Ironman 70.3 Racine : Official Thread (Page 24)

This was my third Racine in a row, and my perception was this was the hottest one. At least I felt the heat more this year than in the past.

As always, a shout out to the residents and volunteers of Racine. Great support.

Reading the posts above, and observing the run course at Racine and IMOO, I am not sure why more age groupers don't adopt a Galloway-style run/walk strategy from the get-go. It is clear that virtually everybody walks at some point during the run. I have used a 4:00/1:00 run/walk ratio the past 2 years. If you can get over the ego issues associated with walking 4 minutes into an Ironman run, the results can be quite good.

It also takes the guilt and "management" issues out of walking. You know, running until you feel like crap, then walking, then forcing yourself to run again, rinse and repeat. It's much easier when your Garmin tells you to walk: you do it. And if you're running and feel bad, you only have to run for 4 minutes until you get to rest. Anyone can run 4 minutes.

At Madison last year, I used this system to run a 4:36 marathon (also walking the aid stations and that huge hill twice) during which I passed 430 runners. (I didn't count; you can tell by the race results.) Yesterday, I ran a top 38% age group and top 42% overall half using run/walk. (Both better ranks than my swim or bike times. And I'm an old guy.)

Anyway, commercial done. Congrats to everyone who finished yesterday.

Just posted my race report!!! It was a great race, for my first HIM I was happy with how things went. I had to mak several mid race changes to my race plans to be able to keep moving forward but in the end that's what I did: kept moving forward.

I ended up meeting all of my goals: I had a fun, no wait, I had a blast! I finished in the time allowed, and I was not the last one across the finish line.

Like everyone else has said I fell apart on the run, literally. My deep hip flexors and abductors started to made their aweful pop-pop ggrrrriiinnnndddd noise. I had to make some quick decisions to be able to physically keep moving.

I'm a slow swimmer so having done a 1.2 mile swim in under an hour is amazingly fast for me. Had some problems on the bike but I got over it. I too saw several wrecks and took it easy on the corners. Run turned into a walk due to hip problems coupled with the heat.

Overall I'm thrilled with my preformance. Sadly I will not be back next year. I will be taking all of next season off to recover from multiple injuries that arn't healing due to my constant training and racing. A year off will give my body time to fully recover and regain strenght. However I do look forward to volunteering at many events.

CONGRATULATIONS TO EVERYONE!!!!!!

Congrats to everyone!!!  That was one brutal day out there; just plain tough.  I was happy with my overall time (doh...forgot to put the dang chip on going out to the bike, but put it back on one the run so I could at least get my total time which is what I was shooting for; Garmin filled in the gap on the bike). 

Coming off the bike I felt good/confident, but something happened on the start of the run.  I just could never catch my breath, get my gait straightened out, build momentum.....and the run was the part of my training that has significantly improved this year.  Normally it takes me a mile or so to get ramped up; it just never happened.  No doubt I learned a lot about myself - especially when it comes to nutrition management and hydration.

Personally, I was so emotionally/physically spent that when I finished I was one big emotional mess that I basically collapsed into the volunteers arms and I leaned on them walking through the chute.  Friends/family were there for me and I very much appreciated it. 

Yep, this is my new strategy after my first HIM.  Just posted my race report.  When I did not have it for the run, I did not have a run/walk plan, so it was mostly walk.  Lesson learned.

I'm in complete agreement I'm a Galloway runner... in fact, I'm a pace group leader for the Galloway group that trains on the path in Algonquin.  It's fantastic to run a 26 miler in trainig, never hit the wall in a marathon be functional (with two small kids) the next day.  I also agree about it being so much easier mentally..

BIG Congratulations to everyone who participated on Sunday!  That goes out to anyone who wasn't able to finish as well.  Regardless of "the finish", everyone worked really hard and learned alot about themselves so great work to all athletes! 

Day started out so beautiful with the sunrise and calm lake waters, funny how quickly it changes isn't it?  I agree that the heat was brutal on the run. It's hard to gauge when you are on your bike creating that breeze and then you are out there on the run with the heat off the pavement just cooking you.  I didn't think it was that hot until I got to the turn off of mainstreet and then I felt like all of the air just stopped completely!   That photographer on the hill sucked- can't wait to see all of those walking pictures!!!  The bike does have many rough spots with the washboard issue but I fear that will not change in the near future.  Somehow you forget all of that when you see all of the volunteers and homeowners out there on the run.  The support from all of them as well as your fellow racers is why we do this. 

It was really great to have met many of you on Saturday for the swim and online up to this race.  It's been a pleasure the past several weeks and I hope all of you have a successful remainder of the season and will maybe do Racine again next year??   Looking forward to hearing how the Rev3 in the Dells goes for it's first year to determine if that's one for 2013 too.  This was my last tri for the season now just running to get ready for the Milwaukee marathon in October.  Anyone else doing that one?   Cyndi and I will be in Kona volunteering for the race so keep an eye out for us when they televise.  Oh and if we just happen to win that $16K Trek bike from the expo we'll be there to bring it home))  How convenient!!

Thanks for a great race everyone!

Amy

Posting my race log shortly

Found this great analysis of the race by RunTri:

http://www.runtri.com/2011/07/racine-half-ironman-results-analysis.html

E]cartman1966 - 2012-07-17 8:24 AM

Yep, this is my new strategy after my first HIM.  Just posted my race report.  When I did not have it for the run, I did not have a run/walk plan, so it was mostly walk.  Lesson learned.

Local article with some "typical" comments. 

http://caledonia.patch.com/articles/ironman-racine-competition-means-road-closures-on-sunday 

Hey Racers... 

I forgot to ask you all... During the bike portion of the race, did any of you see the man racing his bike in FLIP-FLOPS!!!??? Now I understand different strokes for different folks but this had me actually laughing out loud.  This wasn't a sprint it was a 56 mile bike ride!!  I even coasted for a moment next to him and ask the guy... "Really?... You are racing Flip-flops"?  He smiled and nodded his head "Yes"... and I was on my way... I couldn't believe it...Boy did that give me a giggle... Then, another racer pulled up along me and says "Did you just see that guy in the flip-flops?".... We both laughed again and sped off... Sooooo funny.  Made me think to ask what others have seen on race day...

By the way, I had to laugh at myself in this race too as about 1 mile into the run I was wondering why my hands (specifically) were so hot.. finally realized - DUH... I still had my bike gloves on.  (just put them in the pocket on my back but THAT made me laugh (at myself) too...

I've also put my helmet on backward (in a race last year) but corrected it after going thru transition like that (at the bike-out).. silly me...

Anyway... Who has some other good ones?

Do you guys do your long training runs with this method or just the race?

Leslie-Zippgirl

I didn't see the flip flops but would probably still be on the course laughing if I had!  Who does that and why?  There was one sign that did make me laugh- mostly because it was short and to the point.  "It's ok, you can crap your pants"!  Hilarious to me but I am a total juvenile so...

The only other funny, using the word loosely, thing was that I got passed by and 82 year old man.  Yes and so did many of us and you didn't know it.  He pulled off to the side on the run to tie his shoe then cut back in in front of me and that's when I saw his age!  Congrats to him of course but man it's not good for the mental state of your game to have that happen!  So I did look him up and his profession is a fitness consultant so I feel like maybe he had one up on me)) His finish time was 6:26!

I got "race-walkered".  Yep.  A race walker passed me on the run.  Within the last 5k.  I'm not to proud to say it.  Never saw  him again. 

Tim, long runs as well. 

Jeff Galloway is a huge proponent of slowing your long run way down (we are training for an 11 min marathon pace now, and running our long runs at 13, and probably need to be slower) to avoid injury.  You include workouts like hills and mile repeats (his version of speedwork) into the schedule to get faster.  We just did a 23 miler this past Saturday and ran it doing 90 sec running/45 sec walking the whole time.  The next day (while you guys were racing), I got up and did a 4 hour bike with a 3 mile brick without issues (other than being sore, a little)..  With the Galloway method, you also cover the entire (say, marathon) distance in training, so you never hit the wall (defined as the longest distance you ran in training).  He is also big on the concept of Magic Mile, which I can explain if you are interested...

As a pace group leader, I've met him twice now and his big emphasis is on slowing down the long run, doing shorter intervals during the LR, then doing whatever intervals work for you (or no walking at all) during the week.  He encouraged us to play with different ratios for different types of runs.  He mentioned an e-coaching client who, after they tweaked a bunch of stuff, ended up running a 4:30 marathon doing 30/30s (yes, seconds) the entire way.   Hard to imagine, isn't it?  But i will say, I ran my first marathon as 1min/1min the whole way, and except for one mile, my friend and I kept our (modest) pace of 12 min the entire race and passed an insane amount of people, in the second half especially. 

And, I am and functional with my small boys the next day

Foggy, that is pretty awesome!!!!!

wow, some hate spread around in the comments... sad, really. How can people NOT see the positive effect of ANY type of an event of this magnitude on the local community?? seriously closed-minded folks out there

you know what they say about a closed-minded individual, right? Their minds are like cement-all mixed up and permanently set.

Being a local resident and one that lives right off the bike course I hope Racine keeps the race (regardless of brand) here every year. Alot of the negative comments on that post are from the "usual suspects" in Racine. The comments about disproving the economic impact goes both ways. If they would actually step away from the safe confines of their computer screen they could see the positive impact this event has on city and shop owners.

There are many Racine residents that value the race, your participation and want it (and you) coming back for years.

(cowbell Pete)-I was ringing the cowbell this year on Main street by the school and the zoo.

!!!

I was really surprised by some of those comments about the road closures.  Obviously most of them don't understand that almost every city in the country (and world) would be honored to host this event.  I'm going to assume this is a small portion of the population there.  Anyways, found a cool link with some stats from the race.

http://www.runtri.com/2011/07/racine-half-ironman-results-analysis.html