Race Report: Quassy 70.3

This is an inaugural post in on my en-devour into the world of triathlon. Known as the beast of the north east, Rev 3 Quassy is a "scenic" hilly Ironman 70.3 race out in Waterville CT.  It never really lets you settle in a rhythm with the constant ups and down hill.  Never the less, lets talk results.

Looking weird at the finish line

I finished in 5:55:09, Swim Split 36:14.860, Bike Split 03:15:44.646 Run split 1:57:39.170.  For my first 70.3 I say I met my expectation, mainly because I didn't have any -  Its nice to not have any,  once should try it more often - My age group winner had Swim : 00:27:13.823 Bike 02:25:09.350 Run: 01:26:40.676 Total 04:21:52.663.   In short I'm 10min short on the swim, 50min short on the bike and 30min short on the run.  Based on all this, it looks like my focus should still be on the bike/run.  With that in mind here is how the weekend went down.

Pre Race
Arrived Saturday - day before the race to pick up the race packed and settle in.  The olympic distance race was on this day but I arrived too late to catch my friends finish.  Regardless, went for a test swim - only my second open water swim of the season.  Well didn't drown and the water felt fine, not at all cold by New England standards. it was 62F if I remember. Checked in bike.  All well and good, had a quick call with my coach and headed to get dinner.  Had vegetarian Pasta and a beer.  I was still hungry after that and had to plan for race day breakfast.  Grabbed. a few things from the supermarket but settled on a Banana, Bagel, Peanut butter.  Upon looking at the peanut butter jar I caved in and had a bagel right then and soon was napping by 9:30pm.


Race Day

Woke up 4am, downed two bagels, a banana and a water bottle - sans bottle. Wrapped up my belonging and packed the car, checked out the hotel and off to the race venue.  My wave was the first one to go at 7am sharp so took a little nap in the car from 6-6:30.

The swim
Picked the back of the group knowing I was going to be slow and probably not straight.  I got hit a couple of times in the head, by not sure who.  the GPS showed that yet again I wasn't exactly straight.  The swim distance was also just short of the 2112yrds (1.9km) it meant to be.  It was more around 1900 yrds but took me approximately 2000yrs.

 T1
This went horribly wrong.  it took me 4 minutes.  Now this includes a section to walk up from the water but it should be this long.  I remember telling myself to calm the f down even if it takes 10min I have to go on a long bike rid so lets not forget anything.  Notes to remember next time: unnecessary are energy bars and bike sleeves. They where annoying in my back pocket.   Forgot: salt tablets.

The Bike
 Had a crap time trying to switch between front gears. The constant up/down required timely shifting which was not always possible.  As a result it was a bit frustrating.  Also did not have enough hydration with me and see the point know in those aero front head hydration systems.  My bike fit is also not ideal and I wasn't sitting on my sit bones.  All this will be fixed in time.  It just shows I have alot to improve on.  My plan was to bike based on HR - but for some reason my band didnt connect - it usually does automatically.  This pissed me off for the first 30min on the bike and eventually I gave up.   I thought the strap wasn't tight enough and this is why its not connecting. So in my head went through sequence of events for T2 and how I was going to fix it while running.

T2
This went as planned and pretty good.  I remember downing a jell in my mouth running out of transition.  Once I exit the transition area, I started fiddling with my band. I could now fiddle with the watch better to get this thing connected. I really needed the HR for the run to make sure I don't  push myslef beyond my aerobic limit.  turns out I just have to manually connect it on the watch - the auto-connect had not worked.  Once I got this working I was happy but then I find out...

Run
...Why the hell is my HR in Zone 4. I could never get it below Z4 the entire race.  I was running at a pace I though I could maintain for hours.  At the second aid station I started putting ice/water on my head. This turned out to be the best way to bring it down.  But it still never got below 4.2. At this point I was sure by Run HR Zones are wrong and I need to fix them.  Another action item.  at 1:57 I ran the half marathon at the same pace as my first half.  That's pretty impressive to me.   The plan for the run was to wait till mile 8, and then turn on the booster.  This worked pretty well except I was going slower than I needed to thinking I was out of my zone.

The Last 4 miles
I managed to over take 1 person in my AG here. but couldn't keep up with many.  There was a person in my AG that I couldn't catch up.  We both exited the transition at roughly the same time, but he was just on a faster run pace than I was and I lost him by mile 7.   I really tried to keep up with a female that caught up to me on the last mile but she was just too fast for me.  I finished strong at that was important.  Take aways::

• some sort of front Aero Hydration system
• Run HR Zones
• Sweat test, salt intake level.
• 728 Race wheels
• Better Helmet