I was feeling good going into the race in spite of going down with flu just 10 days prior. Eased in into training after the flu and kept it mellow. I had hit CTL of 80 just before the flu, so I was confident I was in decent shape. I was hoping to finish in 5:20.
Official Results
Time: 05:11:31
M35-39: 46th/333
Flight to San Diego landed at 1:30PM. I picked up the rental car at Hertz, which was a terrible experience, BTW. They have a rather low frequency service :P. Driving to the expo for athlete check-in took like an hour due to traffic. Thu and Fri were leisurely with some pre-race sharpening with the team on Friday.
Surprisingly, I slept pretty well the night before the race and was woken up by the alarm at 4AM. Had some black coffee from the hotel room which tasted like grease. Nevertheless, it helped get my bowels moving. Had the usual Granola+Chobani and bagel breakfast worth 250 cals which I had to literally force down my throat. Drive to Oceanside was quick and I reached T2 just before 6AM. Yes, T1 and T2 were separate, which is kind of a pain to setup, but it turned out to be OK. It was a short 1 mile ride to T1 after setting up run gear at T2. Soon got T1 setup, took another dump and ate a gel 30mins before the swim start. The pros started at 6:50AM followed by AG waves.
Swim: 00:31:07
It was a wet start and we got barely 3 minutes to warm up after the previous wave was flagged off. Water was in high 50s, so I was wearing booties and skull cap. Swim was an out and back single loop in the Oceanside harbor. The water was a bit choppy on the way back, but overall it was an uneventful swim. Didn’t find any feet to follow, so pretty much swam by myself the whole way.
T1: 00:05:34
It was a short jog in T1 which I used to take off the wetsuit to the waist and reset my 910XT. Transition was slow as I had to take off booties, put on socks, and walk/jog to bike-out in biking shoes. Really need to work on fast transitions. Could have easily shaved 2 mins here.
Bike: 02:47:30
Unexpectedly fast split on the bike! From the rehearsals, I was expecting to go just under 3 hours. Interestingly I hit my power and HR numbers according to plan, but I was much more aero compared to the rehearsals, which probably saved me some time. Felt strong all the way on the bike. HR was a bit up toward the end, but no sign of fatigue in the legs or anywhere else. Religiously followed the strategy to back off power at >24mph, and coast at >28mph which helped save a lot of energy. Last 10 miles were a bit uncomfortable since I had to pee pretty badly, but didn’t have it in me to do the deed on the bike. One small hiccup was that I took my feet out a bit to early and had to go up a short stinger which feet planted on top of the shoes. Nutrition went well with IM Perform and gel summing to ~300 cals/hr. Only downside of using Perform was that I was consuming more liquid than I should. Bike power and HR was on spot as per my plan.
T2: 00:02:58
Did a smooth flying dismount and jogged to my transition spot. Sprayed some TriSlide, put on shoes, hat, and off on the run. Changing socks, putting on TriSlide cost me time. Also, since I never practiced transitions, I needed to think to make sure I was not forgetting something. As you may have experienced, logical reasoning and memory recall does not go well with intense physical activity. In short, I need to practice quick transitions to the point that it becomes mechanical and the brain doesn’t need to get involved.
Run: 01:44:22
Went out at the goal pace of 7:15 min/mi, but started cramping in the quads after 5 minutes. Felt a short spang in the right quad and then in the left. Shit. I thought that that was the end of my race. So much for a good bike split. I walked, stretched and allowed the cramps to subside and then started jogging again. Immediately popped a salt tab and sipped on some Coke to get in some calories. I was sure that I was cramping only because I was low on fuel. Coke helped a bit, but it also made me feel bloated and sloshy. I finally decided to switch to gel and within minutes after downing a gel, I felt my legs come back. I think however the damage was made, so I couldn’t get back up to the intended pace. Kept pushing through the run trying to hold good form and managed to finish with a respectable time.
Overall I was happy with the time, but my run could have definitely been better. It was a major confidence booster.
Lessons learned:
Official Results
Time: 05:11:31
M35-39: 46th/333
Flight to San Diego landed at 1:30PM. I picked up the rental car at Hertz, which was a terrible experience, BTW. They have a rather low frequency service :P. Driving to the expo for athlete check-in took like an hour due to traffic. Thu and Fri were leisurely with some pre-race sharpening with the team on Friday.
Surprisingly, I slept pretty well the night before the race and was woken up by the alarm at 4AM. Had some black coffee from the hotel room which tasted like grease. Nevertheless, it helped get my bowels moving. Had the usual Granola+Chobani and bagel breakfast worth 250 cals which I had to literally force down my throat. Drive to Oceanside was quick and I reached T2 just before 6AM. Yes, T1 and T2 were separate, which is kind of a pain to setup, but it turned out to be OK. It was a short 1 mile ride to T1 after setting up run gear at T2. Soon got T1 setup, took another dump and ate a gel 30mins before the swim start. The pros started at 6:50AM followed by AG waves.
Swim: 00:31:07
It was a wet start and we got barely 3 minutes to warm up after the previous wave was flagged off. Water was in high 50s, so I was wearing booties and skull cap. Swim was an out and back single loop in the Oceanside harbor. The water was a bit choppy on the way back, but overall it was an uneventful swim. Didn’t find any feet to follow, so pretty much swam by myself the whole way.
T1: 00:05:34
It was a short jog in T1 which I used to take off the wetsuit to the waist and reset my 910XT. Transition was slow as I had to take off booties, put on socks, and walk/jog to bike-out in biking shoes. Really need to work on fast transitions. Could have easily shaved 2 mins here.
Bike: 02:47:30
Unexpectedly fast split on the bike! From the rehearsals, I was expecting to go just under 3 hours. Interestingly I hit my power and HR numbers according to plan, but I was much more aero compared to the rehearsals, which probably saved me some time. Felt strong all the way on the bike. HR was a bit up toward the end, but no sign of fatigue in the legs or anywhere else. Religiously followed the strategy to back off power at >24mph, and coast at >28mph which helped save a lot of energy. Last 10 miles were a bit uncomfortable since I had to pee pretty badly, but didn’t have it in me to do the deed on the bike. One small hiccup was that I took my feet out a bit to early and had to go up a short stinger which feet planted on top of the shoes. Nutrition went well with IM Perform and gel summing to ~300 cals/hr. Only downside of using Perform was that I was consuming more liquid than I should. Bike power and HR was on spot as per my plan.
T2: 00:02:58
Did a smooth flying dismount and jogged to my transition spot. Sprayed some TriSlide, put on shoes, hat, and off on the run. Changing socks, putting on TriSlide cost me time. Also, since I never practiced transitions, I needed to think to make sure I was not forgetting something. As you may have experienced, logical reasoning and memory recall does not go well with intense physical activity. In short, I need to practice quick transitions to the point that it becomes mechanical and the brain doesn’t need to get involved.
Run: 01:44:22
Went out at the goal pace of 7:15 min/mi, but started cramping in the quads after 5 minutes. Felt a short spang in the right quad and then in the left. Shit. I thought that that was the end of my race. So much for a good bike split. I walked, stretched and allowed the cramps to subside and then started jogging again. Immediately popped a salt tab and sipped on some Coke to get in some calories. I was sure that I was cramping only because I was low on fuel. Coke helped a bit, but it also made me feel bloated and sloshy. I finally decided to switch to gel and within minutes after downing a gel, I felt my legs come back. I think however the damage was made, so I couldn’t get back up to the intended pace. Kept pushing through the run trying to hold good form and managed to finish with a respectable time.
Overall I was happy with the time, but my run could have definitely been better. It was a major confidence booster.
- Felt strong on the bike all the way.
- Religiously followed the power strategy for the bike.
- Was able to salvage the run without panicking.
- No injuries or ITB woes.
- Held good run form (at least I think so) throughout.
Lessons learned:
- Practice transitions. This could have saved me 3 more minutes.
- Liquid calories don’t work well for me. Gel for calories and drinking water to thirst is the way to go, even if it means consuming a total of 25-30 gels during an IM.
- Running with good form (landing under the hips + good backlift) is critical for a good injury-free run.
