Could it be? A race report??? Yes!!!

I am so excited that I finally get to write a race report again!

This was the first time I had ever gone into a race situation planning to limit myself by heart rate, and I was afraid it was going to be really frustrating. But given that I make clients do it all the time for lots of very good reasons, it was time for me to take my own medicine.

The plan was to execute the swim and bike at high zone 3 heart rates, and then let the run climb into low zone 4. This would approximate my Olympic distances pacing on a hot humid day with an ocean swim…just like Lobsterman will have. I’ve been away from the game long enough that I knew I needed to get a better handle on exactly what I could realistically do, since my biggest goal for the L-Man is to finish feeling good and strong and ready to begin the real work for next year….in other words, not blow up as I’ve done several times in training!

In order to accomplish this I had picked a little sprint in RI, planning to stay overnight and see my brother who lives down there, but we had some family stuff going on so it didn’t work out that way. Instead I got a 3am wakeup call, and was in the car driving down by 3:30am. Along the way, I definitely questioned whether it was worth doing for what was really just an elaborate training day, but in the end I couldn’t stand to waste the entry fee and I knew it would be a good learning experience.

I’m so glad I did.

I knew I’d still perform relatively well compared to the field on the swim and the bike, even at low heart rates. But I thought I’d be annoyed with all the runners passing me…and I was a little. But after the first two times when I was tempted to go with the girls, instead I carefully listened to their breathing and watched their form and tried to both admire and learn from them as they passed.

Don’t get me wrong…I was still working hard. Running at tempo IS hard for me these days, and I am VERY slow even when pushing hard, since I’m trying to be patient and keeping my run volume under 20 miles per week for a little while longer. But seeing them push themselves to the limit…wow. I both longed to go there myself AND knew at the same time I was really glad I wasn’t! It was also good to eat the humble pie, remember what it’s like to have to stick to your own plan and let everyone else have their glory, and file away the feeling for Ironman.

So anyway, the stats were 6:15ish for the swim with average HR of 152 (1/4 mile ocean and worst start I’ve ever seen…totally disorganized and people diving in way too soon, but nice calm water), nice, fast transitions of about 1 minute for T1 and <1 minute for T2 I think, 9.6 miles in 25:3X (22.6 mph) with average HR of 156 (races with loops are really nice on one hand because it helps with pacing, but really suck too because a) you loop back in with slower riders which is dangerous for both them and you, and b) people skip loops…I KNOW at least a half a dozen people skipped a loop but whatever who knows if it’s intentional or they just get caught up in the moment), and VERY slow run of 3.1 miles in 26.25 (8:28 pace) with average HR of 174 (but at least I had lots of finishing kick ;). So overall finish just under an hour, 2nd AG, unknown overall since they had screwed up the 40+ year-olds wave timing…will see when they get it resolved if they can.

My take away is that I’m just overwhelmed with the feeling of being grateful to participate again among all these powerful athletes. Even better is knowing that I get to do it again…and really race this time…in less than a month!

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