Time to Dust Off the Old Blog....Raleigh 70.3 Race Report

Raleigh 70.3 Race Report

4:35:42

9th Men 30-34

56th Overall

results 

It has been quite some time since I've posted.  In fact I skipped several race reports dating back to the end of last year.  Since Ironman Louisville last August, I've competed in the Peluso Open Water 5 Miler, Marine Corps Marathon, Richmond Half Marathon, Love Rox Half Marathon, Shamrock Half Marathon, Monument 10K and Kinetic Half Iron.  In the past I never missed an opportunity to post a race report, but over the last few months I haven't felt motivated to keep the ol' blog updated.  I think my desire to blog has been lacking due to the fact that I have perceived my results to be below my goals/expectations.  This pattern of negativity has been growing with each passing race and actually ended up biting me in the ass this past weekend at Raleigh 70.3.  Fortunately, Raleigh presented an opportunity to learn some valuable lessons and re-focus my energies and mindset in a more positive direction to re-realize that I am doing this for fun (and not for my livelihood).  I tend to take triathlon a bit too seriously and get bogged down in the results.  As I have been chasing my goal of qualifying for Kona I have been failing to practice what I preach and have been focused on the destination instead of the journey.  Recently I have been obsessing over perceived failings in various races and it culminated this weekend in Raleigh.

Before I get into the race report, I want to back up a bit and get you up to speed on my training.  In January I began working with a new coach, Eric Limkemann (http://ericlimkemann.blogspot.com/).  Besides being a top level pro, he also happens to be a great coach and an all around great guy.  I have been very pleased with my training thus far and have been hitting metrics in my workouts that I have never seen before.  I also made a commitment to let the coach do his job and stop doing "extra credit" not in my plan.  One of my weaknesses as an athlete is that I never feel like I am doing enough and I tend to cheat up the distances and intensities in my training sessions.  I'm sure this was a source of frustration for Coach Flanigan the last two years and ultimately hurt my race results.  This year I made a resolution to stick to the plan and stop with the extra BS.  I have been pretty good thus far and I would give myself a B+ for my efforts. Every so often I sneak in a bit extra, but by and large I have stayed committed to my resolution and it has resulted in a productive and injury free block of training since January....Now on to the race report.

Raleigh 70.3 slotted into my season quite nicely.  My goals were to go sub 4:30 and secure a spot to 70.3 World Championships.  I felt reasonably confident that I could put together a good race inasmuch as I raced Kinetic 3 weeks ago at Ironman pace and put up a respectable time.  I was able to do this two weeks after being struck by a car and was pretty sore at the time.  Kinetic gave me a bit of confidence that I could put a great race together at Raleigh.  Additionally, Coach gave me a bit of rest leading into the weekend and I felt I was primed for a good performance.  I arrived in Raleigh on Friday afternoon.  It was a nice treat to have my beautiful wife along for the ride.  We had a nice dinner on Friday and I spent the rest of the evening cleaning up my rig and getting race ready.

scoping out the course with Dan S.

Saturday was a bit of a cluster due to the nature of the course.  The swim took place at Jordan Lake which was about 40 minutes outside of town.  This meant there were two different transition areas and we had to check our bikes into T1 on Saturday.  Much of Saturday was spent checking in at the expo, shuttling back and forth between the transition areas and getting everything ready for Sunday.  The day was over before I knew it.  The best part of the day was sitting down to dinner with friends and family at Mellow Mushroom.  One of life's simple pleasures is dinner the night before an Ironman.  It is one of the few times that I stop obsessing over my diet and focus on fueling for the next day.  I strapped on the feedbag and ate my weight in glorious glorious pizza.  After dinner I topped off the fuel tank with a ridiculous serving of frozen yogurt and headed back to the hotel room to unwind and get ready for the early wake up call.

Race Morning

Feedbag...engage

On race morning I woke up at 4 am to meet my dad down in the lobby.  Big Dan is becoming somewhat of a celebrity around the tri scene.  I think most of my triathlete friends and acquaintances know him as well as they know me from his high quality sherpa skills and general Facebook panache.  As always he was there every step of the way and got up early so he could come on the shuttle with me so I could bring my bike pump and not have to deal with checking a morning clothes bag.  I honestly don't know what I would do at these races if I didn't have him and my mom.  The support they continue to give is remarkable, and I do not express to them enough how thankful and fortunate I am to have them.  This sport is a collaborative effort and nothing I accomplish is possible without Big Dan, Stella, and my unfailingly supportive Iron-wife, Brittany Royce (it never hurts to have a super model wife, standing on the race course when things get rough on the run!).  I told her after the race that no matter how bad I feel, when I see her on the run I get a surge of energy.  I mean who the hell wouldn't want to see this face cheering you on when things get ugly?!?!?!

One unfortunate aspect of the race was that the swim start took place in waves and I had to get to transition early to take a shuttle from T2 to T1.  This meant that I was up at 4 a.m. even though my race wouldn't be starting until 8:02.  Because of the long waiting period I spaced out my morning calories.  I had two packages of oatmeal immediately upon waking up (300 cals).  About an hour and a half later I had peanut butter and jelly on a plain bagel (approx. 450 cals), and I downed a second surge energy gel (90 cals) before the swim. We arrived at T1 at about 6:15 in the morning.  I double and triple checked the transition and tried to relax until my wave went off.  One nice aspect of the late swim start was that I got to see my coach win the swim and come out of the water first in the pro field.  It was pretty cool watching him come out of the water first and head out on the bike to do some serious work.  At about 7:30 I put on my trusty Blue Seventy Helix and started loosening up for the swim.  At 7:45 I got into the water for a quick warmup and then lined up with the guys in my wave and anxiously awaited our start time.  The few minutes just before the start are always electric and it didn't hurt that the speakers were blaring Red Hot Chili Peppers.....Go Time.

Swim
26:09- 3rd AG, 29th OA
The swim course was a triangle shaped course on Jordan Lake.  With two turns built into the course the plan was to stay long and strong until the first buoy and then increase my effort after each turn.  I was a bit concerned about the swim course due to my late wave.  Despite the waves being 4:00 apart, I suspected I would run into traffic pretty early on in the swim.  I started catching the wave in front of me just around the first turn buoy.  The course became more and more congested as the swim progressed.  I'm not sure how many waves I swam through but I suspect I was catching folks that may have been 4-5 waves in front of me.  I think I did an average job holding my lines and feel reasonably confident that I swam straight however I did not feel particularly good in the water.  I attribute this to the fact that I only swam one session during the week leading into the race.  I was scheduled to swim M/W/F and only managed to get the Wednesday session in.  I tend to lose feel for the water pretty quickly when I'm not in the water every other day and I felt this during the race.  I was not particularly pleased with the swim split but it wasn't a disaster.  As always the Blue Seventy Helix wetsuit performed beautifully.  Before I knew it the swim was over and the wetsuit strippers helped me out of my suit. ...On to the bike where I planned on putting out a big effort.

Bike
2:31:28- 7th AG, 43rd OA
56.11 miles, 22.2 mph
AP 284, NP 289, VI 1.02, Avg Cadence 94

The bike course was a point to point course taking us from Jordan Lake into downtown Raleigh.  The course can best be described as rolling.  Most of the course is either going up or coming down but I don't recall any significant climbs.  The back half of the course was definitely more difficult than the front half and it was made slower by a steady headwind for the last 20 or so miles.  The front half of the course is FAST!!!!  After the initial climb out of transition, the first 25 miles were screaming.  At about mile 25 I thought a low 2:20s bike split was in my future.  I made the mistake of underestimating the back half of the course and while I handled it fine from an energy standpoint, it was definitely slower than the front and ultimately brought down my average pace and brought about a slower bike split than I was initially anticipating.

The game plan on the bike was to ride the first half at about 270 Watts and build into the low 280s if I felt good.  I felt really good on the bike and found that I was riding 280 watts right off the bat.  I was initially concerned that it wouldn't be sustainable but as the bike unfolded I found that my average power was holding steady and actually slowly ticking up toward the mid 280s.  At the halfway point I felt confident that I could sustain a wattage near 280.  The ride felt strong and comfortable and I think I was only passed by about 8 cyclists during the course of the ride.  I was able to ride legally with a couple of different cyclists which is always helpful from a pacing standpoint.  The thing I like about Ironman events is the large number of people out on the bike course.  While it does propose some safety issues/challenges, it is nice to be around other people and have the opportunity to be passing people all day.  All too often at smaller races I find myself riding alone for long periods of time.  While it is certainly good mental strength training it is a lot more fun to be suffering with several hundred other crazies.  Toward the tail end of the ride I began to realize that a split in the 2:20s was not going to happen.  This brought on some frustration, but I instead tried to focus on maintaining steady wattage.  As I rolled back into town I felt good and thought that I had enough in the tank for a solid run split.

Bike nutrition consisted of a second surge energy gel (90 cals) at the start of the bike, and I sipped on a carbo pro cocktail for the remainder of my calories.  I had one 600 calorie bottle that contained 6 scoops of carbo pro, two nuun tablets, and two lava salt tablets.  I also took 6 salt stick capsules during the ride.  I drank 1/3 of my nutrition bottle every 45 minutes.  I took 2 salt stick caps with each portion of the cocktail.  My energy felt strong and consistent through the ride.  I think I undercooked the electrolytes a bit as I had some cramping late in the run, but for the most part I think my nutrition was pretty close to dead on.

Run
1:33:40 (7:09/mile)- 9th AG, 56th OA
Run segments
1- 3.5 Miles: 7:03/mile
2- 3.1 Miles: 7:15/mile
3- 3.2 Miles: 7:23/mile
4- 3.3 Miles: 6:55/mile
The run course was not easy.  It was an out and back course done twice.  It was essentially a 3.5 mile climb followed by a 3 mile descent x2.  I felt surprisingly fresh running out of transition with the exception of some quad cramping which is pretty typical for me in the first mile off the bike.  I have found that if I focus on steady pacing the cramps generally subside within the first ten minutes and this run was no exception.  The game plan on the run was to build my effort during each of the four segments.  Eric thought I had the capability to start at 7:00 pace and descend into the 6:50s but as soon as I started the first climb I realized I would have to be smart with my pacing.  The first and third segments were a long steady climb and I focused on good technique and steady pacing around 7:15.  I knew that If I pushed it any harder I would risk exploding on the back half of the run.  The run was not well shaded and it got a bit warm so I was concerned about cramping.  I had a canister of lava salt tablets and I alternated taking 2-3 tablets every 15-20 minutes.  As usual I relied on cola for calories and water for hydration.  I took ice sponges and ice whenever it was available.  I alternated dumping water over my head and ice down my shorts to keep my core temperature down.  One of my only complaints about the race was that the run aid stations were a bit unorganized.  It was sometimes difficult to get your hands on what you were looking for.

I did a good job staying consistent on the run and there wasn't really any section where I felt like I was blowing up.  My third segment split was the slowest by far but I didn't feel as though I was suffering especially badly during that portion of the race.  I felt steady and in control the whole time.  The encouraging news is that my last segment was the fastest of the day which showed I still had some juice in my legs after a big bike effort.  I saw my buddy Dan at the first turn and noticed that our gap was pretty close to the 4 minutes we started the race with (he was one wave behind me).  Dan has had some impressive Ironman run splits and I spent the next hour trying not to let him catch me.  Ultimately he out split me by about a minute but it certainly helped me run faster to know that one of my buddies was hunting me down.  I only noticed about 3 or 4 people pass me on the run. This was less than normal and I take it as a positive that my run continues to progress.  Hopefully over the next month and a half I will continue to improve to the point where a sub 3:30 will be possible at Lake Placid.

Takeaways
Immediately after the race I was disappointed.  I had convinced myself that I was going to put up a time in the low 4:20s.  When I came in at 4:35, I felt like I had let myself down.  Despite finishing 9th in my AG, I was annoyed and angry at another sub-par effort.  As I have had time to reflect, I think this reaction was immature and ridiculous.  As I objectively look at the data and conditions of the day, I had a good race.  I let the negativity get to me and it would end up costing me.

Typically any time I finish within the top 10 I stay for roll down on the off chance that I get a World Championship slot.  However, on Sunday, I decided that my performance left something to be desired and there was no way it would roll to me.  So I collected my things and high tailed it out of town soon after the race.  I didn't even bother to check if the automatic qualifiers had claimed their spots prior to leaving.....amateur move.  As I drove home I got a call from a friend who told me that they were calling my name at roll down for a World Championship slot.  The one time I didn't stay for roll down was the one time I could have qualified for worlds.  I was so angry with myself for letting a poor attitude cost me a WC spot.  It taught me a valuable lesson....never leave roll down if you are in the top 10, and a negative attitude can cost you both during and after your race.  Frankly, this was a wake up call that I needed and I feel it was a good spring board to work the mental component of my training and to start having fun again.  This sport really is about the journey and not the destination. I needed this experience to remind me of that.

I want to thank all my friends and family who took the time to say a kind word or congratulate me on my race.  I posted some word vomit on Facebook immediately after the race about being disappointed and I was overwhelmed by the number of people who reached out to lift me back up.  The tri community is wonderful and I have met some truly inspirational people who lift me up just when I need it.  Thank you to all of you that took the time to say a kind word.  It resonated with me and further cemented the fact that I need to work on being more positive, believe in my abilities, and have confidence I will need to qualify for Kona.  In short I need to stop being so damn hard on myself.

As always thanks for taking the time to read my musings.  Happy training and congrats to everyone that raced last weekend including Nate Deal, Trey McFerren, Dan Szajta, Lindsey Wohlford, Justin Moyer, Rob Green, and Moose Herring.  There were many great performances all around.

Next up Rev 3 Olympic.....stay tuned

Ironman Louisville Race Report

10:03:10

11th Place Men 30-34

59th Place Overall 
Official Race Splits 

When I arrived home from IMCDA I was pretty bummed out.  My performance was short of my goals and I was feeling pretty burnt.  I had decided I would keep training over the summer but focus my efforts on shorter local races and focus on fun.  That plan went out the window about 48 hours after I got home and my buddy Rob called me and told me he had signed up for Mont Tremblant.  The conversation when something like this...

Rob:  Hey man I just signed up for Mont Tremblant, Justin is in too, wanna join us?
Me:   How did you sign up for Mont Tremblant?  The race isn't until August and you can't sign up for 2014 until after the race.
Rob:  No, I signed up for this year.  We took charity slots.  The race is in 8 weeks....
Me:  Sh*t

I knew my boys had upped the ante and it was time for me to stop sulking and put my game face on.  After some quick mental calculus, I realized I couldn't make the trip to Canada work logistically but my old friend IMKY was open and beckoning.  After clearing it with the wifey, I signed up the same day, and just like that I was back in the mix.  I took about two weeks of lighter unstructured training but was still getting about 14-15 hours a week.  I really ramped up my training in July and August and attacked every session with real purpose and intensity.  My last big block was my best since I started my long course adventure in 2011.  I was able to string together several 20+ hour weeks where I was getting in 250 miles a week on the bike and really upping my run mileage in a way I was not able to prior to CDA.  I stretched my training limits including longer weekday rides.  This made for a challenging couple of months as I tried to balance my hobby with my job.  As always my wife was the champion of this endeavor, and supported me the whole way through.  I honestly don't know how she puts up with it, but I am glad she does because I couldn't do this without her.

Due to the volume, I was looking for every recovery advantage I could get....so I decided to give Extreme Endurance a try (www.xendurance.com).  Normally I'm not big on supplements and generally skeptical of similar products...  I am kind of old school in that regard (train hard, eat well, sleep well, do work).  Extreme Endurance is a lactic acid buffer which boasts the ability to increase your aerobic threshhold by 10-15%.  Honestly, I was skeptical but several of my training partners swear by the stuff so I figured I would give it a try given my increased volume and the fact that I already had one Ironman in my legs.  It wasn't until after IMKY when I stopped taking it that I realized how effective it really was.  After three days off the stuff I was hobbling like an old man.  Within two days of going back on it my soreness was virtually gone (I'm currently running high mileage in preparation for the Marine Corps Marathon).  I don't know about the aerobic threshhold increases but it certainly makes you less sore.  This stuff is legit and is going to be a part every one of my future training blocks.  If you are doing endurance sports give it a try, you won't be disappointed.

In the days leading up to the race I felt much better than I did prior to CDA.  Looking back, I just never felt right before CDA.  I can't put my finger on it but I didn't feel sharp.  I think part of it had to do with the time frame of the race.  I am so accustomed to being prepared to peak in August, peaking in June just felt off.  I think this harkens back to my swimming days and my muscle memory tells me I should be peaking in July/August.  In any event, I felt confident and strong coming into Louisville.  I was overwhelmed by the amount of friends, family and acquaintances in the Richmond tri community that reached out and wished me luck prior to the race.  A lot of folks knew about my goal of qualifying for Kona and went out of their way to wish me luck by text, phone and Facebook.  To each one of you, THANK YOU....In the closing miles of the run I thought of all the people in my corner and it really lifted me up....now that I have probably lost you with this ridiculously long intro, on to the race report....

Pre-Race

On race morning I work up at 3:45.  I ate two packages of oatmeal, a banana with two tablespoons of peanut butter, two salt stick caps and a bagel (about 800 calories/430 mg sodium).  My dad and I headed down to the transition area to do a final check of my transition bags and got my bike setup.  I got everything in order and started making the mile long trek to the swim start.  I made a decision to get to transition this year at 4:30 so that I could get a better position in the swim line.  Last year I was at the very end of the line and thought I would try and take advantage of some cleaner water and a less cluttered bike course.  I arrived at the swim start much earlier and was in the front third of the swim line.  It was a long wait in the swim line but it was nice sitting with my dad and making small talk with the other participants in line near me.  While I waited I ate a bonk breaker and took two more salt tabs about 30 minutes before the swim (220 calories/430 mg sodium) and sipped on water.  Eventually the line started moving and it was go time.

Swim

48:48, 2nd AG, 10th OA

My training this year was much different in that I made swimming a priority for the first time since I started triathlon in 2007.  I consistently swam 3-4 times a week all year and got my swim dialed back in.  This wouldn't be possible without the great program at Peluso Open Water (www.pelusoopenwater.com).  It has allowed me to swim consistently with other fast folks and regain my feel for the water. 

My plan was to swim strong and consistent like CDA.  I was targeting a 52-53 minute swim.  I thought I would be slightly slower than CDA because Louisville is non-wetsuit and I wouldn't have the benefit of drafting with a fast pack due to the time trial format.  At the start I swung wide and stayed close to shore to avoid the heavier traffic closer to the Island.  I felt a bit tight for the first 10 minutes or so.  In hindsight this was likely due to the current which evidently was pretty strong that particular day.  As I approached the end of the island I got my line dialed in and bee-lined for the turn buoy.  This was hands down the best swim I have every done in terms of sighting and keeping straight lines.  Even as I was swimming I could feel that I was dialed in and going laser straight from buoy to buoy.  After the turn I settled in and stayed long and strong and took advantage of the current. My shoulders loosened up and I counted the buoys as I kept a smooth rhythm.  I could tell I was having a good swim but didn't know how good until I got out of the water.  As I exited the water I glanced down at my watch expecting a 52ish minute swim.  Much to my surprise my watch showed 48 minutes....oh yeaaa extra money in the bank.

Bike

5:24:40, 11th AG, 56th OA

Power- Avg 242, Norm 249

VI- 1.03, Avg HR- 143, Avg Cadence- 92

Avg Speed- 20.8

My plan on the bike was to start at a lower wattage than CDA due to the heat factor.  My plan was to start at 230 Watts and then increase my power if I felt good.  It turns out I was feeling pretty good in the early miles and made a conscious decision to ride at 240 Watts.  The wattage was easy to maintain and I didn't feel like I was taxing myself at all.  I had done quite a bit of work on my cadence between CDA and Louisville so another focus was to keep my cadence above 90 RPMs.  I could tell that my speed was slightly slower than last year but initially wasn't concerned and focused instead on my power numbers and soft pedaling the climbs.  I rode a steady consistent ride and was on top of my nutrition and hydration.  As the ride unfolded I knew I could make up some ground in the last 25 miles back into town.  The majority of that section is downhill and when the conditions are right you can haul ass (note: the conditions were right).  As I finished the second loop I was feeling good and ready to start hammering the last 20+ miles.

At somewhere around mile 90 I had a minor disaster.  As I accelerated down a hill I shifted into a bigger gear but nothing happened.  I was confused so I tried again....nothing.  Next I tried to shift into an easier cog and it shifted all the way into the easiest cog on the big ring.  This ended up being a major mistake in that my rear shifter was only allowing me to shift into easier gears and now I was stuck in a very inopportune gear.  I stopped in a driveway and tried to manually shift into a more appropriate gear that would get me back home more efficiently but had no luck.  I stopped in the driveway of a family who was outside observing the race.  I feel pretty bad because I most certainly scared them to death cursing up a storm at my bike.  After a few minutes I realized it was futile and got back on the bike to get moving.  The gearing was so bad that I was spinning at 100+ RPMs and going nowhere.  After a few minutes I stopped and tried again with no luck. 
 Needless to say I was pretty pissed at the scenario and felt my chance at a sub 10 hour day slipping away.  After my second failed attempt to manually shift the rear derailleur I started riding resigned to the fact that it would be a slow and inefficient road home.  The run into town was a bummer, my gearing was sh*t and I was missing out on a ton of free speed on the downhills.   I spent the last 30 minutes calming myself down.  After a minor temper tantrum I realized there was still a marathon staring me in the face and I wasn't going to explode my whole day for circumstances outside my control... so I got my mind right and prepared mentally for the run.  In looking back at the data I realize that had the "mechanical" not happened I still would have been at least five minutes slower than last year.  Frankly, this has been the most confusing aspect of the race for me.  I am more fit, rode at a much higher power, with a much lower variability index yet my time was substantially slower.  The numbers are telling me I should have ridden sub 5:10 (which was my goal) but instead I was substantially slower.

I posted the following thread on slowtwitch to ask all the data geeks on the interwebs how to explain this discrepancy.  For any of you data junkies that may have some insight I would love your thoughts after reading this thread (Why the hell was I so much slower?).  I have come to the conclusion that my new power meter simply reads much higher than the old one and I wasn't pushing as much power as I thought I was (both during the race and in training) or it is simply out of calibration.  There is simply no way that with my size, weight and aero position that a 240 Watt ride should be this slow.  I am in the process of figuring out if it is a calibration issue with the unit, or if I just need to recalibrate my expectations based on the wattage readings from my current Quarq.  In any event I need to get this figured out before next season.  I believe I am capable of a sub 5:10 bike split on a rolling course and fell well short of this despite being the most fit I have ever been.

My nutrition plan on the bike was very similar to CDA with the exception that I drastically increased my sodium intake to account for the increased heat and water consumption.  Thanks again to Brian Shea at Personal Best Nutrition for helping me get this dialed in.  He gave me a realistic framework that I can tweak as needed to account for weather conditions.  This marks my second Ironman with no cramping which was previously a major issue for me.

My nutrition plan included two bottles of liquid calories and a bonk breaker bar at special needs.  My calorie/electrolyte cocktail was comprised of EFS, Gatorade, Gu Brew, Carbo Pro, two dissolved salt stick capsules and Mio for flavoring.  I purposefully mixed the flavoring of the front half bottle to be stronger (I like a sweeter taste on the front half of a race...not so much on the back half).  Each bottle had 586 calories and 1415 mg of electrolyte.  I upped my electrolyte intake substantially from CDA.  I supplemented my electrolyte "cocktail" with 12 salt stick capsules (2580 mg electrolyte).  I alternated taking one or two salt stick capsules every 30 minutes.  I drank one sixth of each calorie bottle every 25 minutes and took a salt stick capsule at the same time.  I picked up the second bottle around mile 60 at special needs.  I consumed the entire first calorie bottle and probably 3/4 of the second bottle.  Overall my energy was excellent and I didn't experience any cramping.  The only other fluid I took on board was water at the aid stations.  My water consumption was substantially higher than CDA.  I didn't count, but I probably drank about six twenty ounce bottles of water.  This seemed to work well in that I peed two times on the bike. I consumed about 280 calories/hour and 1082 mg electrolyte/hour during the ride.

Run

3:42:17, 11th AG, 59th OA

Avg- 8:29/mile 

By the time I arrived back in transition I had gotten over my hissy fit and was ready to run.  My plan was to start the run much more conservatively and put together a far more consistent effort than my previous attempts.  In CDA I went out way too fast and exploded which made for a very uncomfortable last 10 miles.  In Louisville I was determined not to repeat the same mistake.  My goal was a 3:35 marathon and thought this could be accomplished by starting out at 8:15-8:20 pace and trying to descend on the back half.  I intended to walk a few steps at every aid station to make sure I was getting water, cola, ice sponges and taking my salt stick caps.  For calories I used cola only, and with the exception of a few aid stations I took a few sips of coke at nearly every opportunity.  It's hard to quantify exactly how much coke I drank but I assume somewhere in the neighborhood of 3-4 ounces per cup (about 50 calories).  I also took two salt stick capsules in the second transition and then one saltstick cap every mile for the remainder of the race (6020 mg electrolyte).  This roughly equated to 225 calories and 1330 mg electrolyte per hour.  This formula worked well and I did not bonk nor did I experience any cramping despite temperatures reaching the low 90's.

In the early stages I realized 8:15's was going to be a bit too aggressive and elected to back off in the hopes I would make that time up during the last 5 miles.  This ended up being a sound strategy and this was my first Ironman marathon that I ran in its entirety (with the exception of walking a few steps at each aid station and two bathroom breaks).  I settled into a comfortable pace of 8:25's and held it.  The only hiccup was two bathroom stops within the first 10 miles. In my experience it is more beneficial to be comfortable even if it costs you 1-2 minutes in the port-a-jon.  After clearing out the system there were no major problems for the remainder of the run.

After resigning myself to 8:25 pace I planned to hold there and drop down at mile 15.  When I reached mile 15 this was not in the cards so I held pace and decided to give it everything I had on the last 10k.  With the exception of the two "bathroom miles", the vast majority of my mile splits were right around 8:30.  I was consistent the whole way and ended up passing many guys that had blown past me on the early stages of the run.  Running the marathon in this fashion was quite a different experience and it is amazing how few people are running when you get past mile 20 (or even mile 15 for that matter).  After reflection, I have accepted that I am simply not an 8:00/mile Ironman marathoner, but with good training and sound strategy I will ultimately get there.  This ended up being my fastest Ironman marathon by a measly 30 seconds but in terms of execution, it was leaps and bounds ahead of my previous efforts.  It gives me confidence to know I can run a well executed marathon and not simply "fly and die". 

The run was interesting in that I saw much more carnage as compared to last year.  It was hot but not as hot as last year and the humidity was not as bad.  Despite more favorable conditions, I was seeing way more people getting medical attention on the run course.  Even hours after this race, there were ambulances flying up and down the street to/from the run course.  I hope all of those folks ended up okay.  I suspect that that cooler conditions for much of the summer probably had people ill prepared for the heat of Louisville.  I know that Richmond was uncharacteristically cool all summer and I never had the opportunity to do any significant heat acclimation.

I had a very successful tri season and never thought I would be in a position to do two Ironman races in one summer (successfully).  My second Ironman was much more well executed and although I fell short of my goals it was a great learning experience and stepping stone moving forward.  Had the rear derailleur gods worked in my favor, I think I finally would have broken through with a sub 10 hour Ironman.  This summer was a great test of my limits and I continue to enjoy pushing my own personal boundaries.  I have already signed up for the inaugural Ironman Chattanooga next September and am leaning towards Lake Placid in July.  I still have my eyes on Kona and believe that I will one day get there.  Until then I will keep chopping wood and carrying water.

As always thanks for taking the time to read this novel.  I am always appreciative of everyone who takes an interest in my progress.  Its not about the journey its about the destination!!!! Next up is the Marine Corps Marathon and hopefully a Boston Qualifying Time.  Thanks again for reading!!!!!