Our loot from check in 🙂
St. Croix is a special race for many reasons. For one it is a 70.3 (Half-Ironman) which offers 30 slots for the Ironman World Championships, this means it attracts top talents every year. The race is comparable with Kona from a heat/humidity perspective. And you get a bottle of Rum at athletes check-in as part of the athletes goodie bag. Since, Amy was also racing, this meant we scored two 1L bottles of Rum 🙂
Amy and I tried to enjoy the few days on the Island as much as we could. One of my favorite part was the ocean swim we did while it was raining. I swam in Lakes before while it was raining but in the ocean felt different. But back to the race…
John (my Coach) and I had a few discussions about racing in the heat and what I could change to perform better. Since I was struggling in Los Cabos and in 2 weeks I’ll be racing again in the dry heat in Texas. This was supposed to be a test for Ironman Texas.
The race strategy was to approach it a little conservative on the bike, that I can start the run well fueled without an upset stomach to run to my potential. The specific instructions were to start the swim aggressive but in control. Push 245-250 Watts on the bike, but only if heart rate allows it (max Z2 top). Start the run with a 6:15 min/mile and than run best effort for the half marathon.
Swim warm up to the island in the background
For this race everyone gets a nice little swim warm up, because the swim start is about 200m out on a little island. So after setting up transition area we had to jump of the pier into the water and swim out to the island.
There we had a perfect view of the pro start. While standing there I saw couple people I knew from other races and we talked about the challenges of this race, like the infamous hill called the Beast, 7/10 of a mile with average grade of ~14%.
6 minutes after the pro’s it was already my turn. My age group was bigger than I expected and since there was 90 degree turn only 100m into the swim I wasn’t excited for the turmoil that would cause.
Swim finish. Trying to reach the zipper!
Swim:
The horn went off, and I sprinted into the water till knee deep and dove in. To my surprise I started better than the people right around me and was swimming clear for the first 50m, but once I got closer to the turn it got very tight. I tried to push through it, but there were a couple people who didn’t make a complete 90 degree turn and were swimming in my way. Many people seemed to be confused by the 4 buoys we had to swim trough and were aiming for the outside buoys which added more confusing and body contact. I tried to stay calm while pushing hard. I noticed that I was swimming next to Mark (which I knew from various previous races) and both of us were swimming the same speed and nobody around as was going noticeable faster to draft of. I guess once again I missed all the fast people to draft off. I was slowly making progress on moving ahead on Mark and than suddenly my face (nose and left chin) started burning. First I thought someone kicked me in the face, but it felt different and than I realized that it must have been something in the water. Probably a jelly fish or something. I was burning pretty bad and I tried to rub it off my face every other stroke or so. But that didn’t work. Nothing I could do but just continue swimming. Surprisingly I was calm throughout that part and I didn’t loose much time since I was still next to Mark. Sighting was a little challenging with the waves and it was hard to see the buoys but I managed to pick a decent line to the turn around. The field was spread out that the turn wasn’t too bad. The water was very clear and it was easy to see to the bottom, where I saw a security diver watching us. A while after the turn a guy from the next wave passed me and I decided to be aggressive and jump on his feet. I had to work hard not to loose him but managed until the next turn buoy which I am pretty happy with. Than there were only a few hundred meters left. I finished the swim in (34:50) which I was shocked by at first, but I knew I was swimming hard so I figured it was a slow swim. As it turns out I exited the water in 8th place which is really good for me.
T1:
I didn’t practice taking the speed suit of quickly (Note: Not a wetsuit, the water is way to warm for wetsuit). The zipper doesn’t have a strap and I couldn’t reach it. While running to my bike I shoved the zipper a little down my back and than just pulled both sides of the suit till the zipper finally gave in. At that time I was already standing next to my bike, slightly annoyed that I was still trying to get out of the speed suit. I quickly put on helmet and goggles and off I went. Unfortunately, at that point, I did no realize that I forgot to put on my cooling arm sleeves which are also supposed to protect me from the sun.
Bike:
Doesn’t it look nice… and hot 🙂
The bike was a little weird at first since the island drives on the left side and so we had to overtake on the right and nobody seemed to stay left. So initially people were overtaking people left and right. I saw a guy on the side taking off the speed suit and throwing it away, I guess I’m not the only one who didn’t have a perfect transition. During the early parts of the race it was overcast and not too hot yet. Mark, which I apparently beat in the swim, overtook me within a few minutes on the bike. He finished 5th the previous year and I knew if I beat him I would be in a good spot, but I also knew that he was a better cyclist than me. In all previous encounters I had the better run and managed to beat him with that. But he seemed to has gotten a lot skinnier since last year, which could mean that his run also improved. There was nothing I could do about him passing me and I just let him go since I wanted to stick to my race plan. Initially I was happy to still have him within sight, but that eventually changed. I was pushing my target watts and making good progress, a handful of people passed me and I passed some but it got pretty quiet. It really helped that I drove the course the day before. I was making good progress and for once even enjoying the scenery. When I reached the last turn before the Beast I downshifted, as I had planned the previous day to prevent having to downshift in the hill. Somehow I managed to drop the chain right there. Unbelievable, that is exactly what I wanted to prevent. Not sure why it happened since the rest of the ride, shifting gears wasn’t a problem. I tried to get it back on by slowly spinning and shifting gears, but since it was a slight uphill I quickly run out of real estate and had to jump off. It took me way longer than it should have to put the chain back on (60 sec). I wiped of my greasy hands at the new QT2 tri-suit I just received for this season. (well no better way to make it look used) and hopped on the bike again. There was a lot of talk about the Beast and I figured with my light weight I would have no problem. But I noticed quickly that it was going to be a long grind up the hill. The organizers sprayed comments about the hill on the road. It was somewhat entertaining, like 14%, 16%, back to 14.5%. Easy 5.5%. 22% percent. I switched between standing and sitting and even though I wasn’t pushing the pace but rather just went in a nice rhythm I was passing many people. On top there was an aid station were I grabbed a bottle of water and poured it all over me to cool myself down. Once again I was a little hesitant on the steep downhill, but considering how many people I saw with road rashes I still think it was a good idea. After a short road with a gazillion speed bumps we ended up on the highway, which was probably the most boring part of the ride especially since we had to ride into a head wind. After the highway we took a road towards the coast and than along the coast, but it felt like the wind was always coming from the front. At least the scenery was beautiful, which I normally don’t notice. But how can I ignore the view on a tropical island. It is kinda surreal to race there after training for months in Seattle 🙂
The 2nd half of the course was surprisingly hilly. While driving it by car, I noticed that it was somewhat up and down but on the bike it felt much harder. I was over 2h into the ride and didn’t feel like peeing which had me a little worried that I was dehydrated. Since my stomach didn’t feel too well I decided to skip a gel and just focus on getting fluids down. Which in the end I drank 3 bottles of perform and about 1/2 bottle of water. Which is pretty much what my plan called for and to my delight towards the end of the ride I almost felt like peeing which meant that I wasn’t dehydrated too badly. This gave me some confidence for the run. The last mile of the bike is along the run course, where I saw Mark already running at mile 1. I guess I would have some catching up to do. I averaged 219 Watts (142 bpm, low Z2) on the bike and finished the 56miles in 2:48min.
T2:
I put on the socks and shoes and noticed that the left sock had some wrinkles in it and I invested the time to straighten it out. I also made sure to grab my arm sleeves, I guess for the run the cooling properties are questionable, but at least it protects my arm a little from the sun.
Run:
In the Buccaneer resort on dirt trails. Nice little beach in the back, too bad I couldn’t lay down for a second and go for a refreshing swim 🙂
Normally, I feel great at the beginning of the run, not this time. I was already hot and my legs didn’t want to move. While normally I have to consciously slow down this time I had to focus to keep moving. I wasn’t even close to a 6:15min/mile. But I wasn’t worried since I knew that most people would run very slow on this course. So I just ran by feeling which was just slightly faster than a 6:50min/mile for the first few miles. This was fast enough to pass many athletes. The first two miles were on a dark street which reflected the heat. I made sure to pour water over myself at every aid station and try to stay cool. My stomach was okay, but every time I consumed something it was complaining again. At mile 2 the course turns into a resort. This is where I saw Rodney (QT2 team mate, and very good runner) coming out of the resort. We had to do a 2 mile loop in the resort on mostly dirt trail and some grass. It also contained a hill named “Beast Jr.”. The first time trough I managed to run up the whole hill, but my quads were burning. After that the race got a bit blurry I don’t remember too many details. I was struggling and questioning if I could keep up that pace, but I remember my coach saying that I have the fitness and I should just trust it. I took a double caffeinated gel and kept on pushing. With 1 mile to the turn around I was looking for Mark and how much time I made up, to my surprise I saw him close to the turnaround. When I started the 2nd lap I was feeling the heat, but knew I would catch Mark. At the next aid station they handed out ice bags, which I grabbed one and put ice in my pockets, arm sleeves, hat, mouth and hands. This together with the caffeine started to take affect and I felt better. I caught Mark before going into the resort. I didn’t see Rodney which was another good indication that I was doing well. I was tired but moving faster than most people. This time I power walked Beast Jr. because I figured it would be more energy efficient. I just focused on reeling in people in front of me.
Finish sprint
The end of the course consisted of an extra loop, this is were I could finally see who is in front of me or who has another lap left. When I did the turn onto the loop I saw 3 guys in front of me. A lady was telling me that it was only 7/10 of a mile left. The loop started with an uphill and once on top of that I already caught the first two, but at the same time my body was screaming. I realized that 7/10 is a lot longer than I thought. For a second I was a little worried that I couldn’t keep it up, but it became clear quickly that these two wouldn’t match my pace. After two turns I could see the finish line, while another athlete was just 30 feet in front of me. I started pushing harder to catch the guy in front of me. I caught up with him and he didn’t seem to match my pace either. I normally don’t look back, but this time I did. My muscles were so tired, I felt like that I couldn’t accelerate quickly and wanted to be prepared for a counter attack. But there was no attack and I finished very satisfied in a time of 1:30:32. The 2nd fastest run time in my AG.
My effort resulted in a 5th place in my age group. At the awards my age group got 2 slots for Kona and the first two took it. Which meant that I would have needed to be 10min faster. They also had 3 slots for the 70.3 Worlds, which rolled down and I could have gotten a slot. At least I got some satisfaction from declining that spot 🙂 (I’m doing too many long races already the 70.3 Worlds just wouldn’t fit in, besides I did it once in 2011)
Note: very tough and challenging course. I was 20min slower than my PR. Even though I think I’m currently in better shape.
After match:
I was hurting right when I finished and apparently I wasn’t looking to good since the volunteers guided me to the medic tent. There I got a ice water soaked towel over my shoulders to cool myself. They asked me if I wanted an IV and I accepted, I figured with another race coming up in two weeks it probably doesn’t hurt to speed up recovery. Especially, when being dehydrated. After the IV and relaxing for 30+ minutes I started to feel much better and focused on getting some carbs into my body. I tried to enjoy the 1/2 day on the island before flying back to Seattle.
Bike HR and Watts (note: I let the bike computer run, that is why the file is longer)
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