Mt Washington Auto Road

Mt Washington Road Auto Road

I signed up this race last winter as ‘A’ bike race, after doing RAAM 2015, I decided to include bike races in my racing calendar to break monotonous Triathlon training, and they are fun. Since I don’t qualify for Crit’s or other road races, in general don’t want to risk myself in tight packed road races, it’s not worth it. So I decided to do Climbing races. Climbing races have different pain but manageable.

Given this is my ‘A’ bike race, training for IM Lake Placid(IMLP) also helps training for this race or vice versa, because both or hilly course. 

Training

Training Plan for this race began since March, first thing I want to do for this race was drop my weight from 148lbs to 140lbs, even though I want to go to 137lbs but for Tri and TT  140lbs is best fit, so I worked through losing weight.

I had plans to do lot of Hill clinic and camps with Phil Wong my coach, but work and travel did not allow me to travel so I basically followed local roads with rolling terrain.

Basically all my training for this race was rolling hills, endurance and High Intensity intervals.

Since this race is four weeks after IMLP, I was not ready to peak immediately after IMLP, legs were not ready and not interested in risking injury, I spent 10days after IMLP in recovery zone, less running, more swimming and moderate intensity bike intervals.

All I had was 10 days to peak for this race, coach threw in 4 Purely Threshold workouts with VO2, 3 Endurance workouts with Threshold Intervals, my training plan was calling for all 4.1watts/kg but I managed to do only 3.9 to 4.0/kg as I was still feeling fatigue from IMLP, again now that Kona was in radar my mind mentally prepared not to take risk in injury (because I got injured in 3 weeks after my first Ironman so I have learnt my lesson)

Race Gears

My bike was setup with climbing gears, 34 in front and 11/32 in the back. It was 17.2lbs still heavy compare to other bikes I came across in that race.

Since my coach specialty is climbing, he is a podium finisher he knows every detail about this course, I followed his plan like a robot,  I have been working with him for last 2 years, we have pretty good understanding about my strength and weakness, he helped planning my race gears as well.

Race day

Race rituals are good except getting up early, as I had plans to drive on race day which is 2.5hrs drive from home, I had to get up early 4:00Am. I made sure I leave home by 4:15Am, so that I am on time to pick up packet and warm up before the race starts.

My coach said that to warm up on trainer because the roads near venue is not ideal to warm up because they are all super hilly and it is Mountain region, so I borrowed a fluid trainer from friend and warmed up 30Mins.

I am in  2^nd Wave 8:40Am: 35+ Age group,  first wave includes “Top Notch” guys who finished previously under 1hr 20Mins, they call them “Top Notch” first wave is luxury no traffic while you climb that is the advantage.

Canon goes off, here we go..

Oh goal time is 1hr 7Mins..

1^st and 2^nd Mile

Plan was to stay in the pack and draft, power zone was 90 – 100% don’t drift above 100%, so I was paying close attention to it, but damn hills and my instinct don’t listen, with in half a mile no drafting, since my power right there where it suppose to, but pack was no moving, so I ended going all alone with my power values. First mile came with in 8Mins, second mile came in 17Mins 40secs, so I was right on target goal time.

Mile 3^rd and 4^th

Mile 3^rd and 4^th was similar to first two miles stick to Threshold pacing but no more than that, so my power still felt good, terrain was getting comfortable, I was close to target finishing time, but I did not judge anything because 3 more miles to go…

Mile 5^th

This part was evil; the actual beast of this course was showing off, this is where I was saying “why did I sign up for this race”, the terrain average gradient was 13%, but certainly there were sections above 15% for almost mile, it was so painful, I ran out of gears here, I really wish I had 34 on back, couldn’t maintain more than 65RPMS, I was out of saddle so many times

Mile 6^th

Another evil section with dirt road, supposed to be doing Threshold and above, I simply didn’t have juice to push the gear, every time I get out of saddle my wheel on the back slips because of dirt road, someone was telling me there were 8 people head of me in my Blue Colored BIB,  at that moment all I was when am I finish this pain J

 Mile 7th and Finish

Give it all section, mentally felt good, back on pavement felt good, cross winds on mountain were freezing one side of the arm, I did not realize it until I took hand off of bar to find gel, I tried my best to push, until I came across last 100meter a 22% gradient sneaked up on me, my gear was not enough or I don’t have power, my bike almost crashed, I had to uncleat, I got support to cleat back on and move on, I wasted 45 secs and 5 people behind me just passed me L

Take Away

It was great experience, am I going to do this race again, “YES”, but with some changes in Gearing, and much lighter bike, my bike weighed 17.2lbs, most of the bikes that Ryan from Riverside cycles prepared for Hill climb were 14lbs, train once or twice on hills, but not necessary to do lot of hill training.

Strava file:https://www.strava.com/activities/682915736/

Results

Final Time: 1:14:23, I am now a “Top Notch”

Over all 53^rd, 6^th/32 in Age group

1hr Power: 260watts and this is exactly what my FTP

1hr 15Mins Power: 256watts

IMLP - Home ground of my Ironman Career

Ironman Lake Placid is a home ground of 140.6 for many East Coast Athletes, I am one among them.. Every time I race this course I build special relationship with venue, when I did first time in 2013, I got hooked for long distance racing,  this year 2016 the relationship got even bigger by qualifying me to KONA.
Here is my detail race report

Saturday

Openers and Recovery day:

I followed every detail my coach Phil Wong sent me in email, I finished early bike openers, ate my breakfast, cleaned my bike and dropped it off at Transition by 12:30Pm, after lunch recovery with feet up , compression for 4.5hrs, recovery was the primary goal this day, I never want to mess up, that's what coach said.

5:30PM early Dinner, recovered more for 3hrs and went to bed early after recovery snack( mostly Protein a fish cake and Banana) at 9:00PM.

Sunday

Race morning - I had to wake up early 3:45am to eat breakfast, 3hrs before the race, so I consumed 100gms of Carbohydrate( Oat meal with Banana with Almond milk), and headed to race venue around 4:45AM, body marking,  air pressure in tires, nutrition setup all taken care by 6:00AM, while doing all these I was sipping up my energy drink which has 300KCal or 27gms of carbohydrates with electrolytes, I want to consume atleast 30 to 40mins before Swim starts at 6:40am, so that I feel easy while swim.

Swim Start Potty line: :-)

I always prefer to go to potty before any race start, big races Potty lines are mad house, I cannot believe I waited till last 5 minutes of the swim start, even though it is psychological thing,  I want to have no pressure, no distraction race, so waiting for Potty till last minute worth it. I sacrificed swim warm up for Potty :-) 

Swim Start 6:40Am: 1:10, 5Mins PRd

Two Loops of 1.2miles, Swim starts in waves where people judge there finishing time and stand in that wave, sub-1hr, 1 - 1:10 .... and I went into 1-10 based on my Swim TT experience. Lake placid swim course is one of the best swim and easiest of all legs,  they run a cable underneath, once you get hold of it you do not to sight often. I got lucky to catch hold of cable in both loops. 

I swam clean, smooth and felt moving fast,  never felt like this before even in my training. I finished first loop at 34:xxMins which was PR for me, second loop I finished in 35:xx still a PR, never swam 1.2mile under 36mins before, Entire swim I felt very very strong, only issue I faced during swim was traffic, and congestion at Turn bouy. I tried drafting as much as possible behind those guys who passed me, when I felt I am burning too much gas I was holding back, not worth it too much effort when its not my strong leg (Its matter of time and effort I will get efficient at it)

Finally got out of water in 1:10, did not know the time until later, but I know I came out water without feeling burn't out, legs felt fresh. Oh yes I started Kicking more than normal for last 300meters to wake them up from sleep mode, T1 is on the way. 

I PR'd my Swim by 5Mins from last Ironman, IMMT and 10Mins from my first IMLP in 2013

Take away from swim:

What I learn't was that I should have been under-1hr swim, I could have been faster, drafting behind those fast legs and shaved more time, Chances of traffic is low too.

T1 - Swim finish to T1 is about 300meters, Slow swimmers like me really have to fight congestion to get to T1, the path is literally packed, I had to run through crowd like snake. did a transistion in 5Mins+ it is so slow in competitive field, Have to do more work on it.

Bike: 2Loops of 56miles 5:23 IMLP PR

First loop - First thing I look while riding is Power, I am always nervous about Power meter not working during race day, my negative thoughts nearly became nightmare while I started riding, since the previous night I paired both Garmin 920xt and Garmin 810 with Power Meter, when Power is connected to one device 920xt the other device was not picking power, i.e 810 which is my head unit sits on Aero bottle, most critical one. I did not experience this or try this before in training, so I was in panic for first 5 miles, later I found the solution got garmin 810 working with power. I really got my life back, I wasted sometime but not sure how much, but it was not nice feeling.

After hassle with Power Meter First loop went so well, right on the mark in holding power I was doing 190 to 200watts about 75-80% of my FTP on all Flat section, and hills 220 - 250, sometimes little higher, as soon as I saw power going above 260watts I backed off. I did an average of 75%watts here

Second loop - As soon as I turned t0 60th Mile, near downhill section it became windy, got little warmer too,  sinuses and wind brought head ache, nose was leaking, very uncomfortable to focus, I forced and managed to stay on power at 75-80% on flat section but not close to what I did in first loop( i.e. upto 91miles), as I turned around hilly portion begins, I could not push harder than 85%, wind almost knocked me off course,  I am suppose to hit Threshold for 10miles on all hills but me and wind don't go together, and also Bonking in my first IMLP scared me to back off, There was a pack of people infront of me drifted away, I literally fought my ego and let them go or pass me, I stayed in my zone and pedal through climbs all the way to finish really strong.

I managed second loop at 70% FTP.

Over all average was 73% of my FTP 

Nutrition wise, as soon as I came in T1, I gulped 150Kc of Energy drink, my custom formula. I stayed hydrated and ate 5 waffles for entire ride, taking 1/3rd waffle for every 20 minutes to 30minutes, water at aid stations, sports drink every 15 to 20minutes. 35Minutes before my bike finish, I grabbed a Caffeine gel for extra push on final hill section, kind of helped and stayed strong all the way through to T1, Also I was just drinking but not eating anything for last 6miles.

This was a IMLP 20Mins PR, but not my bike PR.

Here is how my power file looks

Strava File: https://www.strava.com/activities/652640867

Take Away:

Don't try something new that you never tried in training, leave things the way it is. I might go with better race tires my next IMLP and will not use 808's for this course, I am 140lbs and I was all over the place in second loop.  Change my Helmet as well :-)

T2: Was not mess as it was in T1

But I had a tough moment when Volunteer dropped my Bike scracthing my handle bar. Tough to digest now than before.

Run: 3:09:18 PRd all my Ironman run by 14Mins

First loop: When I first came into run, I was not sure where I was standing in Postion, First mile was all downhill, so I took advantage of it, and than upto  5.5miles, I paced at 7:00Mins since It was warm and no shade at all, it felt terrible to push harder, as soon as turn around came back, little breeze helped was strong enough did not fade so maintained the pace, I was holding Mid Intensive to low end Intensive in pace,i.e. about 7:00 to 7:15/mile after 8.5miles some serious climbs, I pushed it but managed Intensive zone pacing, it was warm very warm, I managed same pace almost entire first loop upto  15Miles. At mile 9th Friend told me I came off the bike at 18th place, was not happy about it, also my goal for run was to under 3:10, Boston qualifying time, having done good training focusing marathon at sub-3 paces, I had confidence but risky to go hard because I haven't done Marathon by itself ever, so I managed to maintain the pace what I was doing because I am under sub-3:10. Also this year I was in much better shape for run than ever. Probably lot of changes I made this year with diet and Training, I want give credit to my Coach Phil Wong who trusted me more than me in doing Threshold workouts early in the season and building me towards marathon pace for sub-3.

Second loop: Was crazy warm and repeat all over all again, I tried maintaining Mid Intensive i,.e 7:00 to 7:15pace on flats and 8:00 to 9:00min/mile on hills, but  itwas getting warmer and warmer, my pace fell off after 22nd mile, but still at under 3:10 pace goal, I want to push little harder from here, but at one aid station I drank two glasses of water instead of one, that was a mistake stomach didn't like that, over hydration and stomach was causing cramps, when hill came in 300 meters, my pace slowed down a bit, that was good thing, after climb stomach really felt good, one of my friend (Ricky) who was cheering us, told me there are 6 more people a head me "Go get him", I know that timing chip read was 2 miles before and I already passed one in my age group, all I needed was top 4, so I maintained my pace and was still digging deep, Mile 22-25 all hill section, pace was down,  my goal was to get under 3:10, if I do under 3:10 I get qualified for Boston Marathon if they allow me, so I was right on track in pacing. I passed one more guy who was 38 at 24.7th mile, turn around and final home stretch, it was down hill, I was pushing hard to get sub-3:10, one of my friend told I am at very safe place in position, but not sure where I was, at this moment all I was thinking was sub 3:10 for Boston qualifier :-), so I pushed real hard till the finish line to go into Med tent, I was happy that I did under 3:10, when I asked Volunteer what place I finished, he showed 2nd, I was shocked, happy and emotional, didn't believe it but I was very very happy.

Note:I would say those Threshold run and long Marathon pacing workouts I did with my coach helped me so much to sustain strong effort in the run. I had fastest run in my Age group, I came 18th after bike and moved upto 2nd after Marathon. Next up is Kona training :-)  

I think Overall I must have 6th fastest in Marathon.

Strava file: https://www.strava.com/activities/652548319 

Stats Summary:

Swim: 1:10, PRd by 5Mins, 77th in AG

Bike:  5:23:xx, 18th in AG

Run: 3:09:18, 2nd in AG

Awards:

Qualified for KONA 2016

Thank you for reading.

IMMT 2015 Race

Ironman Mont Tremblant, Canada is a very well organized race with in the village of Mont-Tremblant. Beautiful Ski resort area. You can check more details about this place on Ironman website.

This year it was very interesting and challenging year for me, I did not train this race in traditional TriAthlon approach where pacing comes high priority,I had RAAM as my 'A' race, so I had to spend more time on Cycling in tempo and threshold, Swim/Run moderately.

Race week: Aka tapering week is a challenging week. Mentally it hard, maintaining race weight is even harder. I was not only tapering, managing my weight gain by eating less carbs than usual, no sugar(though I sneak a spoon or two Mocha chip ice cream) and reasonable amount of protein for first 3 days. As race day approaching I started eating regular amount of Carbs and Proteins, drink enough fluids, this year I had to hydrate more because of heat and humidity, as we go for packet pick up, I checked my weight, I was 148lbs, which was 4lbs less than last year.  I was very happy, so far every thing going as planned.

Saturday, the day before the race, I did some leg openers both bike and run, did not want to swim(recently feeling pollen allergy from fresh water lake so I avoided it, avoid any kind stuffy nose for race day) better not to risk it. Prepared T1 and T2 Bags,Changed battery on my power meter assuming it was used for some time and don't want to take chances running out of juice on race day(long story short, it did not go well) later dropped of the bike at T1 including T1 and T2 bags, and off the feet rest of the day.

Race Morning: Usual routines, wake up at 3:15, eat break fast, half a cup oat meal, Banana, and Peanut butter, 1 cup of coffee. After breakfast routine sat on the couch and relaxed a bit in meditation pose, just rehearsing the day. 4 O clock take shower, prepare with gears, timing chip, skin suit and head to T1 at 4:50Am, After body marking we head into T1 prepared bike with water bottles and pump up tires at 100PSI, generally I do 105 this time I had to drop it to 100 as its going to be warm day.
Now bike is all set, I gulped other 300calories of liquid nutrition than headed to swim start around 6:15Am, Did some warm up swim and stretched a bit, all set to go at 6:45Am

 

Swim: 1:15: 26

 Swim takes place in Lac Tremblant, its single loop of 2.4miles; luckily this year water temperature was 71F, very comfortable to swim in wetsuit. However the age group wave format did not go well, it’s a chaos, fast swimmers roll on you, lot of elbows, my goggles knocked out at least 3 times.

In swim my strategy was simple just to pace it, draft as much as possible, follow Bubbles and swim straight(preserve energy). I did not have big expectations this year’s swim as I am weak swimmer and I injured my shoulder 6 weeks before RAAM race, which setback my swim for 8 weeks and I did not swim until four/five weeks into this race. For four weeks I trained with swim coach Craig Lewin(Endurance Open Water Swim Coach) he trains Channel swimmers, one of the best coach around here,  he throw me workouts, and executed them.  My Final swim time was 1:15:26, I PR’d my swim by 4 Minutes compare to last year.

Here is the strava file: IMMT Swim on Strava

Bike: 5:10:26

Biking takes places part in High way, part in the Mont Tremblant village, Its a two 56Miles loop. Course includes rolling hills, some serious climb at the end of each loop, a total 5000+ feet of elevation gain. Roads are very well maintained, very smooth, so you can take risk with smooth rolling tires, not to worry about flats. The high way section can get tricky at times with head wind or cross winds.

My Coach Phil Wong( Ex-Pro Cyclist, Mountain Biker), gave me some race zones, I want to stick to those zones while racing, for reference I attached that workout to my handle bar. As I started my bike leg, I was surprised and frustrated to see my Power Meter not connecting to my garmin, I might have screwed it up but I don’t know what was wrong, Whole season trained with it not working made me panic.

As I move into 1Mile mark, I hit another bad luck, congestion, this forced me to move out of Yellow line, and then there comes the officials warning me, received Yellow card which means I need to stop, sign at the Penalty tent and go, but this made even more frustrating,  I said to myself I am going hard no matter what, so I ended up pushing bit hard in the beginning, goal is to make up lost time both with Penalty and leaders( luckily my yellow card was only warning no time penalty).  I followed all the Zones based on Heart Rate and executed them as per coach, but at Miles mark 75-100 I could not push at higher end of the Z4, but I managed at low end Z4.

My Nutrition was simple Gluten free Maple, Honey waffle(Homemade), and packed little over 1200 calories of liquid nutrition with electrolytes, its too much but forecast said Hot and Humidity so I packed little extra, I ate every 20Minutes and sip electrolytes, then every aid station I take water drink enough and rest pour on me, it was hot. Last 20 Miles into race, I was having liquid food with no protein, and stopped solid food, because my solid food also includes protein which is not good for run(I always had GI issues with it so I avoided it). And it worked out perfect. Finally Bike leg was over, My total time was 5:10:26 but moving times was 5:08:xx, I ended up wasting 2 minutes looking for Penalty tent, trying to fix Power Meter, still 8Mins PR from last year.

Here is the strava file : IMMT Bike Leg on Strava

Run: 3:23:56

Run course is two 13.1mile loop, First  3 Miles rolling hills, next 3Miles were slightly downhill, than 3Miles uphill, which is false flat, and 4 Miles into town was rolling hills again. This year 3^rd 3miles section was very challenging, as we come into small town we are climbing hills and heat was high with high humidity,  no shades made it worse.

My run was more confused than I want to execute, I had some plans(Go hard or go home), but weather really screwed it up, because I never ran in heat and 90% humidity in races before, so going hard was foolish decision of me(likely would have been in medical tent rest of my day), so I ended up pacing at Z2 instead at Z3, which was safe bet.

Nutrition,  I took some caffeine in the beginning of the race but for some reason they don’t work for me, they spike HR high and was so hot I had to stop caffeine after 10Miles. Rest of my race I was doing cola in every aid station, drank water, chewed ice, pour water on me. Final time was 3:23:58,  PR’d by 2 Minutes compare to last year. Over all I am happy with this results, now I know I can handle heat very well and I can push hard next time.

Strava file: IMMT Run Leg on Strava

Final time: 9:59:59
Over all: 82nd
Gender Ranking: 70th
Age Group: 14th

I am happy with the results, Sub-10 something off my mind now, and work hard get better in next race. I did learn quite a bit from this race. There are some do's and don'ts, will work it out in next race.