Ironman World Championship 70.3 - Triathlon


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Henderson, Nevada
United States
World Triathlon Corporation
80F / 27C
Precipitation
Total Time = 5h 17m 9s
Overall Rank = 888/2348
Age Group = M 35-39
Age Group Rank = 166/232
Pre-race routine:

Woke up at 3; ate egg, Ensure and Bonk Breaker. Back to sleep. Road down to swim site with Richard and Salo. Stretching...portapotty. Everything was done in the rain...it rained the whole time. Thankfully, never really got cold.
Event warmup:

Lots of stretching of arms, back, neck, legs. Subsequent to portapotty in T1, I still pissed myself four times before the race started. Waited until 7:16 for my wave. Ate Gu Roctane with water 35 minutes before start. Lined up in the second row of my wave...tried to get in first wave but too many people just floated forward in the last two minutes before the horn sounded.
Swim
  • 28m 33s
  • 2112 yards
  • 01m 21s / 100 yards
Comments:

I swam hard off the start and made a group with two other guys. As I came out of the water, I thought I was in fourth for my wave. Really I was in seventh. It was a good, clean, low-contact and fast swim. I remember seeing slices of color -- grays, blues, purples etc. -- as I breathed and looked at the horizon. This is wacky because it was heavy clouds with strong rain. One more episode of my mind going a bit psychedelic on a hard charging swim.
What would you do differently?:

I had one goggle fill halfway in the first 300 meters. It didn't really upset me, but it did make it so I would breathe and sight more than otherwise necessary once we started catching and passing the women in front of my wave.

Due to the strong field and the 8 minutes between my wave and the women in front of me, I didn't sprint off the line so much as power up to full speed. I could have worked about 5 percent harder on the first half.
Transition 1
  • 04m 26s
Comments:

It was a long run on super soggy grass. I don't have any complaints with my transition although I did get snagged on my Roka -- probably because I never practiced taking it off at speed. OOPS
What would you do differently?:

Practice with Roka swimskin. I don't run at a sprint through transitions because I'm trying to manage my breath and heartrate. maybe I should...or at least kick up my jog to a run.
Bike
  • 2h 42m 48s
  • 56.6 miles
  • 20.86 mile/hr
Comments:

I rode hard -- harder than I usually do in a race. I think I started to crap out in the middle third of the ride and it definitely had a negative effect on my run. I rolled the dice and lost.

Despite the perceived effort being consistently up at the redline, my time was way off. On the course, this didn't bother me. I adjusted and just tried to manage my way up each hill as strongly as possible. The sun came out and really heated things up when I had about 5 miles left.

Nutrition was spot on. Frozen Ensure plus 4 scoops instead of 3 in a Perform bottle. 1 bonk breaker and everything else Gu gel (one of which was Roctane.)
What would you do differently?:

Better even pacing; better hill climbing. I wonder if I need more long rides for this distance. It seems that I had more gas when I was doing Lake Placid training than when I was doing Las Vegas training...even though the former had less intensity. This is definitely a puzzle to solve.
Transition 2
  • 02m 40s
Comments:

Everything went pretty smoothly though I did monkey around with my sleeves a bit and I should have just left them.
What would you do differently?:

Execute each step just slightly faster. It was very helpful to walk through the T2 and the tent and see the exit on Saturday before the race.
Run
  • 1h 58m 42s
  • 13.1 miles
  • 09m 04s  min/mile
Comments:

Like the bike, I went for it. I thought that maybe I was just having a bad bike day and I could have a run PR since I hadn't used up all my juju on a bad bike split.

The first time I turned around and started back uphill, I imploded. It was spectacular. I went from humming along around an 8 minute mile pace to suddenly being around 9. It got uglier from there. At a couple aid stations I got dizzy. I couldn't get turnover in my legs. Going downhill I felt like crying it hammered my quads so much. Going uphill felt like I was crawling. I stuck it out and refused to throw in the towel, but the time was horrendous. A week later on a run course that was equally or more difficult, I ran nearly a minute faster at Savageman.
What would you do differently?:

Lesson -- Kent does not do a good run on current fitness if he hammers the bike as hard as possible. I trained on the hills, but I didn't train for this course + my race strategy.
Post race
Warm down:

I got the food -- which I needed ASAP -- I actually felt really hungry. Then I went for the massage, watch people finish for a while and then rode back to the hotel.

What limited your ability to perform faster:

My race strategy was too aggressive for the fitness that I brought. In addition, I think I may have -- for whatever reason -- also had something of an off day. The combination was to be some 30 minutes slow and to really pay for it on the run.

Regardless of the nasty time, it was an amazing experience.

Event comments:

I still cannot believe that I qualified and was there. Now, I'm having a hard time getting my mind off of the planning of what it will take to requalify.






Last updated: 2013-06-04 12:00 AM
Swimming
00:28:33 | 2112 yards | 01m 21s / 100yards
Age Group: 7/232
Overall: 115/2348
Performance: Good
Suit: Roka Viper
Course: Nearly a clockwise rectangle. I swam hard off the start and made a group with two other guys. As I came out of the water, I thought I was in fourth for my wave. Really I was in seventh. It was a good, clean, low-contact and fast swim.
Start type: Deep Water Plus: Waves
Water temp: 80F / 27C Current:
200M Perf. Good Remainder: Good
Breathing: Good Drafting: Good
Waves: Navigation: Good
Rounding: Good
T1
Time: 04:26
Performance: Average
Cap removal: Good Helmet on/
Suit off:
Yes
Wetsuit stuck? No Run with bike: Yes
Jump on bike: Yes
Getting up to speed: Good
Biking
02:42:48 | 56.6 miles | 20.86 mile/hr
Age Group: 90/232
Overall: 433/2348
Performance: Below average
Wind: Some
Course: Rolling hills the whole way.
Road: Smooth Wet Cadence:
Turns: Good Cornering: Good
Gear changes: Good Hills: Average
Race pace: Too hard Drinks: Just right
T2
Time: 02:40
Overall: Good
Riding w/ feet on shoes Good
Jumping off bike Good
Running with bike Good
Racking bike Good
Shoe and helmet removal Good
Running
01:58:42 | 13.1 miles | 09m 04s  min/mile
Age Group: 166/232
Overall: 888/2348
Performance: Bad
Run Details Division Rank: 166 Split Name Distance Split Time Race Time Pace Div. Rank Overall Rank Gender Rank 1.1 mi 1.1 mi 8:04 3:26:31 7:12/mi 3.3 mi 2.1 mi 18:24 3:44:55 8:38/mi 4.5 mi 1.2 mi 10:26 3:55:21 8:37/mi 5.6 mi 1.1 mi 10:38 4:05:59 9:24/mi 7.7 mi 2.1 mi 20:31 4:26:30 9:40/mi 8.9 mi 1.2 mi 11:33 4:38:03 9:28/mi 10.1 mi 1.1 mi 10:22 4:48:25 9:15/mi 12.2 mi 2.1 mi 21:15 5:09:40 9:58/mi 13.1 mi 0.9 mi 7:29 5:17:09 8:08/mi Total 13.10 mi 1:58:42 5:17:09 9:03/mi 166 888 765
Course: Down, Up, Down, Up, Down, Up, Down. Brutal.
Keeping cool Average Drinking Just right
Post race
Weight change: %2
Overall: Below average
Mental exertion [1-5] 3
Physical exertion [1-5] 2
Good race? Ok
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] 5