5430 Long Course Triathlon

The Short Report

Did not finish. Solid swim and great bike, but my leg bothered me on the run. Because Ironman Wisconsin is only a month away, I decided not to push on with the run and risk an injury.

Swim: 35:10 (283/884)
T1: 2:05
Bike: 2:31:08 (170/884)
T2: 1:11
Run: DNF
Total: DNF

The Long Report

This was my second Half-IM of the year, and one that I had initially hoped would be a good tune up for IMMoo. But, with my difficulties involving run training, and those nagging injuries, it turned into a second DNF at this race. One of these days, I'm going to finish this race.

Going into the race, I felt really good. I'd done a 112 mi race rehearsal for Ironman the week before, and my biking felt pretty strong. This is a very flat course, so I wasn't too worried about it, and I'd planned to just ride fairly hard and see how the run felt.

The Swim (35:10 ~1:40/100 yds)

The swim was fairly uneventful except that I started to have another panic attack. I don't know what causes these. It's like I get constricted in the wetsuit, and I have this nearly uncontrollable urge to get out of the water. I managed to calm myself down almost immediately, and I finished the swim with no further incidents. I must say, however, that I'm a bit concerned about how I'll react in the water with 2200 other people at Ironman.

When I got out of the water I looked at my watch, and it said about 34:15. However, the timing mat was at the entrance to T1, so I had to run quite ways before the chip timer stopped my swim time. My official swim time was 35:10.

T1 (2:05)

Nothing much to say here. I was pretty fast, although I should have been closer to 1:30.

The Bike (2:31:08 ~22.2 mph)

This course is flat and fast. Aside from the first 5-6 miles, which is a false flat, it's either flat or downhill. When I started the bike, I noticed right awat that my power meter wasn't working right. Immediately, I realized I hadn't done the pre-flight check I should have done. I'd left it configured for my road bike, and I hadn't performed the pre-race calibration that I always do. Crap! Oh well... there was nothing I could do except race.

About 11 miles in, on one of the few hills of the course, my chain dropped. So, I stopped and fixed it, and reset my power meter for the proper bike. Although I hadn't calibrated it, I figured the offset hadn't changed much in the last few months, so it would be "close enough." Below are a few pictures from the bike course. I wonder why I wasn't in the aero position more?

<-- This one is one that should have me in the aero tuck position. I don't know why I was riding up on the base bar. I must've been a bit tired, or I was stretching or something. I didn't even see the photographer, or I would have tucked down to get a good "aero" picture. I gotta remember to stay aero at Ironman.

-->This one is one where I'm rounding a corner, so it makes more sense that I wouldn't be in the aerobars. Safety first, after all. I'm really not very impressed with the photography at this year's event. I would have thought there'd be more pictures.

<--This one is on the return trip back to the reservoir following the first loop (although, maybe this could have been the second loop). You can see a guy in the background heading back out on his second loop. I don't know if I was finishing or if I'm about to hit the turnaround. In any event, there is a very short climb here, which is why I'm out of the saddle. Again... not impressed with the photo, but the scenery is nice.

T2 (1:11)

This was much faster, although I'd like to get it under 1:00. Not too bad, though... and I was close to the run exit.

The Run (DNF)

This was not a great day for the run... and my lack of run training was certainly no asset. I felt okay for the first couple of miles, but by mile 3, my recurring calf issue was back. I could feel it getting worse with every step, and I decided that discretion was the better part of valor. Ironman is my "A" race, and althouhg I've now had 2 attempts and 2 DNFs at the 5430 Long Course, 2007 was not the year to finish it. I'll be back next year with this one as my "A" race.

Here's the only photo of me on the run that I could find... which is nice. It's at the start of the run, so I'm still actually running. Anything much later would have seen me limping in. Let's hope the calf issue subsides soon, or I'm heading into Moo with virtually zero run training in the last 4 months. Ooof!

Long Ride - Felt Great

Today was supposed to be a long race rehersal brick, but as often happens, life got in the way, so I did not add the run after bike. I did, however, ride nearly 115 miles at goal race effort, and it seemed to work out terrific, as I felt really good the whole way, and I had plenty of energy coming off the bike. I've included a couple of graphs showing training data from the ride. I'll explain what my strategy was, and then we'll look at the graphs to see how close I came.

The Ironman "Race" Strategy

I put "race" in quotes, because I wouldn't call what I do "racing," as I'm never in contention for a very high finish... but I do try to pace myself to have the best possible finishing time I can do. My basic strategy for the 2007 Ironman is to swim easy, ride smart and then run as much as possible on the marathon. My limiters are that run volume is nowhere near enough to really go hard and fast (for me) on the marathon. My swim base is lower than when I did the race in 2004, but I think that shouldn't affect my race too much if I can make sure I go easy for the entire 2.4 miles.

The bike is where I think I've really made fitness gains. Although my overall volume is much lower this year than in 2004, I've been riding now since 2003, so I really have that cumulative base. In addition, I've been able to focus my bike training using an Ergomo power meter, so that I think I've really improved my biking ability.

The bike plan for Ironman is to monitor my power output metrics and to keep them within a particular average. If I can do this, I think I'll be able to set myself up for the best possible run split and minimize the amount of walking I'll have to do.

The Race Rehearsal Ride

My ride today consisted of 115 miles at my race goal power effort. Unfortunately, I don't have easy access to a practice course that accurately simulates the IMMoo course. But, I DO have easy access to 115 miles of stress-free riding. However, it's flat as a pancake. Still... if I manage my power accurately, that shouldn't make a difference, except that I'll probably go a little slower over the hilly IMMoo bike course.

To the left is my power and heart rate data for the ride. My average power was 201 Watts, with an average heart rate of about 137 bpm. That effort felt really easy at the beginning of the ride, and never really got too difficult. I did have to make 2 stops on the ride to re-fill water and sports drink. However, I tried to make these very quick stops so that they wouldn't significantly impact the ride data. I would have eliminated them altogether, but I just can't carry enough liquid on my bike to do that.

These two graphs represent Speed and Cadence, respectively. My average speed was 20.9 mph, which is pretty awesome (for me) for a 112+ mi ride. Granted, this was a very flat ride (maybe 800 ft descent/climbing over the course of the entire ride). I expect that IMMoo will be much slower due to the non-stop undulation of that bike course. Cadence averaged about 92 rpms, which is rigth where I like it. I used to try to stay between 85-95 rpms, but I've found I do better at a higher cadence. I now like to be between 90-100 rpms, and I'll often spin at just over 100 rpms for a "rest."

I finished the ride feeling really good. I targeted about 300 calories/hr while riding, including 2 GU gels (100 calories ea.) and supplementing with Gatorade Endurance formula and water as needed. I think I need to target more water, because Madison will probably be a lot more humid than Denver, and I tend to sweat a lot more in the humidity. Alo, I think I'll target an additional 50 calories/hr of food. I'm pretty sure I can absorb it, and it might make the difference on that brutal bike course.

2007 Boulder Peak Triathlon

The 2007 Boulder Peak was a "C" level race for me, as my only real focus (if you can call any of my training "focused") has been for Ironman Wisconsin. I knew going into this that I was pretty undertrained for the run. I just haven't been running, even though I've had no issues for a few weeks. Man, I hate running! :) Anyway, The Peak was on Sunday, July 22, the first real day of my vacation in Estes Park. Our friends, Matt & Shauna were in town to vacation with us, so Matt & I got up early (around 4:30 am) to make the drive into Boulder.

I was in the very last wave, so even though the race started at 6:30 am, I didn't get to go until 7:30. I knew I could look forward to a HOOOOOT day on the run course. :)

The Swim
27:48

I'm in decent swim shape, so I knew it'd be a pretty good swim for me. My time is a little misleading, I think. I came out of the water at about 25:50, but the timing mat was quite aways from the swim exit, right at the entry to transition. So I had to run almost 2 minutes to get to the mat. Seems weird to me, but... officially, I clocked in at 27:48. That was slightly disappointing.

T1
1:58

T1 was was uneventful, and fairly good for me. I don't start with the shoes on the bike, because I really haven't practiced it. So, it usually takes a little longer to get into the shoes and then out the bike exit. considering the run from the swim entrance to the bike rack and then to the bike exit, I was pretty pleased.

The Bike
1:14:32

This was a pretty decent bike split for me, although I think I could have gone harder. I had some trouble getting my shoes clipped in. I was wobbling around a bit in the first few meters trying to get clipped in. Finally made it, and off I went. Then, as I left the reservoir, my chain dropped as I was shifting into the big ring. More wobbling as I managed to shift it back without stopping. I should have known it meant trouble later.

The Peak is renowned for Old Stage Hill Rd, the only real hill on the course... but oh what a hill! In total, Old Stage Hill Rd is 2.5-3 miles long, with about 1.5 miles of climbing. However, the first 3/4 mile averages about 12% grade. Not only that, but you have to climb just to get to Old Stage Hill.

I was really cruising until I got to OSH. I usually take the false flat from the reservoir to the Lee Hill Rd. turnoff pretty easy, and at about 14-16 mph. This time I was cruising at between 18-20 mph, and I felt terrific. When I turned onto Lee Hill Rd to start the climb toward OSH, I was spinning easily and averaging 16 mph up the climb! It was awesome! When I finally hit OSH, I felt pretty good. A little more tired than I'd have liked (maybe I should have backed off on the climb), but pretty good. As I started the climb, I started shifting down to those easier gears, and just after the base of the climb, my chain dropped. Well... needless to say, when you're riding at 6 mph up a 12% grade, you have no time to try to shift the chain back on without stopping. So... I stopped and fixed the chain. Unfortunately, OSH is a bottle-neck for the bike leg, and I couldn't get any breaks to climb back on the bike. So, I started walking the bike up the hill, and finally, about 50 yards later, I saw a break in the line and managed to get back on the bike.

The final part of the climb was fun. A couple of people in Devil costumes and lots of other spectators made it feel sort of like the climb up Alp d'Huez in the Tour de France. After I crested OSH, I knew it would be fast! There's a 35 mph speed limit on the descent due to a near-fatal accident that happened a couple of years ago. So, I stayed on the brakes and kept myself right at 35 mph. Some guy came flying past me, and should have been DQ'ed. I hope they got him.

The rest of the bike was extremely flat and pretty darn fast. I caught the guy who screamed past me on the OSH descent pretty quickly, and never saw him again (although I'm sure he passed me on the run). I got into a great rhythm, and was just pedaling away at about 90-100 rpms. My legs never even got tired, and I just felt terrific! I was dreading the run, though, because I just haven't trained it much. I had a bottle of water on the bike, and tried to take some Gatorade from the aid stations, but I guess the volunteers didn't get the memo that said to take the seal off the Gatorade bottle before handing it to the cyclists. No Gatorade for me. Since it was a relatively short race, I didn't take any Gu or other foods. Little did I know that this would be the true cause of a really bad run leg.

As I neared the bike finish, I got my feet out of the shoes while still on the bike and finished the last few hundred meters at an easy pace. As I got to the dismount line, I jumped off the bike and headed into transition. My legs felt great, and I was ready for a decent run split!

T2
1:09

T2 was pretty uneventful, too. I'm surprised it took me over a minute. I need to work on that a bit.

The Run
1:05:52

This was a really disappointing split, as I felt pretty good coming into T2. Also, over the course of the run leg, I never felt like my legs were too fatigued. I just ran out of gas. The problem, I think, was that I should have fueled up a bit on the bike. I should have taken a gel or two, and some Gatorade would have helped as well.

I started out pretty good, noting my first mile split was 8:30. By mile 2 I was down to 9:30, and by mile 2.5 I was walking. The photo at the left is the start of the run. I was feeling good and running pretty well.

The photo at the right is about mile 5. I was running again, but very slowly. People were passing me all over the place. It was very disheartening.

On the positive side, though, I think I paced myself very well on the bike. If I can just nail down the nutrition, I think Ironman might be better than I originally expected.

Final Time: 2:51:19