Race Reports: June 2006 Archives

Some more thoughts:

Logistics are always a problem at races. This one was no exception. Getting there in the morning was not well thought out. The start was about 6 miles away, on rolling hills, from the hotel. Not good. No way I was going to ride there in the morning. Parking was limited there, so you needed to get there early in the morning or else no parking spot for you! And then, after the race, how does one get back there to get the car? T2 was back at the hotel, but remember your car is still sitting back at the beach where we started. Not even a shuttle set up - you'd have to beg a ride, ride your bike, or get a taxi to travel back there to get your car. Or come with many friends and figure out logistics.

Drafting was key on the swim. I just kept finding peoples' feet to follow, and the crystal clear waters made it easy to see the bubbles of other swimmers. One downside; as I mentioned in my previous post, we all were swinging wide of the buoys which added to our time, and the sun made it hard to see you were on track. I remember passing one buoy on the right finally, and realizing I was at least 30m away from it! This contributed to my additional swim time....

Honu went well except for overheating on the run.

Had my best half IM swim here, hitting the mat at 40:12. I thought the swim was setup poorly. The sun had risen right on the line of buoys and we were sighting into the sun as we tried to find the buoys. A lot of us ended up swinging wide unfortunately as an offshore wind was pushing us seaward, and poor sighting made it hard to know how close the buoys were.

Bike started off well. The temp was fairly moderate although a bit muggy and warm. Definitely not October Kona weather! Took a good 15-20 min to settle down on the bike and get my HR steady. Windy conditions made some stretches tough and I don't think i'll be bringing my front ZIPP wheel again! Some gusts made steering difficult and pretty hairy as I lost control of my front wheel while on aerobars.

I tried to keep even power and didn't overdo it in an attempt to NOT cramp towards the end of the bike like on my last 3 half IMs! Bike ended up being about 3:10 which I felt good about given hills and wind.

Got into T2 and popped out onto the run with fast pace so my brick tolerance is very good now.

BUT...towards mile 5 I started feeling not too good. I started overheating and feeling the heat/humidity. At every aid station I would guzzle some gatorade or cola but it just kept gurgling in my stomach. It seemed like I stopped sweating and it was tough to drive my body to do more. I went to the bathroom once and saw that my urine was yellow, despite all the stuff I was drinking so I slowed down and walked and jogged until mile 10. At mile 10, the clouds rolled in and a nice cool breeze started blowing. I felt much better and then I started running and ran to the finish line at a good clip.

Definitely was not acclimatized and it's something I really need to watch out for in the next hot weather race. At least I did not cramp on the run so at least I solved that. I also grabbed some cool sponges and held them in my hands. That felt pretty good as well and I heard last year somebody threw ice into some light gloves to keep cool. Looks like it works.

Biking still needs work. At least pacing is good, but I need to continue getting stronger. Same for the run, and need more strength for hills. The run course was through their golf course and had these steep choppy hills throughout.

Nutrition:

Bike:
2 Large Water Bottles each w/ 1.5 scoops Accelerade and one scoop Carbo-Pro, 3 small scoops of Endurolyte powder.
2 bites Balance Bar
1 GU every 45 minutes
1 Saltstick electrolyte capsule every 30 minutes

Run:
2 Large Fuel Belt bottles of Cola
1 GU every 45 minutes
1 Saltstick electrolyte capsule every 30 minutes

Onwards to IM Austria training.