IM70.3 Musselman
A huge step forward
IM 70.3 Musselman Race Recap
Arrived a few days early to Geneva, NY.
Saturday
Goals for the day:
Tried to limit time on feet, but had to do a quite a bit of walking to get to and from the athlete village & transition and the parking area. The start line and athlete village must have been a full mile walk from parking.. Really tough. To make matters worse, I took the air pressure out of my bike tires because I didn’t want them to burst sitting in the sun all day.. So I couldn't ride my bike to the transition area. Don’t deflate the tires so early next time.
Followed Colin’s (coach) food recommendations pretty accurately, drank electrolytes almost entirely throughout the day. Had a chicken sandwich for lunch with French fries. No mayo or ketchup added. Probably should avoid the fries next time, due to the grease, but hey, live a little.
Sunday
Pre-Race Logistics
Woke up at 3:15AM.
Nutrition
Following Colin’s guidance exactly. Had a full 24oz bottle with only one scoop of G1M, 2.5cups of applesauce, 1 banana, 1 protein shake.
Warm up
Did a quick 5 min jog to warm up, and then some dynamic movements.
Didn’t get into the water (because the starting area didn’t have an easy entry point)
While waiting in line for the swim for… 20-30 minutes, I flexed some muscles a bit to try and engage things prior to getting into the water.
General
Before getting into the swim line, I used a water bottle to spray water into my goggles so they would clear up before I got into the water. This may be specific to the goggles I used because they have an opaque lens coating to preventing fogging.
Race!
Nutrition
Swim: 20 minutes before race start I had 180 calories spring energy gel (Boomsauce)
Bike:
3 bottles on the bike, 22-24oz, 1scoop of G1M, and 1 additional scoop of Base Salts.
1 gel (100-180 calories) every 30 minutes like clockwork
Run:
1-2 cups of water at each aid station for hydration, and 1 cup to pour on my body to cool off.
1 gel every 20 minutes like clockwork
At one aid station I drank some redbull but that was mainly by mistake
Had to consume 2-3 licks of the salt canister every 0.8-1 mile due to cramps occurring in my hamstrings, calves, and later quads. Managed to hold off all the cramping with proactive intake of salt!
Race Strategy
Swim
Tried to stay relaxed on the swim and stay strong without blowing myself up. Things went smoothly aside from choking on water a few times but I was paranoid about getting sick from swallowing the lake water. Tried to draft where I could, but I got stuck about 5-8 minutes behind where I wanted to be in the starting lineup, so I did most of the passing/leading for the swim.
Bike:
At each aid station I grabbed a bottle (except for the first) and used that bottle to cool myself down. I placed the bottle inside my jersey so that I could hold it without my hands on the bike. I drank some water from the bottle at the last aid station as I knew I needed to keep my water intake up.
Mindset on the bike was really all about staying aero, staying on top of nutrition, and powering through the discomfort. My legs were being worked, and started to get tired towards the end of the bike, but overall felt strong throughout. For those few downhills where I topped out 30 mph, stopping pedaling and getting aero was a seriously nice thing.
Followed colin’s instructions to get out of aero when dropping below 12 mph and stopping pedaling over 30 mph.
I went pee on the bike, and things went well… I moved my bottles around before hand so I didn’t piss on my full bottles. Waited for a section of road where no one was visibly behind me, let er’ rip, and then used the water bottle I took from an aid station to rinse off with. Flawless execution… This happened somewhere around mile 35-40. Would really only recommend this for those who don’t give a F***… LOL
Run:
Coming off the bike I wanted to keep my HR under control, but also wanted to be quick. My pace off the bike was about 7:05, which was significantly faster than what Colin had prescribed. This was a bit concerning, but I trusted in my training and how I was feeling to guide my effort. After about 2-3 miles I forced myself to slow down, and this coincided with a restroom stop. I stopped at an aid station to pee, and this allowed me to collect myself a bit. I then went back out a little slower.
My left foot fell asleep after the first 5K and stayed numb for about 4-5 miles. Very uncomfortable, but kept me distracted from my usual knee pain. I didn’t experience any knee pain in my right leg until mile 7.7. At this point, my knee pain came on very sharply, and it was incredibly challenging to proceed. Hindsight, this knee pain was the result of glute weakness, and many PT appointments later, we’re doing better.
My abdomen, specifically the upper left, felt like it was going to cramp for most of the run, but this never happened thankfully. The discomfort started on the bike, and I thought it was a result of poor body position or nutrition failure.
Observations
Swim: 1500-1700yds into the swim my calves started to cramp. Towards the end of the swim both calves were pretty well cramped and I had to slam some salt tabs on the bike immediately to get sodium levels back up. Usually I would be consuming sodium throughout a swim and have historically avoided cramps in training, thinking that I did not have enough sodium going into the start of the race to keep levels high enough by the end of the swim. For future races… Maybe add more sodium/electrolyte (without carbs) to the morning 24oz bottle.
Bike: My calves were sensitive to start due to the swim so I had to take on some sodium pretty quickly from the salt canister. Throughout the bike, I was pushing slightly higher watts than I knew I had to, and this was mainly because I knew I could push less watts on the downhills.
Run: It was easier for me to run up the hills than down them. This was helped with a higher cadence on the ups. Going downhill hurt my legs.
General Comments:
The swim appeared flat, but there was actually some chop that began to occur mid race that made breathing to some sides a bit more difficult than others. The sun was very bright depending on the direction and made breathing/sighting somewhat challenging on the out, and back, since it was blinding.
When going into aid stations, go slow! I lost a bottle, and the moron in front of me lost all the other bottles, when we both tried to go through an aid station too quickly on the bike.
Post Race Thoughts
Add more sodium to the water bottles on the bike (probably temperature dependent). Cramping on the run was a serious concern, and this may have been minimized by adding more sodium prior to. Recommend adding at least 1more scoop of G1M, or, add 1-1.5 more scoop of salt. G1M + 1 scoop salt = 640mg, shoot for 900mg next time?
Add more sodium/electrolytes pre-swim, perhaps I emptied my stores during the swim and was then playing catch up all day.
After the race I was actually shivering… Despite it being sunny and about 80F… This is a sign of dehydration… So clearly I need more water too. Need to spend more time getting heat acclimated before races in the 70s/80s.