Syracuse 70.3

Being back in Syracuse felt odd and familiar.  The city hasn't changed, but I have.  And my perspective has.  What did I do during college?  Well, I didn't do 70.3 mile events, that for sure.

The expo was at the Crowne Plaza hotel on East Genesee Street, just blocks from the Syracuse University campus I spent 3 years at.  I was immediately reminded of my time there- not so much the classes, but the people.  I started thinking of Lara and Funboy, and Steve and Vicki and Lisa...

I went alone to this event, treating it like a glorified training exercise.  I was excited, but I didn't want to be too excited knowing that this was just a step toward the big show.   And I also didn't want to have to worry about the logistics of those who tagged along. I had plenty of stressing to do about the mountain of logistics that I needed to understand for the race itself.

So I went alone.  But I wasn't really alone.  Via Facebook, I was given mega-tons of support from friends and family.  It blew me away.  And as a bonus, I saw Kara, who was also doing her first triathlon ever, and Coach Ramon.

My friends rule.

I was unaware of the support-storm that was brewing on Facebook because of the hours I spent checking in myself and my bike.  It all reminded me of the RTB logistics that I deal with every year and how I felt the first year on the team, not knowing what to expect and trying to absorb it all.  That calmed my nerves some. So after picking up my race packet, driving to the transition area to check my bike in, sitting through a 45 minute mandatory info meeting, buying new water bottles that I didn't mind tossing mid-race, and checking into the hotel, I started preparing for the morning, beginning with a nice dinner at the local Friendly's.  I also confirmed that Denny's would be open for breakfast at 4am.  Back at the hotel, I began mixing Gatorade and laying out my outfits- all three outfits.  That's probably as good as any place to start with this race report...

Transition Areas:
Swim to Bike: 9:52
Bike to Run: 8:00

These times are wicked slow.  Search the results randomly and you'll find most times half or less than this.  What was I doing? Bathroom, wardrobe changes... That's about it.  It's nice to be able to change and ride/run in what I feel like, but there's an obvious time cost.  I see the benefit of doing all three in the same gear now.  I don't know that I'll do that for the big one unless I can practice first.  And I'm not sure I care enough either.  What's 10 minutes in a 13-14 hour day?

Going though these transitions was important.  This alone made the whole trip worth it and the experience was very valuable.  I'll be going into the Ironman much more familiar than I otherwise would have been.  But this isn't the only lesson I learned that fateful Sunday...

The transition area isn't so scary after all.

... But I'm going to have to try and minimize the wardrobe changes.

 Swim.
1.2 miles in 41:24

I was calm. My wave was third from last so I did a bit of waiting on the beach, in the shade as much as I could.  When it was our time, we gathered in the water, waiting for the air horn to signal the start of our wave.  I looked around to try and size people up.  Everyone looked pretty relaxed.  Some gathered toward the front and on the right- pole position to get to the buoys and keep them close.  Others lined up far to the left and back a bit, most likely to avoid this legendary frenzy that was supposedly about to erupt.  That's where I should have gone.  Instead, I took position right behind those in the pole.

The air horn sounded and we took off.  All seemed well for the next couple minutes.  Then chaos.  I was swam over, pushed aside, shoved, and had my legs batted away as stronger swimmers overtook me.  I had to fight the urge to want to just stay still and until everyone passed.  I had to force myself to keep swimming.  My efficiency and relaxed feeling evaporated and thoughts of "just get through this" repeated in my head.  I was constantly 2-stroking rather than 3-stroking in order to get more air in my lungs, avoid panic, and keeping sight of the buoys as best as possible.  I was pretty horrible.I was zigzagging all over the reservoir.  I calmed enough at times to practice some 3-stroking, but couldn't keep straight. Eventually, I was also passed by the strong swimmers in the waves after me as well.

So what did I learn?  I'm gonna stay the fuck away from the fray next time.  Just wasted energy.  It was a good experience and I did it for the experience.  I had no illusion that I was a strong swimmer, but felt the need to curb my appetite for a fight.  If I had stayed to the side and stayed relaxed, my form would have been better, I would have finished my stroke, I would have swam straighter, and... and I would have kicked harder.  I was fairly conscious about trying not to kick anyone so I found myself barely kicking or not kicking at all.  Lame.  And I'm also realizing that I'm holding back on the kicks too much.  I need to put more effort into them and not be afraid that will sap my bike energy.  It won't (if I stay efficient).  So this I must practice.  I have to find more kick.

I don't really recognize myself here.  Heading to Transition 1.

Bike
56 miles in 3:14:29

I pushed harder than usual.  I raced it without fear of taxing my legs and not being able to run.  I've been surprised during my training bricks, that no matter how dead I felt at the end of the ride, my legs knew what to do during the run.  This course was fairly drastically uphill for the first 15 miles, but not as bad as the return to Lake Placid at the end of that course's loop.  And the rolling hills were nothing compared to what I did the weekend before along Route 20 in the Catskills.  But I pushed my heart rate higher than usual and kept it up there for the most part, at 149 beats per minute, according to my Garmin.  The weekend before it averaged 141bpm and it is generally in the upper 130s.

As a runner, this seems really low.  But my legs don't have much more to push things higher it seems. That's something I was aware of already, but was proven on this Sunday.  My cycling fitness is pretty low and I should have been spending more time on the bike than I have been.  I finished the cycling 114th out of 131 finishers in my age group.  Not exactly impressive.

I also had issues fueling at the higher effort level.  The rice balls I have been practicing with just weren't that appealing.  I've been excited about eating solid food on the ride, but if I'm not cruising at a lower effort level, my interest wanes.  I took more GU than I was planning and felt fine.  So from what I can see, the solution will be to either slow down to eat more solid food or just take more GU and hope my body doesn't revolt from all the sugar by the end.  But either way, I have to get those calories in.

Another concern is my ass.  By the time I was done, I definitely had a serious case of bike-crotch-ache. I was probably bouncing more than I should, meaning my form wasn't as tight as it could have been.  But I do feel the need to investigate options now- different seat or adjust the fitting of my bike, perhaps.  112 miles... that's a long time to be on a bike seat.

All in all, the bike was a success.

Seriously don't recognize this guy either.

Run
13.2 miles in 1:56:51

Tying on my bandana just felt right.  Lacing on my shoes brought a smile to my face.  I took off out the run gate from the transition area, reminding myself to take it easy and give my legs time.  At the end of mile one, 8:13 had passed.  It was a faster pace than I was expecting. My legs became themselves much sooner than  I was anticipating.  I reached the end of mile two 8:17 later.  Things were going smoothly.

Then I felt a twinge in my hamstring.  Shit.  I know this twinge.  It's the start of cramping and I was only 2.5 miles into this half marathon.  I took the remainder of the salt that I carried with me and downed the water in my bottle.  At the next water station, I refilled on the Ironman electrolyte drink they were offering. I took the GUs that I had.  But the twinge was getting bigger, and I now felt it in both my legs.

This run course was hilly, and going both uphill and downhill made things worse.  By mile 4, I had to stop and stretch my hamstrings.  I walked a bit, trying to loosen them up.  But the only thing that seemed to help was to simply not engage that muscle.  Yeah, no problem.  I'll cover 9 miles without my hamstrings.

I began to run again doing just that- I minimized by kick and relied on my hipflexors to get my legs forward and my quads to absorb the impact of my somewhat wily steps.  I carried on like this without another twinge until mile 8 or so.  When a twinge would come, I would pull back and slow my pace.  It was disappointing to have to do this.  I had plenty of energy and I knew exactly what caused this.  I was foolish...

By mile 10, I looked down at my watch and saw that I still had a chance to break two hours.  With only 3 miles left, I started picking up the pace, risking some cramping, but happy to be challenging myself.  After mile 11, things seemed to be pretty stable, so I again sped up.  And by the last mile, I was clocking a 7:14 pace.  The cramps didn't return.

Yeah, ok... I know this guy.

Fuel
I have to alter my nutrition plan for race conditions.  I'm going to have to push myself harder on these bike rides to see how my stomach reacts.  And I think I am going to hit up Zito's for some of their cheesy rice balls which probably have twice the calories of mine and are probably tastier.

The Roctane GU has been working well.  I couldn't say whether the Roctane itself makes a difference, but I am getting the same energy boost I have come to expect from GU and I imagine the Roctane is either helping with active recovery or not.  Either way, I bought a whole box of them so I'm going to stick with them for the big day.

I didn't drink enough water or Gatorade on the ride.  I wasn't feeling particularly thirsty and I often went to my bottles for a few swigs- probably every ten minutes or so- but I know me and this is not enough.  Silly silly boy.  And salt.  I took three packets during the ride.  I'm a seven packet marathoner.  Why did I think three packets would be sufficient?  I wasn't thinking.

Fueling is about getting calories, water, and electrolytes in, but it's also about finding a balance that your body can handle.  I think I was handling this balance wrong.  I need to be sure that I still get enough of everything in me, especially the salt.  And the calories.  Oh, and the water...

Rice, soaked in soy sauce and balled by hand.

Overall Finish: 6:10:36
So I'm a triathlete now.  I'm more or less pleased with my result.  I know I can do better in many areas and counting the minutes as I do, I feel I could have shed 20-25 minutes by being smarter.  But that wasn't was this event was about.  I am glad to have learned some of these things the hard way (again, in some cases).  I have 6 weeks until the big dance and some big key workouts ahead of me.  I'm excited, a bit scared, wishing I had more time, and wishing to get it over with.

That's more like it.  This is definitely me.