2018 TX70.3 Race Recap

Background

Yes, it's almost 4-weeks since the subject race and here, sitting in a cheap motel room in Salina Utah, two days away from my next race.  I've been busy: working, training, family, etc.  Regardless, I wanted to get these thoughts down before they leave my head forever, as these recaps help me understand what works well for me -- and, I hope, help others.

TX 70.3 was my first "A" race in nearly a year.  While I had high hopes for 2017, I had to pull the plug on the season after the second race (Santa Rosa 70.3 in May-2017).  While there were aspects of that race that showed promise, it was clear going into the race, during, and after that something was wrong; my health was in a tailspin.  As a result of the worsening health issues (subject of another post), I had to drop one of the spin classes I was teaching and completely stopped running.

Fortunately, after a great deal of targeted interventions, I regained my health during last winter, which allowed me to start training again.  After a solid four months of training, I am in near Ironman fitness.  What is unusual though, is that I seem to be 10-15 pounds heavier than in 2016.  While some of that is fat, I am currently pretty lean.  It's pretty clear I have added about 10-pounds of muscle mass in the last two years.  Nearly at age 50 and NOT lifting weights, I find this fact amazing.

TX70.3 Race Prep

Overall

As my health was showing signs of improvement in the winter of 2017, I set the goal of ramping my swim volume to a point where I could do 10k on New Years day.  During October through December, we ramped swim volume to prep for that big day.  Since then, I have kept 3-4 swims per week, with 2-3 with the "masters" group at the Y.  After a full 3-4 months completely off running in 2017, I did not start running again until the last week of December.  However, I was able to ramp quickly and have averaged between 40-50 miles per week since January.  Biking was limited to two sessions per week until mid-February, when I added two additional sessions.

With the exception of a weekly long run, during February and March every day had an intensity session.  The schedule below was typical during that 8 week period.

In addition to the intensity, I was able to maintain a very consistent training schedule and hold to "the  plan".  I do NOT do the traditional 3-weeks on, followed by a planned recovery week.  Rather, I train day-in day-out; when I am tired and/or not hitting the planned pace or power, I back-off.  The image below shows this consistency, with the dark days as being the only ones without biking or running training logged (I may have still swum).

Eight weeks into this build, I knew my health was in check as I was able to establish a significant ramp rate, with consistent training, at high intensity.  The Performance Management Chart (PMC) below shows the result of this work.  It should be noted that this PMC (from Golden Cheetah) is using metrics for TSS that tend to be about 13% less than TrainingPeaks/WKO.  Thus, while it's hard to see, I hit a CTL of 96 the weekend before TX70.3, which would correlate to ~108 in TP/WKO.  Further, I was able to hit a Training Stress Balance (TSB) of -61 (~ -68 WKO), which represents a higher training load than during 2016 (my best season ever).

It should be noted that I "raced" HITS Ocala half the weekend prior to TX70.3, which is the spike in the cyan ATL line toward the right of the PMC.

Swim

• During the swim ramp of the winter, I was able to reduce my 500yd time trail from 7:05 to 6:36.
• As mentioned previously, I am currently swimming with the masters group 2-3 times per week, which has been extremely helpful in both improving my technique, but also in seeing the progression in speed

Bike

• TX70.3 was my second outdoor ride since Santa Rosa 70.3, nearly a year prior.  The only other outdoor ride was the HITS Ocala race.  Thus, all of my training has been indoor, which I continue to find incredibly effective
• The early season training consisted of the following:
• Monday: 60-minute spin class that I teach, which is high-intensity
• Wednesday: VO2max work as either:
• 8x 3-min @ 120% of FTP, or
• 20x 1-min @ 136% of FTP
• Friday: Threshold intervals as:
• 3x 15-min @ 98% of FTP
• Saturday: Torque Intervals as:
• 4x 20-min @ 92% of FTP @ 50-60 RPM
• Before TX70.3, I am estimated my FTP was about 250 Watts

Run

• Like the bike, I do a lot of my running indoor, on the treadmill
• There are two quality run sessions per week, as:
• Tuesday: VO2max intervals as:
• 10x 1/2-mile @ 113% of FTV
•  Thursday: Threshold intervals as:
• 3x 3-miles @ FTV
• I estimate my current threshold pace is near 6:50/mile

Taper

• As can be seen in the PMC above, I had a niced 1-week taper going into this race, with Ocala HIM the weekend before

TX 70.3 Race Plan

• Pre-race:
• Breakfast: Oatmeal, banana 
• ~300kCal of UCAN
• Swim: 
• Easy start, build to moderate effort
• Based on the swim @ Ocala the prior weekend, I expected to do the swim in 32-minutes
• Bike:
• Pacing:
• Out: PSI = 52, which correlated to ~240Watts and a HR = 144BPM
• Back: PSI = 48, which correlated to ~255Watts  and a HR = 149BPM
• I kept changing the bike plan because of the uncharacteristic weather.  It was cold and quite windy.  Further, the forecasted wind was changing direction.  I finalized the plan in the morning after checking the forecast one last time, as it looked a it milder than previous forecasts
• I should note that this pacing plan represents a new high for me; I don't think I've planned to race at such a high power in all previous races
• Based on this pacing plan, Best Bike Split projected a 2:19:44 bike split

• Nutrition: 500kCal bottle of EFS drink + 1-scoop Pre-race
• Run: 
• Pacing: Constant HR = 157 BPM
• In the last several years, I have struggled to elevate the HR during the run, but 157BPM is what I held at St George 70.3 in 2015
• Based on my running fitness, I expected to run a 1:28 split.  The chart below shows that pace is reasonable at that level of effort

• Nutrition: Coke @ each aid station 

Race Report

Weeks before the race, I was talking with my mom and we discovered that they would be arriving into Galveston the day before the race.  So, they made a few changes to stay over and watch the race.  How cool!  While I this sport fuels my soul, it is so much more fun to enjoy it with family and friends.

I had arrived in Houston early Friday morning and headed down to Galveston.  The weather forecasts were showing thunderstorms in the days surrounding the race (Sunday).  As I arrived, I knew it was going to be an "interesting" race with regard to weather.  The wind was HOWLING and the sea was ANGRY, but it was moderately warm.  After tooling around a bit, I went to the race site to check-in and buy some CO2.  Since I was up at 430am local time, I figured I see if I could check-in a bit early and get a little nap in.  Fortunately, I was able to check in.  Unfortunately, as soon as I laid down, my plans for a nap were dashed.  It turns out that they were replacing the roof right above my head!  So, I opted to go for a run along the sea wall.  It was a "spirited" run with some race-pace pick-ups.  I was feeling pretty good.  The rest of the evening was low-key.

I slept in a bit Saturday morning and got all my final race prep completed, including nutrition.  Near 10am, I went to go pick-up Brenda, Dave, Amanda and my Mom at the cruise ship port.  OMG, what a mad-house.  Literally thousands of people arriving and departing, with 5 bags of luggage each.  As I picked-up the family, it was muggy.  They weren't able to check-in yet, so we headed back to my place for some much needed down-time.  During that time the temperature dropped precipitously.  Everyone was excited to see and play in Galveston, but it was COLD, windy, and threatening to rain.  We had a low-key, early dinner and I was able to get to bed reasonably early.

General Nutrition Notes

While in recent years, I have moved toward a low-carb/high-fat and gluten & dairy free diet, I have been much more liberal this year.  While I do eat pretty healthy, it's not as militant as prior years.  I still do frequent carb-fasted workouts, including the Saturday swim/torq sessions, which is pretty intense and relatively long.  Also, I have done a number of long runs (18+ miles) without carbs since the night before.  Also worthy of note is that I loaded with creatine (10g/day) and ribose (10g/day) for 4-days prior.  I did this because of the premature muscle fatigue I experienced at Ocala the week before. 

Race morning

• Swim (Predicted: 32:00 / Actual: 30:30)
• The M50-54 AG was the 7th swim wave, including the pro's, which put us near the front of the race.  (There were 21 waves in this race!)  The M45-49 was split into three waves, and there was just one W40-44 wave in front of us. 
• The swim started smooth, and I could immediately feel that everything was flowing well.  I had plenty of power ad my breathing was extremely relaxed.  Sea level is great!  It was hard to tell how I was relative to my AG, but I was swimming through a bunch of folks
• I was swimming in a HUUB wetsuit borrowed from my buddy Chris Douville, as I was considering whether my 10-year old model was holding me back.  While I expected to experience greater shoulder range of motion, what I noticed mostly was the ability to actually kick.  My wetsuit makes my legs feel immobilized, while the HUUB let me kick more naturally
• The swim went by pretty quickly and I exited T1 uneventfully
• I did not appreciate how well the swim went until I got home the next day and started looking at the results.  The time/split is not what is surprising, but the placement in the AG.  I was barely 4th out of 224 guys, or top 2-percentile.  My best EVER before was top 10-percentile.  Further, I was just 46-seconds down from #1!

• Bike (Predicted: 2:19:44 / Actual: 2:16:52)
• I started the bike and was eager to get into the groove of the open road and simple out and back course.  However, there was a bit of negotiating due to the folks ahead of me and some corners.  Finally, I got out onto the highway and settled into my pace.  The effort felt strong, the power was on-target, but my heart rate was elevated slightly.  I was actually pleased by this fact, as it was a sign that the training fatigue was behind me 
• On the outbound segment, I noticed that the trees were not showing any sign of wind, and I was going a bit slower than planned, which meant the wind was not as strong as forecasted.  In fact, it looked non-existent.  However, I stuck to my PSI plan, which meant while I was riding near 28MPH on the way out, I was to hold 240Watts, which felt quite comfortable.  Further, while I was riding comfortably, I was BLOWING by other riders.  I felt GREAT!
• As we reached the turn-around, it was clear there was a pretty reasonable headwind wind coming back.  My plan was to hold a PSI of 48, and I was traveling at ~23MPH, so I held 250Watts -- which, was my estimated FTP: (at altitude).  Even at that level, it felt doable for the duration   
• I caught a female pro near mile 45; I figured perhaps she was having a bad day.  But, after catching my 3rd or 4th female pro before coming into T2, I knew it was a good day for me.  Further when I entered T2; it was nearly was empty!  That's never happened before.
• As for race execution, I am not sure I've ever ridden as closely to my plan as I was able to in this race.  As can be seen in the image below, the actual PSI (red) was spot on the goal (blue) for everything except for the start and end of the course, which required a bit more slowing that planned.

• Run (Predicted: 1:28:00 / Actual: 1:30:38)
• I saw the family as I exited T2.  They were all bundled-up and yelling encouragement.  Unlike many 70.3 races, my stomach was in good shape at the start of the run, so I was able to push from the beginning.  However, unlike the flow that I experienced during the swim and bike, the run was more laborious; I just didn't feel like I was running well.  Nonetheless, I pushed the effort
• Given where I was in the race, it was just me and the pro's out there running.  That was COOL!  Soon after starting the run, the last female pro I passed on the bike overtook me.  I kept a steady effort and focused on my race.  At about the 3rd mile, I re-passed her for the last time.  That felt like a confirmation that while I did not feel good, I was still moving.  In fact, I felt like I was just slapping my feet down and powering my way through the run
• As I reached the end of the first lap, I saw the family again.  This is definitely a spectator-friendly course!  I kept pushing through that lap, expecting to feel better, but it never really came.
• I came around the second lap and the family informed my I was in first place of my AG!  I asked about the lead and Brenda looked it up while chasing after me.  The lead: 2-minutes (which ended up being incorrect).  I started to do the math, I had 4.5-miles to go and a 2-minute lead.  I figured the fast runners would be closing the gap by 30-seconds per mile, which meant I really needed to keep up the pace.  That gap was just enough to keep me running hard, but not be discouraging.
• The last  lap felt just  as hard as the prior two.  I was able to push the effort, and the speed was sufficiently there, but I was not running to my potential.  I suspect I had another 20-seconds per mile potential...to be reached in another race

Significance

• Bike power -- I reached a new level of power on the bike that I did not think possible; this will bode well for Ironman Boulder!
• Win in non-hometown race -- This was my second IM-branded AG win, but in a race where I did NOT have the hometown advantage 
• Swim in top 1% of AG -- while listed last, this is perhaps what I am most  excited about.  I have been working hard for YEARS to improve my swimming.  I am looking forward to finally getting close to that 1-hour IM swim split
• Triple PR -- The swim placement was a HUGE PR; the bike power was unprecedented; and the run split was a lifetime PR
• None of this would have been possible without the health that allowed me to train and race closer to my potential