Oliver Half Iron 2017 Race Report
06 June 2017This is my Oliver Half Iron 2017 race report.
The Morning
5:00am Wakeup feeling ready. Have coffee and breakfast. Two toast with peanut butter and jam. I feel like I ate too much… damn. It’ll pass… race starts in two hours, there is time.
I get to transition by 6:15am. Set up my gear (shoes, helmet, shoes, glasses, hat, nutrition) and pump the tires. Done. That seemed too easy. In and out in just a couple of minutes.
I get down to the beach at 6:25. Put on my wetsuit and head out into the water for a warmup. Ugh. This feels tight… it’s going to be an interesting swim. Fun fact: last time I swam 2000m was in Cozumel 7 months ago. The most I have done since then is 500m in the pool and very slowly.
Back at the start line with James and it is 6:50am… too early in the morning. I need to set a goal for this race. I decide then and there that it is going to be like this: 0:40 swim, 3:00 bike, and 2:00 run. Adding time for transition, it should add up to about 5:45. Easy race and still a decent time.
I position myself in the centre of the pack on the second row of swimmers. Ready to go. I don’t feel nervous, in fact I have a zen like feeling this morning.
The Swim
I take a few seconds to get started, letting the people that are “competing” get ahead and fight it out. I start swimming and feel surprisingly good. After 300m or so I get to the first turn. I am having a bit of trouble navigating as I can’t see the next buoy. A few seconds later.. SMACK, I get an elbow square in the nose.
I stop for a few seconds to asses the situation. I seem to be OK. No major damage. I don’t think my nose is broken but maybe bleeding? Nope. I guess I should carry on and finish this… I can’t use this as an excuse to quit.
Swimming normally again after a few seconds and I am basically zig zagging my way through the course. I keep burping and having acid reflux in the water. I feel like I’m going to puke. Next time I should take my anti-acid medication in the morning. I find myself on the wrong side of the turn buoy for a couple of the turns but I wind my way to the swim exit after two loops of the course.
I get out of the water looking for a wetsuit stripper but they are all busy. No big deal, I can get my own wetsuit off rather quickly anyway. Start jogging to transition a couple hundred meters away.
Time is 0:38 for 2000m (1:54/100m pace) it seems really slow. GPS reads 2300m for the swim and the map looks to be correct-ish with non-straight legs of the swim triangle. Not great but still within the 0:40 goal that I had set. How is James out of the water ahead of me? He’s probably the one that elbowed me! (Kidding James).
T1
This is rather fast and easy. Shoes on quickly, helmet, grab the bike and go. Out in less than 30 seconds.
Bike
I plan to ride at about 210W for the steady segments while attacking the big hill(s) at about 265W. I expect average power to come out around 200W. Last year I was about 10W less and finished in under 2:43.
I get to the highway and start pedaling north. It is very windy, however these winds are less than Cozumel so no big deal.
The whole ride was uneventful. I take off my shoes on the bike a few minutes before the end of the ride. Got to the dismount line without any complications. Very good bike ride. 0:22 to the start of the loop. Fist loop done in 1:12 at 199W average. Second loop done in 1:11 at 200W average. Total ride time was 2:46. Last year, 10 watts less gave me a time of 2:43 and it was also a bit windy then. This bike course looks easy but it can be quite hard in the wind and it is always windy here.
T2
I rack the bike, put on socks and running shoes, and grab my bag with the rest of the stuff (number belt, glasses, hat, 4x gels and some salt tabs for the run). Out in a minute and a half or so. I empty the bag as I jog out of transition.
Run
I need to pace myself. I don’t want to blow up during the run. Thankfully the weather is nice for a run today (23C, partially cloudy and windy). Starting easy and I feel surprisingly well. As I get to the start of the course I check the pace and I am running about 5:10/km pace. I am 7km (a third of the way already!) into the run and I am running on “autopilot”. 5:10 might be a bit fast so I take it easy at 5:20/km. It feels effortless and I am not thinking of running. Although a quick check of my heart rate shows it is quite elevated. It should be in the 145bpm range and it reads around 155bpm. I walk during the aid stations (that’s always the plan) and my HR drops to about 135bpm but climbs back up to 155bpm as soon as I start running. I decide to ignore that and just run at the autopilot pace of 5:20/km pace. Adding time for walking the aid stations I estimate an average pace of 5:30/km or about 1:55 for the run. That is within the goals for the day and seems quite achievable.
Finish the first look without issues. 15km and still feel good at the last turn around. Just 6km to go.
17km and this is starting to not feel quite so easy. I am no longer running “just on autopilot” and have to keep focusing on getting to the next aid station. 18.5km at the second to last aid station and I take a last walk break. There are technically still two aid stations to go but those are very close to the finish so I won’t be stopping to walk there.
The leg to the next aid station includes a bit of a hill and there is an aid station at the top of the hill. I wasn’t planning on stopping but I decide to stop for a drink. I see my friend James on the other side and shout his favorite phrase during a race “Nearly there James!”. I take Coke at the aid station.
Less than a km to go. Running at 5:00/km pace. That Coke was a mistake. Coke is always a mistake on the course. Anyway, I can see the end now. 4:30/km pace and I cross the line. Run time of 1:56.
Result
5:28:54 on the clock as I cross the line. 15 minutes less that the goal time I had set in the morning. Not bat at all. Also, I feel surprisingly well. Nothing hurts. The though of going twice as far in 8 weeks (Ironman Canada) does not seem too great a challenge today. This has been an excellent training day.