Post HIM analysis

I've included links below to my blogged race report and my BT race report. Overall I'm happy with my performance finishing my first HIM but I'm going over things in my head and my power results/splits to see what should have been done differently. Not having done a HIM before I'm curious how my thoughts compare with this communities thoughts.

Nutrition plan: 350 calorie breakfast 3 hours prior to start. ~150 calorie/hour 16 oz perpetuem until race start. ~300 calories/hour primarily perpetuem augments with HEED. Fluid intake ~30oz/hour. 2 Endurolyte tablets/hour.

I had a nutrition plan and stuck to it. I bumped my fluid intake up from my normal 24oz/hour to 30oz/hour because of the heat. I had to use the bathroom shortly after finish and had the slight urge to go most of the race. It appears I stayed sufficiently hydrated.

Swim: Fine. Pace was supposedly 2:09/100 but I (and several others) thought the course was long by at least 0.1 miles which would put my pace right around or sub 2:00/100 which is what I expected to swim. 1:59/100 is my 1500 pace in a pool and I don't flip turn.

Bike: Had power goal of 204 W based on 80% of LTR (255 W). Tested this with 50% race distance simulation 2 weeks prior and ran 5k after bike successfully. 204W felt hard and I ended up with:
Lap 1 - 186W VI 1.05
Lap 2 - 169W VI 1.07

I started having lower back pains the final 10 miles of the ride. My takeaway is that my bike fitness was not sufficient (especially core strength). I had to come out of aero frequently in last 10 miles and my power felt more "stabby" and less even and is reflected in the higher VI.

Run: Really though I was running slowly out of T2 but did an 8:45 mile 1. I had some twinges of quad issues and a lot of lower back pain extending around to my front, lower rib cage. Ran until mile 4 (all sub 10). Walked uphills until mile 8. Walked flats and uphills miles 8-13. Ended up with an 11:00/mi pace which was my biggest disappointment with the race. As a data point my fastest mile this year is 6:30 and I ran back to back (5 minute rest) 5ks at a 7:50/mi pace.

I'm having a hard time describing what my failure mode was when I went from running to walking as it wasn't just one issue. My heart rate would start to spike as would my respiration. I suffer from breathing problems in hot weather while exercising and I had problems getting a full breath. It also hurt to breathe deeply from the back and rib pain. My legs did hurt, but I certainly felt like I could keep turning my legs over if needed. My body just made me stop and walk to recover my breath. it's a failure mode I have not yet experienced.

My personal takeaways: I set my initial bike power too high. I may have had a bad 5 minute power test result which inflated my LTR slightly but not the 24W I was off. I also feel like my core strength and skipping most of my long rides late in my training hurt me.

I went out too fast on the run. Add this to the heat, breathing issues, and a lack of core strength and I ended up having poor run showing. The biggest things that I can do are to continue to lose weight (I carry an extra 20 pounds easily) and to not skip the long workouts. Also, do not neglect the core strength.

Positives: I finished my first HIM I attempted. I had a nutrition and race plan that I largely stuck to and allowed me to feel pretty good post race. My mental preparation allowed me to anticipate feeling like quitting in the first 4 miles of the run and made me push through. I still finished 20/32 in AG and had I raced Clyde would have been 3rd. (I weighed 201 pre race and 196 post) I prefer to race AG for the earlier swim wave since I'm not really competitive.

Any thoughts the community have on my race/analysis are appreciated!

Blog race report (with pics):
http://www.juddmansee.com/blog/?p=734

BT Race report:
http://www.beginnertriathlete.com/discussion/forums/thread-view.asp...