Race details:
Big Island, Hawaii
Swim: 1.2 mi - open water, ocean
Bike: 56 mi - road, out and back on Queen K freeway
Run: 13.1 mi - run, 2 loops, parts thru the golf course and one stretch on paved road
Course Recorded Finish: 6:19:22
Garmin Splits:
AG Finish: 39/61
OV Finish: 697/1514
AG Race Factor: 1.47
OV Race Factor: 1.47
Race Analysis:
Transitions:
My transition times were quite slow here, like QUITE slow. My experience doing an Ironman probably affected this mindset. In an Ironman, you wanna just take your time. It's a long day, a long grind and the extra minute or two in each transition will not make a big deal. So naturally, this having been my next long race since then, I took my time. Admittedly, I also took my time because my fitness level wasn't what it was before. But additionally, there was just a huge mess about both of the split transitions. In T1, the tent didn't actually have a seating area and it was a longish climb from the ocean to the bikes. In T2, you had to run with your bike on the grass, park it in the holding spot and then go find you numbered bag before changing. Both a mess, but not really a great excuse for super slow times.
Swim:
The swim was AMAZING! The water temps were perfect, the waves were virtually non-existent and the water was clear as day! You really couldn't ask for better conditions (maybe wearing a wetsuit I guess). But with great conditions, I had a great swim. My pace was solid, I felt and stayed strong despite a lack of a wetsuit and it was just a really good start to the race.
Bike:
The bike here was also pretty darn good for me! First off, I didn't have my normal bike as the race was an island away from home, so I rented a Specialized Shiv and boy was that a nice TT bike. I'm definitely thinking about getting one now! The bike rode and handled well. Sadly, my Garmin did not capture the elevation gains so folks reading can't understand how tough this course was, but it was tough. Plenty of rolling hills along the course and then one long grind of a climb up to Hawi. Crosswinds were crazy epic and headwinds going up were brutal. But once you hit that turnaround, boy is it a fun ride down! Whizzing and whirring at over 25 mph is just amazing! There was one crappy and deadly climb around mile 45ish as you make your last efforts back. And that actually really sucked. But once you got past that, it was basically smooth sailing back!
Having never ridden more than 30 miles or 2 hours on a trainer before this race, it was quite epic to have the (in my mind) strong time that I had. I mean it was a hair under 10 minutes slower than my Superfrog time. But Superfrog was flat as a pancake and I also had my deep dish Zipp wheels on my bike. I think those things can make a significant time difference. But I am really happy with my bike time!
Run:
Like all bad races, falling apart on the run is what usually happens. Again, the messed up watch doesn't capture the elevation of the undulating golf course. It doesn't capture the trek off the golf course on black hot pavement going down and up. And there is no temperature and humidity marked at this time of day. But like every race, that's the unpredictable challenge.
The run itself sucked horribly at only one point. You can see it just after the 50 minute mark where my heart rate dips way down for a moment. That's when I had a small cramp that I was able to just walk out. Otherwise, the run wasn't horrible, it just wasn't my day. The heat and humidity wore on me with no covered areas. I made my plan to walk thru every aid station taking water, gatorade and slurping down a salt pill as well. It worked and kept me going, but as evidenced by my final splits, it didn't give me a time any faster than a 10:12/mi average.
All in all, I have to say it wasn't my best race, but I'm proud of how I raced. In my training, I never ran more than 6 miles. I most frequently ran 3 miles and did that often. Save the OC Marathon a month out, I never really ran long. As mentioned above, my bike was equally short. I did tons of bricks leading up to the event and always swam 2200yds. But given the work travel challenges, injuries from earlier in the season and life just getting in the way, I felt like it was a valiant effort. I landed in between Superfrog (5:50ish) and Wildflower (7:05ish) as my only other 70.3s to gauge from. At 6:19 I was almost exactly half the time of my IM Florida result of 12:37. So to me, it was a good race. And well I obviously raced for a great cause so that's a huge win in my book!!! :D
Prerace Racking
Swim Start
Bike Transition In
Run Turnaround
Run Course
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