IM Raleigh 70.3 Race Report: Brendon Terry Date: 6/4/2017 BIB: 1701
Gear:
Bike - 2011 Trek Speed Concept 9.9 w/ETAP, 54/42 Q-Ring Chain Ring, 172.5mm Red Crank, Vector 2 Pedals, 11-28 SRAM Cassette.
Shoes – Brooks Pureflow 5
Suit – 3V LG Pro Top and Bottom
Race Type: A
Race Goals:
1. Top 10% of Age Group to Qualify for USAT Age Group Nationals in Aug ‘17
2. Roll Down for IM 70.3 WC in Chattanooga, TN in Sep ‘17
3. Gain points in AWA standings
Weather: high 89, winds SSW 10-15
Course Description:
Swim: lake swim, single lap, triangle clock wise swim. Jordan lake is usually fairly choppy and not wetsuit legal.
Bike: P2P rolling and generally up hill couse
Run: 2 loop course in downtown Raleigh. Each loop is generally uphill on the way out and downhill on the return. Very little shade.
Pre-Race Events/Schedule: This race was preceded by a road trip from Leavenworth, KS to Raleigh, NC, ~1,050 miles. Departed 0400 CST and stopped at a hotel at 1930 EST on Friday, 02JUN. Went for an easy jog to get out the kinks for 25 minutes. Got about 5 hours of sleep, had a tough time getting to sleep with the time change. Resumed travel at 0645 on 3June, arriving at the race expo/packet pickup when it opened at 0900. Completed packet pick up and left for bike drop off at 945. Arrived at 1030 and did a check out ride on the bike of ~ 6 miles (3 out, 3 back) on the entrance road to Vista Point. Then put the stickers on the bike and put them into the penalty box. Since the swim area was closed there, we went to a nearby beach for a 20 minute swim and to practice with the new Roka swim skin. Finished that at 1215 and headed to the house we were crashing at. Breakfast was a waffle and muffin at the hotel, lunch was a sandwich I had brought with me in a cooler. Relaxed and then prepped gear in the afternoon. Dinner was at IHOP 2 pancakes, 2 eggs over medium, hash browns, and sausage with sweet tea to drink. I felt way to hungry at dinner time and realized I should have eaten more earlier in the day to keep dinner as just a top off meal. Came back to the house and shaved, did race tats, and final prep. Was in bed to try to sleep at 2130, but was wide awake until 0030. Sweet Tea/Caffeine? I should have been plenty tired to fall asleep but was not. Had intended to snack on some marshmallows but forgot the bag in Kansas: oh well.
Race Plan:
Swim: sub 40 is the goal, have a swim skin this time unlike previous years when it was not wet suit legal.
Bike: 2:30 to equal last years time, but with better power and variability management
Run: it’ll be hot, so not planning on trying for a run PR. 1:40 is the goal. Hold a steady running pace without too many walk breaks, if any. Run the race and finish strong.
Nutrition: eat breakfast of granola yogurt and pineapple and coffee 3 hrs prior to start, sip on RF and a gu prior to swim, Rocket fuel at standard concentration with two refill bottles on the bike, maybe pickup a cold GE on the bike, coke on the run.
Race Day Execution:
Warm-Up: Woke up at 0300 as planned, packed the car and got on the road at 0320 drinking coffee on the way. Arrived at T2 bag and T1 shuttle site at 0415, dropped off the run gear bag and got on the bus. Ate the granola/yogurt/pineapple and then tried to rest for the remainder of the 45 minute drive. Got to T1 at 0530, took poop number 1 and then prepped the bike and was done that by 0615. I then had about an hour 15 to kill until my wave started at 0743. Layed out on the grass beach and relaxed until my teammate realized she had lost her phone, leaving it on the bus. It was recovered, and then after the national anthem I began to get ready for a warm up jog. As I was doing so, the volunteers started loading the morning clothes bags into the truck, so I canxed the jog and did just a swim, a short 5 minute effort about 15 minutes prior to race start. Felt warmed up and comfortable. I did not eat the planned gel as my stomach still felt pretty full from the granola, and didn’t want to add more on top of it right prior to the swim. Maybe I’ll halve the amount of granola next time to prevent that.
Swim: In water start and I started behind the first rank on the left end of the line. Got out and settled into a good rhythm. Jordan Lake was the smoothest I’ve ever seen it in three years, there was only one wave about 200 yds out from the second turn, then smooth again. I checked the time and I was at 10:45 at the first turn buoy. I checked it at the second and it was at 3:30, the lap button having been kicked or bumped and begun T1. This would place the second turn at about 27:30, but I did not change views to check that at the time. I made the second turn and kept a good swim rhythm into the finish, not hitting the lap button again and just leaving them combined. I was about 60/40 doing an alternating 3 stroke breathing pattern, mixing in breathing every stroke for 2-3 strokes and then sighting and switching sides. I saw the overall time was well under 40, and so was very happy with the swim as I headed into T1. The 4.5 minute improvement over last years swim is a combination of the swim skin, being better trained, and Jordan Lake being so smooth. The apportionment of each element is unknown, though.
On the lap button being kicked, this is the 2nd time in 3 races that has happened. I typically race with my watch reversed so I can look at it when down in aero or while running and start with it in that position in the swim. That places the lap and start stop buttons to the outside and more exposed to other swimmers. I will start with the watch face on top of the wrist and then rotate it after T1 in the future and see if this helps prevent this problem.
T1: The Roka came off easily and I jogged to the bike. I had about 1/3 of the way down to my bike from the T1 entrance. I got the skin down to my hips while running in, cap and goggles off and in my hands, and then stuffed them all into the bag on arrival. I then donned my sunglasses, helmet, but while I was putting on my shoes remembered to take my earplugs out. I put them in the bag, cinched it up and began running out with the shoes on to the exit. Mount was smooth and I was off. I was stoked to exit T1 in under my goal swim time.
Bike: I got off to a good start, keeping in the small chain ring while my HR recovered from the swim and I climbed the low hills out to the first turn and turnaround. After the first split, I saw my IF was higher than desired, and took advantage of the downhill in lap 2 to recover and rediscipline my power management. I ended up dropping my target power about 10-15 W just based on how I was feeling and seeing that I was on my pace goal. The hills in the last 15 miles messed with the variability and average power a little bit, but not too badly for the overall average. I thus ended the bike feeling pretty fresh. I used 1.5 of my refill rocket fuel bottles, and drank and discarded about a ¼ of a GE bottle at the third aid station. I think for another hot temp race, I will further lessen the concentration of the RF and/or only carry one refill bottle and plan to take on more GE on the course. When I started the run my stomach was definitely still working to process the fuel, hence the delay before I started the coke/water mix on the run.
I did have one dropped chain, but was able to downshift and get it back on the small ring and then re-upshift to the big ring. Increase in cadence, sometimes with a shift to a bigger rear chain, pause with the crank arms level and the left one forward, then hit the electronic shift for the front derailleur and begin pedaling right afterwards seems to be the trick to avoid having the chain drop completely off and potentially binding in the crank, forcing a stop to clear it.
Splits:
T2: Moving time 1:18, Total Time 2:03, time at rack: 45 sec. Went smooth, no issues. Had a good dismount leaving the shoes on the bike, but the pedals were rotating and the shoes would periodically brush the ground as I was running it in. I was able to lay things out on top of the bag, so was able to doff the helmet into the bag right off and cinch it shut, then sat down to put socks on, then shoes, and then ran out with bib and visor in hand, putting them on as I ran. There was no sunscreen station at run out, which disappointed me.
Run: I started out the run feeling pretty good, and the pace as measured was actually faster than I felt like I was running at the time. My basic strategy was to conserve and stay steady on the way out to the turn around on the up hill, and then to extend on the way back down hill on the two loop course. I took my first nutrition (coke) at about 3 miles in after my stomach had settled, but had been getting sips of cold water and splashing the rest on my face at the other aid stations and putting a sponge in my visor. Coming down the first lap, I realized I would probably need a walk break heading out on the second lap. I did this at the second aid station, walking from 7.2 to 7.5, and then resuming the run. The heat was really getting to me, and I did not want to push too hard and cause a catastrophic melt down. I got going again with the HR recovered briefly to Z1 and felt good. I hit the turn around and then came back down the hill to the aid station and took another shorter break, and felt good for what was now about a 2.5 mile push into the finish. I was monitoring the overall time and the run time, and doing the beer math pacing to ensure I finished under 5.
Overall thoughts:
Goals Achieved: The time goal was almost met. The analysis of IM Raleigh 2016 said that sub 5 would likely be under the top 20 (18 was at 5:02 in 2016), so getting under 5 by a couple of minutes, which was my goal and that I achieved, would give me a pretty good shot at being in the top 10% of 188 racers and potentially getting a rolldown slot to IM Worlds 70.3 in Chattanooga. Unfortunately, it was a fast field and the heat wasn’t quite as brutal, so the 18th place came in a 4:44, 12 minutes ahead of me, and the convenience of Chattanooga meant that the roll down stopped at 17 and never got to me at 22. I had a good race that was mostly according to plan. I need to tweak my nutrition to the lighter side a tad and work on my pacing at the beginning of the run so that I can build the pace and push the second half without taking walk breaks beyond just a step or two in an aid station.