Thursday, May 3

7:00 a.m.:  Left Vallejo in the RV, heading for race – site.  I drove. 

1:30:  Arrived, set up camp.  Ate a banana and a couple red licorice ropes, maybe a few more torilla chips.  More Gatorade.  I'm really getting the hang of this nutrition thing. ; ) 

2 p.m. Walked down to registration (20 minutes down, 30 back up).  Continued to hydrate with water and Gatorade.  Legs feel great, I wish the race was right now.

5 p.m – 7:30:  Grilled Chicken skewers, Corn, Bell Peppers and Onions for Dinner.  Had S’more’s for dessert – not a huge S’mores fan, but Laura feels self conscious if I don’t join in, so I mostly snacked on the low fat Graham crackers.

7:30 – 10:30:  Hydrated, read some triathlon magazines and got an early start on placing race numbers on equipment.  I have no idea where to stick the bike number.  Depending on where I put it, it either hits my knees or flaps in the wind.  I'm thinking of sticking it in the spokes to make that motorboat sound like when we were kids.   

Overnight:  Man was it cold in the RV!  Woke up a couple times to put on more P.J.s

Friday, May 4

6:30:  Wake up.  Made coffee.  Drank a quarter cup, ate a banana, some Cinnamon bread (300 calories), and started sucking on a Gatorade.  Rode my bike to the Endurance (Endurance PTC is the name of the coaching outfit and triathlon team that I belong to) swim clinic thinking it started at 8:30 a.m.  Got there too early (it started at 9:30), but met Harriet Anderson, an awesome 72 year-old who has done IMHI 16 consecutive times.  Picked her brain for a while and then rode back up the hill to get Laura who by now, I figured was ready to face the world. 

9:30  Endurance swim clinic.  Matt (the director of coaching and former pro triathlete) gave a great little talk, from which I took away a couple things:  Don’t breathe late and accelerate the pull.  Not sure I know how to do these things yet, but I’m planning to learn.  I also found some landmarks to help me sight during the swim.

10:30:  Laura and I took an easy 45 minute, 10 mile ride. 

11:30:  Changed into new running shoes (bought them this week and I’ve only walked in them a few miles – taking a risk switching this late because my other Asics are dead and hurting my feet).  Laura and I did an easy 10 minute mile 2 mile jog, during which I did two brief (200 meter) efforts at 7 minute miles.  My shoes feel great, but my legs feel a little heavy.

Noon to 3 p.m.:  Ate lunch (banana, power bar, multi-grain chips and a Gatorade).  Started picking out race gear and organizing where to put Hammer Gels, Immodium, Imitrex, Aleve and Aleve Sinus, just in case of emergency.  I'm a racing pharmacy.  Decided on a baggy in the back pocket of the tri-shirt.

3 p.m. to 6:30:  Attended Endurance pre-race seminar.  Grabbed a bottle of water, which I sipped as Matt talked about the race course.  He stressed not to go out too strong in the swim and the bike.  He said a lot of people will kill themselves by going too hard early.  He urged us to be conscious of hydration and nutrition on the bike – try to front-load the nutrition on the bike, he said.  That doesn’t mean to stop nutrition and hydration late on the bike, just that you should eat and drink more during the first half.  Mike McCarthy (another Endurance coach and former Olympian) added that we should be careful to not give away free speed at the top of hills – pedal over the top and take nutrition and hydration on the way down.

Ate the Pasta Dinner at the race village – pasta w/marinara, banana, bread.  Drank another Gatorade.  Laura scored my cookies.

6:30 to 9:30:  Switched out my training wheels for Laura’s Mavic Cosmic Carbon Race wheels as a last second decision.  Had a little trouble tuning the rear derailleur, but figured things out when I realized that I had forgotten to install a cassette spacer necessary for the Mavics.  Whew. 

Finished preparing my Perpetuem (1000 cals), water bottles (24 ounce Aero Bottle and 24 ounce seat tube mounted bottle), Hammer Gels (I put 5 in my running shoe for insertion into my tri shirt during T-2.  I also put a white running hat and run socks into my shoes.  Decided to ride without socks and put socks on for the run. 

Decided to attach gloves, race belt and helmet (with sun-glasses attached already) on bike so that I could just put on my shoes and helmet and wait until an appropriate time after T-1 to put on gloves and race belt. 

Pre-packed everything including my wetsuit, goggles, ear plugs and swim cap into my tri-bag.  Wore my timing chip to bed as per usual fool-proofed process.  Put chamois crème all over the Endurance tri-short chamois.    

9:30 p.m. to 6 a.m.:  Sleep badly.  Tossed and turned.  Remembered that I needed two towels for the transition area – too tired to get out of bed and take care of it.   Fell asleep for good at about 3:00 a.m. 

Woke up, ate a piece of Cinnamon bread, a banana and drank a Gatorade.  Drank half a cup of coffee, ate an Aleve Sinus, stuck a Breathe Right on the nose.  Lubed from head to toe topped it off with sunscreen level 30.  Grabbed another Gatorade and headed for the transition area pushing my bike.

7:00 – 8:30  Set up transition area. Got race numbered.  Tied blue balloon to bike rack.  Put on Wetsuit bottoms at around 8 a.m.  Monkeyed around with goggle fit and fog protection for a while and then pulled on the wetsuit top before heading to the water. 

Got in a two minute warmup swim, walked back over the starting line and waited for the gun to sound to put on my goggles.

Race Report:

Swim:  40 minutes.  I started out in about the third row of swimmers in my age group (about 270 people) and swam fairly relaxed.  No real trouble swimming with the pack, but it was tough sighting with the waves so high.  Nevertheless, I swam a pretty good line, I thought.  Got out of the water in 40 minutes feeling good, but in a really poor time relative to last year’s 36 minutes, my 1:16 Ironman swim and my 36 minute Caliman half swim.  I’m guessing that my effort level was just low or that my body position was bad.  I had decided not to kick until the very end.

T1:  I got through in 2:50’ish:  I felt like I got out of the wetsuit, put on the shoes and helmet and ran out with the bike quickly relative to last year, but in reality, I was only about 15 seconds quicker.  I still struggle with getting the wetsuit off my feet and I wish I could learn to start the bike ride with the shoes already clipped in.

Bike:  3:11.  I went out on the bike at a heart rate in the 170’s for the better part of the first 20 miles.  Hills and headwind had me working hard, in part because I was struggling to keep up with last year’s bike speed – very distressing.  At the turn downwind at mile 20 I noticed my brakes appeared to be rubbing.  I pulled the multi-tool out of the seat bag and loosened the levers.  I dropped the multitool when I tried to put it back in my tri-shirt and it went bouncing into the ditch, where it remains to this day. 

I settled into a more reasonable heart rate (150 – 160) for the next 20 miles or so as the tail wind helped out my average speed.  At mile 41, I pushed my heart rate back into the 170’s and climbed past a large numbers of riders on the way up Nasty Grade and continued to reel people in all the way into T-2.  I was passed by only a couple people during this time, all, I believe, among the top age-group women.

Hydration and Fueling on the Bike:  I drank water regularly at a rate of about 30 ounces per hour.  I also consumed about 20 ounces of Perpetuem, for about 800 calories.  I ate two Enduralites during the last 12 miles before T2.  They seemed to provide a bit of a boost and I was conscious that I would need to monitor my electrolytes on the run.

T2:  I went 2:30 or so.  Put on my hat, socks, shoes, put the Gels in my tri-pocket (not that great a solution – they seemed heavy).  Ran out feeling pretty good, but normally tight.  Chest also felt tight for a little while.

Run:  1:59:23.  First four miles went by in about 8:30’s.  Then we hit the big dirt hill, which had to be walked.  Mile 4-5 went by in about 13 minutes or so.  Got back on pace, more or less at mile 5 or 6 – back up under 9 minute miles.  Really started passing a lot of runners at about mile 6 to the end of the run.  Was passed by the top two women in the 40 – 44 age group at mile 7.  Caught a number of people from mile 8 to mile 10 and a few more on the uphill at mile 10 – 12.  Ran past about a dozen people down the steep hill at mile 12 to the finish.  I seem to be oddly fast running downhills and biking uphills – weird.  I’m not that fast running uphills or biking downhills.

Hydration and fueling on the run.  I drank 8 ounces of water at every aid station until mile 8.  I ate five enduralites (with water) during the first 8 aid stations and I had three Hammer Gels with water during those first 8 miles.  I tried to alternate the enduralites and gels at each aid station, but always took them with two cups (about 4 ounces each) of water. 

I lost my enduralite baggy somewhere around mile 8, so decided to try the Gatorade (water plus calories, plus electrolytes all in one, I figured) at every aid station.  I tried to take 8 ounces per aid station and stopped eating the Hammer Gels.  This worked well and I felt reasonably strong during the run.

After the race I drank a water and a Gatorade and stood in the lake.  I felt pretty good and didn’t feel the need to lie down.  In fact, I carried my tri-bag up the hill, showered, and walked back down to the awards ceremony. 

The next day, I felt a little stiff in the legs and in the right side of my neck, but otherwise pretty good for the day following a race.  I walked 40 minutes and mostly relaxed after the drive back.  I’m eating good breakfasts and trying to front-load calories this week.

All in all, a very good race result.

I didn't kick until the last two hundred yards.  I think this cost me body position by allowing my feet to sink.  This swim time is 4 minutes slower than any other half-ironman distance I've ever done.  It's hard to say whether I conserved any energy with this slow swim.

We had to deal with about a 20-30 mph wind for half of the bike and then, of course, when the wind was helping, we were climbing Nasty Grade.  We probably only had 20 miles of neutral to helping wind.

I felt like I went out at too high a heart rate for the first 20 miles, but then settled into a comfortable pace.  I hydradated well, consuming aproximately 100 ounces of water and 20 ounces (800 calories) of Perpetuem on the bike.  I also ate two Enduralites in the last 15 miles of the bike.  For the first 40 miles, I basically held my place among the group of riders who were at or near my speed, passing some, getting passed by other.  At mile 42, I passed about 60 - 80 riders over the four mile climb up Nasty Grade and then the next 12 miles into the Park.

I felt a little tight the first mile of the run.  I drank a cup of water at the first aid station and from that aid station on I alternated between two cups of water and an Enduralite (starting at mile two) and two cups of water  and a Hammer Gel (starting at mile 3).  I ate 5 total Enduralites and 3 gels during the run.  I kept this pattern up (more or less - I ate an Enduralite or two at a mid-mile aid station) until I lost my bag of Enduralites at about mile 8, at which point I switched to a cup of Gatorade and a cup of water at each aid station.  My legs loosened up at about mile 2 and I averaged about 8:30's for the first 4 miles.  My speed dropped to about 13:00 for mile 5-6 on the steep dirt hill (that had to be walked).  My pace picked up to about 8:50's for the rest of the race (including the mile-long hill at mile 10 - 11).  I finished strong the last 5 miles and was passed only by a few top age group women while I passed perhaps 50 runners.  Overall, taking two cups of liquid (about 4 ounces per cup, 8 ounces per rest stop, maybe 100 ounces for the run segment) at each aid station worked well.  I felt like I could have peed at mile 8, which made me feel oddly euphoric.  I did feel twinges thigh cramps on and off throughout the run, which is why I took the Enduralites at a high rate early in the run and also why I didn't try to push the pace more.