The original title of this post was going to be “Why there is never a bad race”. After thinking about it I decide that was bologna. This was a bad race. So what can I take from a bad experience to minimize or eliminate another bad race?
The Race: Mountain Man DIY 70.3, Lake Mary, Flagstaff, AZ 08/16/2020
Ever have a bad race or training day? I know I have. I had a really bad race last weekend, I Did Not Finish (DNF). My second DNF since I started triathlon nearly 4 years ago. My first DNF was my very first Open Water Swim Splash ‘n’ Dash. I like to say I swam in to my head. I freaked out, couldn’t breath and dogie paddled my way to the lake wall and got out of the water.
My DNF this past weekend was much worse, well I think it is. Since COVID-19 has caused the cancellation of every race I can think of a friend and triathlon buddy put together a 70.3 in place of a race that had been cancelled. The race location and route was exactly the same as the originally planned sanctioned event. We had the National Anthem prior to race start, deep water swim start and very accessible transition with designated bike/run in/out areas. There were even turn around signs, spectators cheering us on on the course. All-in-all it was blast, everyone I spoke to had a great time.
OK, about my DNF. I was well trained for this race. I felt very confident going in. I had been training at the race venue 4 or more times in the weeks prior to the race, I knew the course well. I had planned to PR from my last years race at the same venue and knew I could. I had pretty good swim, average time and got out of the water feeling good. T-1 was slower than normal due to a bio break and since this was DIY-Tri we did transition out of our cars.
I had a good bike, slower than I wanted, I blame the wind. I kept my heart rate at a manageable level and my cadence was right where I wanted it to be. I ate my typical 180-200 calories per hour on the bike. The last 7 miles stretch of the bike leg is when the wheels fell off (bad punn). At about mile 49 I started to feel weak and felt like I had a brick in my stomach. When I got off the bike I felt like I been punched in the stomach, was light headed and had to lean on the car to stand. I pulled the plug on my race, no run for me.
This surprised me as the bike has always been my strongest sport and I have never felt bad coming off the bike before. Tired yes. Feeling like I had spaghetti legs yes, but never light headed or with a stomach ache.
Another thing that was strange about the weekend was; when I arrived home, after we unloaded the car for some strange reason I decided to weigh myself. I went from 172.2 (the Thursday before the race) to 167.7, a 4.5lb loss in body weight in four days. What could this mean? Dehydration, poor nutrition the days prior to the race, not really sure. I felt like I had done things right. Four pounds seems like a lot and I would think that after eating two meals after the race and numerous bottles of water with electrolytes I would have put some back on, maybe I did and actually lost more than 4.5 lbs over the weekend. A week later a friend asked if I had put the weight back on. I weighed myself and am at 168.6. Is this my new weight? Part of me hopes so, but is it my ideal racing weight?
Q: So why wasn’t this a bad race?
A: Education, knowledge and experience.
What went wrong? After some careful analysis I think I have a number of things that may have contributed to my DNF. Not in any specific order they are as follows:
- A different brand of peanut butter. I have used this brand in training a couple times prior to the race and had no issues.
- My Speedfill Bite was draining back in to the bottle causing me to suck air in every time I drank. I think this may have been one of the biggest issues.
- We had camped about a mile from the race venue for the two nights prior. Sleep may have been lacking and freshness of mind and body. I have camped numerous times prior to training days and I thought I knew how my body should have reacted.
- This too is a major factor. My pre-race nutrition may have been off, due to camping or timing of meals which may have contributed to my weight lose mentioned above. I believe I had good carb loading and macro-nutrients for the three or four days prior, eating beans, pasta, fruits, nuts, whole grains, vegetables and avocados. These are all part of my daily nutrition.
- I ate the exact same thing I eat before every hard/long training session and race, A small bagel with peanut butter and a banana.
- This one is probably a big NO NO. The day before the race I did something I never do the day before a race. Another major factor.
- Typically the day before a race I do nothing. No ride, no run, no swim. Just relax.
- The day prior to this race I did a 20 minutes HR zone 2 ride and 20 minute HR zone 2 run. My training plan called for it and I didn’t get time for test ride after cleaning my bike so I figured it can’t hurt. A lot of athletes do this the day before. What could it hurt?
So what did I learn from this?
- Don’t change anything including the brand of nutrition.
- Test my Speedfill as part of my gear check.
- Relax the day before. Stick to my plan of doing nothing the day before a race.
- Make sure I eat correctly and get the same daily and pre-race and race nutrition I have tested and trained with.
I know this all sounds like just another post about don’t change anything, do what works and be prepared for the unknown. I guess it is, but I hope, as all athletes hope, that this post may help someone and that if over the years while it lives on the internet it will be that one post that someone relates to and helps prevent them from making the same mistakes I made.
Be Fast, Be Safe, Stay Healthy and thanks for reading.
Mike