Well, I had a good hit out at Port. Drove up/back with Andy Sawatske from High Tide Photography who took some great shots as usual of the Port 70.3 athletes.
Race day came and had a couple of athletes I help out that were racing with differing objectives. It was great to see them both going well in the end with one having a great race dropping time on a build week towards Busso IM and the other placing 4th on only a couple of light jogs after a very bad lower leg injury.
Personally my race day went well in regards to the training and data collection for my build towards Port IM in March 2010. I got enough information to be able to find training grounds around the Newcastle region to suit the race and build.
I swam ok but at a comfortable pace so that I worked slowly up to the lead groups. Just couldn't bridge the last gap to the pro's who had a head start. Too busy in a wrestling match with people who do not know how to swim straight and draft properly. I was happy to lead the groups that I swam through and bridge up. Still work to do on top end speed but strength was there. Time to up the distances in training and get regular speed work in. Time: 23:49.
Slow transition, lost places, not normal for me.
Bike, aim was to sit in my wattage 290-350 with a comfortable heart rate. Took a lot of control as first part of course was hilly so had to back off normal pace and as such groups got time on me. However, sitting on the wattage I worked my way up through the groups into the top 10 and picked up a couple of pro's I couldn't shift. Slowly bridging up to main group in 3-8th positions when the CPU from the powermeter wasn't there. Had to do a u-turn and go looking for it, found it approx 1-1.5km back. This was the main reason for the race as I needed that information to train for the next 5 months. The CPU worked so I plugged it back in and got on with the job. This happened before the last portion of the first lap before the hills so a bad position for it to occur. Lost a lot of time [ post race checked my splits on CPU (2:25 including both transitions and continue over so approx low 2:20's) vs the race 2:32 so a good 7mins plus lost]. Sat on wattage and over next loop rode back up into the top groupings and back to near 10th?? Dragged a few people through but didn't worry just got the info. Passed a big pack that I dragged for a while with 20+ people in it to near the end. I was happy with the ride as was working but comfortable and a pace I could keep going for the IM.
Run, got off with a chance to consolidate top 10/15 overall and win age or stay with the plan and run IM pacing to get the training information. Sat at required 150-155bpm HR with the plan to test different drink combo's/salt each lap. In the first 2km I got swamped by guys from the 20+ group. It was hard not to go with them and 'race' but I was there for a different reason. Slowly I built into each loop getting faster (or it felt like it) with the same HR. Although I lost a large amount of placings, I got the information I needed re the HR vs pace vs course layout to train for the IM rather than flooring it for a placing with no help for the IM training. I could have continued running and completed a marathon at that pace. Time: 1:45. Overall time 4:41hr 56/750 [with 7mins (7-10mins actual lost) off from bike CPU lost = 4:34hr which would have got me a top 30/750 with a training day effort].
Nil problems after the race and some great information/baselines to focus for Kona qualification. For the fitness I have at the moment things are moving forward. I am racing Canberra 70.3 on December 13 and will be able to compare pacings and push harder as the fitness and body slowly recovers its normality/race fitness.
Cheers,
Bevan.
