I went to packet pick up and then to the race talk on Saturday morning. I had to specifically ask for clarification on the bike course because it was confusing even listening to it being explained. The rest of the day was spent laying around, gathering my stuff, and getting my bike back into working order. I had been in Los Angeles for work since Tuesday and was really feeling fatigued and worn down.
Race morning was a breeze. I had plenty of time to set up, use the portapotty, warm up, and be ready. Even spent 10 minutes lying on the ground in transition, relaxing and looking at the dark sky. It was fun to see a bunch of Team Challenge athletes/friends there prepping to race too. Things went smoothly and we waited for the pro waves to take off.
I was in a middle wave. The water was very warm for Oceanside at the end of October: 70.9*f. I wore a wetsuit anyway and was glad I did. We swam out to the starting line and waited for the signal. I took off fairly fast, trying to get ahead of most of my wave and be clear of congestion while still hoping to find someone's feet. Before I got to the far turn buoy I had negative thoughts cropping up as I felt the fatigue from the long, stressful work week. I thought, "I don't want to do this. Why should I keep going?" Fortunately I had a couple of answers that I settled on to snap me out of it. One was that I was racing with teammates, people I coached, and I couldn't very well just quit. And the other was to realize I was going a little too hard and to back off my pace a little so I could regroup and get on to the bike.
The swim finished fine and I went into transition at a reasonable but purposeful pace. Sat down to get the wetsuit off my calves, got my bike stuff on, and headed out to the mount line. My transition could use a little work. Out on the bike it felt like very familiar territory since I ride in Oceanside pretty often. The course was 2 laps out to the east followed by 2 laps to the south. I might have been confused if I hadn't been to the race talk on Saturday. 3 of my teammates were given the wrong directions by the volunteers on the course and ended up being DQed for not doing 2 loops - very unfortunate. There were a few "technical" sections with some 90 to 110* turns. I dropped my chain once as I was shifting and going up hill. Otherwise I rode fairly hard at what I thought was an appropriate pace but still seemed to lack speed. In hindsight it's obvious that I need more speed work for these shorter distances.
When I got to T2 I began to put my compression socks on but was quickly frustrated at how slow it was going. So, breaking the "nothing new on race day" commandment, I ran in my Hokas for the first time without socks. I ended up with a rub spot on each foot but they didn't slow me during the race. I was cautious with pace at first as I began to run, worried that my hip flexor would give me trouble. Getting over an hour of warm up on the bike first made a big difference because I never felt anything. I completely messed up my Garmin/gps readings so I have no data but I believe I paced the run well with even splits the first 4 miles and with the final 2 miles faster. I walked the short, steep uphills, choosing to conserve energy since I was walking nearly as fast as most people around me who ran up them.
In the end I was happy with my effort though not too pleased with my 5th place finish. On Monday I had a higher than expected level of soreness, mostly from the run, that lasted a good 5 days. It just goes to show that a lack of good preparation will show itself in the end. I confirmed a few things with this race regarding what I plan to focus on next year. I have the potential to go faster in all phases of the race. My swim was fairly fast for me, mostly because of how little muscle fatigue I had (thanks to a lack of training). My bike was steady, I felt like I was working it, but in the end it wasn't really any faster than my Ironman pace. My run pace was right where I expected, given my training and condition. 8:50/mile pace may translate to an 8:30 1/2 marathon pace - just a guess - and that's where I think I was on that day.
Nutrition: I timed my breakfast to be 3 hours prior to the start of my wave. It included a boring blueberry bagel with some almond butter and honey on it. I took my antibiotic and 3 Extreme Endurance magnesium tabs. At the race venue I drank some "preload" Osmo drink with caffeine and Delta E prior to the race as well as taking 4 MAP tabs. On the bike I went through about 12 oz of water with about 100 calories of Osmo mixed in. On the run I took in a little water at aid stations and had a 100 calorie gel at around 3+ miles.
Stats:
- 5th out of 15 in my age division, 128 of 291 for all men (excluding DQs), 149 of 423 overall (excluding DQs).
- Swim 21:03 - 1:18/100y, 2nd in age group
- T1 2:43 - 5th in age group
- Bike 1:11:41 - 20.8mph, 8th in age group
- T2 1:38 - 7th in age group
- Run :54:52 - 8:50/mile - 6th in age group
- Final 2:31:59
No comments:
Post a Comment