BryanU
07-24-2007, 01:24 PM
I wrote this up awhile back but hoped to pare is down a bit before sending it out for consumption. It's about 3 pages long - so I'm putting a link to it HERE (http://www.bryanurakawa.com/Ironman CdA notes.doc) as well as posting it below - in case you want to print it out and read it while in the bathroom. I'm sure you'd find it useful there. :)
Photos of the day are here: http://photos.bryanurakawa.com/GalleryThumbnails.aspx?gallery=23405
Enjoy - if you dare...
----------------------------------------------------
Sarah and I left Seattle on Thursday afternoon, arriving in Coeur d’Alene in time to meet up with Mary, Ben and Cindy for dinner.
Friday was registration – and Spiderman 3 (Bryan’s review: Good action but the storyline was a little predictable – 2 1/4 thumbs up). The days leading up to the race were pretty unemotional for me – I don’t know if I felt like I was ready to race or just ready to finish this long bout of training. I was relaxed through the week and into the race, knowing that there was little I could change at this point.
On Saturday, I put on my race wheels, went for a ride through town to check out the gears, and remembered how fun it is to ride on a fast bike. After dropping off my bike and transition bags I spent the afternoon where we were staying in Liberty Lake at our family friends Gary and Linda’s house, figuring out final details, like my hydration/nutrition plan for the race and special needs bags. I use InfinIT and have a couple different mixes and I play Mad Scientist before races, mixing them. It makes me feel like I know more than I do about nutrition and what my body wants. I went to bed around 8 – definitely the earliest I’ve gone to bed and fallen asleep in awhile (I’m engaged, by the way).
Sunday’s alarm went off at 4am. After gathering my water bottles, Sarah, my dad and I headed into Coeur d’Alene, where I dropped off Special Needs bags, pumped up tires and fell asleep on the lawn – I think I was just visualizing my race, but it felt an awful lot like sleep when I was woken up. At 6:40 I got my wetsuit on and headed for the swim entrance, where I became a grain of sand in an hourglass as we all tried to filter through the single, narrow entry as the start time ticked near. I barely hit the beach at 6:55 and dove in for a quick warmup as the announcer repeated “stay out of the water”.
Finally, after thousands of miles on the road and countless early mornings, the gun went off. I felt a hot pain in my leg – I’d been shot! (ok, it was a cannon and not a gun – or a mini-cannon, I guess – and I wasn’t shot). The wind had been whipping the lake all morning so the 2200 athletes in white caps blended right in with the white caps already in the lake. I started up front and went hard for a minute then settled into a fairly relaxed pace, staying unintentionally well-hydrated. At the first turn buoy I ran into a kayak, clubbed a few people, drank some more water and rounded the buoy. Finishing my first lap, the clock was at 32 minutes, which would have matched last years’ time. The second lap was much like the first – but without the kayak and clubbing. I know that I swam fairly straight, not because I was sighting well – half the time, all you could see was the wave that was about to hit you – but because I ran my head straight into a number of the course buoys. It was swim-by-Braille. Despite the conditions, this was probably my most relaxed race swim and I was a little bummed to see 1:07 when I exited the water (3 min slower than last year), but I also knew the conditions would affect everyone similarly. 210th overall.
After a quick strip and change, I was on my bike – the one part I really look forward to. Feeling great, I wanted to start riding hard but I noticed that my heart rate was in the 160s and I wanted to average in the upper 150s so I spent the first 14 mile out-and-back from town riding easy and settling my heart rate until it had dropped to the low 140s. The new bike course is fairly hilly and I resisted the urge to power up hills – even when I could see 10 or 20 people within 200 yards on the hill ahead of me – staying in the aero-bars at all times and focusing on keeping my heart rate and power output steady. Biking felt effortless and the miles passed easily. With the course now going through Hayden Lake, where they started a new town festival neighboring the bike course, the community support was awesome and far more widespread than last years course.
In the second lap, my heart rate was staying lower than expected, which had me wondering why it was so low, but I was holding near the same speeds as lap 1 so I focused on a lower heart rate and stayed steady. I felt great the entire ride and finished feeling fresh (but not smelling fresh – I drank about 30-35oz/hr mixed with InfinIT and peed at least 5 times). Bike Time – 5:21, 58th overall.
Starting the run, I again wanted to make sure my heart rate didn’t spike early so I focused on slowing down for the first mile and watched my heart rate. I was happy to see that it was not in the 170s as it was last year, but was in the upper 150s – perfect. I focused on quick foot turnover and a heart rate in the 156-158 range. The temperature of 70-75 was a welcome change from last years 90s. Still feeling extra full from bike hydration, I decided to switch to Gatorade Endurance and water on the run. After grabbing and drinking on the run through the first few aid stations, I began taking 5-10 second walk breaks, mostly to avoid snorting excessive Gatorade. Finishing the first lap is such a great feeling – as you re-enter town and feel the boost from the crowd. My fiancé, parents, sister’s family and family friends were all there to cheer me on and it was great to get to high-five them along the way.
The second lap was going well but getting harder, with a right-side groin/hip injury flaring up painfully and the miles pounding my quads. I continued to run all but about 10 seconds for water stops. Around mile 20, my legs were beginning to feel pretty beat up and I got some leg muscle twinges, mostly due to compensating for my bad left ankle which had begun to stiffen up. Turning to head back towards town felt good – actually, it was painful and didn’t feel good, but it was mentally easier to deal with the pain, knowing the finish line was getting physically closer. Coming into the last ½ mile where 1st lap finishers follow one route and the 2nd lap finishers cross the street to head for Sherman Avenue is the beginning of the best part of the day. Just after rounding the corner and with around ¼ mile to go I was passed and saw that he was in my age group. I went after him and matched his pace but couldn’t gain on him as he was running sub-7 pace so I backed off a little – he got me by 15 seconds. Run Time: 3:44 – 2 minutes off my lone marathon time.
I crossed the finish line in 10 hours 18 minutes and 37 seconds – about 40 minutes faster than last years race, putting me in 15th place of 344 in my age group and 68th overall.
My only goal for this race was to qualify for Kona and my age group got 10 spots. 3 of the top 10 didn’t take theirs but the next 3 did – so it went to 13th, who finished 44 seconds ahead of me after a 10 hour race. It goes without saying that I am more than a little bummed about this – partly because it now puts the pressure on me for Ironman Canada in August. I hope to leave little doubt about qualifying there.
Lessons learned: Ride harder on the second lap – the lower heart rate was due to being plenty fit and well hydrated. Use less sodium in my InfinIT for cooler races and with less protein – I was feeling a little bloated and burping-up during the bike. Drink on the run more during the last lap.
Thanks: Thanks to Sarah for fully supporting my dreams and goals and being there every step of the way with me. Thanks to my family and friends who came out to yell and scream for me. Thanks to Ben for last year’s training plan, which I used for the taper weeks even though it sometimes looked harder than training weeks. Thanks to everyone that showed up for group rides and kept me honest on the hills and pushing it on the flats. And thanks to all the Sammamish Valley Tri Team people and other athletes who gave me loads of encouragement and positive thoughts for the race.
(personal notes for future reference: breakfast – 2 packets oatmeal, ½ clif bar; lots of burping and fullness on the bike, probably due to protein and/or amino’s in Infinit mixes. Mixed bike bottles with ½ Protein mix and ½ Amino mix – 1 super concentrated, 1 normal – see other notes. Carried fuel belt bottle on run and 1 from special needs with ultra-concentrate but used only 3-4 oz total and Gatorade endurance the rest.)
Photos of the day are here: http://photos.bryanurakawa.com/GalleryThumbnails.aspx?gallery=23405
Enjoy - if you dare...
----------------------------------------------------
Sarah and I left Seattle on Thursday afternoon, arriving in Coeur d’Alene in time to meet up with Mary, Ben and Cindy for dinner.
Friday was registration – and Spiderman 3 (Bryan’s review: Good action but the storyline was a little predictable – 2 1/4 thumbs up). The days leading up to the race were pretty unemotional for me – I don’t know if I felt like I was ready to race or just ready to finish this long bout of training. I was relaxed through the week and into the race, knowing that there was little I could change at this point.
On Saturday, I put on my race wheels, went for a ride through town to check out the gears, and remembered how fun it is to ride on a fast bike. After dropping off my bike and transition bags I spent the afternoon where we were staying in Liberty Lake at our family friends Gary and Linda’s house, figuring out final details, like my hydration/nutrition plan for the race and special needs bags. I use InfinIT and have a couple different mixes and I play Mad Scientist before races, mixing them. It makes me feel like I know more than I do about nutrition and what my body wants. I went to bed around 8 – definitely the earliest I’ve gone to bed and fallen asleep in awhile (I’m engaged, by the way).
Sunday’s alarm went off at 4am. After gathering my water bottles, Sarah, my dad and I headed into Coeur d’Alene, where I dropped off Special Needs bags, pumped up tires and fell asleep on the lawn – I think I was just visualizing my race, but it felt an awful lot like sleep when I was woken up. At 6:40 I got my wetsuit on and headed for the swim entrance, where I became a grain of sand in an hourglass as we all tried to filter through the single, narrow entry as the start time ticked near. I barely hit the beach at 6:55 and dove in for a quick warmup as the announcer repeated “stay out of the water”.
Finally, after thousands of miles on the road and countless early mornings, the gun went off. I felt a hot pain in my leg – I’d been shot! (ok, it was a cannon and not a gun – or a mini-cannon, I guess – and I wasn’t shot). The wind had been whipping the lake all morning so the 2200 athletes in white caps blended right in with the white caps already in the lake. I started up front and went hard for a minute then settled into a fairly relaxed pace, staying unintentionally well-hydrated. At the first turn buoy I ran into a kayak, clubbed a few people, drank some more water and rounded the buoy. Finishing my first lap, the clock was at 32 minutes, which would have matched last years’ time. The second lap was much like the first – but without the kayak and clubbing. I know that I swam fairly straight, not because I was sighting well – half the time, all you could see was the wave that was about to hit you – but because I ran my head straight into a number of the course buoys. It was swim-by-Braille. Despite the conditions, this was probably my most relaxed race swim and I was a little bummed to see 1:07 when I exited the water (3 min slower than last year), but I also knew the conditions would affect everyone similarly. 210th overall.
After a quick strip and change, I was on my bike – the one part I really look forward to. Feeling great, I wanted to start riding hard but I noticed that my heart rate was in the 160s and I wanted to average in the upper 150s so I spent the first 14 mile out-and-back from town riding easy and settling my heart rate until it had dropped to the low 140s. The new bike course is fairly hilly and I resisted the urge to power up hills – even when I could see 10 or 20 people within 200 yards on the hill ahead of me – staying in the aero-bars at all times and focusing on keeping my heart rate and power output steady. Biking felt effortless and the miles passed easily. With the course now going through Hayden Lake, where they started a new town festival neighboring the bike course, the community support was awesome and far more widespread than last years course.
In the second lap, my heart rate was staying lower than expected, which had me wondering why it was so low, but I was holding near the same speeds as lap 1 so I focused on a lower heart rate and stayed steady. I felt great the entire ride and finished feeling fresh (but not smelling fresh – I drank about 30-35oz/hr mixed with InfinIT and peed at least 5 times). Bike Time – 5:21, 58th overall.
Starting the run, I again wanted to make sure my heart rate didn’t spike early so I focused on slowing down for the first mile and watched my heart rate. I was happy to see that it was not in the 170s as it was last year, but was in the upper 150s – perfect. I focused on quick foot turnover and a heart rate in the 156-158 range. The temperature of 70-75 was a welcome change from last years 90s. Still feeling extra full from bike hydration, I decided to switch to Gatorade Endurance and water on the run. After grabbing and drinking on the run through the first few aid stations, I began taking 5-10 second walk breaks, mostly to avoid snorting excessive Gatorade. Finishing the first lap is such a great feeling – as you re-enter town and feel the boost from the crowd. My fiancé, parents, sister’s family and family friends were all there to cheer me on and it was great to get to high-five them along the way.
The second lap was going well but getting harder, with a right-side groin/hip injury flaring up painfully and the miles pounding my quads. I continued to run all but about 10 seconds for water stops. Around mile 20, my legs were beginning to feel pretty beat up and I got some leg muscle twinges, mostly due to compensating for my bad left ankle which had begun to stiffen up. Turning to head back towards town felt good – actually, it was painful and didn’t feel good, but it was mentally easier to deal with the pain, knowing the finish line was getting physically closer. Coming into the last ½ mile where 1st lap finishers follow one route and the 2nd lap finishers cross the street to head for Sherman Avenue is the beginning of the best part of the day. Just after rounding the corner and with around ¼ mile to go I was passed and saw that he was in my age group. I went after him and matched his pace but couldn’t gain on him as he was running sub-7 pace so I backed off a little – he got me by 15 seconds. Run Time: 3:44 – 2 minutes off my lone marathon time.
I crossed the finish line in 10 hours 18 minutes and 37 seconds – about 40 minutes faster than last years race, putting me in 15th place of 344 in my age group and 68th overall.
My only goal for this race was to qualify for Kona and my age group got 10 spots. 3 of the top 10 didn’t take theirs but the next 3 did – so it went to 13th, who finished 44 seconds ahead of me after a 10 hour race. It goes without saying that I am more than a little bummed about this – partly because it now puts the pressure on me for Ironman Canada in August. I hope to leave little doubt about qualifying there.
Lessons learned: Ride harder on the second lap – the lower heart rate was due to being plenty fit and well hydrated. Use less sodium in my InfinIT for cooler races and with less protein – I was feeling a little bloated and burping-up during the bike. Drink on the run more during the last lap.
Thanks: Thanks to Sarah for fully supporting my dreams and goals and being there every step of the way with me. Thanks to my family and friends who came out to yell and scream for me. Thanks to Ben for last year’s training plan, which I used for the taper weeks even though it sometimes looked harder than training weeks. Thanks to everyone that showed up for group rides and kept me honest on the hills and pushing it on the flats. And thanks to all the Sammamish Valley Tri Team people and other athletes who gave me loads of encouragement and positive thoughts for the race.
(personal notes for future reference: breakfast – 2 packets oatmeal, ½ clif bar; lots of burping and fullness on the bike, probably due to protein and/or amino’s in Infinit mixes. Mixed bike bottles with ½ Protein mix and ½ Amino mix – 1 super concentrated, 1 normal – see other notes. Carried fuel belt bottle on run and 1 from special needs with ultra-concentrate but used only 3-4 oz total and Gatorade endurance the rest.)