Leading up to the race I'd been babying a knee injury that's been around since IMTX. Exact cause not diagnosed but a combination of lack of heavy squat/strength work at Atomic recently and slacking on my PT exercises that led to weak glutes causing my knee to cave in during the run and also trying to switch bike shoes and later realizing the cleats were in the wrong position. So in the 6 weeks between IMTX and BSLT I'd run a grand total of 4 hours. I thought I could pull off the run at BSLT but with the other factors I'll mention later, that was not enough. I'd been suffering from some adrenal fatigue and exhaustion since IMTX as well, plus work was stressful. So definitely not a great month leading into the race. I was also apprehensive since I was #44 in the race, which is unlucky in Chinese culture. Apparently I should have been more worried about #13 though.
Mike and I drove to Lubbock on Friday. After packet pickup, while unloading the bikes, Mike threw out his back. Not the first time it had happened to him, but the first time before a race. So suddenly BSLT went from being about him and his conquering the half distance to him being injured and me also being slightly injured and still dumb enough to want to race.
The weather report was predicting 15-20mph winds from the S/SW and a high of 100+ degrees on race day. Which basically means winds over 20mph (weather.com usually underestimated by ~5mph) and really freaking hot.
Race morning it was breezy on the top of the hill when we parked. Down by the lake it was less so, but later I'd wish there was some breeze.
Had a slight goof up earlier in the week realizing I'd somehow lost my sleeveless wetsuit between IMTX and now. Guessing I somehow left it at the hotel in the Woodlands without realizing. Luckily, I still have a sleeved wetsuit I got for IMLP way back when. So, used that for the swim. Mike had told me how to pull up the excess material from the middle part of the suit on Friday so I actually had shoulder mobility in the suit. For the first time the swim actually seemed long. Normally, BSLT is notorious for having a short swim but this time, not so lucky. Managed to avoid the masses though and didn't get kicked or beat up too much. There was a girl in my wave that at some point kept trying to swim into me, but I picked it up briefly to get past her. In hindsight I probably should have been swimming that pace the whole way, but I felt pretty sluggish race day. Total time: 32:25, fastest time yet despite the course being long.
There were wetsuit strippers on the way to T1. It was exciting.
Onto the bike and the wind. I was running my new Hed Jet 50 from Mike and a Catalyst Cycling disc cover over my Boyd Cycling Altamont Powertap wheel in the back. I think my quads aren't functioning correctly because of my knee so there was a definite lack of power or zip for the entire ride. The uphills were the best part and I am back to being petrified on downhills especially since some of the roads were pretty narrow and there was bike traffic both ways. I pretty much spent the entire east-west sections sitting up because the wind gusts were so strong. Even practicing the Rob Kopitzke technique of leaning bike into wind and keeping my body perpendicular to the ground was not enough to keep me stable. My normalized power was about at my full-IM IF and my average power was even less. 2nd longest bike time at BSLT coming in at 3:11:30.
The back of my bad knee had cramped going up the last hill of the race so I took extra time to put compression socks on in T2.
Usually I look forward to the run. Not on this Sunday. Despite not having pushed big watts, I still felt toasted from all the energy required to stay upright and go forward in the wind on the bike. The lack of bike and run fitness didn't really help either. And, I could tell it was getting warm. There were absolutely no clouds in the blue sky, and very little shade on the run course. The first 2.5 miles or so went okay, and then it all went to shit. My heart rate was in the 170s so I decided to walk the big uphills to not go into cardiac drift early on. To summarize the run: I walked, I tried to run and realized I was running 9:40 pace so went back to walking, I dumped a lot of ice on me and my shoes squished, leg muscles cramped that never bothered me before. Slowest half marathon I've ever done and it was very demoralizing. Cried the last mile and collapsed at the finish line. But at least that got me an IV. Total run time was 2:08:27 for an overall time of 5:59:24. 4 minutes slower than the first time I did it and 36 minutes slower than the 2nd time.
I think the lack of running this year overall came back to bite me. I had a similar knee injury in 2010, worse actually, and was able to get through the marathon at Kona just fine. But I had been building a huge running base since 2005 for that, so a month or so off there did not affect me as much. I have definitely run a lot less in the past few years, the only "big" running block was the 2-3 months leading into the Graveyard 100k in early 2013. Granted, I'm sure the heat played some part in my meltdown (literally) but in past races I've been fairly immune to the conditions so I think the heat was lesser of the issues.
.JPG) |
| Buffalo on the left from 2010 is interestingly much lighter in weight than buffalo on the right from 2014 despite looking the same |
Next post I will outline my plan for the next 2 months or so leading up to Mont-Tremblant. I've heard it's a great race and a great location so I'm excited to see the area. And I've never raced a Worlds 70.3 so I think it's time to see how it compares to Kona. Additionally, I think the next few years will take it to Eurasia in which I have no interest in travelling specifically for a triathlon race.
Summary of lessons learned:
1. PT exercises to keep leg muscles balanced and functioning properly are NOT optional.
2. I have lost most of my run base. I need to run more.
3. Full-sleeve wetsuits are not actually horrible when I know how to put them on properly.
4. My fall-back, base race power is approximately 130W NP.
2007 Great Illini Half
2008 BSLT 70.3
2009 Auburn Half (formerly World's Toughest Half)
2010 Wildflower Long Course, BSLT 70.3, Vineman 70.3
2011 Wildflower Long Course, Boise 70.3, Rev3 Portland
2012 Austin 70.3
2013 Wildflower Long Course, Austin 70.3
2014 BSLT 70.3
1 comment:
Well, at least it sucked for everyone.
Mont Tremblant looks like it could be fun and by then you should have these things dialed in, right?
Post a Comment