Race Recap: Ironman Mooseman 70.3

Sunday, June 5, 2011
Bristol, NH

Race morning began early Sunday morning with a 4:00 AM breakfast call at our Holiday Inn Express located a bit south of the race. The complimentary spread included one of my all time favorites: biscuits & sausage gravy. Adding in some yogurt, a banana, a cinnamon roll, some orange-mango juice and protein shake, I felt fueled up to get the day going. We had originally planned for me to hitch a ride to the race early, so that we wouldn't have to wake John up too early. However, after checking in the day before I knew that parking would be a mess, and that if she left even a little later than me Joan would be hiking a few miles with John to get to the start, so we decided to all go together.

We loaded the truck, sans bike, which had already been checked in the day before, and headed north. Despite all of the traffic, parking was extremely well organized, and we ended up not being too terribly far from the start. A little bit down the road we ran into Alexa, Julie, Andrew, Amelia & Heather, all teammates of mine on T3 Triathlon based out of Philadelphia. We reviewed our horrible drive up on Friday, and confirmed that they were pretty smart for flying instead. They were using this race as a final prep for Ironman Lake Placid, which takes place at the end of July. We were all excited for the race, and it looked like we had perfect weather.

After body marking I had about an hour to set up transition and make the short walk down to the swim start. As luck would have it, the two competitors next to me were no-shows so I had an extra wide berth for my transition area. With everything set I made my way to the water.

The Swim

My biggest concern going into the swim was water temperature. Despite some unseasonably warm temperatures in the previous weeks, the lake was hovering around 60 degrees. As the waves lined up in order I made sure to walk in the water and splash some water on my face to get over that initial shock. Doing that really helps, or at least it's supposed to. Finally it was our turn to head out, leaving about 12 minutes after the pros had started. I seeded myself towards the back and on the outside - a place reserved for slow swimmers not wanting to get run over.

All of my previous tri's have been an in-water, treading start. This was too, but the lake was so shallow that we were able to stand and run for a bit once the cannon fired. Then it was a few dolphin dives, and we were off. The lake was incredible. The rumor going around was that it was ranked the 5th clearest freshwater lake in the continental US. Visibility was easily 5-10 feet. The initial cold shock passed quickly, and I was glad that I had invested in a neoprene cap to wear. Wearing my full wetsuit I moved well, but I could tell I wasn't swimming as fast as my last two open water swims. I wasn't too worried though, because this was a long race, and it wasn't worth getting upset early.

Exiting Newfound Lake

The swim was about 900 yards out, a left turn and then another left 200 yards later. Finally, it was about 900 yards back to shore. Things certainly got more congested as we approached the swim exit with everyone jockeying for position. It was up the ramp and over to the incredibly hyper wetsuit strippers. These are one of the great benefits of doing a large race with hundred of volunteers. While it's easy to get out of the top of one's wetsuit, getting it down the legs and off your ankles without tripping can be a challenge especially when you're cold. So, you do the top half, run towards the strippers and flop on the ground. They not-so-gently grab your suit, rip it off the lower half of your body and pull you right up. This all happens in about 5-10 seconds, and you're on your way again headed into T1.

This was going to be my first test of the day. The water temperature was a minor concern compared to the air temperature. We were in a wooded area and most of the bike route would be too. Without sun and riding in a wet tri suit around 20 mph could be a perfect recipe for hypothermia. I'd just have to make do since I wasn't stocked with extra gloves, a coat, toe warmers or any other extra gear. My key to getting warm was to get on the bike and HTFU. I knew that the biggest hill on the course was only 5 miles down the road, so if climbing that didn't warm me up I wasn't sure what would. It was time to find out.

The Bike

We headed north out of Wellington State Park and on to West Shore Drive. The ride was fast and incredibly scenic as we were literally 5 feet from the water flying along the shore. Before making it to Hebron around the 5 mile mark two pros / elites passed me going back to transition in the other lane. It looked like some people were bailing early in this race. I was hoping it was for reasons other than the monster hill that lay ahead. I hit Hebron, made the left and started the slow climb. I had chosen not to drive the bike course the day before because I didn't want to psych myself out. I knew there'd be a hill, and I'd deal with it when I got there.

This hill was everything it was hyped up to be. Luckily, this is where my bike gearing became an evident advantage. A lot of others were struggling early, and this was only our first time up it. We'd be back about 20 miles and lots of hills later. I threw the bike into my highest climbing gear, stayed in the saddle and spun the whole way up. The race director had a sick sense of humor as he chose not only a long hill but one with its steepest pitch right before it topped out. And then I saw it. First one, then another. People were stalling, not able to turn their cranks. Worried they'd fall they had no choice but to get out of their pedals and dismount. There's no way your starting to ride again on a road like that, so they had to walk to the top. Ten miles into a 56 mile course and there were people walking the hill. This was going to be an exciting course.

Once I made it to the top I kept spinning, shifted down and got some calories in me. Just as it was a long way up, it was going to be a long, fast way down the back side. It was also the most beautiful part of the course. Unfortunately, it's hard to take that in when you're holding on to dear life at 35-40 mph, picking lines in turns and trying not to kill yourself with one stupid misjudgment. We eventually hit the top of the course and actually had to start pedaling again. Once we made it back to the lake we turned left along North Shore Rd and went back through Hebron before tackling the hill a second time.

With everyone spread out a bit more throughout the course there was more room to start the ascent the second time. I think since I'd been up it once already and now had a vague sense of what to expect, the second climb seemed easier than the first. I knew where the top was this time through. Again a few others were reduced to walking and from a much lower start this time. I try to pay attention to how much energy I'm exerting since I don't ride with a power meter to tell me. This is called rate of perceived exertion (RPE) and is used in a lot of training methods. What I hadn't heard of was rate of perceived exertion as interpreted by others (RPEAIBO). I was caught a bit off guard as I heard, "For God's sake 360! At least breathe hard and make it look like you're working!"

56 miles later coming into T2.

I was sticking to my plan, and it was working. I knew I could make it to the top and keep it together through the rest of the bike. With more space, I made the descent even faster the second time down. It was a thrilling ride. Once I was headed back to town part of my fueling strategy caught up with me. I'd been taking everything in by liquid, so by mile 35 I had to make a pit stop. I decided that I could tough it out, skip the aid station at Mile 40,  and make it back without a stop. I was wrong.

The next ten miles were the most painful I have ever biked. It hurt to pedal, but I had no choice. My strategy became crank up hills hard and coast as long as I could on the other side. Luckily, due to the rolling nature of the course, this worked out. There was only one thing I didn't know, and I found myself wondering if, no, praying that, there would be a Mile 50 aid station. The race director said every ten miles, but I wasn't sure if they'd set one up just six miles before transition. Thankfully they had and I made what seemed to be longest pee stop in the history of triathlon. Back on the bike for six more miles, and I was back at the state park heading into T2.

I heard Joan as I came across the timing mat and slowed down just enough to say hi. Hopping off the bike I felt great and had good legs under me. I was looking forward to getting out on the run. I racked my bike, changed shoes, dropped my helmet and started to head out.

The Run

I made it about 10 feet onto the run course before I had to make pit stop number two. I wasn't going to run in pain, so I felt good about this decision. Now it was time to get down to business. I still wasn't aware of my overall time as I wasn't really paying attention. I headed down the road to find that the first half mile was packed with spectators on each side cheering us on. The first mile was fairly flat and then the first climb began at Mile 2. I knew that this side of the hill was short and steep. It was a hard climb, but I kept moving and passing people. The back side was a long downhill and then the turnaround a little after 3 miles out from transition. I made sure to get some water at each aid station and a shot of Gatorade every few.

By the turnaround I had caught up with Heather from my team. I had passed her on the bike but she passed me as I took that much need break at Mile 50. She told me to keep running and not stay back with her. I stayed for a bit, but then kept moving. I was feeling good 3 miles in and keeping my mile splits below 8 minutes. It was back up the long side of the hill, down the steep side and back to town. The crowd seemed bigger this time and was a mix of family members, locals drinking beer on their front porches and coaches watching out for their athletes.

I really liked passing the coaches, because they seemed to be watching out for almost everyone. Their voices were reassuring, because you knew they'd been here and done it before. They knew what we athletes were feeling like at this point, and they knew what we needed to hear. Their comments ranged from compliments on form or stride to slight verbal challenges. "Pick it up guys! Looking strong. Good stride 360 - keep your chest out." As I moved past, their words stayed with me. I made my way down to the turnaround and heard Joan call out to me. This was also the first time I saw a race clock. It read 5:05, but that was from the pro start, and I was at least 10 minutes behind that. That meant that I had over an hour to go 6.5 miles, and I could go under six hours for the race. My work was cut out for me.

Just like the bike, the run seemed shorter on lap two. I knew the course, I knew where I could speed up and where to slow down. I had backed off my sub 8's, but I was ready to pick it up for the last few miles. Prior to the last hill I made sure to get a shot of defizzed Coca-Cola. I'd never had it in a race before, but it hit almost immediately. My eyes shot open and all of a sudden I had more energy. Three miles to go, and I picked up the pace. This was going to be a strong finish and a great race. Just like that I was back to the cheering section, and I knew the drop into transition was just around the corner.

I crossed the line and checked my Garmin. It read 5:46 which I couldn't believe. In order to adjust for the auto-pause feature that kicked on during my ridiculous pee stops, I had to add a few minutes. My final time ended up being 5:49:29.

Summary

The swim was a few minutes slower than I would have liked, but I can keep working on that. Coming in at 3:15, my bike was right where I thought it would be for a course like this. Although I moved up the most positions on the bike (from 624 after the swim to 469 after the bike), I was happiest with my run, which was 1:47. I moved up close to another hundred positions on the run and finished 376 out of 1120 entrants.

Overall, I'm very pleased with my performance at this race. The bike is one of the toughest on the 70.3 circuit and has more climbing than the entire Ironman Wisconsin course which is twice as long. Mentally, it puts me in a great place, validating the training I've put in so far. The plan from here is to stay the course, stick to the training plan (which seems to be working) and stay healthy. If I can do those things I'll feel really good going into Wisconsin.