The day was cloudy and threatening rain. Temps in the 50's to begin with. The water was comfortable in a wetsuit with a little chop from our right front on the way out and from the left and a little behind on the way back. I held back in the start and tried to take it easy and get into a rhythm early. I was focusing on stretching out with my right arm and rotating with a full finish on the left. I was also trying to keep my core engaged with my hips up while trying to keep my chin down and swim downhill a bit. I got a good rhythm going but I was being careful to pace myself so as not to burn out tooo early. Looking back I could have sped up my tempo a bit more without a problem. I was pretty of slow with 2:05 /100 yards. I shoud be at least in the 1:50's . With the Gunther open water swims I'll have plenty of opportunities to swim 1.2 miles and get my pacing down. I was being pretty cautious in this first one, however.
T1 was slow as I was a bit disorganized about all my bottles and nutrition. I also sat down to put on sox which is always a chalenge with damp feet and the decided to put on arm warmers which was also a chalenge. I downed a gel and some water and headed out. I got going on the bike and was met with a steep hill up a bike path. I geared way down and tried to spin up the hill without leg burn. It was slow but I've been told not to push hills and burn your legs out for later or the run. I kept this strategy up for most of the course. On the bigger hills I geared down and tried to spin to avoid stressing the legs. I was pretty slow and many passed me on the hills. I did try to get my speed up as soon as I could after the hill to take advantage of any down hills. I would get my speed up to 25 - 30 and then coast or lightly pedal. I passed many of the people who passed me going up with this technique. I definitely need to lose weight and get my hill climbing to a higher level though. I just can't seem to get below 175 this year.
I had my Profil and two WB's filled with Carbo Pro. I tried to down a gel at the one quarter points. I also got two Hammer bottles to fill my profill but they were only about 1/2 bottles. I was well hydrated as I had to pee three times on the bike (a new experience for me and my technique could use some work). I don't think I had real issue with nutrition but the gel at the 3/4 mark seemed to pick me up quite a bit.
The second lap of the bike was a bit tougher. I was getting tired and then the last 6 or 7 miles it started raining and gusting. I tried to pick up the pace a bit on the second lap but I actually averaged a slower 16.8 whereas the first lap was 17.6 or so. Overall ave was 17.3. I know can do better than that but I need to get a lot more longer rides in and, as always, work on the hills. Cutting down on the calories and losing some weight would sure help a lot too.
T2 went OK but not particularily fast. I downed a gel and drank some water and headed off, only to find I'd forgotten my race number. This was all complicated by pouring rain and the fact I was trying to pee while walking through transition. Quite a sight I'm sure. Lot's of room for improvement here.
On the run my back was very stiff and I couldn't straighten up very well. I walked up the steep dirt/chip hill and the gradually tried to straighten up, get my core going and get some sort of rhythm going. It took more than a mile and even then I was still having a lot of back pain and tightness plus my legs were worn out. I think I had some 10:00 to 10:30's but then I had to walk the hills and that killed the averages. I stopped at all the aid stations and drank a cup and moved on. I was pretty wiped out, thinking "how the hell am I ever going to do a marathon in a full Ironman??" I have a lot of training do do on the run, for sure. I'm hoping more core work will help on the LB but I've been dealing with LB issues most of my life now and that particular issue keeps raising it's head. Gotta hit "the ball" more and hope it helps.
Al in all it was a great experience. I got a feel for what the race is like and where I need to get my act together. I was cautious and paced my self pretty well give my level of fitness. I definitely can do the swim faster and simply need to pick up on the turnover and not worry too much about holding back. Gunther swims will help a lot there. Nutrition and transitions need to be better organized and practiced. Getting on sox is probably important, certainly for the run and I should practice that. I had too many bottles and things. I need to determine what I am going to use and get rid of the rest. On the bike I need a lot more longer rides (60 to 80mi?) with plenty of hill work. I'm still debating a 27 in back, esp for Wisconsin. The "wall" on Liberty was pretty tough. On the last loop I was on my 25 and had to stand and use my weight to get the pedals around. A longer hill that steep would be very difficult and burn my legs out in a hurry.
My run needs a lot of work. I fell pretty far behind with the ankle/achilles problem. I need to be cautious given my injury history but commit to do one long, one speed/hill and one tempo run a week. This needs to be my training priority. I only have about 7 weeks to get from 6 mi up to 13.1 miles and it will be at altitude to boot. With my injury history I also have to watch the progession closely. Run Denny Run!
