Race Report for Chisago Half Ironman, July 24, 2011
Executive summary: “Local” quality race on a nice course, with attendant issues of “local” quality leadership. Foibles on swim (my fault and that of course and RD) meant I have nothing to take home from the swim. Otherwise, very good race for me, despite not really tapering or even training intelligently. Smashed my HIM run PR. 4:52 final time.
Background/Prerace
I have been looking forward to this race all summer. Although it was not a race I was going to “prepare for” other than taking a couple of easy days in advance, it was going to be special because Chris was racing it with me – in fact, that was the only reason I was going to do the race. He has had a great summer full of elite soccer reffing, but has still worked hard to get the bike work in that he could, and he was running and swimming with organized groups, too, so I knew he would have a good race. On paper, you could make a case that we should be VERY competitive with one another, but we all know that the first race at a HIM rarely goes perfectly (or even well), so the reality was that I probably had an advantage in the intra-family championship. Nonetheless it was going to be great.
Saturday, we got packed up, got haircuts, and drove up to Chisago City, northeast of St. Paul. It was raining, but this was going to be a relief, weather-wise. We checked in and listened to a not-very-impressive course talk, then drove the bike course. This was instructive, because I had thought the course was flatter than it was. Actually, it was full of relatively gentle rolling hills.
The rest of the evening was fun, if uneventful, except for having to find a new hotel room at the last second.
Race Morning
We again lucked out on the weather. It would be in the 60s for much of the morning, before warming up to the 80s. The transition area was – Chris’s words – a bit sketchy, but there was enough basic room, and we got set up, marked and the like.
The start was bizarre. There was an elite wave, and the rest of the waves were in groups of 50 by registration number. You therefore were not racing with people in your age group, nor did you know anything about where such people were. Strict time-trialing I guess! Chris was in the elite group because of his fast swim. I was in heat 8, about 15 minutes later.
Right before the start, a fog rolled in. The RD decided to go ahead and start the swim anyway to stay on time.
Race Plan
I did not really have a race plan. Those that know me will realize that’s pretty uncharacteristic. However, my race prep for the three weeks in advance consisted of:
- July 1-4 very heavy bike and some swim
- July 5 Swim
- July 6-14 90 miles of running, mainly in 100 degree heat. No bike, no swim. (Business trip)
- July 15 off
- July 16-17 Long bikes in 105+ heat
- July 18-20 normal training (SBR) with surprisingly devastated legs
- July 21-23 hard swimming only; I just didn’t see the purpose in digging a deeper hole for my legs.
- I knew what I had been able to do for KS in mid June: aim for 180 W, average 170 after coasting, etc, which led to a run PR of 1:36:35 (7:22 pace). Given my prep, I just figured I would go with trying to duplicate that effort if it was there, and just enjoy the day if not. I guess that’s a race plan. :)
Nutrition was going to be sparse on the course; I took one bottle of 200 calories of InfiniT for the first 20 miles, and would then live on Gatorade. They were vague about what would be available on the run, so I packed several gels, planning to take them at miles 1, 5, and 9, and have a spare if they ran out of Gatorade on the bike.
Swim
The swim course was a straight out and back. In theory. In reality, it was shaped like a fork, i.e., with a bend at the last buoy. I know it’s the athlete’s responsibility to know and navigate the course, but between the fog and lousy buoys, it was darn near impossible to see where you were going. Furthermore, the small waves made it worse. You could easily get down to just a few people and no one really knew where you were going or could see anything else all that useful. The kayaks were far too neutral, given the circumstances. They could have done a much better job of keeping everyone on course. We all watched in amazement as people in the elite/pro wave went all over the place…and the rest of us were not immune. All this complaining is probably something I should just suck up and be silent about, but my visual difficulty didn’t make it any easier, and I went way off course I am sure. I ended up swimming into people goin the other way as well. [In discussing this with other people after the race, a lot of people said the same thing; additionally there were many reports of people turning around one buoy too early.]
I finished the swim in a disappointing 39:30. I thought I was swimming fast enough for maybe 3 minutes faster, but of course we will never know. However, I came out of the water in pretty good shape, not having had to deal with chop like at KS.
Bike
The first 15 minutes of the bike was a little ragged as usual. I averaged 168 W excluding zeros or 157 including them. Ugh. But then suddenly I just felt a lot better. I went up to targeting the 180, and it got easy. Found myself targeting 190. No problem. A little taken aback, but what the heck. This is where I should be based on FTP testing, even though I pooped out at KS. I thought to myself that this is a fun race for me with no expectations, so let’s see what happens. The long and short of it was that I stuck to it the whole way. Final average of 187 W, several watts lower including zeros.
While out on the course, I decided to play Ricky Racer to an extent. There was a moderate wind, and a big pile of Sprint racers to go through. The course was not especially crowded for me though, so I played the “legal draft” game of riding up directly behind riders to pass, then going around them at near the last second. There was plenty of room, so it was safe, and I was entirely within the rules. Whether I really saved time, I don’t know, but it was a fun game to play. I had a good time with that.
At about the halfway mark, I felt pretty darn alone on the course for several miles. Eventually I caught up with more riders, though. I was passed by a number of VERY strong riders, but I did not get passed by people I would regard as contemporaries particularly.
The bike course has several sections of excellent road. It also has a few (maybe 10 mi total?) of really terrible, bumpy road. This was bumpy enough to jar lots of bottles out, and bumpy enough that I had a hard time maintaining power.
With the increase in power and flatter course, the result was better than KS – 21.6 MPH average. This is not my world record, but I was still very pleased, given the circumstances of the day. The only question was what would this harder effort do to my run.
Run
The answer: nothing.
Again, just running the race for fun, I figured I’d just run the first few miles at a comfortable pace, see what it was, and just keep an eye on the pace to keep it not completely out of control, fast or slow. First mile 7:10. Whoa buddy, just a little fast. Relax a little. Second mile 7:00. I said, “relax” would you! Third mile, 7:01. OK, what the hell. Let’s just go with it. I did my gels as planned and walked the 10 steps or whatever is required to get the water every time.
Ran the whole course at a 7:00 pace with pretty even splits, taking account for a bit of geography. Yeah, ok, the last couple were harder, but not death defying.
Amazingly, this led to a 1:31:43, a FIVE MINUTE run PR for the distance.
Back to the bit with Chris and the race: the run course is out and back, mainly through residential neighborhoods. It’s a very pleasant and pretty flat course. I had expected to see him somewhere in my 5-6 mile range coming the other way. In reality, I was closer than I thought and the out-and-back had a loop at the end, so I missed him. I caught him at the 8 mile mark and he was clearly suffering. He had had some cramps. I didn’t get all the details, but I tried to encourage him because I knew he was really doing pretty well. But, if there’s one thing that boy can do, it’s suffer with the best of us. I worried a little bit, because I know what cramps can do to you, but I moved on and knew he would be ok.
I finished my race and wandered around. Just a few minutes later, Chris came through…very excitedly. I saw the whole thing; he ran straight through the chute and eventually just dived onto the ground. I misinterpreted his excitement for pain, but I was very proud. I caught up to him and offered him my best. It was great.
We finished the day with him picking up a 3rd place medal, and me finishing 7th. There were quite a number of very fast dudes in my age group, even though there were only 56 entries. I came away very happy with my time and experience.
Pluses and Minuses of this Race
The Chisago half is an inexpensive race, and they let people under 18 race. Those are both big pluses. The location means it is unlikely to be excessively hot. That too is a positive.
On the negative side, there were consistently too few volunteers throughout the course – on the swim, at the aid stations, etc., and the transition area was crowded. I have also alluded to the road quality, but the course has changed on the bike more than once and this may or may not be an issue going forward.
Overall, it is a good enough race if it fits one’s schedule and needs. It is not as well run as Pigman, but the run is a lot more pleasant.
Lessons Learned
I have been thinking about this ever since we started the drive home. What did this race mean?
I’m not certain of that. I think I am pleased with my ability to adjust upward, as well as downward, from whatever low-grade “plan” I had. I imagine I should take home the idea that – for me – “less may be more” on race week if there is any question about it for the last few days.
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