Heat Wave 2011–Race Report

Left work a little early on Friday to head up to Ridgeland for the Heat Wave.  It was hot.  Central and Southern Mississippi has been under a sever heat warning for the past week.  The temperatures have been hitting the triple digits and combined with humidity in the 90’s – well, it has been warm!

I got to talk to a couple of friends at Indian Cycle and Fitness during packet pickup.  They always do a great job.  There were finger foods, wine and beer.  I was on good behavior and stuck to the soft drinks.  I did eat a lot of cheese and crackers.

They had all of their super cool triathlon bikes on display with big mark downs.  It is always temping.  I got to see a Specialize Shiv up close and personal as well as a Speed Concept with electronic shifting.  Both of those bikes are out of my league.

Trusty steed

Four thirty AM came quick.  Ate my normal oatmeal breakfast (cooked via hot water from the in room coffee maker).  We packed up and were on race site just before 6AM.  The race starts at 7.

You racked your bike by bib number.  I would be in the very last rack, meaning I would have to run with my bike the entire length of transition – twice.  Oh, well.  At least the bib numbers were deployed by age group.  Everyone I was competing against would have to do the same.

Long run in transition

I set up my transition, picked up my chip and got marked.  I decided to grab a quick warm up swim.  The water was warm.  It felt like 80 degrees.  It was fine for standing around in but it might get warm.

Robin and I pre-race warm-up

They had us start by waves which were 7 minutes part.  This would alleviate some of the congestion during the bike.  I was in the very first wave.  This is a wading start.  As we were wading out to the imaginary start line they said ready set go and sounded the horn.

Lining up for the start

We were off that quick.  I saw Robin just to my right and I wanted to draft off of him.  He is just a little quick than me in the swim and why not take an easy swim at his expense?

I sped up after him and grabbed some feet.  Every time that I have drafted off of someone I either start to blow up because they are too fast or get impatient because I feel like I should be going faster.  As I said, Robin is about my speed but I felt like I was barely moving.

Well I started to get around the fish I was drafting off of and it was not Robin.  Oops!  I passed the swimmer and swam alone for the rest of the half mile swim (half mile was published but several people believed it to be long). 

What can I say about the swim?  It was probably my best swim ever.  I swam my own race at a comfortably hard pace.  I never got discombobulated and just swam.  At one point my mind drifted to transition and I knew that I had forgotten to turn on my GPS watch.  I tried to send telepathic waves to someone to correct the situation.  It was all for not.  I snapped back to attention and concentrated on the swim.

You were to swim to the left of all buoys.  As I closed on on the swim exit I noticed that I was indeed to the left of the final orange buoy but I was also left of the exit.  I quickly adjusted and accepted a hand from a volunteer.  The boat dock was rather slick.  I also saw Robin just a few feet ahead of me.

I ran to transition.  I turned my GPS watch on and donned my helmet, sunglasses and such.  I spent a little too much time messing with the watch.

I sprinted out of transition.  My heart heart rate was sky high mounting the bike.  I was in the red zone as I started to push the bike.  There were not many riders out on the course (or rather, there were not many rider out on the course within sight).  I tried to let my heart rate settle as I shifted to an easier gear.  I was spinning at my confortable cadence zone in the high 90’s.

I was putting in a solid effort when I got passed by Mike V.  He lives in my neighborhood.  He is a strong rider.  However, within seconds I got passed again.  This time it was Robin.  He motioned for me to pick it up and follow them.  Let me state, neither of them were drafting.  From my perspective this was an extremely clean race.  Everyone that I saw riding was strictly by the books.  That was refreshing!

They were pulling away some and I dug down and picked up the pace.  Fortunately we had turned onto the Natchez Trace and had some rolling down hills.  By the time a caught back and passed Robin, Mike V. was long gone.  Robin, another rider and myself battled it out for about 10 miles.  We would dig deep and pass each other multiple times.

At the turn around I saw that I had a sizable gap between myself and Robin.  The back section is more uphill and I could feel it in my legs.  I just kept spinning and keeping my heart rate at a slow boil.  Although there was a bottle exchange at the turn around I did not feel that I needed to take on any water.  I was still leery about the vomiting from last year.  I only had my front mounted water bottle and I was only taking small sips during the ride.

I was not able to bridge many gaps on the return ride.  I passed a couple and got passed by a blazing fast rider in the 25 – 29 age bracket.  He started 7 minutes after my wave.  Damn!

I rode threw the bike strong.  I ran through transition and changed into my running attire.  I was hot and had some fatigue. 

At the start of the run my heart rate was high.  It was a high effort.  It was where I wanted to keep it during the entire run.  I wanted to run at a measured effort.  I have been practicing running harder.

The first water stop came up at less than a mile.  I was hot.  I was blowing up.  Kendrick from the MS Heat Tri club had caught me and we were running together.  Kendrick is also in the 25 – 29 bracket and had made up 7 minutes on me.  He was also hurting but toughing it out.  We traded places for a while.  At the water stop I stopped and walked it.  I was thankful that the water was cold and I drank a cup while I dumped one on my head.  The shock of the cold too my breathe away.  I started the run again.

Kendrick was still with me but I was losing ground.  On a shady hill I took my first walk break.  I counted my steps, 1 – 2- 3- 4 and did that 5 times.  I do not know why I picked that pattern.  It gave me  20 second break.  My heart rate did not budge.  It was still firmly planted in high zone 4.

Oh yeah, I’m not real sure where it occurred but Robin passed me during the run.  It was either just before the first water stop or just passed it.  Robin is a pure runner.  I could not go with him.

Although they were rolling hills it seemed like it was all up him.  I just kept thinking that on the back it would be all down hill.  At every water stop I continued to dump 2 waters and drink one.  My shoes were making a swishy wet sound.  Now I never dump water on myself.  I hate running in wet feet.  I did not care.  However, my feet did start to rub and I could feel hot spots turning to blisters.

The blisters hurt but they were not an issue.  I can run through that, it was the heat that I was battling today.

I could hear footsteps behind me.  Someone was back there but they were not making up any ground.  I slowed on each hill and shortened my stride.  My heart rate was still sky high.  I was running at a very hard effort.  I was just not going very fast. 

I took a quick walk break on one of the hills.  The footsteps got closer.  This went on for what seemed like forever but it was actually just a mile and a half. 

During anther quick walk break I was caught.  I started running with them.  He said his muscle would not let him run fast and that his heart rate was low.  I said that I was overheating.  I asked him his age hoping…  He said 50 and laughed.  We were both aged up to 39 years old. 

I ended up letting him go.  I quickly shut that out of my mind and made sure that I would not be passed again.  That made 2 runners in  my age group that passed me.  That was tough on me.

I saw the 1 mile marker on the other side of the trail and knew that I was close.  I did take a quick look over my shoulder and saw no one.  Granted the trail had many curves but I was reasonably sure that I was safe.  Still, I was able to muster up enough to finish strong.  Actually finish a little too strong.

I was blowing up and over heating as I charged up the last hill towards the finishing shut.  I was hurting.  Once I relinquished my timing chip I made a bee line to the kiddie pools filled with cold water and ice.  I stuck my fore arms in the ice cold water.  I was trying to drop my core temperature.

I filled my unitard front and back with ice.  The race was over.

I am not quite that heavy – that is ice – front and back

This was the hardest Heat Wave that I have ever done.  The race was true to it’s name.  Many strong runners struggled.  I had a best swim and a strong bike.  I had a tough run. 

I did not win, place or show but I did compete well.  I will post the stats after the official results are posted.

UPDATE:

AG – 11/34 OVERALL – 43/4xx

SWIM – 17:27 (age group place 14)

T1 - 0:56

BIKE - 1:07:14 – MPH 22.1 (age group place 10)

T2 - 1:06

RUN – 47:50 – PACE -  7:51 (age group place 10)

TOTAL - 2:14:30

A heat wave for The Heat Wave

I always like to look over my past races to learn from my experiences.  This will be the fourth time that I have raced the Heat Wave.  Last year was rough and I have thought a lot about it. 

I ran past him but before long I had to stop on the side of the trail. I was making those puking noises and starting to gag a little. I bent over and a stream of hot brown liquid ejected from my mouth. It was short and sweet. I jumped back on the trail as I apologized to the racers around me.

You can read more of that glorious race report here.  Also, from that same series of posts I developed my pre-race check list with photographs – here.

Now for this years race it will be hot again, go figure.  With a name like The Heat Wave you had better expect it! 

This morning I did a hard 3 mile tempo in my new race shoes.  This was the fourth time that I have worn them.  And the second time without socks.  While running hard in the third mile I started to develop so hot spot.  Yep, I got a small blister on each foot.  I am going to evaluate it further to determine if I will wear them during the race – a 10k might be too much to bear.

Heat Wave 2010 - Race Report

First, I don’t have any pictures. I don’t really want to remember much about this race. Don’t get me wrong, I had a good time, but I did not have a good race. I do not like being slower than last year! I don’t like the feeling of going backwards.

Pre-Race

I rode up to Ridgeland (Jackson, MS) with Chris. We stopped at package pickup at Indian Cycles which is a really nice bike shop. They always do it well with cheese and wine and beer and finger foods. It was fun to swap race stories with all of your friends while you touch and feel all of the latest and greatest bikes. I noticed that when I was here a few years ago I could not imagine spending that kind of money for a bike. This weekend I was thinking of all the great deals to be had. Funny how perspectives change. I did not buy anything.

There was a group that met up at Ted’s house for a wonderful dinner and camaraderie. We had a good time catching up for the last year. I was better this year and did not eat too much. This is only a near Olympic race. No need to carbo load as they say.

We all got up early and I drank some coffee and had a cliff bar. The temperature was supposed to be very hot. I drank a large bottle of sports drink. I filled up another bottle with just water.

We arrived with plenty of time to set everything up. I grabbed my transition place; got body marked, hydrated and used the bathroom. I still had about 45 minutes to do a practice swim and ‘get into the zone’. The temperature was less than we expected – it had rained most of the night and it was still overcast.

There was a chop on the water but after the half ironman in New Orleans I was not fazed. I jumped in the reservoir and swan a few hundred yards. I felt strong in my stroke. I was swimming well. I had a great swim at this race the previous year and I was excited about doing well. I took a gel.

Swim –

The race starts in 4 waves – first - < 35 second 35 – 44 third > 45 fourth women. I was in the second wave. The buoys would be to my right which is my strong side in the swim. I started way right and towards the front of the swim. The horn went off and I started swimming. I still felt pretty good. Even though there were a lot of swimmers in my wave I was able to pick Robin out to my right. He was a distinctive swim stroke. I tried to pace off of him for the race so that I would not have to sight much. We were swimming at the same speed. The swim was going well. I decided that I was going to move behind him to catch the draft and just have a nice fast easy swim. Robin always is a little faster than me in the swim so why not just take a ride. Before I could get over there I ran into a pocket of swimmers that just were not moving well. There was a good chop in the water. It was more pronounced after we left the protection of the cove. The faster swimmers were plowing ahead but the less proficient were struggling. I lost Robin at the point and I had to make a major course correction. Getting in this mix up was the first time that I took on water. I missed a breath and then took a mouth of water on the next. It seems that once my rhythm is altered my swim quickly digresses. I recovered soon enough and rounded the first buoy. I had struggled a little bit and was not having the best swim. I remember this being a really hard swim for me but looking back to yesterday I am not sure why. Yes, the water was rough and I am sure that my heart rate was much higher than it should be but I have been in worse. I drank a lot of water and did not swim strong. I was very happy to be done with this swim. I finished a few seconds faster than last year – the course was long last year so go figure.

T1

I ran to my bike and noticed how many in my wave were gone. My friend Dan was in transition and heading out. I wished him luck. My transition was quick – no problems.

BIKE

Dan was a few seconds ahead of me out of transition and I never saw him on the bike. I felt okay during the ride and took it out comfortable hard. I still have a fear of blowing up in these shorter races. I need to just kill the damn thing and pick up the pieces at the end. My gps watch was beeping that my heart rate was too high. This alarm was still set from the half ironman in New Orleans – the alarm was set too low for this race. I would normally not have a heart rate alarm at all. Fortunately it was windy and I could not hear the alarm much. I just ignored it for the most part. However, mistakenly, I did stay right around that heart rate level. Chris, who started in a wave just after me passed me with authority at mile 3 on the bike. However, I passed him at mile five like he was standing still. Oh, he was standing still with a flat on the side of the road. I saw a lot of flats on the course this year. I am not sure why. It took out a couple of the faster bikers. Sam had a flat on the way back on the bike, Chris ended up having 2 flats and Mica also went down. It was windy out on the trace in several areas. I could really feel the wind. I did not push the bike hard enough – not nearly hard enough. I later learned that I got passed by Lance around mile 10 – I never saw him. Regarding drafting, I am not sure what was different but the race was much cleaner this year – good job Ben (he was the head official). I think the rough swim separated the racers more than in the past. I pulled into T2 a couple of minutes slower than last year.

T2

I was not feeling strong as I dismounted the bike. It would be okay; my legs would come along quickly on the run. I was ready to make up some time. I planned on taking a caffeine gel just before the run. It did not seem appetizing. I exited T2 in a respectable time.

RUN

I immediately noticed that I left my gps watch on my bike. Damn, I have grown to rely on this for my pacing. It has become a crutch. I do not know how hard I can push without it. I need to learn to race by feel rather than by instrumentation. I just started pacing off of someone that was running well. I do not know how fast it was. After only a half a mile I started to feel sick. My stomach was in knots. My belly was sloshing around. THIS DOES NOT HAPPEN TO ME! I thought about walking back and not finishing. It hurt that bad. Once again - THIS DOES NOT HAPPEN TO ME!

I have often joked about having a cast iron stomach. I ran through the first water station. I did not want anything in my system. Right around mile one I saw Lance. He asked me how I was doing and I said not well – I was hurting. I ran past him but before long I had to stop on the side of the trail. I was making those puking noises and starting to gag a little. I bent over and a stream of hot brown liquid ejected from my mouth. It was short and sweet. I jumped back on the trail as I apologized to the racers around me. They just said do what you have to do. I caught back up to Lance and passed him again. I was able to run fast when I felt well but my stomach was like a time bomb. It felt like seconds were ticking down to another incident. At the mile two station I grabbed a cup of water and swished out my mouth. Once I had cleared the station I pulled over to the side again. This was a repeat of round one. I immediately felt better and ran a comfortably hard pace. There was a good hill up to the turn around. I was feeling better and my pace was increasing. The slow bike and run had really spared my legs. I was getting stronger. Just past the turnaround point I came up on Dan. He was struggling a little bit. I pushed past him. Sometime in the next mile that time bomb started to ring again. I was looking for some cover and found a large tree just off of the trail. I went behind it and the column of filth that ejected from my mouth was spectacular! Later I would get comments on the drama and the noise that was erupting. Once again I immediately felt better. At the next water station I grabbed two cups of water and swished out my mouth and took a drink. It felt good. I started to drink the next cup of water but it was sports drink. My stomach turned again. I quickly discarded this cup.

With only 2 miles to go I was ready to race. About time! I picked up the pace. I felt fresh. I ran with authority. People were telling me to “go get’em”; telling me that I was looking strong. I don’t think they realized that they had probably passed me several times. In the last mile I came up on Raland. He was running strong. I told him to not let me pass him (I had forgotten that he had started in a wave prior to me). I ran past him (he would end up with third place Clydesdale – Lance got fourth by a few seconds).

I was now running like I know I can run. I was running hard and feeling strong. I finished very strong – after all I had only really run the last 2 miles of the race. I was glad the race was over. I finished and grabbed a bottle of water.

FINISH

After the finish I was able to wander away from the crowd and find some seclusion. I was able to purge the rest of this vileness from my system. It is hard to throw up fast during a race. It seemed like another gallon came up. I later looked at my one water bottle on my bike. I had drunk maybe 10 ounces of water during the bike and so very little during the run. I am having trouble believing that I swallowed that quantity of water during the swim. It boggles the mind. I would have liked to know what my paces were for the 10k run. Sure, my total run time was longer than last year but I finished strong.

RESULTS

Overall of was 4 minutes slower than last year. My swim was slightly faster. My bike was off by 3 full minutes (23.1 MPH compared to 22.0 MPH). My run was off by 90 seconds (7:27 pace compared to 7:42 – I must have been running pretty fast WHEN I was running). I don’t know how this happened but compared to my age group I was 8 places better than last year in the swim, the same for the bike and I improved by 1 on the run.

Overall I placed 4 better than last year in my age group (but that is not saying much because I was not stellar last year either). This could have been a strong race for me but it just did not happen.

For triathlon, for me to get better on the run I definitely need to get better on the swim. I have often said, “I will not win the race on the swim but I sure can lose it!”

Transition prep - Heat Wave

Last year the Heat Wave Triathlon was unseasonably cool - it was actually wetsuit legal (for the first time I believe.).   Not this year.

not so lucky with the weather this year

I used to go over and over all the things that I needed to take for a triathlon. It is a LOT of stuff especially compared to a running race (shoes, shirt, shorts and race belt if you have one).  But now I have it paired down to what I think are the necessities. Let me share.

just in case

flip flops, sunscreen (you saw the UV INDEX = 10+ EXTREME) and an extra tube

goggles.  I have another pair in the truck - just in case

gps watch and heart rate strap.  now I use it more for pacing

towel for my stuff in transition

rocket helmet and bike shoes

running shoes, race belt and race hat (I prob won't wear the ironman one - maybe)

sunglasses and crack pipe (for my race wheels)

water bottle and 2 gels (one before the swim and one before the run)

extra tube (this would be extra, extra) and Allen wrenches

scissors and electrical tape (someone will ask if you have one of these)

it all fits in the transition bag

oh yeah - what do you do with the USAT key fob membership card?  it is on my transition bag.  I do not think I will ever do a race without my gear so it is always handy.

the bike (since this is only a near olympic race I took off all of my water bottle cages except for front mounted one

There you have it.  Easy stuff.

Heat Wave Pre-Race Report

I have a race this weekend, the Heat Wave, which I have raced the last 2 years. The temperature was cooler last year but the swim was longer. The previous year the swim must have been short – my much better swim was 3 ½ minutes longer. I still improved my time by about 5 minutes. You can read the analysis here  or last year’s race report here .

Last year I had a huge improvement on the bike (9.3% faster – 2 MPH) and an okay improvement on the run (4.3% faster – 20 seconds per mile). I am not sure where I will come in this weekend. I have talked a lot about following race plans but I have not been diligent this year. The half ironman in April was an afterthought and I did not even look at a race plan for this weekend’s race. It is like I have just been exercising since the Mardi Gras Marathon. I truly believe that if I had put together a challenging training plan and followed it for the half ironman in New Orleans then my sub-5 hour goal would have been easily achievable. Now this race, like I said, it will be interesting where I finish this year.

Past performance is a pretty good predictor of how you will do in a race. Experience plays a huge part in this. A rule of thumb for half to full ironman performance is to double the time and add an hour. Last year I completed my first half ironman in 5:30. I judged a lot of my pacing for my full ironman off of this time. If you double that time and add an hour and you get 12:00 flat. This was my fantasy goal for ironman Louisville. However, I did not factor in all of the hard training that I would do over the summer in the Mississippi heat and I got lucky with a cool year in Louisville. I actually ended up blowing that goal out of the water. I finished my full ironman in 11:18. What is more telling is that my swim and run pacing’s were faster in the full ironman than in the half ironman. Go figure.

I was thinking about this the other day. How does this equation work in reverse? Well, my most recent race was the same half ironman in New Orleans and I finished that race in 5:08. Let’s see – if I half my full ironman time and deduct an hour what do I get? 5:09 – wow. That is uncanny (full in 2009 11:18 – half 2010 5:08). I can’t believe how close that is.

Does this mean that my race fitness is similar right now to when it was last August? It is the same but it is different. Let me explain. I do not have the same endurance that I had last year. Sure I can go out and ride 50 miles or go out and run 15 miles but I would have trouble going out and doing a brick at those distances. I could do that last year – or close to it anyways. Reading my post race report from the Heat Wave last year I actually got home after the race and ran a 5 miler. What? And the next day I did a 50 mile ‘recovery’ bike ride. That is crazy.

I wish I could say that I have traded endurance for speed and in some respects that is true. However, last Friday’s 5k Pump and Run race shows me that my top end is off. I would have liked to have been much deeper in the 19’s for that race (in the back of my mind I wanted high 18’s). I am not going to judge too much on this 5k race since I effectively blew up – but still I wish I had been faster. I need to go out and run an all out 5k in training just to see where I stand.

My strategies for the race: I am going to have a solid swim, push it hard on the bike – just short of implosion, and run hard.


I guess that is every race plan. Simple stuff.

Heat Wave Analysis - 2009

On Monday I completed a good swim in the pool at the university. A reverse ladder ( 600/500/400/300/200/100 ) with increasing intensity. I also swam 200 yards in between sets as a cool down - 3000 yards including warm up and cool down.

Lunch called for another 8 x 1/2 mile intervals with 60 seconds recovery. Two weeks ago I did this work out at 9.2 MPH on the treadmill - I upped it to 9.3 MPH - just a tiny bit faster. On the last interval my heart rate average was about 4 beats less than 2 weeks ago. I am seeing progress.

So yesterday was the race report - today is the stats - the nitty gritty.


******SWIM**T1***BIKE***AVE***T2***RUN**AVE**TOTAL
2008 14:33 1:20 1:10:31 21.1 0:52 47:24 7:47 2:14:39
2009 17:31 1:02 1:04:31 23.1 1:16 45:26 7:27 2:09:44

I improved by 3.8% including the 3 minutes for the swim. I did, infact improve in the swim - just the distances were not the same. Last year I was about 2 1/2 minutes behind my friend Mike - this year only 30 seconds. And I was 4 minutes behind my friend Chris and this year only 2 minutes - Chris is very fast - like 24.9 MPH on the bike fast.

Mike was 16% faster than me last year and only 2.6% faster this year while Chris was 38% faster than me last year and only 12% faster this year. My swim was much improved.

If you remove the swim than the inprovment for the bike, run and transitions was 7%.

On to the bike - well 6 minutes improvement on the dot - a 9.3% improvement from last year - 2 MPH!!! - and I did not feel drained or spent when I dismounted. On the contrary I wished that I could have pushed harder.

On the run I was 1:58 minutes faster - this was a 4.3% improvement. This is also where I lost the most ground. I really need to work on the mental side of this equation and push myself harder. I have never had trouble in this area - I am not sure what gives. I get to test myself again this weekend!

Speaking of Chris - here is a picture of him from a race last year - You do not want to get in his way - he is an animal!

Heat Wave 2009 - Race Report

In the picture - Robin, Ben, Me and Lance (the instigator).

Heat Wave Race Report – 2009

PRE-RACE

They announced that the water temperature was 75 degrees and the race would be wet suit legal. No one was prepared. I did not even think to pack my wet suit. I have been swimming in open water here in Mississippi for the past 6 weeks and it has been too warm for a wet suit. I jumped in the lake for a little warm up and the water was cool but nothing bad. It was warmer than the air temperature. After I got out of the water I was shivering for 20 minute waiting for the race to start – the air temperature was cool. I feared that the bike would be cold after the swim.

SWIM –

This was my best swim ever – by far. In the first 100 yards or so I was having trouble catching my breath. I was swimming and not exhaling in the water and when I turned to breathe I could not get any air. This has happened to me before. After just a few swim strokes I was starting to feel hypoxic. For the first time I mentally took charge of the situation and started to glide my swim strokes out longer and further. I forced myself to exhale and take deep breaths. I quickly found my rhythm and before I knew it I was passing the first buoy. Then a corner buoy and soon enough heading back to shore. I was swimming strong and easy like I do in practice. This was a huge success in and of itself. Like I said – this was my best swim but the time did not reflect it – I was 3 ½ minutes slower than last year. The consensus is that the course was really short last year and it may have been long this year.

T1 –

Out of the water feeling fine. Helmet on, shoes on, sunglasses on – good to go.

BIKE –

I was not cold on the bike at all. I had two gels taped to the top tube. I took one during the bike. I took it easy for a mile or two heading out and then picked up the pace. I was afraid that I would not be able to bring the intensity but it came with ease. I was passing quite a few of the bikers from the first wave. The out section seemed like it was mostly down hill (I thought the same last year but others thought differently). There were big bunches of riders. You would come up on groups and it would be hard to pass. It was hard not to technically draft but it was slowing me down. Everything got much worse at the turn around point. I guess it was from losing the momentum and then heading back up a long gradual hill. This just bunched everyone up. You would come up on a group and the nearly blow up having to pass 20 or so people. I did this repeatedly. Leaving the trace and getting back on Rice road it, unbelievably, got even worse. There was a group of about 30 cyclists – 5 wide in some places. More riders were just piling up at the back – there was no way around this ball of confusion. My heart rate was way down and I was just cruising. Some of the faster racers were starting the run and one yelled – “Could you draft anymore” to the group. No I don’t think you could – however, I do believe that drafting implies that you are riding faster than you normally could – not slower. This large group all pulled into transition at the same time – it looked like an ITU race – just slower. Major frustration.

T2 –

I was a little slower than normal on my transition. There was a bike in my slot and I was a little confused. I racked my bike in the next slot and moved over and put my shoes on, grabbed my running hat and race belt.

RUN -

I was feeling pretty good starting the run. My legs were heavy but I was running strong. My heart rate was lower than I wanted it to be – I was having trouble picking up the pace. The temperature was much nicer this year than last – not a heat wave in the least. I was pacing with someone and just running. I was not pushing the pace. At the turn around point, something changed, maybe my resolve or attitude and I was able to increase my heart rate – the second half of the run was faster and harder. I was passing people in the last two miles. During the last mile I came up on someone with compression socks on their calves – I could not tell what age group they were in – I passed them but I could tell that they were trying to hold onto me. During the last half mile I heard someone trying to mount a last minute pass. I picked up the pace hard and sprinted towards the finish. Whoever was trying to pass me gave up the effort quickly. There was one last turn and just a charge up a hill to the finish. I was sprint all out and hard, however, someone was coming up quick. I was running as fast as I could and I got passed in the last 10 feet. They were flying – they were running like it was a quarter mile sprint! I looked at their leg and there was a 22 on the calf. That age group wave started 4 to 5 minutes before my wave.

Post Race –

I did not feel totally worn out after this race. I think that the ironman training has increased my endurance. A 2 hour effort is not quite what it used to be. I need to work on the intensity. Still, I improved my bike by 5 minutes and my run by 2 minutes – I also had a really good swim even though the time did not reflect it.


Not totally spent - I did a 5 mile run on Saturday afternoon when I got home. On Sunday I got a nice easy 50 mile recovery ride. It looks like my training plan will work well this week also with a scheduled day off on Friday - a nice taper day rpior to the DragonFly Triathlon on Saturday.

Pre- Race Dinner and stuff – Heat Wave 2009

The race report will follow on Monday – but I survived the Heat Wave again – this time without the heat. I bested my time from last year and had a good race.

Mike picked me up at my house Friday afternoon and drove us up to Brandon, Mississippi. Ted and Linda live on the reservoir in a beautiful house. They were gracious hosts and extremely hospitalible. I have seen Ted at every triathlon that I have done – all of them – he told me that he has done over 300 races. Chris was already at their house and Ben was trying to help Chris put a new cassette and chain on his race bike. We soon took off to Indian Cycle for race package pickup. Indian cycle is a very nice bike shop / fitness shop in Ridgeland. They had tables of appetizers out and there was even wine. Package pick up was up stairs and they had all of their tri bikes lined up – very impressive – Specialized, Orbea, Trek – all decked out! We also ran into Steve and John from Hattiesburg and they would be coming over to Ted’s house for dinner. Linda had prepared a huge dinner – spaghetti, chicken, two kinds of salad and of course numerous cookies and other goodies.

The weather was spectacular – most of us ate outside under a pergola that Ted had build. Ted is a specialty build and makes wonder constructions (even featured in Southern Living magazine) – he said that right now the ‘Outside Kitchens’ are huge. This outside area at Ted’s house was very nice – it had a beautiful brick fire place and a wonderful view over looking the reservoir and marina.

I had a really good time just talking race strategies with all of the athletes. We all swapped stories about past successes and failures. I ate a little too much - Chris told me that I really didn’t need to carbo load – but I wasn’t – I was just enjoying the food.

I was fading fast just after 9PM and soon headed up stairs for bed. I read a little bit and drifted off. We would be getting up at 4:30 for the race. I woke up at about 4:00 and waited until I heard others stirring.

Race weather - Heat Wave

Uncharacteristic for the Heat Wave - race start is at 7AM.

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

Swimming, swimming, running, cycling and a taper – hard to do in just a couple of days.

To make up for the missed lunch workout I went to the pool on Wednesday morning even though I knew I would be swimming after work at the lake. I enjoy the lake swimming more than the pool swimming but the pool is convenient and it allows me to work on drills and speed. I swam for 3000 yards in various sets (6 x 200 / 1 x 500 / 6 x 200 / 1 x 100). A nice comfortable swim.

Lunch called for some longer intervals. I was going to do these on the trace with Chris, however, it had started to sprinkle outside and I did not see Chris anywhere. Well, up to the treadmills for some forced speed work. I should not do this but I altered the intervals a little bit. The plan called for 5 x 5:00 minutes at LT with 60 seconds RI. Last week it was 8 x ½ mile at the same level. Well I increased the duration but decreased the number of sets. I did a 10 minute warm up followed by 4 x 1 mile repeats at a 6:30 pace - (60 second RI) with a 10 minute cool down. Towards the end of each interval my heart rate would get well above LT but the average for the interval was much lower. The entire workout consisted of 6.3 miles in 49:06 for a 7:47 pace (take out the WU and CD and that is a 6:46 pace with the rest). Not too bad on tired legs.

TREADMILL INTERVALS (10 WU / 10 CD)
4 x 1 mile (6:30 pace) with 0.1 mile (1 minute) RI

1. 6:32 - HR AVE 157
2. 6:28 - HR AVE 156
3. 6:34 - HR AVE 157
4. 6:31 - HR AVE 164

The OWS after work felt great. JD measured the distance to the buoys with a GPS in his boat. It is pretty close to 0.2 mile to the second buoy so that an out and back would be 0.4 mile. To simulate my race this weekend I decided to do this distance twice with a small rest in between. No warm up – just like a race (except for all of the anxiety, tension, elevated heart rate, etc). I took off and settled into a rhythm – Robin was off to my right and I was using him to sight. I tend to lose so much momentum when I have to sight. We drifted apart a little and I was off course to the left so I corrected. I think most of the swimmers stopped at the buoys but I just rounded it and headed to the shore. I waited to see if anyone had followed me but they were all bobbing around at the buoys. I ended up waiting 90 seconds and headed out for another loop. This was a slower, easier pace – mainly because I was now warmed up. I just cruised this loop and the swim felt great. The second loop ended up being about a minute slower.

OWS -
0.4 miles - 12:06
90 RI
0.4 miles - 13:04

After the swim, I was last out of the water; we talked about the upcoming race. The Heat Wave is pretty big in Mississippi and everyone wants to do well. Lance was saying that JD was going to kill the bike and damn the run. This would give him bragging rights - he has really become a strong cyclist this year. Lance is determined to not allow JD to beat him on the bike. I just want to do well in the race and beat my times from last year. After most everyone had left Lance told me that Robin was gunning for me and that I was marked. Again, I told Lance that I was just going to run my own race – let the cards do the talking so to speak. Lance called me out – he said that he reads my blog and that what I said was bull – he said that he knew that I wanted to beat everyone. SMACK!!!

Later, I found out that he called Robin and told him that I said that I would beat him by 5 minute. Lance is such an instigator – I love it – game on.


I really am treating this race as a training day – just a very intense training day!

Hyper-compensating

My weight was up a little bit on Monday morning after the long ride on Sunday. I think I put on water weight because I deplete my glycogen stores and then with post recovery my muscles hyper-compensate (like they should). I am sure that my weight will drop again by mid-week.

I am trying to load the front part of this week with my cycling and running because I have a near Olympic race this weekend (Olympic except the swim is ½ mile) and I want my legs to be fresh. The Heat Wave is up in Ridgeland (near Jackson). The bike is on the Natchez Trace – super smooth and the run is a tough 10k. I was looking at my results from last year and I hope to improve upon them (2:14 – swim 1:39 / 100 – I think the swim was a little short – bike 20.85 MPH – run 7:39 min/mile ).

The training plan called for even more cycling. Two hours of biking were in store for the day. During the week it is really hard for me to get a 2 hour block in – I have no problems getting in several 1 hour blocks but more than that and it gets hard. So I decided to split the workout – I usually would not do this believing that a solid 1 workout (if the workout is for endurance purposes) is better than 2 shorter workouts. I headed out on the trace at 6AM and did my 20 mile out and back to Sumrall. No watch, no heart rate monitor, no GPS - just a nice early morning ride. My legs were tired but the ride was good.

I got a good swim in at lunch – I am still working on my bilateral breathing. This is something that I do not think I will be able to utilize in a race but the breath control and stroke refinement should prove helpful. 3000 yards total.

I was proud of myself for finishing up the additional hour on the bike. I got home and really did not want to mount up but gathered my resolve and did it. It was a nice afternoon – it did not feel hot like it should have. Once again, no watch or heart rate monitor but this time I was pushing it pretty hard. On the return trip I started to feel drips of water in the air. It was not raining - blue skies and dry air. This is an out and back and I never got rained on but on the return I crossed a stretch of the trace that had evidently been poured on while I was out. For about 3 miles the trace was soaked. There were pools of water all on the road. The spray got me wet but I was now refreshing. There was no sign of rain back at the house.

I came home to a delicious and health dinner. This is getting easy!