Tuesday, July 27, 2010
Ironman Lake Placid
Matt Sheeks takes 8th overall at Ironman Lake Placid in a time of 9:17:57 with the fastest run split of the day 2:52:57!
Thursday, July 22, 2010
A Weekend of Racing at Chelanman and Seafair
Ethan Lyons and Erin Heard raced the Seafair Sprint tri last weekend. Ethan was 6th overall in a time of 1:00:34 while Erin was 8th at 1:09:48.
Charles Rivers took 5th overall at the Chelanman Half Ironman as well in a time of 4:48:44. His race report and a few pictures are below.
Chelan is an awesome scenic venue for a half iron and super challenging. With 4000 feet of climbing on the bike and a completely exposed run seeing temps into the 90s I knew it was going to be a tough day. Still I tried to stay relaxed about it and just use the race as a good training day for some of the bigger races to come.
Usually the water is very calm in the morning, but for some reason on this day the wind was gusting strong enough that it was pushing the buoys off line in a crescent shape. This meant that if I were to follow the buoy line I would be adding quite a bit of distance to the turnaround. So I planned to sight all the way to the turn and hopefully be able to follow some feet on the return into the blinding sunlight.
It was a mass start and at the horn and I sprinted hard out for about 50 meters to see that I was all alone. It looked as though quite a few people were going to follow the buoy line to my right. I settled into a strong smooth pace, but felt a little irked that I had no feet to swim on. The one swimmer that I could see in front of me was way to my right following the line. I needed to make a decision at this point as to whether to stick with the plan (meaning I would swim solo) or whether to slowly edge my way over to the leader's feet. After some deliberation I decided for the later. So by the turn buoy I had made my way over and was about 2 body lengths behind the leader. I decided to put in a surge to catch his feet and quickly did so. I was very content to stay
on his feet and ride him into the shore with minimal sighting. I really felt relaxed and smooth and though I could have swam harder I felt no need to do so. When we hit the shore we came out simultaneously and I just happened to edged him out to the mat to be "FIRST out of the water!" 29:45. A slow time, but just goes to show how choppy it was out there. After a sloppy transition I tried to relax into the bike and was passed by a couple of strong riders almost immediately. I never really had a chance to hang with them as I was staying right on my prescribed wattage (245) and they were just riding away. It didn't help that my rear wheel was 
slightly rubbing the whole time and I dropped my salt pills (dealing with unexpected issues is part of the game though.) A third rider passed me, but I noticed he wasn't really holding a steady pace. So from mile 10 until T2 we rode back and forth like this. It was nice to have him there to keep my head in the race. I averaged almost exactly 245 and rode the hills very well, coming into T2 just behind in 4th place. Bike split was 2:38, but I do believe it was 58 miles instead of the usual 56 as my powertap told me that I averaged just over 22mph.
Up to this point I was having a really great race. I was right on pace with my expectations, but I
knew that the run was going to be the real test. It's hard to emphasize how tough this run is. Literally there is no shade, just a blazing sun and the aid stations don't come frequently enough. If you look at the results you can see that only 10 athletes went sub 1:40, which is very rare to see. I settled in to 7 min pace per usual and planned to hit 6:35-6:45 after 3 miles. With a couple of miles to settle in I felt comfortable, but sort of knew it wasn't going to be my day. I know what it feels like to have good legs and I just wasn't feeling it. The sun was relentless and I was lucky if I grabbed one small cup of water at the aid stations. By the half way mark my pace had dwindled and I started the death march back. My pace fell to that of an easy run, except my heart rate was close to 170. It was frustrating to watch the guys in front of me run away, but at this point I was just trying not to walk. Finished the run with a 1:37 and overall a time of 4:48:44. This landed me 5th place overall and I won my age group by almost 30 minutes! Considering that only 6 athletes went under 5hrs on the day I don't feel too bad about falling apart on the run. I thought I could run about 10 mins faster, but everything else went very well on the day and I'm happy with that. I can't expect to nail every race and hopefully this just means Lake Stevens will be the best yet!
slightly rubbing the whole time and I dropped my salt pills (dealing with unexpected issues is part of the game though.) A third rider passed me, but I noticed he wasn't really holding a steady pace. So from mile 10 until T2 we rode back and forth like this. It was nice to have him there to keep my head in the race. I averaged almost exactly 245 and rode the hills very well, coming into T2 just behind in 4th place. Bike split was 2:38, but I do believe it was 58 miles instead of the usual 56 as my powertap told me that I averaged just over 22mph.Up to this point I was having a really great race. I was right on pace with my expectations, but I
knew that the run was going to be the real test. It's hard to emphasize how tough this run is. Literally there is no shade, just a blazing sun and the aid stations don't come frequently enough. If you look at the results you can see that only 10 athletes went sub 1:40, which is very rare to see. I settled in to 7 min pace per usual and planned to hit 6:35-6:45 after 3 miles. With a couple of miles to settle in I felt comfortable, but sort of knew it wasn't going to be my day. I know what it feels like to have good legs and I just wasn't feeling it. The sun was relentless and I was lucky if I grabbed one small cup of water at the aid stations. By the half way mark my pace had dwindled and I started the death march back. My pace fell to that of an easy run, except my heart rate was close to 170. It was frustrating to watch the guys in front of me run away, but at this point I was just trying not to walk. Finished the run with a 1:37 and overall a time of 4:48:44. This landed me 5th place overall and I won my age group by almost 30 minutes! Considering that only 6 athletes went under 5hrs on the day I don't feel too bad about falling apart on the run. I thought I could run about 10 mins faster, but everything else went very well on the day and I'm happy with that. I can't expect to nail every race and hopefully this just means Lake Stevens will be the best yet! Wednesday, July 14, 2010
Desert Half Ironman
Check out Gerry's race report from the Desert Half Ironman in Osoyoos Canada:
To preface this race a little bit, I had a really hard time getting excited to race this event. Nothing against the race itself, actually it turned out to be a very fun event. I think it had a lot to do with it not originally being on my schedule for the year, but with Honu 70.3 dropping their IM Canada slots it kinda needed to be done to fulfill the greater season goals. Also going into a race labeled as “Canada’s toughest half” on a day expected to hit the mid 90s doesn’t exactly sound FUN. Regardless I knew that I was fit and ready, and if I stuck to the game plan I’d have a good day and a solid performance.
Race morning I felt pretty relaxed, got everything setup in transition nice and early and threw on my wetsuit for the slightly longer than normal 2K swim. Did a quick warmup and got out on the beach ready for the start. You could barely hear the announcer where we were all lined up, but suddenly I heard someone yell out “five,” to which I thought, ok 5 minutes to the start... Then I heard “four, three, two…” and suddenly we were off!
Through dumb luck I’d ended up in the PERFECT starting position, as the eventual swim winner was standing on my left and he gave me a great draft away from the bulk of the field. After the first 300 yards or so realizing that staying on his feet was suicide, I pulled up and waited for the next guy. We traded places a couple times on the first lap of the swim until he gapped me ever so slightly coming back to shore. It was kinda a trip making the quick run on the beach by the crowd as the 3rd place swimmer at the half way mark, but still the pace was quick so I decided to let him go and swim solo and comfortably. Came out of the water with 2 other guys who’d caught me right near the finish with the announcer saying we were sub 28 minutes (27:27) which is a full minute HIM swim PR so thank you TYR ;-)
The bike course is what makes this race tough as it is a 56 mile out and back over the hilly part of the IM Canada course. Right out of the gate you’re on Richter pass, a roughly 7 mile “stair stepping” climb. Really hard to keep the pacing down where it needed to be early, but keeping a watchful eye on my powertap now I knew would pay off later.
Lost a few positions early on the bike, but after summiting Richter Pass it was pretty much a solo and uneventful ride. Tried to stay focused on getting my nutrition down and staying well hydrated, after all the run was going to be a hot one. Hit some headwinds on the way out, and I was a little concerned when I hit the turn showing 1:26 on my computer. But the way back was SCREAMING fast and finished at 2:36:55.
T2 was not my finest showing ever. I racked my bike and was looking for my shoes but couldn’t find them. There were shoes everywhere and none of them looked like mine. Turned out I’d missed my rack so I had to make a quick shuffle to get the right gear and I was off.
Start of the run felt really good. Settled comfortably into my goal pace of 7-7:10/mi and I was getting some gels and a good amount of fluid down. The first turn around was just under 3 miles in, so right about when you feel your best on course. Got a chance to see where I was on course (10th) and check out the other guys running. There were two guys in front of me that looked mediocre and didn’t have much of a gap so I got some motivation there. Also saw a couple guys behind me that were running really strong so I kinda knew right then where things were going to go.
Just before the end of the first lap I’d reeled in the 2 guys I’d expected to catch, and been passed by 1 guy who was looking really solid. As I turned around to start lap 2 I again looked at the guys behind me and knew I had plenty of gap, the guys in front weren’t coming back to me, and the temperature was rising so things switched over to a bit of a defensive running mode. It was a good thing I took on that strategy a bit early as between mile 8 and 9 is when things got unpleasant. The heat was really starting to hit me and I was having trouble at the aid stations getting enough water/coke/ice to keep it in check. Miles 9 and 10 were the worst where I had a side stitch, I was hungry, my mouth was dry and my body was hot. Just had to remember that the quickest way to everything I needed was to run there. About mile 10.5 there was an aid station where I stopped long enough to get down extra water, get the sponges/ice I needed, and throw back a coke to power me home.
Finished the run off in 1:35:52, a little slower than I’d hoped but given the nature of the course and the conditions I really can’t complain. Total time of 4:43:14 for 9th overall and 2nd AG was definitely the solid showing I knew I could have, and it guaranteed me the IM Canada slot I was after.
-Gerry
oh and one more thing; FREE post race massage is basically the best thing ever!
To preface this race a little bit, I had a really hard time getting excited to race this event. Nothing against the race itself, actually it turned out to be a very fun event. I think it had a lot to do with it not originally being on my schedule for the year, but with Honu 70.3 dropping their IM Canada slots it kinda needed to be done to fulfill the greater season goals. Also going into a race labeled as “Canada’s toughest half” on a day expected to hit the mid 90s doesn’t exactly sound FUN. Regardless I knew that I was fit and ready, and if I stuck to the game plan I’d have a good day and a solid performance.
Race morning I felt pretty relaxed, got everything setup in transition nice and early and threw on my wetsuit for the slightly longer than normal 2K swim. Did a quick warmup and got out on the beach ready for the start. You could barely hear the announcer where we were all lined up, but suddenly I heard someone yell out “five,” to which I thought, ok 5 minutes to the start... Then I heard “four, three, two…” and suddenly we were off!
Through dumb luck I’d ended up in the PERFECT starting position, as the eventual swim winner was standing on my left and he gave me a great draft away from the bulk of the field. After the first 300 yards or so realizing that staying on his feet was suicide, I pulled up and waited for the next guy. We traded places a couple times on the first lap of the swim until he gapped me ever so slightly coming back to shore. It was kinda a trip making the quick run on the beach by the crowd as the 3rd place swimmer at the half way mark, but still the pace was quick so I decided to let him go and swim solo and comfortably. Came out of the water with 2 other guys who’d caught me right near the finish with the announcer saying we were sub 28 minutes (27:27) which is a full minute HIM swim PR so thank you TYR ;-)
The bike course is what makes this race tough as it is a 56 mile out and back over the hilly part of the IM Canada course. Right out of the gate you’re on Richter pass, a roughly 7 mile “stair stepping” climb. Really hard to keep the pacing down where it needed to be early, but keeping a watchful eye on my powertap now I knew would pay off later.
Lost a few positions early on the bike, but after summiting Richter Pass it was pretty much a solo and uneventful ride. Tried to stay focused on getting my nutrition down and staying well hydrated, after all the run was going to be a hot one. Hit some headwinds on the way out, and I was a little concerned when I hit the turn showing 1:26 on my computer. But the way back was SCREAMING fast and finished at 2:36:55.
T2 was not my finest showing ever. I racked my bike and was looking for my shoes but couldn’t find them. There were shoes everywhere and none of them looked like mine. Turned out I’d missed my rack so I had to make a quick shuffle to get the right gear and I was off.
Start of the run felt really good. Settled comfortably into my goal pace of 7-7:10/mi and I was getting some gels and a good amount of fluid down. The first turn around was just under 3 miles in, so right about when you feel your best on course. Got a chance to see where I was on course (10th) and check out the other guys running. There were two guys in front of me that looked mediocre and didn’t have much of a gap so I got some motivation there. Also saw a couple guys behind me that were running really strong so I kinda knew right then where things were going to go.
Just before the end of the first lap I’d reeled in the 2 guys I’d expected to catch, and been passed by 1 guy who was looking really solid. As I turned around to start lap 2 I again looked at the guys behind me and knew I had plenty of gap, the guys in front weren’t coming back to me, and the temperature was rising so things switched over to a bit of a defensive running mode. It was a good thing I took on that strategy a bit early as between mile 8 and 9 is when things got unpleasant. The heat was really starting to hit me and I was having trouble at the aid stations getting enough water/coke/ice to keep it in check. Miles 9 and 10 were the worst where I had a side stitch, I was hungry, my mouth was dry and my body was hot. Just had to remember that the quickest way to everything I needed was to run there. About mile 10.5 there was an aid station where I stopped long enough to get down extra water, get the sponges/ice I needed, and throw back a coke to power me home.
Finished the run off in 1:35:52, a little slower than I’d hoped but given the nature of the course and the conditions I really can’t complain. Total time of 4:43:14 for 9th overall and 2nd AG was definitely the solid showing I knew I could have, and it guaranteed me the IM Canada slot I was after.
-Gerry
oh and one more thing; FREE post race massage is basically the best thing ever!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
tag.jpg)
