The race went pretty well but I was not as strong on the run as I hoped to be.
I had a solid swim, things went well. I stayed out of trouble in the beginning by staying to the right. It was a one loop swim and the first turn was a long ways off so I had time to settle in. Starting on the right makes me a little more comfortable cuz the water is calmer to my breathing side so in the beginning it's easier for me to breathe.
After things settled out I was looking for someone to follow, I found some feet a few times but really just hopped around from person to person. I remember being on someone's feet most of the return leg but I don't think it helped much.
There was a small (and by small I mean 6 inches) chop on the way out, it seemed like boat traffic waves but they were consistent. On the way back it appeared to be a little bigger but they were behind me by then.
On the bike the first goal was to get my HR down under 140bpm, it's an arbitrary number I picked because during training most of my pacing practice produced a HR of 135. It took me about 5 miles to get it down and then planned to ride on the short side of 170 watts. After a few miles I noticed there was someone about 100 yards ahead of me going the same speed so I figured rather than ride by myself I would sit 10 meters behind him and save some energy. It took another mile to close the gap and I settled in behind him. Shortly after than 4 or 5 guys passed me slowly and both of us latched onto them.
It seemed to me that all of these guys knew what they were doing, everyone stayed 7 to 10 meters apart and passed up from the back. When we went uphill everyone kept the same effort and rode smart. Sometimes a person would get off the front or fall off the back buy we seemed to ride well together for most of the time. There were a few guys that rode through us and the draft marshals were on us from mile 30 to 45 but we were clean. I saw a group of 20 people that was riding fairly close, I was with them for a few miles but they were going faster than I wanted to go and I held back.
Near 50 miles I dropped back to save some more energy since I knew my running was undertrained. It was a wise decision, as I was able to get my HR down nearer 130 and got ready for the run.
The run started off well, I short-stepped the beginning cuz I knew my fitness wouldn't support a fast run, after 5 miles I started dropping off and was really just holding on. My HR was really high for that effort but again I expected that. I wound up running a 1:47 which isn't too bad but is still a long way off of the 1:38 I ran last fall.
Lessons from this race:
Probably need to drink a little more on the bike. Drinking only 1.5 bottles might have contributed to the higher HR on the run. At Florida I'm going to try and get 1 bottle down in the first hour of the ride and see how things go. Hopefully I can get another bottle down in the next 1.5 hours.
Sitting 7 to 10 meters behind someone all of the time really helped the speed. I road 2:24 on 163 watts. That's about 7 watts saved.
Starting off conservative on the run was the right way to go again. I knew in the first 5 miles what kind of shape I was in. Still 4:47 in a half is good for me despite the run issues.
I had a solid swim, things went well. I stayed out of trouble in the beginning by staying to the right. It was a one loop swim and the first turn was a long ways off so I had time to settle in. Starting on the right makes me a little more comfortable cuz the water is calmer to my breathing side so in the beginning it's easier for me to breathe.
After things settled out I was looking for someone to follow, I found some feet a few times but really just hopped around from person to person. I remember being on someone's feet most of the return leg but I don't think it helped much.
There was a small (and by small I mean 6 inches) chop on the way out, it seemed like boat traffic waves but they were consistent. On the way back it appeared to be a little bigger but they were behind me by then.
On the bike the first goal was to get my HR down under 140bpm, it's an arbitrary number I picked because during training most of my pacing practice produced a HR of 135. It took me about 5 miles to get it down and then planned to ride on the short side of 170 watts. After a few miles I noticed there was someone about 100 yards ahead of me going the same speed so I figured rather than ride by myself I would sit 10 meters behind him and save some energy. It took another mile to close the gap and I settled in behind him. Shortly after than 4 or 5 guys passed me slowly and both of us latched onto them.
It seemed to me that all of these guys knew what they were doing, everyone stayed 7 to 10 meters apart and passed up from the back. When we went uphill everyone kept the same effort and rode smart. Sometimes a person would get off the front or fall off the back buy we seemed to ride well together for most of the time. There were a few guys that rode through us and the draft marshals were on us from mile 30 to 45 but we were clean. I saw a group of 20 people that was riding fairly close, I was with them for a few miles but they were going faster than I wanted to go and I held back.
Near 50 miles I dropped back to save some more energy since I knew my running was undertrained. It was a wise decision, as I was able to get my HR down nearer 130 and got ready for the run.
The run started off well, I short-stepped the beginning cuz I knew my fitness wouldn't support a fast run, after 5 miles I started dropping off and was really just holding on. My HR was really high for that effort but again I expected that. I wound up running a 1:47 which isn't too bad but is still a long way off of the 1:38 I ran last fall.
Lessons from this race:
Probably need to drink a little more on the bike. Drinking only 1.5 bottles might have contributed to the higher HR on the run. At Florida I'm going to try and get 1 bottle down in the first hour of the ride and see how things go. Hopefully I can get another bottle down in the next 1.5 hours.
Sitting 7 to 10 meters behind someone all of the time really helped the speed. I road 2:24 on 163 watts. That's about 7 watts saved.
Starting off conservative on the run was the right way to go again. I knew in the first 5 miles what kind of shape I was in. Still 4:47 in a half is good for me despite the run issues.
No comments:
Post a Comment