Ironman Steelhead Race Report

Oh, where to start with this one.  How about I start with the venue and course set-up/conditions.  Then we can get to my so called results and explosion on the run.

The race is held at Jean Klock Park in Benton Harbor, which is a perfect venue for it.  The park is right on Lake Michigan and has a nice loooooong parking lot that easily fits an athlete village (expo) and transitions area.  Below is an aerial shot of the park.

The transition area is very narrow compared to other triathlons I’ve participated in.  My rack was right near the entrance of T1 so I had a long run (with my bike) to exit T1.  It was very congested with people either sitting down taking off wetsuits or just blocking the path.  I don’t remember it being this narrow last year.  Another thing I really like about the Ironman branded event is transition area security. ONLY athletes allowed in transition.  No families, no spouses, no dogs, etc.  One would think this is common sense, but no other triathlon in West Michigan has this type of security.  The Grand Rapids Triathlon comes close, but just not enough volunteers to prevent families from entering.  Family members ignore the announcements and the signs that say no family, so not much the RD can do about that.

As always, the walk to swim start is long (about 35 minutes).   Not a bad walk, just make sure to bring nutrition because you could be standing around for an hour.  There is a clothing bag for athletes that don’t want to put on their wetsuit during the walk. The athlete can pick up their clothes after the  race.  I just gave mine to Heather and she carried back to her beach chairs.



Now let’s get to the race:

Swim: 1.2 Miles
Time: 41:37  Category Rank:  55th       (2012 Time: 39:41  Category Rank: 69)

Swim times this year were slower due to choppy conditions.  Last year the lake was like glass, however this year, the waves were 2-3 feet and we swam against the current.  I’ve done a lot of swimming in Lake Michigan so the choppy conditions were not really a factor to me.  It did take me 2 minutes longer to swim, however my swim rank dropped quite a bit.  During the swim I did catch up to the previous waves before me.  This created some traffic, but nothing major.  Other than that, the swim was uneventful.   I do need to work on picking up the pace in the last few hundred yards.  If I can reduce my swim by 90 seconds, that will put me in the top 20. 

T1: Swim to Bike
Time: 3:58 (2012 Time: 4:39)

T1 was rather uneventful, although I had a hell of a time getting my wetsuit off over my wrist.  Usually that’s the easiest part, but for some reason, I had to really yank on that thing to get it off.  I was also messing around with my Garmin during the run to T1 (locking and unlocking the keys).  I had my shoes clipped into my bike (confirmed this was okay with RD) so I did a modified flying leap with no problems (make sure clear bottles on back of bike).  The WTC rules state that only pro’s can have shoes clipped into their bike, however implementation of that rule is up to each RD.  I confirmed this was okay during the athlete meeting the day before.

Bike: 56 Miles
Time: 2:37:23 at 21.35 MPH/Avg   Rank:  36th  (2012 Time:  2:44:11 at 20.46 MPH/Avg  Rank: 60th)

The bike course seemed smoother this year than last year.  The RD did mention that some of the roads were paved, however there were some portions that were really rough.  The city tried to get those roads paved before the race, however they didn’t have time.  The RD mentioned that the paving started the Monday after the race. Thus 2014 should be a very smooth bike course.

Bike safety and traffic control seemed good.  I did have to pass one car on the bike course, which I felt bad about doing.  I did hear about one bike who was almost hit by a car because the driver ignored the police officers directions and drove the intersection.  I’m sure that driver was presented with a nice ticket and I’m also sure the driver blames the cyclists or the police because it’s never the drivers fault.  There were two aid stations on the bike, however I carry my own nutrition so I didn’t need them.

My bike split was rather uneventful other than there being a lot of bike traffic.  Despite the numerous warnings and threat of penalties, many bikers still clogged up the left lane.  I’m guessing these are the same car drivers that drive in the left lane despite driving slower than everybody else.  I did see the course marshal a number of times as well as a few cyclists at the penalty tents, so hopefully they learned their lesson.

I did have one biker almost take me out.  The guy was on a Cervelo and as I approached, I noticed he was changing his water bottles.  This was causing him to zig-zag all over the road (much like a texting driver).  I watched him carefully and he started to stay to the far right, so I started my pass on the left.  Out of no where, he veered to the left almost ramming me.  I stopped him with my hand on his shoulder and pushed him away.  I believe I pushed him hard enough to go all the way across the lane and into dirt on the shoulder (thankfully he didn’t fall).  I also gave him some choice words.  If you can’t change a water bottle while holding a line, then stop your bike and change it.  Way too dangerous to ride like that.  The course marshal was right behind me and they did slow next to the biker.  The marshal pulled up to me and told me that she talked to him but no mention of a penalty.

I should mention that this was my first triathlon using an aero helmet.  These helmets look very funny, however they are very effective.  I used a Rudy Wingspan which doesn’t have a very big ‘tail’ on it, thus doesn’t look as funny as the others.  These helmets are slightly heavier than my road helmet so my neck did get a little sore.  Once I get some miles with it on, my neck will get use to it.

T2: Bike to Run
Time: 3:49 (2012 Time: 4:41)

No issues in T2 other than congested lanes.  My rack was right by ‘Bike In’ so I didn’t have far to go.

Run: 13.1 Miles
Time: 2:39:34  Pace:  12:10  Rank: 123    (2012 Time:  2:20:55   Pace: 10:45  Rank: 89)

I felt good leaving T2, however by the time I hit mile 1, the wheels had fallen off.  First came the leg cramps and then around mile 4 came the nausea.  I wanted to take nutrition to deal with the cramps, but every time I tried, I almost puked.  I was reduced to running 200 yards, then walking.  Repeat this for 13.1 miles.  It was awful.  My goal pace was 9 minutes.  Then that changed to matching 2012 time.  Then it changed to just finishing.  Then it changed to just surviving.  I’ve never felt so bad during a race.  I was actually sick for most of Sunday.  I could barely eat anything the rest of the day without feeling like I was going to puke.

In hindsight, the problem seems to stem from my nutritional intake.  I’m not going to go into details here since I need to analyze it further, but upon first glance, I consumed way too much sodium.  This forced my body to take water from my muscles to absorb this sodium.  This left my muscles dehydrated, which of course leads to cramps.  My nutritional plan was based on training, well my training is usually done mid-day in hot weather.  The race was morning and the temps were 15 degrees cooler.  I never changed my nutritional requirements, thus I didn’t need the sodium.  Stupid mistake on my part that just ruined my race.

So this race I learned a very valuable lesson about nutrition.  Other than that mishap, the day was a lot of fun.  My dad and Heather came out once again and spent the day at the beach while I was out torturing myself.  The weather was perfect the race was organized to perfection as always.  I wasn’t planning on doing this race again next year, however given my crappy performance, I will be back.  I can’t let it end like that.  No way.

Flickr Photo Set Is Here

Race Reports: State Games and MSU Gran Fondo

Race #7: State Games of Michigan MTB Time Trial

This is a race I wasn’t planning on doing.  Historically I’ve volunteered at this race, which included setting up the course and adjusting the course for the beginners (making it easier).  This is the first year the race was run as a TT instead of the typical XC format.  Given the TT format and the fact the course was ‘dumbed down’ slightly, there was no real need for me to be on the course during the race.  This opened up my time to get in a quick race.

I don’t train for mountain bike races so I wasn’t really expecting much.  Just looking to have some fun in a competitive environment. 

The first lap went as well as I expected.  My HR blew up on the first big climb, which was about 300 yards from the start line.  Back in my  mountain bike training days, I use to do hill intervals on this climb.  Its been a couple years since then and it certainly showed. 

The real goal of the race, for me, was to hold consistent lap times.  My first lap was 28 minutes, which is about four minutes slower than the winner of my AG.  I was not able to hold that time for the remaining three laps.  Even if I did, I would have only moved up one spot in the rankings.  Yeah, I was that slow.

The reaming three laps were all within 30 minutes, with my third lap being the fastest of the three.  Thus I partially hit my goal of keeping lap times consistent.  In the end, it was a ton of fun, I continued to work the event afterwards which was also a lot of fun. 

Race #8: MSU School of Medicine Grand Fondo

Technically this is not a race, it’s a big group ride to support skin cancer research.  It was a tremendous success with registration closing at 1500 riders.  When the idea was initially pitched, the goal was closer to 500 riders, at least that is what I was told. 

The race has three distances: 16-miles, 40-miles and 80-miles.  I opted to do the 80-mile ride with a goal of under four hours.  Since I don’t have a true road bike, I opted to use my CX bike with road tires.  They did allow triathlon bikes, but I figured it would be a group ride, thus wouldn’t be in the aero position that much.

The ride started out pretty clean and on a flat roads.  The only issue I had was that I found myself stuck between the lead group and the second lead group.  These groups contained approximately 40 riders each, with the remaining riders well behind. 

Being stuck between groups meant I was working very hard.  I eventually had to allow the 2nd lead group to catch me so I could ride with them (which I did for the 80-miles).  We all rotated turns leading the group so that structured worked out okay.  However, when I drifted to the back of the group to recover, I found myself very frustrated with the riders.

First, this is an 80-mile ride, thus these riders are experienced cyclists.  That didn’t stop them from taking up the entire lane, despite the road being open to traffic.  A few us tried to get them to ride in a double pace line, but many riders just didn’t listen.  Another issue was one rider who couldn’t hold a straight line.  This guy was all over the place.  He’d randomly stand-up without warning and just be all over the lane.  He had a team jersey on with other teammates around so I finally told them to get his shit together before he causes an accident. I could tell he was a mountain biker due to his riding style and the fact he had a visor on his helmet.  Thus maybe he’s just not use to pace line.  He was a very dangerous rider. 

Another issue was a couple riders in headphones, despite the multiple announcements they were not allowed.  You shouldn’t have to be told they are not allowed, it’s common sense.  A few riders, including myself, barked at him, but he paid no attention.  Most likely couldn’t hear us. He had a team jersey on (Founders Brewery) but doesn’t mean he road for the team.

Final issue was some riders taking out their phones so they could take pictures while riding.  Yes, that really happened. 

At the 40-mile mark, we stopped at North Beach.  The aid-station there was more of a catered event: cheese and crackers, fruit, etc.  I didn’t really do anything other than fill up water bottles and continue back on the road.

The ride in was police escort, so that was nice.  The route was more hilly, plus I was more sensitive to hills given the distance we’ve ridden.  My time came in around 3.3 hours with a 23ish MPH avg.  (24mph average heading out).  Even with a police escort, we stopped at a couple traffic signals, however must stop sign intersections were cleared for us. 

It was a fun event, must faster than I thought, but still fun. 

Grand Rapids Triathlon Race Report

Third triathlon of the season in the books.  This was an Olympic distance triathlon, thus I had a goal of 2:35.  This goal would represent approximately 18 minute improvement over last years time of 2:53.  I felt confident of this goal, however my time did come up short: 2:47:36.  The table below compares the last three years:

Discipline	2013	2012	2011
Swim	27:40	28:44	31:37
T1	2:20	2:49	3:22
Bike	1:09:39	1:08:24	1:09:10
T2	2:05	3:12	2:28
Run	1:05:50	1:10:36	1:06:45
Total	2:47:36	2:53:45	2:53:13

Swim (4th in class)

The past two years, there has always been a nice swim warm-up area.  However, for some reason this year, they were not allowing people to warm-up for the swim.  If I would have known this I would have brought some bands or something to help get the muscles warmed up. 

Other than the warm-up issue, the swim was uneventful.  The previous two years, there was always an issue with the sun in your eyes on the swim back in.  This wasn’t a problem this year at all.  My swim lines could improve a little bit,  but still happy with the one minute improvement in swim time.

T1 and Bike (5th in class)

The transition area is skinny and LONG.  Not only that, it’s a rough road, thus running barefoot was an issue for me.  My feet were screaming by the time I got to the exit. When I finally got my feet in my shoes, I had to take them back out to remove all the small pebbles. 

Once I was on the bike, things went smooth.  The time was just a minute slower than last year, however my average speed was the same since it was slightly longer this year.  Previous years the turn-around was before Ivan Road, however this year it was after Ivan Road. 

What is strange is that my Garmin 910xt did not record any data from my bike or run.  It captured my swim just fine, but nothing else.  Further research shows there is an issue with the 2.7 software on the Garmin 910xt.  Garmin recommends reloading 2.6 until they fix the issue.  The problem with that is that you have to call to have them walk you through this.  I’ll wait another week, but if there is no patch, I’ll need to reinstall 2.6 for my next triathlon.

T2 and Run

Much like T1, my transition times were down quite a bit.  In 2012, I left a lot of ‘fat’ on the table with my T-times.  Thus this year I was going to put additional focus on getting in and out of t-area.  Once I did get out, I had to stop to remove pebbles from my shoes.

As usual, the run was terrible.  I just couldn’t find my legs at all.  In addition, it felt like the heat index spiked.  I felt mentally defeated and physically exhausted.  It was everything I could do to cross that finish line.  I thought for sure my time would be slower than 2012, thus I was very shocked to see I was actually 5 minutes faster. My time should still be at least 55 minutes. 

What I learned was that I need more bike/run bricks in my training.  I need to get my legs prepared for the transition so they can recover and increase pace faster.  That will be my focus  before my next triathlon. 

Race Report: Xterra Last Stand

First triathlon since Escape From Alcatraz.  The weather was great and the water temps were okay, a little chilly for me but after 51 degree swim in the SF Bay, 65 degree water was much better.  My finish time was 1:57:26, which is about 40s faster than last year.  It should be noted that the mountain bike trail was longer this year so it’s best to compare averages.

Swim (data)
As I said earlier, the water was a little cold for me but I got over it quickly.  I wanted to have a quality warm-up, but didn’t get to the water in time to do that.  I did get maybe 200 yards of warm-up, but not enough.

This Xterra is a mass start, so there is no way to avoid people diving on you, bumping you, climbing over you, etc.  I line up near the front to limit this but there is still a lot of bumping.  Other than that my swim went okay.  My HR did spike faster than I wanted it to which forced me to slow down my kick and at times stop kicking all together.  This helped control the HR better but did slow me down.  My swim time was 12:48, which is the 8th fastest time.  Last year my swim time was 14:28, so a solid improvement.  My average pace last year was 1:38 and this year it was 1:33.

T1
I was slow in T1.  Last year I finished T1 in 1:28, however this year I was 2:09.  I cannot pin point any specific reason I ways slower other than a lack of hustle. 

Bike (data)
The bike was smooth and fast.  With a faster swim, I had minimal traffic on the trail.  If I had any constructive criticism about the bike is the lack of disciplined nutrition.  Bike nutrition is what set’s up a good run.  I didn’t really have a planned nutrition set up since it was only 13ish miles long. 

The route was different last year so it’s best to compare average speed.  This year I averaged 13.6mph while last year I averaged 12.6.

T2
I was slow again in transition.  I almost fell off my bike because my left foot wouldn’t unclip from the pedal.  What slowed me down in T2 was putting on a fuel belt and a race belt.  Normally I’d only do a race belt and rely on aid-stations, but with the heat, I wanted something extra so I put two bottles on my fuel belt.  There was no where to also attach a number so I had to wear a race belt as well.  I should have put them on while running but opted to put them on while in transition.  My T2 time was 1:22 while last year it was :54.

Run (data)
As always, my run is my weakest link.  I was concerned about sore feet from the Fifth Third River Bank Run 25k.  Leading up to Xterra, my feet were sore on all my training runs.  I added some additional heel gel pads to help and I wore my normal running shoes instead of trail running shoes.  Just wanted more padding.

The first 1.5 miles were absolute torture.  My legs would not get into a groove. I stopped once to stretch but was then attacked by mosquitos.  At the two mile mark, I felt more confident and slowly picked up my pace.  I was over-heating so used my fuel belt water to pour over my body.  I downed salt-tabs like they were gummy bears.  My average pace was 12 minutes last year, however this year I did improve that too 10:32.  That equates to almost 3 minutes faster than last year.  I am still disappointed because I thought I could hold a 9:30 pace, but my legs are not use to the stress of a 25k race followed by a triathlon.

Overall I’m okay with how the race went.  I left a lot of time on the table with my slow transition times, but did show good improvement in the three sports.  Still need to get my run pace down, but I’ve been saying that since I started triathlons.  I am training hard at it and it is slowly falling.  Hopefully by the end of the season I’m running sub 9-min miles.   

Race Report: Fifth Third Riverbank Run 25k

 

So I did it. I completed my first 25k. My goal was to finish 2:30:00 and I ended up 2:29:36.  So let’s break down this race:

Start of the race
We’ve sure had some beautiful days the last week.  Unfortunately, race day was crap.  It was cold.  Very cold.  Making things worse was standing in the start line for 15 minutes freezing my tail off.  However, once the race was started, all of that was forgotten.

 

First 8-Miles
When the race started, I was right behind the 9:00 min pace setters.  However, within the first mile, the 9:00 min group started to pull away.  However, according to my Garmin, my pace was 8:30ish.  By mile 4, the 9:30 pace setters caught me, yet my Garmin was saying 8:45.  Thus, my Garmin footpod was off by :30 to :45.  I decided to hang with the 9:30 for the majority of the race.  It was a comfortable pace for me. My average pace for the first 8 miles was 9:26, with a max pace of 8:12.  Below is a graph of the first 8-miles.  As you can see, the route was relatively flat.



 

Next 5-Miles
With the first 8-miles complete, we entered the hardest part of the race.  The graph below represents the final half of the race.  As you can see, things got a little hilly. My average pace dropped to 9:36 with a max pace of 8:14.



Last 2-Miles

During most of the race, I felt fine.  No knee issues or other unusual pain.  However, at mile 13, my wheels fell off. My feet were hurting extremely bad, which caused my running form to collapse.  It hurt to take a step.  My average pace jumped to 9:57.  Even with all the cheering from the finish line crowd, I had nothing left to give.  Even if I could muster the energy, my feet wouldn’t have responded.  I did seek out some advice on why this happened, and the primary culprit is just the lack of running miles.  Most would blame the shoes, but with no real issues for 13 miles, then that means it’s not the shoes.

Approaching the finish line, I noticed the clock saying 2:28.  So I really really really tried to muster up energy, but the clock ticked past my goal of 2:30. I was in so much pain, I conceded my goal.  However, what I wasn’t thinking about was my chip time.  When I saw the official results, I hit my goal with 2:29:36.

Even though I’ve been limping for two days, this race was lots of fun and I’m looking forward to doing it again.

Race #3: Yankee Springs TT

First mountain bike race of the season under my belt.  I was slower this year than previous years, and even though I expected that, the reality is still disappointing.  My Garmin race time is 1:56 for the two laps, which puts me in the bottom third of my category.  The take-away from this race include:

First, My rear tire keeps losing pressure.  I’ve been dealing with this damn wheel for a few months now.  I’ve added sealant and changed tape, but the tire will consistently lose pressure.  Just traveling from home to race sight it lost half pressure.  After the race, it had lost 12 pounds of pressure.  This had minimal impact on my performance, just very frustrating.

Second, my anaerobic capacity is good.  Although I spent 80% of my time in Zone 4+, I still felt I was in control of my HR.  This is most likely a result of my swim training, which is all cardio. 

Third, muscular endurance needs help.  Much like Barry Roubaix race, I am just not a strong climber anymore.  I’m sure I’ll make this statement with every mountain bike race I do this season since my training focus is endurance not power.  A consistent theme for my training has been to increase intensity and I’ve failed to do that.  If I want to compete with other racers, this needs to be addressed quickly.  Otherwise I will remain in the bottom third of my category. 

The challenge to address this is balancing hard bike intervals with hard running intervals.  My running sucks, so if I really want to move up in triathlons, I need to become a faster runner.  However, if I want to move up in mountain bike racing, I need to become a faster biker. Looking at triathlon training schedules, I could tweak some of them to look like this:

Day 1: Hard Bike, Endurance Run
Day 2: Swim, Endurance Bike
Day 3: Hard Run
Day 4: Swim, Endurance Bike
Day 5: Hard Bike, Endurance Run
Day 6: Off
Day 7: Swim, Hard run 

Anyways, just something I will need to change starting this week.  I have a few years of training plans prepared for me by coaches, I’m sure I’ll come up with something.  Moving on:

Final take-away from the race is my mountain bike handling skills.  These skills have become rusty.  I did better during the race, however I am still braking too much in the corners and I have zero trust in my front tire to stick to the trail.  For this to improve, I just need to stick my ass in the saddle. 

The race was still fun, nice to see fellow riders and the weather was perfect. 

Barry Roubaix Race Report

 

Race #2 of the season in the books.  Once again I dropped down from the 62-mile race to the 36-mile race.  I am glad I did because I stunk at this race.

At 2:06:36 I finished 51st out of 144.  Yeah, I sucked.  The good news is that I was 18 minutes faster than 2011 and 2012 (more like 11 minutes faster than 2012 due to flat tire).  The bad news is my climbing.  I carried excellent momentum into the hills but once I lost that momentum I was not able to generate any significant power to get up the hill.  The elevation profile is below:

I was very happy with my times on the ‘flat’ areas.  This makes sense given most of my training is for endurance.  When I compare my climbing times vs. the last couple of years, I was slower on some of the hills.  There is an issue
in comparing times: The start line was changed to the city of Hastings.  Example of how that impacted climbs:  The ‘Three Sisters’ and ‘Hubble Hills’ were at the beginning of the race instead of near the end.

Hill Name	2013	2012
Three Sisters	4:11	5:25
Hubble Hills	5:18	5:48
Gun Lake	5:00	4:44
Little Pine	2:28	2:13
The Wall	2:24	1:54
Grave Yard	2:04	1:55

Regardless, it still shows that my climbing times are not improving.  Also, I couldn’t stop my calf from cramping on some climbs.  This is very unusual for me.  When I approached the finish line, I noticed there were a ton of riders behind me.  I stood to sprint the last 100 yards and almost went over the bars.  My legs were just mush.  So I had to do a sitting sprint.

I am tired of not being very competitive at mountain bike racing.  In 2008 it wasn't 'IF' i will get the podium, but instead what place "ON" the podium.  Not it's everything I can do to finish the race.  The training requirements are very different from triathlons to mountain bike racing, but I'm still very frustrated on my decline in performance.

I still enjoyed the race and impressed at it’s growth.  I believe it was 3,000 racers and right on par with Iceman in terms of size and atmosphere.

I was bib #2563

Race Report Part 2: Escape From Alcatraz Bike and Run

The swim report is located here. 

Bike
The bike portion of the race was rather uneventful.  I knew I would be facing some serious climbs, this is SF after all.  My best description would be a mountain bike course on the road.  By this I mean, the climbs were steep and long, however it’s nothing I haven’t faced on a mountain bike course. 

My bike time was slow at 1:14. This put me mid-pack.  I paced myself way too slow and didn’t take advantage of the down hills.  I knew I had an 8 mile run ahead of me, but I still could have gone faster. 

The bike I rented was a Giant Defy.  The fit was terrible (size L).  I was to stretched out on it  The frame size was correct, the stem just needed to be half the length.  My lower back was screaming by mile 9.  My chain did fall off the front rings twice probable costing me a couple minutes, but it was an easy fix. 

Run
It’s no secret I’m not a runner.  I’m an 8:30 minute pace type of guy.  The run course was very close to an Xterra trail run.  The surfaces changed constantly and there were some steep stairs that needed to be climbed.  Some how my nutrition fell out of my back pocket so I had zero nutrition with me.  Thankfully there were enough aid stations to over come that.  I do recall my nutrition falling out during Steelhead 70.3, but running on a street I could hear it.  This running was mostly dirt so it probable hit the ground quietly. 

A tough part of the run was the beach run.  However, that was just about a mile, with half of it on the shoreline so the ground was half packed.  The other half was very deep sand.  It destroyed your calf muscles.  If that wasn’t enough, the beach run ended on the sand ladder.  For survival reasons I walked up the ladder like everyone else.  However, I probable could have picked it up a bit. 

After the sand ladder was the final long climb.  That hill seemed to go on forever. However, at the top, it was all downhill.  There was a lot of downhill stairs that you had to be careful on. I was worried about twisting an ankle so I took it carefully. I still ran down, just did so with caution.

Running underneath the Golden Gate Bridge was cool and there was some beautiful scenery that helped you forget about the pain.  I did finish the last two miles near an 8 minute pace, so I was happy with that.  It was a very long 2 miles. 

The finish line was really cool.  I’ve never been through a finish line with grand stands and very loud cheering crowds.  I really helped you the last few hundred yards and definitely put a smile on your face.  For a brief moment you forgot about the pain and just reflected on the fact you conquered Alcatraz. 

 

Race Report Part 1: Escape From Alcatraz Swim

Oh where to start with this one.  I’ll try to make it quick.

Packet Pick-Up
Uneventful.  The so called ‘Athlete Village’ was about the third the size of Iceman Cometh Expo.  Very disappointed, although I did save a lot of money. 

I didn’t bring my normal nutrition gels (Gu).  I figured I could pick them up at the expo.  I was wrong.  There was a Gu vendor there, but they didn’t sell their own product.  The one bike shop there only sold Gu Chomps.  No Gu gels in sight anywhere. I couldn’t figure why I couldn’t find Gu anywhere.  Well, a couple days later I figured out why.  From one of the pre-race newsletters:

A note about gels... We do NOT allow gels on course. This is due to strict rules in the local, State and National Parks where we swim, bike, and run. We do allow more solid items such as Energy Chomps and Energy Bars, but there is NO LITTERING on course and if you are caught, you are subject to a disqualification. Please help us keep San Francisco clean so they will continue to allow up to hold this race in their beautiful city.

Transition Set-Up and Ferry Ride
I arrived at transition at 4am and was set up by 430am.  The transition area was all grass which I really liked.  I didn’t have to buckle in my shoes, I could just run in them.  I was on the bus and headed to the pier by 4:40am. 

Prior to boarding the ferry, the announcers recommended that you drop off your swim bag, which included the outfit you wore to the pier, etc.  You could bring the bag on the boat but you wouldn’t get it back until later in the day. I didn’t know how much later so I opted to drop the bag off prior to boarding, however in hindsight, I should have kept my bag with me (and packed it with nutrition)

I sat on the boat for over 90 minutes.  I had minimal nutrition which really hurt me later.  It’s my fault for not looking at the amount of time we’d be on the boat.  I should have prepared better for this. 

Swim
The swim start is crazy.  They need 2000 people off the boat in 6 minutes.  I didn’t even have a chance to think about the swim.  Next thing I knew, I was in the water.  Once I hit the water, the concept of 51 degree water became a reality.  It literally took all the air out of my body.  I was gasping for oxygen as waves crashed over my head. 

I started my swim ‘across the river’.  From the diagram below, the orange arrow represents my target.  The green line is my actual swim course.  The current pulled you toward the Golden Gate Bridge.  As you can see I over-shot my landing by 100 yards.

Sighting shore was a serious issue.  The cold water caused me to lose my equilibrium.  My head was spinning so I had to swim for a good 15 minutes before actually sighting shore.  This gave me time for my head to settle down and warm up. 

This was easily the hardest swim of my triathlon career.  Between the cold water, waves crashing over my head, the current and swallowing gallons of salt water, I seriously questioned my safety during this swim.  It was a mental battle. I just had to trust my training and keep at it. 

Once I hit shore and stood up, my legs cramped up causing me to fall back into the water.  Just my luck, I come to shore in what is known as a ‘gut’.  This is basically an area with heavy under-tow.  The waters tried to drag me out to sea.  Adding to the difficulty was my cramped legs. I wasn’t in any danger and was actually laughing through the pain.  I couldn’t get out of the F^#$% water. 

The run back to transition was .8 miles.  My swim exit bag was available, but I didn’t use it. I opted to run in my swim socks, which worked out fine.  I did lay down a 7 minute mile to transition. 

There is some sad news.  A swimmer did die during the swim. I found out after the race during lunch.  This kept me up at night as I though about his wife and three kids.  I did find out his wife was on the pier as they tried to revive him.  The details haunt me to this day.  It’s scary to know just how dangerous that swim is.  Racer’s who did this swim before said it was the hashes conditions they’ve ever experienced. 

Lesson’s Learned From The Swim
Bring nutrition on the boat.

Spend time the day before in the water

Spend more time on the boat sighting shore and getting a good idea of where to swim too.

2012 Iceman Cometh Race Report

The final race of the year is done.  Granted I may pick up a CX race, Iceman was the last true race for me.  I didn’t hit my goal time of under 2 hours, so that was disappointing, especially since I felt like I was going fast the entire race. 

The Start

The start of my wave (#7) went perfectly.  As you can see from the photo on the left, I was on the line (far right in white/black).  I entered the two track area with the lead group of 5-6 riders.  This was one of my goals.  I thought it would cost a lot energy, but it really didn’t.  Maybe because I tucked in behind another rider and let him pull. Either way, I felt great entering the dirt.  Being in the front is important for one key reason: you have 100+ riders all trying to squeeze into a small area.  The bottle neck is not so bad in the early waves like mine, but it still slows you down enough that the leaders in the wave can get away from you.  Granted this isn’t too important since those riders may not be in your class, however, the trail crowd is still a lot thinner.  I had zero congestion issues for 99% of the ride.

The First Half

The first 15 miles were pretty smooth sailing.  No real congestion.  I remained with the front group and we really created a gap between us and the riders behind us.  A few times I couldn’t even see another rider behind me.  I did have a couple riders slow me down, but not enough to cause me time or waste my energy.  I am thankful I pre-rode the course a couple weeks earlier because that gave me the knowledge to get in front of riders prior to the single track start.  Especially around mile 14, right after ‘lovers lane’.  I sprinted to the front and just barely beat the lead guy into the single track.  I may have even cut him off slightly.  That turned out good because I blew through that single track with zero congestion.  When I looked behind me, the riders were gone. 

The Second Half

The second half also includes all the hills.  Anita’s hill being the most famous because it’s straight up and all sand.  Trying to ride up the hill takes more energy than running up the hill.  I knew the hill was coming and used as much momentum as I could to shoot me up the hill.  The goal was to make it half-way, but made it three-quarters.  I ran the rest and hopped on my bike and attacked. I knew riders have a tendency to be slow after running.  I attacked. It cost me a lot of pain, but I caught up to some other riders that dropped me earlier. 

The second half of the trail is the area that received about 2 inches of snow, which resulted in sloppy trail conditions.  I felt like I was dragging bricks behind me.  The pudding on the trail caused enough friction to really feel like I was dogging it. I dropped some riders during the second half and caught up to a few others that dropped me earlier.  Had some good team work going for a while, but on the final attack, I couldn’t catch the two Joshua Tree guys. 

Williamsburg Road cross was a non-factor for me.  I remember my first two years that being the climb that killed me.  Now it’s not really much of a climb.  Especially with the momentum you can get right before it.  Shooting up the hill is a confidence boost because that is also a very large cheering section.  The climb after Williamsburg road is a little tougher though. 

The Finish

The final 5k is the longest 5k I’ve every ridden.  The trail was sloppy and riders were getting slow.  As I said earlier, I couldn’t match the attack of the Joshua Tree team riders.  I almost got them on ‘woodchip hill’ but didn’t.  I also got caught behind a tandem during the last 1k.  I ended up cutting a corner pretty bad to get around them.  That turned out good because it was a sharp turn so the tandem had to dismount causing a bottle neck.   The riders that got caught I never saw again so it did really hurt their time. 

When we entered Timber Ridge I was expecting to head back out for another mile like we always do.  Iceman calls that a teaser.  You get close to the finish line, but no, you go back out.  I was confused because I knew we had less than 1k to go, yet we didn’t head back out.  The I turned one corner and there was the finish line.  I had no riders behind me so no need to sprint.  I actually don’t even remember cross the finish line, I was still surprised it was right there. 

My final time was 2:07:56, which put me 21st in my class (out of 120).  Again, I wanted under 2 hours and I’m still not sure where I lost my time.  I’ll get nerdy with the data and find my weakness.