Monday, October 30, 2006
Ironstar 06 Halr IM race report
IRON STAR HALF IRONMAN RACE REPORT
Yesterday was great overall. My time was 5:05 (:31 swim, 2:44 bike, 1:44 run, :05 transitions)with a 30th overall finish and a 6th place finish in my age group (little over 600 racers in the event). My goal was 4:47 (:28 swim, 2:40 bike, 1:35 run, :04 transitions). Did quite get the results I wanted but the effort was definitely there. I can honestly say I did not leave anything in the fuel tank yesteday. In fact, the last mile of the run I actually ran pretty hard on fumes and nearly collapsed after crossing the finish line.
First off was the swim. This was the only part of the race that disappointed me. I swam 31min and some change which is the same time I had last year. I hate to think all my swim training over the last year did not net me a darn thing. I felt really good thru most of the swim, especially the start, and I never hit any crowded areas in the water. However, there were times where my arms were getting tired and I knew I was slowing down.
It also did not help that near the end of the swim the water began to taste like motor oil. I recently read a quote that if you want to swim a certain time, you had better be training at that pace. My 100m pace yesterday was 1:30 and my recent 100s have been at 1:20 to 1:22. I need to work more on my muscular endurance to hold that pace longer. My swim split rank was 57th overall.
The bike is where I ran into my first bit of trouble. Actually, it ran into me in the way off another racer. Before the ax my transition went pretty smooth. I was slowed a bit by putting on my socks and my shoes (I never bike with socks and I always lock my shoes on my pedals) but due to the cold and the grass being wet I took the safe route. I was also slowed some by putting on my arm warmers but it was worth the extra time b/c it was cold on the bike. Once I went to mount my bike, this jackass next to me lost control of his bike while mounting it and slammed into the side of me. This caused me to eat some concrete b/c my shoes were already locked into the pedals. The fall tore up my right knee and tweaked my left hammy before the ride ever started. That guy proceeded to ride off w/o saying a word. I lost at least 2mins peeling myself off the ground and fixing my bike. My seat was sticking straight up, my bar tape was all chewed up on the right side, my handlebars were bent to the left and my gatorade leaked out everywhere. I managed to straighten the seat but I road with my bars slightly turned to the left. When I was in the aero position my left knee would hit my left elbow every rotation as I pedaled. That got old real fast. Needless to say I road like that for 59miles. I ended up having a great bike ride of 2:44 with a 21.5 mph pace. My bike split was 25th overall. I think I even past the guy who hit but but then again everyone looks the same. My only issue on the bike was my lack of fluids I took in and the inability to get the old fluids out of me while riding.
Once I hit T2, I managed to transition from the bike to run in less than a minute but I had to hit the port a pottie for a 90sec pee. I think at least 3 people came in from the bike after me and made it onto the run course before me. It was worth it though. I started the run with cramping in my thighs (inner quads to be exact). With every step they hurt. I stopped after a mile at the 1st aid station and took in to salt tablets, water, and gatorade. I would do this twice more during the run. I would also drink about 7ozs of flat coke (my new race secret!!!) and a gel with about 4 miles to go. I did not get enough fluids and sodium in me on the bike and thats why the cramps were haunting me on the run. When the race was over I had so my salt on my body and clothes from sweating. But back to the run. I held a nice pace for the first 7 miles (HR averaged between 145 and 150) but then the legs ran out of juice and I was running on pure will. I fought a head wind between mile 7 and 8 that almost stopped my and then I just felt like thrash the rest of the way. The most satisfying part was my ability to not get down and to keep pushing the legs until the end. I think I even crossed a new boundry in my threshold for pain and managed to push harder on the last mile and a half to finish strong. My run split was 1:44 (7:59 mile pace) and was 58th overall in the run split. I think I pushed a little too hard on the bike which hurt my run a bit but ultimately I just hit the wall.
This was a grat race b/c I had some adversity and I was able to overcome some obstacles in route to a nice finish. I need to continue to work on my overall endurance base and increase my muscular endurance work during my build phases of training. My mental toughness has come a long way (especially in my recent training anf my last 2 race finishes) and will only help my finish future races even stronger. Lastly I need to really focus on my nutrition in my training to avoid any letdowns in races. This needs to really needs to be a key area of concern as I work towards Ironman AZ next year. Well that is all for now. I will take 2 weeks off from training and then due some light exercising the following 2 weeks to transition back into training mode. Training will ramp up right after Thanksgiving to prepace for IMAZ in april.
Below are some photos a guy standing by Amber took for her and email to us.
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Yesterday was great overall. My time was 5:05 (:31 swim, 2:44 bike, 1:44 run, :05 transitions)with a 30th overall finish and a 6th place finish in my age group (little over 600 racers in the event). My goal was 4:47 (:28 swim, 2:40 bike, 1:35 run, :04 transitions). Did quite get the results I wanted but the effort was definitely there. I can honestly say I did not leave anything in the fuel tank yesteday. In fact, the last mile of the run I actually ran pretty hard on fumes and nearly collapsed after crossing the finish line.
First off was the swim. This was the only part of the race that disappointed me. I swam 31min and some change which is the same time I had last year. I hate to think all my swim training over the last year did not net me a darn thing. I felt really good thru most of the swim, especially the start, and I never hit any crowded areas in the water. However, there were times where my arms were getting tired and I knew I was slowing down.
It also did not help that near the end of the swim the water began to taste like motor oil. I recently read a quote that if you want to swim a certain time, you had better be training at that pace. My 100m pace yesterday was 1:30 and my recent 100s have been at 1:20 to 1:22. I need to work more on my muscular endurance to hold that pace longer. My swim split rank was 57th overall.The bike is where I ran into my first bit of trouble. Actually, it ran into me in the way off another racer. Before the ax my transition went pretty smooth. I was slowed a bit by putting on my socks and my shoes (I never bike with socks and I always lock my shoes on my pedals) but due to the cold and the grass being wet I took the safe route. I was also slowed some by putting on my arm warmers but it was worth the extra time b/c it was cold on the bike. Once I went to mount my bike, this jackass next to me lost control of his bike while mounting it and slammed into the side of me. This caused me to eat some concrete b/c my shoes were already locked into the pedals. The fall tore up my right knee and tweaked my left hammy before the ride ever started. That guy proceeded to ride off w/o saying a word. I lost at least 2mins peeling myself off the ground and fixing my bike. My seat was sticking straight up, my bar tape was all chewed up on the right side, my handlebars were bent to the left and my gatorade leaked out everywhere. I managed to straighten the seat but I road with my bars slightly turned to the left. When I was in the aero position my left knee would hit my left elbow every rotation as I pedaled. That got old real fast. Needless to say I road like that for 59miles. I ended up having a great bike ride of 2:44 with a 21.5 mph pace. My bike split was 25th overall. I think I even past the guy who hit but but then again everyone looks the same. My only issue on the bike was my lack of fluids I took in and the inability to get the old fluids out of me while riding.
Once I hit T2, I managed to transition from the bike to run in less than a minute but I had to hit the port a pottie for a 90sec pee. I think at least 3 people came in from the bike after me and made it onto the run course before me. It was worth it though. I started the run with cramping in my thighs (inner quads to be exact). With every step they hurt. I stopped after a mile at the 1st aid station and took in to salt tablets, water, and gatorade. I would do this twice more during the run. I would also drink about 7ozs of flat coke (my new race secret!!!) and a gel with about 4 miles to go. I did not get enough fluids and sodium in me on the bike and thats why the cramps were haunting me on the run. When the race was over I had so my salt on my body and clothes from sweating. But back to the run. I held a nice pace for the first 7 miles (HR averaged between 145 and 150) but then the legs ran out of juice and I was running on pure will. I fought a head wind between mile 7 and 8 that almost stopped my and then I just felt like thrash the rest of the way. The most satisfying part was my ability to not get down and to keep pushing the legs until the end. I think I even crossed a new boundry in my threshold for pain and managed to push harder on the last mile and a half to finish strong. My run split was 1:44 (7:59 mile pace) and was 58th overall in the run split. I think I pushed a little too hard on the bike which hurt my run a bit but ultimately I just hit the wall.
This was a grat race b/c I had some adversity and I was able to overcome some obstacles in route to a nice finish. I need to continue to work on my overall endurance base and increase my muscular endurance work during my build phases of training. My mental toughness has come a long way (especially in my recent training anf my last 2 race finishes) and will only help my finish future races even stronger. Lastly I need to really focus on my nutrition in my training to avoid any letdowns in races. This needs to really needs to be a key area of concern as I work towards Ironman AZ next year. Well that is all for now. I will take 2 weeks off from training and then due some light exercising the following 2 weeks to transition back into training mode. Training will ramp up right after Thanksgiving to prepace for IMAZ in april.
Below are some photos a guy standing by Amber took for her and email to us.
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