Drove down to Sunriver Thursday with my wife and 5 kids in the minivan - don't feel sorry for me, 3 of them just friends of my kids Erik and Hanna that we invited for the trip. We rented a house right on trail for the 1/2 IM course and shared it with a couple of friends. Arrived late Thursday evening.
Friday was a bit hectic with 3 kids racing in the mini kids triathlon, and horseback and tennis lessons for all kids. Went to pick up my race package and had to pay an extra $10 for USAT since I didn't have my card on me (I figured entering the USAT number on the application should be enough). On the way to the bike drop-off at the resovoir Friday evening I realized that the course was changed due to road construction. I little disappointed since this was my 4th year in a row in Sunriver and the first 3 had all resulted in tuff runs, so this year I was determined to nail the run and with my Powermeter I would have some good data for post-race analysis :o)
Saturday morning went as usual for race morning for me. Woke up 5AM, started the day with a slimfast, a banana and a nonfat latte. Then enjoyed a liter of gatorade and a powerbar while I packed my gear. Finihsed the gatorade in the bus up to the lake (30min drive). Sat next to a nice lady - just like last year Jill :o) Barbara was trying to qualify for Nationals in the duathlon, but post-race she came over to me and showed me her hands after 3 flats on the bike :o(
At the lake I decided to do a 5 min jog to warm-up although I always feel I should just save it for the race. Then some stretching and wetsuit on and a dip in the lake. With 5 minutes to go to race start I decided to tighten my goggles. Shoot, I pulled the strap the wrong way and it seemed impossible to tread it back as I had trimmed the strap. A couple of tense moments but it all worked out with several seconds to spare.
I had decided to go very, very, very easy for the entire race. I was starting to develop a mental block with 3 bad runs for my only 3 1/2 IM races, and with Ironman Canada being my A-race, I was less worried about my time than executing my race strategy and not needing too much recovery after the race.
The swim went as planned. As usual very hard for me to see the early markers in the sunrise and got a little of course. Effort was very easy L1/L2 at HR of 120. My time showed it with 47 minutes for the swim leg. Compared to last year I lost a couple of minutes but HR was down friom 130 to 120 and I have done no swim training this year as compared to heavy swim coaching and pool training last year.
T1 was 5 minutes. I need somebody to do a video of my T1 and T2 to figure out where the heck all the time goes :o). I swam for the first time in full race gear, so T1 was taking suit off, putting on socks and shoes, helmet and glasses and hooking up the powermeter and HR monitor. I would like to see 2-3 minutes.
Bike: I have yet to test my FTP power, but believe it is around 220-240w. That puts my target power for a 1/2 IM around 190w. My strategy was to stay under 190w for my average power and under 220w when climbing. I think I executed this quite well, but maybe a little too conservative but my RPE told me 190w was too high. I was getting past a lot on the climbs, but typically passed backed on the flats. If I can trust the Ergomo, I "naturally" go too easy (150w) on the flats and way too hard (250-350w) on the climbs, so I focused on staying under 220w on the climbs and at least 150w on the flats. Power Data: FTP 220w input, Time 2h:43min, Avg 166w, NP 172w, Elev Gain 1946ft, Dist 54.4miles, HR around 125 (my max HR on the bike is 165).
Nutrition on bike was 2 liters of 400 calories each (E3 and Carbopro), and 1 powerbar and 3 gels. Bar and gel were caffeinated, cardinal sin of trying something new on race day and maybe explanation of stomach pain on run (I personally think the lake water could be an issue as I was sick to my stomach for over 1 month one year after this race). I also too electrolyte capsules (about 4 per hour).
T2: Felt stomach pains as soon as I started joggin with the bike into T2. Waited forever at the only 2 porta-potties in T2, then started the run with a bottle of coke and a bottle of water.
Run: Legs felt much, much better that the last 3 years, so I am very happy about this. With 20-20 hindsight I definitely climbed too hard the other times - I know Jill, you told me so :o). I think that even on the old route I will be able to pace myself much better now. Unfortunately, I had severe stomach cramps for the entire run. I tried twice to walk it off, but it would return, almost stronger, as soon as I started running. I ran with no nutrition other than a sip of coke at the start and 1 cup of water per aid station. Passed the rental house but nobody home and a swore to get a cheap house outside Sunriver next year :o). So I just kept moving and the stomach pain was slowly becoming more of a dull pain that I could partly ignore. Again, I intentionally dialed in a slow pace and was waiting to see if I would crash. I didn't, but the last 3 miles were starting to get a little tuff. Miles 1-10 would have been easy/fun if not for the stomach pain.
Mile splits on the run were 8:48, 10:27 (walking due to stomach pain), 8:50, 8:49, 8:49, 8:48, 8:59, 9:47 (had to take a leak), 8:56, 9:25, 9:15, 9:13, 9:14. I would slow down if HR got to 140 (max HR on run is around 167).
Run was OK but I think I think I should be able to go faster. My current 1/2 Marathon time is around 1h:35m and I would like to see under 1h:50m down here next year.
Finish time as 2h:39m and I think tht is pretty comparable to my 6h:05m from last year, considering the change in the bike course and the lower temperatures on the run (I think about 10 degrees lower).
At the finish, I couldn't eat anything and very strong stomach cramps returned. No wife or kids at the finish. They arrived 30min later, and announced that they would be happy to drive me home after they had all enjoyed a huge ice-cream at Goddies. I has rinsed off in the shower at the finish, and it was now cloudy and I has shaking and in pain - but after 16 years of marriage I know when to be quite :o)
Stomach Cramps continued for several hours after the race and I always meet folks here with the same issue. I typically never have stomach problems on T-runs. Not sure if it is nutrition/caffeine (don't think so), cold stomach on the bike, or the lake water, or something else? I know for sure that it was not too hard an effort during any part of the race.
Sunday my non-thiathelete buddy borrowed my bike and did a 2h:43m on the Olympic race. My Ergomo Cranks looked funny with basket pedals :o) Sunday I had all 5 kids with me since both ladies raced the 5k run, so 7 racers in all this year. I drove up to the bike course and we cheered on all the racers until my friend passed, and then drove home and bought crayons and decorated the path with cheers and took pictured and cheered everybody on. Great experience for the kids, and several racers were nice enough to tell the kids things like "didn't we see you on the bike course, wow that really helped". What a great race race weekend!
Now the focus is on getting some solid training in the next 5-6 weeks before tapering for Ironman Canada.
Cheers, Hans
