BassMan HIM

BassMan Half Ironman
Bass River State Forest, NJ
October 4th, 2009
1.2mi swim / 58mi bike / 13.2mi run

Intro
After 3 failed attempts, this time I was really determined to finish a Half Iron under 7 hours. Something went wrong each time so far, even when I was well trained, like one year ago at JerseyMan (when the course was poorly marked and I logged lots of extra miles). This time I picked a flat easy course, I trained as well as I could, and kept my morale high.

Training
No matter how perfect I wanted everything to be, of course it didn't happen, since I'm busy with so many other things. Swimming had always been my main problem, and this summer I didn't train that much (as total yardage). However, I took a few lessons, and I like to think that my form and stroke has greatly improved. I was hoping the two would compensate, and I'd get something around 55min (my PR from the spring). I biked about the same as in previous training cycles, but I had a lot more long rides. This should've given me confidence and left-over energy for the run, where I always struggled. Despite a being able tun run an HM under 1:55 on any given day, the HIM run was never faster than 2:30, and everything was falling apart once I was on the run course. Running itself hasn't been my focus in training, but I did more long runs than before.

Race morning
The main concern about this race had been the weather. October is quite late in the season for NJ, and for a while, the forecast was showing cold and rain. A few days before the race, the rain disappeared, and the temps were slowly increasing. From a high of 60 a week ago, the race day forecast went up to 75. Water temp though was something to be scared of. Since it's been so cold in the past weeks, I knew it was gonna be freezing, despite the RD's claims that it will be in the mid to upper 60's.

Anyway, when I left from home that morning, it was pretty warm, over 60, and very humid. And there was an incredibly dense fog, sometimes I had to drive around 40mph on the highway because I couldn't see anything. And of course, like usual, I got to the start (Bass River State Forest) late, about half an hour before the start. Luckily, instead of 8:00am, the race didn't start until almost 9, so there was plenty of time, maybe too much. I took my time setting up transition, and walked to the water. Once I got in, and dove into the lake, I got brain freeze! It wasn't just cold, it was friggin freezing. People said it was 60, colder than I've ever swum in. I've cramped before in cold water and I knew it was going to happen for sure this time.

Swimming
Lake Absegami is a small clean lake, known to be a bit shallow. The course was a double loop, .6 miles each. I felt so confident about the race, that I didn't have time to freak out about the swim (as usual) until I was on the beach. But I kept repeating to myself that I've largely improved due to the lessons. As soon as people started swimming (didn't hear any announcements, gun, etc), I easily settled in a constant rhythm. No panicking, no hyper-ventilating, just my regular stroke-stroke-stroke-breathe like in the pool. About 5 minutes into the swim, I could see the bottom very close, and I noticed a guy walking. So I stood up and start walking almost waist deep!

If you heard people saying that you move faster swimming than walking through the water, that's total BS! I walked for maybe 50 yards, and passed two people! Then we turned right and went across the lake. I was so happy with my swim! For the first time in my long triathlon swims, I felt really confident. The last HIM at Rev3 was pretty good, I didn't have to take any breaks and I felt quite good, but I still remember saying to myself a few times that I don't wannt do any more HIM's because swimming is just too awful.

Was I really doing everything Coach Mike taught me? Of course not. Many times I'd remember something he said to me like 1,000 times, and start doing it (like kick harder, push all the way back, rotate the shoulder to reach further), and I'd probably forget about it after 2-3 minutes, but some things must've stuck to my head, so I was doing them instinctively. Not sure if I was swimming much faster than before, but it felt easier. I didn't get tired, and I finally found a rhythm. I still don't feel comfortable and people try to swim over me, but there weren't very big crowds, except at a turn, when a wave from behind caught up with me and it was really like a dishwasher. After the final turn, heading towards the beach, the water was very shallow again, so I stood up and water was at my knees at one point! I walked even more than in the first part. I don't consider that cheating, and I didn't lose any time since I was running was fast as others were swimming (and they quickly dropped me once I resumed swimming).

Near the beach, the lake got really disgusting. The weeds on the bottom were really tall, and the water was clear, so you'd see all the crap coming at you. It got to the point where you couldn't stroke wihtout getting your hands tangled into the grass and I was even feeling it on my face. Then I turned right and started the 2nd loop. No problems at all, never freaked out, felt strong all along. I remember, in most races, that I'd be focusing on the next buoy, or next turn, which would never come, but this time I was surprised how fast everything was going by me. I think seeing the bottom (be it rocks or weeds) so close gave a false sense of speed. Again I walked at the two shallow spots and then swam real fast to the shore. Well... at least to those tall weeds which were awful. At one point, I had grass hanging out the corner of my mouth. Yuck! But I got out, not as dizzy and confused as ever before.

Swim time: 52:41
That is a swim PR by almost 3 minutes! I think it was great. And my pace per mile, 43:54, is the fastest I've ever done in any triathlons, including half-mile sprints! Thanks Mike!!

T1
I always struggled with T1, because I was almost sick getting out of the water, and needed time to lay down and clear my head. But this time I felt very normal. Just had to struggle taking off my wetsuit, get the bike gear one, and get out.

T1 time: 4:44
Another PR by a minute and a half. The first two HIM's, T1 was over 7 minutes.

Biking
The bike course was as close to perfection as you can dream of. 2 loops through the woods, shielded from the wind, and completely flat (the course profile looks very spiky, and that's because the scale only goes from 0 to 60 feet). Nice roads, long straightaways, very low traffic, scenic forests. Each loop was 29 miles, for a total of 58 miles, so 2 miles longer than the standard HIM distance.

My previous HIM's were very hilly (except JerseyMan which was just mdoerately hilly), so there's nothing to compare. I had rental Zipp 808 wheels from Cycles54 (thanks Christian!), and the bike just felt fast. In previous races, I was totally spent after the bike, and running seemed impossible. This time I could keep going strong without using maximum effort, due to the easy course and very aerodynamic wheels. Getting out of the water so late, I had plenty of riders to pass. I was passed on the course only by a handful of people, it was mostly myself doing the passing. For long stretched of road, I was comfortably spinning at 20mph, and the miles were going by really fast. Around mile 10 we turned into the woods (the state park, I mean, because most of the course was line by woods), where we had some rollers (by rollers I mean 10-20 feet high bumps). It was an opportunity to pass more people on each such bump, until we got to THE hill. The biggest spike on the course profile, it was a "monster" 40 feet hill. I was somewhere in the middle of the cassette so as soon as I couldn't spin fast anymore I stood up and sprinted up on the pedals to the top. Both on the "climb", and on the "fast descent" (where I reached the top speeds of the race, around 27mph, I passed tons of other riders.



Back on the main road, it was flat and straight back towards the start. My average was 18mph, pretty good, right where I wanted it to be. Approaching the halfway point, I was feeling unusually comfortable, like I could go forever. No sign of tiredness, no pain, just some very mild allergies. I noticed some nasty maneuvers too, like two separate groups of two people drafting each other, switching positions, totally illegal in a triathlon. Even more annoying was when one of the groups passed me, and they cotinued in front of me side by side, so I had to go around to the middle of the road (eventually, before the end of the race, I passed and dropped both these drafting couples).



Turning around to start the second loop, I was still feeling very strong. Going out of the park, I found a large group of racers in front, maybe 10 of them, and passed them on by one. There were a couple with each I kept switching positions, which made the race more interesting for a while. At this point I started experiencing some pain in my previously broken toe, and got a bit worried. Nothing serious, but I still had a long run ahead. Then I noticed I had a similar pain on my other toe, so I realized it might be because I was pedalling too hard. I switched up a gear, increased cadence, and the pain went away in a few minutes.

As we entered the woods and the "rollers" started I passed a few more riders and then I was all alone, from mile 39 to almost mile 50. It was so weird, I couldn't see anybody ahead or behind me. You could even think I was lost somewhere, if I didn't see people still coming up on the other side of the road. But it was extremely lonely on my side. I was getting just a bit tired and probably slowed down a bit, but I checked and my average was still 18mph.





Since the first lap, I felt an urge to pee, but I didn't want to stop. Despite all efforts, I still couldn't get myself to pee on the bike (not sure if it's mental or physiological). But with a few miles to go, I couldn't hold it anymore so I pulled over. What followed was like a scene from a bad comedy with bathroom humor... It kept going and going and going, and I was like ok... here we go... alright... seeing a bunch of riders coming up from the distance.. let's finish here... hmmm... lalalalala... riders geting closer... when does this stop?... riders passing by... and ifnally done. It was probably a 2 minutes stop, including stopping and then resuming. And I was pissed off that all those people that I'd passed were now ahead of me. I felt motivated again and put down the hammer to the end, picking up a few of those guys (although I only caught up to the group just at the dismount line).

Bike time: 3:15:04
A PR by 18 minutes! The official average is 17.8mph, but my computer shows exactly 18.0 (because of the pee stop and the long run to and from transition). Actually, that part was really bad, a long sandy run, where cleats got clogged with dirt, as well as the tires. And bear in mind that the course was 2 miles longer, would've been under 3:10 for 56 miles.

T2
Like after the swim, I always neded extra time in T2, mainly because I was hurting from every muscle in my body, not to mention some cramping (meaning I usually laid down to change and relax a bit). But I felt strong and anxious to get running.

T2 time: 3:21
PR by about 30 seconds

Running
I was really worried before the run. In my previous 3 HIM's, I couldn't run out of transition. I had to walk, or pretend to jog, and I hardly found a good rhythm. Only at Jerseyman I could find a nice rhythm, but only after about 6-7 miles, and after lots of walking. As for the other 2, I walked almost half the "run" distance.

Heading out of T2 at BassMan however was a breeze. First thing I noted was that I had about 2h45 to meet my 7 hours goal. Sounds easy, right? Except that 2 of my 3 previous HIM "runs" were over 2h45! But this time I felt so good that I didn't worry about it. I felt as fresh as possible.




Now, the course itself kind of sucked. Not just because it was very twisted, with plenty of out-and-backs and repeated loops, but of the road surface. Maybe just 3-4 miles were on pavement, the rest was on rocky trails and narrow wood paths, not to mention to sand. It was more like an off-road race than a regular triathlon. But it was still all good. Even too good to be true, that was my thought. But first mile was under 10 minutes, so was the next, and the next. Each of the first 5 miles were under 9:50... I don't think I ran more than a mile or two under 10 minutes in 3 previous Half Irons. And I was feeling too good, that I was afraid I'd eventually crash and it would become a disaster like the previous races. I knew I could go faster, but I was holding back, to save resources for the unexpected. I was trying to remember Thor's advice to go easy the first half, and then see what I got left for the 2nd half.

So after running on a sandy path, we headed on a narrow wood trail to a turn-around, came back, got back to the road, went to another turn-around, and came back towards the finish at around mile 5. Although the course was so complicated, I gotta say it was very well marked, and the volunteers were very helpful and fun (nice cheering groups). If you paid attention, there's no way you could get lost. The only "decision point" was at the finish, where you'd go to the finish line if you were on the second loop, or turn right towards transition on the first. Being just 5 miles in, there's no way anyone could've cheated and pretended they're on the 2nd loop.

I was just starting toying with the idea of going under the 6:30 mark, which would've sounded so unbelievable even the day before. I could easily do it even with slightly over 10 minute miles, but it was getting harder and harder. We had to cross the beach, on soft sand, then on a single track trail, and back on roads for a big loop. But apparently there are still limits to my endurance, and couldn't hold it anymore. The slowdown was quite significant, as the next 6 miles were all in the 10:20 - 10:40 range. Well, it's still a lot faster than I was planning (I was shooting for a 11:00 average), but the 6:30 goal was slowly slipping away.




The good part for my morale was that I was passing lots of runners. In the previous HIM's I think I can count on my fingers how many people I passed. But here, while lots flew by me, I passed a lot more. I could recognize myself into so many other people... walking in pain, cramping, appearing confused. As I said, the course was easy to follow if you paid attention, but I could several runners stopping in disarray at the turns. I knew I felt like this before, and made a plan of keeping focus on the course. At several points I wanted to stop and walk for a bit, but I kept going (to keep it real, I stopped at each water stop, just because I can't drink while running, even in a 5K, but it was for a few seconds each time).









At around mile 8 I went back by the finish line, and did a time check. I needed 10 minute miles to finish under 6:30, but there was no energy left. The rough trail (the rocky, sandy, rooty part) didn't help at all. I felt like I was going as hard as I could, but it wasn't enough. A lot of other people around were just walking, and it felt so tempting. Because of the nasty course, my shoes were full of small rocks and wood pieces, and it was getting worse and worse. Especially when getting back on asphalt for the final 2 miles, every step was an ordeal. It was like running on pins and needles. In any other races, I would've stopped and cleaned my shoes, even several times just as an excuse to rest, but this was out of question now. I felt like crying on each step, it was that bad. And here I mention Thor again, because I remembered his words again, about digging deep into the well, to find any untapped resources. I went so strong all day long, and I just needed a little bit to hit 6:30 so I found those hidden resources at the bottom of the well and went all out. At that point, all-out for me was a 9:40 mile which, according to my Garmin, was the fastest in the race. I phased out, ignoring the exhaustion and the pain in my soles, I just wanted to hit the final turn-around and head home. With just a mile to go, I couldn't even do the calculations about the time I needed, plus the Garmin lost signal a few times in the woods, so it was definitely off. Every step was harder, and the known landmarks just won't show up.

Despite all my efforts, I had nothing left, and after the fastest mile, mile 13 was the slowest at 10:49. Once I saw the finish line I broke into a sprint and crossed the line extremely happy, because 6:33:46 was a time I couldn't even dream of.






Run time: 2:17:58
It's a PR by 13 minutes, but still a 10:28 pace, almost 2 minutes off my stand-alone HM PR. For this race it was awesome, and I felt strong all along, but there's still hope for major improvements. The biggest achievement for me is that I completed the run with no walking breaks, for the first time!





FINAL TIME: 6:33:46
Not only I smashed my 7 hours goal, but I obliterated my PR by 49 minutes. I kept saying that I just need a good race where nothing would go wrong, and it finally happened. Not only do I think that the 6:30 mark in withing my reach, but keep in mind the bike course was 2 miles long, and the run .1 long, so that adds about to 7-8 minutes.

Regarding relative placement... I finished 157 out of 240, so the top 2 thirds, best ever HIM placement. Actually, all placements were personal bests, and I'm proudest of the run, 135 out of 240, almost at the midpoint, first time that running is the best part for me!




Nutrition
Before I close this, let me talk about my nutrition for the race. In the morning I had the regular croissant and coffee, and then a Red Bull in transition and Gu just before the swim. On the bike I had Infinit. I almost finished 3 bottles, less than usual. Normally I drink one bottle per hour, but since most races are hot I drink more than that in a race. This time I didn't want to drink more than I needed, so I dont have to pee (which still happened). I was sipping only when I felt thirsty or was beginning to feel tired. On the run I had Gu gels with water every half hour (4 total), and the Heed drink at every other water stop. Or this was the plan, but there were some water stations near the end which either didn't have water, or Heed. (I also heard the bottle exchange station ran out of water at one point). Overall, the nutrition plan was good, everything worked fine.

Conclusion
So this was probably my best race ever. Never before had I been able to maintain such an intense effort level for so long. It was pretty constant, and I found resources to push harder at the end of each leg. It's the best way to finish the season, and finally met my goal.