Race Report - High Cliff Triathlon (06/19/2010)

To avoid over-thinking and over-training for IMWI this year I decided to register and race the High Cliff Triathlon as a mid-season "A" race. This is a pretty low-key half Ironman distance race with less than 1,000 competitors that took place in Appleton, WI on June 19th.

After completing 14 weeks of the Endurance Nation OutSeason training plan I transitioned over to the Half Ironman training plan in March for my bike and swim workouts. My run workouts followed the OS plan due to recovery from an injury that didn't have me back to consistent running until April. So from April through the beginning of June I was doing a hybrid Half Ironman/OutSeason training plan and then transitioned to a 10-day taper for this Half Ironman race - a little messy.

Race Goals

• <4:32:00 (the time that won my age group in 2009)
• <31:00 Swim
• <2:30:00 Bike
• <1:30:00 Run
• Podium finish in my age group (35-39)

Results
Swim: 00:23:27 (obviously shorter than 1.2 miles!) - 7/69 AG, 30/482 OA
T1: 00:01:18 - 9/69 AG, 36/482 OA
Bike: 02:28:41 - 5/69 AG, 22/482 OA
T2: 00:01:12 - 6/69 AG, 23/482 OA
Run: 01:28:01 - 3/69 AG, 15/482 OA
Total: 04:22:41 - 2/69 AG, 13/482 OA

• 11' personal best for the Half Ironman distance

The Swim
Being on the East side of a large lake with strong winds out of the West the conditions were very choppy (~2-3 foot waves). It was difficult to get into any kind of ryhthm and the waves made sighting pretty tough, too. I never was able to get on anyone's feet and draft. I started in the 6th wave (waves separated by 2'). The first 800m or so was okay but then I started catching slower swimmers in the earlier waves which added to the frustration and energy expenditure, but that's part of a triathlon swim. I didn't wear a watch so I had no idea what my time was but it felt quick, too quick. Once I got on the bike I realized the swim must have been way short (by at least 400m).

T1
Pretty smooth except wasting about 10 seconds trying to get my Garmin strapped around my wrist. I finally gave up on it and threw it in my singlet pocket to strap it to my wrist later in the bike. I'll probably just do that at IMWI or strap it to my bike prior to race start.

The Bike
I did two race simulation rides going into the race - the first took me 2:32:00 and the second was 2:28:00 both on the same flat course near my house in northern Illinois/southern Wisconsin. I had never ridden this particular course so I didn't know if going under 2:30 would be possible. I had my everyday training wheels on the front and rear with wheelcover on the rear, aero helmet on the noggin and latex tubes so I knew I had those goodies to help me pick up some speed and time during the race.

With an FTP of 295 watts, I was targeting 235 watts (.8 IF) for the first 20' and then locking in at 250 watts (.85 IF) for the remainder of the ride. The first 20' felt comfortable. There was a very steep climb immediately upon leaving transition - I just spun up it a little below FTP while the hammerheads cranked out the watts leaving me in the dust. Fine by me...I'll see ya later!

Once I got settled in I concentrated on keeping my head tucked and paid close attention to my nutrition/hydration strategy. I had two different Infinit mixes with me: a 260 cal/hr blend that contained protein and a 200 cal/hr blend that was absent of any protein. The plan was to sip away on the protein formula for the first 1.5 hours then switch over to the no protein formula in the final hour (I've had issues with the protein formula leaving me feeling bloated and full when I transitioned to the run). At the top of every hour I was taking an electrolyte pill (Succeed S-Cap). The only GI issue I had was the occassional stomach discomfort from swallowing air while drinking. This was alleviated by sitting up which immediately freed the air to come back up.

I have to mention that these were some of the best roads I have ever ridden in a race - very smooth and no traffic. This really allowed me to keep the head down and not have to look too far ahead which would force my head up into the air. Here's the position I held for 95% of the ride:


Here's the WKO+ data for the first 20':
Duration: 20:13
Work: 263 kJ
TSS: 20.3 (intensity factor 0.776)
Norm Power: 227
VI: 1.05
Pw:HR: -4.61%
Distance: 6.449 mi
Min Max Avg
Power: 0 423 217 watts
Heart Rate: 117 154 137 bpm
Cadence: 52 206 98 rpm
Speed: 2.9 28.5 19.1 mph

Here's the data for the remainder of the ride:
Duration: 2:12:16
Work: 1827 kJ
TSS: 141 (intensity factor 0.8)
Norm Power: 234
VI: 1.02
Pw:HR: 1.32%
Distance: 51.196 mi
Min Max Avg
Power: 0 415 230 watts
Heart Rate: 113 146 133 bpm
Cadence: 42 201 97 rpm
Speed: 4.2 35.8 23.2 mph

And here's the data for the entire ride along with the chart:
Duration: 2:32:29
Work: 2090 kJ
TSS: 161.2 (intensity factor 0.796)
Norm Power: 233
VI: 1.02
Pw:HR: -1.14%
Distance: 57.645 mi
Min Max Avg
Power: 0 423 228 watts
Heart Rate: 113 154 133 bpm
Cadence: 42 206 97 rpm
Speed: 2.9 35.8 22.7 mph



Items to note:

• Main concern: I've been having trouble hitting my peak 60' power in the late stages of a ride in training (ABP rides) and saw it during this race. Hopefully this will change as I continue to pile on more miles during the Ironman prep training phase.
• IF and TSS were below my goal. No problem, though, as I was happy with my bike split. The low TSS probably helped get me a better than expected run split.
• Unusually high cadence - I normally ride within 2 rpms of 90.
• Lower heart rate than past half Ironman races by about 8 bpm - improved fitness? old age? who cares

T2
Fumbled a little with getting my socks on but other than that I felt pretty efficient moving through transition for the first triathlon of the year.

The Run
This is where the race execution could have blown up. I haven't tested Vdot in quite a while but based on recent training runs I was guessing somewhere around 55-56. I went conservative and used a 55 Vdot to set a 7:15/mile pace for the first 3 miles, 6:45/mile pace for the next 7 miles and then try to hit 6:20s in the final 3 miles. My mantra during the run was "smooth and relaxed".

80-90% of this run is on trail. I LOVE trail running as I find it distracts my mind from concentrating on the pain, fatigue, pace, etc. Plus the trails were in excellent condition.

The same climb that we were hit with coming out of T1 on the bike was in front of us coming out of T2 on the run. It was a long march up it but thankfully it only had to be done once. The finish line would be right at the bottom of this beast! Here I am slowly moving up the climb at about a 7:30-8:00/mile pace:


Once I got up the hill and on the trail I settled myself down and locked in comfortably in the 7:20/mile pace. I made one stop at mile 3.5 for about 20-30 seconds to pee but other than that it was all about moving forward.

I had a new run nutrition strategy to try out during this race (yeah, I know, nothing new on race day but my mind is set on IMWI and ensuring a successful race there): two 100 calorie flasks of First Endurance Liquid Shot each mixed with 8 oz water - one taken at the 3 mile mark and one at the 8 mile mark. I had these in my Fuel Belt along with a Succeed S-Cap to be taken at the 5 mile mark. Due to a little calf tightness at 9 miles in I ended up taking another S-Cap. I also took a swig of Gatorade at the 11 mile mark to give me a needed sugar boost for the final kick. I experienced no GI issues at all during the run and felt completely clean, empty and properly fueled using this approach.


At around 5 miles I got passed by a guy from Wave #1 (started 10' before me) who was moving at a pretty good pace. I told myself that if I could just stay on his butt I could have a pretty good run. I ended up doing just that until mile 11 when I kicked it into another gear and passed him. It turns out he was the winner of my age group in 2009, so I picked the perfect person to pace off of. Here's a pic of me latched on to my pacing buddy:


Coming down the big hill into the finish was a blast! My legs had great turnover. I hit the finish line and was pleasantly surprised by my run split and overall time. Even better was having my wife, Andrea, and 2 year old son, Drew, right there cheering Daddy on - it doesn't get any better than that!


It turned out to be a successful race for me and gives me really good confidence going into the 12 week prep phase of Ironman Wisconsin training. I'm happy with where my fitness is at this point in the season and feel that there's still room (and time) for improvement, too.

As always, I had a great time meeting up with the lightnining fast Matt Ancona (left me in the dust by 13 minutes!), Dr. D and Beth. Great EN peeps and even better support crews in tow.