Skipjack Race Report

2011 Skipjack LC Triathlon Race Report
September 24th, 2011

Background

Location: Cambridge, MD
Distance: 1.2-mile swim/66-mile bike/10-mile run
2011 Triathlon Race Number: 13
Career Triathlon Race Number: 113
Conditions: Overcast with periodic light rain, 10-20 mph wind, mid 60s-low 70s, and a 72-degree water temperature.

This is the inaugural version of this “Half-Ironman like” long course triathlon. It is part of the ChesapeakeMan Triathlon Festival, which includes an IM, an IM Aqua-Velo, and a sprint triathlon as well. The swim is a normal 1.2-mile affair. The bike however is longer (driven by the need to also stage an IM bike on the same course). The bike course was advertised as 64 miles but I had two GPS devices with me and they both had it as 65.94 miles. The run was GPSed at 10.02 miles—so pretty much spot on in distance.

The race was at the mid-point of my 16-week IMAZ build/taper Meso-cycle. I was at the tail end of a strong training week, which included a 100+ mile bike and a 14-mile training run (my total training time for the week was over 21 hours with about 8000 yards of swimming, 250 miles of biking and 32 miles of running). I certainly was not rested/tapered but I did feel pretty good on race morning. This was in sharp contrast to the prior two weeks where an aggressive 5-week build block (and a lot of life obligations) had left me quite tired. So much so, that 13 days prior I had just gone through the motions at a desultory IM70.3 WC race in Las Vegas (6:06 Half-Ironman).

On this morning however, I was ready to go for it and fact felt a bit of a need to “prove” to myself that I was indeed gaining fitness and was well positioned in my build for IMAZ.
The race had 120 people entered in it and 11 in my AG. In fact only 80 would start with 9 folks in my 50-54 YO AG. The weather was horrible in the days leading up to the race with a constant and frequently intense rain and the weather forecast called for more so I suspect many folks bailed as a result.

I drove down on Friday afternoon and went through all my normal pre-game activities for a LC triathlon and happily lay down by 10 p.m. and had a pretty decent rest. I was up at 4:30 for PB&J and all set to rock by my 8:10 a.m. mass start.

The Swim

T1 and the swim are located adjacent to the Eagleman site, but the swim had us heading off in the opposite direction from the park and is generally less susceptible to tidal influence than the EM swim course. I watched the IM race head off at 7 a.m. and decided I would position myself to the right on the buoy line (clock-wise course—not my favorite) so I could watch the other competitors. With only 80 folks in the race, I figured it would be a piece of cake to find clean water if I needed it.

At the gun I stayed hard right and felt that the other faster swimmers were drifting too far left (who knows if this is true or not, but that was my judgment based on my sight lines.) I could see I was in the top group of swimmers but that there were definitely some stronger swimmers than I. I tried to keep track of my placing and guessed that I was 7th or so but it was difficult to judge with the slower IM swimmers engaged in their second lap and with the modest wind-driven chop.

I basically swam the whole course by myself without any drafting benefit. This was not my intent, but it always seemed to me that the other folks in my race were too far to the left. So no drafting benefit in this race. On the plus side, I had a very relaxing and uneventful swim.

I felt like I was having a B+ kinda’ swim. I felt good, and very comfortable—I knew I could go faster but I did feel like I was having a solid swim. I navigated well and soon enough found myself heading towards the boat ramp, which is the exit of the swim.

Finally, I felt my hand hit the ramp and gingerly stood up. My pre-race recon told me that the ramp was covered in very slippery seaweed and I tried to grab the wall to the left to help myself climb up. This was for naught and I slipped and fell very hard on the concrete directly on my right hip (I have a nice bruise to show for it). It was a pretty violent fall but I think my wetsuit helped me avoid any serious issues—although I was concerned about my hip all the way until I hit the run course). I picked myself up finally and hit my watch at the top of the ramp and recorded a 33:16 swim split with an average HR of 151 bpm. This is a pretty solid time and only 31 seconds slower than my best ever H-IM swim time. My HR indicates I took in easier than I could have gone so it is a really positive result from a fitness perspective. In any event, it was a marked improvement from my 44+ minute swim in Las Vegas.

I had the 8th best swim OA (91.3 %-tile…which I believe is my highest LC swim %-tile in my career). Here is what the leaderboard looked like after the swim:

1. Adams --------
2. Joubert + 0:13
3. Hanna + 3:25
4. Saksa + 4:28
5. Courtney + 4:47
:
:
8. Christofferson + 6:36

From an AG perspective, I had the top swim out of the 9 competitors. Here is where we stood:

1. Christofferson --------
2. Peterson + 0:39
3. Jagoditis + 6:01

Transition One

As I ran away from the swim exit I tried to banish the thoughts of my fall and my hip from my mind. The T1 situation in this “festival” is way over-engineered. I understand why. CTA—which runs the race—puts on two huge events each year—Columbia and Eagleman—so they are used to dealing with tons of athletes and dealing with them in a “M-dot” way. That is not this race.

None-the-less, we had to wait for the volunteers to bring us our bags and then enter the changing tent—where we had to empty our bags, do our thing, and then re-pack our T1 bag with all of our swim stuff (the latter was necessary because T1 and T2 were 5 miles apart and they had to transport our swim stuff there for our pick-up after the race).

I had an OK T1. My helmet strap, for some unknown reason, got all tangled up and I wasted about 10 seconds (seemed like 5-6 minutes) getting it sorted out. Soon enough however, I was on my way. I exited T1 with an elapsed time of 3:20 and a HR of 151 bpm.

Due to my helmet mishap, this was only good enough for 12th OA (86.3 %-tile). I had the fastest T1 in my AG by a long shot. OA, there wasn’t much of a change competitively. In my AG, I was beginning to clearly separate myself:


1. Adams --------
2. Joubert + 2:29
3. Hershner + 3:07
4. Saksa + 4:16
5. Courtney + 4:38
:
:
8. Christofferson + 5:46

--------

1. Christofferson --------
2. Peterson + 2:55
3. Jagoditis + 7:53

The Bike

I exited T1 in a very motivated place. I thought I was 7th OA and I intended to get out and after it on the bike. I thought the bike course was 64 miles (in fact it turned out to be 65.94 miles) and I definitely wanted to go sub 3 hours—despite the rain and wind. I was hopeful to catch some of the stronger swimmers in front of me and hopefully open up a big enough gap to give me a good shot at the AG victory coming out of T2.

It was quite humid and overcast and my glasses fogged immediately. I decided to take them off and slipped them into my tri-top…where they remained for the rest of the ride. The bike course is similar (but different) than the Eagleman course. It featured an opening section of about 15 miles or so that differed from EM and then finished on a loop that was part of the EM course.

I felt very, very good right from the start. My first few miles were a bit slow due to all of the turns leaving T1 and me attending to all of the early ride nutrition things. That said I felt I was riding very well and I was passing a large number of IM and AV riders early on. Soon I began to pass Skipjack competitors as well and by 8 miles I thought that I had moved into second place OA.

I was racing with my revamped BMC TT01 rig for the first time—I had a new drive train, wheels and power management and recording hardware. I must confess that it all worked like a charm—I think it is probably faster than my old configuration and that I can make some tweaks to make it even faster. Further, I’m thrilled with my new data collection capability. Here is the summary of my first two 5-mile segments:

Miles 1-5…..13:29…22.2 mph…157bpm…88rpm…223 watts
Miles 6-10…12:51…23.3 mph…153bpm…88rpm…220 watts

This was obviously a strong start to my ride. I benefitted from less turns and a more favorable wind pattern in the second 5 miles. My target HR is 148-152 bpm so I was trending down to it after T1. I wanted to average above 220 watts so I was off to a good start. At 88 rpm, my recent high cadence Computrainer drills seemed to be working…all good!

I settled in for the long grind ahead. I felt very good and hoped that I was in second (although I felt it was likely that there was a number of better swimmer/bikers in front of me whom I’d never see—that said, my then current knowledge was that there was just one more person in front of me). I eased back just a bit (more than I needed to in retrospect) and just began picking off a lot of slower IM riders. At around 17 miles I was a bit surprised to pass another Skipjack racer (Saksa—a strong looking 31 YO). At this point, my on course data indicated that I was now leading the race. I of course wasn’t sure—for all I knew there were 3-4 guys who were very strong bikers easily pulling away from me. Here is what the next two five mile segments looked like:

Miles 11-15…13:35…22.1mph…149bpm…86rpm…215watts
Miles 16-20…13:10…22.8mph…147bpm…86rpm…215watts

My Edge 800 allowed me to have pretty good command of this data. I concluded that I was moving well above my targeted speed. My HR was on the low side of my target. My cadence was outstanding. My watts were a bit low but I felt great and thought that I was leading and pulling ahead. What to do? I decided to remain conservative for a while longer—My memory of my recent down-spell and my fairly heavy training load weighed on my mind.

Meanwhile, back on the road, I was passing everything in sight. It was nice to have the slower IM bikers in front of me—I didn’t have to worry about biking off-course like I did at Tuckahoe. I felt fantastic but I continued to keep a definite leash on my effort. Here are the next 15 miles:

Miles 21-25…13:09…22.8mph…146bpm…85rpm…217watts
Miles 26-30…13:00…23.1mph…148bpm…85rpm…216watts
Miles 31-35…12:58…23.1mph…147bpm…84rpm…216watts

At this point in the bike course we rounded a point and generally headed back into a net headwind. I felt this subjectively and feeling very optimistic about where I was and how I was doing in the race I decided to raise my game—I began pushing harder. The next 15 miles were noticeably tougher into the wind but I kept upping my effort:

Miles 36-40…13:14…22.7mph…148bpm…84rpm…222watts
Miles 41-45…13:08…22.8mph…147bpm…86rpm…228watts
Miles 46-50…13:27…22.3mph…148bpm…86rpm…227watts

As an aside, I was pretty workman-like in my attention to my nutrition throughout the ride. I drank 30 ounces of Cytomax, which I started the ride with and then another 3 24-ounce bottles of Gatorade (and one bottle of water). I ate one pack of shot blocks and had 4 Hammer Gels (from a flask). I’d guess that I consumed a total of about 1400 calories on the bike—about 450/hour, which is consistent with the approach I’ve refined during my long training rides. I ate a total of 9 Enduralytes—3 on every half hour of the ride. I peed three times during the ride so I think I did a solid job of hydrating as well. In any event, I didn’t feel any energy shortage during the ride.

As I rode on I became increasingly convinced that I was leading (although it would have been entirely possible for some one to be 20 minutes in front of me by now). The wind was quite noticeable now—blowing unrestricted out of the west across the nature reserve.

Further, the next five-mile section featured a 1-1.3 mile section that was substantially flooded. The road was frequently under 3-8 inches of water and when it wasn’t it was extremely rough (and slow). I tried to keep hammering away but at one point rode through 2 big pot holes (under about 8 inches of water) and unbelievably did not flat nor break a wheel—whew. I backed off a bit but soon we were on “dry” ground (it was raining). The road was uncomfortably rough as well during this section and it definitely cost us some speed as compared to earlier segments of the bike course. I kept driving all the way to the end and here is how the last splits looked:

Miles 51-55…14:38…20.5mph…146bpm…83rpm…225watts
Miles 56-60…13:24…22.4mph…146bpm…85rpm…223watts
Miles 61-65…13:34…22.1mph…145bpm…84rpm…224watts
Mile 66………….2:44…20.6mph…147bpm…82rpm…231 watts

I was surprised to find the course being two miles long but generally took comfort in that—the longer the bike course the better for me! It was a bit confusing towards the end because they were clearly not ready for a Skipjack racer when I approached T2. At a subconscious level I registered this as very good news and was very excited as I rolled into T2.

I completed the 66-mile bike spilt in 2:56:22, which equates to 22.5mph. I ended up averaging 221 watts, 85 rpm and a HR of 148bpm. This is very satisfying. My ride was over three minutes faster than any other cyclist and over 7 minutes faster than Saska. I was over a half hour faster than the next guy in my AG! Given the conditions, and given the competition I have to say I killed this ride.

Although I didn’t know it at the time, when I jumped off the bike I had a commanding overall lead Overall and an insurmountable AG lead:

1. Christofferson --------
2. Saksa + 5:31
3. Signore + 5:52
4. Clark + 7:43
5. Villanueva +12:06

--------

1. Christofferson --------
2. Peterson +32:28
3. Jagoditis +64:18

Transition Two

I handed my bike to a volunteer and they quickly gave me my transition bag. I asked how many where in front of me and they confirmed what I had been hoping—that I was in the lead! I ran into the changing tent and executed a very quick and efficient T2. My elapsed T2 time was 1:13, which ended up being the 4th fastest overall (149 bpm average). This translates into the 96.3 %-tile. Importantly, this was faster than any of the next four competitors. I picked up 5 seconds on Villanueva, 12 on Saksa, 15 on Clark and a critically important 1:17 on Signore. Here is where we stood after T2:

1. Christofferson --------
2. Saksa + 5:43
3. Signore + 7:09
4. Clark + 7:58
5. Villanueva +12:11

The Run

I ran out of the changing tent and across the timing mat carrying some more Enduralytes, my visor, my number belt and my glasses. I glanced back right to the bike course and didn’t see anyone. I put all the stuff in my hands where they belonged. The announcer let the crowd know what was going on and I received a nice applause.

For the first time in my triathlon career I was on the run and leading the race! As I ran out of the high school parking lot I noticed that I still had my glasses from the bike jammed into the top of my tri-suit. I found a convenient place along the road to chuck them (I came back for them later). I made the turn onto Egypt road and headed out by myself on the long, flat and mostly straight out and back run course. It was raining lightly and very comfortable to my heat acclimatized body.

It was surreal. I couldn’t believe I was actually leading and I was even hoping that maybe, just maybe I could hold the lead despite how much of a competitive liability my run typically is. I felt like I was running pretty well. I was definitely pushing it harder than I felt prudent and I was breathing heavily. So what—I decided that I was going all in on this run. I looked up and pointed to the skies and asked my dad to beam me some energy—I said out loud that this run was in honor of him. It was very cool running by myself with no one in front of me with only the sounds of my feet and my breathing.

I hit the first mile marker and hit a lap time on my new Garmin watch. I looked to see the result and realized that the numbers are so tiny and that my eyes are so bad now (without reading glasses) that I really couldn’t see the split—although I thought it looked like the first number was a 7. In fact, my first 1.03 miles passed in 7:48 (this is a 7:34/mile pace). My HR averaged 161 bpm, which is pretty much spot on for a LC run for me.

I wasn’t going to look back and just try to get to the 5-mile turnaround in the lead and then see where the competition was but I couldn’t help myself and I stole a glance just after passing the first mile mark. I was very bummed to see a runner just 40 yards behind me! I was shocked to be honest—this person must have had a fantastic T2! Oh well, I didn’t see anyone else so I thought I might as well keep going for it—you never know.

I went through the first aid station and slowed to drink a cup of water and one of Gatorade and was surprised that I didn’t get passed. I hit mile 2 and my Garmin recorded an 8:07 over 1.01 miles and my HR was steady at 161 bpm. There was an aid station right at mile 3 and there I was caught but the other runner turned down the fluid and told the volunteers that she was just out for a run and wasn’t in the race! Whoa! I was still in the lead! My 3rd split was 8:07 for exactly 1.00 miles and my HR remained locked on 161bpm.

Well, now I was really excited! I began to think that maybe I just could win this thing. I decided not to look back and kept pushing up to the turnaround. The next two splits were as follows:

Split 4: 8:07 (1.00 miles) 161 bpm
Split 5: 7:54 (0.99 miles) 165 bpm

I made the turn and looked up the road and was a bit disheartened to see another competitor. My initial judgment was that he was too close and running too fast for me to make my lead stick. Soon we passed and we acknowledged each other. It was Saksa, the 31 YO I had passed at mile 17 of the bike. I estimated that he was about 2 minutes behind me—although, with my vision issue, that is probably plus or minus 30 seconds. I shook my head and felt that I couldn’t hold him off. Another minute latter Signore came by and so I estimated that I had a 4-minute lead on him. The others were further up the road (Clark at 6 minutes and Villaneuva at 8 minutes) and I began to think that there was a good chance I could podium overall.

I hit the 6-mile mark with an 8:14 split (1.00 miles) and a 163-bpm heart rate. Around about 6.5 miles or so, Saksa caught me. He told me I had crushed the bike—I said thanks and told him it was nice to be in the lead while it lasted. I also told him to push home and win the thing. He encouraged me to keep pushing and get second. I sighed as he sped away with my victory dream. Oh well—I’m still doing great. I looked back and could see that Signore was closing fast. My 7-mile split was 8:33 (1:00) and my HR was back down to 161 bpm.

Now that I wasn’t going to win, I became very aware of how fatigued I was and I also noticed that my feet were killing me. I decided to not wear my socks to try to shave some time off of my T2 (which worked) but it looked like it might have been the wrong call as I could see big red splotches on both of my shoes—ouch!

I began to slow and hit the 8th mile with an 8:44 (1.00) and an average HR of 159. I still was in 2nd but feeling like it was any second before Signore caught me. Despite that, I was really enjoying the run—it was great to get the congrats from all the other competitors and they constantly told me I looked awesome (gee thanks!). About three quarters of the way through the 9th mile I decided to turn around and see where he was and I was surprised to see him still a good 100 yards or so behind me. What the heck—I decided right there that I was going to really give it everything I had—he was going to have to earn second place.

I hit the 9-mile split with an 8:47 over 1.01 miles (8:42/mile pace) and my HR at 160 bpm. I was clearly running a bit faster than that over the last few hundred yards of the 9th mile.

I could see the school and hear the announcer. I could see the turn just up ahead. My body was screaming but I kept pushing—come on RC--hold on dude. I hit the turn and glanced back and saw him about 40 yards behind me. I had about 250 yards to go and I dug down for one final desperate push. I could see the final turn and the finish chute and with about 60-70 yards to go I looked back and saw that he was at least 40 yards behind me—I did it, my kick had dissuaded him. I pumped my fist in the air and cruised home with a final split of 8:04 (166 bpm).

I finished 2nd—my best ever in a triathlon! Signore came in 15 seconds later and we embraced (by the way, in my AG, Peterson finished 45:20 and Jagoditis 67:40 behind me—I had the fastest run in my AG). I told Signore that another 100 yards and I was toast and he told me that he had given it everything he had but he just couldn’t catch me. My overall run time was 82:05 and my average HR was 162 bpm. I clocked the course at 10.02 miles so my average mile split was 8:11/mile. This was the 9th fastest overall (90.0%-tile). My overall time was 4:56:16. Fantastic!

I was going to go for a 3-4 mile run after the race to cool down and get another IM long run in but with the outcome of the race I said the heck with that. Also, my feet were really hurting now. I hobbled over to my car and took my shoes off and saw a total disaster zone—at least 15 places where my feet were bleeding—I was paying the price now for a quicker T2. I slowly made my way into the School and had a wonderful shower—although the water hitting my feet was not pleasant. I went to the EMS truck the medics kindly taped my feet up. I picked up a beautiful crystal award for finishing second and hopped into my car and drove home feeling very, very satisfied!

Observations

1. A great day for me no two ways about it. It would have been nice to win, but I’m thrilled with second. As I mentioned, this is my best OA finish place wise. I also picked up my 5th AG win on the year and this is only the second year that I’ve reached 5 wins in a season.
2. Its very important to me to bounce back after struggling recently and my slow and half-hearted effort at IM70.3 worlds. This race clearly demonstrates that my training is working and I’m in a good place in my build up to IMAZ in 8 weeks.
3. If I apply my average pace on the bike and convert from 66 to 56 miles and similarly convert from 10 miles to 13.1 on the run I come up with an equivalent H-IM time of 4:54:59. This is obviously an estimate but I think it’s pretty good. I would have biked a bit faster over 56 miles than I did over 66 and I probably would have been able to run a bit faster at the outset with a shorter bike leg. I probably would have faded more over 13.1 miles versus 10 (although, I did have a solid 10th mile) so it’s hard to say precisely, but I think the mathematical approximation is probably pretty good. If you take it at face value, then this was equivalent to my 3rd fastest H-IM ever (out of 20 or so)—my only two faster races being my two H-IMs during my peak year of 2007. For what it’s worth, Saksa did a 4:43 at Diamondman on 9/11 and he beat me by 4:41 in this race. He also told me that he raced better today than he did at Diamondman.
4. My swim was very solid. I probably could have turned in a PR had I been so motivated. I felt strong at the end so I’m feeling good about my swim for IMAZ—no reason for me not to go sub 70 minutes there.
5. My 221 watts in the bike ride is encouraging. For comparison in 2007 I did 228 watts at White Lake (bike split: 2:24:47) and 223 watts at Eagleman (bike split: 2:24:04). My calculated bike split for 56 miles in this race is 2:29:39, which is not surprising due to the wind and rough road surface and flooding that we faced today. In any event, I was able to reasonably comfortably hold a sub 5-hour IM bike pace through 66 miles today. I think it’s also significant that I averaged 217 watts for the first 35 miles but upped it to 225 watts over the final 31 miles—and still ran quite well. I believe it will be well within my capability to go sub 5:30 at IMAZ.
6. My first transition was solid but my second was outstanding and competitively important as well. Signore was faster than me on the S/B/R segments and my transitions were decisive in my ability to hold onto second. The 1:17 I picked up on him in T2 was crucial—especially when you consider he finished just 15 seconds behind me. Still, I wish I had worn socks because it’s going to be a few days before I’m able to run again.
7. My run was a revelation for me today. From an absolute perspective, I know its nothing special but it was a very good outcome for me—it was mathematically equivalent to a 1:47:19 H-IM run (radically better than the 1:59 I did at Oceanside and the 2:06 at Las Vegas). Indeed, I only averaged 8:02 in the Tim Kerr 7-mile run—three weeks ago. I think I learned that I’m a better runner than I thought and I need to go deeper in my key races.
8. Someday I won’t be able to do this, but Saturday was not that day!