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Playtri Half Ironman
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Playtri Half Ironman - Triathlon1/2 Ironman
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 Swim
Comments: Same as the day before, the water temp seemed to be the topic of conversation but it was nicer than the air and felt pretty good. This was my first deep water start and I had no problems with it. First 200 yards were a little bumpy and then about 500 yards in I had my own water and was feeling good. I tried finding feet but I'm awful at drafting so that was kind of a lost cause. On the way back in I got hit in the head and it broke the seal on my goggles and also bruised my right eye. I had to swim the last 500-600 yards with my right eye closed but aside from the annoyance of it, it was a non-issue. I felt good the whole time and felt like I could keep going. I got out of the water in 36'30" which was faster than any of my HIM times last year so I was happy with that, especially considering my swim volume YTD has sucked. The course was designed so you could cut a corner a little short but everyone was able to do that (and did) so there was no unfair advantage. What would you do differently?: Aside from learning how to draft better, this was a good swim for me.  Transition 1
Comments: While running what felt like the first lap of the run portion to get to and through transition, I saw Ovetta who looked like she was going to fall into the wall. Fortunately, she didn't. Suit came off easy but getting arm warmers on wet arms proved difficult. Same with socks. Then I had to load up an extra bottle, spare tubular, CO2, tire levers, gel, etc. into my back pocket since my saddlewing didn't mount. This was my best alternative. I had tried cutting down bottles from 3 to 2 to put one on my downtube and the other in my pocket. That'll come back to haunt me. What would you do differently?: Maybe make sure the hydration system mounts on my bike sometime other than the night before? Seems like a good idea to me.  Bike
Comments: Without the ergomo on my bike, it was up to me to make some decisions about how I'd go about this. Looking back, I made some wrong decisions. The wind was starting to pick up but still wasn't too bad. Once I started going, I was comfortable after about a mile and felt like I had strong legs. With that in mind I decided my strategy would be to push it hard as long as I could until the wind caught up with me. On the first lap I thought there were maybe only 2 or 3 places I needed to get out of the big ring. And then the wind started blowing hard on the backside of the first lap and things slowed down considerably. I don't know my exact split for the first lap but I know it was good because I was having visions of turning in a 2:35:xx bike split. Once the wind picked up I had nothing left to combat it and it just ate me up, spit me out, and pissed me off. I've gone faster on longer courses (this was only 54 miles instead of 56) with more elevation gain. The wind was pushing my entire bike to the side at times and I was in the small ring a lot more to spin through until I could get a tailwind. Not to sound too whiney but the roads were pretty beat up. At one point on the second lap I noticed I felt like I was pointing down and my aerobars had started dropping from all the rattling. I jerked them back up into the proper place but it was a rough ride at times. On the bright side, I learned how to pee on the bike. And on my leg and in my shoe. There were no portapotties on the course and State Troopers everywhere you looked so I waited until I had space and just went. One way to break in the new bike I guess. On the nutrition front I thought my plan was working well until I got done with my second bottle at 2 hours and still had another 47 minutes to go. They had Accelerade on the course and I don't drink that so I chanced it. I tried digging in my back pocket for the gel but couldn't find it and with it being as windy as it was, I didn't want to be concocted in an awkward position for too long. Also, I know a lot of people were cold out there but I didn't notice the cold at all. What would you do differently?: I think if I would have managed my pace a little better from the start I could have come closer to an even split and shaved 3-5 minutes off this split. Transition 2
Comments: Mostly uneventful other than having to waste time unloading everything from my back pocket. I later found out that the gel I was looking for came out in T2. No bueno. What would you do differently?: Make sure I had gels for the run.  Run
Comments: After stopping in the bathroom right outside of T2 and feeling like the portapotty was going to blow over while standing in it, I got to running. I found my legs about a mile in and was surprised to feel good. When I looked at my pace I saw I was running sub-8s on what felt like an average effort and was very encouraged. I pushed a little more at one point and was at a 7'15" pace for about a half mile. My thought there was that I knew it would hurt on the second lap but I felt it would be tolerable with the wind behind me. This was consistent with my strategy of thinking I'd use the first lap to figure out my strategy for the second and not push too hard too early. So after that half mile, I backed off. I made my first loop at about a 7'37"/mile pace and was happy with that. Roughly the same time I noticed my stomach starting to feel empty and hungry, and when I went for my first gel, it wasn't there. I later found it sitting in transition so I guess it came out with when I emptied my spare tubular, CO2, etc. The start of lap 2 was alright and I quickly found a running partner that agreed to split duties into the wind. That worked great until I started feeling and watching my pace slow, getting a little wobbly and lightheaded. I came up on Cathy and said I was hitting the wall and knew I just needed an aid station. Once there I hung out for about 5 minutes and chugged Accelerade, then walked a couple hundred yards and started running again at around 9'50"/mile pace. Not very pretty but I just kept moving forward. I started feeling better around 1.5 miles in and was running normally again but at this point it was too late to have the run I wanted. If nothing else, it's a good reminder that you can go from good to bad and come back to good again in the same race. What would you do differently?: Make sure I have my nutrition down and with me. My running was good but was effected from other things. Other than it being on concrete, I liked the run course and thought it was segmented well so you could get from A to B, then focus on B to C, then to the turn around, and then backwards. It broke down nicely. It's a course to go fast on. Post race
Warm down: Hung out and waited for others to come in. It was nice we were able to go back to the hotel and shower, then come right back to the finish line. Watched Drew knock off a good chunk of change from his HIM PR, as did Stacie, Cathy, and Ovetta (dropping an hour off her PR!). What limited your ability to perform faster: Poor planning was the key here. On one hand there's something to be said for racing risky and taking chances. It's not preferred but it is kind of fun and on the first lap of the bike when I thought I was going to rip up the bike course, I was having a lot of fun. If it would have worked, I'd be sitting here thinking I'm a genius right now. Since it didn't, now I know better. At one point I considered racing without my 305 or knowing bike or run paces, but decided I would. Also, my nutrition was really the key to my destruction. I'm happy with my time based on what I had, but I reasonably think I could have been 10 - 15 minutes faster. I'm also happy knowing that everything that went wrong is easily preventable and it wasn't my training that was the limiter. Since that was one of the points of this race, I'm not too disappointed. Event comments: The race was good and well organized. There were enough volunteers and it was marked well enough given all of the turns it had on the road. Last updated: 2007-12-15 12:00 AM
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 2008-04-15 4:09 PM |
Expert  683    Denver |  Subject: Playtri Half Ironman |
| 2008-04-15 4:41 PM in reply to: #1340029 |
Pro 4228 Broomfield, Colorado | Subject: RE: Playtri Half Ironman You are freakin funny! Well the wheels fell off, but hey, better now than in 2 months! I think we all got our issues figured out and now we can work on them. Your aerobars shifted? Yeah, that sucks. The day before CdA, you and I are going to have a bike bolt tightening festival. Chugging Accelerade sounds rough too. Especially fruit punch. Even with the nutrition issues, you did great and still picked up your pace at the end of the run! Nice! |
| 2008-04-15 4:58 PM in reply to: #1340029 |
Extreme Veteran 458 Denver, CO | Subject: RE: Playtri Half Ironman Great job giving pros advice! That's the beauty of this sport. Unless they've won Kona, pros just walk around like everyone else and are relatively unknown. Thus allowing us to make idiots of ourselves around them. Considering your nutrition issues, the fact that you were able to recover enough on the run to push it to the finish is great. I don't think that's something just anyone can manage. |
| 2008-04-15 5:09 PM in reply to: #1340029 |
Master 1927 Chicago | Subject: RE: Playtri Half Ironman See Ryan, going to church isn't so bad. Although I thought like you - this is the biggest freakin' house of Jesus I've ever seen then I had to scratch that because I've been to New Life Church in Colorado Springs and that's twice as big if you count the prayer center! OK is it me or did I not comprehend half of the bike stuff you talked about in your RR? No wonder the girl pros need some help from you. I was about to fall into a wall but thanks to you I gained by balance. You looked good as usual and steady and fine even if the race was a little bit more chaotic than you're used to! Congrats man it was so good to see ya! We're going to kick much butt at IM CdA! |
| 2008-04-15 5:55 PM in reply to: #1340029 |
Master 4101 Denver | Subject: RE: Playtri Half Ironman Even with your issues thats still a pretty fast time. And now you can iron out what you need to iron out. Maybe next time you to put inspiring comments in your blog for motivation. Way to rock Texas! Edited by drewb8 2008-04-15 5:56 PM |
| 2008-04-15 7:00 PM in reply to: #1340029 |
Champion 8766 Evergreen, Colorado | Subject: RE: Playtri Half Ironman You are fast. Was this a CO party or something????  |
| 2008-04-15 7:48 PM in reply to: #1340029 |
Expert 960 Highlands Ranch, CO | Subject: RE: Playtri Half Ironman OK, so maybe you made an of yourself in front of the hot pros. But the question is, "Did you get their digits?"
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| 2008-04-15 9:13 PM in reply to: #1340029 |
Official BT Coach 2210 Englewood, CO | Subject: RE: Playtri Half Ironman Giving hot Pro Triathletes advice before race day is a great pick up line! Nice! Great race you had in the conditions. I think you did well with plan B. Let's just bring plan A to CDA. Congrats. |
| 2008-04-15 9:46 PM in reply to: #1340771 |
Master 2249 Colorado | Subject: RE: Playtri Half Ironman Awesome RR and great job on the course! Sounds like you learned a lot so I can't wait to see what you do at CDA. NICE! |
| 2008-04-16 12:16 AM in reply to: #1340029 |
Expert 750 Plano, TX | Subject: RE: Playtri Half Ironman I mayyyyyy have seen you when I started my first loop of the run and you were finishing yours. But, based on your times, you were a blur, so I wouldn't have said hello anyway. HA! Outstanding time, and thanks for coming down to Texas to share in our wind misery. I'd say good luck for your IM, but you won't need it. Great race! Chris |
| 2008-04-16 10:51 PM in reply to: #1340029 |
| Westminster, CO | Subject: RE: Playtri Half Ironman very good performance and great results! this is a well-place event for you on your way to IMCdA. You're going to crush the IM! |
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United States
Playtri Festival
60F / 16C
Overcast
Overall Rank = 35/139
Age Group = M30-34
Age Group Rank = 6/16
Spent most of the day running around. Did an easy bike and run with Drew (drewb8) and then went to the swim and saw Cathy (COgirl), Stacie (luv2ride), and Ovetta (infosteward). The big question mark was the water temperature which I had heard was cold. I thought it was fine and I don't have a big cold water tolerance. I felt pretty good on the swim and hoped it would hold for the next day, and then talked with everyone else and took pictures with Cathy's camera.
Drew and I then went to packet pickup at the biggest church I've ever seen. When they say everything's bigger in Texas, they're apparently talking about churches. This thing was more of a convention center than a church. Since I was willing to take in as much Divine Intervention as possible, I figured it would be a good place to go. I think my Divine Intervention got lost in the hallways or one of the 20 rooms while looking for me.
Since I only brought one set of the right brake pads with me (for carbon wheels/rims) and Drew was having a shifting issue, we found the bike sponsor mechanic who was very helpful. He didn't have the pads I needed but was going to bring them the next morning and switch them out. While he was working on Drew's bike, two tall, skinny, good looking blondes came walking over with a Zipp disc and an 808. Turns out I like tall skinny blondes. Turns out I also like fast wheels. While talking I offered up that it was probably going to be too windy to race the disc and the one should consider riding the 808 instead. Since her sister would need the 808, the one I was talking to had to ride the disc regardless. We later figured out that I was telling Kim Loeffler what kind of setup she should ride. How very nice of me. Considering her bike split was 17 minutes faster than mine I'll assume she knows what she's doing. Anyway, it was her and her sister Kelly Liljeblad (who just won the ING Miami Marathon in 2:47:13 but missed the Olympic Trials in Boston by 13 seconds. Ouch.). After that we finished running some errands and avoided giving unsolicited advice to pros.
Since I just got a new P2C a couple weeks ago, my project for the night was to put the saddlewing on it and get that squared away. Unfortunately, the saddlewing doesn't mount on the P2C without a special setup so I would have to improvise my nutrition and spare, etc. I also didn't have my ergomo installed on the bike yet so that make my race strategy a little different.
It was very nice having the race hotel right next to the transition. We walked over, got into transition with no problem, and then I went to get the brake pads switched out. While there Kim (Loeffler) was behind me with her new P3C (no spacers) and I was able to answer a couple easy questions for her about her new bike (seat angles, etc.). After that I went back to the hotel as an alternative to the portapotties, then got my wetsuit on and shivered until I could get in the water.