Training
Last year I had to deal with a stress fracture that interrupted my training at nearly the worst possible time. This year I had no such issues and felt my training was strong and well timed. I peaked my run training somewhat early and managed to run a Boston Qualifying time (3:14:47) at the Minneapolis Marathon in early June. I then backed off the running, moving into maintenance mode, and focused on the cycling. As you'll see below, I may have pushed the cycling a bit too much and was actually over-trained. I was feeling strong and powerful in July and early August, charging up hills at Strava KOM paces, but couldn't find that strength and power on race day. My swimming didn't get any special attention, other than the fact that I was training in a different lake (Lake Harriet in the Twin Cities) that allowed me to do full 2.4 mile swims much easier (just three laps between the north and south beaches as opposed to the five in Cedar Lake from last year).Goals
Given my training, I established the following goals:- Base: go faster than last year and still finish feeling happy and hopefully better than last year
- Main: go sub-11:00, even if it's a 10:59:59
- Stretch: go 10:30
I was hoping for an hour or faster on the swim. I really think I can do a 5:30 on the hilly and technical Wisconsin bike course. And then I was dreaming of a 3:30 marathon. Through in 10 minutes for the two transitions and that's a 10:10! Even slowing the run by 15-20 minutes and giving myself the same cushion on the run put me sub-11:00. I think I was being objective, rather than cocky, in thinking about these times. I'd done the best run of my life in the Minneapolis marathon, had put in some great long distance rides on the bike, and had two non-pushing-it full distance swims that were faster than my Ironman times the year before. So, I was going into the race feeling pretty good about my prospects.
Ironman Weekend
2013 was much like 2012 in that I headed down on Friday morning, got myself checked-in ("bagged and tagged!"), and then relaxed at my in-laws where my family and extended family eventually joined me. Saturday was packing gear bags and then turning them and the bike in. Saturday evening was fun, with lots of family, but also easy and quiet. I ate well and was in bed by 20:00 and likely sleeping by just after 21:00.
Race Morning
I was up at 04:30 using the bathroom, getting into my tri kit, applying Body Glide, getting in some calories, triple checking all my swim gear, and generally getting myself set. We started the 15 minute drive into Madison and parked in the same ramp as last year. It felt much more crowded than last year and we had to park right at the top of the ramp to find an open spot. I checked on my bike and put in my water bottles with concentrated carb mix, got body marked, and managed to find Rebecca again. We hung out together a bit and then I needed to use the porta potty. I was in line behind a group of people that turned out to be with a woman who was going to be pulled in a boat, towed behind a bike, and pushed in a wheelchair for the race and she needed the whole entourage to help her get into the porta potty and handle her business. It took longer than I had anticipated, or wanted, but I was more than happy to wait.
When I was done Rebecca and I made our way down to the swim start where I put on my wetsuit and applied final BodyGlide. After some words of encouragement and some smooching I was off into the crowds. As we were being shuttled like cattle toward the water, I realized I didn't know how to use my fancy new Garmin 910xt watch! I knew it was possible, but couldn't figure out how to get it in "Triathlon" mode so all I had to do was hit the Lap button and it would automatically start the swim, bounce to T1, bike, T2, and run. I wound up asking a fellow athlete who was wearing the same watch. I had my answer just as I was entering the water! I swam out directly to the start buoy, the same as last year, and immediately knew it was going to be a different day for the swim: the water was choppy to the point of small white caps! Cutting this section short, the swim was not at all what I was hoping for, going a 1:07:13.
My transition was decently fast and I was out on the bike, heading down the iconic parking ramp helix. Again, like last year, the bike started just fine, with me averaging about 20 mph at the first checkpoint at mile 19. Things slowed slightly from then on, with my last 30 miles at only a "pedestrian" 17.6 mph. I was so ready to get off the bike. I wound up with a 6:05:28 split and wasn't too happy.
My T2 was lickity-split fast, and I was very happy with it. I started the run feeling good and purposefully held myself back. I did a great job of that too, making it to mile 10 in 1:26, including a quick stop to pee around mile 3. However, the effects of the bike started to kick in starting then, lasting the next next 9 miles. I managed to rally and pick-up the pace, hoping to salvage the event and still finish strong. This sort of worked, for just over 4 miles, then the wheels fell off and I was just holding on until I could reach the finish. I wound up with a 4:08:39 marathon and a total finishing time of 11:29:39.
As mentioned, that was a new Ironman PR for me, but was slower than all my "real" goals, though it did qualify for my base goal of beating last years time.
When I was done Rebecca and I made our way down to the swim start where I put on my wetsuit and applied final BodyGlide. After some words of encouragement and some smooching I was off into the crowds. As we were being shuttled like cattle toward the water, I realized I didn't know how to use my fancy new Garmin 910xt watch! I knew it was possible, but couldn't figure out how to get it in "Triathlon" mode so all I had to do was hit the Lap button and it would automatically start the swim, bounce to T1, bike, T2, and run. I wound up asking a fellow athlete who was wearing the same watch. I had my answer just as I was entering the water! I swam out directly to the start buoy, the same as last year, and immediately knew it was going to be a different day for the swim: the water was choppy to the point of small white caps! Cutting this section short, the swim was not at all what I was hoping for, going a 1:07:13.
My transition was decently fast and I was out on the bike, heading down the iconic parking ramp helix. Again, like last year, the bike started just fine, with me averaging about 20 mph at the first checkpoint at mile 19. Things slowed slightly from then on, with my last 30 miles at only a "pedestrian" 17.6 mph. I was so ready to get off the bike. I wound up with a 6:05:28 split and wasn't too happy.
My T2 was lickity-split fast, and I was very happy with it. I started the run feeling good and purposefully held myself back. I did a great job of that too, making it to mile 10 in 1:26, including a quick stop to pee around mile 3. However, the effects of the bike started to kick in starting then, lasting the next next 9 miles. I managed to rally and pick-up the pace, hoping to salvage the event and still finish strong. This sort of worked, for just over 4 miles, then the wheels fell off and I was just holding on until I could reach the finish. I wound up with a 4:08:39 marathon and a total finishing time of 11:29:39.
As mentioned, that was a new Ironman PR for me, but was slower than all my "real" goals, though it did qualify for my base goal of beating last years time.
No comments:
Post a Comment