I decided that doing another half iron was the perfect "birthday spanking", the Big Kahuna Triathlon in Santa Cruz, Ca. fell right on my 29th birthday so I signed up and away we went.
This wasn't without weeks of training, plenty of adversity (both physical and especially mental), and a whole lot of saving to make sure we had enough money to get there.
On Friday, 9/5/08, we loaded up the rented Dodge Caravan and set out for the 9 hour drive to the Central Californian Coast. This time around my amazing support crew consisted of Samantha, Bailey, and a special guest appearance by my father, Vince, who flew out from Ohio on Thursday.
The drive to Santa Cruz was beautiful, and relatively relaxing considering it's length. Mapquest claims it's 545 miles and while I didn't track it, that number seemed about right. Once in Santa Cruz, we found our way to the Boardwalk (where the movie "Lost Boys" was shot) and easily found our hotel for the weekend.
The accommodations were nice, if a little expensive, but VERY close to the race site. I was really happy that I found this place and was able to get a room. Shortly after our arrival, my good friend and adventuring companion James arrived after driving down from San Francisco. James and I have been climbing and skiing in the mountains together for a long time, and it's always special when we can get together.
The next day James and the rest of the crew joined me to pick up my race packet and a drive up the coast to preview the bike course. It was a beautiful day, and our ride up the coast was smooth and enjoyable for everyone. When we stopped for lunch, my dad had to snap a pic of this mural on the hood of the pick up next to us...
The course runs along HWY 1 up the coast and was exactly as described, "rolling hills". There were a couple steep ones and I wasn't sure what to expect during the race. The scenery was gorgeous and I was excited to get out there on the bike.
After our drive up the coast, we returned to the hotel so that I could prep my gear and get off my feet. Just as I finished my preparations and was laying down another surprise guest! My brother had driven all the way up from L.A. to see my race on my birthday!
Race Day:
Down to the details. I woke up at 5 am, had a yogurt, and a bagel. Drank a pint of water and got dressed. Everything had been laid out meticulously the night before and I was smoothly out the door by 5:30am.
I arrived in transition, found a great spot, and set up smoothly. Unfortunately, I've got my transition setup whittled down efficiently to only the essential items and nothing else. I was set up in less than 5 minutes and had nothing left to do besides stand around nauseated from nervousness and marvel at how complicated everyone else's setup is.
I should have taken a picture of mine compared to everyone else's, it was comical. Two pairs of shoes (1 cycling, 1 running of course), my aero helmet with gel flask, sunglasses and spare kit inside it and placed on top my cycling shoes, and my running hat with gps, gel flask, and number belt placed inside of it. No towels, no water bottles, no boxed lunch, no chairs, no assortment of nutritional items and supplements, etc. are necessary. In a race this long, keeping on the move is paramount, I can't imagine how stiff my legs would get if I lounged around in transition. Anyway..sorry for the rant...
I suited up and made my way to the athlete meeting. I couldn't hear a word of the meeting but I had done this dance before so I wasn't too worried about it. The water was much warmer than I had expected which was a truly pleasant surprise. Hyperventilating from the cold water on the swim has been an issue for me. I didn't want it to compound my already high anxiety about the swim. I lucked out for sure. I warmed up and watched the waves go off, my wave was dead last so I had plenty of time to fight the feeling of wanting to puke. I just tried to stay loose and talk to Sammie and Bailey about anything else. I took photos with everyone before the start.
Dad, Clay and I...
Bailey and I...
Sammie and I...
If you ever see this smile from me...I'm faking...
Before long my wave was off. I started toward the back and outside. My plan was to take it easy and just get through the swim. I planned to count my strokes continuously as a sort of mantra in order to keep any anxiety at bay. Counting strokes worked brilliantly and I was able to just put my head down and swim without anxiety.
I exited the swim in 46 minutes to a crowd roaring "Happy Birthday Nathan". I was a little confused as to how everyone knew but then I spotted Sam and Bailey...
They really outdid themselves this time. They are always super supportive, but their hula skirts and banner had gotten the whole crowd in on the act and wherever I ran people were yelling "Happy Birthday Nathan!"
The run to transition was long but I didn't think it was bad at all. I was smart about it though and left flip flops at the beach exit before I got onto the concrete.
T1 = 4:49 was in the top 5 of my age group and only 3 seconds from top 3. Once again, keep it simple and straight forward and keep moving. That's what I did.
The bike ride was fantastic. I'm going to include a whole geek section about my tactics, nutrition, pacing etc. after the race report. Here's the story, I knew what the course looked like already which gave me quite a bit of confidence heading out onto it. I knew that there were a couple of hills to stay conservative on, but otherwise this was a course that really suited me.
The headwind was pretty strong most of the way and a couple of scary gusts had my attention. Most of my ride was spent in the left hand side of the lane as I picked one rider after another off. By the turn around, I was passing people who had started in the second wave, a full 25 minutes ahead of me. I felt great, and never felt like I was pushing myself at any time. There were a lot of riders getting flats on the side of the road and I really felt for them. I'm sure it will happen to me at some point, but that just sucks.
At the turn around my brother and dad were there to get some great action shots of me...
I completed the bike in 2:51 for an average speed of 19.65 miles an hour. I was pretty happy with this split because it was a significant improvement over my previous time but was still very conservative setting me up for a good run.
T2= 1:18.9 Fourth fastest in my age group and I wasn't in a particular rush to be honest.
The run course was the most beautiful run I've ever been on. It was pretty darn flat with just a couple small hills to contend with and break things up. My kind of running. The best part about the course is that as you head north and near the halfway point of the run, you are running on a great dirt trail that follows along the top of the seaside cliffs. The sun, the breeze, the ocean below, the smell of the salt spray in the air, were all simply amazing. I couldn't believe how invigorated I felt, this far into the race. At mile 5, I was feeling so good that I decided it was time to stop holding back and just let my legs go. Until that point I had been holding 9:45 miles, once I relaxed and let it go my pace dropped down to 8:10 miles. I didn't feel like I was working for it and decided to keep going as long as it felt easy.
Unfortunately, I got so caught up in how great I was feeling that I lost track of my execution. I forgot to take in any calories and electrolytes for a few miles and this came around to hurt me quickly. At mile 9 my legs started cramping ferociously, and I began to ache all over. I was still able to run under 10 minute miles but I was in so much pain that I couldn't keep my mind together to keep running. All I wanted was some ibuprofen.
I finished the run in 2:35. Quite a bit slower than what I was on pace for during the first half but still a substantial improvement over my last half iron.
Running down the beach I was exhausted, I couldn't see the finish line, and I just wanted to be finished.
All of a sudden, I rounded a corner and there it was! The finishing chute, the banner that Sam and Bailey had made for me, and a thousand people screaming happy birthday and cheering me to the finish. Even the race announcers knew it was my birthday and made a big deal out of it. It was SO AMAZING.
I finally felt validated. I finally felt like I had truly completed a half iron. My last race felt like I got lucky because of all the problems. This race felt like I had truly been out there, giving it my all, even taking some chances and going for it on the run.
I'll probably never get to break the tape first, or hoist my country's flag over my head in victory. This was my day however, and as I ran past Sam and Bailey, I wanted them to know how special that banner was to me. I snatched it from their hands and hoisted it over my head going down the finishing chute. The Big Kahuna was over!
My official finishing time was 6:19:38 and tenth in my Age Group. Finally I'm inside the top ten at a big race!
But it wasn't over...
When we returned to the hotel the party had just begun and as I opened the door to the room I was greeted by a fully decorated room, and a giant basket with all the recovery items I could ever want after a race.
After a shower and a nice nap, we went out and gorged ourselves on wings and french fries. Then it was off to Kiva Retreat House, where Sam had booked a private hot tub and steam room for us to help soothe away the soreness. I felt fantastic after all that.
It happens every year, because Sam tries so hard to make my birthday great. I have to say it again this year, this was the BEST BIRTHDAY EVER!
This was a team effort. There were a lot of people who made this race a success and if even one of them had been missing, I wouldn't have had as good an experience.
Thank you: Mike Sullivan, Samantha, Bailey, Chris, Chris Thornham, Nick Savatgy, Larry, Chris Wahl, Mom, Dad, Clay, Jeremy Firth, Melissa Bailey, and James.
Without you guys as the foundation of support I stand on, and the motivation you provide to keep me training, I wouldn't be as happy as I am today.
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As promised, here's the geek report.
On the bike my strategy was to ride at 75% of my functional threshold power (my current FTP ~280 watts) for the most part. This is VERY conservative, as most other athletes will ride at 80-85% for a half ironman. Having concerns about how successful my run could be if I rode to hard, I opted to lose 5-10 minutes on the bike by riding overly conservative rather than lose an hour on the run because I rode too hard. I consciously kept the real time wattage on the Powertap at 210-215 watts. When climbing I kept it under 250 for all but the steepest hills where I attempted to keep it under 300.
I feel that this worked quite well, and next time I'm going to bump it up to 80% of my FTP
My fueling for the bike was 1 gel flask with 550 calories of gel. I estimated my ride would be in the neighborhood of 3 hours, and I planned for 200 calories an hour. I also tried to keep my hydration at 24-28 ounces per hour. Electrolyte replenishment was 2 Endurolytes per hour.
This plan worked excellently. Near perfectly. Next race I will probably up the endurolytes to 3 per hour (provided the same conditions).
I coasted any time my speed was over 35 miles an hour on the down hills.
Here are the bike stats according to WKO+...
Entire workout (178 watts):
Duration: 2:52:21
Work: 1839 kJ
TSS: 144.5 (intensity factor 0.71)
Norm Power: 199
VI: 1.12
Pw:HR: n/a
Pa:HR: n/a
Distance: 56.159 mi
Min Max Avg
Power: 0 489 178 watts
Cadence: 38 229 90 rpm
Speed: 2.5 49.8 19.6 mph
Pace 1:12 24:08 3:04 min/mi
Hub Torque: 0 380 70 lb-in
Crank Torque 0 744 171 lb-in
My normalized power was a bit lower than I was shooting for, but I attribute that to the rolling nature of the course. There was a lot of time spent coasting.
On the run, my strategy was to go out at a VERY VERY easy pace. A pace I felt like I can run all day long. I was going to do this for 3 miles and then assess the situation every 2 miles from there.
I ran 9:45-9:55 for the first three miles and I was really holding back. I knew that I needed to remain patient and keep focusing on my nutrition.
I held the same pace until mile 5, where as mentioned I cut loose and just ran. I didn't push, but I didn't hold back. My strategy was to run only hard enough that I could hold a conversation. I talked to people as we passed each other to make sure I was holding to my strategy.
My mistake on the run was not focusing on nutrition and electrolytes enough. I was drinking 8-10 ounces of water at every aid station but by mile 5 had forgotten to continue taking in calories and electrolyte caps and ultimately believe that this is where I lost a lot of time.
I had a flask with 475 calories of gel in it. I only consumed about half of this flask on the run, and most of that was in the first 2 miles. This certainly wasn't enough. I also only had 3 endurolyte caps at the beginning of the run, and didn't take anymore in until I was at mile 9 and cramping.
Next race I will shoot to take down my entire flask before the halfway mark on the run, and I will take 3 endurolyte caps every 45mins to 1 hour.
There it is, the geek report. I hope this is helpful to someone out there and I look forward to evyerone's comments. Thanks for taking the time to read this ridiculously long race report.
