Qualifier:
Ironman Lake placid which was a qualifier for Kona gave a
good start for Triathlon in Ironman, After Lake Placid I took break for couple
of weeks doing easy swim and run, but focusing lot on biking in preparation for
Mt. Washington Auto Road which was only four weeks apart. I manage to get good
results in race but I can still improve a lot by focusing on climbing intervals
only (which is off topic for now, will work on that topic later)
Ironman Lake Placid results: 9:51:xx, 2nd place
in Age group
Training:
After Mt Washington Auto Road race, I had exactly 7 weeks
for Kona, IM World Champion, thinking about it gives me Goosebumps, and
excited. I had very good base from IMLP, however I still need work in bike, had to focus lot on, Aero position, Power Intervals and run speed going into Kona.
Since I had 7 weeks, I was put into 5 weeks blocks continuously working both
speed and volume leading upto the race, and 2 weeks taper.
Training was going well for three weeks of five weeks block,
4th week I was feeling sign of heel or Achilles injury after 16miles
run, later weeks I kept most of my runs indoors on treadmill (do not want to
make it worse), just want to survive one more big block with 19miles run (which
I did outside), it was a confident booster. Last two peak weeks (4th
and 5th) was really tough, not just physically, mentally too, here
in New England we quickly see fall weather as soon as we pass Labor day, day
light was short as well, it was tough to simulate heat training or do early
morning training to accommodate time and work.
Heat training: It was only taper week 6th and
race week 7th I focused a lot on heat training, mostly training
indoors with no fan and winter clothing, goal was try to get right amount of
salt content without over doing, I stayed pretty much with race pace and race
power intervals doing very few Threshold and VO2s to avoid any muscle fatigue
or cramps, because it was taper week and only heat adaptation, no fan alone is
taxing on body.
Here is the chart with number of hours I trained each week leading
to Kona
Race Week:
Race Week 7th I spent mostly in Kona to adapt to
heat and humidity, I had no plans to do big training just few openers to try it
on course. This is the first race I ever travelled so early, generally I don’t
plan to travel that early to avoid distraction, excitement and over training
leading into race, focus on my daily routines that both training and race weeks
being same, this includes food habits, recovery etc. However this race was
special I took a chance going early and getting adapted to heat or humidity.
There was so much going on, people were training hard every
day, it was intimidating, I felt like I was doing nothing, I stuck to my
training plan, Monday Swim and Run, Tuesday was Bike and Run openers, Wednesday
Jog/Swim, Thursday recovery ride, Friday Bike and Run Openers. After Tuesday’s
workout, I was feeling awkward, particularly my left peck was tight from
constant moving shoulders on run and affecting my breathing too, later on
Thursday I got ART at the Dig Me beach, which helped a lot and started focusing
on recovery for race.
Friday (Pre-Race Day): I was focused or distracted not sure,
all I was thinking was recovery, early morning finished my openers, ate big
breakfast, rest of the day was couch potato, recovering with compressions. My mind was so occupied that I totally forgot
to charge my Di2 Battery, not until I got off the couch to drop off my bike and
gears I realized I forgot to charge Di2, thinking about it was adding stress
mentally, couldn’t get off my thoughts at all. Later I met Ann and Dave at T1
they kind of helped to relieve my stress about not think, I also convinced
myself that I dropped off bike for tuning previous week, Ryan at Riverside
Cycles connected Di2 to computer or charger, so I thought charge should last longer
for race, rest of night I focused on cooking and recovering by going to bed
early around 9:30Pm, it was amazing how well I slept before the race, not
usually happens this was going well and felt fresh in the morning.
Race Day:
3:30Am: Up and shower early, had my typical breakfast Oat
meal with Honey and Banana, may be some ginger. 5:00Am left home heading to
transition for body marking, setup bike with computer and hydration. Body
Marking is a mess it took so long wish they had alternative, it added
unnecessary stress by taking away time, not until 6:15Am I was able to get into
Transition to setup bike and pump up air in tires about 105PSI, generally I do
about 110 to 115 PSI but I don’t want to go more on course because it’s going
to be a hot day on course. Now all was set now by 6:45Am, missed Pro start, was
getting ready for my wave 6:55Am
Swim: 1:10:45
Generally swim starts are beach start or shallow water run,
in this case race was deep water start about 100 yards from the pier, five minutes
before the race I swam to the start line it added a nice warm up, and treaded
water until canon goes off, I started mid pack to avoid any kind of elbows and
breaking my ribs or ripping my goggles which is very common in mass start race.
I started swimming with elbows ( Amrick who is strava friend met him in Kona, gave
me an idea that in water polo they swim with elbows as defence), so I followed
same rule until I clear the traffic ( I thought so) but actually not I was
going off course LOL, upto 300 yards was hard swim, I did not see many swimmers
next to me, later I discovered I was swimming inside the bouys with less
traffic until paddle boarder direct us to go outside the buoys where I saw more
swimmers, I was little nervous getting back in big group but not too bad, later
than I saw a guy passing by, I said let me try drafting and hold on this leg as
long as possible, while sitting in the draft I checked my pace showed some where
1:30+/100yard, I thought I was doing good, I also set an alert on my watch for
every 15minutes, after second 15mins interval, I just peaked a bit to see where
the turn around was, it was not more than 2 minutes, so I thought the draft I picked
is working pretty good, so now I really don’t want to miss draft leg until I
finish, I stuck to that leg like a glue, when I was above to loose the draft, I
was sprinting hard to hold my place, some people who want to push me out of
draft I avoided it, I can’t miss golden legs, I hanged on until last 200meters
where I came out of the draft I started swimming hard, kicking and waking up my
sleeping legs. It was really nice swim
for me, I never thought draft works so well, with out Criag’s workout, it would
be impossible to hold this pace in race. It’s a big progress since I started
swimming
Final Swim time:
1:10:45
Division Rank: 197
Overall: 1417
Strava: https://www.strava.com/activities/738823800
Bike: 5:43:xx
One of the most depressing bike leg I ever had in race
(writing this blog makes me nuts, angry and what not just cry hard inside)..
Phil Wong (Coach) and myself worked a lot planning for this
race, it was great training season for me.
Race: It had most arrogant bike riders I ever seen than any
other IM course, I understand it is world’s best competition but have to stick
to rules, I saw few people drafting few seconds and exiting and repeat the
same, few people didn’t even pay attention to rule book “Palani downhill no
pass zone”, but I saw so many people passing and riding down the hill like they
don’t care. Anyways, I started off well, holding my power at 190 to 200watts,
which is close to 78% of my FTP, as I
hit Queen-K was having nice cross tail wind upto 28miles (I was holding less
power about 180watts than usual 190watts) later at Waikola picked serious head
wind and gust, it was brutal, bike was going off course, hard to take nutrition
as well, head wind was off and on almost
to the Hawii climb. Until Hawii climb I did not pay attention for my front
shifters, because the entire climb I was riding with small chain ring holding
power upto 220 watts or 235watts, personally It was agony to ride hill and head
wind at the sametime, so I least focused, and couldn’t wait to get off Hawii,
as I saw turn around I was so happy to pick up my special needs and kick off
the speed, that did not go well until I discovered my Di2 battery died and
front derailleur was no more working, stuck with small chainring( nightmare
came true), now what I totally blew the race (at that moment all I could think
was my coach, my supporting friends, my training and more), I tried and stopped to manually move the
chainring it did not work, I totally lost big ring and downhill speed for 15miles,
lost easily 5mins or more. It was depressing riding next 50miles in cross wind
with small chaingring spinning higher rpms than usual, no momentum coming
downhill and climbing again, it was not my day. Seeing all the people passing
me made me mad, generally I catch up all the fast swimmers in my age group in
bike but this time I fell behind. Last 10miles before the finish, I totally
lost Di2 battery completely dead, all that I have now is Fixie, 36 in the front
and 11 on the back, out of the saddle for all hills, hit 80% on the flat.
Final time was 5:43:xx
Division Rank: 203
Overall Rank: 1205
Strava: https://www.strava.com/activities/743406635
Run: 3:26:xx
So I blew the race, now I was demotivated to push any harder
on run, having said that I still want to finish race stronger, so I said I
shall maintain 7:00 to 7:30Pace, I thought it is manageable, which I did manage
for 13 miles, later as I hit Queen-K, head wind and hills, all you need 3 mins
to dry off water on you. Running in the
dessert of Volcano rocks is the most painful thing I ever done.
Like I said I was not pushing any harder like I did in IMLP,
I could see my HR was only 136, generally I hold Zone3 or Zone4 at 144+ when I push, here I was
just managing 136 at 8:00 to 8:30 pace, goal 3:20 wasstill on target, but last
10miles my quads were feeling very tight,
push hard and injuring is not worth it because I was 10miles away from
off-season, and I already ruined my race on bike, so finish off strong and
recover well, come back stronger next season that was my idea. So ended up
running slower than normal race and finished the run at 3:26:xx, 6 mins slower
than I planned but for now its okay, its not okay in key races.
Final time: 3:26:x
Division Rank: 156
Overall Rank: 763
Strava:https://www.strava.com/activities/738860257
I am really not happy about results, I am taking this as only learning experience
and learnt a lot about course and what it can offer. Now three to 6 weeks off, recover
the heal or Achilles and get back to work until than easy fun rides or run on
treadmill.
Thanks for reading.
