With my Ironman race (the Great Floridian Triathlon, or GFT) in approximately 6 weeks, I decided to race the Florida Challenge half distance race as a prep event. The hot weather and tough course would give me a chance to practice race execution, nutrition, heat management, etc–all the good stuff required of a successful GFT effort.
The 1.2 mile swim was in the 87 degree Lake Minneola. Blech. Reports indicate that the swim was slightly long, but I actually had a pretty good swim, at 41 minutes and change. Turns out I was fastest in my age group?? LOL!!? Not bad for literally *no* swim training leading up to the race!
The 56 (turns out it was closer to 60) mile bike was on country roads around Clermont, with lots of rolling hills and an ascent of Sugarloaf Mountain, which isn’t really a mountain, just a 2 minute hill at around 12% grade. I ran a 34/26 lowest gear, which was fine, but for the GFT I’ll run a 34/28 for a bit extra spinnage. My goal was to average around 155 watts, to have a normalized power of 165-170 watts (giving me an intensity factor of 0.8-0.82), and cap my wattage at 250 on the rollers.
I started off smooth–letting the dickswingers push their 500 watts over the rollers while I capped my efforts. I caught many of them on the downhills and flats anyway. Miles 15-30 were filled with cramping (probably due to slamming too much nutrition after the swim), but a brief stop at an aid station stocked with ice cold water helped ease the pain.
Sadly, my race came to an abrupt end at mile 45 with a flat tire. I tried to use Vittoria Pit Stop to plug the leak, but the hole was too big to seal. The Pit Stop was all I was carrying, so my day was done. I didn’t even make it to T2 before calling Lana to pick me up!
I was pissed at myself for not carrying more flat repair stuff, and also pissed because I was feeling quite fit heading into the race. I really wanted to demonstrate I could race long course well in the heat!
So, I did what any ridiculous triathlete looking to use up some fitness would do–I took the following Tuesday off work to try the race again. I would do my own Half Ironman, self-supported, at race pace, on the roads around Gainesville!
The plan was this: swim 2150 yards in my 25 yard apartment complex pool, and bike/run 56/13.1 on some of my bread-and-butter routes around town. Self-supported, including all stops and doing the transitions as quickly as I could.
I started at around 6am on Tuesday. I did the 2150 yard swim in 40’16″ with no problems.
T1 was awkward. I got my bike stuff ready, and then realized that there wasn’t enough light for me to start riding! So I checked my email for 15 minutes until it was safe to ride. Oops.
My plan for the bike was to just nail it at 160 watts (just under 80% of FTP) the whole way. The route I selected was flat. I chose a regular cycling jersey, regular helmet and training wheels. I carried four bottles, which is enough for me for a 3 hour ride in slightly warm temps.
I felt *very* good on the bike. I felt strong and powerful in my newly-modified aero position. The first two hours were quite comfortable, and the last hour was manageable. I took periodic standing breaks and was able to hold my desired watts and cadence (87-88rpm) the whole way. The only mistake I made was using the same 11-26 cassette I used on Sunday (normally I choose a 12-23 for the Gainseville flats)!
Ended up averaging 162 watts (166 NP) with a VI of 1.02 (can you say FLAT roads), IF of 0.79, TSS of 198 and no decoupling. Spot on for a half Ironman bike effort. 2:55 + 1′ worth of traffic stops. I got off the bike ready to run.
My plan for the run was to minimize carnage. I had intentionally chosen a route that was exposed to the sun for most of the way. Two laps of a 3.3 mile out-and-back. The temperatures were rising steadily throughout the run, and I knew that fatigue + rising temps could mean trouble if I wasn’t careful. I started off running 8:45 pace, which, in cooler conditions is actually my “easy” pace. I wore a long-sleeved skin-cooler top, and carried a water bottle the whole way (refilling every two miles or so), which I used for drinking and dumping on myself.
I held this pace for 10 miles or so, then the fatigue and rising temps started to catch up with me. My quads started to hurt and my water breaks got longer. My last 3 miles were slower (9:30 pace), but I was able to keep running. 1:57 without the water breaks, 2:06 with the water breaks.
So, around 5:40 of s/b/r time, not including the two transitions. Not bad, considering the heat!
Some notes:
- I am happy with where my nutritional strategy is right now. With the exception of the cramping early in the Clermont race (which was a silly mistake on my part), I took in enough calories and salt to support my races. During the self-supported race, I estimate I consumed over 7,000mg of salt in the form of approximately 32xSaltstick tablets (2 every 20′ on the bike, 1 every mile on the run), plus the salt in my Infinit mix and a bit from some Gatorade on the run. Calorie-wise, I consumed about 1,300 calories of Infinit and 200 Gatorade calories, almost all on the bike. These numbers seem to work for me in the heat!
- My clothing choices were satisfactory as well. During Ironman, I’m going to wear a (tight-fitting) bike jersey so I can carry additional nutrition + water. I may choose to use arm coolers, depending on how hot it gets–they’ve worked for me in the past. I will almost definitely choose an aero helmet–my LG rocket has vents in which I can pour water. The long-sleeved skin cooler top on the run is a no-brainer for me.
- My swimming is actually OK, considering I have done almost ZERO swim training this summer. The ROI for my long-course swimming doesn’t seem to be that great for me, so I’m not going to worry about it too much. Perhaps a few longer swims before race day, and that’s it.
- I need a better flat tire strategy for GFT. Pit Stop is not enough. Right now, my race wheels are a tubular front and a clincher rear, which is not ideal. I need to either (a) carry full flat solutions for both wheels (which is cumbersome), or (b) find a clincher front wheel. If anyone has a deep-section (preferably 80mm or deeper) clincher front wheel they want to lend me for GFT, I am all ears!
- I am concerned about the leg pain I experienced on the run. This is the same leg pain I experienced at Ironman Wisconsin. In both cases, I was fit enough to run faster but I could not do so mechanically. Perhaps I should consider a run-walk strategy at GFT to give my legs a regular break from the pounding. Or maybe compression tights? Yikes.
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