tri-ac :: triathlete

2008 Lake Stevens 70.3

This is the race report from my first ever half iron distance triathlon, my A race for the year. For the last 20 weeks, I have been following a training plan from the book Triathlete Magazine’s Essential Week-by-Week Training Guide, the level 4 HIM plan. It gave me focus and more specific workouts than usual “bike 2hrs” that a lot of free plans have. Also, this was my first time doing 9 workouts a week. My previous triathlon training had been done on 6 workouts a week, in the model of just do something every day. Training went pretty well. I made 95% of the workouts (life does get in the way sometimes). I had a running setback around week 3 that sent me to physical therapy, and ended up with only 1 training run of 2hrs as my peak long run. Knowing my running was not necessarily prepped for the distance, especially with the expected fatigue from the other two disciplines, my race plan was to get to the run feeling comfortable. As this was my first half ironman, it was important to me to have a good day. Time goals were going to be gravy. That being said…my training led me to believe I’d definitely get it done in under 6:30:00 and probably closer to 6:15:00 (secretly, I hoped to go under 6:00:00). For the swim, I thought I could go hard and still recover. For the bike, I knew I needed to keep things in check and take in as much nutrition as I could so that I could run with as little food/drink intake as possible. I’ve found I just can’t eat (or drink) and run at the same time. Besides, I had read that if you’re not topped up by the time you get to the run, you’re not likely to catch up. I haven’t weighed myself in a while, but I’m leaner than this winter (200#) so I think I was somewhere around 190 pounds going into the race; and I’m still 6’-5” last I checked.

PRERACE – We drove up from Portland Saturday morning, making the trip up to Everett in 3.5 hours. Packet pickup was at the host hotel in Everett, an easy 15minute drive from Lake Stevens. There was a required lecture from the head referee on the rules and the way they’d be assessing penalties. Then, on to packet pickup and the expo. The expo was lame. I’d somehow imagined that a race under the Ironman brand would bring in more retail interest. There was a Computrainer booth and that was it. No gear to check out or prize drawings or free samples. The swag bag was basically the race T shirt (tech tee, at least) and a bike bottle. Pretty modest stuff for a race that was charging $200. My little boy couldn’t bring himself to sit still during the lecture, so my wife hustled him out to find lunch. After I got my stuff, I left and found the family at the Denny’s across the street. I ordered a burger and fries and wondered what healthy stuff the other athletes were eating. We drove out to the transition area, and I did a last shakedown ride and racked my bike in transition. Then, we checked into our hotel (not the host hotel), and I rested in front of the TV while my wife and son went out to blow some 3-year-old energy. We met friends for dinner around 6pm at a nearby Macaroni Grille. I had salad, pasta, and a glass of wine. With the late lunch at Denny’s, I was pretty full and wondering if I was pushing it food-wise. We got back to the hotel and tried to turn the lights out around 9p. I did a last check of the things I needed to take in the morning and set out the things I would wear. I slept fitfully, but did need my alarm this time to wake up. Usually I’m up before the alarm. So, what to do at 4am…? Sunscreen on; tri shorts on; singlet on. I made a peanut butter and honey bagel, and I washed it down with some water. Then, I sat down to empty as much of my bowels as I could; I didn’t want to carry around anything I didn’t have to. Then I headed out to the race. I was pretty nervous. All week I had had butterflies in my stomach just thinking about the day, and here it was!

In transition, I took my bike to the bike assist tent first thing and got the rented race wheels up to pressure. I had been having trouble inflating the front wheel and wanted a “wrench” to make sure it got the correct pressure. As with my floor pump from home, the valve extender was not agreeable, but he tried two pumps; the one that ended up working didn’t have a gauge so we filled it up to finger pressure. Fingers crossed now…because that was as good as we could do with that wheel. I racked my bike and laid out my transition area. I hit the portapotty one last time to evacuate yesterday’s meals. The race packet didn’t include the timing chip (do other races do this?), so I picked mine up near the swim start and put it on my neoprene ankle strap. It was cool and the weather forecast was for morning clouds and afternoon sun with a high in the low 70’s. The announcer said the water was measured at 72 degrees. I lubed up with bodyglide (crook of my arms, neck all around, nipples & crotch); put my wetsuit on; grabbed my goggles and cap; took a sip of Gatorade; and headed to the dock.

SWIM – The swim was laid out as an out-and-back with a great set of mini-buoys on a submerged rope. During my warm-up swim, I went over to see if the submerged rope could work as my lane line. As long as there weren’t kicking feet churning in front of me, it was pretty visible. Cool! My pre-race plan was to go hard on this leg of the race thinking that I could recover on the bike with no harm done to the run. I had second thoughts as the race began, and I relaxed into conservatively sustainable pace; I REALLY didn’t want to blow up on the run. I was able to keep a position at the lane line for about half of the swim, but dodging other swimmers forced me to zig zag like a shark for the other half. My sighting was generally pretty good, and I didn’t take any significant detours along the course. The body traffic was fine: couple of bumps but nothing significant. On the return leg, I passed some of the dark green and orange caps from the earlier wave. I could see some yellow caps catching up and swimming through our wave, too. Nothing unexpected there; I’m usually a MOP swimmer. My mental state was great in retrospect: no self doubt during this leg (historically, about halfway through, I start wondering why I’m out there). There was a pretty good traffic jam at the boat ramp exit. I had to stop swimming to not run people over. Twice I thought I could touch down on the bottom. I reached down and felt nothing so I did a whip kick to just move up and forward a bit and almost had a huge muscle cramp. Cramps narrowly avoided, I got to transition and crossed the mat in 38:25. (1:49/100yds, not great for me, but, hey, I just completed my first half iron swim!)

T1 – I saw my wife and son cheering and waving from behind the fence; I waved, and it made me SMILE! I found my bike. I stripped the remainder of my wetsuit and wiped my feet off; put on my shoes (no socks); helmet on; glasses on; race belt on. They wanted us to wear our run number during the bike so they could strike all our races numbers at once if we incurred a penalty; odd, but whatever. 2:18.

BIKE – I jogged my bike to the mount line and hopped up and clipped in and dodged two characters who were both losing shoes in their flying mount attempts. I pedaled briskly to break free of the starting area and then settled a bit to shake out my legs. The first six miles had been changed since I had previewed the course, but a fellow Portland Tri Clubber told me that it was relatively flat and a good warmup. After 15 minutes on the bike, I drank half a bottle of Gatorade to kick start my nutrition for the day. I was still feeling a little of my eating the day before but not in a bad way. It just felt like I was topped up. My plan was to use (2) 24oz Gatorades plus 1 package of Shot Bloks on the bike. I would pick up another 24oz Gatorade at the handup, just in case. Over the first ten miles, I saw a lot of athletes dealing with flats. The road was pretty clean and smooth so I don’t quite understand what they were having trouble with; maybe just poor bike service. I was still nervous about my front wheel, but it seemed to be doing its job and as the flat-repairing folks disappeared behind me so did my fears for my front wheel. The moto followed behind me a bit around mile 12 until I braked and sat up; at which point, the moto accelerated away. I didn’t think I was drafting, but that early in the race, there were still a lot of athletes in close proximity to each other. I felt confident enough about the course to be assertive with my riding. I felt like I could push in certain areas and be conservative in others. In the past, I would usually be riding on the defensive (effort-wise), just pushing and holding on as best I can “in the moment.” But today, I felt like I had a plan. I would crest a climb and then stand and get back to my big ring and settle into a faster pace than some of the other racers who seemed to be resting in the small ring after climbing a particular hill. The two hills of significance were relatively short, and, while they got me into my 34/25, I was able to spin up them. The only time I stood was when I needed to relieve my back stiffness. My bike fit efforts this Spring and my bike training over the last year really paid off for me in this race. I’m still no superstar, but improvement is improvement, and it made me happy to realize it on race day! The two good downhills were FUN! So much so that while during my preview ride I was scared to get out of the drops, during the race I stayed in the aerobars and probably hit 40pmh! There was also a false flat along Dubuque Road that had me moving along close to 30mph. I remembered it on the second lap and accelerated into it. The bike route is a two loop course, and, as I rolled past the sign showing the cutoff to Transition, I knew surviving this new distance was possible! I picked up a new bottle of Gatorade at the handup (I had never done this before and managed to hang on to the second one presented to me). I ended up carrying the third bottle of Gatorade as excess baggage, but better to have than not! The second loop passed as well as the first though with more back stiffness, which was expected given the distance. When I got back to the cutoff sign, I got all choked up and happy that I was going to finish this race! I calmed myself down so I didn’t fall off the bike (I wasn’t there yet!) and headed back to transition. I started to relax and spin to get ready for the run, but it was still a few miles back to transition (this was part of the last minute course change I hadn’t previewed). I realized this and pushed back up to pace. When I finally hit 16^th Ave, I spun up and loosened up for the run. 2:59:21. (18.73mph avg & 15:00 better than expected!)

T2 – I rolled in off the bike and dismounted cleanly. No shoeless dismounts for me. Found my spot; racked my bike; removed my glasses & helmet; emptied my pocket of trash; put a gel in my pocket; sat down & traded bike shoes for socks & running shoes. Pre-rolled socks & bungy laces are great! I put my hat on, and I hit the portapotty and drained the excess liquid I’d been carrying from the bike leg nutrition. That portapotty was just about full! NASTY! Then, out to the run. 3:34. (admittedly slow, but nothing forgotten, and a pound or two lighter!)

RUN – This was the big demon for the day! I had gotten here feeling good, and, while I could feel the aggregate fatigue of the earlier legs, I felt apprehensively ready to take it on. I started out slow, and let my comfort dictate my momentum. By the first mile marker, I felt like I had hit my rhythm. The two loop course was set up in a bow tie with the bow tie loop ends fairly equal in length. This was great for spectators as they gathered at the “knot” to see the athletes come by 5 times. My wife and son set up here and had chalked a message for me and cheered. It wasn’t until I was done that I realized they had made custom shirts, too! My son had a little cow bell, and he was yelling, “Go, Daddy, go, go, go!”

I choked up every time I saw them, and it made me really happy to see them cheering for me. I had to settle myself each time so I didn’t blow valuable energy. The first few miles went very well. I got water at the even mile marker aid stations. I checked my watch as I got to each mile marker and seemed to be hitting 9:00/mi. This was fantastic! This held up until mile 6. Then I started to feel the day’s effort. When I checked my time at mile 8, I had slowed off the 9 minute pace. I’m not smart enough to do the math while I’m running, but it seemed expected to me to not hold a constant pace for the run. No worries yet. By the time I hit the bow tie knot to head out on my last loop, I started to want the run to end. My steps felt labored, and my legs felt heavy. I concentrated on keeping moving. It’s only 5k…it’s only 5k. By my watch, the just-keeping-moving was faster than it felt. It’s funny; up until now, I haven’t felt the need to explain the terrain. Lake Stevens is in the foothills to the Cascades. The course was not steep, per se, but it definitely had hills. I was beginning to notice my steps and the grade, and my mind was trying to get a grip on finishing. I needed to walk several times during that last 2 miles just to eliminate the mental grind I was getting into. In retrospect I might have been able to push through, but I was wanting to finish feeling good about the day. I kept my walks short (10-20secs max). I definitely need more run training and maybe some strength work too. The course is next to the lake for the last 1.5 miles so I could see the finish chute. The closer I got, the less I felt my legs. I saw the family one last time at the bow tie knot and ran up into the chute. I looked up at the clock and saw 6:05:xx! I hadn’t been checking any overall times for fear of ruining expectations or messing with my mindset. Seeing that I was so close to six hours was fantastic! I knew the clock was started with the pro waves so I was going to be close to making a six hour half ironman my first time out! My run, whatever it felt like, was good enough to be proud of, walking and all! 2:11:40. (10:03/mi, not as fast as I’d have liked, but not too shabby for having walked a bit!)

TOTAL – 5:55:14 [WOW!!!!!] 468/866 overall 73/110 in age group 364/578 of men

I got my finisher’s medal and some cold drinks and found my family. I signed up for a massage and sat down to take in my day! I was very pleased to have run a solid race; to have my family there to support me; and to have done justice to the training time I had invested!

I’m taking a week off to rest and assess what other races I want to do this summer (Hulaman & Portland Tri seem to be the likely candidates). Then, fire it up again and see if I can improve my running…