Oceanside Race Report 2015

Goals

#1 Have fun.

Check! Had a blast racing with old and new friends!  

#2 Have a well paced run.

Not even close.  Cramp city

Swim 29:28

Started off steady, not hard, and got into a groove. At the turnaround ran into a bottle neck of previous waves which turned the swim into a slalom. Sun on the way back also made sighting tricky. My swim yards are down this year, YTD averaging 8500 yards/week, so happy with an easy sub 30.  

T1  4:08 (lost about a min on my closest competitors)

LG suit sleeves tough to put on when wet which is where I likely lost my time.   Noticed lots of triforce guys swimming with octane sleeves up. Will try sleeves on for the swim.

Bike 2:28:xx

Started off super easy to bring hr down.

Around mile 4 things got interesting. Massive bump launched all 3 of my bike bottles (2 UCAN, 1 Water) in what seemed like slow motion. I didn't hear any crashes behind me but I sure hope I didn't hurt anyone. Thought about turning around but stupidly didn't. At the time it seemed dangerous to slow down and try to retrieve a bunch of bottles. UCAN'T drink it if you don't have it.  This has never happened on any of my training rides.  My solution was to bum a gel off another athlete. Soon I rode up along Sven who handed me a delicious piece of chocolate cake. Thanks Sven!

I realized I had some time till the first aid station around mile 14 where I could get some goodies so I kept it easygoing.  Over an hour without hydration was not the start to my race I had in mind.  I restocked with water and Gatorade and carefully tried to catch up on my hydration. In total I had 4-5 salt tabs, 4 bottles of water, 2 bottles of Gatorade (320 calories), 1 gel (100 calories), and 1/2 peice of chocolate cake (delicious calories).  Breaks down to 210ish calories/hr.  Actually felt fine with that, even on the run, however I don't think I would have been able to sustain that approach for a full IM.  Energy level wise no bonk but not ideal and not enough hydration.  

Best Bike Split projection at 80% FTP 2:24:xx at 256 avg power, 266NP, 0.79IF.

Actual time  2:28:xx, 231 avg power, 254NP, 0.77 IF,  144 avg hr.

Yes the Dimond is fast!  Dragging my fat ass around that hilly course in under 2:30:xx at 231watts is ridiculous!

Power was closer to that of a full IM and it felt easy.  Although I would have liked to have pushed it harder I also felt strongly about sticking to my power caps and coasting on descents to set up for my goal of a strong second half run. Found it challenging keeping my average power up without going over caps given multiple no pass zones, speed limits and lots of congestion on the road from previous waves.

T2  3:00 (very close to my competitors)

Run 1:37:xx Cramp city

Started out around 6:50 and this felt slow but I held back knowing things would change soon. At mile 5 I started to get hamstring cramps that worsened with each mile.  Never had leg cramping issues before and I'm fairly certain it was related to my lack of hydration and diet/nutrition.  Some fun blisters in Hoka Cliftons (for me a narrow toe box). These didn't pop up in training but wet socks, sweaty feet contributed.  I slowed to a shuffle between cramps and foot issues.  Given the amount I held back on the bike I am fairly disappointed in my run, my slowest HIM run since 2012. Going into race day I thought if I held back on the bike I could blast out a 1:26:xx.  Typical statement of an overzealous triathlete but we gotta aim high right?   Although I would like to point at hydration/nutrition/fatigue/being distracted by beautiful scenery as my excuses I believe at the root of it is a need for more mental toughness.  This shit is hard and is going to hurt!  Excited to make some changes and get back at it!

Total time 4:42:xx

A note on diet

7-10 days leading into the race I experimented with high fat, low carb diet in an effort to maximize my fat burning efficiently.  I loved the diet and felt my appetite was easy to control and my energy levels were very consistent.  I read and heard some athletes have issues with low sodium and cramps on this diet so I was supplementing sodium in the form of bouillon cubes.  

Takeaways

• Embrace the suck!
• Strongly consider going back for dropped nutrition and I need to find a reliable nutrition plan
• Cramps are real and can hurt (first experience with true leg cramps)
• Caution with diet changes before a race... duh!!!  Would like to do more strenuous and longer training days on the high fat low carb diet to see if the cramping I experienced was related to the diet or poor race day fueling/hydration.
• Do bike shakeout in morning the day before the race.  Allow for time to make small fixes. I did my easy ride in the afternoon and found I had a touch of rear brake rub that wasn't present during my last ride prior to leaving for So Cal.