Right off the bat I have to say I am beyond pleased with how everything went. Even my transitions (which I practiced the day before went almost without a hitch :-p).
Swim:
My initial plan was to play it safe and find myself a corner or something, but once the start sounded I found myself jammed into a crowd of swimmers, and I thought who cares, this is what IMC is going to feel like so this is better anyway!
I worked hard the entire swim to keep a good pace, kept looking for feet ahead that I might ride on for a while, that didn’t in the end work out for any length of time, but that strategy at least found me speeding up to catch people if only to pass them. Of course there were a couple of times where I had a guy swimming zig zag in front of me, but I felt good about my sighting, never strayed off course too much, and was elated to be on the beach after the second lap in under 40 minutes!
The T1 went very well, the wetsuit strippers were amazing, I got my shoes on while on the bike and didn’t fall off (as I did while practicing the day before J)
I worked hard on the bike, with my heart rate pretty consistently at 160. The course is hilly and it seemed to play to my strengths if I couldn’t catch the rider in front of me on the flats I was catching and passing them on the hills.
Right at the city limits my knee started to hurt (like debilitating hurt, searing pain through to my spine… kind of hurt) two of the riders I had passed previously were able to over take me during that last couple of kilometers as my cadence was definitely down. I believe this knee pain although the same knee is a result of my bike fit, as it has only started after the recent bike fit. I will be taking it back to get that fixed.
So here are my bike computer readings: this was completed reset once it was racked before race start.
Trip Dist 96.59
Trip Time 3:21:24
Avg Speed 28.77
Avg Cad 71
Max speed 66.45
Nutrition: I did my best to make sure my nutrition went as planned, which was one bottle per hour, my first two bottles had carbo pro, ultima, and two sodium tabs a piece, the third bottle was a Gatorade (got that mostly down) and within the last km of the bike I took in one hammer gel.
Run: With my knee hurting on the bike I was certain my day was over before the run started, but the plan was to go until it hurt and felt like I could do some damage. Through t2 the transition itself was quick, but I had to stop at the bathroom, ran through the timing mat to add that time to the run not the bike. Once I started running, or rather jogging I was surprised that my knee initially did not hurt at all, the pain from the bike was located higher than the pain I typically experience while running.
Running on the shale path, and sometimes where it permitted, the grass kept the knee pain manageable. Seeing you at about the 10 km point I wasn’t sure it was going to stay the same or get worse. But I did want to keep going as long as it was manageable, and it turned out…it stayed manageable till the very end. My hip didn’t hurt the entire time. I should mention I took 800mg of Advil just before swim start and 800mg again at the start of the run, I think this was a good strategy over all.
Nutrition on the run
I took in a gel ever half hour for the first hour, and Gatorade at least two gulps at each aid station, at the 1:30 hour mark give or take, I knew I was due for more; I was out of hammer gel and had been holding a honey stinger, provided by the aid station. I took one slug of that and just about lost my stomach contents. I forgot how much I hate the taste of honey. So I didn’t take more, but on the last aid station before the hill, I drank most of a cup of Gatorade between the out and back and the hill.
I don’t know my officially time for the run, but I do know that my heart rate on average was in the 150’s for the run…definitely kept it easy!
Overall a very good practice run for IMC, I am very pleased with everything, even my run impressed me given the circumstances. Thanks so much for your guidance; it was very nice to see you out on the course.
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