My final race of the 2016 triathlon season was this past weekend in Atlantic City. I’ve been meaning to write race reports for some time, and this report gives me an opportunity not only to review the race but also to think more generally about this past season as well as what the future may hold.
The 2016 Season
Going into this race, I felt good about my triathlon accomplishments during 2016. In my first race in the spring, I finished third in my age group at the Rumpus in the Bumpass International. Rumpus was a warm-up for my fourth 70.3 race and my first Ironman-branded event at Raleigh in June. In tough weather conditions, I set a personal record for the 70.3 distance and finished in the top 10% of my age group. Over the course of the summer, I raced a couple of other local sprint races–at Montclair and then Luray–finishing on the age group podium both times, including my first age group win at Luray.
All of this, however, was preface to the first Ironman 70.3 race held in Atlantic City. My goal has been to go under five hours at this distance, and that was the target for Atlantic City.
I had a good summer of training. I continue to struggle with swimming, but feel as if I am gaining a better understanding of what I need to do to swim well. As my coach often says, “Fitness is not your issue. It’s form.” The run and the bike continue to be my strengths. Luckily, the hip issues that I had last season did not return this season, and I ran this season knowing in each race that I’d be among the fastest runners in my age group. And I continue to surprise myself on the bike. Honestly, when I started this sport two years ago, I had no idea how good (or bad) a cyclist I’d be. Two years of training later, and I’m proud of how far I’ve come on the bike, even as I still battle my confidence riding outside (as opposed to in the comfort of my basement on my beloved Kickr).
Off to Atlantic City
Enough background. My training in the weeks leading up to Atlantic City was hitting on all cylinders. In all three disciplines–even swimming–I felt things coming together, and I could tell that Coach Dave was getting excited for where I was heading into this race. As we reviewed my race strategy in the week before the race, Dave told me that he thought the five hour target was more than achievable given the expected fast course and the anticipated good racing weather. Dave gave me a race plan. I was comfortable and confident that I could execute that plan.
I drove off for Atlantic City on Friday afternoon with perhaps a bit too much excitement at how well prepared I was feeling. Looking back, I’m pretty sure that I expended a lot of energy getting psyched up for the race, and in the future, I need to do better at keeping that in check and conserving that energy. I arrived in time to check-in to the race on Friday afternoon. It was quiet at the race site, which allowed me to calmly settle in to being there. It was also awesome that literally the first person I saw was the great Mindy, who is both a teammate and part of the Delmo Sports team that was producing this race. I took some time to wander around the Ironman Village, walk through the transition area, and scope out the channel in which the swim would be held.
After checking in, I headed over to the condo where I’d be staying with teammates Josh, Erica, Melissa, and Madi. I had previously stayed with all of these fantastic people (and others) at a house in Raleigh, and I was looking forward to another weekend with them. Staying with teammates at a race is great. Not only do we share the experience together, but we also laugh constantly and release a lot of anxiety over the course of the weekend. The condo was perfect for our purposes. Most importantly, it had a kitchen as well as an inspirational view from the balcony.
After I organized my stuff, I went for a long walk on the boardwalk while I waited for the others to arrive. This served as good reconnaissance for the run section of the race as it was going to be held on this same section of the boardwalk. I texted Dave that I was going to kill the run. Flat boardwalk with nice scenery. Right up my alley. I returned to the hotel in time for dinner with Madi and Melissa before Josh and Erica arrived later that evening.
The Day Before
We woke up on Saturday morning under strict orders from Coach Dave to load up on the carbs. I figured out the place with the best blueberry pancakes in town, and we headed out on a (longer than anticipated) walk to a place called Gilchrist where the breakfast was just awesome.
Following breakfast, we took a very welcome uber ride back to the condo, and then we decided to sneak in our opener workouts by the hotel rather than taking a chance on doing them at the race site. This turned out to be a so-so decision. Atlantic City is composed of many small blocks with traffic lights at just about every corner (on the plus side, it really is like living in Monopoly). As a consequence, our openers were stop-go-stop-go. . . But good enough for an equipment check (or so I thought), and I found five minutes to squeeze in a run as well before heading over to the race site to rack our bikes.
We got everybody’s bikes on the cars and then headed to Bader Field. The others needed to check-in. We all needed to rack our bikes. And then we were supposed to meet up with some of our other teammates–Coach Dave, Sara, Kathy, Katie, Dave B., Jennifer, Mindy, Arnel, and Lymaris–for a team photo. All went smoothly, and this might be my favorite triathlon picture of them all.
After checking in our bikes and scouting out the swim again, I headed back to the condo while my roomies went in search of a grocery store. Early in the evening, we headed off to an old school red sauce Italian restaurant for a hearty meal before heading to bed early.
Race Morning
As I always do before big races, I had a terrible night’s sleep. Let’s just say I didn’t really need my alarm when it went off at 3:30am. I ate my planned race morning breakfast: oatmeal with almond butter mixed in, a Smooth Caffeinator Picky Bar, a banana, and some coffee. Got my kit on, packed up my stuff (since we had to check out), and headed down to get my car out of the mandatory valet (where we erroneously feared there might be a bottleneck of many triathletes simultaneously trying to get their cars at 4:00 in the morning).
I left the hotel for the short drive to Bader Field by about 4:30, which is when transition opened. My start time wasn’t until 6:50, but I prefer to arrive early at races. If I’m going to be awake on race morning, I figure I might as well be at the race site taking my time to set up my transition area. Moreover, we were warned that parking might be an issue, so arriving early seemed like a good idea.
At about 4:35 and while driving to the race site, I realized that I had forgotten to grab my two pre-mixed bottles of nutrition from the refrigerator in the condo. I pulled over in front of a very sketchy convenience store and started frantically messaging my roommates, hoping they would grab the bottles for me. Luckily, they got the message, and this turned out to be a false alarm, albeit one that produced a few minutes of anxiety.
Like the valet at the hotel, parking turned out to be a non-issue. I pulled right in, parked, and headed to the transition area. Truthfully, it didn’t take much more than ten or fifteen minutes to set up everything, check the pressure in my tires, spin my wheels, etc., but I really do prefer to do these things calmly rather than frantically on the morning of a race. After checking in with my teammates, some of whom were racked right next to me and others a little further away, I headed over to the swim area about thirty minutes before the race was scheduled to start. I wanted a little time away from the now-harried transition area to gather my thoughts.
The Swim
I was in the very first swim wave (no pro wave at this race). I was excited to be in the first wave. Not only did it mean less standing around. It also meant that while I’d likely be in the middle of the pack on the swim, I’d be able to pass some people on the bike and then have lots of clear road ahead of me for both the bike and the run. I kept thinking how cool it was to be at the tip of a race with more than two thousand athletes in it.
Just before the race began, the awesome race director Stephen del Monte announced that the swim course was being shortened from 1.2 miles to 1 mile due to a dangerous current in the water. On the one hand, I was relieved to have a shorter swim since swimming isn’t my strength. On the other hand, I did have a tinge of disappointment that the race now wasn’t going to be a full 70.3.
Well, that 1 mile swim turned out to demand all of the effort that a 1.2 mile swim would have required. Though we had initially thought the current would be with us on the long leg out to the first lefthand turn, the current that morning was against us. In particular, as we approached that turn buoy, we swam into a swimming treadmill. You’d keep on swimming, but not go anywhere. Eventually, I made the turn around that buoy and then swam the short bit over to the next turn buoy before coming back toward the the exit (to shorten the course, they eliminated one final turn buoy before the exit). By looking at my workout file from this swim, you can pretty much see where the treadmill was as my pace hit rock bottom at around the 25:00 mark.
Out of the water, I was happy to get my wetsuit stripped off of me (by a strapping dude who I feared might just pull my entire leg off). I looked at my watch and saw that the swim had taken me about 40 minutes. That was what I was hoping to cover 1.2 miles in, but again, this 1 mile was about as tough as any 1.2 miles that I’ve done (and, in fact, as I found out after the race, they shortened the swim even further for later waves). I then made the somewhat long run to my bike.
The Bike
I hopped on my bike and started navigating my way out of Bader Field. Immediately, I realized that something was wrong with my power meter. Both my cadence and my power were reading way too low on my watch. Ironically, I’ve had this Quarq power meter for nearly two years, and I’ve literally never had a single problem with it. Never. Leave it to race morning for a problem to occur. I tried a few spurts of high power to see if somehow that would wake it up, but to no avail. Fortunately, I didn’t panic. I had a target heart rate, and I would use that instead to gauge my effort.
The first half of the bike felt great even without (or maybe because) I didn’t have accurate power and cadence numbers. I remember thinking that those first twenty-eight miles really flew by. As I expected, after passing some faster swimmers, there was very little race traffic on the roads (and not much car traffic either!), and I went long stretches without encountering many other racers. In fact, at one point, I started to wonder if I had somehow made a wrong turn.
About thirty miles into the bike, my power meter suddenly appeared to be working again. I now had power and cadence, though with some occasional dropouts. I could hear Coach Dave telling me to keep my cadence up, which I struggle to do during races. And I struggled with it in this race as well.
With a couple miles to go, friend and Speed Sherpa coach Josh pulled up alongside me, and we shared an astonished laugh at the guys blatantly drafting in front of us. Seeing Josh gave me the energy to push through those last couple of miles and finish the bike strong.
In the end, neither my power numbers nor my cadence (for the parts that I have data) were what I was trying to hit, but my time of 2:30 was ok. I was hoping to be under 2:30, but given the technical difficulties, I held it together fairly well on the bike. I suspect I went out too hard on the first half when I didn’t have data and didn’t quite have enough in the tank for the second half. Still, I knew that if I had a good run, then that five hour mark remained possible.
Finally, kudos to the race team for a very nice bike course with lots of smooth roads and limited car traffic (and, yes, we got our own lane on the Atlantic City Expressway).
The Run
As soon as I dismounted from my bike and started to run toward transition, I could tell my hamstrings were really, really angry. I was going to pay the price for 2.5 hours in aero with too low a cadence. I got my bike stuff off and my running gear on worried about how this run was going to go.
As I left transition, one of my teammates, Jennifer, was volunteering at the exit to the run. She yelled at me, “Go catch Coach Dave!” I knew that Josh was also just ahead of me on the run as he had passed me at the end of the bike, and we had chatted for a few seconds in transition before he took off ahead of me. So, I thought that catching Dave and Josh would be a good initial goal for the run.
But first I needed to stretch out those hamstrings. The first two miles of the run course involved some looping around the very hot tarmac of Bader Field before crossing a bridge and heading to the boardwalk. By the time I had finished the two miles in Bader Field, my hamstrings had opened up a bit but were still tight.
Once on the boardwalk, things started to feel better. Soon enough, I had Coach Dave in my sights. Dave’s been fighting health issues, so he was planning on using this race as a training day for his upcoming 140.6 race. He was happy to see me pass him and pushed me to go get that result for which I was hoping. One of the best things I can say about Dave as a coach is that he always genuinely wants to see his athletes do their best even when that means doing better than him.
Soon thereafter, I spied Josh on the boardwalk and made my way toward him. As I passed him, we exchanged encouraging words, and I settled into a nice rhythm for the next few miles.
Unfortunately, I lost that rhythm about halfway through the run. It was hot, and in retrospect, I think I didn’t consume enough calories or hydration. By about mile seven, I was trying everything and anything to find my mojo, including the favorite triathlete trick of warm coke.
The boardwalk turned out to be a scenic and entertaining place to run (leaving aside a recording of Guy Fieri blaring out of one of the casinos inviting me in for a beer and some of his barbecue and mac-and-cheese). One of my takeaway moments from this race will be running out a long, skinny pier that left you feeling like you were in the middle of the ocean. It was also nice to have lots of supportive spectators, from retirees to families to random boardwalk dudes. But the best support of all came from familiar faces and voices, like Sara and Arnel.
I continued to do the calculations on what it would take to make that five hour time, but I realized it was slipping away from me and my legs simply weren’t responding as I hoped they would. I played cat-and-mouse with a few guys in my age group before making the last turn around on the boardwalk. As I headed up the final pier, I was grateful for Sara who was there screaming (and I mean screaming) at me with about half-a-mile to go, “Come on, Dave. Let’s go!!!” She knew I was close to that five hour mark, and she was trying to will me to get there. What a friend and teammate.
I made the turn toward the finish knowing that I wasn’t going to hit that five hour goal, but determined to finish strong through the line. In the end, I ran the half marathon in 1:47. To me, this was the most disappointing part of my race as I know I can run faster than that and, in fact, did run faster than that at Raleigh on arguably a tougher course.
Wrapping up Atlantic City
I finished in 5:03:40. That was good enough for 20th in my age group out of 228 athletes who completed the race. My swim was middle of the pack (109th) while my bike was better (32nd) and my run was best (20th). Overall, I finished 163rd out of over 2000 athletes, including many of whom swam a shorter distance than me. (Comparing results across age groups is really difficult for this race given the different swim distances).
I was initially disappointed after missing my goal by less than four minutes. Two of my teammate besties Sara and Peyton were having none of it, insisting that I had had a great race. I still know that there were four minutes out there for me to have had in this race, but I also am proud of the fact that I’ve now done five 70.3 races and my times have improved each and every race (even if one adjusts for the fact that this was really a 70.1 for me).
I’m thrilled for my teammates, all of whom had great races. Congratulations to Delmo Sports, which put on a terrific race, especially considering it was their first Ironman event. And while Atlantic City has certainly seen better days, everybody we met locally was friendly and hospitable, including the fantastic race volunteers. Also, a tip of the visor to local law enforcement, which controlled the roads and kept us safe. Finally, perhaps the biggest congratulations goes to my teammate Dave, who proposed to his girlfriend immediately after crossing the finish line. And she said yes! What an awesome moment.
Looking Forward
2016 was a great season for me. I got on the podium a few times and performed well in my two big races at Raleigh and Atlantic City. I’m still deciding what’s next for me. I’d like to do a full 140.6 at some point, but I only want to do it if I can commit the time to it to be competitive. I’ll be proud to finish, but I know that I have the capacity to race well. Whether I have the time to commit to the training is something that I’m still contemplating. Either way, I’m eager to see what the coming year holds for me in this sport that I have grown to love. I age up in 2017, so I go from being the old guy in my age group to the young guy. Only in triathlon do you occasionally look forward to getting older.
I also know that I have things on which I need to work. I will improve my swimming, so I come out of the water in better position in the race. I will focus on a higher cadence on the bike, so that my legs are better prepared for the run. I will rethink my nutrition strategy, so that I’m taking in the fuel that my body needs. And, finally, as Dave and I discussed in our debrief after this race, I will emphasize getting all of the little things right. Physically, I’m at a place where I am able to be competitive at the top of my age group, but I need to work on maximizing my ability, both physically and mentally.
Finally, I am so grateful to all who support me in this sport. My wife, Robin, and boys, Levi and Gabriel, put up with the hours I spend training. My coach Dave gets me. He knows how to get the best out of me, and I can’t thank him enough for the confidence he has in my ability. Last but by no means least, I am so proud to be a part of Speed Sherpa Nation. I can’t imagine doing this sport without my friends and teammates, including those with whom I was lucky enough to experience this race in Atlantic City.
See you out on the course in 2017. . .or maybe sooner.
