The Elation of Racing Pain-free
Ironman 70.3 St. George
May 7, 2016
“This is the of type race that truly defined for me that in order to race strong and finish strong, there is no room for pain. This was about finding the sensations that it takes to swim as fluidly as possibly, to spin the pedals as smoothly as possible and to run as lightly as possible in order to minimize the discomfort of not wearing the proper gear, not using the proper equipment, of having an improper bike fit, and compensating on the run for muscular imbalances.”
Overall Time 5:14:11, Overall Rank 226/2556, AG Rank 32/295
Benefits of the Training Camp with Christophe the week before the race:
1. We ran seven miles on the run course at race intensity with an emphasis on the hills from miles 2-5, the turnaround hill and the hills at miles 8-9.
2. We rode 90 miles on the 2nd day and dealt with some strong headwinds in both directions. It was also ideal that the road to Zion had a crappy road with chip seal that simulated the first 11 miles of the race course.
3. We focused on race intensity efforts in the pool with the wetsuits to try and work on getting shoulders ready for the tightness in a wetsuit. Then in the open water swim we did a couple of circuits at varied intensity to find the effort that we would be most comfortable with.
4. Every day featured 3 things related to recovery: a. pre-workout muscle activation for glutes, hips, hamstrings for bike and run and lats, core, shoulders for swim. b. Recovery intensity workouts to keep muscles loose and blood pumping. c. Post-workout rolling, stretching, Epsom salt bath soaking, and Normatec Recovery Boots.
5. Rest—lots of rest during race week. Doing later morning workouts and finishing early.
6. Nutrition—we ate about 90% clean with double breakfasts, bigger lunch, sensible dinner with only one beer or glass of wine.
7. Using video analysis for swim, bike and run during the week we targeted exercises and drills to improve muscle activation and awareness of working muscles to reduce fatigue and increase proper engagement.
Swim:
With the bad swim at IM Boulder and the rough swim at Silverman last season, I knew that I was due for a good swim at St. George. Wind was expected to be minimal in the morning, but as the storm brewed early the winds were more steady and closer to 10mph—which at the reservoir means some chop and whitecaps. I swam my 2000 yard TT in 31:00 and my fast 100’s in the pool earlier in the week were around 1:28 so I expected a 32:30 swim. I started easy, remained calm, hugged the right buoys knowing that I had been pulling to the right a little bit in the practice earlier in the week. The first 300-400 meters will usually determine if I will have a good swim and once I made it to that point and made the first of two hard lefts I felt like it was time to get a rhythm going. The chop started to get worse and I never found that rhythm. When I reached the halfway point—the first orange buoy on the return, I glanced at my watch and I was at 17:40. A little slower than I wanted, so I decided to start kicking a little harder and pushing the pace. The chop never ended so I ended up swimming an even split at 35:16. The biggest thing for me in swimming strong was overcoming the 90 minutes of shivering while waiting for my wave to go off.
The best news was that I experienced no pain in the shoulders thanks to all the strength and body work I have been doing with Body Dynamix.
Total Time: 35:16, Avg. Pace 1:49/100m
AG 60/295, Overall 473/2556
Transition 1:
This is where the fate of most people’s race was determined. Coming out of the water I looked around and the storm was right on top of us and it was starting to rain. The winds appeared to be stronger than before. My transition bag had a rain jacket and arm warmers. I chose the rain jacket over the arm warmers to keep my body warm. If it wasn’t raining I would have gone with the arm warmers. I also opted for socks on the bike instead of the run. Over 250 people DNF’d and the main reason was they became hypothermic on the bike. With the high only reaching 51 degrees during the bike and the wind chill on the bike hitting 39 degrees, staying warm was crucial.
T1: 4:44
Bike
I rode the bike course on Trainer Road 3 times and we also rode most of the segments during the week while at camp. I had already done this race in 2013 and I was ready for a big day and targeting at 2:38 bike split at 85% of my FTP.
My power meter failed and was sending bad data from the start so I had no idea what my wattage was. I rode the course from memory and pushed to what I felt was my threshold on all the climbs, pushed the descents if it was safe to do so, but being in the 16th wave I also had to dodge a lot of bad riders who were swerving, staying on the left on top of the wind coming in all directions and the steady rain throughout the bike. I wasn’t eating enough and I wasn’t drinking enough for two reasons. First, my fingers were not working properly from the cold. Secondly, I didn’t get thirsty or hungry. I forced myself to down 400 calories of Carbo Pro, one 100 calorie gel, one 200 calorie bar, and 100 calories worth of Honey Stinger Chews, and only half a bottle of water.
I was using Best Bike Split power plan that showed me my targeted wattage for every change in terrain on the course. I kept it as close as I could based on perceived exertion. At one point I thought I was on target, but my average pace of 18.7 mph didn’t match up so I decided to not let it affect me knowing that everyone else was dealing with similar problems. I never got tired, there was never any residual soreness from training camp, and I never felt sleepy or fatigued from not eating enough. Even with the rain jacket I did experience some extra coldness and extra shivering, but when I decided to pee on the bike in the rain—it was probably one of the best decisions I made. It helped me to warm up a little bit on the first scary, descent and then again on the final descent after the legendary four mile climb up Snow Canyon. The final 11 miles of the St. George course are straight downhill. I reached 43 mph and this is where my Garmin registered the coldest time of the day at 39 degrees. I decided to pee one more time at the start of the descent and this allowed me to keep from having to go too slow. At this point I just wanted to get to the finish line sooner, rather than later. This was my fourth time going down this hill and I set personal bests on Strava for the descent averaging over 32 mph.
I was disappointed with my bike split, but giving all the factors that got me here, I was just happy to get off the bike alive!
Bike Time: 2:56:32, Avg. Speed 19.03, Avg. Cadence 72, No Power Data
AG 59/295, Overall 452/2556
Transition 2: Here is where many people made more mistakes. With the second transition in a different location we had drop off our gear the day before or before we shuttled to the swim start. Many people decided to take all of their running gear out of the bag and set it on the ground to make their transition faster. This was a big mistake because all they found was rain-soaked running shoes. For those that became hypothermic this is where their race came to an end. They could not take off their bike shoes and helmets on their own and some weren’t even allowed to continue. I figured that something like this 20% chance of rain would somehow show up before I started the run so Ieft everything in the bag. The only issue I had to deal with is the soaking wet socks from the ride. I grabbed my hat, bib #, Base salt and took off. I needed to stop at the porta potty one more time, but it was no longer in transition and became part of the run.
T2: 3:22
Run:
I started the run in the porta potty so my first mile was 54 seconds slower. The rain stopped and I was no longer cold. I had a pacing plan to run 1:38 and knew that my first 2 miles had to be run at 7:45 pace. Starting a minute late I decided to push the pace. I was on target by the time I reached mile 4. Mile 2-5 are the defining moment because if I go too slow or even walk I know that I have lost the chance to hit my mark. If I had ridden the bike too hard or it started to warm up this is where it falls apart. Everything felt good except for my breathing. I’m not used to breathing too hard on the run, but for some reason I felt like I was laboring. I looked at my pace and was running faster than goal pace so I just pushed it knowing there would be a nice mile descent upcoming. Quickly I started to pass people left and right, especially on the hills. When I hit the descents, I ran without worrying about my quads. I raced this run as if it were a 10 mile race and at a 7:30 pace it was really only a one hour and 15 minute run. If I saw someone I knew, I would run even faster. I got to the turnaround in 49 minutes and on pace for a 1:38. This is where I decided to go even faster aiming for my original goal of 1:35. We had a hill we had to go down, then up, then down and then up again. At one point a guy yells at me “good pace, but you need to get your feet well off the ground.” This prompted me to run lighter and quicker. For nutrition I only had one gel, water at all aid stations, coke three times and Base salt three times. When I got to mile ten I had one more gear left and I just turned it up and ran the downhill to the finish at an average pace of 6:20.
For the first time in many years I raced a complete triathlon with no pain! What I was feeling in my muscles was the kind of sensation you get when you can feel your leg muscles shredding from giving it all I had. This is the type race that truly defined that in order to race strong and finish strong, there is no room for pain. This was about finding the sensations that it takes to swim as fluidly as possible, to spin the pedals as smoothly as possible and to run as lightly as possible in order to minimize the discomfort of not wearing the proper gear, not using the proper equipment, of having an improper bike fit, and compensating on the run for muscular imbalances.
Run Time 1:34:17, Avg. Pace 7:11/mi
AG 32/295, Overall 226
Race Takeaways:
1. Train specifically for your race that includes events that simulate your course. Bandit 15k, Great Race of Agoura 10k, Leona Divide 30k, L’Etape’s Thousand Oaks to Gibraltar Ride were all perfect choices to get me ready for St. George.
2. After a tough time getting back to running I ran fewer miles, did less speed work, but I ran more often. The last 4 weeks of running were the most challenging, but also simulated the course the most.
3. Two months of swimming almost 5 days a week with 5 private lessons and most of the swimming done at threshold helped me to keep my speed steady.
4. Fewer miles on the road and more specific workouts on the bike early in the season were key. The 108 and 91 mile rides the two weeks before the race made 56 miles seem short in the race, but all the threshold work from 10-30 min. long on trainer rides made the biggest difference in what was probably the lowest volume I have done on the bike for any 70.3 race and higher.
5. Strength training three times per week targeting weak shoulders, weak glutes, weak hamstrings along with physical therapy 3 times per week to address my imbalances played a big role in my consistency, along with regular massage during racing.
6. I finally had a biomechanical analysis to determine the pain in my right ankle, right hip that was making me work harder on the bike and causing me to slow down and run with pain. The advanced bike fit I got from Steve at Bike Effect took 9 hours but we found the source of the pain and relieved it with some shoe orthotics, changing to Speedplay pedals, and getting a longer spindle for the right foot than the left.
Highlights of the race:
I set a personal best on the St. George Course by 6 minutes. In 2013 I finished 67th in my age group and this time I finished in 32nd.
I had my 2nd fastest swim in a 70.3 race ever.
I had the 6th fastest time on the run in my age group and top 1.5% overall. It was also my fastest 70.3 run by 2 min.
As always, a pleasure to race with my athletes and teammates.