2017 Ironman 70.3 Buffalo Springs Lake – Lubbock Texas
My Quest for the Ironman 70.3 World Championship
https://connect.garmin.com/modern/activity/1818858946
https://cyclo-sphere.com/analysis/i3Psl6
PreRace – Not my normal build up
I began my trip to Lubbock, Texas the Monday before the race. I was driving from Connecticut to Dallas, to pick up Cheynne, than to our final stop, Lubbock Texas (more on that drive in our traveling section). We began our drive in a massive thunderstorm, and the one question on my mind was, what kind of weather am I going to be dealing with. It was Texas in June, I was expecting 100 degrees, full sun. Nope. The forecast was for the thunderstorms to start back up again early race morning. This didn’t bother me much, I have had my best races when it rains, and traditionally, the swim has not been my strong point, so in the back of my mind I was kind of hoping for some lightening.
When we finally got to Lubbock, I got all checked in, (which was a breeze by the way, it still has a small, local race feel and crowd) and then it was off to check out the transition and to do for my final bike ride. I noticed that everything was really close to the transition, which was awesome. The Swim exit, was maybe 20 feet from the bike racks, which made things really simple. However, as soon as you exited you were met with this steep, steep hill. I wanted to get some practice, and see what gear I should be in coming out of T1. The answer to that question turned out to be, the lowest gear you have.
With that, It was off to find a place to stay for the night. We had originally planned to camp on the lake, but with the thunderstorms rolling in, we decided to find a hotel, and there were plenty in the Lubbock area. As we were checking in, we met a man there doing his first ever 70.3 and he was all by himself! He had the classic first 70.3 jitters and we ended up hanging out with him later that night. He came in as I was in the process of laying all my equipment out, packing everything up and getting ready we chatted discussed, we were both nervous, but for slightly different reasons. He was nervous about the cutoffs, I still had a hope for a world championship slot, even though I was just coming off injury. After chatting for a bit, it was off to bed for both of us. It was about 8:30 pm, I took some of my GQ6 Rekuvr Nite Time as I knew sleep was going to be difficult.
Race Morning
I woke up around 4:30, and began getting ready. I put on my Wattie Ink Speed Suit, brushed my teeth, and had some of my breakfast. Race morning breakfast consisted of 3 off branded “Glucerna Plus” Shakes and a BioAstin pill. I find them easy to digest, and give me good energy without having any harsh stomach affects, its been working for a while now! We arrived to transition around 5:40, which was perfect, parking was easy and I headed down to rack my bike. So far, the weather was holding up, no clouds and definitely no rain. I had a perfect transition spot, it was right on the end, by bike out. Easy to find, and a short run heading out of T1. For this race, I had decided to break from tradition, and didn’t clip in my shoes, instead leaving them by my front wheel. I chose to do this because coming out of transition there is a very steep (12-16% grade hill) and I didn’t want to be dealing with putting my shoes on during that time. Other than that, the my transition area is very simple, helmet on bike, shoes by wheels. Than separately, running shoes and socks, with my race bib under the shoes. By 6:00 I was set up, had grabbed my BlueSeventy Helix wetsuit and was heading down to the water.
I met Cheynne and Sorraya by the lake, I put on my Pjur Active anti chafe around my neck, and on my legs and arms, it doubles as wetsuit lube! I than began putting on my wetsuit and proceeded to do my warm up swim. My wave went at 6:42 and was Men 18-24 and 40-44. In no time at all, the first waves were off, and I was in my starting corral, sucking down my last powerbar shot.
The Swim – 32:04 – 5th in AG
I had high hopes for this swim, and definitely set out looking for a PR (previous was 34:40). Previously in any swim over an olympic I have had issues where I feel like I am fighting my wetsuit and get a lot of shoulder fatigue. This year, I had a secret weapon. The swim is a counter clockwise loop, that goes around the peninsula that is the transition area. The water was calm, fresh and only a little murky. I would give the water a 7 out of 10, with 1 being IM Arizona, where you can’t see your elbow in front of you, and 10 being the crystal clear water in Lake Winnipesaukee at IM 70.3 Timberman.
The gun went off, and I was off, fighting my way to just behind the lead pack. I knew I wouldn’t be the fastest, but my hope was to hold onto those that were close. I quickly set into a pretty good pace, and was feeling comfortable. This was the first time racing in my new BlueSeventy Helix and with in the first 500 it was feeling good, but I was curious to see how it felt for the last 500. Very quickly, my group came into the slower swimmers from the group ahead of us, an older female group. I was attempting to stay with my pack, and navigate through when BAM! I was kicked in the head by a person doing breastroke. Now, breastroke is cool, I did it in my first race, but if your gonna do it, stay to the outside! That stopped me for a second to regroup, and by that time, I had lost the toes I had been drafting off of. No worries, I regained my composure, and kept on swimming. I settled into my own rhythm, staying in the middle of packs and attempting to draft off of people as long as I could until passing them. By now, I was feeling pretty good, and I was sighting the last yellow turn buoy. I gave it all I had and began to head for home. At this point I was feeling good, for the first time ever, my wetsuit was feeling like a second skin, and not thick rubber that I was fighting against. It was glorious! I came to could see the transition and headed in.
T1 – 1:38 – 2nd in AG
I began stripping off my wetsuit, which was a quicker than normal process, the reversed zipper was a pain to get on, but made it fly off. I ran and sat down in front of a wetsuit stripper, who pulled it off my legs, and I was off to my bike, pulling my Wattie Ink Speed Suit up over my shoulders. I got to my Felt IA and in order, goggles and swim cap off, helmet on, shoes on, Felt IA off the rack and go.
Bike – 2:34:04 – 2nd in AG
Nutrition: 1 bottle of GQ6 (2 scoops), 9 PowerGels, 2 Bottles of Gatoraide Endurance
https://cyclo-sphere.com/analysis/i3Psl6
The bike course is an interesting one, that’s for sure. It starts out with a steep climb right out of transition, were talking 15% grade, this was followed by a very fast descent, and an immediate climb very similar to the first. I began climbing in my lowest possible gear, working my hardest to stay under 300 watts and using a “light spin”. I had set my Pioneer Power Meter to yell at me if went over 300. It did a lot of yelling on those hills. My max wattage on that first climb was 412, but I was averaging around 350. It was a grind for sure. I made it to the top, HR through the roof at 184 despite my best efforts. The hill was followed up by a quick, steep descent, and one more hill just like the rest. I worked to stay steady, and attack each hill the same. Once I got over the last hill, the course flattened out. We took a turn out of the campground, and it was time to fly. Flat Texas roads, perfect racing weather meant it was going to be a good day for me.
My goal was to keep my power around 220 watts with an IF of around 75%. This was lower than I would normally race, but having a knee held together with Cortisone I knew the run was going to be a bit rough. I kept on cycling and going through the flat roads of back country, western Texas heading towards the first of three steep hills. The first hill I got to was simple enough, straight up, than a U-Turn at the top, and right back down. The hills are short, about ½ mile, but they are steep. I attacked the hill, again working to keep my power under control. Because this was the first turn around, about halfway up I could see the leaders of the race and I began counting, but then promptly stopped after 50 hit, and kept going. I hit the U-turn and headed down, FAST. I grabbed onto the basebar and tucked as low as I could working to stay on balance as best I could on these rough roads. Once we hit the flat, I began pedaling again, grabbed a Gatorade from the aid station and began working to pass as many as I could. The flat, and false flat road lead us up and over to the second climb. As I began to climb, I once again saw 1st place coming down the hill, hard on his breaks. 2nd and 3rd were the same. This hill consisted of 3 tight switchbacks right on the edge of the canyon. As confident as I was on my Felt IA, and deep dish wheels, there was no way I was going to be bombing down this. I got to the top and made my turn around. I began the decent, and like the people ahead of me, was pretty hard on the breaks. I picked the best line I could, and made it down the weaving road. This part would have been a lot more fun my my Felt AR and climbing wheels. However I hit the bottom of the hill and had some serious speed, back to the flats where I do my best work.
This time I had counted, 55 people ahead of me. I knew I had just one more hill to go, and wanted to be in the top 50 by the time I got there. The miles clicked by, fast and flat, until I got to the last hill. This was much the same as the last one, a switch back that was slow to climb, and slow to descend. This was much the same story, the only difference was, by the time I made it to the bottom, I counted 46 people ahead of me. Now it was the home stretch, and it was all flat to the finish. I put my head down, and biked away. With the flat roads, almost no wind, and my Felt IA I was putting out some pretty great speed (for me) this whole section back was done between 24-27 mph, which felt great! We took the final turn into the campground, and were hit with the same climbs and descents as we had started with, only in reverse. We had that steep descent going into transition, and right at the bottom of it is a 90 degree turn. From what I heard after the race, several people had neglected to turn at the end, lost control and ran into some well placed gates. Me? I took it slow and steady. I hit the turn and began to undo my shoes, stepping over to one side of my bike ready to dismount. I hit the ground running and into T2.
T2
I quickly found my bike rack, and racked it. Helmet off, running shoes and socks on, and special for this race, a dab of my anti-inflammatory knee medicine. Grabbed my running bib and was off.
The Run – 1:45:54
I ran out of the transition area, putting on my race belt, and looking to settle into a smooth running pace. Right outside transition was my girlfriend, and our dog, cheering me on, and it was just the boost I needed! My goal, was to start out at an 8:30, and see if I could even hold that for the race. Remember, I hadn’t done any running, and was coming off a knee injury. When I got out of the transition area, I looked down at my watch to see what pace I was doing. 7:40 it said. That can’t be right, I felt way too good to be running at that pace. I figured it just needed some time to adjust so I kept on running staying smooth and steady. When I looked back down, it said the same thing, two thoughts ran through my head. Do I slow down and keep it conservative, or go for it and see what happens. I went with the second option.
The course started off flat, as we wound our way around Buffalo Springs Lake and through the campground. Truthfully, I hadn’t looked at the course map, so I had no idea what I was in for. The run stayed flat, and by mile 3 I had finally settled into the rhythm of running and was feeling really good. For what it’s worth, it’s a really scenic run course, a lot better than the bike. By Mile 4 I could see the first hill we were going to climb, and it was steep. As I rounded the corner and began to climb, I felt like I wasn’t making any progress. It was one of those hills where you run up it, but don’t seem to go much faster than those that are walking. But I pushed through the hill and made it to the top. There we went around a corner, and it was back down, and we continued to run along the lake. The course than does another out and back before having us run back to transition to start a second loop. It was more or less flat though the entire run which was great in my mind. I ran through each aid station, stopping only to get a Cliff Shot every 20 minutes. Just before the start of my second loop, a guy passed me wearing a different Wattie Ink Speed Suit. He said something to me, but I didn’t understand. We chatted for a bit as we ran, he was in the 25-30 age group, and he was running well. As it turns out, he lived on Encinitas Blvd, right where Ride Tri Team is located. I than later found out he had just joined the team, but didn’t have the team kit yet. What a small world!
For a while, I attempted to keep up with him, but simply put that wasn’t happening. I continued to see him on the course, and looked forward to the high fives as we passed each other. By now, I was passing the transition area for the first time, getting ready to begin my second loop. I saw my girlfriend there, and shouted out to her “what’s my position?” “I am not sure, but I think 2nd, I only saw one guy come in ahead of you.” That was music to my ears, now I knew I just had to hold and try and chip away at that lead. The problem was, the race director had decided not to mark the ages on the calfs, so each person I passed I was giving an awkward stare down trying to judge their age. My legs were starting to hurt, and I was rounding the corner to that big hill again. No matter, just push on, up and over, it was the home stretch now. We were at mile 11 and it was all downhill from here. I did my best to pick up the speed, though I didn’t have much left to give running wise. I had been running about an 8 minute mile at this point. At mile 12, I dropped that to just under 7 taking it home.
I crossed that finish line, with some friends and soon to be family there waiting, and I was pretty sure I had done what I set out to do.
Final Results
3rd in the AG
76th Overall
4:57
A Slot to the Ironman 70.3 World Championship!!
Triathlon, Trails and Tails 