Mountains to Main Street - I'm in

Originally posted by moukie

Well, since I started the thread, I guess I should at least report on how I did.

First off, a plug to Setup Events; the race organization was perfect. A logistical maze, but they did a very nice job and I hope everyone was happy.

Pre-race: I had jitters so bad, I seriously thought several times about not participating. This is my first non-sprint event, and I am 50 years old. I am so glad I went through with it. My swim and bike training went well. Run training was great up to 7 weeks out, when I hit a battle with Achilles tendonitis. 4 weeks of no running led to a slight case of IT when I finally started back 3 weeks from race day. My run suffered due to this. Also, the night before the race I was encouraged to set aside my fear of the hills so I put back on the 11-25 cassette and rode my first race on my tri-bike (which I had trained on exclusively for the last 10+ weeks). Good move; I really love that QR bike.

Swim - Breakfast was a muffin and a banana at 5: I had one Stinger waffle one at 7:39 because I felt so empty. At 8AM, I had one GU and a small water bottle with 3 scoops of First Endurance. Swim was as I expected. I stayed calm and at a moderate pace. Could have sighted better, but not too bad considering I had clear goggles on and looked into sun for first half. I was very happy with it. ~42 minutes in the water is good for my ability.

Bike - I aimed to be about 17mph average, and I think that is what I hit. My biggest mistake was not getting water at first stop; a mistake I had fair warning about. My bike computer quit working intermittently, so I never really knew precisely where I was. At what I guessed was about 35m, I ran out of water. I had delusions that I had missed 2nd stop too, so I slowed way down to try to limp to mile 51. Luckily, Pumpkintown stop at mile 40 came in time, so I fueled up, hit the port-a-john and kept on without too much time lost. I rolled in at just around 3:30, I think. I alternated Bonk Breakers gels and First Endurance Sports Drink, with copious amounts of water and never once felt low on energy.

Run - Had to start with a port-a-john visit again - too much water. I had trained well prior to the injury at 8:40ish pace, but knew I could not hold that with my injuries so I started very slow. I am very happy to have just kept running along without any sharp pains at my 9:50 pace. I was so afraid my Achilles or IT would crap out and end my day, so just finishing "injury-free" was a joy. I took one gel flask of First Endurance for the run, and almost finished it. Again, I never felt short of calories, nor the least bit upset to stomach. But, with only 300 calories consumed on run, I may should have taken a little more. Run ended about 2:09 ish.

General: My nutrition worked perfect. The First Endurance Sports Drink and Gel was awesome for me, and I would recommend to anyone. I will stay with that. Overall, I am very happy with my finish of 6:31. A little slower than I wanted, but a tough intro course for a 70.3. I had a great coach, who also raced and did exceptionally well; that made a world of difference. He showed me so much I would have never figured out on my own, and for that I am very thankful.

Moukie