Ironman 70.3 Muncie - Triathlon

We stood on the beach for 4 minutes as we waited for this, the second wave of the 40-44 year old males to go off. It seemed more like 10 minutes to me, but then time seems to drag as I become more anxious to start my race. The announcer took some time to recognize many of the men who are actively serving in the armed forces, police and fire services.
With one minute to go I began to get more zealous to get this thing underway. I thought about the long day ahead of me and wondered if I would be able to pull off another solid race day and I began to get a little more nervous.
With 10 seconds to the start I placed my hand on my watch and was ready to go at the sounds of the horn.......And then we were off!.....
I had paced myself at the very front of the field again, just about in the middle of the field of our wave. As I always am, I got nervous thinking about how well I might (or might not) swim against all of these men. After all, this was a much larger event than even Rev3 and there is a much, much faster field represented here. I calmed my nerves by thinking how often I have had these same anxious thoughts and got rolling.
The beginning of the race I was trying to sprint ahead a little to try to clear the main field early and eliminate some of the stress of getting into the washing machine. The pattern seemed to be that the fastest swimmers were more to my left than to my right and I was able to put many of the people behind me far enough to not even know anyone was there.
I believe I was at the 1st primary marker buoy when I felt like I had fairly clear water. No one was on my feet and only a couple of people ahead of me, that I was able to notice, from my wave. I did notice that many of the swimmers swam directly toward the first marker rather than a more direct line. I encountered a couple of people that I needed to navigate around for this reason. I was attempting to take the shortest route to the markers, while others maybe didn't plan to do this or were poorly sighting.
Once I was clear of most of the men in my wave and had open water I began to relax a little and try to set a rhythm for the remainder of the swim. I had been breathing every other stroke to my right side, which is my most comfortable side, and now I collected my thoughts and began to bilaterally breath to help set my rhythm.
As I was nearing the #3 marker I had already begin to catch the back of the previous waves of swimmers. (Now as I think about it I don't recall seeing any of the fluorescent orange caps of the previous wave at all.) I was beginning to find these people by coming up on them so quickly that I didn't have a chance to react and feel them and now I was slapping and pulling on them.
At points during much of this race I was trying to notice just how many "white caps" were ahead of me. For the first half of the way out I could see many of them and I didn't feel I was behind many of them. I was feeling strong and finally relaxed a bit after settling in.
Now I was trying to consider how hard I should go for the remainder of the swim. I had more than half the swim in front of me, yet I was barely even started for the day. I chose to keep things pretty easy and not get greedy here. If I had gotten greedy it cold make for a longer day and I wasn't prepared for that.
The first leg of the swim I was doing well sighting. Feeling like I had time to check other swimmers around me, find someone to draft for short periods to help conserve energy and keep my focus on a long day of racing. I had been able to set lines for this part of the swim pretty easily because I could view everything from the beach. The trip north and back east would not be as easy!
At the first turn I didn't take the time to get a good line of sight after clearing the buoy. I didn't landmark anything at all and this worked against me slightly. I got a little off course and swam slightly more west than I should have. But I had been sighting in a close enough stroke cycle to pick up my mistake somewhat quickly and make the course corrections. This occurred a few times on the back of the course. I had a couple of more run in's with a few other swimmers from previous waves on this stretch and this may have been a result of my poor sighting, I am not sure I could blame them for being off course.
Once I made the final turn and was east bound sighting was impossible!! I could not see at all! I attempted to find markers during a regular stroke cycle of breathing but the sun was simply far to bright to get anything from it. As this point I pulled up into a very short breast stroke of about 3--4 strokes and tried to find the markers and still was unable to see. At this point I decided I would have to rely on the swimmers in front of me. I felt I had no other avenues to use. It really didn't work out to badly, near as I can tell. I picked a couple of heads bobbing in the water and tried to head toward them.
As I made my was closer to the beach I was able to get under the sun a little more and begin to sight on my own. From my perspective it didn't appear that I had become off course at all. Rather, I was pretty much on a rope heading directly toward the swim out.
At the small buoy after the orange marker #2 I began to kick harder to get my legs ready for the bike. I did this for one more marker and relaxed my kick a little for a marker and then sighted for distance to the exit and began kicking hard again. I had a noticeable speed increase here, according to Garmin. As I was kicking I was also planning to dolphin dive a few times to gain a little more ground more quickly. However, before I knew it I was grabbing sand with my hands and I was in water I didn't think I could dolphin dive and make any progress. After looking back a little I probably could have cut a few more seconds from my swim with one or two dives.

I would get some polarized goggles. The sun was so bad in my eyes for the trip back to the beach that I think it slowed me down as I worried about finding the proper sight lines. I make excuses for not spending a few dollars more for some of these goggles but they would have come in handy here.

This was a very long run up! According to my Garmin mapping it was about 800 feet. Given the distance to run up, I think it was a decent transition.
That said, I had some issues with getting my wetsuit off this day. I was trying to take my suit off with my feet while I was putting my helmet on and it didn't work out well. I had my helmet in my hand and putting it on my head as I was still fumbling with my feet getting out. I wasn't stepping on my suit properly to be able to pull it from my feet.

Practice the method I use to get my suit off! I had never done this before and I thought I would try it at this race. It probably cost me about 5 seconds overall and that would have made ZERO difference in my overall placement. I still need to improve this aspect of my long course racing transitions though.

As I headed out of T1 on the bike I was anxious to see how the race wheels and aero helmet would impact my race. Having done all previous 70.3 races with out the benefit of these aerodynamics I was looking to really put a hurt to the bike this time.
As I left T1 and was mounting the bike I noticed Mark Miller at the side of the road shouting to have a good bike. It was encouraging to have a member of the team watching and shouting words of encouragement as I began.
As I pedaled away I began to get up to speed and into my shoes. While I was getting up to speed I passed another AG'er that had come out of T1 in front of me. After finding a quick pace I had to slow to get my shoes on and I was re-passed by this same individual. We traded spots a few more times before I dropped him entirely. I remember him because he was riding a bike just like my roadie and I commented that I had one at home just like it. During the first 4-5 miles we traded positions these number of times and now I wonder if he, for some reason, got upset with me for my comment. Either way After the last time I passed him he was no longer able to stay with me or thought better to hold his effort lower.......He was a smarter than I, but I'll get to that.
As I was getting settled into my race and into my very quickly devised nutrition plan I would gaze at my watch and take account of my HR. It was here that I noticed my watch wouldn't change fields. This had occurred at Pokagon earlier this season when I missed, or simply forgot, the lap button. this time I recognized the problem and hit the lap button AGAIN. (The only thing I can figure is that I thought the watch vibrated from some of the effects of the run out of T1 and I didn't actually feel what I was expecting.) Now I noticed I had the correct settings and information coming to me, but this was about 4 miles into the bike. This wasn't a huge deal other than I knew I would not have true HR data to base my effort from for the remainder of the bike and certainly the remainder of the race.
For my overall nutrition I planned to take water, 300 calories worth of Heed in one bottle and a flask of EFS with 400 calories. The plan was to take water anytime my mouth became dry and sip on the Heed and finish it sometime late on the course and sip on EFS about every 5-7 miles beginning at 10-12 miles. My plan was put together at the last minute after having a conversation with Mark Miller about race nutrition. He suggested, after I asked what he carries for 70.3 races, that I drop to one bottle of liquid nutrition and carry a flask of either Hammer gel or EFS gel.
So now I was beginning to get deep enough into the course that I needed to begin the nutrition and take another account of my effort level. Following the first 5 miles or so and hoping to see my effort had dialed back some I was disappointed to see my HR was in the high 150's at about 5 miles (1st mile recorded on Garmin). I needed to gain some control now! At Rev3 last year I was at 150 BPM at the same point.
I was passing people like I was a pro on a bike, or at least that's the way I felt. There was a steady stream of people that had went out on the bike in previous waves that were going much slower than I. This probably one of the reasons I was riding so hard but likely not the only reason. I think it was in my head to try to smoke this course with race wheels and an aero helmet.
The passing was virtually non stop and I may have been able to stay slightly to the left because I was cruising by so many people. I was dodging in and out pretty routinely once there were longer breaks in the line of riders but these were only to make sure I didn't get a blocking penalty. All of the passing I was doing isn't to say I was riding so fast that I was unable to have been passed, I was getting passed too. There were other riders cruising past me but they were far less than I was passing. It's hard to say how many times I was passed on the out portion of the course but I would guess 10-20 times over the first 28 miles.
Asa I approach the turn off from US 35 and onto the county roads I knew there was a no passing zone. I noticed there were a couple of riders that were going much slower than I was hoping to go over this 3/4 mile section. I hammered a little bit and figured I could recover after I made the turn and caught some of the slower riders. This worked, at least in principal, but failed to accomplish anything measurable. Very, very quickly after I made the corner I was caught up to another rider that was going SUPER slow. I stayed behind this growing line of January molasses for the whole ride and became more and more impatient. I ended up tailing a rider that was on my team and commented to him that this was "was ridiculous......"
We finally made it around the corner and passing was allowed again. I began the same riding and passing but now the road was substantially narrower. The first 2 miles after the turn the roads were decent but it got very much worse after that. Once the roads got bad riders were not staying to the right side of the road because they all wanted to keep all of their teeth. it was a rattle and bottle launching ride for about 10-12 miles. The passing was made difficult because the road conditions and narrowness limiting passing because of oncoming bike traffic.
I took account of my effort level throughout the ride and here I was still higher than I should have been. My HR at the turn around mile was still 151. I had only 5 miles over these first 28 miles below 150, ad 152-153 is my threshold HR. I knew I was killing myself and really knocking my capability on the run down. After the turn I tried to focus more on my effort and still only had 8 miles below 150.
As I made the turn around I knew I would be able to have really quick speeds and this was more exciting for me. I was looking to have a great bike split and a good race but I let the bike get into my head too much.
Heading south with the ENE wind around 10MPH I was getting a push on the disk and I could really feel the quickness and reduced effort. I was again passing people almost at will but the passing was slowly getting more sparse because there were fewer slower athletes.
I rattled down the road more and began to feel the effects of the jolting on my shoulders and back. I knew I would be suffering from this later and I thought about coming out of the aero bars to get a break from the jarring. I talked myself into riding aero until the "slow poke road" and take the 3/4 mile break and then drop back into aero on the smooth US route 35 again. By the time I got to the road I was willing to slow down and give my back a break. This again became very frustrating because of the slow pace on this stretch. I was actually faster on the return but it felt really slow. I was longing to get off of this road.
Once off the bumping and grinding and losing teeth roads, I settled back into the ride and was firing on all cylinders again. By now the passing was reduced significantly as the remaining athletes were all fasties. The rest of the way back was a few of us trading positions a few times and then backing off the effort to get our legs ready for running.

1.)Reduce my effort!!! I cannot say enough about how I should not have allowed the race wheels and desire to have a rock solid bike get into my head and take me out of my game.
2.) Train appropriately! I was planning on this race being somewhat of a training race and not really an "A" race. I hadn't been training correctly for weeks anticipating a Rev3 race again. When Lis asked me not race Rev3 it was too late for me to make a change. I needed to do nutrition planning and ride according to my plan for several rides leading up to this race.
All in all it was a poorly executed bike.

A pretty decent time for a long course race with a large transition area.
I had my helmet unbuckled before I got to my rack and needed to lean my bike slightly to get the seat and bottle under the rack, but this was planned already and it went well.
I stepped into my shoes and grabbed my belt and visor and I was off...........

..............Leaving behind my run nutrition!?!?!?!?!?!

Grab my nutrition!!! I even tried to slow slightly in T2 to make sure everything went well. What happened? I think while I was kicking my wetsuit of I kicked my flask under my green marking bag because that's where I found it post race.

As I headed out of T2 I encountered the lady that had chicked me on the bike during the last 10 miles or so of the ride. She and I had traded places out there but she finished the bike not far ahead of me heading into transition. As I was running with my visor and belt in my hand I looked up to the run out and saw her headed out onto the run course. I was determined to catch her but I wasn't so sure I could hold her off even if I did pass her. With her strength on the bike I wondered that her run would be equally as strong.
Once on the run course I pulled along side her and.........She was singing?!?! I commented to her that she wasn't going hard enough if she had the energy to sing at this point in the race. I determined right there that she was a beast!
I passed her during this first half mile of the run and held her back there. for a long time, more on that later too.
During this time she and I were passing all kinds of people left and right. the traffic at this point in the race was a bit surprising to me having put so many people behind me on the bike.
I was constantly assessing my efforts for the run and trying to check what I thought my capabilities were to finish knowing I had left my planned nutrition in transition. I checked my watch for HR and to pacing info. My HR was 159 for the first mile which was a couple of beats above what I had averaged at Rev3 last season. I began to get concerned. Really concerned! I didn't know if I had the ability and the will to run at such an intense effort level through the entire 13 miles.
The first mile and a half are a net elevation gain and the rolling part of the course never relented. I knew a little bit about the course from my very first triathlon ever in 2010. This time I was a little cocky about how much of a better runner I was than back a few years ago.........I underestimated this rolling terrain for a half marathon, especially after the swim and bike.
At 2 miles into the run i hit an aid station and heard one of the volunteers say "coke" and I grabbed one for the calories. I took a swig and tossed the cup, never really slowing down. As I swallowed I noticed the carbonation was a little more than I was expecting and wondered how that was going to work down the road a way. Again I assessed my effort for this mile; HR at 159 again. Okay! Nothing major and I thought I may be alright. Only 11 miles to go.
as the course rolled on I could feel the fatigue setting in deeper to my entire body. Mile 3 left my HR with the highest average of the run at 162. I was planning to get whatever nutrition into my body that I could and a gel popped in front of me at this aid station. I grabbed it and took it in. I also was able to grab some ice cold sponges as I approached the 3 mile aid station. I took the first handful and put them in the front of my jersey and the second handful I shoved into the neck. This felt so refreshing! Then as I was running out of the aid station there was one last person calling out "ice." And I quickly remembered a conversation with another teammate the previous night. It seem he decided while competing at IM Texas that he would throw ice into his shorts because the heat was so stifling to see if it helped keep him cooler. It did! And so, yes, I did it and sure enough it had an immediate impact on how much better I felt.
Now I had a plan to help me stay more fresh by keeping my core temp down as much as possible with this cooling plan. I cannot say enough about how much better I felt when I got to an aid station and was able to grab ice water and ice.
At the turn around I took a look at my watch and accounted for time and effort remaining. I estimated I would have a slower split but I felt I was going to PR again unless I completely crashed. I estimated I I had about 45 minutes to get back to break even for the race but I was ahead of schedule because of the bike.
As The miles pounded on I tried to get some other nutrition into my body but on two other occasions I dropped the nutrition as I was trying to grab it and I never slowed down or backed up. Thinking I would get some at the next aid station. later I realized how foolish this was because I know they don't have gels or anything other than liquids at most of the stations. At about mile 7 I tried to grab some GU Chomps off a table and dropped them too. I was running out of options for fuel and I was getting late into the race.
I could tell by mile 9 things were going to get seriously hard. My mind was beginning to work a little harder on me and I kept thinking about how hot I was and how far I yet to go. I had been having minor cramps for much of the run and had figured out it wasn't stitches but other issues going on. There was nothing that had been impacting my effort at all but I kept wondering if GI was going to become a factor. By this mile the cramps had taken over the entire lower abdominal area but they were still minor enough that I didn't feel threatened but they were distracting.
At mile 10 I the lady I had been running with at the beginning of the run came up behind me and told me I had been giving her something to chase. We exchanged some more small talk as she passed by and I expected her to leave me at this point and keep going. I mentioned that I was fading as she passed and she said the same of herself. Then we approached a hill! She tried to run up the hill, it appeared to me, at the same pace she had been running on the short flat as we approached the hill. About half way up the hill I began to gain ground on her and by the top of the hill I was beside her. As we crested I told her "that will knock the wind out of you!" She breathed heavily that I was right and I began to pass her. At this point I passed her for the last time. She was a great competitor and an animal on the course. After I had finished I was able to track her down from a picture that a teammate had taken when we were running together. Her name: Rebecca Lawlis Carpenter - AG winner at Muncie in the 40-44 AG and she beat me by 3:30 minutes overall.
The last 3 miles were pretty brutal. I felt like I was slugging along. My Hr was 161 average for each of these last miles as I pushed as hard as I could stand. I was trying to time a last minute push and maybe have a decent last mile under 8:00. However, as hard I pushed it wasn't enough to get much out. I was still at 161 HR and I couldn't push any harder. I tried to push on the final 1/4 mile but there was a hill that kept me from making my pace what I would have liked.
And then there was the finishing chute! It was a long chute that started just off of the road in the grass and turned to gravel under some trees. These trees had dropped some branches that caused me to misstep a couple of times because of weak legs. I wasn't particularly close to falling but I knew I wasn't going to be able to make quick course corrections to keep from falling if I needed to.
And then I was there! The finish was a very welcomed sight! I was completely exhausted!

I would not have ridden the bike as hard and I would have grabbed my nutrition.
I also would have stopped to make sure I picked up more calories in this particular case, since I had left mine in transition.

After I finished my legs were so weak that I thought I was going to fall over as they took my chip off my ankle. As I made my way out of the finishing area I was somewhat stumbling around and Lis ran over to me to check my condition. I could see the concern on her face was more than I am used to seeing. It seems she thought I was somehow going to run a 1:30 HM at the end of this race and her concern as the time chugged by was growing with every few minutes that passed by "her timeline" she was getting sick to her stomach worrying about my condition.
Anyway, I was walking up to the team tent and kind of stumbled a few times and then dropped to the ground to help let my legs recover. I think with each little stumble she was ready to go find the medics again. after we got the time prediction straightened around she realized I wasn't in any distress and I was only on bad legs for a few minutes.
I then began to cramp up for a few minutes and immediately began to stretch things out.
As the writing of this report I am very sore! I haven't been this sore for many races other than my marathons. Walking down the stairs last night and this morning was fairly painful and I am still really sore below the knees and especially my calves. They are KILLING ME!


Focus while on the bike!! And Nutrition!!
I allowed my emotional state to let my focus drift out of proper racing plans and take over my race. Trying to PR had become my goal rather than racing smart. Had I been racing smart I believe I would have been faster on the run and faster overall. The fast bike splits look great on paper but in the overall race performance it was a mistake.


The bike course will live as a horrible memory for this race. I have ridden one course that compares to this one and it was a sprint. Kewpee in 2012 was on very fresh chip and sealed roads. It was rough but not bone jarring like this course was. Ironman NEEDS to change this course!

Results: Bib 1773
http://www.ironman.com/triathlon/events/ironman-70.3/muncie/results...