One Down
I'm working on a more detailed race report, but wanted to get something up in the meantime.
I was very confident in my fitness leading into the race, but not my health. I had injured my right calf doing strides two weeks out. I was unable to run leading into the race and the one time I tried to test the calf, I made it 30 seconds before pulling up lame.
Breakfast
5 cans of Ensure (strawberry) 1,250 calories
Swim
The time trial start worked out well besides the "first come, first serve" format that they used. Slower athletes would get extra time if they started at the front because the cut-off time wouldn't start until the last swimmer entered the water.
The first 30 minutes of my swim consisted of swimming around breast strokers trying to protect my bag and stomach from any kicks. The best thing about the TT start was that I was able to relax and settle in right from the start. I used 3 stroke breathing for almost the entire swim. Once I hit the turn around and had open water, I concentrated on strong, relaxed, long strokes. I was very surprised at how strong I felt in the water.
Swim time 60 min.
Bike
I rode the bike very conservative and wanted to focus on my nutrition. I capped my HR at 140 on all the climbs for the first loop. On the flats I was sitting between 125 and 130. I picked it up on the second loop and basically increased my caps by 5 beats. It was a great feeling to be getting stronger towards the end of the ride as opposed to just holding on. I was actually a bit surprised my bike split was so slow, but I was happy that I had the courage to stick to the plan.
Bike time 5:42
Run
With a bit of a stride modification I could run and I was so happy that I was giving myself goosebumps. I was having to heal strike to take the load off my calfs and as Gordo and Bobby would say, I was muscling it. I was feeling great and was walking all aid stations as planned. Around mile 13 I started getting cramps. I ran out of salt around mile 7 and wondered if that would be a problem. My speedo was turning white and so were my arms. I am a pretty salty sweater and I should have planned better. The rest of the run I played the pace game with the cramps. I was ready to pick it up the last 6-7 miles but the cramping kept me at bay. They seemed to die down a bit the last 2 miles and I was sitting on a HR of 147 which made me smile. The cramps could have been caused by a number of factores and I won't know for sure until I eliminate all controllable variables. It could have been the salt, early run pacing, or just plain old fatigue.
Run time 3:56
Finish time 10:52
I had a great experience and feel that I executed my day very close to plan. In my detailed race report I will talk about things I think I could have done better and lessons I learned.
From Lizton IN, He is 26 years old, Mat Steinmetz...You are an Ironman!
check back soon,
Mat
I'm working on a more detailed race report, but wanted to get something up in the meantime.
I was very confident in my fitness leading into the race, but not my health. I had injured my right calf doing strides two weeks out. I was unable to run leading into the race and the one time I tried to test the calf, I made it 30 seconds before pulling up lame.
Breakfast
5 cans of Ensure (strawberry) 1,250 calories
Swim
The time trial start worked out well besides the "first come, first serve" format that they used. Slower athletes would get extra time if they started at the front because the cut-off time wouldn't start until the last swimmer entered the water.
The first 30 minutes of my swim consisted of swimming around breast strokers trying to protect my bag and stomach from any kicks. The best thing about the TT start was that I was able to relax and settle in right from the start. I used 3 stroke breathing for almost the entire swim. Once I hit the turn around and had open water, I concentrated on strong, relaxed, long strokes. I was very surprised at how strong I felt in the water.
Swim time 60 min.
Bike
I rode the bike very conservative and wanted to focus on my nutrition. I capped my HR at 140 on all the climbs for the first loop. On the flats I was sitting between 125 and 130. I picked it up on the second loop and basically increased my caps by 5 beats. It was a great feeling to be getting stronger towards the end of the ride as opposed to just holding on. I was actually a bit surprised my bike split was so slow, but I was happy that I had the courage to stick to the plan.
Bike time 5:42
Run
With a bit of a stride modification I could run and I was so happy that I was giving myself goosebumps. I was having to heal strike to take the load off my calfs and as Gordo and Bobby would say, I was muscling it. I was feeling great and was walking all aid stations as planned. Around mile 13 I started getting cramps. I ran out of salt around mile 7 and wondered if that would be a problem. My speedo was turning white and so were my arms. I am a pretty salty sweater and I should have planned better. The rest of the run I played the pace game with the cramps. I was ready to pick it up the last 6-7 miles but the cramping kept me at bay. They seemed to die down a bit the last 2 miles and I was sitting on a HR of 147 which made me smile. The cramps could have been caused by a number of factores and I won't know for sure until I eliminate all controllable variables. It could have been the salt, early run pacing, or just plain old fatigue.
Run time 3:56
Finish time 10:52
I had a great experience and feel that I executed my day very close to plan. In my detailed race report I will talk about things I think I could have done better and lessons I learned.
From Lizton IN, He is 26 years old, Mat Steinmetz...You are an Ironman!
check back soon,
Mat
