Ironman Florida 70.3 Race Report - 19th MPro

After one of the coldest and wettest races I have ever raced in at Rev3 Knoxville, it was a short 2 weeks later I was on the starting line at Ironman Florida 70.3 in Haines City, Florida in the exact opposite conditions where the water was warm, and it was sunny, hot and humid.  With the long winter and cold spring (actually downright cold at times with flurries on Mother’s Day the weekend between the races), the key factor in race day success would be the ability to perform well in the heat.  Typically, I perform well in the heat, but that is after a summer to acclimate to the warmer temperatures, and I wasn’t sure if I could adapt in such a short time.  With the forecast pretty much set with the race day high approaching 90F, I spent race week using all my tricks to adapt and come to the race ready to perform.

The fun part about Haines City, Florida is that it is about 25 minutes away from Disney, and with a young family, this is a great race to bring the kids along.  On Thursday my son and I flew down, with my wife and daughter joining us on Friday.  Saturday was spent picking up my BMC TM01 from Tri Bike Transport and making the final adjustments for race day.  On to race day….

The Pro start was an early one at 6:30 AM.  This meant my alarm was going off at 3:30; which was nice to beat the heat, but dang, that is EARLY!  After going through my standard pre-race prep, I went for a short run to loosen up the legs before I headed into the water.  I was feeling pretty good on the run, but I was already drenched…..it was already mid-70s and the humidity had to be close to 100%.  At 6:15, I got in the lake to warm-up for the swim.  I’ll admit, I was never real keen on swimming in a Florida lake.  Between the murky water, mucky bottom and ‘gators, I was “highly” motivated to stay with the swim pack.  Of course when I entered the lake I was putting on my goggles, and as I took my second step into the 82-degree water, I sunk to mid-shin in muck.  Not a big deal in the big picture, but still not a fan…

New SLS3 FX Race Top for 2013!

At 6:30 it was time to go.  I lined up inline with the buoys, with the shortest path to Turn 1.  We were lined up along the length of the start line, but for some reason there seemed to be a small group towards the middle.  When the horn sounded, I kept a straight path, and I found a pair of feet to follow.  For once, I wasn’t immediately dropped by the pack, and hung on for about 400m until nearly until the first turn.  After that it was swimming as usual for me, rather lonely and focus on form and getting to the finish as efficient as possible.  After completing the “M” shaped course, I was finally out of the water in 25th place with a time of 31:32.  Not my greatest swim ever, but not bad for a non-wetsuit legal swim for me.

The standard pre-race bike pic in race set-up

After a short run up the beach and through T1, I was off on my bike.  In driving the course before the race, I was pleasantly surprised by the quality of the bike course.  With the exception of the first and last 3 miles, the roads were smooth and in great condition.  The profile is flat to gently rolling for the first 25 miles, then a section of about 20 miles of hills, nothing major but a few steady climbs and rollers and finally the last 10 miles is back to gently rolling hills.  Add in the heat, lack of shade and steady winds, this course deserves some respect.  After the swim, I figured I was about 3 minutes back from the pack in front of me, so I decided to push a couple of extra watts in the first few miles to try to catch-up.  Within the first 3 miles, I passed the Pro Women that beat me out of the water.  About Mile 10, I could see the next Male Pro about 30 seconds ahead of me.  Unfortunately, for the next 37 miles I could not close the gap.  I could see him on the longer/flat stretches of roads, but the time gap stayed at 20-30 seconds during this time.  During this time, I started to notice some slight cramping in my hamstrings.  I’ve never had this before, and it could be a result of changing saddles 2 weeks before the race.  I thought I had it set-up the same as my previous saddle, but this is definitely something I need to look at as soon as I get my bike back.  Finally around mile 48, I was able to make the pass.  The rest of the ride was uneventful as I made my way back to transition.  I was off the bike in 22nd Place with a bike split of 2:18:57 (24.2 mph avg).

During the bike I stuck with my trusted HIM nutrition plan.  Loaded on my bike, I drank 2 bottles of First Endurance EFS and a half flask of First Endurance Liquid Shot with a ½ scoop of Pre-Race powder.  I also took 2 Salt Stick tabs for the added electrolytes.  From the course, I drank 1 bottle of Powerbar Perform.

 T2 was like T1, in and out pretty quick and off to the run.

As I started the run, I was feeling pretty good.  It was sunny and warm, by now probably 83-84 F and after a short flat section, it was time to climb some hills.  Similar to the bike, this is an honest run course.  The course is 3 loops, with 2 big climbs in the first 1.8 miles, then flat to slight downhill for the rest of the 4.4-mile loop.  By the 1-mile mark, I lost the position back to Victor Laroque.  I stayed about 50 feet behind him until Mile 4, where I re-passed him and created a gap.  At the end of the first lap, I was feeling pretty good.  My pace was about 10 sec/mile slower than my plan, but my RPE was right on, and I was able to maintain my pace up the hills for the second time on Lap 2 so my pacing seemed correct for the conditions.  Even though my pace was off, I was able to move up 2 more positions on this lap.  As I started Lap 3, I dropped my salt tabs at the first aid station.  With about 4 miles to go, I decided it was worth the risk to finish the race without them and not stop to pick them up.  As I charged up the hills for the third time, it was getting warm now.  No matter how much water and ice I dumped on me, it was gone by the next aid station.  The priority now was to stay cool and not slow down.  About Mile 11, I made another pass and was still feeling consistent.  Finally I made my way back to the start area where I turned up the finish chute.  About 100’ before the finish I saw my wife on kids on the fence, and I slowed to give my son a high five before I crossed the finish line.  After that, I made my way to the finish line and stopped the clock with a 1:26:47 run split (6:37 min/mile) and a total time 4:21:42, which was good enough for 19th Male Pro out of 26 starters.

At the finish

Overall I am really happy with my race.  Comparing to where I finished last year, I moved up a few places.  For an early-season Half-Ironman, I have a few key things to improve on for my next race, but I am off to a good start.  It was also interesting as I picked up my bike after the race to return to Tri Bike Transport, I noticed my front tire was flat.  I don’t think it was flat at the end of my ride, but I don’t know for sure.  Either way I’m glad I was able to ride to the finish.

A race like this would not be possible without the help of so many.  Thanks to my wife and kids for joining me in Florida, getting up before sunrise to sit in the hot sun while I got to race.

Special thanks to Paul Rogers, Ron Schmid, Chris, David and rest of the crew at Fraser Bicycle for getting my bike race ready.  Ron Tew from BMC Bicycles for setting me up with the BMC TM01 for the second year.  Sebastian and Sylvie Linke from SLS3 for the great race clothing and post-race recovery socks and sleeves.  First Endurance for the best in nutrition products.  Bonnie Karas from BK Training Systems.  As well as NormaTec MVP, Spy Optics and X-1 Audio.

Now a few weeks to get ready for my next race at Rev3 Williamsburg on June 23.

Rev3 Knoxville Race Report - 28th Place

For the past 3 years I’ve kicked off my tri season at Rev3 Knoxville, and this year was no different.  If you’ve never attended a Rev3 race or Knoxville in particular, I highly recommend it.  Rev3 puts on a great event and the Knoxville area is pretty awesome.  The swim is in the river in the center of the city, the bike course immediately heads out of Knoxville into the surrounding hills that is technical yet fair and the run course is mostly a Greenway path along the river with a “nice” climb in the final ½ mile to the finish.  Add together a great course with the family atmosphere the Rev3 provides and this makes an overall great event.

Similar to last year, I did not come alone and my 4-year old son and dad decided to join me on this trip.  We headed out of Detroit on Friday and after more than a 9-hour drive, we arrived.  Looking at the forecast on Saturday, I looked like the only dry part of the weekend would be Saturday morning.  After that, it was going to get wet.  The good news is that my Saturday ride/run was dry and went well.  The bad news is that it started to rain right after I finished my run and continued until after we left on Sunday.  And when I say rain, I don’t mean a light rain to wet the pavement.  This was an all-day, steady, soaker type of rain with a 100% chance of rain during the race itself.  As a result, it was time to re-evaluate my goals for the race and my race strategy.  Simply put my original goals coming in were the following:

1. Hammer the Swim
2. Hammer the Bike
3. Hammer the Run

My experience with Olympic distance racing is that it is pretty much an all out effort from start to finish and there is no time where you take it easy.  Also, since I raced the same course last year, I was really looking to see how my fitness compared.  Also, with Ironman Florida 70.3 2-weeks later, I wanted to use this to gain insight into my pacing strategy.  So with the rain, I knew there would be minimal information I could compare to last year, so my race goals were now:

1. Hammer the swim
2. Survive the bike – keep the rubber side down

Simply put, I kept an eye on the bigger picture of my season and decided to avoid any additional unnecessary risks on race day, and approach the bike with caution.  Last year I hit a pothole 6 days before Ironman Louisville causing me to flip over the bars resulting in scraps on my back, hip, a cracked helmet, and a stiff neck that took several weeks to go away.  With a long season ahead of me I did not want to jeopardize my season at my first race of the year.

BMC TM01 Ready to Roll!

Race day morning was exactly as forecasted: wet and cold.  The temperature was in the mid-50s and the rain was steadily falling.  My hotel was about ½ mile from Transition, and I was nearly soaked by the time I got there.  For those that don’t know, the Transition area is the first floor of a parking garage, and on a day like today, being covered and out of the wind and rain was perfect.  After going through my typical pre-race prep and warm-up, it was time to head to the swim start.  As we entered the 60F water, it was cool, but not cold.  After a couple of minutes we lined up at the start line waiting for the horn to sound off.  We were all fairly spread out along the start line, and I ended up being in the middle.  Finally it was time to start moving and get warm.  After it horn sounded, I tried to quickly find a pair of feet to draft off during the upstream portion of the swim.  That lasted about a couple of hundred meters until I fell off the back, and had to swim the rest of the race solo.  Once I made the turn at about 500m and headed back downstream, the current helped make up some to the time we lost fighting it upstream.  I exited the water in 20:30, a personal best for me (although it was no doubt aided by the downstream current, but less drafting than last year, so maybe it cancelled out….) and headed off the on the ¼ mile run to Transition.  T1 was uneventful, as I was able to quickly get in and out on my bike.

Rev3 Made it easy to find my Transition Spot

Those first few miles on the bike were interesting to say the least.  At first, my shoe straps were stuck together on each shoe, so I had a hard time getting both feet in.  Once that was done, it was now time to focus on staying upright.  First rule: avoid slippery surfaces such as lane lines and manhole covers.  When wet, those surfaces are like ice.  As my glasses intermittently fogged, and I tried to avoid any other unknown hazards hiding under the puddles and the water streaming over the roads.  Throughout the bike, I felt good.  I was able to hold more power up all the climbs compared to last year, but this time I took it easy on the downhills.  With that said, I still hit almost 40 mph on a couple of parts of the course (as compared to 43 mph last year).  Even with holding back, I was able to make a couple of passes to get up to 27th position at the start of the run.  Unfortunately, my power meter didn’t record for the first couple of miles, so while the rest of my ride looked good, I don’t have a good summary for power over the entire course.  Total bike time was 1:04:22

T2 was similar to T1.  Pretty uneventful and efficient in getting onto the run course.   As I ran down the ramp onto the run course, I could instantly tell my legs were not moving like I planned.  I wasn’t cold, and they didn’t hurt, they were just stiff, heavy and it felt like my stride was a little shorter than normal.  As I maintained my pace, I just could not find any more speed in my legs.  They just seemed stuck at about 6:05-6:10 min/mile pace.  So as I ran through puddle after puddle, some of them ankle deep, I just focused on maintaining my form and hold steady through the finish.  Finally, I made the turn for the final ½ mile run uphill to the finish.  As I crossed the finish line I was happy to be done, as this was an EPIC day.   My run split was 38:04, for a total race time of 2:07:30 and I finished 28th Male Pro.

Even though my time was not my best and not everything went as planned, the conditions were the worst I have ever raced in, and I am satisfied with my performance.  There were a few things I would have done differently, but there were some promising signs and I definitely learned a lot about racing in the cold and rain.

My race report would not be complete without thanking those that helped me get to the starting line.  Most importantly thanks to my wife and kids for the their continued support and patience.

In addition, special thanks to Fraser Bicycle (www.fraserbicycle.com), BMC Bicycles (www.bmc-racing.com), SLS3 (www.slstri.com), Spy Optics (www.spyoptics.com), NormaTec (www.normatec.com), First Endurance (www.firstendurance.com), BK Training Systems (www.bktrainingsystems.com) and X-1 Audio (www.x-1audio.com) for your support as I kick off my 2013 race season!

Also, check out the Rev 3 Race Recap Video: http://vimeo.com/65537254

I know I am a little late in getting this report out, so check back shortly for my Ironman Florida 70.3 Race Report!