Race Report - QuarterMax Triathlon

After a cross-country move and starting a somewhat intense, 6-week session of school, my training has been a bit sporadic.  Regardless, now that my shoulder is finally back to (almost) normal, I wanted to get some racing under my belt.  Five years ago, I was visiting my in-laws in Southern Illinois and found a local race to do called the QuarterMax – a 1000 yd swim, 28 mile bike, and 6.5 mile run (at the time).  My parents were also traveling through the area at the time, so I had a substantial support crew there.  That morning, I was standing on the beach waiting for my wave to start and next thing I know I heard a scream from one of the kayakers saying that “somebody went down – we need help!”  The shorter race had some waves before mine and one of the swimmers, on his way back toward the beach about 100 yards out, went under the water.  We all ran from the beach into the water trying to find him and after 5-10 minutes a couple of guys did.  They pulled him up on to the beach and a doctor spectator tried to revive him for what seemed like forever.  In the mean time, they called for help and a helicopter showed up another few minutes later and the life-flighted him out of there.  We found out later he did not survive.

Meanwhile, we were all left on the beach just dumbfounded and gutted.  It was a surreal experience and none of us knew what was going on.  Obviously we were not all that worried about the race.  Eventually, the race director, in tears, gathered us all together and told us the race was going to happen, but the swim would be shortened.  So we all went through the motions.

 

Going back 5 years later was a little unnerving because of what had happened, but it also felt like some closure in some ways.  Nobody mentioned anything at the race, but I had the athlete in my head a large part of the morning.

As far as the race goes, this one is a good one for me with a slight emphasis on the bike/run combo.  Now that I moved to the area, I figured it’d be fun to go back to QuarterMax and get into the local race scene.  And though my wife and kids were in Florida for the week (as I finish school for the summer), my folks have moved to the area also and decided to come out to the race again.  Plus another good friend of mine that lives in St. Louis came out --- it was great to see him out there!

One thing about races in this area is that the water is warm and there are no wetsuits.  This one was no exception – the water was 81.  I decided to swim in my tri shorts and put on my HR monitor and shirt in transition.  Probably not the best decision with respect to having quick transitions, but I did want HR data from the race.  In future events, I’ll need a better solution.

My goals for this race were:

• Focus on not dropping my left elbow during the swim and continue working on correcting that bad habit / motor pattern.
• Impair myself on the bike, as if I didn’t have to run afterwards.
• Get in ~300 cals on the bike to see how my gut would do at that intensity.
• Run in search of the hurt box and crank up the RPE in the 2^nd lap.

The swim went fine.  I attempted to get behind a few people, but it didn’t last long and I was on my own for most of it.  After getting over a shoulder injury (finally), I have just recently started swimming more.  I am not fast, but I at least managed the distance OK (yes, only 1000 meters, but you have to start somewhere) and was able to focus on form and not dropping my left elbow.  I was out of the water somewhere mid-back of my wave. 

Once I got on the bike, I started hard from the beginning trying to make up as much deficit as I could.  I was watching HR/power some, but was mostly focused on keeping the effort up and getting around as many people as possible.  I had forgotten how hilly and technical this course was.  The roads in and out of the park were windy and had some short, steep climbs.  I was hoping to get near my FTP from a power standpoint, but had a hard time keeping the effort up with all the turns, etc.  Once I got out on the country roads, I was able to get into a good rhythm and start getting some calories in.  I had my watch set to auto-lap every 7 miles for 4 laps and was getting some of my EFS down at each lap.  By the end, I had gotten in about 200 of the 300 calories in the bottle and though my avg/norm power was a little lower than expected (avg 261, norm 277), I had a good ride, finishing in 1:07:xx with the 2^nd fastest split in the entire field and the fastest in my AG by over 3 minutes.

A shot of me coming out of transition - compliments of my friend Rob.

Out on the run and the hills started from the beginning.  It was a 2-looper on some gravel roads through the resort, but to get out to the loop, you ran up the park road with a solid “false flat.”  I tried to get the pace up from the beginning and focused on getting into a good rhythm and continuing to pass people.  I had auto lap set for 1.5 miles and was planning on doing each in about 10 minutes or less.  The hills slowed me down some, but I did manage a 39:xx run and really kept the effort up in the 2^nd half.  Avg pace was 6:33 and avg HR was 166, pushing up to 174 by the end of the run.  I was satisfied with the effort on a hard, hot, hilly course and it was good for the fastest run in my AG and 3^rd fastest in the field.   There were ~330 finishers and 52 guys in my AG and it turns out my 2:11 was good for 6^th OA 1st AG be a few minutes. 

With respect to my goals above, I’d say I did fairly well on the first one and kept my left elbow up through most of the swim.  I probably could’ve gone harder on the bike, but am still working on finding that effort level and holding it.  I also didn’t get all my calories down and need to keep improving on that, too.  Finally, on the run, I was satisfied  with my effort.  All in all, good race to kick off 2012.