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| Handy graph, courtesy of Jordan Rapp. |
I wanted to get near the front if possible, but was probably a little overly ambitious with that thinking based on the amount of fitness I came into the race with. Lots of changes in my life right now- moving cross-country, new career, new house, etc., so I have not been training nearly as much as in prior seasons. I was registered for Muncie 70.3 after using the discount provided as a result of last years' issues (shortened due to heat), but ended up skipping that race. However, I still wanted to get in at least one decent event and signed up for a local half-iron in Springfield, IL that would only require a 90 minute drive and one night at Aunt Liz's place. (Thanks Aunt Liz!)
I had done virtually no training at all this spring while student teaching. In addition, there's a simple formula: NO TRAINING + LIFE STRESS + BAD EATING = WEIGHT GAIN. I fell victim to this and put on several pounds. In spite of this (I actually did enjoy student teaching, but that's another topic), I completed teaching at the end of April and built some fitness as I could in May and June. You can see my progress below in the Performance Management Chart from WKO. Being the overly analytical type that I am, I use a performance model to track my fitness and fatigue to guide my training. It takes into account both duration and intensity (for swim, bike, and run) and is not just the number of hours trained. The blue line, measured in Training Stress Score points (TSS) accumulated per day, is an approximate model of fitness and the yellow bars are a model for fatigue (roughly).
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| Performance Management Chart - 2nd half 2011 - 2013. |
In looking at where my fitness peaked prior to Steelhead in 2012 compared to where I peaked for the Route 66 in 2013, it's not hard to see why my performance was not where it was last year. I had a much larger base of training to build on in 2012, with a training camp in late February, a whole spring of training, and a nice build into the summer for a peak around ~120 TSS/day prior to Steelhead 70.3 in August. Then, you can see a few attempts to do some training in the fall of 2012 and early 2013, but there wasn't much progress. In fact, you can see quite a decline until April, when I was able to start training again. Compared to 2012, I didn't have nearly the base to build on for my 2013 season. It was essentially a crash training program to see how fit I could get in ~3 months. I made it back up to a peak of ~100 TSS/day, but it was a little aggressive and didn't have much (or any) aerobic base behind it.
In addition, I continue to struggle with a weak shoulder from an impingement problem last year. I've been working on strengthening it with specific exercises and have been diligent in the pool working on fixing it and changing the motor patterns, but it remains an issue.
In spite of this (no excuses, right!), I still felt confident I could get reasonably close to the front of this local, small race and mix it up. I knew I'd be WAY back coming out of the water, but could get some time back on the bike and see what happened on the run. Leading into the race, I only had some simple process goals, similar to last year:
- Give all I had on the day and race every swim stroke, pedal stroke, and step
- Use the swim as a long workout and continue working on shoulder strength and not dropping elbows
- Shoot for an approximate norm power of ~250 on the bike
- 3 laps of ~4.36 miles on the run, heart rate below 160 for the first one, about ~160-163 for the 2nd, and give what I had left for the 3rd
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| The family relay team. Also, the Olympic-distance race is the "Iron-Abe" so they have an Abe on hand! |
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| With my son before the race. |
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| Photo-bomb! ;-) |
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| My better half prior to racing. |
The Swim
Since I mainly just wanted to focus on my shoulder (again) in the swim, I decided once I started feeling a dropped elbow, I would do 5-10 strokes of breast stroke, keep moving forward, reset, and start freestyle again. I did pretty well for the first 15-20 minutes but on the back half of the swim, I repeated this pattern several times. I knew I'd be way behind out of the water, but just wanted to keep focused on what I could control, which was continuing to try to correct my weak shoulder and engrain the right motor patterns. The swim was not wetsuit legal, so I was thinking I'd be out in around 40 minutes or even a little over. Sure enough, I came out around 43 minutes. Really slow, but I didn't worry about it and just ran up to transition as fast as I could. My transition was uneventful and I was off on my ride.
The Ride
I had set my watch to auto-lap every 5.6 miles on the bike and was just mentally planning on 10 repeats of about 13-15 minutes, consuming calories every time my watch lapped. The process worked quite well. In the first lap, I tried to get my HR to settle down some. After that, I just put my head down and got to work. The course was essentially 2 out and backs. It was really flat, but by no means was it the fastest course I have ridden. The temperature was perfect and we lucked out with that, but the wind was strong! On the way out on the first section heading south I was cruising at race power doing around 26-28 mph, but on the way back, race power was about 18-20 mph. Also the first turnaround gave me a chance to see where I stood in the race. I guesstimated I was in around 30th place by the first turn. On the way back, I just kept motoring and moved up to about the top 15 by the time I hit the 2nd out and back section.
Not only was it windy, but some of the roads were not the most pleasant. Plus, with a smaller race, once you were towards the front of the pack, it was quite sparse and you were out there simply pushing on your own, which definitely makes it harder to keep the effort up, particularly with the wind. There were a few times when I wondered if I was heading the right way. Also, I knew we'd be going into a solid headwind on the return trip and tried to keep the work rate up as best I could, maintaining my nutrtion/lap strategy, staying focused on the task at hand for each "lap." Another challenge was that the aid stations were sparse, so I conserved a bit on the calories, not wanting my gut to get too full and too concentrated. I had 300 calories of EFS with me and one flask of 300 calories of Liquid Shot with half-a-scoop of pre-race I planned on using in the back half of the bike. I didn't get all of that down by the end of the ride because I just didn't have enough water to chase it down. Regardless, I had ridden to somewhere around the top ten at the end of the ride.
In comparing this ride to my ride from Steelhead in 2012, I "only" rode 8 watts less, but ended up 9 minutes slower. That definitely gives you an idea of the wind. Also, my average HR was a touch higher this summer than it was last year on the bike --- definite signs of less fitness.
Steelhead 2012 - 250 watts @ average HR = 156
Route 66 2013 - 242 watts @ average HR = 158
After the ride, my legs were tired and I was definitely ready to get off the bike. Also, over the last several months, I had been dealing with a minor case of plantar fasciitis in my left foot and took a 2-week break from running in early-mid June. Regardless, I had gotten that under control in the last several weeks prior to the race and still felt like I could run fairly well.
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| When I come into T1 after the swim, most of the bikes are already gone, so it's a nice confidence boost when there aren't that many other bikes around after the ride. |
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| Coming out the other side of T2 headed up to the run course. |
The Run
My plan for the run consisted of 3 laps, with my watch set to auto lap every 4.36 miles. I wasn't sure how accurate the GPS would be, but knew that this strategy would work well to keep me under 1:30 if things were going well. Each lap should be 30 minutes or less.
Once out on the run course, I knew there weren't that many people in front of me because I didn't really pass anyone that quickly. In fact, by mile 3-4 one guy came flying past me! He was really moving and way too fast for me, so I just wished him well. I was also chasing another guy for most of the run, but every turn-around he seemed to be putting just a little time into me, which was quite frustrating. In many races, I run by a lot of people, but this one was not working out that way.
For the first lap, I felt pretty good. My HR was a little high, so I tried to back it off just a touch while staying as smooth as possible - relaxed, calm, focused, strong. It's a mantra that definitely works for me and helps me find a rhythm and stay in my little "box." The weather was great, but there were a few small hills to contend with - a total of ~650 feet total according to the GPS (details here: http://connect.garmin.com/activity/349191319). During my 2nd lap, I was definitely getting more fatigued and noticed my HR was dropping a bit, not having the legs to keep my cardio-vascular system stimulated. I also started getting a small twinge in my right quad and was worried I was going to cramp. I knew I had not had as many hard, long efforts in training as last year and cramps were a possibility. I dialed it back a bit and worked on staying positive. I stopped for a few steps at each aid station and got some water down, but they did not have Coke --- definitely missed that. After the 2nd lap, my legs were heavily fatigued and I was running out of gas. Unfortunately, I still had over 4 miles to run. I did my best to stick to the process, not give in, and race every step. You don't get that many opportunities to practice dealing with your own head when your racing in this fatigued state, so I decided to take advantage of it. I focused on my self talk and my process, keeping the effort level up. I did pass one other guy, but never made any in-roads to the rabbit I was chasing most of the race. And the guy that flew past me early on had moved his way up to 2nd (at least in our wave --- there were two waves and the overall winner came from the 2nd wave). I ended up running a 1:31 and change. Not my best run, but I gave it what I had.
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| Approaching the finish. |
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| Ouch, that hurt. |
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| Hugging my daughter! Always brings you back to center. |
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| Faithful support crew after the race. |
Overall results are here: http://itsracetime.com/Results.aspx?ID=788. I was 7th OA and 3rd AG, but one of the guys in my AG ended up with a penalty... not sure how that happened. Ended up 6th and 2nd, but since the other guy in my AG was in the top 3 OA, they gave me the AG award for first. In any case, it was a well-organized race and a beautiful day. A tad windy, but I can't complain.
As far as take-aways, this race really enlightened me on the relationship between building a large aerobic base and the resulting performance. Consistent training = consistent results. In 2013, I just didn't have the time and energy to train as much as I usually do. Not only that, I have a fair amount of life stress at the moment and ended up a few pounds over what I feel to be a good race weight, balancing the ability to generate power with being lean and light. I really felt it on the back half of that run. Sure, the run in 2012 at Steelhead felt hard, but I was more in control throughout. In this run, by 45-60 minutes into it, my legs were shot.
With respect to the competition, I wasn't sure who would show up, but I certainly was hoping to get towards the front of this race. Sixth is not bad, but I would have enjoyed being in slightly better form. Haven't come up with a plan for what's next, but I'm looking forward to getting settled in a new house, a new job, and getting back into a good training routine. I'd love to take the fitness I built in 2012 (or even more fitness) and see how I could do in a full IM sometime. We shall see...
1 comment:
It was a solid race and I'm proud of you <3
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