050909 - Kinetic Half Race Report

Raced in the Kinetic Half yesterday.  I was excited to do the first tri of the year and I was anxious to see how my training was going to pay off.  The race was in Lake Anna State Park in Virginia and the weather was perfect.  I got to the site around 6 AM and I was stressed out because I had a few problems finding the location.  I settled down, checked in, and quickly set up in transition.  I was able to get a light run in for a warm up and then I put on the wetsuit for the swim.  I only had about 15 minutes to get wet and warm up in the water, but I got a light swim in.  Right before the race started, I was still pretty nervy and I remember thinking that for future races I need to commit to a pre-race routine that involves an earlier arrival.

The race started and I was in the first wave.  I got in the water in the back of the pack and I really wish I hadn't.  I was bumping into people the entire start and it took me a long time to find a rhythm.  I didn't find any open water until the second turn buoy.  I made it to shore in about 17 minutes and had to run to the start for lap two.  I felt a lot better on the second lap and settled into a better rhythm.  I got out of the water in just under 37 minutes.  I ran out of the water and took a bit of time in T1 (2:26).  I jumped on the bike and got off to a rough start.  I looked down at my HR monitor and I had no heart rate data.  I looked down at my bike computer and I had no data there either.  I stopped quickly and tried to adjust the speed and cadence sensor.  It didn't fix anything.  I reset my watch and thankfully saw my HR at 155.  I decided I was going to just go and focus on my HR and off I went.  I was happy to see that the course was marked at every 5 miles.  When I hit mile 5, I looked down at my watch and saw that it took me 15 minutes.  I knew that the pace I was at was good.  For the rest of the ride, I kept checking off 5 mile segments and I continued to keep my HR in the 150-155 range.  My HR would spike on hills, but the rollers never went up forever.  I found myself getting out of the saddle and powering over the hills.  I finished the ride at 2:49:52.  

I transitioned at T2 in 1:41 and headed out for the run.  The run felt like it was constantly uphill and there was a lot of hot sun beaming down.  I was slow to start, hitting mile 1 at around 9 minutes, but I started to focus on 8 minute intervals and I hit each mile marker at around 8:30.  I loosened up after about 2 miles and I just kept focusing on each mile.  My HR was up in the low 160s for a lot of the run and I was worried because I was trying to keep it in the 155 range.  I couldn't!  I just kept going and finished the 3 loops in 1:46:39.

Overall, I completed the race in 5:16:54.  This was almost 45 minutes better than Timberman and I was ecstatic!  I felt really good at the finish and really ran hard for the last mile.  I had stuff left in the tank and I think I may have gone a little bit easy on the run.  However, the race was a great preparation for Ironman CDA because I dialed in my bike pacing and nutrition.  I stuck to the instructions of 1 gel every 20 minutes with 4-6 oz of water.  I also had about 1 salt tablet per hour and took in two at the second bike hour.  It was great to see that I could put out this effort and get this result.  Despite the early morning, I was really happy to race and can't wait for the next one!  It was also great to see my pal Griff get a PR with 4:57!