Spirit of Racine 2008
Racine Post Race Analysis
I decided to take a “big” risk at Racine and do the race sans watch, HRM. The only gadget I was going to use was my SRM to pace the bike.
I decided this because my swim will always be in the neighborhood of 30 minutes including transition. On the run I felt that while it is encouraging to see fast mile splits go by on the run – it is equally discouraging if the splits start to fall off and you can’t keep the pace high. I thought it would be an interesting experiment to just run on feel and see what happened.
Swim –
The swim was the swim. I blew the doors off most other people in my wave. It felt very easy and relaxed. I am unsure of what my time was, but assuming they started the race on time at 8 am (and my SRM PCV matches the race time) I was in the transition area and getting on the bike 24 minutes after I started. So between the current and a little short on the swim it was very fast.
Bike –
My plan for the bike was to ride ~255 watts which is an IF of .85. For my expected/hoped for bike split of 2:20 based on the now controversial EN theory of ~170 TSS this was spot on.
I started out on the bike and the 250 watts felt very easy. I cruised at this – a couple of times I was disappointed to see what my speedometer was displaying, but I stuck to the game plan. As the day went on the average speed came up to a level I was hoping for – not quite as fast as I wanted, but the wattage was good.
For nutrition on the bike I mixed a GU flask with all my calories, and placed it on the top tube. I mixed 450 calories of Infinit in a measuring cup and got it to a good consistency. This didn’t fill the flask up all the way so I proceeded to add Infinit, and water and keep mixing until I couldn’t get anymore in. I hoped this amounted to 750 calories (300/hour).
Anyways towards the end of the bike I was starting to feel a little low, but was out of Infinit – so at the last aid station I picked up 2 Hammer Gels. I had one immediately, and another one not long before transition. I took in almost a full Tall water bottle that I started with, and about 1.5 bottles of water from on the course.
I pulled into T2 with a bike split in the 2:25 range, and 243/248 for AP/NP. With the last few miles of the bike definitely bringing the average down to get the legs ready to run.
Run –
The plan for the run was to just run at a comfortable pace from the start and carry it for 13.1 miles – technically for 10-11 miles, and then dip into my 2-3 miles “Suck It Up Reserve”™ while consuming 3 to 4 gels along the way with a glass or two of water at each aid station.
I came out of transition and felt great – I felt like a monster ready to eat up the people that flew by me on the bike. By the first turn around I had passed 3 of the four (or maybe 5) people who had passed me on the bike, it looked like I was ~14th overall including the pros and 4th from the Elite wave. I was about 200 meters behind 3rd place, and about a mile behind 2nd and 1st (who were about 50 meters apart).
By this time it was starting to get pretty humid so I tried to take in the right amount of water at each aid station (enough to stay hydrated, but not enough to overfill the stomach).
The second stretch of the run was uneventful – I got to see how the gap was on the people behind me, and gauge how folks in other waves were doing against me. Without a watch it was hard to determine if they were beating the stagger or if I was ahead – but I didn’t worry about it to much I just kept the pace comfortably fast.
I hit the half way point and was still feeling really good, my friend Matt said “You looked like a Rockstar” I saw the clock at the finish and it showed 3:40 – I figured if I run a 45 minute loop that would put me at a 4:19 (4:25 – 6 minutes) – figuring that that was 7 minute miles (maybe a bit slower since the second lap is a touch shorter then the first). Not to long after that though I started to hurt. There are two hill on each loop of the Racine run, right next to each other about ¾ of a mile in with the second having the 1 mile mark right at the top. I really struggled up those hills the second lap. At the aid station at mile 1/(7.5) I grabbed some enduralytes because my right quad was twinging a little. After those hills my pace really started to dip because of no watch I really have no idea how much I fell off – or how quickly I did. I just know that the guys I had passed earlier on the run began to catch me, and then even some people who were way behind me began to.
I continued with the fluids and a couple of gels on the second lap. I rolled in with the second lap being in 49 minutes – and not feeling very good. I’m pretty sure I was seriously dehydrated. I’m curious about what my run split was, and how much I faded. Based on my overall time, and talking to a guy who nearly caught me at the end – I would guess my run was in the 1:30 zip code meaning my first loop was in the 41-42 range – which is probably a minute or two too fast. I am waiting to see the results to figure it out for sure.
I wandered over to the medical tent and sat down with a blower on me. Unfortunately they did not have a scale at the med tent. I do wish I would have been able to weigh myself – to see if/how badly I was dehydrated. I drank a soda and a couple bottles of water while I sat there. I felt a bit better after a bit and went on my way.
Looking back I ponder about my melt down on the run. Surprisingly it could be one of a few things –
1> My bike FTP is overestimated so I rode to hard
2> My bike FTP is right on, but my bike fitness is not robust enough to handle riding that long at that intensity.
3> My run fitness is not strong enough to support running as fast as I did (i.e. I went out to fast)
4> My nutrition was short and I didn’t take in enough calories to support the effort.
Each of the points above have several pieces of supporting evidences, but each point also has alibis pointing away from it – I will have to wait until HFP posts the results to get some more info and then break it out. I don’t think there is a golden bullet answer to a the meltdown. Right now my money is on 3, compounded a little by 2.
I did enjoy running without HRM, watch, etc, but I think that the pace feedback from the watch at the mile marks, or even my footpad is valuable. Have to think about what tools I will use at the upcoming Olympic next month and at IMWI.
My overall time was 4:23 – which I am pretty happy with; even if you tack on a couple minutes for how they adjusted the swim. I accomplished my goal of besting my 2006 SORT time for 4:28 (although I dropped a 1:26 run that year!)