My goals for the Taylorsville Aquabike were
Get a good training day for TTT
Valid the changes to my power meter and bike setup
Practice the power pacing strategy
Win (looking at the previous years results I thought that I had a chance)
We got up at 5:20 and it was raining like crazy. I wasn't totally prepared so I had to get a few things together - mainly running stuff for my planned brick after the race.
I had a bowl of Kashi heart to heart ... say 200ish calories + a banana + a bottle of Gatorade (20 oz)
The babysitter showed up at 6:00 and we drove to Starbucks where I had medium cappuccino + 1/2 scone + medium cup of coffee. Then we drove on to the race where we were late because of a nasty pit stop. It was a wild cow pissing on a flatrock lightning storm... but quit about 7:45
I ate 1/2 bagel + 5ozs of Gatorade + 20oz of water
I put on my sausage wrapper and got into the water and swam 200ish
Pissed in the wet suit.
Listen to the race director blab on.
Pissed in the wet suit.
Started swimming
We started from a boat ramp... swam 50ish yards out to a buoy and then turned left. Todd had a long rectangle setup with buoys always on the right. I was at the front of the pack which was a little crazy... maybe 50 more yards after the turn my heart rate went through the roof... and I started having a hard time breathing. I pulled up and looked around and tried to swim again... but things were not good. I had just a flash of panic (which is really bad since I don't have the panic gene in me) and almost flipped over onto my back... but for some reason I calmed down... then I pulled out of traffic and breast stroked for a minute or two. Then I started feeling better and got back into the freestyle.
Probably something like 1 time in 5/6 at the swimming pool I will jump in and by 15 yards my heart rate will be off the graph. If I just go with it for a lap or two things will settle down and it will be ok... but it is really really uncomfortable while it is happening. I have no idea what is going on.
For some reason I was breathing only on the left which wasn't that ideal because the buoys were on the right... but I wasn't willing to screw with it since the earlier thing. I made the turn to come back OK... and swam easy back to the start line for the second lap. I tried to swim harder in the second lap and I know that I must have. Things were much better other than breathing on the left was still a problem. I am sure that I zig-zaggged all around. I came out of the water at the boat ramp and was momentarily light headed... but got settled in and ran up the the transition... stripped the wet suit... then took a piss off to the side. Put on my bike jersey + new giro advantage 2 helmet, drank 1/2 bottle of Gatorade and then took off.
There was a long steep hill up from the lake. I worked hard at keeping a lid on it. 3 guys passed me on the uphill section. Then I turned right onto the loop around the lake. On the loop I settled into a very stable power. I went back and forth with those three guys who had passed me as the stood up to surge up the hills. But within a few miles I ditched them and about 10 others. 25 minutes in a ran into a freaking pit bull and I surged up to 745 watts getting away. That kind of sucked. The other problem that I have is that when I see a turtle on the road I always stop and get it off the road. In fact Jill and I had stopped already once on the way there to get a turtle off the road. Well the first turtle I went by I didn't get off the road... but I was worried about my karma... so the next one I got off the road. Then I saw a third which I rode by... but worried. Finally I decided that I would spend some of the karma that I had built up for years of getting the damn things off the road. I rode by something like 25-30 turtles... and it was killing me... but I didn't stop.
I comfortably rode by 1/2 dozen more people... keeping a lid on the power... basically having the average around 276 (which was OK because it is Quarq watts at 1.05*pt watts). One of the people that I went by is a good friend of mine. I tapped him as I went by but way underestimated the closure rate... and that almost didn't go well.
Then I made the right onto the out/back spur off of the loop. I asked the person at the aid station how many people were in front of me and they said 10. The out/back is the place with the big downhill... followed by going up a steep hill to a turnround where you reverse it. As I went down the spur I counted people and found that I was in 10th place.. This was the place where my coach told me to start picking it up. So from there out I averaged 287. As I went up the hill at the end of the spur two of those people passed me back. After the turn around I passed them back. Then I saw the first irritating thing. Someone's wife/girlfriend was at the top of the hill handing out custom nutrition for him/her.
Then I made the right back on the loop. I fairly quickly moved up into 8th place. But there was a big gap between 4th and 5th place (which I had seen on the out/back). Then I saw the next really irritating thing. A guy was drafting off his wife... who was driving a car. I couldn't believe that. What really sucked is I had picked it up quite a bit.... and they were blocking. I got by them into 7.... then I put my head down and worked on keeping the watts rolling. In the next bit I passed into 6. Then I made the final turn where my coach told me to pick it up... which I did and moved into 5 as I passed a guy like he was standing still. After the race he said that he did everything that he could to hang on... to no avail. I put at least 2-3 minutes on him in 4 miles. As I turned into the park I saw the next person off in the distance... but I just couldn't get the gap closed.
The splits were
1:11 276 watt, 85 cadence, 20.9 mph
1:12 287 watt, 86 cadence, 22.3 mph
10:12 292 watt 81 cadence 21.6 mph
Entire workout (282 watts):
Duration: 2:33:54
Work: 2605 kJ
TSS: 236.6 (intensity factor 0.96)
Norm Power: 288
VI: 1.02
Distance: 55.362 mi
Elevation Gain: 4042 ft
Elevation Loss: 4063 ft
Grade: -0.0 % (-21 ft)
Min Max Avg
Power: 0 767 282 watts
Cadence: 3 121 85 rpm
Speed: 1.9 43.4 21.6 mph
Pace 1:23 32:11 2:47 min/mi
Altitude: 481 843 735 ft
Crank Torque: 0 766 283 lb-in
I went back into the transition area drank 5-6 oz of Gatorade... and then started running. My legs felt good... but the hill is really steep.. I stopped at the first aid station and had water... then at the next one and had water then to the turn around and had water. After the turn around I came up on my friend and I turned around and ran back to the turnaround and then back to the start with him. my legs were good and I am pretty sure I could have gone <2hrs>
He talked about the girl who was in the first 2/3 swimmers out of the water... even though she spotted everyone 5 minutes. My friend told me that he came out of the water in 25 minutes as one of the fastest people.... its hard to believe that she was 20 minutes... So it will be interesting to see the chip times.
I am guessing that the front runners put nearly 10 minutes into me on the swim... though since I swam 41 minutes on the same course last year I suspect that I improved.
I only drank just short of 20oz of Gatorade on the bike (I had a full bottle left). It was fine..... no sick stomach. I do remember that I don't really like the sticky sweet taste.. but it can be tolerated.
I guess that all in all I'm surprised by the power numbers and the time. I was really tired after the run on Thursday... and my legs didn't feel good on Friday. I didn't really bury myself yesterday and definitely think that I could have gone harder.
I am hopeful that legs etc will be OK next weekend (for TTT).... I am getting ready to go run intervals... and I think that will be OK...
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