Ironman 70.3 Muncie - Triathlon


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Muncie, Indiana
United States
World Triathlon Corporation
70F / 21C
Sunny
Total Time = 6h 49m
Overall Rank = 1208/1540
Age Group = 40-44
Age Group Rank = 66/87
Pre-race routine:

Up by 3:30am. Red bull to flush system. 1 banana & 2 apple sauce, then Gatorade for the next hour or so. Left hotel by 4:30, parking by race at 5:00 am right next to transition. Set up stuff then had had lots of time before my 7:47 wave. Went pee several times ... Nervous pee

2 salt tabs and 2 cliff blocks about 15-20 minutes before the race
Event warmup:

No real warm up other than arm swings. To pre-occupied with watching others go off.
Swim
  • 39m 28s
  • 2112 yards
  • 01m 52s / 100 yards
Comments:

Peed in water 2x before the start. Start was normal, women are brutal with kicking, slapping, swimming over each other. No biggie, I am used to it. No real space without contact until just before the first turn. 3 red buoys to follow before next turn, but couldn't see them, so started to turn at 2nd buoy but kayak was there to steer us back. Turned at 3rd red buoy, right after than the men 45-49 age group (silver caps) caught us and a guy swam over me right as I was grabbing air ... I punched him. He seemed unfazed. I grabbed a mouthful of water and was coughing while still swimming. I am kinda fearless and this is a race so kept going!

Could not see any of the orange buoys until you were about 100 yards away on the 3rd leg, I was lucky to just be on top of all of them because I was following caps the whole way in.

Peed 2x before the finish so no need for porta potties. Learned about 3 weeks ago how to pee while still swimming ... Very useful! Got some foot cramps at the end, not abnormal for me.

Swam til my finger touched the sand, then stood up.
What would you do differently?:

Not much. It was a good swim. Effort was maybe medium to high, but not high. Was too warm in the wetsuit so really couldn't push harder. Even if I did I maybe would of got a couple minutes, not worth it since I had a long day ahead.
Transition 1
  • 05m 34s
Comments:

Transition was a hill up to the bikes. Walked up. No need to spike my HR right off. Getting stuff ready, got a big quad cramp. Went away and never heard again thank GOD!
What would you do differently?:

Do more swim bike transitions, or swim run transitions. Transition was actually pretty good and felt good on the bike right off. So decisions were good!
Bike
  • 3h 03m 23s
  • 56 miles
  • 18.36 mile/hr
Comments:

My bike was really uneventful. It want really well the entire way. HATED the rough pavement part and many mentioned they would not do the race again if that was part of the course. They changed this course and that was an addition.

Started with 1 bottle of perform and water, and grabbed 1 each at every aid station regardless if I needed it. I drank about 2.0 bottle of perform and 2-2.5 bottle of water during the bike. 1 Cliff block every 20 minutes. 1 Salt tab every 30 minutes
What would you do differently?:

Nothing really. Bike went really well, nutrition was spot on. Took on 1 bottle of each perform and water at every adit station.
Transition 2
  • 04m 29s
Comments:

Stopped to dismount. Started to flip my leg over to dismount, which I have never done, so not sure what came over me, but then rethought that and stopped. Walked my bike in. Changed everything. Put some body glide on my feet before my socks. Grabbed my cliff blocks, salt tabs, handheld, race belt, visor and left.
What would you do differently?:

Put my salt tabs in my bike shorts or in the race belt I bought at the expo that was zippered. I didn't use the belt because I thought I should not use something I have never trained with.
Run
  • 2h 56m 43s
  • 13.1 miles
  • 13m 31s  min/mile
Comments:

I didn't really have any idea what to expect on the run. I never did any long run bricks. So this part was a total unknown to me. The first mile right away was hot and hilly and sun was bright. Affected me immediately! Could not get into a run rhythm. Made it to mile 1, and took ice and perform. Guy sprayed a hose at me and got my right shoe a little wet (not fun later). Spent a lot of time walking first 2.5-3 miles and I got into a rhythm of getting ice down my bra and taking on lots of liquids. Hit the potty at 2. Another girl ran in front of me. I asked if she was going pee or poop? She looked at me and thought it was strange and personal I would ask. I just said I wanted to know if I would be waiting 30 sec or 3 minutes as I might wait til next potty. Funny now that I think about it.

Anyway, went potty and popped out my salt pills and didn't know it. Would not find this out til about mile 4. After this I got into a good rhythm getting cooled down with ice and sponges and ran the flats and downhills and walked the uphills. This worked really well til about mile 11 ish. Since I had no salt pills and knew with my heavy sweating I would be in a deficit soon, I was taking on anything an everything I could to hydrate and replace the sodium. This was a race in learning to adjust and adapt on the fly. I took in as much as I could ... Perform, ice water, pretzels, cliff blocks, and then cola at the last aid station (was warm and yucky all day). Took me a couple aid stations to learn that I needed to eat pretzels while drinking to get them down easier and faster. Very dry otherwise.

Cramps really started threatening by 6-7, but running seemed easier than walking. By mile 11 it was getting hard to do anything with the cramps, and stretching the calves, made the foot cramp. I started to even get a little dizzy, so walked more. Mile 12.5 was near impossible to run, but wanted to run to the finish. Some boaters were out cheering, so I flashed them ... No boob, but close! Ran part way up the finish. Running through the finishing shoot was a bit stressful as it was uneven ground and gravel ... Was watching every step so I didn't twist or break my ankle!!! So glad to be done!

Nice thing was every aid station I threw 1–2 cups of ice down my bra. This was a nice little cooler of ice to chew in between aid stations.
What would you do differently?:

Make sure everything I needed was secure in a pouch or pocket. Do more long, hilly, hot bike to run transitions
Post race
Warm down:

Nothing really. Met up with friends and rested and waited for others to come in. So much fun doing races where friends are also racing!

What limited your ability to perform faster:

Heat!!! Losing salt tabs!!! Not doing as many transitions in training.

Making adjustments to these will result in significant improvements in the future. All in all a good first race and fell within all my expected times for each segment, some much better than others.

Event comments:

The rough section of the bike was absolutely horrible. It was hard to hang on and feel comfortable and it was a long stretch of the race. The rest of the race was awesome. It is a very flat and fast course, you will see that in the bike times. Because of this, there was a lot of drafting because people literally could not possibly put the required space between. Volunteers were awesome at every station, kids, adults, everyone! Stations were well stocked til the end.

Rating of 4 only because of the rough part of the bike.




Last updated: 2012-12-31 12:00 AM
Swimming
00:39:28 | 2112 yards | 01m 52s / 100yards
Age Group: 25/87
Overall: 595/1540
Performance: Good
Suit: DeSoto T1 full
Course: Course was an in water start by age group. About 150 in my wave. Course was 3 legs across the lake and back. Temperature was announced at 75 race morning, so wetsuit legal. It had been very close to the 76.1 the last few days.
Start type: Run Plus: Waves
Water temp: 75F / 24C Current: Medium
200M Perf. Good Remainder: Average
Breathing: Average Drafting: Bad
Waves: Average Navigation: Good
Rounding: Good
T1
Time: 05:34
Performance: Good
Cap removal: Good Helmet on/
Suit off:
Yes
Wetsuit stuck? Yes Run with bike: No
Jump on bike: No
Getting up to speed: Good
Biking
03:03:23 | 56 miles | 18.36 mile/hr
Age Group: 38/87
Overall: 914/1540
Performance: Good
Wind: Little
Course: Course was 28 mile out and 28 back. Very flat, only a few small rollers. First 15-20 were very flat and fast, middle 15-20 were flat but VERY rough pavement (holding on for dear life), last 15-20 very flat and fast w/ downhill and tailwind. Course is totally closed to all traffic the entire time. Part of the course you had 2 lanes on each side. Loved passing tons of people! (who would all pass me on the run unfortunately)
Road: Smooth Dry Cadence: 100
Turns: Good Cornering: Average
Gear changes: Good Hills: Below average
Race pace: Hard Drinks: Just right
T2
Time: 04:29
Overall: Good
Riding w/ feet on shoes Bad
Jumping off bike Bad
Running with bike Below average
Racking bike Good
Shoe and helmet removal Good
Running
02:56:43 | 13.1 miles | 13m 31s  min/mile
Age Group: 66/87
Overall: 1208/1540
Performance: Below average
Course: Out and back, hilly, hot and mostly exposed to the sun
Keeping cool Average Drinking Just right
Post race
Weight change: %
Overall: Good
Mental exertion [1-5] 4
Physical exertion [1-5] 5
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: Good
Race evaluation [1-5] 4