Superior Man Race Report - Half Iron 2016

Pre-Race:
The Honda Fit, really an ideal triathlon vehicle, was packed up and we were ready to go.
Mandatory bike check-in takes place at the arena over Saturday, so after working a night shift and trying to catch a nap, The Hotness (what I call my wife, abbreviated TH) and I loaded up the car and drove north to Duluth.

A nice shot of Duluth showing the bay where the swim takes place

Duluth looked a little more like an industrial town than I expected, but perhaps that's not so surprising given that it would likely be a sizable shipping center along Lake Superior. The arena is located right along the waterfront downtown and was immediately off the highway. TH dropped me off at the arena so I could in turn drop off my bike and pick up my race packet (which included a can of Red Bull, for the win). Parking at the arena is $5 per day with unlimited entry/reentry, unless you get the VIP package when you register which has parking included. The transition racks allowed for plenty of room to set up a really spacious transition zone, and I practiced locating my rack so I wouldn't get turned around when I had the fog of war, or what I call the dazed sensation you get running through T1 after the swim.

Dinner was at the Duluth Grill with TH, which was awesome. I had the pancake breakfast, and the fresh maple syrup with home -made jam made for some great pre-race carbo loading.

Race Morning:
A really fun element of this race is that you get to jump off the Vista Fleet ferry to get your day started, which took me back to the Escape From Alcatraz. It was great, but the downside is the race takes off in two waves and the first wave gets up at zero-dark-thirty to make an early departure. Fortunately I was in wave 2 and only had to wrap up work in the transition zone at 6:30am for a 6:45am ferry trip. I stood outside and chatted with a couple other races while we watched the first wave round the rectangular course.

Swim:
The Vista Fleet pulled up and loaded us aboard. I went along with the other pink caps to the third deck and enjoyed the view, which also afforded a nice overlook of the swim course. The wind made for some chop and a slight bit of current, which had pulled a few of the buoys askew. I made a mental note to sight off the buildings to avoid swimming a sinusoidal curve following the buoy line.

An athlete gets their swim started in style. Source: perfectduluthday.com

We filed down the stairs to take the leap after having the swim course detailed again. A first lap all the way around the rectangle, starting from the ferry at the far corner of the course, and then swimming it in around another 3/4 lap or so. I was excited to get started (Pro-tip, start from the starboard side of the ferry rather than port if you're racing when every second counts). Jumping off the ferry, I had splashdown in the cool, tea-brown water and set off on the swim feeling strong.

Working a long month on night shifts, I hadn't had the opportunity to revamp my swim training, but I did get some strength training in and correspondingly felt strong. My sighting was nice and straight as I made my way around the course, and it was easy to sight on the way down and back by specific buildings.

The wind and a bit of chop made for what would be a moderately challenging swim. Fortunately my formative triathlon years took place back in Washington state, and I learned to open water swim in the much colder and choppier Puget Sound, so it was fairly pleasant in comparison. I was happy I've always trained to breath to both sides, as that made it easier to navigate minor surface swells (breathing away from the roll of the water).

I really enjoyed the time trial start. Mass starts, especially at packed Mdot races, are a complete cluster and this made the race a lot less cluttered, if at times a bit lonely out on the bike course. The race results had a neat feature where it tells you how many people you passed that leg vs how many passed you, and it wasn't hard to find the odd pair of feet to draft off of when swimming into the chop. I found myself soon enough rounding the final buoy and swimming toward the Red Bull arch along the shore, beating a fellow racer in a pointless race to the ramp.
Swim time: 38:33 , 1:50 per 100yrds, passed 11, passed by 13. Place: 47/166.
Swim Takeways:
  -anti-fog worked well
  -sighting off the buildings down and back was helpful. Choose a building for down and back while on the ferry heading to the drop-off.
 -I need to actually train for the swim next season

T1:
After s short 100 yard dash, we entered the arena and found our bikes. The transition zone inside the arena made for a unique race atmosphere (and the on-site bathrooms and showers were a huge bonus). I forgot my awesome, multi-colored transition towel, so I used two t-shirts and that worked well enough. I also forgot my rubber bands so I elected to run out in bike shoes, which probably wasn't much slower to be honest. Exiting the arena, I was excited to head out onto the bike course.
Time: 3:06, passed 2, place: 36/166.

Bike:
I, like most triathletes, love triathlon bikes. The sleek frames of molded carbon fiber transmitting power straight through the wheels into the road is a thing of beauty. It's like racing a race-tuned suspension on a track car.

Unfortunately, that energy transfer works both ways, and the first half of the bike course was a little rough on the uh, sensitive places.

The bike course starts out downtown and you make a number of 90 degree turns and quick ascents and short descents to reach a residential road that takes you to the highway which serves as the remainder of the outward leg of the bike course. The downtown section and bike path had some rough concrete with lots of divots and cracks, and I saw a few ejected bottles. I was glad I had my frame mounted bottle and between-the-aerobar bottle nicely secured, as I think even with a nice tight rear bottle cage like the Xlab gorilla cages, you'd likely have an ejection. After one steep downhill with a U-turn at the bottom, which was well-signed and had a number of volunteers out there warning you to slow down, I unfortunately saw an athlete had crashed and it looked like his fork had broken off the frame. That was a real shame, but he was at least up and about and being tended to by the volunteers there.

Reaching a long residential road, I was happy to start to settle in and hit my stride on a smoother surface. We reached a highway, the two-lane per direction separated by a wide median variety, and I looked forward to time trialing in some miles. Unfortunately, the taint punishment continued with those thick cracks they have in highways every ten yards guh-gunge  three seconds later guh-gunge. It was a bit unfortunate. I was glad to had a latex tube up front with 100 psi in the tire, as that helped take the clunk out of each bump. Even still, if I lived in Duluth and rode this out section of the course in a training ride, I wouldn't ride it again.

The bumps were hitting everyone equally, though, and I wondered to myself if being a bigger athlete was a benefit in that the bumps didn't jar me as much, or a detraction since there was more weight with each clunk. I got surprisingly used to them, and set about passing people and being passed by others on the long, gently rolling section of highway. The time trial format was great for the bike in that it prevented drafting and also allowed for someone always being just up the road, to keep chasing.

Aid stations were at the 19mi and 38mi mark, and after the first I took on some more Gatorade to keep washing down the Clif shot bloks, Power bars, and chocolate GU that I use for long course bike legs.

At around the 28mi mark, there was a quick right turn and we were now off the highway on beautiful, smooth, tree-lined roads. It was great to turn off the highway and ride down through forest with Lake Superior just below coming up through the trees. The road meandered gently downward until we reached the coast and followed that back into Duluth. The sudden change in the course made for a nice boost in spirit for the second half of the bike leg. Coming back downtown and into the city, I was able to pass a number of people as I tried to keep my speed up, all while stretching the back and hamstrings to get ready for the run.
Bike: 2:48, 19.9mph. Overall: 74/166, Passed 17, Passed by 13.
Bike Takeways:
  -Nutrition: the regimen I made for the Iron distance has continued to work well
  -pacing by average speed worked surprisingly well. I had nice even splits averaging ~20mph the whole race and felt like I exerted just the right amount of energy
  -Latex tubes and 100 psi in nice tires (Continental GP4000 IIs) is really the way to go

T2:
Coasting in behind the arena with my foot pedaling on top of my shoes, I came around the corner and saw The Hotness with camera ready. I ran my bike into the arena, racked it, slid on my running shoes while grabbing my hat and race belt and was out of there.
Time: 1:33, Overall: 18/166, Passed 1.
  -Honorable Mention: fastest time in my age division of 15! Booyah!

Run:
Heading out onto the two lap run course, I was shocked at how good I felt. Even if I still had the effort from the bike in my legs, I didn't deal with the usual stiffness. Probably a result of the core work I added in after Toughman, proper pacing, and loosening up in the final miles of the bike. Anyway it felt great to feel strong heading out on the run!

The two loop course was actually really nice, in that there was a jaunt out along the waterfront then back through the downtown area. The different sections segmented the course nicely and mentally broke up the distance really well. It was a flat, fast course, with just a few "overpass" hills to break things up.

I felt pretty strong and had some nice compliments from other racers, "Looking good!"
I tried to give encouragement to everyone I passed or that passed me to keep powering through. I made a point to thank each volunteer that I ran by. The course was well-marked and the volunteers at aid stations were enthusiastic each time I yelled "Both!" in response to their "Water or Gatorade?"

After a long straightaway we rounded a final U-turn and I tried to keep the pace up toward the finish.
A brief sprint down the finish chute and I was home in 1:50 for a 5:22 finish, good for 51 out of 166 overall. I passed 40 people in the run and was passed by just 1, so certainly that mental pick me up helped push me along.

Overall:
Really enjoyed this race. The convenience and atmosphere of the arena (post race showers for the win), the ferry ride, a beautiful return trip on the bike and a charming run course all made for a fast and unique race. The Superior Man team did a great job putting on an excellent, well-supported, well-run race. Considering I came off the Toughman half four weeks prior and a month of difficult night shifts, got sick the day before the race, and only slept for 3 hours on three separate nights the week of the race, I was really proud of my time and that I could improve by 10min on the run. Other people, especially parents, have more challenges in life to interface training with, but it does go to show you that we can still get these awesome experiences in. Looking forward to next time.

Toughman Minnesota Half-Ironman Race Report - 2016

Race Prep:
This would be my first race with the new Zipp 404 front wheel. I'd taken off the TriRig Omega brake and replaced it with the OEM dual caliper brake, and this made for too little clearance. The wider rim brought the lever arm of the caliper down, and the apex of my tire was rubbing against the brake's bottom. After fiddling with it unsuccessfully, I went into my LBS and ultimately through some tinkering and a new brake cable, we were able to make it work. If only just. Might be time to put the Omega back on over the off season and see if it fits better.



Pre-Race:
Stayed in the beautiful home with our friends up in the Twin Cities. They went to an Asian night market while I lamely rested at the house. I got an interrupted night's sleep before driving the ~1hr north to Chisago, snaking on some baked goods from the local grocery and continuing to hydrate.

While there is reserved parking for long course athletes at a little parking lot, it had easily filled well before my arrival 75min before the race. I parked a 1/4mi away on a residential street and rolled into transition.


Swim:

Pic of the beach from the Paradise Park website

The sun continued to climb over Paradise Park and it was announced the lake was too warm for wetsuits. This was simultaneously great news and bad news, as I'm both critical of how wetsuits neuter the difficulty of the swim, but also hypocritically didn't really train for the swim. At all. So off I wandered in just my tri shorts down to the beach.

The beach is nicely sandy but there are rocks once you hit the waterline. After a while milling around we got the countdown for 10 seconds. It's been a while since I've been able to race so I was loving it- looking forward to the swim and taking in the energy before the race. The gun went off and we ran into the water. The one loop swim was pretty uneventful, with the main challenge being that there was no shoreline structure to sight off of, so you had to go buoy to buoy. I got a few wet hugs from the lake in the form of rag weed, but ultimately came out of the swim in an unremarkable 39:58.
Swim time: 39:58 / 1:54 per 100yrds
Swim Lesson: actually train for the swim! I easily lost 8-10min given my swimming background.
"Train your weaknesses, but don't neglect your strengths"

T1:
T1 was a short, quick uphill run into the park. I found my bike right away and had the presence of mind to roll up my tri jersey (just like you can roll up socks for a fast transition), so I passed the two guys adjacent to me who were already at their bikes.
T1 time: 2:05

Bike:
After a short stretch over grass to reach a bike path, we reached the broad-shoulders of forest lined roads that would serve as the very pleasant bike course. The sun gave a slight bit of warmth to the cool morning, and I set about quietly riding the first hour so I wouldn't burn any matches. I remember my first Ironman race when dozens of guys would blow by going +25mph as though the bike was a 40km, only to then shuffle along awkwardly on the run. "Don't be a hero," I reminded myself. I let the new front Zipp wheel and my rear wheelcover do most of the work as I cruised along, munching on my bike nutrition of Clif Shot bloks, powerbars, and GU energy gel. I knew things would heat up after the bike so I tried to pre-hydrate, taking on three salt tablets and  +30oz / hour of Gatorade instead of the usual 24oz. This seemed to serve me well later on during the warm run.

I held a nice, constant pace for the entire bike ride. There was one relatively small hill but other than that it was a gentle, rolling course. A long stretch of two-lane highway on the back end of the bike into a headwind wasn't fun, but helped eat up the miles. There were a decent number of flats along the course. I was glad I'd rehearsed "fixing a flat for time" as that gave me some piece of mind I wouldn't have too long of an involuntary rest break should my tires quit on me.
Bike time: 2:48:20 , 20.0mph
Bike Lessons:
  -happy to pretty easily stay in the aerobars for the length of the race. Train for the aero position, people.
  -My right quad became a little over-used, which hadn't cropped up in training. I should do more long time trial efforts to sort out position issues. Train, uh, train for the aero position...

T2:
The second transition was a quick affair where I slipped on my shoes while grabbing my hat and race number belt and bolted out onto the course.
T2 time: 1:09

Run:
I'd read online that the course was exposed and hot. Fortunately I'd trained for this, timing my 10-13mi training runs in the heat of the day to try to help my body adapt. This exposure training really worked, along with wearing a Craft cooling arm sleeve for ice and water, a hat for ice, and grabbing liquid like it was going out of style at each aid station. I wouldn't necessarily recommend it, though. Consult your doctor or coach before making any deprivation training choices. Fortunately, I am a doctor, so I consulted myself and got the go ahead.

 I'd trained much more for the run than for the bike, given my limited training time, and this really seemed to pay dividends now. Even though I left transition with the stiff, grandpa-esque gate of a triathlete, I opened up a bit over the miles and felt solid the whole time. The course was sunny and fairly exposed, but after ~3 residential miles on the out-and-bike run course, we hit some nice dirt road running through mixed forest and prairie which was a beautiful setting to run though.
The run course was very well-stocked with aid stations, and that helped take the edge off of the heat.
Run: 1:59 / 9min per mi pace
Run lesson:
  -no substitute for run mileage.
  -I need to do more core work and supplemental leg muscle strengthening. A strong core makes for a faster run.

Finish:
Heading back into Paradise Park, the finishing stretch had us wrap around and up the small hilly park before making a final turn and then hey, you're done! Overall time of 5:31 and I was quite pleased given my current situation in life.

Driving back down to the Twin Cities, a final cap on the day was seeing my wife and our friends, who offered me a legendary fish-shaped ice cream waffle with red bean filling.

Ice Cream Red Bean Fish Dessert Waffe: the post race choice for Toughmen everywhere

How To Carry Bottles on Triathlon Bike - updated

While fueling for the road cyclist is as simple as sitting back and sipping a ristretto pull espresso in the local Starbucks after a group ride, triathletes are faced with a unique challenge. We have to manage to put liquid, food, and equipment on a streamlined bike all without ruining the aerodynamics of the machine. In short order, you can start out with this:

And end up with this: 

It only takes 3 bottles and you're this guy

I previously wrote about this same topic here and here, and those posts got a lot of traction, so I thought I'd write an update on what I've figured out since.

The Challenge:
-how to carry sufficient liquid for a long ride or endurance race, as well as your flat kit and food, all without spoiling your aerodynamics.

My solution:
- a between-the-aerobars front bottle (bottle 1), seat-tube mounted bottle (bottle 2), behind the saddle rear bottle (carrying flat kit), and an aero bento box behind the stem (nutrition).

The bottles:
You really only need two bottles-worth of liquid for any race distance. With aid stations about every hour on the bike it's easy to simply refuel as you go. I saw a lot of individuals at my recent half-ironman sporting 3 to 4 bottles on the bike (1 up front, 1 on the frame, and 2 in back in a "bottle-launcher" ie a side-by-side rear seatpost mounted carrier). If you're racing on your own liquid nutrition (like Infinit) and want to carry it with you, then this works, but it otherwise seems over the top since you can easily swap bottles out.

In choosing the up-front bottle, I went with a between the aerobars bottle rather than one of the aero solutions. I did get a Torhans AeroZ , which, after just a few dates, I'm very impressed by. It seemed to me the best engineered of the products available in its category, but I hadn't used it often enough in training to decide to race with this season. TriRig does a nice review of this product category. The plus side of products with a straw is that you need only duck your head down to sip from them, you don't have to ride along and pull your bottle out to sip. The downside would be managing to refill it quickly (and without substantial spillage) at each aid station, and also not being able to see how much liquid you've taken in or is left.

To keep things simple for training, so I can easily start with my bike bottle, and racing, so I can easily swap out at aid stations, I use a zip tied cage between my aerobar mounts. Works great.

For my second bottle, I'm currently simply using a downtube bottle. Purists will contend that the thick, round bottle ruins the aero seattube and wheelcover benefit, and maybe so, but it's convenient and I'm not riding at speeds faster than 25mph for races anyway. The next step would be to swap out my behind the saddle flat kit (below section) for holding a bottle of liquid. I've seen many pros recommend the Xlab Gorilla cage as strong and tight enough for the task. But it's also $50. For now I've been happy with a seat tube mounted bottle.


Flat Kit:
For my flat kit, I've worked out keeping my spare tube, tire levers, and Topeak Minidual pump in a Specialized bottle carrier (with the top open), held together using electrical tape. It works great, and is fast at hand in case I do flat. Having your flat kit encased in tape wrapped up beneath your saddle, if it takes you 5 minutes to get it out, could be a little counter-productive. It's easy to simply zip-tie the bottle cage to rear saddle rails. It fits snuggly there and keeps things tucked fairly nicely out of the wind.

Another option would be to carry the second bottle for liquid behind the saddle where my flat kit is, and use an aero option, say from Torhans with the VR Tool Carrier version (Specialized has their own product), to carry a pared down flat kit with a CO2 minipump, tire lever, and spare tube. AeroGeeks did a nice write up on this option.


Nutrition:
The easy choice for nutrition is to use an aero-bento mounted behind the stem. I like my DarkSpeedWorks Speedpack (aero bento box). It easily fits the gels and powerbars I use for my nutrition on long course bike legs. It's shaped to keep its form despite being stuffed with GU, and adds a nice trailing edge to the otherwise round stem.

So there you have it, a fairly streamlined, utilitarian option for carrying your liquid, food, and flat kit in training and racing. With the aerobar mounted bottle, behind the saddle flat kit, and aero bento box, just about all of my nutrition and gear is tucked away from the wind. My seat tube mounted bottle disrupts airflow over the back half of the bike, but it is dirty air and it's a price I'm willing to pay for convenience. I'd otherwise recommend looking at aero seat tube mounted options for a flat kit, and carrying your second bottle in tight bottle cage behind the saddle.