A lesson in discipline: 2019 Bayshore Half IronMan
This past Saturday I competed in my third (Bayshore 70.4) half-Ironman distance triathlon. Although I have had more than my hands full with Test Pilot School over the last three months, I decided to participate in this race about a month ago as it would be a good test of my baseline fitness level. It would also offer us a great chance to get some quality footage and raise awareness for our big 50-mile run fundraiser push in honor of Major Katherine Portillo (gofundme fundraiser page here!)
The below report is a bit lengthy, so for the cliff notes: After coming out of the water in 20th, I was closing in on the top 10 racers during the bike section when I got my first (rear) of two flats about 12 miles into the race. I did not respond well and lost discipline. Instead of sticking to my gameplan, I overcooked my legs to work back towards the front only to have another flat (front) 13 miles later. With my legs seizing up just changing the 2nd flat, I knew the remaining 40 some miles were going to be brutal. And they were. I only managed a 2 hour half marathon coming off the bike to finish an hour slower than last year. Although it didn’t seem like it at first, this was one of the better outcomes for the day. I learned a ton, and grew much stronger as a competitive triathlete. This was my first time facing real mechanical difficulties during a race, and I learned never to lose sight of the bigger picture.
This race is awesome, and I cannot recommend it enough for those local and looking for a great first half-IronMan distance event. It is a grass-roots event held annually in March in Long Beach. It was my half-Ironman distance triathlon in 2017 (when I moved to LA), and have been back every year since. I don’t race often, so this has been the only half Ironman distance event I have participated in to date. In 2017 I finished in 5:56:31 and learned a lot of lessons as it was my first long distance event. Last year, while training up for my first full Ironman, I crushed my half-Ironman PR by going 5:02:10. I applied many of the lessons learned from my first go in 2017, particularly in race nutrition.
Going into the race this year, I have been trying to keep up a baseline level of fitness throughout the first few months of Test Pilot School. I was confident I could do well on the course. Although the next goal at Bayshore is to go sub-5 hours for the day, I knew in the back of my mind I probably couldn’t pull that one off this year with my current level of fitness. I just haven’t been able to put in the hours of training like I did last year, and some of that training has been geared towards the 50 mile run later this year, rather than focused on the 70.4 triathlon distance. I was happy to settle for a 5:15 (roughly comprised of a 35 minute swim, a 3 hour bike, and a 1:40 run, plus transitions).
Swim
The swim started out a bit chaotic at the front, but nothing unusual. It had been since the summer of last year that I had done any open water swimming, so I did struggle a bit with the “straight line navigation” aspect of the swim during the first lap. My arms fatigued a bit quicker than usual with the once again unfamiliar restrictive feeling around the shoulders. Once the field spread out though I was able to get into more of a rhythm and use my long extended strokes and focus on my hip rotation and high elbow catch for the remainder of the swim. I came out of the water in about 38:42 and 20th place overall, 3 minutes slower than last year but not too bad.
Transition 1 was pretty fast. I got in and out in about 3 minutes. I would like to speed things up here a bit and have a few ideas of how to do that, but overall pretty happy with my pre-race preparation. The bike started out fast, and my legs felt great right from the start. Since the bike course opens and ends with about 1.5 miles of open road, it is a good opportunity to get the legs warmed up without going to crazy on the out-and-back running river bike trail. I knew onshore winds were going to pick up later in the morning, which would bring some punishing headwinds on the return leg of the bike portion (back towards the ocean). I wanted to push the pace a bit on the first leg to minimize my time into the wind on the way back.
Bike
Once on the river bike trail, I was able to pick up the pace nicely and found a group of 2 other riders near the back end of the front pack just out of the top ten pushing about the same power as me (190-200W). We were averaging about 21-22 mph and taking about 5 minute turns putting in the work in the front. We passed roughly 8 riders and steadily made our way to the front. About 12 miles into the bike however, I felt my rear wear skidding out, a flat tire.
I stopped to change out the tube in about 4 minutes. It was probably seeing all those riders pass me while I was addressing my flat, but once I got back on the bike I just wanted to throw down the hammer and catch up with that same group of guys I was riding with, to get back to the front. I pushed some serious power for more than 10 miles, not really noticing that my legs were fatiguing quickly. I was somewhat frustrated and wanted to make up time, cursing my bad luck in my mind and overall just harboring negative thoughts. This was the first time I had suffered a serious mechanical issue on the bike during a race, and admittedly I was not addressing it well. I was not following my own game plan anymore, and instead pushed higher power levels for way longer than my fitness level could support. I lost discipline. Instead of staying with my game plan and riding a power level I could support, I got chase crazy and burned out my legs for more than 25 minutes. I caught up with most of the riders that had passed me while changing out my tube, but I still couldn’t see the pack I was initially riding with.
Some of my work output during the bike portion.
About 13 miles after the first flat, my front tire became very unstable and again, I noticed I had a flat tire. I was about 2 miles from the turn around at this point, and already suffered my second flat tire. This is also the point at which I stopped being mad about the first flat. I pulled over to the side of the road and just stood there for a few seconds, as more riders passed by. I realized I had lost sight of the bigger picture. While I was feeling frustration and anger over my first flat, over committing to a power output I couldn’t sustain, I forgot how lucky I am just to be out there competing. I told myself that I get to ride my bike and I get to run today. This is just a silly race. So many people in this world do not have the opportunity to do what I am doing. Kat Portillo, the Air Force Major whose fundraiser convinced me to even sign up for this race this year, does not have the opportunity to be out here today. I should
probably just put things into perspective again and soldier on.
This was just the mental mind reset I needed. Unfortunately, I think it came too late. After changing my second flat in a little over 4 minutes, I got back on the bike and felt my legs cramping right away. Having stopped to change my tube, my body temperature dropped which didn’t help the cramping at all. To make things worse, shortly after starting my ride to the turn around point, I noticed I had lost my salt pills somewhere between flat 1 and flat 2. Strike 2, this did not bode well for my cramping legs. Although I did have plenty of TailWind and GU gels with me, nothing beats some concentrated salt to combat muscle fatigue. I completed the remaining 2 miles to the turnaround point aid-station and stopped to take on some additional water. With already two flats and only one spare tube left, I did not
want to trust my luck and asked one of the aid-station folks if they had an extra spare tube. Luckily they did, and I hope to be able to hand Joe a spare tube back someday!
The 28 mile ride back from the turn around point back towards the beach was a blur. The onshore winds had picked up and the field was so spread out I didn’t find anyone to ride with that wasn’t either too fast or too slow for the pace I thought I could maintain. Due to the winds and fatigue, my average speed dropped to about 17mph, and I felt like I was putting in twice the energy I usually expend to attain that speed/power. My legs felt over-cooked, as I had trouble holding my minimum band of 180W. I knew the run, which I thought was going to be my strongest discipline of the day, was going to be very rough. I ended the bike section in 3:18:42, a half hour slower than last year. All together, I think both flats set me back about 10 minutes, but it was the over committing after the first flat that resulted in me losing an additional 20 minutes as I just ran out of steam.
Run
I got in and out of T2 pretty quickly, clocking in at 1:40. I got out of my cycling jersey and put on the “strong with Kat” shirt, which I planned to wear during the run. I was happy to see that Kat made it to the race to cheer everyone on. We had a quick chat during T2 and had a chance to pose for a photo as well. It was nice seeing her enjoy the triathlon scene that she frequented so often before her accident. Getting to T2 and seeing all the supporters there game me a bit of a boost, but I made mistake number 3 for the day when I started out my run at a much too fast pace. I had intended to target a 7:30/pace for the run before the race, and figured I’d give it my best shot. Unfortunately I did not ease into the run with the recommended warmup mile, and my legs seized to a halt barely 1.5 miles into the run. This race was a race of many firsts. For the first time, I really wanted to walk. The problem was however, that whenever I started walking, my legs would seize up and spasm uncontrollably, to a point where I would almost lose my balance. It was more comfortable to jog than to walk. The 7:30 pace was a far distant
goal. The fastest run I could manage without seizing up my legs was a 9 to 10 minute/mile shuffle. The 13.1 mile run was painful. But I knew from the start I was not going to quite the run. It was a good, character building type of pain.
Lessons Learned
There were a lot of lessons learned during my third outing at Bayshore:
Stick to your game plan regardless of what happens out on the course. That rule is perhaps the most important on the bike, as you want to set up your run with fresh legs, and mechanically the bike portion is where you will likely hit a snag.
Do not get too carried away by the instant energy boost T2 gives you, and to ease into the run especially after a rough bike.
Stash a salt pill supply in two different pockets/locations (in case you lose the one bag you have).
Do not under estimate the distance. I was guilty of that too, especially predicting my run performance as I have been training for a 50 mile running race later this year. Even a sprint triathlon will hurt when going at race pace, so prep your mind accordingly.
There were plenty of positives as well from the day. The biggest one by far is the experience gained. This
was my fifth overall triathlon (1x Olympic, 3x half, and 1x full IronMan), and the first time I hit serious
mechanical issues. This was a good lesson. First and foremost, to not forget about the bigger picture. This is just a race, and you get to be out there competing, riding your bike and running your race. A lot of people in this world do no not have the opportunity to do that. Do not lose sight of the bigger picture!
I am already really looking forward to next year, a shot at redemption & trying to go sub-5 hours! Next up is the LA marathon (my first official marathon) on 24 March. This will be a good dry run to try a few techniques that I have been working on for the 50 miler later in June. This 50 miler is the big fundraiser run we are doing for Maj Katherine Portillo. If you would like to support a great cause, check out our fundraiser page below!
