Arrived in Phoenix Thursday night. Last race of the season, and it's been a fairly long season for me. My goal was to get as close to 10:30 as I can, and then re-evaluate. Also to have fun and enjoy the Arizona fall. Bib # 2487.
The forecast has called a rain to start after 6pm, so I figured that I'd be done well before that... how foolish of me. Did not pack anything warm at all.
Swim - was shooting for a 1:10 time. However I did not realize how packed would the starting queue be - by the time I got in line, best I could do was get to the dude holding the 1:15 sign. LOL. The steps were kinda funky, but I got in and started swimming. Lots of mutual pummeling, etc. After about 3 markers, I finally swam through the masses and had plenty of space. Some more traffic at the turnaround, but not too bad. Slowed down a bit for the last 0.5 miles - realized that my neck is getting horribly chafed as my wetsuit's collar somehow got twisted, probably during the starting fight for space. Got out, I guess that the timer was placed at the top of the steps - my Garmin showed 1:14, official time was 1:15:14.
T1 - got the wetsuit off, ran to the bike bags, found mine quick. Hands were cold - and given my lesson from 2 years ago, I wanted socks. Took a minute to get the strap to click and the socks to line up on my numb feet. Off to the bike course in 5:40.
Bike - oh boy. I knew that it'd take me 3-4 miles to start generating power. Was shooting for 183 NP... man was I in for a disappointment. Going out on the first loop I was at 175, by the time I was back in Tempe I was at 161. Somehow I just could not get warm at all, was peeing on the bike every hour. The winds on the way out of town were pretty mild, but I was just sucking. Nutrition wise I was doing great, taking on 100 kcals every 20, and an extra GU packet on the hour mark. I was barely sweating, and was mostly drinking water with a salt tab once in a while. The rain started after 11, and it was on and off for the rest of the ride. By the time I was finishing the visibility was nearly zero and I was shivering nonstop. Did a flying dismount and almost face planted - the carpet at the finish line was soaked. 5:35:08 - boo.
T2 - it was so warm inside the tent! Decided to stay inside for an extra minute and stretch in hopes of warming up. The rain was coming down extra HARD outside but it was time to poop or get off the pot. I got up. 3:35
Run - After the first mile I was so cold that I almost called it quits. Then paired up with a 50-54 dude who was cranking it out, and he pulled through the next 3 miles. The rain water turned the dirt path along the lake into an obstacle course, which made it fun. After 5 miles I was finally warm, feeling my toes, and decided to shoot for a 3:40-ish run. It was definitely on until the 19 mile mark, when I have realized that I was shivering again. Started walking the water stations until the mile 24. After that, brought it home without any more misadventures. 3:44:16.
Overall - 10:43:53. Went out with the family afterwards, and had a burger and some salad and a couple of beers, got home to watch the 'hawks crapping their collective bed... and fell asleep on the coach... and woke up in the middle of the night HUNGRY. Typing this up before I forget stuff.
Conclusion - a very middling outing. I got work to do, with the bike re-fit and probably some sort of coaching. I should also get better prepped for colder events - which is hard to do in SoCal, but now that I got burned twice (here and in NYC 2014)...
The forecast has called a rain to start after 6pm, so I figured that I'd be done well before that... how foolish of me. Did not pack anything warm at all.
Swim - was shooting for a 1:10 time. However I did not realize how packed would the starting queue be - by the time I got in line, best I could do was get to the dude holding the 1:15 sign. LOL. The steps were kinda funky, but I got in and started swimming. Lots of mutual pummeling, etc. After about 3 markers, I finally swam through the masses and had plenty of space. Some more traffic at the turnaround, but not too bad. Slowed down a bit for the last 0.5 miles - realized that my neck is getting horribly chafed as my wetsuit's collar somehow got twisted, probably during the starting fight for space. Got out, I guess that the timer was placed at the top of the steps - my Garmin showed 1:14, official time was 1:15:14.
T1 - got the wetsuit off, ran to the bike bags, found mine quick. Hands were cold - and given my lesson from 2 years ago, I wanted socks. Took a minute to get the strap to click and the socks to line up on my numb feet. Off to the bike course in 5:40.
Bike - oh boy. I knew that it'd take me 3-4 miles to start generating power. Was shooting for 183 NP... man was I in for a disappointment. Going out on the first loop I was at 175, by the time I was back in Tempe I was at 161. Somehow I just could not get warm at all, was peeing on the bike every hour. The winds on the way out of town were pretty mild, but I was just sucking. Nutrition wise I was doing great, taking on 100 kcals every 20, and an extra GU packet on the hour mark. I was barely sweating, and was mostly drinking water with a salt tab once in a while. The rain started after 11, and it was on and off for the rest of the ride. By the time I was finishing the visibility was nearly zero and I was shivering nonstop. Did a flying dismount and almost face planted - the carpet at the finish line was soaked. 5:35:08 - boo.
T2 - it was so warm inside the tent! Decided to stay inside for an extra minute and stretch in hopes of warming up. The rain was coming down extra HARD outside but it was time to poop or get off the pot. I got up. 3:35
Run - After the first mile I was so cold that I almost called it quits. Then paired up with a 50-54 dude who was cranking it out, and he pulled through the next 3 miles. The rain water turned the dirt path along the lake into an obstacle course, which made it fun. After 5 miles I was finally warm, feeling my toes, and decided to shoot for a 3:40-ish run. It was definitely on until the 19 mile mark, when I have realized that I was shivering again. Started walking the water stations until the mile 24. After that, brought it home without any more misadventures. 3:44:16.
Overall - 10:43:53. Went out with the family afterwards, and had a burger and some salad and a couple of beers, got home to watch the 'hawks crapping their collective bed... and fell asleep on the coach... and woke up in the middle of the night HUNGRY. Typing this up before I forget stuff.
Conclusion - a very middling outing. I got work to do, with the bike re-fit and probably some sort of coaching. I should also get better prepped for colder events - which is hard to do in SoCal, but now that I got burned twice (here and in NYC 2014)...