Challenge Wanaka Half Race Report

WANAKA RACE REPORT

This race was the first stepping stone towards Challenge Roth in July. My plan was to taper fully for the event and give it my best crack. Other than some ongoing minor calf issues I had a clean bill of health so no real excuses. I’m not in sub 9hr IM shape but felt I should be able to be in a reasonably strong performance. 

• Swim – it’s a long way from where it needs it to be and I was hoping to be going a little faster than I am but 2 sessions a week isn’t really enough.
• Bike – progress has been good. My main objective is to test my bike legs in the race.
• Run – I’ve intentionally not done much of a run build up for this race so I could focus more on the bike. I’m banking on a strong historical base which is a bit of a gamble but the big picture is more important than optimal performance at this race.

RACE PLAN / OBJECTIVES / OUTCOMES

PRE RACE NUTRITION

• 2 sliced of brown toast with peanut butter
• 1 serve ucan
• ½ Em’s power cookie bar
• 1 caffeine tablet 15mins before race start

SWIM

Objective

Simply swim to the best of my ability with current fitness and not rely on others. What I mean by that is I needed to be very aware of what is going on around me and not be idle sitting on others feet.

Plan

• Start the middle of the front row. The reason for this is the course was counter clockwise and I breath to my left. So after the rush off the line I could see what is happening on my inside and nip across to jump on feet as required.
• Push pretty hard off the line for the first 300m then asses the situation. From that point on be on the lookout for feet to follow.
• Keep head down, chin tucked and continuous stroke rating.

Outcome

Thankfully the water had warmed up since yesterday (which was bloody cold) and perfect conditions greeted us for the race. I’m always amazed how early some athlete get in the water, especially when the water was cold.

My warm up consisted of easy running with some drills and light plyometrics. I then stayed on the shore doing plenty of arm circles until exactly 5mins to race start at which time I needed to get out to the start line ~50-75m off the shore and get in position.

I went hard off the line hitting clear water immediately. Not a finger was laid on me for the entire swim which was really nice. After about 100m I noticed the eventual swim leader a couple of meters to my left so I shifted across, slowed for a second and jumped on his feet. After a few hundred meters of not quite being able to hang on I took stock and accepted that I was going a bit too hard so eased off and swam solo. On the 2^nd leg I got caught and had the same experience where I could not quite hang on. The 3^rd leg I was swimming easier but feeling good about things. The final leg home was straight into the sun. I could not see a thing so was super stoked that when another swimmer came through and led me into the sun with a good strong kick.

So out of the swim in 4^th place feeling like I got from A to B as quick as I could have with my current swim shape. Yes I was going backwards from the start but getting off the line and into clear water was worth it. Speaking of clear water lake Wanaka is a stunning place to swim with incredible visibility and snow caped mountains surrounding you.  

 

T1

Long sleeve skins jersey on and away.

BIKE

 Objective

• Test Power : HR
• Re-test nutrition
• Keep variability under control
• Be strong in the back half of the ride

Plan

• Ride my own race primarily but use others whenever appropriate
• Break course into chunks
• Out/back ~35km – pretty hilly. Take some of the downhills pretty easy to get HR down
• Middle section – settle in and keep pressure on during false flats
• Final section – stay strong and keep pressure on the gentle downhills. Keep cadence up!
• Ride to ~260-265w. HR ideally low 140’s avoiding any periods of significance above 145bpm

Outcome

Out of the swim and some dude in blue took off at the start of the ride. I didn’t expect to see him again until perhaps the run. Early on I knew I was going a touch hard but we were straight into hill after hill so it was not easy to get HR or power down. I did chill on the descents until I was caught by Tyrone (the eventual winner). He was riding strongly, I did chase for a good 10km knowing that I was unlikely to see many other riders for the rest of the ride.  However he was pumping the hills pretty hard while I maintained the gap on the flats and downs. It was time for me to settled into my work and back myself. I was feeling good after all and hitting the numbers I wanted to hit.

The middle section of the ride was completely solo other than passing full IM athletes. I was still feeling strong, hitting my numbers and thinking my pace was OK. The course was stunning with good temps, full sun and no wind. I was pretty happy. 

As we started to head back to town I could see some riders and technical officials in the distance who I was closing in on reasonably quickly. I whipped past the guy in blue from the start of the ride and then caught Tyrone who hung with me to the end of the ride.

Energy levels were good but I was conscious that I had not taken in all my nutrition – my stomach was just a little on edge. On the final climb before descending into town my quads nearly locked up which was a bit of a concern so I eased off on the descent into town.

Bike nutrition

• 1 ¾ bottle infinit (slightly off the 2 bottles I wanted)
• 2 gels
• caffeine tablet
• water
• missed ½ Em’s bar

Bike file http://tpks.ws/bnM41

NP 263w

HR 139bpm

  

T2

With a traditional “rack your own bike” set up here I was a little slow getting my top off + shoes & socks on and left transition in 2^nd.

I felt really good about how the ride had gone but was a little mindful of my quads and how my calves were doing.

RUN

Objective

• Try hard to work on technique modifications when getting tired

Plan

• Open up at 4min/km and hold it.
• Keep focus as simply aid station to aid station

Outcome

The Wanaka course if ~7-8km flat on trails, a few kms where the track narrows and has a few minor up/downs (which does slow the pace a little), a 1km climb then most of the rest of the run is either very slightly up or down. 

I was about 75-100m down from the lead onto the run. After banging out sub 4min/kms for the first few km’s I hit the lead. The effort felt about right and I was confident I could hang with it. All of a sudden when I hit the slightly technical stuff at ~8km my energy levels dropped and my legs got tired and sore very fast. I tried some emergency nutrition but that ship had sailed. It was time to batten down the hatches and battle to the finish.

I was caught by Tyrone on the climb and really wasn’t out of it if my 2^nd wind came but it didn’t . The final 10km was more like an ironman shuffle than a Half IM run. It was not fun!

I lost 2^nd place with a couple of km to go and was in danger of dropping another place as there was not a lot of fight left in the tank.  I was pretty spent at the finish maybe a 8/10.

Run file http://tpks.ws/VDsp7

 

REFLECTIONS

The swim was as good as I could expect for where I am at. The plan from here is to maintain through March and April then pick it up in May / June. I’d love to be swimming 4 times a week but my time is better invested in riding and running so for now 2 sessions/wk is all I can manage.

The bike was really pleasing. Power, HR and RPE were where I wanted them. I felt strong and aside from pushing a bit hard on a few climbs and early on I paced it pretty well.

The run – great to start,  then miserable. I should have forced in my nutrition as per the plan – a silly mistake I should not have made. I normally back my running but today showed the lack of training but more importantly the lack of hardness in my legs. I need some racing and some hard runs to toughen up my legs. That’s all in the plan ahead I just hoped there might have been a little more residual strength there today. I also think my body was just a bit rusty to last for a 4.5hr race – I’ll get more efficient as I gain specific race fitness.

Overall I really did want a strong race all round so I am disappointed to fall apart on the run. That being said I think I have a good handle on why the crack turned into a crevasse. As far as how I tracking for Roth I’m comfortable that I am on a good path. Kona 70.3 will be another good step up.