NOLA70.3 Race Report

2010 Ironman NOLA 70.3
Race Report #2: 4/18/10


Background

My second race of the 2010 season and 88th of my career was the 2nd annual Ironman New Orleans 70.3 (NOLA) held on April 18th. This was to be my second early season 70.3 in a row—I had never raced long-course before this year prior to May.

With my Kona slot secured at Oceanside, my intent was to “let the big dog hunt” and try to go as fast as I could. While I knew I was not in PB shape, I at least wanted to show I was heading that way and making good progress towards Eagleman and Ironman Germany. Certainly, if the conditions allowed for it, I wanted to break 5 hours and get into the top 10 in my AG (154 entered).

I had an uneventful trip down—even convinced the US Air types to not charge me for my bike case (I told the lady that helped me that she had very pretty eyes—I’ve still got the touch!). Bike set-up was easy as were all the normal pre-game activities.

Of note was the breakfast and dinner I had with the XC folks (I was not racing for the XC slot since I already had one). At dinner were Chris “Macca” McCormack and Terenzo Bozzone and at breakfast was Lindsay Corbin. It was a delight to meet and chat with all three.

The Swim

We headed over to the race site at about 5:15—this was a bit of a process because it was 10 miles or so from the Hilton where we stayed. I checked in, got numbered and attended to my bike and transition area without much fuss. Soon I headed down to the shores of Lake Pontchartrain where the 1.2-mile swim was to be contested. I was in the 11th wave and was scheduled to depart 52 minutes after the male pros.

The morning dawned pleasant enough but with a clear sky foreshadowing increasing heat and humidity as the day unfolded. The transition closed at 6:30 a.m. and the wind was already beginning to briskly blow from the North—straight on shore. The wind was forecasted to increase throughout the day to 15-20 mph and shift more to the E-NE.

By 7:52, when my wave started, the wind had picked up considerably and there was a good, short period chop rolling into the shore. The swim course had just four turns—3 lefts and a final right. This set-up well for me (being a lefty) and I lined up at the front of the wave and way to the right—intent on swimming a longer but less crowded path.

At the gun I sprinted into the water, which was quite shallow for quite a ways—I probably jumped through thigh-high or less water for a good 50-75 yards before I did a few dolphin dives and then finally began to settle in for the swim proper.

The swim out to the first turn buoy was hampered by fairly large, rapid sequence wind driven waves. This was a bit of a challenge as I felt unbalanced and kept getting mouthfuls of water (definitely not what you want from this lake). While this portion was a bit of a struggle, I could see that for the most part I was swimming away from the bulk of my wave and it occurred to me pretty early on that I might have a very good swim from a competitive standpoint.

The swim smoothed out after the first turn—the waves were still there but they were hitting me from the side and my whole body was moving up and down in unison—plus I had the advantage of breathing away from the swell. It was a challenge to hold a straight line as the waves kept throwing me around and sighting was also a challenge, as it had to be timed with the crest of a passing wave. I could now more clearly see that I was definitely towards the pointy end of my wave and I felt like I was swimming strong. I perceived that I was pushing it harder than is my custom in a LC swim.

I completed the next two left-handers at the far west end of the course and was swimming through a menagerie of different colored hats as I caught folks from several prior waves. The swim for home was more challenging with the waves into my face and a very difficult sighting environment. The shoreline was curved—as was the buoy line, there were several jetties jutting out, and on two separate occasions I had overly enthusiastic kayakers intercede in my path trying to be helpful—quite frustrating to have to come to a full stop and navigate around them. Also as we swam east the sun was glaring off the water.

In due course, I reached the end of the swim and exited the water in 35:24. My immediate reaction was not surprise but disappointment—I really felt like I hammered this swim and did well competively. As I headed up the beach I convinced myself that I was in the top 10 and in fact, I was 11th in my AG (which put me in the 90th %-tile of those who finished) and 281st out of 1655 overall (83rd %-tile).

My HR averaged 157 bpm for the swim, which is about 5 bpm higher than I would typically register in a LC swim and consistent with my perceived exertion. I really pushed it this race and while my time was disappointing I do believe in the right conditions today’s effort would have yielded a PB. In any event, I left the swim feeling really good about the race so far.



Transition One

As I ran up the beach and over the dike into transition I was struck by how high my HR was—I could clearly feel the higher level of exertion in this swim. I had to walk for a few moments to settle my HR down. I soon had it under control and executed a relatively smooth transition in 2:50 with an average HR of a rocking 172! My transition turned out to be the 18th fastest in my AG and I headed out to the bike with a reasonable chance of moving up into the top 10.

The Bike

The bike course is a Y shaped out and back that generally heads mostly east (into the wind today) on the way out and west heading back home. The pavement, especially in the first and last 15 miles is generally concrete and in quite poor condition. There are lots of joints between the concrete slabs that have deteriorated (in part form the flooding with Katrina) and the road is rough, jarring and not particularly fast. This combined with prevailing winds, turns a flat course that would seem to be very fast into one that can actually be quite slow. For example, last year only 2 people in my AG were able to break 2:30.

As I headed out through the opening miles into the strongish headwind I quickly became aware that I wasn’t “quite right” as I felt uncomfortable in my aero position—I was aware of a dull ache in my left glute, hamstring and hip. Also, my power was distressingly low—frankly, I was having trouble getting my power up above 200 watts (I expected to average 225+ watts). The first section dragged on and I was disheartened to pass the one-hour mark with only 18 miles under my belt and an average power of under 200 watts. What was wrong with me?

All sorts of folks including people in my AG were passing me and it became increasingly hard for me to stay on the rivet. The dull ache in the upper leg on my left side was now a full bore, screaming for attention, pain. It eventually became too difficult for me to stay in the aero position and I had to open up my hip angle and so I essentially rode the last half of the bike on the hoods—obviously throwing away a couple of mph.

I tried to stay in it reminding myself of why I was here—to find out where I was fitness wise and was pleased to lift my power output over the back half of the race. I actually felt more powerful as the race progressed and my power numbers reflected that. Unfortunately, my left leg was in agony and the lack of aero ness was really costing me time wise.

I hit T2 with an elapsed time on the bike of a dismal 2:37:11, which is a very slow average of 21.4 mph. My HR averaged 151 bpm (which is probably 5-6 bpm low) and my average cadence was only 76 rpm, which is horrible for a flat course—I was in too much pain to spin efficiently. All of this led to one of my worse bike rides of all time. I was 22nd in my AG (80th %-tile) and 346th overall (79th %-tile). I believe this is the first race where my swim was actually stronger competitively than my bike.

I draw a number of conclusions from the above:

1. My bike fitness is nowhere near where it needs to be. As I think about it this is not really a surprise—I didn’t do a spring training session this year and I put the bike as my 3rd priority over the past 5 months—this will have to change over the next 3 months for sure.
2. I clearly have some type of a hip/glute issue that needs to be addressed and I have a PT appointment to evaluate how best to do so.
3. I probably need to recheck my bike fit and make sure that it hasn’t migrated enough to contribute to my hip issues.

The bottom line is that I was probably, even with the wind, 10-15 minutes slower than I need to be on the bike today. That will have to change!

Transition Two

I jumped off my bike and was immediately overwhelmed by the rigor mortis in my left hip and hamstring. I was initially worried about my ability to even run but I was hopeful it would loosen up as I assumed an upright running orientation.

I stiffly plowed through transition and exited T2 in 2:24 with an average HR of 145. I had the 24th fastest T2 so it was an OK effort. My thoughts were now dominated by how best to manage the pain and stiffness in my leg.

The Run

In addition to my leg issues, as I left transition, I became immediately aware of how HOT and HUMID it was. The sun was out and I knew shade would be scarce. I decided right there that I was already doomed to a crappy race so I made the call to keep my HR low—below 150 and just take it easy on the run. I was hopeful that jogging a bit would loosen my leg up some and that I could run the whole thing without doing significant damage to my leg.

I hit the first mile in 8:58 with a 149 HR. I saw a porta-john and decided to make a short pit stop—this was a good sign as I had really forced myself to drink a lot on the bike to avoid dehydration in this heat. After I left the porta-john I walked through the aid station making sure to drink a lot and to put ice-cubes in my hat and down my shorts—this was an approach that I repeated at every other aid station on the run course.

The following miles were slow, manageable--as my leg did loosen a little, and generally pretty fun. I has hot, sore and tired but I was running so slowly I was able to keep things under control. Here is the data from the rest of the run:

Mile 2: 9:29/148 bpm
3: 9:23/148
4: 10:01/147
5: 9:33/147
6: 9:43/146
7: 10:11/143
8: 10:02/146
9: 10:04/147
10: 10:32/146
11: 10:51/142
12: 10:26/144
13: 10:05/149

Overall I took 2:10:18, which is an average pace of 9:57, and my HR averaged 146 bpm. I was 42nd in my AG (61st %-tile) and 790th OA (52nd %-tile). For the race as a whole I finished in 5:28:06 which was 26th in my AG (76th %-tile) 421st OA (75th %-tile). Obviously not what I was looking for pre-race but understandable as the day unfolded.

I have a lot of work to do for sure. The first order of business is to get my leg and elbow right and then get some real long sessions on the bike and run in so I am prepared for Eagleman and Germany. That’s the plan!