On the way up Friday, we stopped at my brother’s house. We
had a nice visit, stayed the night, then we got out the door early with plans
of a practice swim at OOB.
Genine hadn’t been feeling well so when we got there and saw
that the ocean was very, very calm, we decided the practice swim wasn’t going
to be necessary. We familiarized ourselves with the layout of race. Picked up
our race numbers. I worked on the rear brake of my bike for awhile. (it’s been
sticking). Then checked our bikes in and headed for our hotel, which was up in
Portland. (about 20 min away).
Next we headed into town, Old Port part of Portland. It was
very nice. We found a pub for lunch then walked around a good bit. Genine didn’t
get enough time here. She really likes Portland.
Not really knowing how parking and such was going to go. We
defaulted to our normal, get up way too early (3AM) drive down to the race site
park and sleep in the car until transition opens. (Genine can never fall back
asleep, so it’s not a great plan). Parking certainly didn’t become an issue
either. If we do the race again, we won’t be in a hurry to get there.
This is only my 2nd triathlon of the season and
it would seem that I didn’t have my race morning very well prepared. After I
set up my transition, we went back to the car. We figured we’d finish preparing
there and walk to the start, carrying our wetsuits. Then I realized I still had
my car key, so I had to set the car to lock, then go back to transition and
leave the key there. Now suddenly I’m feeling a bit more rushed. I didn’t eat
much of a breakfast because we didn’t have a kitchen and nothing else really
sounded that good. Not a great start for a half iron.
Swim: Ate a pack
of Shot Blocks 15 or so minutes before my start. Going into the swim hoping
that I’ll be able to find some feet again and get pulled around the course.
That happened for maybe 20% of the swim. The water is cold about 60 degrees. I
definitely got the face freeze/ ice cream headache at the beginning. I felt
that I swam a really good line the entire time. Which was good, this was a
smaller race so it wasn’t a matter of just staying within the pod. There was
plenty of open water for you to swim in. It did require me to sight more
frequently.
I reached the timing mat in 41:33 which is a time that would have upset me a couple of years
ago. I just haven’t been swimming much so I can’t be upset with it. My Garmin
measured the swim as 1.4 miles. I have no idea how accurate that is as I’ve not
done enough measured open water swims to know.
T1: This is a
long jog to transition but really not much longer than Mont Tremblant. I’ve got
.46 miles but I made a pit stop that most people didn’t do. During T1 I went
from 42nd in my division to 52nd. Overall 60 people passed me in T1… Ah well.
Obviously if I was feeling competitive I wouldn’t have made the stop.
8:50
Bike: I’ve done a
bunch of riding this summer, I’m going into this hopeful that I might break
20mph over the 56 miles. Of course this is because I went into this thinking
that there was only 800ft of elevation gain. (my garmin shows 1800-1900). I did
know most of the climbing would be in the first half of the ride and nothing
was going to be terribly steep.
This is my 2nd race with a power meter. To be
honest, I haven’t done any true testing to know exactly where I should be in
terms of power. I’ve just been looking at all numbers after my rides and
evaluating how they felt.
For the first half of the ride, I found myself in familiar
spot. I would only be passing people on flats and down hills. They would pass
me on the climbs. I went back and forth with 2 people enough times that it was
somewhat comical.
Around mile 30 I see a biker laying in the road up ahead not
moving. There were a couple people already taking the bike off the road and
motorists pulled over on the opposite side of the road. The person was not
moving. It really creeped me out and put a pit into my stomach. I have no idea
what happened but it took some time to shake that off. We do this for fun. That
looked like the opposite of fun.
Then I realized we reached the point in the course where
gravity was going to be in my favor and I was feeling strong, so I started
pushing.
My HR was well above my typical training rate, so that gave
me reason to be a little concerned. My legs felt great tho’, so I figured I’ve
got to keep at it. It was really enjoyable. Not that I was passing many people,
it was just really fun to dig in and actually ride fast for a good long while.
I finished the course in 2:45:49. Which you would think means I hit my first goal of the day
as that would be 20.26mph average. Unfortunately, my garmins measured the
course at 54.25 miles. Which drops me in to the 19.7mph range. I’ve posted on
some forums to see if my measurement was correct. That’s still a good rate tho
and certainly a PR for that distance. What’s funny is I don’t have total ride
time showing on my garmin screen, so I had no idea what my time was until after
the race.
Other metrics to note.
AVG HR 150. Mont
Tremblant was 148
AVG Power was 46W
higher than Mont Tremblant.
Ride started at 52
degrees and finished at 72 degrees.
(garmin temp) Mont Tremblant was 62 the entire ride.
I moved up 4 spots in
my division, 39 places overall.
T2: 2:50 Lost 1 spot
in my division.
Run: Heading out
of transition, I was certainly glad for the very flat start. I knew there would
be a short climb ahead but was hopeful that the legs would be in run mode by
the time I got there. I also started to think about the 2 hour run goal. I have
no idea why I thought that was possible. I ran a 2:09:00 at Timberman back in
2009 and I was about 25 pounds lighter for that race. I guess I was thinking, I’m
running and biking much more than I did then. This should be possible.
Thank goodness I don’t get sympathy cramps. Once we hit the
incline, there were a number of people that went cruising by me, only to pull
up quickly because of leg cramps. I was thankful that at the moment, I was
feeling good.
Once I reached the Eastern Trail I just settled into a groove.
I watched several of the bikers that I had been trading places with me early on
the ride pass me by. I wasn’t surprised. I was glad to have held them off as
long as I did.
I had my EFS gel and was taking water at the water stops. I
stopped to walk the aid stations to make sure I got all the water down and one
over my head to keep cool. I was feeling pretty good.
At the turnaround, I had someone ahead of me that would
start running away from me just as I caught up to them. Then they would walk
and just as I would catch up, they would start running again. After doing this
about 3 times, he decided that he would
just run along with me at my pace. Which was fantastic because we just chatted
our way along through what would have been the toughest part of the run. It
took my mind off of the task at hand and before I knew it we were back on the
pavement heading back to transition. There was one little hill where I tried to
change my stride up and my legs sent a strong message that I shouldn’t do that,
unless I wanted to start cramping/walking. Which was disappointing because I
knew that the 2 hour run probably wasn’t going to happen. I guess I shouldn’t
have walked the aid stations either.
I got to the finish in 2:02:15.
About a 9:20 pace. A 2:09:xx had been my
previous 70.3 best. So I’ll take it.
Moved up 2 spots in my division.
Oddly enough Overall I dropped 11 spots in the first 3 miles but then by the finish had reclaimed the 11 spots and improved by 2.
Curious about my HR chart here. My pace didn't pick up. I always wonder if this is a hydration issue. I was very tempted to use my camelback at this race. I seem to require a ton of fluid. Maybe I should have used it.
Total Time 5:41:17 Previous best 5:55:45. I’ll take that too. (although I’m curious about
the 1.75 mile bike deficit, that could be an extra 5 minutes added on)
This was a great race to finish my triathlon season. It left
me feeling good about my current strength and fitness, even tho I’m at my
heaviest weight since 2007. Obviously, I need to get my eating back under
control. I’d like to get into next season with this level of fitness without
the extra weight to carry around. I can’t help but think about getting back
into swim shape as well. I’m giving up 7-10 minutes during the swim, which used
to be my strongest event and the one I looked forward to doing the most.
Recently, I’ve just been getting through the swim, which is boring.
Next up is the NJ Gran Fondo. 107 miles and 8000+ feet of climbing.
Hopefully the legs recover in time.
