Rockman Half Ironman Triathlon - Triathlon1/2 Ironman


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Loves Park, Illinois
United States
65F / 18C
Precipitation
Total Time = 4h 54m 18s
Overall Rank = 31/
Age Group = M30-34
Age Group Rank = 0/
Pre-race routine:

Day before:

45 min bike, checkout ride.

Ate a big lunch: brown rice, eggs, fake sausage, hot sauce. :)

Ate a good dinner: Ono (fish), wild rice mix, steamed veggies. Carrot cake.

Got to bed early.

Up at 4AM to go get it done.

Breakfast: Big bowl of oatmeal, syrup, soy milk. Gel. Sipped on a bottle of Infinit on the drive to the race.

Got to the race site, checked in ( right behind Chris Macdonald! ). Got transition area setup, prepped all my gear. Due to the weather, I didn't go with sun glasses, as they tend to fog up in warm/humid conditions and hurt more than they help. It looked to be a little chilly on the bike, so I prepped my arm warmers with my gear.
Event warmup:

No bike or run warmup. Just got into the water and swam about 5 minutes to make sure the wetsuit was on and adjusted snugly.

Took two gels (roctanes) about 30 min before the swim start.
Swim
  • 32m 13s
  • 1920 meters
  • 01m 41s / 100 meters
Comments:

Was in a good position on the swim. Started right next to MJ, in the front, and left of the mass of people. The first turn is left, so this was key to getting out in front of the melee. Was at the back of the first group for all of the first lap, then it started stringing out. I had feet to follow for a lot of the race, but lost them the last 1/2 of the 2nd lap. Saw MJ go past me, and thought I was having an awesome swim. ( I was, but she had also had to stop, and re-tie her goggles during the race, so I wasn't quite *that* awesome ).

I didn't have a watch on, so I didn't know my swim time, just knew that it was pretty solid. I felt really good this swim, and just focused on staying calm and holding good form. I'm definitely in better swim shape this year than I was last year.
What would you do differently?:

Not much, my swim bumped up about 4 minutes faster than last years time, on the same course. I got a good position at the start and was thus able to draft off the large lead pack instead of chasing from no-man's land with no feet to follow.
Transition 1
  • 01m 53s
Comments:

T1 was a little slower, as I took time to put on arm warmers, since it was raining at this point. I didn't get them all the way on, just onto my forearm, planning to get the rest of the job done on the bike. Since it was raining, I also shoved my cycling gloves into my shorts, since I wanted the extra grip on the wet bars. Again, the plan was to get these on out on the bike course.

Also put my Garmin 305 on my wrist at this point ( I wore the HRM strap during the swim ).

You weren't allowed to put bike shoes on the bike. Of course, everyone still tried to mount their bikes just outside T2, at the bottom of a very small hill ( but hill nonetheless ). *sigh* I passed 3 people simply by running with the bike to the top of the hill before trying to mount. Oh well for them. :)
What would you do differently?:

Different arm warmers that are easier to get on? If such a thing exists, not sure

Get a Garmin 310, so I don't have to put on the 305 in T1. :)
Bike
  • 2h 32m 27s
  • 56 miles
  • 22.04 mile/hr
Comments:

Decided to push the bike a little bit, and see what happened. Rode it a little bit under the RPE that I'd put into a olympic distance. Kept it rolling on the flat parts, backed off a little bit on the hills, trying not to burn too many matches.

Had a few people pass me early in the bike ( first 10 miles ), only 1 person passed me after that, and he rode about a 2:20 split. I slowly picked off people up the road from me, reeling them in one by one. I'm glad I had the arm warmers, as it was getting a little cool once I got settled into bike mode.

Nutrition on the bike: Roctane at 15 min, 1 bottle of Infinit over the next hour, finishing it by about 1:15 ( turnaround aid station ). Ditched the bottle there. Took another Roctane at that time. Finished the remaining bottle of Infinit from 1:30 until the end of the bike. Grabbed one water handup, to get a sip and douse myself with cold water.

Spent most of the 2nd half of the bike riding alone. Nobody really around me for a good distance in either direction.
What would you do differently?:

Not much, I rode this pretty solidly and consistently. The work on the bike is paying off, as I didn't feel like I was fading, and had to remind myself to keep it reeled in, since there was this little run coming up at the end of the ride.
Transition 2
  • 01m 14s
Comments:

Fast T2.

Had running shoes and towel in a plastic bag, so they stayed dry in the rain. Took a few seconds to get everything out of the bag.

Socks on, shoes on, pulled the laces tight, grabbed visor and race number and was off.
Run
  • 1h 46m 32s
  • 13.1 miles
  • 08m 08s  min/mile
Comments:

This was tough. I know the course, and know that it's hilly from the start. Legs were hurting from the start, so I spent a lot of mental effort keeping pushing forward.

A couple people passed me on the run, and I passed a few people ( including re-passing a couple who passed me early on in the run ).

I just wasn't able to bring my run legs to fire on the race.

I faked it for the first 2-3 miles, then reality set in, and I was just struggling to hold as close to 8:00 pace as I could muster. I resolved not to walk the hills, no matter how appealing it seemed. Just shortened my stride, and increased my turnover and made my way up them. Held off a few people on the hills who I could hear closing on me, and then fading back.

The funniest part of the race was about mile 4'ish. We were running through the forest, on the path and it's kind of winding, so you can't see too far in front and behind. I had just passed a guy and had pulled ahead to where I could just barely hear his footsteps. I had to fart, so I let it rip. I hear a female voice from behind me "Hey! There's people back here!". BUSTED! She was moving pretty good, so I said "There's your motivation to get past me." She laughed as she went by, so it was kind of funny. I tried to hang with her, but she was really flying ( ended up 2nd woman, with a 1:34 run, so no way I was going to hang at that pace ).

Seemed like there was an aid station missing somewhere, as there was a long gap where I wanted water, but there didn't seem to be an aid station. It may have just seemed long, as this was nearing the end of the race.

I walked/jogged the aid stations to get down fluids. Took two full cups of something at each aid station. Sometimes 3. They had heed, water, and throwback pepsi ( the kind with real sugar! ). Took two more Roctanes, one about mile 3, the other at about mile 8.5

Miles were:

 
Lap Data
Lap Time Distance Pace/Speed AHR MHR
1 07m 45s 1.00 miles 07m 45s /mile 146 152
2 07m 31s 0.96 miles 07m 51s /mile 146 153
3 07m 26s 1.00 miles 07m 26s /mile 143 147
4 07m 59s 1.00 miles 07m 59s /mile 145 150
5 08m 29s 1.00 miles 08m 29s /mile 146 152
6 08m 25s 1.00 miles 08m 25s /mile 149 153
7 08m 18s 1.00 miles 08m 18s /mile 147 152
8 08m 09s 1.00 miles 08m 09s /mile 149 154
9 08m 14s 1.00 miles 08m 14s /mile 148 151
10 08m 45s 1.00 miles 08m 45s /mile 146 150
11 08m 42s 1.00 miles 08m 44s /mile 144 149
12 08m 00s 1.00 miles 08m /mile 145 150
13 07m 59s 1.00 miles 07m 59s /mile 151 162
14 00m 52s 0.09 miles 09m 46s /mile 155 157


Last lap seems slow as I didn't hit stop until after I crossed the line. Trust me, I was kicking pretty hard. :)
What would you do differently?:

Taper? Heh. I came into the race not tapered, and off a big block of hard training. This was on purpose though, as I wanted to do the race, but it wasn't an A priority for me this year.

Not fart in front of pace booty. Whoops! ;)
Post race
Warm down:

After I crossed the line, and collected myself for a minute I realized I felt pretty good. I grabbed two ice cold water bottles and downed them both. Ate some orange slices. Got another bottle of water, and two quiznos flat bread sammiches that were on had for post race feeding.

I walked back to about mile 12.8 where Jessica from the tri club was cheering and taking pictures. She raced the sprint earlier, and stuck around to cheer in the rest of the club. Waited with her for MJ, Gary Geiger to come into the finish. Wandered back by the finish area to talk to them after they came in, then waited for Steve to finish and cheered him home. Solid showing by the Salt Creek Tri Club today. Only downside was Griz pulling out after the bike, but he has been having knee issues and made the call not to court additional injury on the run, since he's training for IMWI, and getting to that healthy is definitely a higher priority.

What limited your ability to perform faster:

Not tapering, racing tired, but that was expected.

I still managed to PR at this distance, on a tough course, and improve last years time on this course by 10 minutes!

Event comments:

The weather played a bit of havoc with volunteer turnout. Since it was raining, some of the vols did not show up on race day for their positions. To the RD's credit he was able to scramble pretty well and cover any gaps in volunteers by moving people around on the fly.

There were a couple intersections on the bike that didn't have vols this year that had them last 2 years, and 1 of the run aid stations was unmanned when I came through ( admittedly pretty close to the front ), though about 1 minute later the RD passed me in his car going the other way to deliver volunteers to the aid location, so it was manned after that. There were cups and heed and gels out, just nobody to hand them to you. Not the end of the world by any stretch.

All the busy/trafficked intersections had a police presence directing/stopping the cars, so that was solid again.

Overall, this is a great race. It's small enough that it's not packed wall to wall with people, but large enough that there's some solid competition and people to push/pace off of.




Last updated: 2009-01-19 12:00 AM
Swimming
00:32:13 | 1920 meters | 01m 41s / 100meters
Age Group: 0/
Overall: 0/
Performance: Good
No HR.
Suit: Zoot Full
Course: 2 Loops around the lake.
Start type: Deep Water Plus:
Water temp: 65F / 18C Current:
200M Perf. Good Remainder: Good
Breathing: Average Drafting: Good
Waves: Navigation: Good
Rounding: Average
T1
Time: 01:53
Performance: Good
Cap removal: Good Helmet on/
Suit off:
Yes
Wetsuit stuck? No Run with bike: Yes
Jump on bike: Yes
Getting up to speed:
Biking
02:32:27 | 56 miles | 22.04 mile/hr
Age Group: 0/
Overall: 0/
Performance: Good
AHR: 142 HRMax: 156 Duration: 2:32:00 Work: 1883 kJ TSS: 189.1 (intensity factor 0.864) Norm Power: 218 VI: 1.05 Min Max Avg Power: 0 713 207 watts Cadence: 20 108 87 rpm Speed: 5.5 39.3 22.6 mph
Wind: Some
Course: Out and back course.
Road: Smooth Wet Cadence: 87
Turns: Good Cornering: Good
Gear changes: Good Hills: Good
Race pace: Hard Drinks: Just right
T2
Time: 01:14
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
01:46:32 | 13.1 miles | 08m 08s  min/mile
Age Group: 0/
Overall: 0/
Performance: Average
AHR 146 MHR 162
Course: Hills. Lots of hills. The hills had hills. Argh!
Keeping cool Good Drinking Just right
Post race
Weight change: %
Overall: Good
Mental exertion [1-5] 5
Physical exertion [1-5] 4
Good race? Yes
Evaluation
Course challenge Just right
Organized? Yes
Events on-time? Yes
Lots of volunteers?
Plenty of drinks?
Post race activities: Average
Race evaluation [1-5] 5