Race Report Rewind - HarryG's Knoxville Rev3 'Half Rev' 2011 Race Report

Believe it or not #1: There is a slightly longer version of this. Believe it or not #2: It did take more time to complete the race than to write this race report.

Executive Summary:

PR over Augusta!!
Swim – COLD, 1/3 upstream. Bike: HILLY but doable. Run: HILLS but scenic
Results: Final time 6:51:21 (Swim - 46:06, T1 6:50, Bike - 3:38:12, T2 4:02, Run 2:16:09)
Augusta HIM 2010 Results (for comparison) Final time 6:54:54 (Swim - 28:59 , T1 11:37, Bike - 3:42:02, T2 10:20, Run 2:21:56)
It's amazing what we'll do for a piece of shiny chunk of metal & a 'free' T-shirt.

Race Report (Long Form):

Background:

My primary goal this year is to finish Ironman Wisconsin in September. I made a decision back in January not to do a lot of races this year because I figured that the race and recovery cycle would take away from IM training & should save my $ for souvenirs in WI. So why did I make a last minute decision to do this race? There were a lot of things about the race that I thought would be transferable to IM WI and other good reasons to do it. 1. Wetsuit swim . 2. Hilly bike. 3. I would have plenty of time to take an extra recovery week. 4. Thought it would be interesting to do a REV3 event. 5. Good excuse to get a sports massage.

Race Weekend

Up at early Saturday so I can get Knoxville for the practice swim. The drive from the highway to the Lady Vols Boathouse told me the area is hilly. The boathouse is across the street from transition so I knew I'd get a chance to check out transition after the swim.

Practice Swim

Practice swim starts at the swim finish. I am only planning to go in for a short swim to determine t how much the current will slow me down. It was quite chilly. Upstream it takes about 5 minutes between buoys. On the way back it's less than 4 minutes between the buoys.

Packet Pick Up

Head to packet pickup. You get your packet then get race tattoos for your age and distance. After packet pick up you get your timing chip. They have you verify your race info, take your picture for the jumbotron at the end of the race (I never saw it though), then they grab a timing chip and swipe it on a sensor to assign it your number. Time to check out the hotel. Highly recommend the Worlds Fair Park Holiday Inn if you are going to do this race. The expo and finish are basically in the backyard of the hotel. From the lobby to the expo was about a 90 second walk. The athlete's brief was on the lawn and it had been raining so I grabbed a patch of grass and sat on a poncho to keep my shorts dry. Peg calls to say she's there. Peg gets her race package and timing chip while the race brief is going on.

Race Brief

The USTA guy gets up and does his spiel. He was wearing mirrored sunglasses and resembled The Boss from Cool Hand Luke. NO WARNINGS or notice of penalty. Check your time at the end to see if you have a penalty. He goes over the common penalties and takes a few questions. Even though the Athlete Guides calls for race bibs to be worn on the bike the official says this is not a USTA requirement and the race director confirms. So on the bike course on the next day you can tell the people who only read the Athlete's Guide.

Transition – Bike Check In

Peg and I decide to get our bikes and check then in at Transition.

No metal racks. Wooden ladder like boxes with a small slot for the wheel and a big space in between the next wheel slot. I thought the space was for your gear. During the Race Brief the race director said you could put your gear at the front tire. Sunday morning it was obvious that you could not have put your gear in the spacer box. It ended up being a great place for bike pumps. I took note of the swim in/bike out/run out. At Augusta I went to the bike out for the run start and had to run all the way to the other end of the transition to the proper run out. Made sure that wasn't going to happen here. Left my bike with a cover over the seat and handle bars. Off with Peg to preview the swim, have lunch then off to drive the bike course. Before driving the bike course I had to go back to transition to take a little air out of my tires b/c it was hot and sunny by that time.

Bike Course Preview

After a more than a few false starts, working off of my hand transcription of the bike route from MapMyRide we found the signs marking the bike course and started following them. There where lots of hills but there were some sections of rollers like the section of Silk Sheets. Beautiful farm country for most of the bike course. Found the bad a$$ climb at mile 48. Was worse in the car and my mind than on Sunday. Found the SHARE THE ROAD sign at mile 52 installed in way that indicated exactly how hilly the city of Knoxville. Funny detour for where they are removing the Henley street bridge with a few hills. Done and time for Peg to head to her brothers house and I check in at the HI. Just enough time to get to church and then found a nice block of restaurants on the walk back to the HI and grabbed a bite. It's 7:30pm before I get started packing my gear for the morning. Done by 9:30pm and thinking about bed. Damn free cable in the hotel. Asleep before midnight.

Race Day

Up at 4:45am to get ready. Eat a little, final touches for transition gear, dressed, drop luggage in the car and head out a few minutes before transition opens. It's chilly and there looks like rain in those clouds coming from the west.

In transition Peg comes over to say hi and see if I have any extra water b/c there is no water available in transition. I have an extra bottle b/c that's how I roll. I run into a guy that I used to work for that I have been running into a races and other training places since Chattanooga. I get set up, A few details: Helmet hanging from handle bars with heart rate monitor, sunglasses and gloves inside. Bike shoes (with socks rolled up inside) heel to toe on the right side of wheel with a bike jersey and nutrition that won't fit in my bento box. The weather is cool enough that wearing my tri-top as a base layer with a bike jersey sounds good.. Running shoes with running socks rolled up inside, race number belt and Garmin for the run in a ziplock bag on the left side of the wheel. Tri-bag at the back on the chain side, bike pump and Camelbak in the spacer box.

Take a couple of enduralytes and take a swig from my Camelbak. Grab my swim stuff and wet suit and go chat with Peg while she finishes getting ready. Final potty break. It's cool enough to put my wetsuit on up to my waist and go off to the start with some time to kill. Watched the pros start and realized I've never spectated at a triathlon. I am in the 1st wave age group wave so Peg & I say our goodbyes and good lucks and I am in line heading down to the water.

The Swim – 46:06

Tied for 1st with my WORST RACE EXPERIENCE EVER

They are calling out 4 mins to the start so I have 3:45 to go before I get in the water because I was in yesterday and I can wait. In the water. With the air temperature around 60 the water did not seem as cold as yesterday - but it's cold. We start I hit my stop watch and off we go. At the 1st buoy I have what must have been a panic attack and I am ready to pull the plug on the whole damn thing. Pop up and look for a kayak - good thing there wasn't one nearby. Time to: Suck it Up Buttercup. Maybe I'll breast stroke the whole swim. I start doing something like a side stroke which ends up being breathing on the right with every chance I could. A couple of buoys later and it feels like a colder version of any other OWS. At the turn buoy I figure it will ease up but there seems to be some wakes at the surface and it fairly tough sledding to the end.

After the finish the lady at the timing booth said everyone's swim was "about 6 minutes longer than expected" which was code for the swim course was around 300m too long. I predicted a 40 minute swim after the pre-swim on Saturday and came in at 46:06.

T1 - 6:50

No wetsuit strippers. That kinda sucked. Not sure what order I did it all in but I got ready and headed out. I had not laid out a towel but I had to wipe my feet so I spent 15-20 secs getting a small towel out of my transition bag before I put my socks on. I am pretty sure the bike in and out crossed and they were holding people at the bike as the pros where coming in off the Olympic bike course. No traffic by the time I get to that pinch point. Got instructions to mount before the mount line but the guy at the line said go across and mount. Confusing but no problem.

The Bike - 3:38:12

Being slow at the beginning sucked. A bit of the 1st few miles was on the highway and consisted of concrete paved lane on the left and asphalt shoulder on the right. Where does the debris go on a road like that? You got it - on the shoulder. I have to ride on the right as the faster cyclist go by. Made it out of that section and onto the road. 1st Aid station at mile 10, they don't have water and my Camelbak is still in transition b/c I was thinking there would be water at every aid station. I grab a bottle of Gatorade just in case and stick it in my bike jersey (YAY on choice to wear bike jersey). I get a sick stomach when I do Gatorade or anything with citric acid as an ingredient but I figure it'll beat being dehydrated. My aerobottle is mostly empty but I do have another bottle of water and the temperature is low 60s with cloud cover. Can probably do it without more water but the run will suck.

Mile 20 – The Fall. I decided to eat my Honey Stinger Waffle around mile 20. While getting it out of my jersey I dropped my bag of enduralytes. The road was clear so I went back for it. Bent down to pick it up and did not unclip my outside leg. I fell. +700 miles on my tri bike before my 1st fall. It was a lot like my 1st fall on my road bike. 1st thoughts after the fall are: Did I break me or the bike? Quick check: we're all good. While I am standing there I transfer the water from my bottle to my aero bottle and it's go time. 2nd aid station and THEY HAVE WATER. I get one from the front of the line and stuff it in my bike jersey (YAY bike jersey) then get another from the end of the line, fill my aero bottle and drink the rest before discarding. Here I am at mile 30 with plenty of water.

Note on my nutrition plan for the bike: All solid food (Powerbar Energy bites, Honey Stinger waffle) and gels. Now that I have water I start eating more food. Starting with the waffle. After that I am trying to eat an energy bite every 10 minutes. It must have worked because at mile 35 I feel great and start pushing a little.

The only thing that is bothering me is that I need to pay my water bill in the worst way. When I hit the last aid station (only Gatorade again) and there is a beautiful sight – porta potty!!! I pull over and a volunteer offers to hold my bike. Back on the bike I am ready to rock the rest of the race. Big climb at mile 48. Just ground it out. Steep and twisty decent on the other side. I took it easy on the way down. Off to the finish. I saw Tracy out there at some point. I get to mile 56 according to my computer and Garmin I still can't see transition. As I am making the last turn I loosen the straps on my shoes. Stopped short of the dismount line and I am out of my shoes and dismounting the bike. I've practiced this during Thursday night bricks since last season. Headed to T2.

T2 - 4:02

Still cool so I decide to empty the bike jersey of bike stuff but leave it on for the run. I can always unzip it and my tri-top if I get warm. Change socks put on my shoes and tie them. Grab my visor, handheld water bottle with 2 hours of HEED, and the Garmin I'll use for the run. I've still got the 2nd water bottle from the 2nd bike aid station and it's half full so I decide to bring it along. Time for to finish this long training day with 13.1 mile run.

The Run - 2:16:09

At this point I know I can PR if I run a decent half. Nice strong run/walk to finish out the race. Got to see Tracy & Peg on the run. Did 2:30 min run/1min walk. At Augusta I did 1/1. At mile 10 I had to decide whether I wanted to drop the walk breaks and run the last 5k. Opted to stay the course with run/walk until a little less that 1 mile to go. Hilly course. Got 2 extra walk segments in following the trail running motto “If you can't see the top, it's time to walk”. 98% of the run was beautiful either on the Greenway or a 2 mile out and back in a nice neighborhood that reminded me of TNR (hills and $$$ homes). The other 2% (part of the UT campus) reminded me of the backlot parts of the Disney marathon. Ate a few pretzels on the run course. Having HEED and water worked for me. May consider a 2nd handheld in lieu of my Camelbak on the run.

The Finish – 6:51:21 PR

Finished the run/race a couple of seconds behind I guy a used to work for that I keep running into at races. Wonder if the photogs got our big grins and high fives at the end... Apparently they caught it on the live video feed according to a friend of mine who was watching me finish. He's doing IM Tx next week so I'll be watching him finish.

Did I mention I PR'd


Likes:

Transition without hanging the bike by the seat. Two thumbs way up!
The vibe was laid back.
Volunteers were great.
Close enough to drive

Dislikes:

No Water at the 1st and last aid stations on the bike
Swim course too long
Bike course too long
Riding on the shoulder on the bike
No water in transition in the morning
No wetsuit strippers

Would I do it again? Not as a target race but if it fell into my training schedule like it did this year then sure.

Would I recommend it? YES. If you want a challenging course or it falls into your training schedule then go for it.

Lessons Learned:

Need to get the 2nd cage back on my hydration rack or wear the Camelbak
HEED is what the runners were asking for at the GUTS Reactor Run and it really worked on the run for me.
I can freakout on the swim and still keep going. HTFU
Stayed the course on my run/walks and finished a couple of minutes ahead of my goal.
Probably need to reevaluate my estimated finish time for IM WI.

Race Report Rewind - 2010 ESi Ironman Augusta 70.3 Race Report

HarryG's ESi Ironman Augusta 70.3 Race Report

 A rewind of my Augusta 70.3 race report from a few years back for my buddy Jesica aka @rUnladylike

Executive Summary:

Finished
Time: 6:54:54
Splits: Swim: 28:59 T1: 11:38 Bike: 3:42:03 T2: 10:20 Run: 2:21:57
Happy with time considering: Finishing was #1 goal, one flat tire, one broken shifter, sun came out on the run, casual approach to transitions.

Many Thanks to all helped me go from not having a road bike and never having been clipped in except in spin class to regularly completing 50, 60, 70 mile rides and even a 114 mile bike ride.

For those of you who need some help sleeping: below you'll find my full race report.

Friday Morning

Took my 6.997 year old daughter to breakfast for her birthday since I was planning to be in Augusta on her birthday. Loaded my car leaving enough room for Dick Larson's stuff. Ready to roll around 9:30am. Dick arrived at 10am. Got his gear loaded and headed out on the highway. Easy drive over. Dick and I chatted like we were on a long run and killed the 2.5 hour ride. I had to stop short of downtown and get on conference call. We arrived at the Marriott and decided that paying to park there. Dick went in to get checked-in while I was finishing my conference call. When I finished my conference call I went in and Dick walked me through check-in. Quick trip through the Ironman shop. I keep with my tradition of not buying anything from a race until I've completed it. Expo was minimal. 1 vendor with with all the last minute bikes items you might have forgotten or did not want to ship (tubes, CO2 cartritdges, chamios butter, etc.). Off to the pre-race brief.

Pre-Race Brief

Brief - but a few important items like chips not to be handed out until race morning at the swim start. One interesting note was that the bottle exchange procedure explained by the guy giving the brief was different that what we were told  during training. What was explained during training was what actually happened.

Gonna skip the rest of the pre-race. Just gonna say that the lines were so long on Saturday that I felt really good about coming in a day early to get checked in on Friday. Also, a couple of good meals with Get Fitters before a race are a good thing.

Swim

Got my wetsuit zipped up and headed to the swim start. Oh wait I am still wearing flip flops. Run back and put them in my gear bag and catch back up to John & Chad. John Ridgely realized we were separated from out wave so we scooted up to the back of Wave #22. They were closing the gate as we got to it. Up the stairs with a thumbs up to the photog. Out on the dock and I follow Ridgely out the far end and they are counting the time to the wave start down. In the water with :30 before the start. Flip on my back to revel in the wetsuit. Horn sounds, start my stopwatch and away I go. Swam through a little bit of traffic but never felt uncomfortable. Think this was due to the wetsuit. The Savannah river has some kelp growing in it. For some reason this functioned like lane line in the pool and it helped me imagine that the bottom was shallower than it really was. Took until I got to the first bridge to get into a rhythm and start breathing on both sides.

Caught some people in the previous wave and got caught by a couple of people in the wave behind us. My biggest concern was getting out of the water – that is not missing the exit and continuing down the river. Was not an issue. I used the 2 story building just up river from the transition area as my reference. About 150m from the finish I saw the buoy at the exit and decided to pick up the pace. Here's where there was some contact but not much. I was swimming straight for the buoy and lots of folks want to cross in front of me. Sure – but not with out some contact. Continued to swim up the ramp until I could not any more. Out of the water and no one is running. Took me a second to snap out of it and start running to transition. Wetsuit strippers were excellent. By the time I got to them I had my cap, googles, earplugs and top of my suit off. On the ground, SNAP, up off the ground and continue into transition.

T1
My transition was setup more for comfort than speed. I had everything in bags because of the rain. It was nice to get into dry clothes. Turned on my Garmin. Time to get dressed: HR monitor, bike jersey, gloves, socks, shoes, glasses, helmet. For future races I am going to try to wear a tri-top and put the HR monitor on at the start. Stuffed food in my jersey, grabbed my bike and trotted to the bike exit. Walked 3 paces past the mount line, mounted the bike and off I go.

Bike

Rain, rain, and more rain. Rain pelting me felt like it was solid and it stung. Early on my legs were tight and I was hoping this would not be the case for the whole ride. Glad that it wasn't. Early on the bike debris in the road bordered on ridiculous. Lots of sunglasses, a tire not a tube but a tire. 19 miles in and it's time for the bottle exchange – not before waving to the penalty tent ladies. Exchange was a breeze. Pointed finger, called out to confirm water, got advice from the aid person to keep moving. No problem. Squeezing the bottle into the Speedfil. Almost used the entire bottle. That was good it meant I drank about ¾ of my 40oz resevoir. Another good thing about it was that I knew I would not miss my camelbak. Dumping the empty bottle and away I go.

Here's where it got interesting. I broke my bike. Somehow through adrenaline or not getting my bike into the shop before the race I ended up breaking the gear shifter for the front ring. Luckily the rear shifter was still functioning and the front failed in the big gear. I think I freaked out about it for about 2 minutes before I decided it would be okay. I can tell you for a fact that you don't need a small front ring for the last 30 miles of that ride. I had to get out of the saddle for 2 hills in the last 30 miles otherwise I just dealt with a slightly reduced cadence on the smaller hills and kept it moving. I did try to wave down the neutral race support but it turns out that he's one guy in a car full of equipment and he keys in on people on the side of the road. He did not see me waving. I did catch the race mechanic about mile 35 and he said there was nothing we could do with a broken shifter. He offered to put me in whatever ring I wanted to be in but I was happy to stay in the big ring.

Next exciting part was on a downhill where I was trying to slow a little because of the rain. Brakes did not seem to work because of the rain so I just let the pucker factor keep me in the saddle and rode it out. 15 seconds seemed a lot longer.

Miles Bay passed me with 8 miles or so to go. I flatted with 5 miles to go. That was no fun. I picked up a rock and most have flatted just before the big right hander onto 278. Not sure if I had stopped when I picked up the rock it would have made difference. I stopped and started to change the tire. One of the cops who was helping with race control stopped and asked if I needed help. I told the truth – YES. He checked with someone and told me that the mechanic was a few minutes away. I fiddled with the tire and got to the point of putting a little air in the new tube but I could not get the new tube in the tire. Guess what I'll be practicing until I can do it with my eyes closed? Mechanic stopped and fixed me up (found the rock that I missed during the inspection of the tire and booted the tire for me). The race mechanic's wagon had a SRAM wrap on it. Maybe I should get SRAM Red for my next bike? I completed the last 5 miles without incident.

At the end of the ride I loosened my shoes, slowed well short of the line, pulled my stopping foot out leaving the shoe on the bike. Repeated for the other foot and off I went into transition.

T2

Okay this was a little longer than it needed to be. I had to tie my shoes because I had some bad experiences with Yanks during the month before the race. I'll need to look at alternatives before my next race. While it was nice to have dry gear it was all in bags when I got to it. A couple small mistakes that saved time – I did not apply vasoline to my feet. I ended up with a blood blister with a pinkie to on it. The other mistake - I did not apply sunscreen. The sun came out during the run. I decided to that with great job I did hydrating on the a trip to the bathroom might be a good idea. This lead to my biggest time killer. After potty time I decided I needed to go back to my bike to either get something or leave something. When I finished I went towards the run out without going through the chute. So “Wrong Way” Goslow had to head back ALL THE WAY across transition to the proper route out of transition. Do you think I'll ever do that again? Not likely.

One thing to note I borrowed my wife's Garmin for the run. Saved a few seconds not having to pull mine off the bike and I did not have to worry about the battery life.

Run

The run was flat, flat and flat. With the exception of team mate sitings it was kind of boring. I decided before the race I would run/walk the run. Started out with 2mins run/1 min walk fully prepared to drop back to 1/1 if I had to. Spent a lot of the race leapfrogging some of the folks around me. Even held myself to walking through the drill sgt's area on the 1st lap. Ran a little faster the last time past the team area. Peeked a my stopwatch just past the Get Fit area. I havevless than a mile to go and it looks like I can get under 7 hours which was one of my time targets beyond just finishing. So off I go.

Finish

Turned the last corner and there's no one between me and the finish. The clock is slowly counting up to 8:00:00 from the start. I picked up the pace to get in under 8:00:00 gun time. Race pics show me across at 7:59:55.


Final Thoughts

Pre-ride helped me more than I imagined it might.

Room for improvement. Some simple changes I can make to my gear and transitions should cut off 10 mins of transition time.

Need to become at least a minimally proficient bike mechanic.

HarryG

Harry's 2012 Ironman Louisivlle Mini Race Report

There's a book that could be written about how I ended up doing this race, how I trained for it and probably a doctoral thesis worth of heart rate training data but in lieu of all that I'll share results and my impressions from raceday.

The Numbers:

Overall: 15:26:15 (about where I thought I would be given the heat)

Swim: 1:29:03 (I thought this could be anywhere between 1:10 & 1:30)
T1:  15:14 (Knew this would take a little time)
Bike: 7:47:08 (Being passed for the 1st 80 miles then passing people for the last 32 miles)
T2: 14:48 (I thought I was quicker than this)
Run: 5:40:02 (Negative split - pace went up after the sun went down)

Memorable Moments:

• In line for the swim start laying on the ground stargazing and wondering if some other creature on some other planet was getting ready for something equivalent.
• Running into Tripp and Jen on the swim where they were walking on water on the sand bar in the channel.
• Wishing I could remember how many bridges I was supposed to swim under.
• Having my the hardest part of my day (the bike) kick started by cheers of my family and the greatest group of race supporters you could ever hope to have be there for you. I know what it feels like to be a rock star!!!
• Running over a water bottle at the 1st water stop aid station with my back wheel. Losing my tool pouch. Have enough sense to stop and have a volunteer retrieve it for me. Then never needing it! Some Coach Vader's wisdom in play: Take the time along the way to do whatever you need to do.
• Having a dark moment on the bike around mile 55. Remembering what Joe Friel says: It's probably nutrition. Took myself off the eating every 20 minutes plan and began eating everything I had with me starting with the Tears of the Unicorn otherwise know as Peanut Butter filled Pretzels.
• The absolute carnage that was the 2nd loop and the return leg. Cyclists on the side of the road and a parade of ambulances carrying them back to town.
• Having taken it ridiculously easy on the finger and the 1st loop and getting passed by everyone and  and passing people for the last 32 miles.
• Negative split another marathon during a full iron distance triathlon.
• 4 new wet sponges & ice at nearly every aid station on the run course along with leaving every aid station on the run course with my handheld full of ice water to keep pouring on my head & the sponges.
• Seeing my family, teammates,  teammates friends, past & present training buddies and The Hottest Support Crew in Louisville all day long.

Lessons Learned:

• Stay near the yellow bouys & KNOW where the turn bouys are.
• Avoid the 1st bike aid station like the plague. My race could have VERY easily ended <9 miles into the race.
• As if I didn't know this already about my self but I don't really get warmed up until about mile 80 on the bike.
• Full and complete stop at every bike aid station after the 1st. Most of 2 bottles to refill the Aquacell with the rest on my head and neck.Excellent plan.
• On the run course my stomach gets full after about an hour - probably all of the solid food on the bike - & if I skip taking anything at the next aid I'll be fine for the next one.
• Eating those gels in my race number belt during the last 90 minutes of the run makes it worth carrying them.
• I need to transition to some sort of tri short or something with some light compression and no pockets on the run. Silver dollar sized chafing on the front of both thighs where I was carrying things in the front pockets of my run shorts & a 5 inch by 2 inch spot on right inner thigh from the liner in the shorts.
• Staying in the host hotel was totally worth it.
• Louisville, pronounced the way they do on the local TV news and by the locals, is a word that consists of two grunts with your tongue stuck to the top of your mouth.

Race Report Rewind - HarryG's 2010 West Point Olympic Tri Race Report - One Hot Dam Race

The heat today onsite in Elijay while checking in my bike for Mountain Madness Triathlon reminded me of my experience at West Point in 2010. That was an Olympic distance. On to the report...

Pre Race:

I got my race number on Wednesday night ahead of the race. I was able to get my number on the bike and my helmet before packing my car Saturday night.

Reconnoitered the race site on Friday afternoon with the family. Got to see the swim start and finish and transition before the brought in the barriers to shut it down. No swim in the race area but we did swim in the lake at one of the swim beaches. Warm water – hint of things to come.

Got a transition bag on Saturday. Laid out transition Saturday night. Packed my bag. Came back a couple hours later and laid out transition again. Packed it all up and put it in the car. Left myself notes about the things I have been forgetting on the long bike rides – drink bottles and food.

Race Morning:

3:30am alarm after a not so restful night.Kids not sleeping not pre-race jitters. Grab food and drinks and in the car by 3:45am. Transition opens at 5am and I want to be there then. Uneventful trip down. Parking was about ½ mile from transition. Was happy I found my headlamp. Parking area was dark. Had a little operator trouble with my bike pump that made me think I had a flat. Worked through it, Grabbed my transition bag and headed to the transition area. Chip pickup & body marking. Into transition and setup. Out to visit with Marietta and Nikki. Running into tons of people I know. Ilana Katz, GFA peeps, some one I used to work with.

Swim Start

The water temperature at the start was a balmy 92 degrees. That's hot. Time trial start was great. Started at 7:15. Not in the water until 7:40am. Swim was pretty uneventful. Did get inside the bouys on the 1st leg. Easy around the bouy. Next section was easy. I started the chrono function on my watch prior to the start. Was tempted to check my watch during the swim but did not. Make the last turn and it's time for a lesson learned. Turning into the sun and I have on clear lenses. A little tint or shade would have been nice because I could not see the bouys. Followed the other swimmers. An interesting item to note was that the shortest distance from the bouy at the last turn to the exit ramp was not along the remaining bouys. I took the shortest route. Done in 32 or so minutes. That will be my benchmark for future Olympic swims.

This swim was a huge relief for me. I felt anxious in the water at John Tanner and Sweetwater. John Tanner I was wearing a snug wetsuit and at Sweetwater I was wearing a tri-top I though might be a size too small. I wore no top for the swim for West Point and felt fine. There were lots of other differences but for now I'll go with no top and sacrifice some time in T1.

T1

Being the at the end of the time trial start in the water I get to T1 and most of the bikes are gone. I did this race as practice for Chattanooga in July. So I had a lot of gear and took a lot of time in T1. Heartrate monitor, tri-top, race belt with number, helmet, socks, bike shoes. Did an energy gel and got some water and off to the mount line. Tried one more time with cleat covers. They allowed me to run to the mount line but cost me the time to remove and stow them. Basically a net zero time difference but a higher heart rate at the start of the bike. I'll skip forgo the cleat covers at Chattanooga and see what I think.

Bike


Nice course. Out too fast. Scale told me later that I did not drink enough. I did the bottle exchange only to trade a little bit of cooler water regular bottle of water not a squeeze that was +90 degrees. My Garmin is set to record a lap every 4 miles. It's a nice round number that means 12 minute laps are near 20mph. 1st lap is 12:30. After that I did not catch a lap time for the rest of the race but reviewing my data I could tell that the hills, heat and too fast a start on the bike had my last 3 laps more than 14 mins each. Passed a guy with 89 on his calf – it was pretty close to the finish of the bike though. Looked like they did a good job of sweeping gravel off the course from when I drove it on Friday.

Done – around 1:30. Just about what I thought I'd do. Can tell that Silk Sheets has helped.

T2

Dismount and walk to the other end of transition where my bike is. A little miffed that somebody racked there bike above my stuff. Again take a nice leisurely time in transition. Gel and water. New socks and shoes. Visor. All the bike stuff is off and hopefully the guy who racked above me won't bother it too much when he gets back.

Run

Hottest dam run ever. I go out what feels easy but turns out to be a shade over 9 minute miles. Turns out to be too fast. Water at each mile. Probably did not drink enough. Start walking at 2.5. At this point I am past the dam proper and on the levee. The road curves so I still can't see the turn around. Decide to turn my interval timer on and start run/walk. Time was set for 6:1. Too much run/not enough walk. Run when I can and walk a lot. About mile 4 I decide to give race walking at try. Thanks to Coach Karen Kaye I can make 13-14 minute miles instead of 16-17. Heart rate is staying down. Mile 3.5 I decide to pull off my tri-top to see if that will cool me down. It worked. Poor Marietta got to see me sans shirt. She did not laugh but I think it had to do with her saving her energy for the rest of the run. If the part of the function of a team is to motivate you it worked. See Marietta outbound while I was on the return side of the run pushed me a long a little. I walked and race walked until 5.2. Then I said to myself if I run I can be done in 10 minutes. So I did and I was. Was very happy to see Barbara and the others at the finish to cheer me on.

Results:

Swim: 32:46 T1: 3:53 Bike: 1:27:06 T2: 4:54 Run: 1:09:32 Total: 3:18:09

Weighty Matters - Or an Engi-Nerd and His Data

On the advice of my sports nutritionist (the lovely and talented Ilana Katz) I've been recording my weight daily for the last couple of years. I hadn't really done anything with the data until this week.  I added a trend line to my graphs and some patterns emerged.

Post IM Wisconsin I went back to see Ilana to reboot my nutrition. Here's what happened between then and the Beach2Battleship full iron distance triathlon:

What did it tell me: I was 'On a Mission'.

Here's what happened between B2B and New Year's Eve when I twisted my ankle at Sweetwater State Park:

What did it tell me: I may have taken a holi-week not a holiday from my nutrition plan but doing staying steady.

Here's what happened for the rest of my training for the NOLA marathon:

What did it tell me: Getting injured sucks & abandoning my nutrition plan does not help.

 
Here is that entire time period between B2B & the NOLA marathon:

What did it tell me: Nothing I did know on race day.

Here's what's been going on since I began training for  Ironman Lousiville 2012:



What did it tell me: It appears that I am 'On a Mission' again.

I've added a graph to help me keep an eye on what's going on currently:

What does it tell me: My little nutrition experiment was working but my body was confused when I pulled the plug.