NOLA Race Report.
Wow, what a weekend!! Happy to report I had a great time in New Orleans’s this past weekend. After 31 weeks of preparation, numerous single sport races, it was time to toe the line and see where I am in terms of my preparation for Lake Placid. This Half Iron was going to be my second tri.
My goal for the race was 4:49 or better. I came in at 4:54 in change and on the surface that should sound disappointing. However, I can candidly say that under the circumstances I’m happy with the result. I hope the following below does not sound like excuses, they are just check-points for me along this journey, and hey it’s my blog and I can write whatever I want!!! LOL..
I seem to have nerves or something the week before a big race. Again, I came down with a breathing issue and had to go onto antibiotics, inhaler and vitamin c and extra sleep. My breathing was labored and every time I took a deep breath, a good ole coughing attack would appear. That is no way to feel comfortable swimming with a couple thousand of your friend’s (joke). Today after visiting with my doctor, it turned out that my lungs are filled with fluid and that I either have pneumonia, asthma; sever bronchitis or some yet to be identified condition. The best part, I think I just found more speed!!!
This race was my first triathlon in which I had to travel and pack my bike. I was excited about this because all of the races I usually do are local. NOLA was a hike with getting the big bike box to the airport and hoping that I listened to the bike tech tell me how to put it back together so that I can ride without having my handle bars fall off in a corner. At the speeds we travel (at times in access of 40MPH) this is no time to hope that your Huffy mechanic skills show their ugly hand. We are talking serious disfigurement here which in another weird way, adds to all the excitement. Needless to say, I got to NOLA and assembled my bike without a hitch.
I was racing with about 10 of my Qt2 mates. I was looking forward to doing this because of all the knowledge these guys posses, as well as the fact that they are a really good core group of people that share my passion and are motivated to the hilt. Most of them are so experienced that I did not have to stress about the logistics, I just needed to follow along with routines and carbo-loading, which is what I did.
As is our protocol, we hunted around for a good healthy dinner on Friday which consisted of grilled chicken and lots of veggies and 85-100 ounces of water for the day. On Saturday, we went to Harrah’s for breakfast to carbo-load. I had pancakes!!!! We spent the rest of the day getting registered, dropping bikes off in T2 and our hotel rooms stuffing our faces and loading our bellies. Was in bed early.
Race day.
Wake up call, operator informed me that it was going to be 87, 50% chance of rain with over 90 humidity. Wow, I just came from 30 degree weather.. For breakfast, the protocol calls for 3 cups of applesauce, banana, sports drink, Whey protein and a powerbar. We got up at 4 and headed down to the swim start. This event had the most people of any Half Ironman ever as explained to us. Over 3 thousand people. The transition area was huge as you might expect. There were so many people that the volunteers suggested that we walk to the swim start for another mile because we would not make our wave start. There were just too many people and it was apparent that this was going to be how it went during the day.
Got to the swim start and met up with Chrissy Krop in line to use the bathroom. Ended up using the bushes.
I was in wave R, Red cap, second to last wave for the 40-45. This means go through at least 3,000 people since the numbers I was hearing racing were over 3500. My stomach was full from all of the eating and I wished I had woken up earlier to let Mother Nature do its thing. I figured I could deal with that later in a messy sort of way on the course. I was not nervous in any way since I knew that I had not missed more than 3 days training in total for the past 31 weeks, and that I’ve worked my ass off each and every day with my diet and work and sleep. The big what if I had, how would I compete with such a huge field, and how were my lungs going to hold-up with my really bad cough that appeared 10 days prior.
The announcement came that my wave was due in the gate. Coming from the North, this was the first time this year I was wearing my wetsuit. I dove in and the water was cold. I still was not nervous, just excited. The strategy my coach asked me to try was to go out very fast for the first 400 or so yards to get away from the thrashing. I liked that idea. Gun goes off, I take what felt like 20 strokes, and my lungs completely close with the excitement and cold water. I stop and pop up, and roll onto my other side thinking it would help. I get dunked, and fight through, and I’m hypoxic (no air in lungs). I roll onto my back to try and restore breathing. I’m thinking, I came all this way and I have to quit? No F’n way. I roll back over and I’m almost alone. I swim for another 20 strokes, same issue. I pop up again and start thinking about pulling my cap off and my day is over. I start kicking on my back and actually pray. For some reason, I felt better and put together some more strokes and could catch a breath. I think it was that my body got use to the cold and I was heating up in my suit.
I then found a grove and caught up to some of the slower people in my wave. I then went through a bunch of other colored caps and felt like I was making some progress. The water was a filthy brown and it was sunny and I could not sight. I could just feel people swimming and latched on to people in front and played a game of leap-frog. This was a point to point swim which mean’s there were no laps. I purposely did not look at my watch because it was not going to help me.
I then looked up and saw people rounding a corner and I followed. I was done with the swim. Goal, 30-32. Actually result, 38 in some change. I was pissed, and I think that motivated me to the highest degree. I sprinted to the bike to change over without a hitch. I’m not good at transitions yet, but I learned a few good tricks from my teammates that made a big difference. My bike was parked in the very back of over 3,000 bikes. It was a haul running with it to start the bike. Hopped on no problem.
Bike.. I ride with a power meter. My goal for the race on my new bike was to put out 225 watts and not to exceed 272 even on the hills. I did not have the advantage of seeing the course, but based on my site from high above on our plane there, it looked pretty flat. I started slowly and got into a good grove early. I was really proud to have not quit on the swim, so I felt like being able to bike was like a free day!!
There were so many people clogging up the lanes and the streets were awful with big manhole covers and ruts and groves. I immediately had to start yelling at people to move to the right to pass. My last half I was too patient and almost crashed not blowing the horn. I knew this was going to be how the ride was going to go. About 20 minutes into the ride, my water bottle that comes with the P4 popped out after going over a big bump. I rode for a couple of minutes and decided to turn around and get it. I had to cross the yellow line for a second which I know can DQ you. I saw a motorcycle in the distance and I froze (official’s). I should have not done that, but I knew how hot it was and I was concerned that the next aid station was far away and that I would get dehydrated. I’m not sure how much time I wasted, but it was frustrating. Back on the bike, and I wanted to catch all the people who passed me. I kept thinking of Chrissie Wellington and her flat (I know its stupid). I caught up with everyone and then passed them. Then, the silly sticker they give you for your Helmut for pictures fell off my Helmut and stuck on my front wheel. I wanted to stop to take it off because I thought it would be slick on turns and it was just plain annoying!! Each time I came up to a group of riders the sticker sounded like I had a playing card in my spoke. Everyone was turning around. It was funny, and I was not going to be sneaking up on anyone on this day!!
A couple of people in my wave were drafting me and hanging on. I had a few choice words for them and that seemed to make it worse. These two guys continued to try and stay just ahead of me. It got aggravating so I decided to test their will and push the pace on one of the bridges. I dropped both of them and they were not to be seen of the rest of the day.
I ran through my liquids fast. The goal was to drink every 10 minutes. It was so hot and humid, I ran out of fluids. The first aid station, no Gatorade just water. I took on a bottle of water and dumped it in. Next aid station, same thing, because I was starting last, the race ran out of Gatorade. Oh shit!! I do wear an extra watch which is set to beep every 30 minutes to tell me when to eat next. This way I nail my nutrition. I specially did not switch it over to the chronograph to see what my total time was. I really wanted to go with perceived effort and to hammer all the way through. I never did look at until the end.
The rest of bike portion was pretty flawless. My goal was to stay down in my aero bars and to work. I got through the first loop when all the fun happened. There was a 30 mile head wind on the second loop. I could see my speed and power number go low and lower. The goal was 225 and I was at 190. I read that I was averaging almost 24 miles per hour and since my power numbers were not 225, I decided that my new goal was to average that for the whole bike portion. I then started to see racers pulled over cramping, lying on the side of the road, etc. The wind was pushing hard. I knew that staying tucked and as low as I could go would be of help. It was amazing to see so many people riding upright letting the wind push at them.
I did not get passed at all on the bike which was a first. I did see that my speed started to creep lower to 23. I felt good and took it all the way home. Average speed, 23.05 and a 2:25+ total bike time. I later learned that the power numbers go low once you pass people. Since I had to ride through so many people, I probably was riding far above the 225 goal. Mistake in my favor!!
Run,
Again, I had to go through 3K plus bike to rack my bike. Fortunately, the run started near my bike which I was thankful. Switched over to shoes and watch and realized my piece of crap Garmin satellite watch decided to freeze again. I was running new a field because I was not racing with a heart rate monitor. Never a good idea to make a switch before testing..
I was told to start my run at a pace of 7:10. I started running and it felt like my legs were not even working. Very strong. I felt like I was running slowly. I looked at my watch and could not figure it out. Then, I was able to get the correct screen to learn that for the first ten minutes, I started off with a 6 min mile. Not good!There were droves of people walking already. Not a good thing. Also, I neglected to add the screen to tell me how far I had run, or where I was on the course. That drove me crazy because none of the volunteers knew either. I was blind and it was stupid.
The race in the heat felt like I was dancing on the sun. I’m not actually sure how hot it was, but I knew I was dehydrated not having much to drink on the bike. If you have an issue with fluids on the bike, it’s usually a deficit you can’t make up on the run. I was flying by people and heard people yell out things, “dude, are you F’n kidding, me, to oh wow bring it strong”. It really motivated me. Then I blew by this guy that was in my wave. I did not think much of it until he caught up with me and hung on my heels. We traded leads a couple of time and he pulled away. He later found me at the finish and said I motivated him becuase I pushed by him looking fast and strong. He was stronger..
The rest of the run was not pretty because I started way too fast and I still could not get a full breath. The heat was searing and I started getting 4-5 cups of water over the head to cool the core. I ate and drank to plan, but it was going to be a suffer fest all the way home.
At mile 9, I could hear the crowds and the music in the French Quarter. Actually, I was not at nine, it was mile 7 with a loop (stupid watch). I tried as often as I could to find shaded areas. There were not many. From mile 7 to 13.1 basically I saw people leaning against walls and cramping and laying on the ground. I saw medics whipping in and out. I knew the heat was an issue for us all, but I only felt weak and knew I was almost done. My goal in my head at this point was to not walk and to try and hold onto a good pace. There was lots of support from the crowds on the run all the way until the end. A few people yelled out to me that I looked strong and that I had good form. In my head, I wanted to yell back to them, and my 1,000 sit-ups a day are why!!There is some funny shit that goes through your mind in order to endure!!! Total misery was the way , but I got to the French Quarter and entered what is called the funnel with huge crowds. I did a cheesy ½ sprint and brought it home with a smile. Goal, 4:49, finished in 4:54+. 14th in AG, 125 overall.
I was really happy with how I hung in there. I'm getting good at using my mind to transform the pain,etc. There are so many lessons to learn on a day like this. I’m not sure I can tell you about all of them now. I know I will be able to make some fixes in my training and will not repeat the next go round. Next Up, St Croix in three weeks and a date with the “Beast” and some hotter conditions…
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