Clearwater 70.3 Race Report

Clearwater 70.3 champs.
swim 30:30, bike 2:13 and change, run 1:25 and change for a 4:15.29 personal best.
Very happy thus far for 2008 season. Set my PR 70.3 in May at 4:29. Dropped 6 minutes at Nationals, now another 9 minutes this weekend.

Not happy with a 15 of 190 in my group, 121st overall. However, considering there are 21 qualifiers world wide for 2007, and I won one of them, there are likely 20 other age group winners or top finishers here too. Plus, last years AG winner. So, I did have the competition cut out for me. Looking at my mistakes though, I dont think I could have finished greater than 13th though. So, all in all, I gave it my best and I am very satisfied with that.

Big congrats to all my teammates who ran, particularly Katie Petross, who won the W25 age category, world 70.3 champion.

The start is very organized and right on time. They corral you into an "on deck" box 10 minute prior to your start. Its a beach start so you run into the water. Alot of fun and the waves mean there were only 200 of my AG starting, so no pressure at all and plenty of room. The water here was perfect temp and clarity was great. A poor 30 min swim to start, I didnt let it bother me. I just realized I had a couple of minutes to make up on the bike. I swam 2000 meter last week in 30 minutes, so 30 minutes in a wet suit, and 100 meters shorter is upsetting. I just had a bit of trouble sighting and zig zagging too much. I sighted the out going bouy at one point and thought it was my incoming bouy...so started swimming to it. Fortunately, half way across the middle of the swim course, a kayak paddled up to me placing itself between me and the out going bouy...I lifted my head up and realized I had swim nearly across the entire middle of the course. So, I just angled back to the in coming bouy's. Not a big deal for me, I knew my swim would be slower than normal, but I figured I was only a couple of minutes off.



T1: Advantages: They rip your wet suit off for you. Very nice. I picked out someone as I was running up the beach, yelled for them and pointed at them. They were waiting for me as I ran up and I plopped down to the ground and they ripped my suit off. Very fast. The run is lengthy to the changing tent. I yelled my bike number out as I left the tent and the girl led me down the wrong lane. Only a few seconds lost as I saw my bike right away in the next row. I had my row memorized but I was a little disoriented coming out of the tent for some reason. I had my helmet, glasses and shoes already on my bike. Man,this saved me alot of time. I pulled my race belt out of my bag as I ran to the tent and literally just ran right through the tent as everyone else was putting shoes and helmet on. I put on my helmet and glasses, grabbed my bike and ran to the mounting area. Which was another 50 meters or so. Again, pretty fast as I just jumped on the bike and started pedalling with my feet on my shoes. Then, after pulling safely away, slipped my feet in my shoes as I coasted about 20 mph, and sinched up the velcro strap. Now, this is only the second race I 've started with my shoes on my bike and its definately faster. I will get better at this.



Bike: I doubt I will be back at this race...unless I decide I will just draft. Its frustrating to lay everything out on the course, while groups of 15 (like 3-4 of them) fly past you. A group of about 15 male 25 AG passed me as I was putting down 320 watts at 80 rpm, and they passed me so fast I couldnt have jumped on if I wanted to. These werent pace lines either. These were like groups 3 abreast, taking up the whole left lane, like a freight train. I am convinced I would have been many places higher in my AG, maybe podium, had I decided to draft the course. I am pretty certain my bike split of 2:13 could have been 5 minutes faster, at least. My run of course would have been stronger if I drafted, maybe 1:23 or so, not the 1:25...which is a bit slow for me on a mostly flat course. Regardless, I worked very hard on the bike. My tail wind 30 mph stretch was tough, I was sweating like a dog working my HR into zone 4, and my bike power in zone 5 for the entire 50 minute stretch. My speedometer stopped working so I set 10 mile split goals. In the tail wind, I had a goal for 22-23 minutes for the 10 miles, which I figured was around 28 mph. I blew this away at just under 20 minutes for the next 2 splits. The final 15 miles were in a head wind. I worked very hard to maintain 300 watts. My legs would work into a burn, then I would take short coasts, like 5 seconds, as I came up to another cyclist to pass. These short draft legal coasts would allow the lactate to clear my legs a bit so I could then pass the rider in the next legal 15 second window and power up to the next rider. I repeated this for about 25 people I passed in the next 10-11 miles, each time giving my legs a much needed short, draft legal 5 seconds of rest. When I turned the final corner to downtown clearwater about 4 miles from the finish, I was able to hold my watts over 320 for a sustained 10 minutes or so, and over 400 watts over the 12% grade bridge to clearwater beach. I dont know how fast I was going but I can tell you, multiple people I passed tried to jump on my wheel to draft and I just pedalled away from them. Man I put down some power that final stretch...very happy with my progression in bike strength this summer. As I pulled into T2, I slipped my feet out of my shoes and put them on top of my shoes. I asked the day before if they were utilizing bike catchers so I knew there would be someone waiting for me. I had to power past a rider in the final 100 meters so I would come into dismount alone...I didnt want to take the chance of only one bike catcher there if I rolled up to the dismount with another rider with me. Sure enough...ONE guy was waiting just beyond the dismount, and another couple of people were walking up but still too far away to throw my bike to. So, I yelled for this one guy, and then I jumped off my bike at dismount and literally just threw it toward a bike catcher and kept running. I am getting this down too. Major advantage to have bike catchers in a half ironman. Very well done.



T2 went fine, no big problems. The run out from the tent though is an additional 50 meters back so a bit lengthy.



Run: Settled in immediately to high zone 4 HR and held it for 10 miles. Not a big problem but my legs were very tired and I ran out of transition with my total time of 3 hours 50 minutes so I knew I would have to average 6:30 pace to run a 4:15.

Well, my HR at 147 was 2 beats shy of zone 5 and I was at 6:20 pace so I was fairly confident I could hold. The 12 % grade bridge we ran over 4 times lead to 3 seven minute miles. So, I had to try to average 6:20 or so for the other miles. I was able to do this. At mile 10, my plan was to push into zone 5, so I did this. Within 2-3 minutes though, I could feel ever so slightly, my power in my legs diminishing. This is just a feeling you get after years of running, its just a feeling I know. I realized that I was running into zone 5 too early. Normally, I push into zone 5 for the final 5k but I had never biked this hard in any other race. Never sustained just raw power for so long. In past races, my legs would burn out with lactate so I would have to take my short breaks on the bike much earlier in the race, like the entire final 30 miles or so. Today, I didnt need the short breaks until the final 15 miles, against wind. Now, this was a major difference in todays' bike vs other races. So, I deduced quickly at about the 10.5 mile mark that my legs just werent going to hold up because I really blew them out on the bike today, because I was able to hold my power for so long. So, I immediately slowed back down to mid zone 4 for the next mile. Mile 11.5 came to the 12% grade again. I pushed 1 beat into zone 5, over the top of the bridge, then hard down to the 12 mile mark. The previous bridge miles had been around 7, this one was 6:40. As I approached 12 I picked it up into zone 5, and pretty much as hard as I could turn over. Every several strides my right leg would give out a little, like it was going to collapse but I figured if I had to walk in, it would only add 10 minutes to my time so I just kept pushing. As I crossed 12, I looked at my watch. 4:09. That meant I had to run a 6 minute mile then a 30 second .1 to run around 4:15,30. A 6:30 mile might put me into 4:16 and I really wanted the 4:15 barrier. So, I just pushed hard, zone 5c, 6:02 final mile as I crossed 13 at 4:15 on the mark. I pushed even harder the final .1 to try to squeeze under 15:30,30

At the finish, my right leg collapsed me to the ground a couple of times. Just a severe hamstring cramp. Man I always wonder...what if this happened in the race...I have been lucky. It never has. Its just from the quick stopping after running fast into the finish. The muscles just contract and spasm up.



So, in summary, very happy with my time. I knew I could break 4:20 on this course because I ran 4:24 at USAT long couse nat's in September, I am stronger now, and that course had about 1500 feet of climbing plus a continuous rolling run course. I was quite happy with my 4:15 as I executed my race strategy well. In all the coaching I give and receive. No matter how fit you are. You have to learn how to race. Knowing how hard to push the bike without overly effecting your run is a key that you have to try to coach into people. Its a relatively slow process but it is possible to learn how to race. I'm not perfect but I am continuing to learn how to run well off the bike. I didnt push my bike to the max, but I was damn close to it. I am interested to download my power data when I get home next weekend.

I am not elated over my time because? I dont know, maybe the 5 guys that had bike splits within a minute of so of each other in front of me didnt draft, I'll never know that. Seeing all the other groups drafting though, I cant help but wonder how I would have placed in my AG with a 4:15 if nobody at all drafted. It takes something away from the race and my career PR to know that so many athletes drafted, and some that finished on the podium in my AG likely drafted.
My friend Grant, who just ran a non-draft 9:21 in Florida IM last weekend, didnt get to Kona. Only 10th in his AG with a 9:21. A great IM split for a M30 age group athlete, but not going to Kona took something away from his race performance, because he saw so many athletes drafting and he made the decision not to jump on any draft lines. Those that went to kona ahead of him, some of them, got there by cheating. It does take something away from the race. Ann heard a comment from an athlete yesterday. He said this year was even worse than last year at Clearwater, concerning drafting groups. He stated he is never coming back to clearwater because he feels he cant fairly compete in his age group. That's how I feel. I wont be back...unless I decide to draft. Maybe I'll feel better in a few days, but as for now, I have no intention on returning.

Dont get me wrong. Everyone didnt draft. Many did, but many also had legit fast times here. It IS a PR course afterall. Plus, about 15 miles or so, we are confined to a single lane of the road and you just cant get away from all the riders. You are nearly constantly drafting in these sections because there are just so many athletes. I had to pull outside of the cones many times to pass groups of girls and slower men drafting in groups, taking up the entire lane. But, I also passed...and was passed, by many athletes playing fair.

As for my wife Ann, very upsetting for her to bike in the final 11 miles on a flat. Dropping her average speed of 24 mph through 44 miles, to a 15 mph final 12 mile split. She had to stop for 2-3 minutes to assess the flat, ask if it was safe to ride on her disc. The course official told her to go ahead and ride in, so thats what she did. Yeah she lost time, but she still PR'd at 4:42. However, this is her first race in 2008 that she hasnt won her age group so it's tough to get knocked off the top, finishing 8th in the F35 division. I dont think she would have been first or second anyway, without the flat. The top 2 girls smoked. The top 2 women in F35 had bike splits of 2:15 and 2:11....2:11!! I think I will do a search and see what these girl's bike splits were at their other races this year. Its hard to believe a 39 year old woman biked a 2:11 for 56 miles without drafting, let alone the 2 girls that biked 2:15 on the podium.
However, I think she had 3rd place in the bag had she been able to roll in at a normal pace and not expend all her power pedalling on her bare disc. Her 1:32 run off that is very impressive. She will have a good day in Western Australia if conditions are good, and she has no technical problems. She is ready to race a full IM again. She is especially ready to run.

So, it's over and that's that. Time to focus my energy on IMWA Dec 2