Ryan Mac’s HIM Focus Group - CLOSED (Page 26)

Good luck Ryan!

I am starting to have butterflies. I have my list prepped - time to do some packing and such.  I definitely know my run and bike volume were low. I should have done so much more but I can't change it now and the truth is i still feel strong. I didn't do a significant volume last year and still had a great for me result. I 

Thinking through my goals

1. Stretch/ultimate goal: beat last year's 5:46 - get under 3h on the bike. 

2. Main goal: under 6 hours - very do-able in good conditions

3. Finish - always rounding things out - gotta keep perspective that any day that i can finish a half ironman is a good day. 

Weather is looking good! :D that makes me very happy! 

Oh and sunday is my birthday! an awesome birthday gift to myself to race a HIM! Ha! 

Awesome Jen!

Have fun and enjoy the day and be sure to let us know how it went!

Still not sure what the weather has in store for us - looks like we might get rained on a little bit.  I can deal with that.

Easy enough

Hope you have a great race, Ryan!  You've had a really solid training block leading up to it, so I think you're gonna crush it.  Looking forward to hearing about it!

What a fantastic birthday gift!  Have a great race!!  Looking forward to hearing about it when you're done

RR: http://www.beginnertriathlete.com/discussion/forums/thread-view.asp?tid=533044&posts=1#M5122442

A bit disappointed, but not surprised, with my results. Have a new plan of attack in the works for the rest of the season.

Tough race but you have the right attitude...keep positive...you did qualify for 70.3 WC by the way!!   I do think that the right coach would make a huge impact for you.  Let us know what that new plan is .

Well....good news and bad news.

Bad news:  I got a rear flat at mile 35 of the bike and realized I had no disc wheel adapter to inflate it.  I sat on the side of the road for 30 minutes until a bike tech arrived and could fix it.

Good news:  I had a great race otherwise:

Swim:  31:44 perfect

Bike:  2:24:04 moving time (23.4mph) NP: 231 perfect

Run:  1:31:40 (6:59 pace)

I was feeling so dang good on the bike and was thinking a great race was in store until that flat.

Would have been a 4:31 but with the flat was 5:01.

Tough pill to swallow but have to move on - at least validation of very good fitness right now!

Oh that is a tough pill - but you are in awesome shape!! Just sucks when the race doesn't quite show all that hard work!

Well, i made goal number 2 which was the realistic one. 

I definitely made some 'rookie mistakes' despite being a non-rookie.  Mostly on nutrition. I was focused on going fast on the bike - which I didn't do - and i didn't stay focused on keeping hydrated and nourished and I came into transition hungry. Not a good sign.  The rain had kept away until the last few k of the bike and then it poured on the run.  I also had my very first ever portapotty stop in a tri.  The water was cold so i think that made the urgency happen! 

For the first 5k I was pretty mentally toasted - i ran way too fast and needed to get some calories in me. Once I got a gel down and some water I felt much much better but i was mad at myself for blowing my chance to at least come close to last year. My splits and run time weren't looking great and it still felt like a slog. Then I changed my Garmin screen to show total time and i still had quite a bit of room to stay under 6 hours so that really motivated me. 

I came in 5:556 something which is pretty much exactly 10 mins slower. I'll take it, thankyouverymuch. Anyway, i think this marks my last long-distance tri for a while. If i get anything else in over the summer it will be olympic or less.  I just don't have the love for the long rides. Way too much of an imposition on family life at the moment.  I am a little sad about it but it is the reality at the moment. 

Oh no!  That really sucks about the flat and lack of disc wheel adaptor, but your actual moving time is a testament to good training and great paces! 

What's next for you?

Congrats on making your main goal!  Stinks to make mistakes that you know you shouldn't have made.  Are you going to write a full race report?  Writing all of that kind of stuff down and re-reading it before racing another HIM distance race is always helpful, at least it has been for me....especially since it sounds like you're going to take a break from this distance racing for a bit.

Regardless, you made your main goal and you were still able to salvage the race after botching nutrition....some people can't come back from that, so to come back and still do well really shows that you had some good training leading up to the race!

Yes, congrats on making the goal.  I think it is good that you changed your mind set based on the day and race you were having.  Sometimes it does not go as planned and you just have to make the most of it (same thing for me unfortunately).

I can understand the decision not to do long course with the little ones.  But, it does get better and I am sure you will get the urge again .

Here is a report I did for the race.

Plan:  Go out aggressively on the swim and catch some fast feet.  Take some chances if necessary to do so.  On the bike start out at 225W and move up to 235W if feeling good and on the run start at 160-165 bpm heart rate range moving into low 170s for the last few miles.  Focus on effort – not time.  That said, I know that if conditions are decent that 4:30 is certainly within reach.

Pre-Race:  The weather forecast was pretty terrible for race morning with heavy rain and possibly thunderstorms.  Last year was the same way so I was prepared for the conditions and just have to deal with it.  This was a 7:00 start so I had to leave home at 5:00 to make the 45 minute drive and long walk to the transition area.  As predicted it rained the entire time preparing transition which was a bit miserable so put my wetsuit on a bit early.  Was able to get in a 5 minute swim warmup and a gel 15 minutes prior to start.

Swim (31:51 – 45^th OA and 6^th AG):  After the big swim focus at the end of 2013 and into early 2014 my confidence and comfort in the water has improved incredibly.  That said, I lined up in the front row and on the most direct line to the far buoy.  It was definitely a rougher start but was completely worth it as I was able to get on the feet of fast people and they sighted very well which made my job easy.  After the first 200 it cleared out around me and just focused on smooth tempo and staying on feet.  When I hit the boat ramp and looked at my watch I was super happy to see 31:xx.  Hit the wetsuit strippers who pulled me out lickety split and headed for the bike.  Half IM swim PR.

Bike (2:24:04 moving – 23.4mph 2:54:31 Official – would have been 23^rd OA bike):  This is a long transition area so had my shoes already clipped in for the long run to the mount line.  As I jumped on my bike I saw Dan Stubleski, the reigning Ironman AG World Champion behind me and thought “did I really just beat that guy out of the water”.  Actually I just beat him out of T1 as he was a few seconds faster in the water - Small victory J.  It was continuing to rain throughout the bike course but really posed no real problem just a little cautious on the turns.  My power started on the high end, around 230W but felt easy so mostly just kept it there for the first half.  By the halfway point, I was really starting to get anxious for the run because of how great I felt on the bike.  About the same time that I was thinking that….I started to feel a little bounce in my rear tire at mile 35.  There is no way that can be a flat and then it got worse and worse and had to pull over.  My first thought, “you can’t be serious, not today”.  Immediately got to work to change it when I realized I had no disc wheel adapter with me to inflate it and it started to sink in that my day is likely done.  Motorcycle pulled up and called for the sag wagon but would likely be awhile.  Absolutely painful to see all my competitors fly by.  This is just a hobby and I felt like a child who just had his candy taken away.  So the bike tech folks finally got me rolling again after 30 minutes on the side of the road and my thought was just make the best of it and give it all you got – still a lot can be taken away from this for future races.  I was able to just keep my power steady at 231W and rolled into transition with 2:24:04 on my garmin – a 2 minute improvement from last year.  (231W NP – 225W AP – IF 0.85)

Nutrition:  550 calories Infinit – 2 water bottles – 6 endurolytes

Run (1:31:41 - 6:59 pace – 24^th OA and 3^rd AG):  Let’s just say I ran a little angry!!  My legs felt great starting the run and weather was actually favorable – light rain and humidity did not seemed to have kicked in yet.  The course is pretty flat except for 2 nasty little hills that you hit twice due to the 2 laps.  My pace started at 6:45 and HR in the 163-165 range which was exactly to plan.  I really felt steady and strong on the first loop and was able to tackle the hills fairly easily.  I may have gotten passed twice on this run but for the most part I was doing all of the passing.   At the start of the second loop I was still feeling pretty good and keeping pace steady although the humidity was a little more noticeable on this loop.  The hills the second time through were a bit rough although I was able to shuffle up and get back to a nice rhythm.  As predicted the pain of the effort started to take its toll around the 10-11 mile range and I had to dig to maintain pace.  At that point you can throw the HR monitor in the garbage because it is just about getting to the finish as fast as possible.  The last 2 miles hurt pretty bad although still was able to run a 6:55 and 7:00 last 2 miles although the two hilly miles (9 & 10) were in the 7:30s.  When I came through the finish chute and the clock read 5:01 I was kind of shocked because I really had no idea how long I sat on the side of the road for – it felt like an hour.

Nutrition:  (1) Gatorade cup every station – 2 endurolytes.

My adjusted time if you take out the 30 minutes on the side of the road was a 4:31 which would have put me 4^th AG and 17^th OA out of about 450 competitors.  Certainly a tough pill to swallow with the flat knowing I was having such a great race and would have been a big time PR.  At the very least, I can draw from the solid effort for future races and likely improve even further.