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Gulf Coast Triathlon - Triathlon1/2 Ironman

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Panama City Beach, Florida
United States
Gulf Coast Triathlon
82F / 28C
Sunny

Total Time = 6h 19m 37s
Overall Rank = 812/1156
Age Group = M 40 -44
Age Group Rank = 109/142

Pre-race routine:

Drove down Thurdsay and checked into Condo. We stayed at the Boardwalk Beach Condo (not to be confused with the Hotel). The condo was great, 2 minute walk to transition and a great room.

Picked up race packs then invited a couple friends over for dinner. Ate well, walmart chicken and black beans. I skipped the salad.

Friday - Got up and did the prerace tune up. Rode 11 miles to the park and swam about 10 minutes in my wetsuit. I didn't run this year as I wanted my ankle to be at its best and figured running wouldn't help. Spent the day socialising. We left New Orleans abruptly after Katrina and we saw so many of our racing buddies for the first time since the storm. Probably on my feet more than I should be, but I had fun. Met a few BT'ers at the expo and wished them all well.

Packed all my race bags and reviewed my race plan and transition checklist 10,000 times. This is my 3rd time at this race but my nerves were worse than ever.

Winner, Winner Chicken dinner with Marcy's famous pasta feta tomato onion thing. We had a houseful over for dinner which was fun too. Watched Hoosiers with Frank and Worm and then in bed by 9:30.

Saturday morning - up at 3:45. Breakfast of zone bar and a rice krispy square. 2 small cups of coffee. Off to the race site. Set up transition and loaded bike with nutrition.

Event warmup:

Left transition and went back to room to watch the start from the condo. First wave was at 6:15 and I was at 7:05. Watched a few waves from the balcony then put on the wetsuit and went down to be beach at 6:45. Got in the water and swam maybe 5 minutes.

Swim

44m
2078 yards
02m 07s / 100 yards

Comments:

A couple mental errors. I stayed up in the condo and didn't hear all the instructions that people on the beach heard. 2 things I missed that I found out after the race were 1) You can swim on either side of all the buoys except the turn buoy and 2) They had Navy frogmen on the course underwater watching for problems.

I started the swim well, I planned to try to swim a tight course and was perfect on the first buoy. After that I struggled to stay outside the buoy. I was happy with my time on the 1st and second turn but really struggled coming in. I felt that the water was shoving me around and just struggled a bit. Got refocused at the end.

I was 50 seconds slower than last year but I improved 6% in my age group and 3% overall.

What would you do differently?:

I saw lots of people swimming on the wrong side of buoys and got mad. I also was frustrated that there were not many kayaks and thought this is really not safe. Had I listened to the announcements from the beach instead of staying in my room I would have known that it was okay to swim on either side of all buoys but the last and that there were frog men underwater looking after us. The reality was that neither of the things I was mad about were important to my race. I realized on the way in and hopefully will take that as a lesson.

Transition 1

03m 43s

Comments:

I over plan transition but it payed off. Came out of water not exhausted and passed people coming up the beach. Had suit down to waist as I ran through the shower, stopped at bench on the way to bike and pulled suit off quickly. Ran to bike, then put on helmet and shades. I also wore ankle brace and socks. Grabbed a little extra nutrition and stuck it in bike side pockets and then off I go. Took 54 seconds off of last year, so I started the bike 4 seconds ahead of last year.

What would you do differently?:

Nothing

Bike

2h 41m 34s
56 miles
20.80 mile/hr

Comments:

My race plan was to get HR down to 150 as quickly as possible and to hold 200 watts average power. I went out easy as my HR was 160 coming out of transition. It took me a while to get HR where I wanted. First 6 miles average HR was 156 and watts at 200 and HR finally settled in at 150. I was very disciplined when it came to HR and kept it at 150 for most of the ride. I passed a net of 150 or so bikes but got passed plenty. I overestimated the wattage I could hold but was happy that I had the discipline to stay at the target HR. The draftiing situation was dismal. I know in this big of a race its difficult to spread out but the there were 10 to 15 bike pelotons all over the course. I passed a few of them on the way out and I always fear getting a penalty as I struggle past a large group. I didn't see a single marshall on the first 32 miles. On the ride back in I saw several marshalls. Same story on the way in with pelotons. I kept passing them but was always weary of getting a penalty as I overtook groups. I didn't get one!!!

My bike nutrition plan was a big change this year. Historically I have had stomach problems on the run so I worked real hard in training to fine tune this. My bento box was filled with fig newtons and granola, I had a bag of cliff blocks in my shirt and 2 goos in my shorts. I tried to maintain about 55 carbs per hour. I carried only water in my bottles and had 1 gatorade on the bike. I came off the bike feeling much better than last year and ready to run.

My bike time improved 4 minutes and 39 seconds. My age group ranking improved 21% and my overall ranking improved 11%!!!!!!

What would you do differently?:

I raced with my powertap and left my rear 3 spoke in the hotel room. I did it because I felt like I needed to test my power/hr/cadence in a long race to help gauge my effort levels for IM training. I don't know if this cost me much time or not. I need to look into the disk wheel covers if I want power in races.

I managed my HR down early. I probably could have taken bigger advantage of the favorable wind in the early part of the race but I stuck to my plan. Again, maybe it helps, maybe not.

Transition 2

02m 28s

Comments:

I took feet out of shoes in the last quarter mile, quickly dismounted and ran straight to my rack. Took a second to decide which way to rack bike then sat down and quickly changed shoes and took off helmet. Changed HRM to Timex version, stuffed nutrition and GPS into my shirt/shorts, grabbed Amphod water bottle and race belt and took off. Put belt and visor on running to line and was out the gate in 2:28.

What would you do differently?:

Switching HRM so I can get readings on my watch for run is a pain but worth the effort. Improved 9 seconds over last year. From an overall perspective my 2 best rankings are the transition !

Run

2h 47m 53s
13.1 miles
12m 49s min/mile

Comments:

Race plan was to start at HR of 150 and keep it there. On the bike, I have to control myself to keep it down to 150, on the run I have to push myself to keep it there.

This was my best run at 3 attempts at this race. I started the run and felt good, the last 2 years I have had stomach issues on the run. Last year was better than 2004 but I still had to stop twice last year. This year no stops.

Nutrition plan was to gue at mile 3, mile 7 and mile 11 if I could take it. I also planned to drink gatorade at mile 5 and 8. I carried an amphod and planned to drink water continuously.

I was worried about the ankle but had discovered in training that the ankle was generally better on a brick then on a straight run. The ankle did really well. It started hurting a little at mile 4 but I adjusted my form and it was tolerable. I made the same adjustment throughout the race. I took 2 endurolytes at mile 3 and mile 7 and I took 2 advil at mile 7. Arm chaffing from wetsuit, but vaseline at mile 2 fixed the problem. Gotta learn how to fix the original problem.

I am very happy with this run, I followed my nutrition plan and at mile 8 realized I was home free on the stomach. Miles 8 through 12 were a picnic. I ate an extra goo at mile 9 and some jelly belly's at mile 10, an orange at mile 11, and a coke at mile 12. I was tempting fate at this point. The amphod was wonderful. I was never thirsty.

I ran (yes I run slow) the whole race except for very short slowdowns to fill up water bottle. Run time was 3:07 better than last year on limited training. 2 minutes and 20 seconds of the improvement was from eliminating the 2 portalet visits last year. Age group ranking improved 1% and overall ranking improved 5%.

I struggled to keep my HR at 150 but am still pretty happy with the run. The advantage of being a slow runner is that you get passed by all your buddies on the run and I held all of them off longer this year than before. I got to kiss my wife when I saw her coming back at mile 6!

What would you do differently?:

Nutrition - probably need to take in a little more on the bike so I am a little stronger when I start the run.

Training - I am again debating the surgery on the ankle. I am gonna see doc this week and discuss it. If warming up better will help minimize pain, I may delay surgery till after ironman. I stopped running in March, then restarted in April after I had to delay the surgery. I basically did a long run every week but not much else. I need more miles to improve.

Pacing - The 150 target was tough and I really did push to maintain it. I picked it up again in the last mile as the crowd got bigger. I think I can push myself to keep the 150 longer.

Post race

Warm down:

Wondered around and visited. H13 finished shortly behind me and we visited a minute. Found Marcy and took stuff up to the room and showered. Went back down to watch other finishers come in and drink some beers.

What limited your ability to perform faster:

run training

Event comments:

Overall improved time by 7 minutes and 57 seconds. Improved overall and age group ranking percentage in all disciplines. Marcy beat me by 2 minutes 45 seconds all of it on the run. I think I nailed nutrition (at least on the upset stomach side).

The good side -
o Well orgainized
o Nice expo
o well marked swim (hidden frogmen pretty cool)
o great aid stations and volunteers
o getting to race with so many friends, especially all of the old gang from new orleans.
o Great BT turnout, only got to meet a small handful but all really nice folks
o Post race party seemed nice although we got there late and missed the awards. We had so many folks visiting the condo we just got behind schedule.

Bad
o I didn't see it, but heard the aid stations shut down early. That is disgraceful.
o Drafting - Its discouraging that so little effort is made to prevent drafting. This is the SE Region long course championship and the lack of draft marshalls really pisses me off. I am gonna stop at that but don't ask me about it cause I can go on for hours.
o Results - The printed version of the results weren't available at the race hotel on Sunday when we left at 10:00AM. Historically they have put this out for the racers but we drove by at 10 and they weren't there yet. The online version of results are prompt and good.

Overall - This is a great race. This was the 24th edition and my 3rd. With that said, I think it is on the decline and the race director really needs to pump some life into it. The participant levels are on the decline and letting the aid stations shut down early is gonna hurt there reputation. They need to address that publicly and I believe they will. I probably want do this race again. Not because of the issues noted as it's still the best of any race I have done, but because I am gonna seek new venues. I get one more run on it at IMFL and I think after that I will look for other options.

Last updated: 2006-01-17 12:00 AM

Swimming
00:44:00 \| 2078 yards \| 02m 07s / 100yards
Age Group:	113/142
Overall:	850/1156
Performance:	Good

Suit:	Ironman Stealth no sleeves
Course:	Long out, short across, long back. Well marked with buoys every 200 or so yards.
Start type:	Run	Plus:	Waves
Water temp:	76F / 24C	Current:	Medium
200M Perf.	Good	Remainder:	Average
Breathing:	Good	Drafting:	Average
Waves:	Average	Navigation:	Average
Rounding:	Average

T1
Time:	03:43
Performance:	Good
Cap removal:	Good	Helmet on/ Suit off:	No
Wetsuit stuck?	No	Run with bike:	Yes
Jump on bike:
Getting up to speed:

Biking
02:41:34 \| 56 miles \| 20.80 mile/hr
Age Group:	52/142
Overall:	309/1156
Performance:
1st Half 2nd Half Overall Avg Power 186 171 177 Cadence 92 89 91 Kilojules 877 856 1734 Velocity 21.5 20.1 20.8
Wind:	Some
Course:	Out southeast 3 miles, then back northwest past start, continue along beach NW for a while then gradually to a Northeast track. Turn around come back to transition. Flat except for a bridge and a couple of tiny rises. Road surface varies from good to crap. Made an effort to ride on the good whenever I could.
Road:	Rough Dry	Cadence:	91
Turns:	Good	Cornering:	Good
Gear changes:	Good	Hills:	Average
Race pace:	Comfortable	Drinks:	Just right

T2
Time:	02:28
Overall:	Good
Riding w/ feet on shoes		Average
Jumping off bike
Running with bike		Good
Racking bike		Average
Shoe and helmet removal		Good

Running
02:47:53 \| 13.1 miles \| 12m 49s min/mile
Age Group:	125/142
Overall:	964/1156
Performance:	Good
Mile 1 10:36 150 Mile 2 10:59 150 Mile 3 11:40 150 Mile 4 11:56 150 Mile 5 12:32 148 Mile 6 12:36 150 Mile 7 12:24 149 Mile 8 13:04 146 Mile 9 12:56 146 Mile 10 13:45 145 Mile 11 13:28 140 Mile 12 14:27 138 Mile 13 13:59 136 mile .1 3:30 155
Course:	Flat and Hot
Keeping cool	Good	Drinking	Just right

Post race
Weight change:	%
Overall:	Good
Mental exertion [1-5]	4
Physical exertion [1-5]	4
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