Pre Race- 140.6

Wow, my first iron is finally here. It seems hard to believe that tomorrow I will be racing 140.6 miles. When I think about the last 2 1/2 years and blowing out my back to be able to toe the line- wow is all I can say (well maybe not all I can say).

Tomorrow is a race, a journey and for sure an experience that I will never forget. Today has been the usual crazy pre race day: packet pick up, expo shopping and the race briefing. And as usual the USAT officials made me feel like a criminal (I am not gonna draft or block). But the the rest of briefing was pretty cool- the race director is definitely a wise ass and had everyone laughing.

The bike racking process was different than I am used to as well. The race has two transition areas but T2 is site unseen. We dropped off our T2 bags at T1 and will grab them on our way into T2 tomorrow- sound confusing- yeah I am bit confused too. But I figure that once I get to T2 it will make sense- fingers crossed. But I did get my bike racked and covered since we are expecting rain tonight. Tomorrow morning I will get to load the bottles and load my nutrition.

Tomorrow morning will come early and likely will be cold. Wetsuits are mandatory, but the swim is point to point with a fast current. So that's all for now- soon we will head out for dinner and then I will pretend I am sleeping until the alarm goes off at 3 AM.

Taper Blues

Beach to Battleship (www.beachtobattleship.com) is 6 days away. It is my last Triathlon of the season and my first Iron distance race. And I am excited. Training is done, and I am ready for race day. But like many endurance athletes this Taper period before the race is driving me nuts. A big part of my days is always my training- but right now there a bunch of off days and my workouts are low intensity and shorter than normal. And I am eating like there is no tomorrow. I know Tapers work- they have for me in my past races, but sometimes they are the hardest part of training- forcing your body to slow down and relax.

Well time for me to go and do very little.

Ironman Pocono Mountain 70.3 (6x.x) Race Report

Ironman Pocono Mountain 70.3 Race Report.- Sunday 10/2/2011

I signed up for this race as registration opened last year- sitting in my car (in my office parking lot). I was very excited to have an Ironman 70.3 30 miles from home. I had just completed my first 70.3 a couple weeks earlier and really enjoyed the experience so this was a natural fit for me and my 2011 race schedule.

Pre Race- Wow I have never seen so much commentary on Facebook around a race before. And much of the posting seemed to be around people complaining- about the race organizers, WTC in general and about the course- specifically the bike course. These bothered me a lot- complaining about the race organizers (who run a pretty successful race in Philly every year) especially without evidence is nasty. Complaining about WTC- if you don’t like WTC then don’t sign up to race Ironman, Ironman 70.3 and 5150 events. There are plenty of other races and series out there. And lastly complaining about the bike course- the name of the race is Ironman Pocono Mountain 70.3- the bike course should be hard and hilly! And speaking of the race organizers- after a period of bike course complaining, the company even offered a refund (outside of their normal refund policy) for people who were concerned about the bike portion (sounds like a pretty good organization- just saying).

Now many of you who live in the NYC area are aware of the terrible weather we have had in August and September. Heavy Rain, Hurricanes and Earthquakes just to name a few. What did this mean for the race- the swim which was supposed to be held in the Delaware River was in jeopardy. During the week leading up to race day, there were lots of posts on Facebook regarding the swim and whether it would happen or not. My feeling was if the river was not safe it be would be better to cancel early to let us digest the news and prepare for a bike run. And watching the weather reports and river safety details it seemed that the swim was unlikely. So the race organizers made the call mid day on Friday- no swim (again good job on the early and clear communications by the race organizers). Was I disappointed- sure I love Triathlons for what they are- SBR and T1/T2, but swimming in a river with trees floating by and a current of 10 MPH with 2000 other athletes is not a smart call. So the right call was made and we switched from a SBR to a Bike Run. I hesitate to call it a Duathlon since those typically are RBR and there was no space to create an initial run prior to the bike, nor would the transitions work unless every participant had two sets of run gear since T1 & T2 were 15 miles or so apart.

Again the complainers were out in force for the swim cancellation and bemoaning the lack of a back up plan. Look the weather really sucked, but this happens- 3 other Ironman 70.3 events had to cancel or change the swim in 2011- New Orleans, Steelhead and Galway. Okay on to the expo.

So packet pickup was easy and the expo had some good vendors, although I was disappointed in two things. 1) the ironman store did not have any long sleeve zip tops – although a bunch of staff were wearing them. 2) the swag bags were made out of a cheap material- mine ripped taking out my race kit. I did however get a nice Pocono Mountains Bike Jersey from Champion Systems and KSwiss long sleeve running top-IM branded (not PM70.3) but real nice (and on sale too). The pre- race briefing was good- although I wish the Refs would not make me feel like a criminal (this is a ref complaint in general- not unique to IMPM70.3)- I do my best to not draft, block or pass illegally. I take my racing seriously and HATE cheaters. Okay more on the pre- race briefing. This was the first briefing I took notes at so I could review the map later- why you ask? Well the course had changed due to the weather- parts of several roads had washed away due to the rain (and people still wanted the swim to happen). Plus the briefing provided the details on the TT start and what to expect on course- the briefers did an AWESOME job preparing us for what was surely going to be a tough day on the course. Oh forgot to mention rain was in the forecast for Saturday night and possible for Sunday too.

So following the briefing it was time to rack my bike at T1 and pack my T2 bag. I drove from the expo down to T1- wow the roads were narrow, steep and had a lot of weather related debris; walnuts, leaves, sticks and a tree. Eventually I got to T1 and spent some time making sure my bike was ready to ride. I am glad I did since my Front brake was a little loose and rubbing on turns. So a quick fix with the Allen wrench and the Bike was racked. A trick I used as well was to cover the Cranks and Rear D with Shower caps. Full bike covers were not allowed- only the seats and bars, but I was able to cover 90% of the bike parts that matter with the two shower caps and two garbage bags over the seat/ cockpit.

Once leaving T1 I had to drive to T2- about 15 miles apart and I drove a good section of the Bike course- NOT flat. My hope was that there would be race volunteers on key sections reminding us to slow down during the descents- a straight descent is easy in wet conditions. But through in a turn and you have some serious problems. Eventually I made it to T2 which was located in a baseball field at Stroudsburg HS. Initially I was a bit annoyed with where my rack was- in the infield- read brown sandy mud. But it forced me to make a decision on what I was going to do coming into T2- usually I don’t wear socks for the bike or run at the 70.3 distance. But with the temps for Sunday morning expected to be around 45 degrees I was wearing socks. So because of my location I decided that I would run into T2 wearing my bike shoes and only change socks if my feet were wet & or cold. Okay so I put my T2 back on the ground below my race number and left to check into my hotel and get dinner. But one thing that really surprised me were the number of T2 Bags that were tied to the their rack position. Yes it was supposed to rain but a T2 bag is a heavy duty plastic draw string bag- put your gear in and pull shut. Fold the opening under the rest of the bag and is pretty much water proof. Good luck getting the bag untied with cold and wet fingers (sorry no more ranting).

The race organizers put on a nice pasta dinner (included in the registration cost) at the hotel. I ate early- 4:45 and then went to my room to prepare my bottles, layout my gear and get ready to spend the next 11 hours staring at the clock. It rained pretty much all night but at this point I was 100% committed- I was racing regardless of the conditions.

Race Morning- I ended up getting about 3 hours of sleep and got up to a beautiful sight- wet ground but no longer raining! I ate a light breakfast and got my gear on. For the bike I decided on the following set up- my TYR carbon top and bottom, arm warmers, wind vest, socks and toe covers for the shoes. I also decided to wear a pair of Castelli neoprene gloves- very good call. I also decided to wear my Rudy Aero helmet- less venting would mean less heat loss. I also had very light tint lenses in my glasses. I drove to the T2 Parking lot and got on one of the Free shuttles to T1.

T1 and Race Start. So we all knew the race would be a Time Trial Start out of T1- each bike row would get called, walk their bikes to the start line and one by one go. It sounded like it could be trouble, but ended up being pretty smooth. However what the swim cancellation also meant was the Most low key and relaxed pre race T1 I have ever been in. Everyone was cool and while missing the swim, glad that we were dressed warm and could prepare for a challenging bike with out being wet and cold following the swim. Plus the TT start gave you the time to keep your morning clothes on until the last minute. So finally my row was called (I was race number 998 so right in the middle) and we walked our way to the start line. And then I was off. The first 500 meters were slightly up hill so I stayed upright until we turned on to river road. I felt great- I was racing and it wasn’t raining!

Bike- The bike course was tough, hard and crowded. A couple sections had English left rules- essentially bikers going in both directions with those riding the opposite direction of normal traffic riding as if they were in England- hence the term English left. This did create some confusion on where people were supposed to pass- and there was a lot of weaving since many folks were riding out near the center line. During the bike there were 4 significant hills and I saw something that I have never seen before- on each hill a significant number of people walking including those with disk wheels, aero helmets and TT bikes. Does a TT bike mean you can climb everything- no and some folks who have 10K bikes shouldn’t but the number of walkers was large enough to underscore just how tough the bike course was. For the most part I was able to stay aero- I got on the brakes only when in traffic or the hills. And the race volunteers were great about pointing out danger sections in enough time for us to react. The roads were wet but had been swept so there were dangerous, but not nearly as bad as they could have been- nice job race organizers for doing that. So I felt great during the bike- nutrition was spot on and my legs felt solid. And before too long I was past mile 50- only 5 miles to go. Wait this is a 56 mile bike. Well the bike had to get shortened a bit due to some of the roads in unsafe conditions. However about 3 miles past the 50 mile marker I started to ride along some downtown streets with great fans and before I knew it T2 was in sight (according to my Garmin the bike was about 53.9 miles). I executed my plan and dismounted with my bike shoes on.

Run- I racked my bike quickly and got my Saucony Kinvera 2’s on. My only trouble was the zipper on my wind vest- I decided that it was more than I needed for the run, but after about 10 seconds I was able to shed it and go. I did change gloves, but not socks and put on my fuel belt as I was leaving T2. I wore my race number on the bike- it is no longer required, but makes sense to me to have it for the bike- one less thing to worry about in T2. I crossed the timing mat and hit my garmin ready for 13.1 miles of running fun- however the timing mat did not signify the run start- that was after you came out of the Stadium and turned into the parking lot. I am not sure why they did that since the race was an out an back- the turn around could have easily been moved up the .2 mile difference- but oh well a slightly longer run can make up for the shorter bike and no swim. The first few miles of the run were flat and I got to see the pro men pass on their way toward the finish- cool! And then we made a left turn and started on the hills- They hurt- about 3.5 miles of relatively constant hills- not too steep, but energy sapping just the same. And the turn around point was not at 6.55 miles but at 7 which was 7.3 on my watch- it felt like forever to get out there. But what goes up also goes down and the back 6 miles of the run were much easier and I really felt good. Plus my nutrition (which on the run has a been an issue in 2 of my 4 70.3’s this year) was spot on. I had two fuel belt bottles- one with a GU & water mix and one with a half nuun tablet and water. At each aid station I alternated one or the other- just enough of a sip to get some into me, but not too much to overwhelm my stomach. I also used the GU and water mix on the bike- SO MUCH easier to get down plus no opening of gel packs. As I hit the last mile, I really felt great and turned onto the finish road with a good head of steam. The last .3 miles were awesome- huge crowds on either side of the road and a clear line to the finish. I crossed the line in 4:22. If the swim had a been part of the race I likely would have PR’d (5:08 is my half PR) and would have had a shot going under 5 hrs. But regardless of a PR or not, this was another finish for me and I felt like the most important piece- my nutrition was dialed-in perfect.

Finish Area- There were 3 things that weren’t great. 1) there was no Finisher Hat at IM RI 70.3 we got a nice headsweats cap and I expected one here. 2) Only one masseuse – that sucked as I really wanted a massage but was too cold to wait. 3) Morning clothes bags were supposed to be at the finish, but a bus wasn’t allowed to bring them??????? That sucked since it was cold. The race did have thermal blankets (which are amazingly warm) but having to walk back to T2 was cold. It did however stretch my legs nicely so the lack of massage was not as big a deal. Good things- The race medal was nice and big, food was right at the finish- subway and they had warm chicken broth which was a great call.

So my result & times:

115 out of 1331 finishers Overall

22/194 M 35-39

Bike- 2:36:54

Run- 1:43:32

T2- 2:13

Total- 4:22:37