After a mid season lull to my blogging I decided to finish strong with a race report from my final race of the season, the Rev3 Florida half iron distance race in Venice, Fl. I have to start by thanking
AJ Baucco and Caleigh for allowing me to stay with them in Clermont the week before the race to allow me to get in some solid training and heat acclimation before the race.
Like always Rev3 put on a tremendous race in an awesome location. The swim was nice and flat in the Gulf of Mexico, followed by a flat and fast bike through the streets in and around Venice, followed by a 2 loop run along the Venice canal.
Leading into the race I knew I was swimming well after some solid workouts with the Western swim team. I wasn't as confidence in my run and bike. I had some solid workouts, but my two big tests, a 4k run 56k bike 13k run and 2x5k run workouts did not go as planned. I put all this behind me and stepped to the line ready to finally prove myself in a race of this caliber. Here is a recap of what happened out there, and what my nutrition strategy was throughout the race.
Pre race
nutrition
breakfast 4:15 am 2 rice cakes 1 banana 1 bottle of gatorade 1 bottle of water to sip on until race start
45 minutes before start 1 can of Red Bull
15 minutes before 1 Louis Garneau Citrus Gel with 50mg of caffeine
Swim - 27:49 20th
The swim sets the tone for the rest of the race. The pro race is much different from that in the age group race and that starts with the swim. With 25 guys all battling for the best position it was a rough start. After a couple punches and kicks around the first buoy I was off the back. I had some company kept calm and swam on. This swim felt 100x better than my first half attempt at Welland.
Bike - 2:15:47 19th
nutrition
4 Gels 3 citrus w/ caffeine 1 strawberry dragon fruit no caffeine
1.25 bottles of E-load Berry Twist
Getting on to the bike I was with AJ and a couple of other guys. I was hoping we were going to be able to work together and try to get back up to the main group. However, within the first couple kms it was just AJ and I, and I was just trying to keep contact. I was soon dropped and rode solo for most of the way. With the strong winds I just tried to stay focused, and kept eating. I really liked this bike course, and I found it was mentally easier with all the out and back sections. I was able to break the race into smaller chunks and focus on those. I probably consumed substantially less fluids than most people would need on a day like today, but I had to pee the entire way, and I tend to have a very low sweat rate as is.
Run - 1:18:25 5th
nutrition
3 gels 2 lg citrus 1 powerbar (I think it was a berry 1x caffeine that I grabbed from an aid station)
This was the first time I had ever raced with a Garmin on, and I think it really helped in the early stages of the race. After crumbling towards the end in my first half experience I didn't want to make the same mistakes. I grabbed two gels and tucked them in my suit before leaving transition. My goal was to hold under 3:40s I had been running between 3:30 and 3:40 comfortably during workouts, but this was never for a full 21.1k. I put my head down, and paid attention to my watch. I tried not to pay to much attention to the other racers in the early part of the race, because I knew if I kept to the plan I would pull some guys back. I started to fade a little bit in the last couple of kms, but brought it into the finish strong. I was surprised at the end to see I had the 5th fastest time with such a strong field.
In the end I set a huge pb of 8 minutes faster than I was in my first half distance race. I think this sets a great tone heading into next year, and I expect continued performance. The big focus is still going to be on that swim because I think if I can make that front pack it will change the race for me. I look forward to swimming with the Western swim team and the huge gains that will come from working with coach Ken and Paul, and the push from some strong swimmers.
