Sierra Trip Reports

Date: Saturday, July 28, 2018

Location: Santa Rosa, California

OVERALL
As described further below, the swim was cancelled this year due to fog and we had a rolling, time-trial start to the bike. Nevertheless, my total time on this year’s race format was 4:22:20, which put me at:

• 30/257 Finishers in Men’s 35-39 AG (11.7%)
• 232/2483 Finishers Overall (9.3%)

This was my first race since I crashed my bike very hard in July 2017 at the Donner Lake Half Ironman. I was excited to get back to racing and see where my race pace fitness currently stands. Overall, I was pleased with the outcome of the race. It is difficult to really compare this race to others because the swim was cancelled due to really bad fog and visibility, but ultimately (1) this was my third fastest ever HIM bike split (2:41:50, coming in behind 2017 Ironman 70.3 Santa Rosa – 2:39:19 and 2014 Ironman 70.3 Vineman – 2:40:51) and (2) this was my second faster ever HIM run split (1:36:55, coming in barely behind 2015 HITS Napa Valley Half Ironman – 1:36:26). However, the 2015 HITS Napa Valley Half Ironman run course distance only measured 12.8 miles on my Garmin, so I think this actually was a PR HIM split for the full 13.1 miles.

I am very happy with my performance for this race, as it is really a big stepping stone in getting back to peak fitness. After taking off all of 2016 after the premature birth of my twins (120+ days visiting the hospital daily) and then crashing my bike in July 2017 and taking several months to recovery, I finally have felt that 2018 has brought gains back in my fitness. My training is as consistent as I can make it with twin 2 ½ year olds and a busy work schedule, but my wife Sarah is awesome and I have built a good schedule that works for our family. Often it involves getting up very early for my weekday sessions.

The table below is my training volume from January 1, 2018 up until the race. The huge spike in May was from my 5-day backcountry skiing trip in the Ansel Adams & Yosemite Wildernesses with Jon. Even taking that huge outliner in, my average weekly volume was only 8:35 hours. In looking at this now, I see that I am often well below what Coach Coady often schedules. I try to be as consistent as possible, but want to keep trying to build on that consistency and improve. Honestly, my long rides on the weekends are cut short and I have not been as good as getting to the pool 3X a week (generally only 2X). The only other two things I notice are the two weeks in early May where I was sick.

My PMC table shows a better representation of the slow, steady build (including the drop due to 2-week illness and big spike for the ski trip). After the trip, I basically plateaued out a bit, but hope to keep building into Ironman 70.3 Arizona in October. The big caveat is I have not re-tested my zones in a LONG time, so all of this is a bit of a placeholder given it is based on zones set a while ago and likely not representative.

During the afternoon on Friday before the race, all participants received an email indicating that there had been heavy fog during the morning at Lake Sonoma and there was a chance that the swim may be cancelled. I was glad to see they were building out advanced planning, but I had my fingers crossed the swim would not be cancelled. Although my swim workouts have not been as consistent as I would like, I generally can get out of the water in a decent position overall and in my age group, which leads to a clear bike.

I ran into Andrew from Team TriForce during check-in, and we had not caught up since I crashed my bike a year ago.

SWIM

Well, the morning of the race we got down to the start at 5:15 AM and the lake was super foggy. Initially the race director announced that the swim would be delayed with the possibility of a shortened swim. But after waiting an hour, they announced it would be cancelled and the bike would turn into a staggered, time-trial start (4 at a time) in numerical order. At number 2438, I had a long time to wait!

Caroline, Coach Coady’s wife and the ultimate TriForce supporter, got some pictures of the start with the morning fog, and then later once everyone had taken off on the bike and the fog later lifted. The second shot shows what was supposed to be the 2nd half of the swim course. Photos: Caroline

BIKE
I had a 2:41:50 split time, which put me coming into T2 at:

• 73/257 Finishers in Men’s 35-39 AG (28.4%)
• 465/2483 Finishers Overall (18.7%)

Overall, I biked with a 20.76 mph average speed and 195 watts of normalized power. Here is a link to my TrainingPeaks bike leg race file.

As I mentioned above, the ran the bike course as a time-trial start, with 4 bikers leaving at the same time in 10 second increments. It was the best they could do to spread out the course, but by starting at 2438, there was really nothing I could do to avoid a very congested course having to pass a lot of folks. No complaints, though, as it was outside of my control.

Carolina got a picture of me at the start, plus a video. Thanks Caroline! Video & Photo: Caroline

What Worked
Race Plan – I really raced my plan perfectly. I took it easy in the first half of the bike before Chalk Hill, intentionally riding a wattage cap about 10 watts lower. I was religious about dropping power above 25 mph and totally coasting above 28 watts. This enabled me to pick it up a bit on the back end and make-up good ground on folks in the tail end of the bike. I was able to negative split the bike as well, with average power 173 watts / normalized power 193 watts for the first 28 miles, and average power 181 watts / normalized power 191 watts for the second 28 miles. I was also pretty good about watching caps on hills. As noted in zone breakdown depicted below, I really did a good job riding in my zone 3 heart rate and keeping power in zones 1-3.

Nutrition/Hydration – Per my race plan, I took in 275 calories per hour by virtue of having a concentrated 3 hour bottle behind my seat, which I used to refill my BTA bottle right before each aid station (where I would take a water bottle handoff to top of the BTA). This worked very easy and basically caused me to drink the full BTA in between aid stations, so I was ready for the quick re-fill to top up liquid calories. My stomach handled everything well, which I attribute to simply training with exactly what I am racing with.

What Didn’t Work
Mechanical Issues – When I got to the race start in the morning, I went to pump up my latex tubes. I had installed them the day prior and ensured they only had about 70 PSI before dropping my bike to TriBike Transport (as I didn’t want them to pop in the heat). Given they are latex, they lost a lot of air overnight. In the morning, when pumping my tires my back wheel popped. I took it to the mechanics to try and bum an extra butyl tube (so I didn’t need to use my spare). They gave me one and even installed it – so no issues there. However, during the first half of the race before Chalk Hill, my shifting was acting funny. I could hear my chain rubbing in the middle gears I generally ride, and every minute or so it would shift in and out of the gear really quickly (the ghost shift). I tried to avoid it by riding up or down a gear, but sometimes I could not help it. I debated a while stopping to try and fix it, but I was riding the right power so just didn’t care. On Chalk Hill, I dropped the chain when shifting, which basically forced me to get off to fix. When I did, I noticed the Master Link on my chain was not really engaged properly on half of it -> the first time I have seen this. I was able to quickly fix it, and the rest of the ride it rode MUCH smoother. I am not going to use Master Links anymore. It is not like I am changing chains often, and clearly there is something that can go wrong with them.

Time Trial – As I mentioned above, I was bummed about the cancelled swim. Starting at number 2483 was a mess, as the course was super congested. Also, I was riding admittedly “scared” for the first 20 miles, as I had made the mistake of only riding outside on my TT bike twice since my bike crash (and very recently). So a lot of death gripping the extensions (never good) and on the base bar for descents above 30 mph. Fortunately, as the course went on and I passed people, I got more comfortable on the bike and by the end of the race felt totally fine. I honestly needed that to get my headspace back into normal TT racing. But the congestion was a pain for settling in.

T2
3:35

A shot of T2 from Caroline. Photo: Caroline

What Worked
Flying Dismount – It worked well – feet out of shoes and Garmin on wrist as I approached T2 and hopped out and started running in bare feet with my bike.

Improvement – This was around a 45 second improvement over last year, so I am starting to get faster.

RUN
I had a 1:36:55 split time, which put me coming into the finish at:

• 30/257 Finishers in Men’s 35-39 AG (11.7%)
• 232/2483 Finishers Overall (9.3%)

Overall, I ran the half marathon at a 7:23 m/m average page. Here is a link to my TrainingPeaks run leg race file.

I was very pleased with how the run went. I have not really been sure of where my run fitness is, and I have found that I often have workouts where I am bummed about pacing/perceived fitness. Coach Coady can likely attest to this from my workout logs. So I wasn’t really sure what to expect for this. This ended up being a PR for me in Ironman-branded 70.3 races, and was my second fastest HIM run split ever (coming in barely behind 2015 HITS Napa Valley Half Ironman – 1:36:26). However, the 2015 HITS Napa Valley Half Ironman run course distance only measured 12.8 miles on my Garmin, so I think this actually was a overall PR HIM split for the full 13.1 miles

What is funny is I paced it well, starting out by feel and keeping it consistent. When looking at the zones below, it is clear to me I need to re-test. I can’t imagine my heart rate zones are really correct if I literally was never in zone 3 basically and started the sweet spot and pushed up. Then again, who knows as heart rate is a bit arbitrary.

Caroline got a good picture of me coming into the last mile of the race in the second loop of the course. Photo: Caroline

What Worked
Nutrition – I filled up my hand bottle with Coke at the first aid station right outside of T2 and drank around 20oz / 45 minutes, refilling once at an aid station after 45 minutes. This gave me 320 calories per hour rate. My stomach handled it well, although the Coke on course was not flat (which is much preferred for stomach digestion when running).

Pacing – My plan was to start the first 3 miles around 8:00 m/m, and then drop after mile 3 into what felt sustainable. Coming off the bike, I felt GREAT on the run. I was happy I gave up some time on the bike (negative splitting power output first and second half) so that I could have fresh legs.

I ran my first mile at 7:05, and realized I should check myself so as to not do something stupid. After mile 2 was 7:31 and mile 3 was 7:20, I realized this was sustainable. Ultimately, my pacing came across very solid across the half marathon. The “perceived effort” was also a great execution, as the same pace ramped up in discomfort at the appropriate scale. Miles 1-4 felt very sustainable, and miles 6-8 felt like the right effort for that stage (little bit of burn, but easy mental effort to hold it… focusing on form). Mile 9 was a hard one (I remember thinking just back off a bit right now to build up for a strong finish), then I went into miles 10 and 11 trying to speed up. Those I was definitely maxing out HR but confident I was holding on right. The last two miles I slowed down, but my form felt very solid and I was mentally confident I was going to finish strong and not blow up like last year.

Here are the actual splits:
Mile 1 – 7:05
Mile 2 – 7:31
Mile 3 – 7:21
Mile 4 – 7:27
Mile 5 – 7:40
Mile 6 – 7:15
Mile 7 – 7:14
Mile 8 – 7:24
Mile 9 – 7:42
Mile 10 – 7:18
Mile 11 – 7:18
Mile 12 – 7:30
Mile 13 – 7:34

I hope to really build off this during the next block going up to Ironman 70.3 Arizona in October.

After finishing the race, it was great to catch up with all of members of TriForce racing this year. Everyone put out some great times, with another strong showing from the team. Photos: Caroline