Pre-Race - HEAT WAVE

There were just a few of us for the Thursday morning ride. Out of the five of us only Robin and I were racing this weekend. I had set up my race bike with my race wheels. This was just going to be a shake down run – nothing fast – nothing major. We headed out and the pace was fine. I had my heart rate monitor on I was keeping everything low. The ride was still a little high for my super duper easy ride. Robin had dropped back a little bit and was riding smart. Robin knows what to do – he is a coach. I decided to drop back and take it easy with him – this also gave me a chance to pick is brain. Robin raced Ironman Lake Placid last year (in the rain) and had a great race. I had a few questions for him. I got my nice easy ride and a lot of good information – Robin stressed to EAT / EAT / EAT and EAT some more during my ironman – and not just gels and drink. Robin was right on – as he peeled away at Clyde Station he said that I didn’t need to take off and catch the guys ahead of us – I think he must have read my mind. I did catch them, they were riding slow, but I did not let my heart rate climb – I kept it low.

Jodie is cake decorating up a storm – a couple of weeks now. Thankfully she has not allowed the cakes to stay in the house. Most have gone to her office. However, she brought a beautiful cake into my office. Coffee and cake in the morning is awesome. We all had a piece and then we ditched (gave) the cake to Julie’s office. The cake would not have lasted long in my area – I have very little discipline – it has to be out of sight to be out of mind. Later in the morning, for fun and games, Vic wanted to see how long we could hold 1 gallon jugs of water straight out at our sides. As always, the person that goes first is the loser – it is the competitive nature. I beat him by a few seconds. Anything heavier than that and I think Vic would have killed me.

At lunch I just played around in the gym – a little of this a little of that – worked the chest and abs. It is hard for me to take easy days, but I was okay with it – I front loaded this week so much to allow for this little bit of taper and I did not want to screw it up.

I dug up my race report from last year’s Heat Wave (2008)
Time – 2:14:39 (swim - 14:33 / bike - 1:10:31 / run - 47:24)

Pre-race routine:
Woke up at 4AM and ate 2 serving of oatmeal and 2 cups of
coffee.

Event warm-up:
Jumped in water.

Swim - Best / worst swim ever. The first half of swim was good but breathing broke down during second half. Could not get breathing under control. Flipped over on back twice to try to calm down. Just toughed it out.

What would you do differently?
More practice in open water swimming. Try to remain calm and
collected. I have been practicing alot this year - should be much better!

T1 - Took a second or two to calm down after swim. I had planned on biking / running without socks but decided to take the time to put some on anyway (I had already put them out in transition just in case.)

What would you do differently?
Pretty good transition considering. Need to practice a running bike mount. Still have not done this - it is one of my resolutions - just have not done it.

Bike - Happy with bike. Wanted to go harder.

What would you do differently?
Ride a little harder

T2 - Good transition. Stopped bike. Hopped off. Ran to bike rack and very end of transition. Bike shoes off. Running shoes on. Hat on. Race belt on.

What would you do differently?
My socks were soaked. Try to go sock less next race. Check - no socks. Need to practice flying dismount.

Run - Some rolling hills took it out of me. I was being paced early on by someone. I slowed a little and someone in my age group passed. I stuck to there hills. I passed him at the next water station and we continued to trade positions. I passed him at the last mile mark and took off hard. I ended up having to walk twice in that last mile but had enough distance on him to finish nearly a minute ahead. This was a slow pace for me. I sprinted the last little bit by the bike transition and then someone yelled - "the finish is just up the hill." That was a hard charge up the hill.

What would you do differently?
Pace my self a little better. Do some hill training. Just run hard - this was hard last year!

Post race

Warm down:
Looked for water

What limited your ability to perform faster?
Need to open water swim better, give a little more on the bike, and perform better on the run.

Event comments:
This is a great race. Nice shirt, nice hat, great organization!!! A well run event