Rev 3 Cedar Point – The Race Report That Didn’t Happen

So here it is.  Cedar Point was my A race for the year.  The goal of this year was to build on the bike, and build on the run, so that I could get some revenge on my 140.6 performance at IMWI. 

The Plan

Swim - I worked hard in the pool this year.  I suffered a lot.  I swam so hard that I spent as much time gasping for breath at the gutter as I did swimming I think.  And I improved.  A lot.  My best guess is I’d have gone around 33 minutes in a wet suit, give or take a minute.

Bike – My 20K TTs have always been strong.  This year I really worked to spread that fast out over 56 miles.  My best 56 miles was done in 2:38 in training.  That was two months before Cedar Point, and I was sharp.  On a clear day, on a very flat cedar point course, with agreeable wind and a taper, I was optimistically expecting 2:23.   The power numbers were working out.  It would have been great.

Run – My run still really wasn’t where I wanted it, but with some help I have been able to improve my comfort at the marathon pace speeds tremendously.  I ran a 2:09 on a hilly course, a month before, but my coach and I believed I had 1:55 in me on race day.

So, That’s 33 minutes + 143 minutes + 115 minutes + 10 minutes for transition = Right at 5 hours, give or take. 

That would have been a phenomenal time. 

Unfortunately, it didn’t work out.  The day before the race we did the normal pre-race stuff.  I stood in lots of lines, got my bike set up, did some 10 minute shake down workouts, etc.  Then we got some food at the Outback Steakhouse in Sandusky and went to bed. 

I jumped up out of bed around 4am, ran to the bathroom, and threw up.  My brain went into triage mode “Maybe it was just nerves, I thought.  I’ll be ok… that’s stupid, you don’t get that nervous…ok, first thing is you need to get your prerace breakfast in you so you’re ready to race in three hours.  PB&Banana sandwich time!”  But I was nauseated at the thought of eating, and found myself in the bathroom throwing up again.  There was no way.  I was getting sick over and over, and I knew that was it.  My race was over.  I told Lana, and posted something on facebook so people wouldn’t be watching for my splits.  And I went back to bed.  The next 24 hours were a blur of vomiting, watching myth buster reruns, and sleeping.  At about 2pm I trudged through transition to pick up my bike.  For the most part I hurt too bad to be sad I wasn’t racing, but when I saw folks out on the run course my heart was broken. 

The next day, I was mostly back to normal.  I woke up wanting food, which was a good sign.  And as I ate, the feeling of loss really came over me.  I was so fit, would I have really broken 5 hours?  I don’t know.  I never will know.  I remembered back to a day a few months ago.  I worked all day with Lana to stain our deck.  Then I went out and did a long run.  And then I finished staining the deck.  I was so tired I was dead on my feet.  There were so many days like that, were I had sacrificed sleep, comfort, and sanity to build for my race.  I felt really cheated; I worked really hard, but didn’t have anything tangible to show for it. 

And then something great came out of it!  No, just kidding, not really.  There’s no happy turn of events to report.  I still feel cheated.  I still don’t have anything to show for it.  I may or may not have broken 5 hours, and I may or may not ever be in that place again.  I’ll never really know.  All I can really do though is move on and focus on the next race. 

Tri-The-Illini - 01:10:55.8

2^nd Place AG

16^th Overall

After not racing cedar point, I wanted one last triathlon for the year.  So, I jumped into Tri-The-Illini, which is one of my favorite local sprints. 

I was heavily prepping for the Indianapolis Marathon, and my body was tired, so this was a B race at best.   The last mile of the 5k would be my 52^nd mile run this week, which was a big step up from my normal 35-40.

Race morning was cold.    Lining up on the cold concrete pool deck was brutal.

Swim

300M

6:14.9

2:05/100M

This swim wasn’t my best.   It was a snake pool swim, and whenever I do those I always get screwed up in the lane lines.  My GPS data showed about 1:40/100 moving pace, but all my screwing around really cost me.   Oh well, no big.

T1

52.7 seconds

Not a bad T1 for me…

Bike

14.5 Miles

38:43.4

22.4 Mph

So, my biggest goal for this race was to try to keep the bike in check.   Typically a triathlete will ride a sprint at about 92-98% FTP.   My coach felt that my bike was so strong relative to my running that it was what was keeping me from running closer to my 5k pace in sprints, so he wanted me to hold way back, towards the 90-92% range instead of my normal 95%.   I was a little nervous I’d be giving up to much, but, I was willing to take the chance.

Unfortunately about 2 miles in, my power meter went out and I was flying by RPE.   I don’t now, but I’m guessing based on my pace, that I maybe slowed down just a little bit too much.   It’s hard to say though, as the second half of the bike combined a steady head wind with a false flat and made it really hard to judge effort.

T2

01:23.7

Not bad.   My feet were so cold I had a hard time getting my shoes on fast.  

Run

5K

23:41.1

7:38/mi

For about the first 400m I just couldn’t get my feet under me.   I was running about 8:30, giving up a ton of ground, and getting discouraged.  But then I just sort of relaxed into it  and got my effort up.   I did a good job negative splitting the course, and actually finished the last 400 at about 6:40/mi , or around 20sec/mile faster than my 5k pace.  In the end, I was about 30 seconds per mile slower than my open 5k PR, which is pretty darn good.

 So, lesson learned, until I can get my bike and run more in line, I have to slow down a bit on the bike to run faster.  

Race Report: Dells Rev3 70.3

Finally, I’ve made it to my first real race of the year.  On one hand, I was really happy to be racing a 70.3.  On the other, I knew this wasn’t the course for me.  The bike was hilly enough that it would use my weight against me, and kill my bike strength.  The run was hilly enough to be dangerous to my weak hamstrings and overall poor running.  It was going to be a tough day.  But, I was running better than I had been in a while.  My bike was strong.  And most importantly, I knew I was out to enjoy the day because the course took the pressure off of a PR. 

I was really excited for Lana though, this was her first 70.3.   She sure did pick a hard one!  Anyway, on with the race report. 

Swim

Time  35:38

Distance 1.2 Miles

Pace 1:51/100m

The swim was at Tommy Bartlet’s Water Show.  It was probably the coolest swim venue I’ve gotten to swim in.   I remember being 7 years old, watching the water show with my parents on vacation.  It  was pretty cool to be swimming in that same spot. 

It was a TT start, which is odd, but it was run well and things went off great. 

I metered my effort by breathing, and I think I left way too much on the table in the swim.  I finished feeling like I put out a pretty leisurely effort, and I was shocked and surprised by my time. 

There was a long uphill run, on asphalt, up to T1.  That part wasn’t so much fun. 

Bike

Time 3:00:45

Distance 56 Miles

Pace 18.58 Mph

I had ridden the course, so I knew the bike was gonna be tough.  And, it was.  I targeted .8 IF and felt great at that power level.  I was averaging about 21 mph until the 3 big climbs hit.  Then things got slow.  I tried to hold my power even, but just getting up the hills and making forward progress meant riding at 100% IF a lot of the time.  It was a climber’s course, which favored the very lite.   That isn’t me.  On the second climb, Seth flew by me looking especially strong and I’m pretty sure saying something like “weeeee, this is fun!”  Ok, so, maybe that wasn’t what he said exactly, but I sure did wish I was built to climb!

I operated in 15 minute intervals.  Every 15 minutes I’d do my best to hold .8 IF, eat a ¼ of a poptart.  Drink, and reset the clock.  Lana and I were recently watching Battlestar Galactica, and I was reminded of an episode we had recently watched where the cyclons attacked every 33 minutes, and so for days, the fleet lived 33 minutes at a time.  Every 15 minutes I’d “reset the jump clock” and go again.  It worked really well, and was a great strategy I’d use again.

After the big climbs, my pace picked up again.  I’d have averaged 21 mph, if I could have just removed those stupid hills.  Maybe I’ll stick to courses that work for me a little more next time.

I was feeling just a little weak towards the end.  I think I could have used some more calories overall, but it was a good ride in a bad place. 

Run

Time 2:09:12

Distance 13.1

Pace 9:51/mi

Out on the run I felt pretty good.  I knew it was hilly, I knew I was a weak runner, I wasn’t expecting much.  I held back on the first 5 miles, and kept it fairly easy.  I saw Emily (aka Captain Blood) right out of T2 .  In the athlete meeting the day before, we were warned NOT to swear at volunteers, and there was Emily in a volunteer shirt.  I suppressed the urge and kept jogging. 

About 5 miles in I picked it up a little bit, and turned the effort up to about a 7/10.  I saw Seth again, and he was going really hard.  And then came the hills.  They were rough, and the downhills were worse than the ups.  My hamstring issue flared back up again, and I was just hoping to avoid injury.  I walked a few of the hills, and I knew it would kill my pace, but there was just nothing I could do.  I saw Lana, about 3 miles behind me, after the turn around.  She was looking tired but strong, and I was really relieved to see her.  We both always worry about each other when we’re racing at the same time, and I was glad to know she got off the bike without any mechanicals. 

About 10 miles in I tried to turn it up again, but it wasn’t happening.  I was pretty much done, and I just held my pace.   I rolled into the finish feeling like I had raced, but with just a little in the tank.  My push was limited, because the PR was off the table.  But I had a great time, and had a good race.  I was saving that PR for cedar point in a few weeks.

Post-Race

Post-race, Rev had Brats and potato salad.  It was very “Wisconsin” and pretty tasty I thought.  I ate A LOT of potato salad, which is a bad idea in general, but it was pretty tasty that day.  Later on I watched Lana finish and we walked over to recover our bikes before joining Lana’s parents for pizza, and pancakes the next morning!

Evergreen Triathlon – Sprint - 1:39:31.1

Overall Place 7/150

AG Place 2/11

Normally I do the Olympic distance event at Evergreen, but not this year. 

This race report starts about a month prior to the race.  I spent the week in San Jose on business, away from my bike.  The combination of bad eating, abnormally high run mileage (compensating for the bad eating), and hilly topography resulted in a hamstring strain of some type.  I’ve had a weak hamstring on my right side for a long time, and that became a big problem after that week. 

At first I did what every runner with pain would do, I ignored it.  Then I started bombing some runs, and seeing my run pace drop.  I couldn’t ignore it anymore, I was hurt.  So, I took some time off.  Then I stretched, strengthened, and rehabbed the best I could.  But as the Evergreen Olympic got closer, I realized I was in no shape to run a hard 10k.

Luckily the race director let me move my entry down to the sprint.  The evergreen sprint is an interesting event in that it keeps the 40k bike.  I hadn’t done a 40k all year, but in general I’m pretty strong on the bike, so I wasn’t incredibly worried, and who knows, because of the smaller race size I might even be competitive in my AG, which I’m certainly not in the evergreen Oly. 

On race morning I got to the event, got setup, and started my warm up.  I went into the race somewhat recovered, but mostly not tapered, haven’t really only taken about 3 days easy.   As I got on the bike that morning, my hamstring immediately started complaining.  I thought it was doing better, but maybe not. 

Swim - 10:29 / 600m / 1:55/100

The swim was a little long, based on my GPS.  I also swam it very conservatively, having over done it just a bit at the Trishark sprint tri a month before.    Overall I think it went well, however I left a ton on the table.  In a 600m swim though, that’s just a few seconds, so no big.

T1 - 1:21.1

My T1 went pretty well.  I’m not fast at transitions, but I’m much improved this year. 

Bike – 1:01:20.4 / 24.8 / 24.31

My bike went pretty well.  I struggled a bit with the flying mount this time around, having maybe gotten just a little cocky about how well it went last year.  I struggled just a little keeping my head in the game on the bike as there wasn’t really anyone to race on the course.  The sprint started after all the Olympic groups, so I was able to use a lot of folks to slingshot down the course.  I felt just a little guilty using the pass zone of slower folks to accelerate me, but it’s all part of the game on the bike.  I even got a “thumbs up” from a draft marshal while I was doing it.  

I got passed by local athletes Kevin McCarthy and Mick Hannah, each on a turn, later in the race, and had to work to pass them both back.   Both made it very clear that my bike is all speed and no finesse.  That’s something I’m going to seriously work on.  I’m still skiddish in corners after a crash in 2010, and a general lack of experience, but enough is enough.  I’m probably losing a minute on my 40k cornering like an old woman in a Cadillac. 

The hamstring started whining with about 5 miles left, and I backed off just a bit.

According to the split I was around 24.3, but there’s no way.  I think the course was a bit short this time.  The winds were good though, so who knows. 

T2 – 1:29.3

My T2 didn’t go so well.  My transition spot was pretty much on the other side of transition from bike in, and I unclipped wearing my bike shoes to run my bike through T2.  That cost me a ridiculous amount of time, it was a really long run in cleats. 

If I were going to focus on this short course stuff, I’d learn how to take my shoes off on the bike and run barefoot…   But I’m not a short course athlete, so I’m not going to stress about it. 

Run - 24:59.8 / 3.1 / 8:02/mi

My run went pretty well, considering the hamstring thing.  It didn’t really start bugging me until I started racing someone else in my AG.  In the last mile it really started threating to cramp up, when I was descending a small hill, so I shortened my stride and cruised home.  In the end it held me a back a little but I still had a pretty decent run.

Afterwards

Post-race I found out I did well enough for 2^nd place in my AG, which I’ll happily take on a good day.  Being that it happened on a short course race while injured, that’s a bonus. 

Lana got 5^th in her AG in the Oly as well, with much more fierce competition!

24!

One of my favorite parts of summer is attending the local time trial on Tuesday nights, referred to locally as TNTT or ‘Tuesday Night Time Trial,’ run by local cycling folk hero (and beer aficionado) Mick Hannah.   It’s a 20K loop on country roads, complete with a few rollers, Illinois wind, and lots of rough chip/seal.  It’s usually a somewhat low key event, and my schedule keeps me from getting out there as much as I’d like, but I always have a good time when I do. 

Ever since last year, I’ve had a big goal at TNTT…to break an average speed of 24 mph.  I’ve come really close, so many times!  I’ve hit 23.7, 23.9, but I just couldn’t seem to flip it over to 24.

Last winter, I was tempted to sleep in a lot, but breaking 24 at TNTT got me out of bed.  I’d get up early, early in the morning every Tuesday, Thursday, and Sunday and jump on the trainer with that goal in mind.  I suffered through over 1,500 minutes riding at threshold intensity over the winter, trying to push myself to hit that magic number.

A few Tuesdays ago, I finally got to make an attempt at it.  The wind was finally dying down from the spring, and was blowing at about 8mph in a direction that would help more than hurt.   My bike FTP was at new heights.  Due to a recent running injury I was taper and very fresh.  This was ‘the’ Tuesday of the summer.

I really wanted 24.  It was great to have a goal, because my season this year has lacked so much direction.  For the most part I’ve felt like I was floating… What do you do, after you do an Ironman?  I don’t know.  When it was time to hurt, I haven’t really had a good answer, and I’ve raced somewhat poorly because of it. 

But, I was determined to hit that number, and as I slowly rode the course warming up, I put together my race plan.  I practiced the lines I’d corner with.  I thought about winds.  Most importantly, I prepared myself mentally for the push to come. 

I rolled up to the line, second from the back to start.   Breathing deeply, I waited anxiously for the ‘Go!’ and had my mind on 24 mph the entire time.  The first part of the course rolls a bit, there is a stop sign, and there were some winds.  Turning on to ‘2250’ the long straight away, about 3 miles in, it was just starting to hurt.

As with my half marathon earlier this year, I looked for the line, the place where I had to choose to perform, or be mediocre.  I was already there.  I did what I could to relax into the effort, control my breathing, and focus my mind on happier things.  My average speed read 23.7 Mph.  My watts were on goal. 

Lana encouraged me to keep a mental catalog of happy thoughts, to pull out when things got hard.  I was quickly digging through that catalog.  As it turned out, this was a powerful strategy to keep pushing in this type of very hard effort, and one that I’ll certainly use again.

About 7 miles in, I really starting struggling to hold my goal watts, however my speed was now approaching 25 Mph.  I knew though, that if I didn’t stay on the gas, it wouldn’t work out as I had just turned into the wind.  My mind went to that catalog of positive thoughts, and I kept pushing, using those good memories as my very own ‘Patronus Charm’ and bleeding off just a few watts as my legs worked towards failure.  

When I hit 12.2 I went all in, and I crossed the line at 12.4 totally done.  My average speed was 24.4 mph by the timers, and I had accomplished the one thing that got me out of bed on those cold winter mornings.

And there it was…24.  Mission accomplished. 

So what’s next?  Sub 30… That’s my next goal.  I’m going to ride a 20K is less than 30 minutes.  24.86 Mph. 

Race Report: Trishark Classic 2012 1:12:11.3 (1:15:55.7)

Tri-Shark Classic Triathlon 1:12:11.3

Note:  Since this is my fourth year doing Tri-Shark, I've put last years results in parenthesis for comparison.

Age Group Place: 10/53 (8/31)
Overall: (76)

Trishark #4, the open to the 2012 tri season for me.

Swim

Distance: 600y
Time: 10:46.4 (13:18.3)
100y: 1:48 (2:13)

I had a great swim this year.  I made the sprint with the fishes in my AG and hung on.  Maybe I went a little to hard, I was still feeling the swim on the bike, which I've never experienced before.

T1

I spent alot of time trying to improve my T1, and I think it worked for the most part.  Basic flow was:
-Wetsuit off half way on the run, all the way at the rack
-Glasses (under helmet straps
-Helmet
-Bike shoes clipped in and banded on

Note, I was a 9ish seconds faster last year, but I didn't swim with a wetsuit last year.

Time: 01:41.8 (1:32.9)

Bike

My bike split was exactly the same as last year.  I really underachieved here.  I think I payed a little for how hard I went on the swim, but also I was missing some of the push I needed to actually race.  I knew I was a long way from the podium and my bike ride was more of a pity party than a TT.  I ended up pulling off a power number closer to a 40K TT than a 20K.

Time: 33:28.6 (33:28)
Distance: 13 Miles
MPH: 23.3 (22.3)

T2

My T2 is much improved this year.  I'm still 20 or so seconds off from "good" but I'm 30 second from where I was...  Short course transitions have never been my thing, but I'm working at it in hopes to take a few more minutes off the long course.

Time: 01:20.6 (1:54:.0)

Run

I definately underachieved on the run.  Same excuses as the bike.  Not a fitness thing, it's my head, not my body.  I had 23's in me, I just didn't have a reason.

Time: 24:53.9 (25:42.5)
Pace: 8:02 (8:17)

Something Unplanned is Going To Happen

This is my 4th year doing Triathlons. Some people would consider me an experienced triathlete, but believe me I'm still very new. 


I do know a thing or two about racing though. Tomorrow, I'm racing The Trishark classic for the 4th year in a row, and here is what I know. In 4 years of racing, every race has had an obstacle to overcome. It might have been crazy heat, wind, snow, rain, a mechanical issue, or eating the wrong thing, but every race has a story. 


 And so, going into my 4th race I know better than say "this is the race where everything goes according to plan." Instead I'll be saying "In triathlon, anything can happen. I'll react, roll with it, and keep going. No matter what the race brings, there will be a great party afterwards and I'll be better for the experience." 


 So, my advice as a "grizzled veteran" to someone doing their first race tomorrow is this. Something unplanned will happen tomorrow, but you'll be prepared. You'll deal with it, and no matter what happens there will be a great party and a new story to tell in the end.