Cycling
(15.78 Miles / 00:56:48 / 16.80 MPH / HRZ 2 / Cadence 75)
Commute
in and out of work with a view to just keeping the legs spinning over and loose
ahead of the big race on Saturday.
All
went well and the good feelings on the bike just keep coming. Hope if
continues.
Saturday 7th June 2014
Tri Limits 71.3 Half Iron Distance Race – 05:41:26 - Overall
33rd from 56
Yep,
you read it right, 71.3. Not 70.3 which is the normal Half Iron distance
race. The Guys at Tri Limits like to do things a bit different and in
this case they advertise it as “Going the extra mile”, literally!
And
the best news is that the extra mile is not on the bike but on the run, just to
really make you suffer.
Pre
race I was feeling pretty confident in my training and potential for a decent
performance and I had been pretty methodical in my expectations and planning as
to how I wanted the race to go.
I
set my expectations delivering times to get me a PB and each discipline was to
be:
Swim
- 45 Mins
T1
- 5 Mins
Bike
– 3H 15 Mins
T2
– 5 Mins
Run
– 2Hrs
TOTAL
Time 6H 10 Mins
This
time would give me a PB of nearly half an hour on my previous best of 6H 38
Mins. That would represent a great day of racing.
The
weather forecast for the day was absolutely awful. Heavy rain and thunder
predicted throughout the whole day. Waking up early on Saturday morning
and the forecast was sadly proven right. It was absolutely chucking it
down and when Ben arrived to collect me, he got soaked just getting out of his
car to put my bike in the boot. This was going to be a tough day out.
When
we got down to Eskragh it had calmed down a little bit and the rain had stopped
and there was a bit of wind, but nothing really to worry about. The lake
looked lovely and was very calm. I was even told that the water
temperature was not too bad either. We would see about that one!
At
registration we met up with the other guys from the Club who were racing,
Gavin, Aaron, Andy and surprise guest, Mark, who had just completed Ironman
Lanzarote three weeks ago but decided that he should just rock up and have a
bash at this!!
The
usual flapping around getting set up went pretty quickly and before I realised,
it was time to race.
One
thing I realised was that I was a lot more relaxed and casual about my pre race
routine than normal and I’m not sure why but luckily I didn’t make any
mistakes.
The
Swim – 00:35:32
I
was a bit unsure if I could achieve my goal of 45 minutes on the swim as I
haven’t done an Open Water Swim all season and this may have been a negative.
From
the minute I got in to the water I felt pretty good. It was a decent
temperature and was very calm. The buoys looked a long way off for the
two lap route, but they always do look further away then they actually are.
The
hooter went and we were off. This isn’t a big race, so the thrashing and
fighting at the start isn’t too bad and within 100m or so I was in relatively
clear water with a few people around me.
Then
right on cue, my usual fight for breath at this stage of an Open Water Swim got
the better of me.
I
felt like I had too much air in my lungs and was not expelling enough, creating
a sort of hyperventilation. I am used to this now and I knew it was just
a reaction to the swim start. I breast stroked for a moment and gathered
my self, focused on blowing bubbles on my out-breath and told myself to wise
up.
Within
about 2 minutes I was absolutely fine and in a good rhythm for the swim.
It felt really comfortable, not fast but good.
At
the end of the first lap I was tempted to sneak a peak at my watch to check
progress but decided not to as I thought it might put me off in case I was
slower than I hoped.
The
second lap went well, apart from some awful sighting on my part which meant I
had to divert almost 90 degrees to avoid missing a buoy.
Eventually
I got out of the water and as I ran towards transition I looked at my watch and
couldn’t quite believe that it said 34 Mins and something seconds. I
honestly thought that I must have banged it on a buoy and stopped the watch.
That was the most unbelievable swim time I have ever done and it felt
comfortable which was amazing.
T1
– 00:05:31
My
nemesis. I always have awful T1 times, so my goal of 5 minutes was going to be
a challenge.I opted for socks on the bike as I thought it might be a bit cold and I also put on my long sleeved jersey as it is both windproof, breathable and mostly waterproof. This meant I was a bit slower than hoped but I was still out of there in 5 minutes and a few seconds.
So far all was going to plan or better.
The
Bike – 03:03:48 (including T2)
Having
done the race route a couple of nights earlier with Ben, I was hopeful of a
decent ride today.
This
didn’t start out the best as I was fiddling with my Garmin trying to get it to
transfer from T1 timing to the Bike and it messed everything up, I almost
stopped the bike as I was going so slow trying to sort it out as I wanted
ideally to see my bike info on the screen. Alas this was not to be as it
had skipped on through the bike and T2 and as now in run mode. Not the
best but at least I could get a gauge of time and Heart rate.
I
got in to a bit of a rhythm and pushed on.
The
bike route is 3 loops of a decent course with a couple of short rolling hills
but mostly flat. There was a bit of a tailwind on the way out and it was
in to me on the way back a bit which meant the return leg was about 2 or 3
minutes slower then the outbound leg.
The
good thing about the looped out and back course was that I could see my Club
mates and other competitors at intervals and gauge how I and they were going.
I
could tell straight away the Big Andy was absolutely flying and he was being chased
down fast by Aaron and then Mark, Keith and Gavin. Ben was a few minutes
behind me.
As
the laps progressed I failed to make time on any of them and most of them
probably put a bit of time in to me but I did catch some people on the bike and
made up a few places in the ranking.
I
focused on my plan of getting in my nutrition as I went along and treated this
very much as a trial run for Ironman in July. I took a Gel every 30
minutes and food in the 15 minutes in between the gels. I just drank to thirst
and it all seemed to go well and I also felt like I was pushing a good steady
pace. At no time did I feel tired or under pressure.
The
Garmin incident meant I had to guess my time, but as I finished the third loop
I was guessing on a ride of just under three hours, which was way ahead of
schedule also. This was particularly pleasing as the conditions with rain
and the breeze were not perfect.
The
last mile in to T2 is on the run course so I was able to see that Andy was out
front on the run and looking very strong. Mark and Aaron were behind him
and Keith was just heading out.
As
I came down the hill in to T2, Gavin was heading out on his run. He just
did a 3.17 Marathon last week so I knew
he would be quick.
On
the whole I was delighted with my bike. It was controlled, fast (for me)
and left me feeling strong for the run.
T2
This
was a bit quicker than T1 and would have been quicker if I hadn’t opted to
change socks as the other ones were soaking and I didn’t want to risk a
blister.
The
Run – 01:56:35
I
had been looking forward to this and based on my training runs, felt that a two
hour half marathon was entirely possible. My only concern at the time was
that I haven’t done many Brick sessions so I hoped the legs would transition OK
from bike to run.
As
I got going I realised that I was running at 7.30 per mile pace. Far too
fast to be sustained but strangely comfortable. I decided to be
comfortable and ease it off and aim to about 8.15 per mile pace and see how I
got on with that. No point in blowing up now, If I had anything
left later on I could push on.
The
run was a SIX loop out and back course. Mentally this might be as much of
a challenge as the distance itself. Then it hit me that the run was 14
miles and not 13. Damn that extra mile.
I
decided not to focus too much on distance and think more about counting down
the loops as I went through them.
It
also helped having a marker on the other guys as I passed them twice on each
loop to see how I was progressing.
Within
about 3 miles I realised that no one was passing me on the run other than those
who were laps ahead of me and competing at the pointier end of the race.
No one from my sort of grouping was passing me and if anything I was
passing a number of people.
Getting
the odd wave, shout of encouragement or high five from the guys as we passed
was a good lift and it helped to see the gap close slightly on a few of them as
we went along.
I
managed the nutrition well and took a gel right on plan at he end of loops 2
and 4, and a drink of water at the end of each loop. This was in my plan,
so I stuck to it and it worked.
By
the time I was finishing loop4, Andy was on his last loop and was looking
strong on his run in and was on for a cracking time.
As
I got to the end of loop 4 I caught up to Aaron as he finished his fifth loop
and we ran together to the turnaround point on lap 5. As we rounded it
and he headed for home, I told him to push on which he duly did. For some
reason unknown to me I just seemed to tag on to him and increased my pace as he
stepped it up a bit. This was stupid on my part. What was I
thinking/ It was his last lap not mine. I still had at least three
miles to go, but I just felt good and stuck with him and we ran up to the aid
station together. He veered off for the finish line and a hugely
impressive time as I turned and went back for another loop.
As
this was the last loop I decided to move it on a bit and see if I could up the
pace. I felt a bit tired but tried to focus on my form and being just in
the moment and not thinking too far down the road.
As
I rounded the last run point and back up the road for the last mile, I knew I
had a HUGE PB in the bag and wanted to get in as fast as I could. The
last half mile was genuinely quick for me and I think the last 2 miles were
both in around the 7.45 per mile pace. Not too bad at the end of a Half
Ironman.
Even
more surprising to me when I reviewed the final results was that I had the
second fastest run split from the club behind Gavin who just looked on fire on
the run. He ran about 1.53 and I ran 1.56. I’m might proud of that
time. The Half Marathon distance went through in 1.48. Stand alone
that would have been a PB!
Overall
time – 05:41: 26
Summary
To
finish with a PB of almost an hour was mind blowing. To beat my predicted
times by half an hour was very pleasing.
I
take away a real sense of satisfaction from the performance and a degree of
confidence that the training is doing what it should do.
I
also take a note of caution that just because it happened in a Half it might
not happen in a full Ironman. It is a completely different beast and I
probably need to be a bit more conservative in the big race, even if I am
feeling good. It can go pear shaped all too quickly.
My
drink and nutrition plan worked well and I will stick with those principles for Zurich
My
equipment worked well, excepting the Garmin incident, which was my own fault.
The
result was good and it sets me up nicely for the last seven weeks of training.
Well
done to Andy, Gavin, Keith, Aaron, Ben and Mark. It was a great day out
and nice to do it with friends.
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