Stamford KIC IT Triathlon - TriathlonOlympic

Edge of the water start. In is different than out. Buoys are huge and the two turn buoys are different than all the rest. The water is a perfect 68 degrees. I’m amped to go. I had a great swim and my pacing was very similar to Ashland and I never felt out of control or overexerted. Great drafting, great work around the buoys. When I got out of the water however I instantly knew my heart rate was higher than Ashland. Not dramatically but enough to notice. I was kicking myself for screwing around with the caffeine tablet without trying it out prior to race day.

Not do caffeine

About as good as I could hope for.

I know I can get faster but that's pretty good for me at this stage.

The first three miles of the bike is a lot of uphill and a lot of turns. I felt good and then suddenly realized I was running too hot and checked my heart rate and I was at 175, damn it. I hit the downhill at the right time and got it quickly back in the 150’s and monitored it more. Mile 3-9 went through downtown and were pretty uneventful. I was in a great groove. Police did an awesome job controlling the roads.

Miles 9-18 sucked. I was told this wasn’t a hilly course. Lies. This was so much worse than Ashland. In Ashland my front gear never left the big ring even on the worst hills. Miles 9-18 I was not only on the small ring but I was on the smallest gear on the back quite a few times. Ashland was long hills with some big grade for small spots. This was steep but not as long and then steep again, then semi flat and then super steep again and then you would lose all that altitude in one big hill. All three of these laps, I do 3 mile increments on auto-lap, I hit over 36MPH for a max speed and yet averaged 14.2, 16.1 and 16.0 mph. According to my Garmin this had 35 more feet of ascent and just about all of that came in these 9 miles.

Also the down hills generally had major corners. One guy lost it and tore up his entire back but still finished after a trip to the ambulance to get fixed up. This section of road was also not in the best condition. On one of the worst hills there was a pack of 12-15 of us who were so close and going so slow you could hear the others panting desperately for air as I was. Two hills I really thought about quitting.

Miles 18-24.8 were much easier after all the climbing. I averaged 21.0 and 19.1 coming back in and also got my heart rate back down. So I get to the edge of T2 and I go to dismount and as my calf hits the ground it cramps beyond belief and I quickly pull it up and then replant it heel first and then reach down and grab my toes to stretch it out. Still sore I walk it out on my way to the rack. My quads are also pretty sore.

Train more steep hills in advance. At some point you just have to climb.

T2 my stuff was out of place a bit from others knocking it around in their transition. Other than that it went well.

Put my drink in a cooler and my shoes in a container of some sort.

So I start my run and my legs feel pretty good. Calves smooth out quickly and my quads feel fine which I’m surprised at because they were killing me at this point in Ashland. I run with my endurance drink but grab water and dump it over my head at each station to cool off. The temps are now in the low to mid 80’s and it’s very humid. The bike was mostly in the shade which was lucky especially given the exertion. The first loop of the run is also in the shade as the sun is still just low enough that I can stay in the shade behind the buildings downtown. I do mile one in 8:49 and 2 and 3 both in 9:19. Heart rate is an identical 165 for all three miles. Two and three are simply more hilly but still not bad thus the pace change. I start the second loop and I’m feeling fine. I’m thinking to myself ok if I can duplicate that first loop I’ll be pretty happy with this performance and I’m thinking I can improve on it.

I come around the buildings and all the shade is gone. I go about a half mile before I get to the water station and I can tell the heat is starting to get to me. I dump two full cups of water over my head and it’s like a wonder drug. I instantly feel better and resume my pace for about a quarter of a mile and then the heat starts hitting me again. The funny thing is my heart rate is still locked in at 165 and my quads although starting to ache a bit are in much better shape than two week ago. I struggle to keep pace to the next water station and I’m starting to feel really sick to my stomach. I reach it and dose myself with 3 full cups of water. Again the wonder drug effect and I’m fine. This time the effects don’t last nearly as long however I hit mile 4.2 and I literally am going to toss my cookies. Heart rate is still 165 and my legs don’t feel bad. I slow my pace to see if that will offset this feeling and it does. So I pick the pace up again. The rest of the race goes exactly like this. I slowdown and cool off, feel better, pickup the pace, feel like I’m going to puke and repeat.

Being heat sick literally cost me 6 minutes. If I could have found a way to stay cool I was otherwise fine to continue the pace I was at. When I crossed the finish line I was just thinking don’t puke in front of all these people after trying to at least maintain the pace for the last quarter of a mile. A young boy of about 11 came over and handed me a large ice cube and I was so grateful. I immediately applied it to the back of my neck and within seconds I felt fine. I felt like I could easily continue running. I was so pissed.

Keep my drink cold and bring a towel with some ice in it.

We gathered up all our stuff and participated in the post race activities which were awesome. Tons of fresh fruit, bagels, sandwiches with great meat and fresh bread, lots of vendors with different drinks I hadn’t tried before. They also did a great job transporting everything from T1 to T2 in bags we were given. Security at the transitions and getting the bags was superior.

So we go back to the hotel and seek out the hot tub which felt great on the sore body. I normally can camp out in one for 20 minutes with no issues. Five minutes in my stomach starts going nuts and I had to get out. Stuck my feet in the pool and all was well again almost instantly. I’ve done two a day football workouts and played two hours of up and down indoor lacrosse with no line changes and gotten dehydrated. I know what that feels like and this wasn’t it. I’ve also experience severe fatigue from lack of conditioning and it wasn’t that either. I can only imagine I had a low grade case of heat stroke which is weird because it was hot and humid but still only in the mid 80’s. The other weird thing is how quickly I would feel better the second I got cool plus there were no lingering effects. Every time I wasn’t instantly fine again. On the run not only did I feel hydrated but I felt like if I drank more I’d get that swishy feeling. I drank plenty of liquids.


Heat.


I would definitely do the race again. It pushed my limits and I wish I knew why the heat bothered me so much but they put on a great race.