Tuesday, July 2, 2013

2013: Ironman 70.3 Kansas June

4:25

The last time I did a triathlon was Ironman Hawaii in 2011. My effort at Ironman 70.3 Kansas reflected my absence. I  made a number of mistakes and kind of forgot how tough these really are.

Swim -

At the time, I didn't know who Bill Bishop was, but I quickly found out.  Apparently, Mr Bishop was a hot shot swimmer with a big chip on his shoulder at University of Minnesota.  Since then he hasn't lost either the talent or the cockiness. When I lined up in the water I asked around to see if anybody was going to swim under a 30. Out of the blue Mr Bishop informs all of us in the front row that he's going to swim a 23. Whoaa, yipee, skippy, wow! Well, I did my best to poke fun of the guy for such a ludicrous proclamation but in the end I ate crow. He went out to did it although he DNF'ed on the run.

In the end, the swim went well.

Bike -

I got to work on riding with a power meter. I was struggling to balance various conflicts: drafting, passing people, longs downhills, sustaining power.  Result:  Ave 241 NP 233.  My goal was 250 Ave. The fitness was there but my riding style to make that happen wasn't.

Oh yea, 6 gels wasn't enough. I slightly bonked. I'm not a huge eater out on the race course and can handle slight bonks. Kansas became yet another on the list of other races where I kind of skimped on food intake. Things I need to remember:

- keep cadence at 90-94, not 82-86 even though helps the numbers appear more even
- remember to keep the zeros out of the calculation on the Joule for cadence
- for now it might be better to simply execute the bike as planned with NP and Ave power and not worry about penalties. At 250-270 NP/Ave power, nobody will get in the way; at 220-250 things do get messy with other riders catching up and slower guys that you're trying to pass attempting to block or retain their position
- eat 8-9 gels

Run -

Started the run under fueled - felt like I wanted to take a nap.  Tried to have the sports drink and cola turn me around but it didn't.  Felt tired and slugged out a 1:29 in hot temperatures.

Next race is Ironman Racine.

2 comments:

Unknown said...

In defense to Mr. Bishop he's actually a really great guy! Bill is not cocky it's just that he is ultra confident in his ability as an athlete and yes does back it up. Dnf yes but who hasn't had a bad day from time to time. Anyway Bill goes out of his way on a day to day basis to help teach many athletes in the Chicagoland area and is a true abasador of the sport! Now with that being said talk to him at the start of a race and your in his age group you might think he's the biggest A-hole this side of the Mississippi river:) Sorry Bill if your reading.... So with all that crap said I say we need more of the Bishops in this world they are the guys and gals that push us harder and make us want to be faster and better at sport and at the end of the day that's all we are tying to do make are selfs a little faster then the day before! Matt just guessing but that's probably why you blog about yourself to try and aspire others so let's not call the kettle black.... By the way 4:25 is fast if you need me ill be at the finish line around 4:50 :) you had a great day out there great to see ya back on the scene now go crush your traing partner Mr. Bowe

A said...

I deleted a sentence to make my post more neutral about Bill Bishop. Thanks for letting me know that he's out there helping others and making a difference. That's great.

Best, Matt