Quakerman HIM race analysis

I usually do the race analysis for my A-races, but the result of the Quakerman Half Ironman race was quite surprising for me as I did not specifically train this season for HIM distance and still placed well in the race overall and also in my age group. The race report is in one of the earlier posts on this site. In this post I'll focus on performance in each leg.

Swim 1.2mi (36:13)

The swim leg started pretty tough as the whole 85+ field started in one wave, but separated pretty soon. I kept focused on the improvements of my swimming that Erica recommended and kept swimming at reasonably good pace. I was not pushing the pace though as there is really no point to do that in such a long race where the swim leg represents fairly short part of the overall race. I may start pushing more going forward, but in this race I wanted to take it conservatively to prevent any blow-ups later in the day. I had few surges as I tried to keep-up with my draft few times, but when I lost contact I did not push harder to catch-up. It just did not seem like a good strategy. I started pushing little more on second lap, but stayed within reasonable RPE that allowed me to breathe with no troubles. I exited the water in 36:13 which is very good for me. Almost 5 minutes behind the overall winner and about 3 minutes faster than last year so definitely an improvement.

I usually do fairly fast T1, but this one was very close to be a messy one - as I wrote in the original race report I almost took my bike without putting on my helmet and that would be a sure DQ. The T1 time was 52 seconds which is 13 seconds behind the winner, but that is not very significant. After comparing my times with other people I noticed that my swim split was 19th overall, but I left transition as 17th - I passed two people in transition. Just shows you that fast transitions are quite important if you want to race well.

Bike 56.7mi (2:40:19)

Onto the bike leg. I followed Craig's guidance and started conservatively, kept my power output within the limits we set for each split of the bike. I started taking in nutrition about 10 minutes into the bike and kept it up knowing that nothing beats a great lunch on the bike. All jokes aside - bike is the only leg in the race where you can take in significant amount of nutrition. Any eating during swim is impossible and during the run the intake level can not be kept as high as on the bike.
The bike course was 3 loops around the lake and I overtook a good number of people on the first half of the first loop and then rode pretty much alone. I started to catch-up with few riders every 10-20 minutes after that. I usually slowly caught-up with a group of 2-3 people and passed them slowly over few miles. I was not hammering to pass people as I did during the Steelman, I was saving my legs for the run. On second loop Erica told me (very loudly :-) that I'm sixth overall. That was very encouraging as I had no idea where I was in the field. Looking at the bike split I entered the transition as 6th overall about 5 minutes after a guy in 5th place and 3 minutes ahead of the guy after me. This still meant that I was 17 minutes behind the overall leader (and there was no way he was letting anyone pas him on the run - ran the whole 13.1mi at 6:36 min/mi - wow that is some speed). T2 was very fast even with taking the shoes and socks from ziploc bag as I did not want them get wet before the run start. The T2 time was 44 seconds and was very close to the leaders.

Run 13.1mi (1:49:45)

I started the run pretty fast, but then slowed down knowing I can not sustain running that fast for very long. My overall pace for the run was 8:20 min/mi, but I'm very sure I did run slower in the second half than the first one. I kept the fluid and gels intake every 10-15 minutes sipping from gel flask. At the beginning of the race I decided that I'm racing to beat my last year's time and that I'll not necessarily follow people that pass me. And I stuck with that strategy through out the run leg. I had four people pass me on the run and they all ran sub 8:00 min/mi. I re-passed few guys that passed me in the early stages of the run and then blew-up, but I did not catch-up to any of the people that finished biking ahead of me or the four that passed me with and looked very strong. Run is definitely area that I need to work on (along with swimming where I can already see good progress from changing the way I swim).

The per leg stats show that I placed 19th in swim, 6th on the bike and 26th on the run. If I was able to sustain sub-8:00 min/mi pace it would have placed me at 19th spot in the run leg and would improve my overall time by about 5 minutes. I guess more threshold running and intervals are in store for me - endurance is there, but keeping the pace up for entire half marathon seems to be an issue after the swim and bike.

Update: In all the excitement I did not include the final tally: the overall course time was 5:07:53 which was 10th overall and 2nd in my age group. If you want to take a look at the results you can find them on this site. The event also posted pictures and all mine are in the lost and found. I found 10 pictures can you?

Course profile

Few friends commented on the race results and I just wanted to share two pictures with you and people that plan to do this race - it is hilly on both bike and run. The pictures below show the course profile - top one shows bike and bottom one run course. You can see that the elevation profile on second loop of the run is slightly shifted in the picture - that is due to the weather change in the middle part of the run - from cloudy to rain.

RS800CX is out this morning

Polar officially announced release of the RS800CX with multi-sensor compatibility, integration with Google Earth and ability to combine data files from multiple types of sports. As previously discussed on this blog (after the leak of few support articles on Polar site) the watch comes in several configurations RS800CX (just the watch), RS800CX BIKE (with W.I.N.D. speed sensor), RS800CX MULTI (with GPS G3 sensor) and RS800CX RUN (with the S3 stride sensor).

If you already own a W.I.N.D. sensor (except the power) you should be able to pair it with the watch and use just as you did with either CS600 or RS800 (looks like this one is replaced with the CX models, Polar still lists RS800G3 but I wonder how many people will actually buy it now that the RS800CX MULTI is released). If you want to take part in the newly launched challenges on PolarPersonalTrainer.com you will need to start loading your data also to the website as described in this support article. I tried just entering the data on-line, but Polar accepts only data from the HR monitor for the challenges. You can still log data manually, but they do not count against the challenges. If you swim with the RS800 line of HRMs (RS800/RS800sd/RS800G3/RS800CX) you will not be receiving HR data from the belt under water - the W.I.N.D. technology does not transmit under water (this is the same with T6c from Suunto and all Garmin HRMs that use the ANT+ technology for transmitting data).

Simultaneous GPS use with S3 or CS sensor in RS800cx

One of the readers of this blog commented on my previous post and found another support article on Polar site about the RS800cx sensors. Besides the well known information about the types of sensors that are supported this article also provides interesting details about the simultanous GPS use with the S3 and CS speed sensors. Direct quote is:

"If you use Polar RS800CX to measure data from the G3 sensor and either the s3 or the CS sensor, the G3 GPS sensor is used for location and route tracking while the other sensor is used for speed and distance and other measuring. If the s3 or CS sensor should ever be out of range (for instance if the type of sport changes during training), the Training Computer will automatically start collecting speed and distance data from the G3 GPS sensor. This secures speed and distance measurement throughout your training session.

Polar fan club rejoice the new watch will have it all. Now only if it also supported calibration of the sensors via G3 that would be cool. But I'll take just this as well. I'm already looking forward to next week when the watch should be available at least in some European markets (Germany was confirmed by Polar rep few weeks ago).

ds50 thanks for the comment and link.

RS800cx will support 3 sets of shoes and 3 sets of bikes/wheels

As I'm icing my left foot after the race to relieve the swelling under the ankle I'm browsing the web to see if something new showed up about RS800cx and see what I found on Polar site.

From the pictures in this support article Polar released over the weekend it is apparent that the RS800cx will support 3 sets of shoes each with different calibration factor for each and 3 sets of bike/wheel configurations. From the picture it looks like you will be able to indicate whether the G3 sensor is used for the exercise (but that does not seem to be shoes specific). I'm not completely sure what is the GPS Distance parameter used for, but I guess the user guide will answer it. And as for the RS800 you can pick speed units you want to see on your screen, auto lap distance and lock zone settings. For the bike side of the picture it does not look like the power sensor will work with this watch. Oh well we kind of knew that from previous info, but I was hoping this would change. Interesting is the remark about calibration that is done in meters only - indicating that even in countries using imperial units the track is 400m.

Trying to beat Hanna during the Quakerman HIM in Nockamixon state park

Today was the day of a big race in the Nockamixon State Park. Together with like minded triathletes I raced the Half Ironman distance race. In parallel the organizer also held Olympic distance race. The weather forecast was lousy when I looked first on Tuesday - the forecast called for high sustained winds with tropical rain. Over the weeks the forecast improved quite a bit, but still the rain and wind was to be considered as a factor. This morning, luckily for all the race participants the forecast was revised with drizzle in the morning turning into rain around noon and then into tropical rain very quickly after that - well the reminder of hurricane Hanna was upon us. The goal for all of us was to be at least off the bike before the rain.

Last week I put together a race plan including pacing, power zones for the bike, hear rate zones and nutrition. Knowing how unforgiving the HIM distance can get I made sure to include electrolytes replacement on top of hydration and energy supplements Heed, Hammer gel and GU. If I needed I also considered to get banana or pretzels on the run. After review with my coach I revised the power on the bike down a bit to save some energy for the run. It was very wise suggestion as during Steelman I suffered on the run quite a bit and that was mostly because I attacked every single hill I had in sight.

I packed all my stuff according to the checklist that I revised to include the additional nutrition, Suunto watch and HR belt. That way I can just load the bike, backpack and water to the car in the morning and head out to the races. As a last minute decision I swapped tires on the bike to lower profile tires with 290TPI that are nicely dumping the shaking one can get on the road. In the retrospect it was a very good idea, plus they worked for me very well during Steelman on the same course.

Swim 1.2 mi

Now let's talk about the race itself. The swim was scheduled to start at 8a.m. and they let us do the practice swim at 7:30. Water was measured below 78F and most people took advantage of it and swam in the wetsuit. During the practice swim I tested the new stroke in wetsuit and it was actually feeling great. I swam 3/4 of the way to the first buoy, took a minute of rest by floating and swam back. It was going to be great day. The swim started as planned and I lined up in the usual place. Erica suggested that I do not change that and instead build up to the pace that feels good and just keep going. The start of the swim was little hectic and a lot of legs and arms were swinging around me, but I kept clear of all of them. I got grabbed few times, but nothing brutal considering that the wave was around 80-85 people. By the fist buoy the field separated and I settled into a good pace. I ended-up swimming the whole course freestyle with no breaks and no troubles. The lake was calm and I just followed Erica's guidance - wide stroke, head position and adjusted kick. It felt very good. I ended up taking the scenic route as I sighted only every 10-15 strokes, but it was not as bad as during the Anthracite Tri earlier this season. I exited the water and crossed the timing mat around 36 minutes which is pretty good improvement compared to last year.

Bike 56 mi

I ran from the water to the transition, grabbed my bike and almost took off (I was seconds from DQ), then I remembered and put on my helmet, took my bike and ran out of transition. The bike course was 3 loops around the lake that takes you on pretty good mix of uphills and downhills. The road was little wet from previous night and I hit few drizzles during the first and second loop. Not much to report here - I passed few people on the first loop, one or two on second loop and no one on third loop. Erica yelled at me during the end of second loop that I'm in 6th place which was nice to know and really helped me get through the last loop without much suffering. I used granny gears on all the hills to save energy and stay within the planned power ranges. What was interesting this year - many people had flats and one person had bend wheel. I'm not sure why because the road looked fine and I did not see any areas of shattered glass or other dangerous stuff that can cut through tires. I guess not everyone avoids all the stones, little branches and other stuff on the road. It was really interesting. During the last loop we shared the road with the Olympic distance guys so I passed few more people, but that did not improve my position.

Run 13.1 mi

The T2 was much less eventful that the T1 - no DQ danger. I had my shoes in plastic bag took them out, put on socks and shoes, grabbed my vizor, race belt and gel flask and off I went. I kept checking my pace as I took off very quickly and had to slow down not to expire half way through the run. The long runs in triathlon are about balancing your energy and it is best not to use it all on the first loop. I settled into reasonable 8:00 min/mi pace and kept slowing it down to 8:30 as I planned. The plan was to walk some of the steepest hills and all transitions to take in nutrition. I walked part of the first hill prior to the aid station and then kept running all the way to the turn point. On the way back I just walked the aid stations. The run during the first loop was quite o.k. and I felt like during the long runs on the weekend. After I started second loop I started to feel tired quite a bit and slowed significantly on the small uphills. I walked the hill up on the way to the aid station although I resumed running on the easier part of the climb. I was not suffering as much as last year, but the course was definitely getting to me. I reminded myself to hydrate, get gels and when I hit the turn around aid station I got also electrolytes - just for a good measure. It sucks when one runs out of salt and has to slow down. I got passed on the run by three runners and I re-passed two runners that were walking. I started feeling strong after I had last large hill behind me - took in the rest of the gel splashed my head with remaining water and kept pushing. Soon I hit the 12 mile marker and picked-up the pace to 7:30 - 8:00, once I saw the sign for 6 miles I knew it is only half a mile to the finish and I kicked into overdrive - 7:15 - 7:30 and kept pushing all the way to the finish. I finished the race in 5:07:xx and shattered my previous course result by over 40 minutes. I finished 10th overall and defended 2nd place in the age group that I scored last year. After I finished the hell broke lose and the rain started pouring, wind picked up and we got all soaked before the race organizers did the awards ceremony. It was a great race and most of us beat Hanna at least did not get hit by heavy rain on the bike course. If you look for great HIM in NorthEast just 50 miles north from Philadelphia come next year. It is really nice small race in great area.

Erica thanks for fixing my swim stroke and Craig congratulations on your 2nd overall and thanks for recommending the lower power output it helped me run through the whole course without being reduced to walk or shuffle.

Speed. I am speed - sort of...

To quote my son's favorite character from movie Cars" "Speed. I'm speed." Exactly that is how I felt during the swim workout today. Yes we are continuing on my yesterday's post about improved swimming technique. Today was another swim workout in which Erica had me do 10x50yd and 5x100yd on fairly short rest. I was to vary between strong/hard effort and easy ones. Amazing swim that is all I can say about it. The last 100 yd in the set was all out and I swam it in 1:27 which is huge for me. I know I can not sustain such speed race, but it certainly makes you feel like speed daemon after doing 100 yd in 1:40 - 1:50 for over a year.

All it took was a trained eye and correction of style that seems to be fairly easy to implement. And I only started working on it last week. I wonder how much faster I get when I nail the kicking and breathing head position. I can actually feel when I swim when I do it wrong with the breathing - my body kind of fishtails and I need to correct it. Simply amazing. I'm actually looking forward to the race and will see what this does for the swim split.

Breakthrough week

Past week was my longest this season mainly because I decided at the last moment that it may be a good idea to complete two HIM races in September and secondly because I'm in third week of training for my first marathon. So most of my training at this point are long rides, long bricks or long runs. The weekend was pretty brutal - 3:20 brick on Saturday followed by 3:00 run on Sunday and complemented by recovery 20 minutes swim (that was actually the easy part). I also started working with personal trainers to get better. I'm already seeing pretty significant improvement in my swim technique - after only one session. My trainer Erica looked at my swim and suggested few small changes I can implement for the upcoming race. Actually the small changes helped me understand how 'feeling the water' should really feel. We will see if the changes make me faster during the race this weekend, but I can honestly say that they make my swimming more enjoyable and I can feel that I do not spend as much energy swimming as I used to. It is still long way to go to get the new habits engrained, but I'm really excited about this progress.

Think of me next Saturday at 7a.m. ET when the EnduraSports Quakerman Half Iron distance race starts. I'll be at the staring line trying to beat my last year's time. And then again on September 28th when I line-up at the JerseyMan Half Ironman distance race in Clinton NJ. I hope next Saturday will not be as hot as last year, but in any case I have plenty of salt tablets ready. Good luck everybody racing next weekend.