High Cliff 70.3 Race Recap

Pre Race

Packet pickup was fun and well organized. But believe it or not I had some nerves getting to the site and seeing things all set up. Like I said in my previous post I met Michelle for a short open water swim and this somehow all calmed me.

I had my "stuff" together for this race and I felt really ready to execute the plan that I had. It really is not all that difficult, but when you are new to something you always feel like you are forgetting this or that. But I had my bag packed and bike in the Car already on Saturday morning. The Gels were taped to my top tube and my nutrition was mixed and in the fridge.

Race morning came and I was up at 4am for a Whole Grain Bagel with Peanut Butter. I had a cup of coffee and checked the weather and everything looked good. Got dressed, body glide and all that jazz and headed out the door slightly before 5am. I was at the race site by 5:30 and things were well organized. I racked my bike and dropped off my stuff and went to get marked and pick up my chip. Yada yada yada all boring stuff, bathroom, setup, wetsuit on, Garmin in a plastic bag, everything laid out in order, I was ready.

Before I get started here is how Garmin recorded the day, they said the bike was a bit long and the run was a bit short due to some construction. This seemed accurate. Notice the HR creep at the end of the bike and through out the Run. I used the auto Multisport function and just lapped the unit each time I crossed a mat. Times in the report are the official times from the race.



The Swim - 34:45 1:39/100yards



I headed down to the beach and was going to do a short warm-up swim but as soon as I hit the water they started calling all of the athletes back to the beach. So I dove in and got everything wet and headed back to the corrall. I really had no strategy for the start, I was in the middle to the back which I was ok with. I think I might try to get closer to the front next time. The gun went off and away we went, the first part was shallow so I ran for a while until the water started getting up to about my thighs. Then I just dove in and started swimming. Easy easy easy is all I kept telling myself. I know much of the stuff I work on in the pool went out the window but hopefully some of it translated into the open water. As you can see in the picture I feel like I sighted pretty well I was easy until the first right turn, then I tried to find a groove until I hit the last right turn where I tried to go a bit harder on the way in. The Garmin was in my swim cap on the back of my head inside of a plastic bag. As you can see it worked pretty well, I could feel the buttons and started it at the gun.

T1 - 1:52

I was happy with T1, suit off, shoes on, grab bike and go. I for the life of me can't figure out how T1 was slower then T2.

The Bike 2:55:09 19.2mph



The bike was great, really enjoyable. The hill out was a beast like I expected and my HR was spiked for some reason coming out of Transition. I was worried as I was in Zone 5 all the way up the hill and then for the first ten minutes on the bike. But then we turned South and with a tailwind my HR settled down. And I believe it or not was up over a 20mph average with a nice low HR. This had me fired up but I knew the tail wind was helping. I watched only my HR Zone on the bike trying to keep it in Zone 3 and 4. If it got low I would press, if it was high I would back off a bit. Once we turned back North and hit some hills my speed started to slip but I just tried to stay true to my HR and not let it bother me. About 30 miles in my back started to ache which was annoying but getting up on the hoods would help so I spent some time on the hoods and eventually it passed. By mile 45 or so I was getting fatigued and my HR was showing it spending more time in Zone 4 as it kept creeping up and up little by little. Basically I was right at my bike LT for the last 10 miles because I did NOT want to let my Average speed dip below 19mph. It got down to 19.1 but a fast last stretch South back into transition helped me get it back up to 19.2. All in all I was really happy with how the bike went.

T2 1:37

T2 was great, I slipped out of my shoes while still on the bike, and then ran and racked my bike. Pulled on my socks and shoes Yankz rock. Grabbed my visor and what water was left on my bike and headed out.

The Run 1:54:23 8:44



I trudged up the hill with my left foot completely numb. The hill sucked, it was not what I needed coming off of the bike. My HR was at my LT of 170 and it never got down below it through the entire 13 miles. Once we crested the hill it was a right turn into a two loop trail run. The trial run was beautiful, soft and shaded for the most part, really pretty. You can see where the loop crosses if you look closely at the map. It took about 3 miles before I could feel my left foot again and at least that long to get into some sort of groove. My HR was as higher then I wanted it and I was going slow but I just keep running. I did not take my fuel belt as planned, rather I stopped at the aid stations and walked and drank. I continued to eat but I will not kid you the run was tough.
I went though many Rough patches and then periods of feeling better. I got a lot of support on the course, as I would pass people I would get a lot of "looking goods" to which I would respond "thanks, feeling bad" which would always get a chuckle. Once I got to the second loop I knew I had it but my stomach was done and my legs were starting to rebel against the effort. I knew I had less then an hour left so I just decided to stop eating as none of it would really help anyway. I starting taking water at every aid station but not walking just taking a sip and dumping the rest over my head. I ran, I just kept putting one foot in front of the other. I actually had no idea where I stood in relationship to my "A" goal of 5:30 until somewhere in the last loop. I decided to switch my Garmin screen for some reason because I got sick of watching my HR creep and really it did not matter anymore. I flipped it and saw I was just under five hours, I asked a lady at an ice station if we were ten miles in and she said that if I was on the second loop I was. It was here I knew I had 5:30. I was happy but I did not really have a big finishing kick in me. I just kept plugging away. I was worried because I had told A that I would be finishing between 12:30 and 1:00 and I was really looking forward to seeing her and the kids at the finish. I finished the second loop and turned right down the hill. I could hear the music playing and the celebration. I loped down the hill and one guy went sprinting past me. I had the energy to go but I was worried my quads might cramp with the downhill pounding they were taking so I just cruised down the hill and let him go. I looked over my shoulder and there was no one else there so it was just me and the finish, I like it that way. I approached the chute and there were still lots of people cheering, I saw my daughter first on the fence waving to me. Then my wife, I managed a wave and a smile but I mostly just wanted to finish and stop. Which I did, and I was spent and tired. I could barely get down to a knee to hug my daughter, but I did and it was worth it.

The Aftermath

We did not stick around long, opting for a quick trip through the food line and heading out to lunch. We lingered around for about 10 minutes and then I packed up and since my Daughter and her friend wanted pancakes we opted for Perkins. I packed up and on the way to load up my truck bumped into "Rural Girl" and family heard she had a great race and congratulated her. Now you GO and do the same.

All in all it was an awesome endurance event experience, I found it as challenging as anything I have ever done, and found that the 70.3 is a great distance. I have heard the siren song of Ironman, in fact I still hear it. No real decision has been made and I never rush into things anyway. But I will say that the race I did Sunday had plenty of pain and suffering to make me feel alive. If anything Ironman has lost some of it's allure to me, but tomorrow that might be different.

Recovery has gone well, I am sore, quads mostly. I mowed the lawn last night for some active recovery after sitting at my desk all day. I want to do a super sprint the Mighty Wolf (400, 15 and 3) over the weekend but we will see how I feel. Really I am not to bad off soreness wise, I am pleased about that. I may get on the bike Wednesday or Thursday.

Final Thoughts

Some things that jump out at me are as follows.

I think I raced this thing just about right, I feel like I just need more endurance on the bike. I never did any "over" rides. The farthest I went was 56 miles. I think if I would have done a few four hour plus rides I could have kept my HR down on the bike and maybe even gone a tad faster. Then I think I would have had a bit more left for the run.

I think I nailed the nutrition aspect of the thing.

Open water swimming is not pool swimming, I am going to lake swim all summer, no more pool time until fall rolls around. I bought this **** wetsuit, I may as well use it.

One more goal on this years goal pyramid achieved, I will review this in a later post.

High Cliff is a race I want to make as a regular on my schedule. Loved it even with the hill.

If you made it this far, thanks for reading.