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B2B Race Report - PR or Bust! (Long, Very Long)
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Let me preface this by saying, while I am falling in love with triathlon, I’m still a novice. I’m never going to be a Kona qualifier, nor am I ever going to be someone who spends $10,000 on a bike. I do this sport for fun and to keep in shape, though that doesn’t mean I don’t want to improve…

Background - Coming into 2014, I had completed 3 triathlons in my life, B2B Half 2011-2013. I'm a creature of habit, I find something I enjoy doing and I keep doing it (Insert whatever joke you’d like there.) Well at some point in time late last year I made the decision that I really wanted to do a full ironman. I mean from the time I saw my first triathlon (B2B 2010) live and in person, I wanted to do one but it wasn't until last year I thought it was realistic. After some discussions with my fiancée I decided to begin the pursuit of that dream. I figured since most of the 2014 races were sold out, I should pick a 2015 race, which would give me plenty of time to prepare. For a variety of factors, I picked Lake Placid 2015. It was a long way off but I figured never too early to start planning. I'm not the most gifted athlete or the wealthiest either but if I was going to do this I was going to do it right. Two things that I thought would help would be a new bike and a coach. I was riding an old road bike at the time and was “self-coaching” if you could call it that. She mentioned that her friend's brother (AJ Baucco) was a triathlon coach and that I should get in touch with him. I dropped AJ an email and immediately was impressed with his responsiveness and his thorough replies. It was early in the year and we talked about my ultimate goal (Lake Placid) and intermediate goal (improving B2B half in 2014). His roster was full at that time but we agreed to connect again in a few months. I started shopping for a bike and found a gently used Trek Speed Concept that I pulled the trigger on. In the spring I ran a marathon and then took some downtime before getting back with AJ late May.

Previously my training was based upon a program I found on the internet and adapted to my needs. It was distance focused and didn't pay any attention to intensity. I was pretty good at following the plan but still improvised at times. AJ introduced me to HR training and immediately the intensity of my workouts increased. I realized many of my runs and almost all of my rides were pretty lazy. I was pretty consistent with the training schedule only missing a handful of scheduled of workouts over the course of 4.5 months. (AJ was great about working around my schedule and adjusting it when I had things come up). I did my first sprint triathlon in July and my first Olympic triathlon in September. They were fun but nothing close to my experiences in B2B. If you saw me, "sprinter" probably isn't the first thing that would come to your mind. I enjoy the long days that test your mind and much as your body. (Another reason 140.6 is the ultimate goal)

Heading into race day I knew I was far more prepared than previous years and as an added bonus a few lbs. lighter. I had more confidence and a better plan; actually I should correct that and say I had a plan. In the past, I would just go out there and swim, bike, run. AJ set me up with a thorough plan from pre-race meals to in-race nutrition and specific intensities for each part of the race. That being said, I had no idea what to expect this year. Previously my times were: 5:50, 6:01 and 5:54, so I told myself (and friends and family) I would be happy with any PR. That being said, I was actually hoping to go under 5:32. That would be the combination of my previous best splits over the last 3 years. I thought that might be a little optimistic but kept that goal in the back of my head. Now on to race weekend!

Pre-Race - After a big (prescribed) breakfast in Raleigh Friday morning my fiancée and I headed down the road to Wilmington. We arrived just about noon and headed to the check in. There were a few people in front of us but the line moved really quickly. This was a big improvement this year with the virtual athlete meeting. While I always enjoyed the meeting, seeing my fellow competitors and listening to their questions, it was much nicer to have short check in lines and be in and out of there quickly. We walked through the expo, picked up some free coffee coupons and then loaded up my T2 bag. Since this is a point-to-point race, they say this race is all about the bags and that is one thing I've learned. I knew we'd be leaving our T2 bags there that night so I brought everything with me for that bag from the car. I dropped my bag off and we headed to the Hilton Riverside to check in. The room was ready so we unloaded the car and headed to lunch. My fiancée wasn't hungry but I wanted to stay on plan so I grabbed a sandwich from Chops Deli on Front St. It was a bit of a wait and for some reason it was a sauna in there but after a few minutes we had my sandwich and we were on the road to T1. She drove while I ate my sandwich (two thumbs up) and caught up on twitter. Once we got to T1, I unloaded the bike and threw it on rack. We were in and out of there in a few minutes and back to the hotel. We relaxed in front of the TV for a while and I got the rest of the bags set up for the next day. It was 4PM and I was ready to go, it was a good feeling knowing I wouldn’t be scrambling around later. Around 5 we met up with some friends and family to head over to Front Street Brewery for dinner. No beer for me but some grilled chicken with rice. Nothing too eventful there and back to the hotel and in bed nice and early.

Race Morning - Alarm set for 4:45, I woke up promptly at 4:40 and hopped into the shower. I gathered up my throwaway clothes and everything for T1. Originally I scheduled our departure time for 5:45; however we were ready to go at 5:30 so we took off then. A quick drive from Wilmington to T1 and the fun was about to begin. Upon arrival to T1, I ate my breakfast of a bagel, banana and a Gatorade. There were some port-o-johns near our car with no lines so I figured that would be a good opportunity to take care of business before the race. With that done we headed to the transition area, along the way I realized I didn't have my phone. Balls! Did I drop it in the port-o-john? Luckily I had my trusty flashlight and began retracing my steps. Frantically searching the ground and the port-o-john, it was nowhere to be found. Frustrated I searched through my bags and found it in the bottom. Phew! That was a relief. Into T1, I loaded up my bike with my bottles, checked my tires and set up the remainder of my gear. At that point I heard somebody next to me yell "Oh my god, I forgot my wetsuit!" suddenly the brain fart with my phone didn't seem so bad. After sharing my bike pump with a few strangers I headed over to body marking. At this point it was almost 7 and the shuttles to the half start would begin soon. I put my wet suit on and most of my throwaway gear and took some pictures with my fiancée and then headed toward the busses. No lines there, I hopped right on and got one of the last seats. 3 minutes later we got dropped at the swim start and I found a nice spot on a bench and just figured I'd relax and wait for the full swimmers to come on by. Unlike previous years it wasn't actually that cold, I had a hat, gloves, jacket, and sweatshirt but found myself quite comfortable with just the sweatshirt and hat. Some small talk with my fellow competitors and then around 7:45 the first swimmer from the full went by, he was flying! Everybody was excited and cheered him and the others on. I started to wander around a little just to get the blood flowing in my legs. I was anxiously awaiting them playing Eminem’s “Lose Yourself” which they had the previous years and always got me pumped up but this year I didn’t hear it, maybe it was after I started. I found some friends who were doing the race as well and chatted with them for a bit. About 8:15 I ate my pre-race powergel and headed towards the water. Since I aged up this year, I was in the first wave. I'll be honest I loved being in the first wave for a lot of reasons, maybe the biggest was knowing exactly how long I'd be on the course all day. (Not that it wasn’t possible in previous years but with an 8:30 start time it was really easy). I'll be enjoying that for the next few years at B2B. Just as I was about to get in the water I heard someone say they were looking for goggles. Last year somebody near me snapped their goggles right before the start so this year I brought a second pair (for me or somebody else, it just seemed like a good idea). I told the guy I had a spare and gave them to him at the same time, somebody else came through with an extra pair as well. He didn't wind up using the pair I gave him but I figure I still scored some karma points. Right about then they called the light blue caps into the water and I made my way down.

Swim - Not being overly confident as a swimmer (or maybe just being realistic) I didn't exactly push myself to the front at the start line. There seemed to be a big group jockeying for the front row and then another group back a bit, conceding the swim may not be their strength. I put myself right between those two groups and hoped for the best. The horn went off and everybody took off headed for the fast current at the center of the channel. I took it slow at first, trying to position myself in a good spot in the current and relative to the rest of the guys. I could see one of the buoys and just focused on swimming for it for the next while. The plan was just to go best sustainable effort for the whole swim, which is what I think I did. I felt like I was swimming pretty straight and relatively hard. I never got over too far into the middle of the channel which may have been a mistake but it was crowded and it seemed like a lot of work. I think I swim straight (maybe we all do?) but there were definitely a few times when someone crossed my path at a 45 degree angle. I'm pretty sure they were the ones off course but not positive. Once you get to the left hand turn, I always have trouble picking a line and this year was no different. For some reason I can't figure out where to sight at this point. In years past I would have a large mass of swimmers in front of me but this year there weren't as many to follow and I wasn't sure that they all were headed the right direction. About this time a guy in a black cap passed me (not sure if he was the first one or the first one I noticed) but he was obviously a pretty strong swimmer so I figured I'd follow him. This worked pretty well and by the time I couldn't keep up with him I could see the dock. One year I need to volunteer at that dock, I would love to see what that looks like. I thought I was going straight for it and there were guys crossing my paths going to the left and to the right and going all different directions even though we were less than 50 yards from the end. I hopped out of the water and found a wetsuit stripper and was off to T1. 30:02 (32/93 Age Group; 191/654 Males)

T1 - I ran under the showers but I didn't stop, it didn’t seem worth it to me, though I’ll admit I did try to smile for the camera. One thing I've done since my first B2B, I kept my swim socks on for the run across the street. I feel like this makes a ton of sense and my feet appreciate it. I was basically in a full sprint across the street, trying to pass as many people as possible. T1 has been terrible for me in years past, no other way to describe it. It had to be better this year. My technique previously was to watch what the other people wear and dress accordingly. This is obviously not the fastest way to transition. This year working with AJ I had a good plan before I even started the day so I just switched up my gear and was on my way. Still not the fastest transition time but I was 2 minutes better than any other year. 5:02 (29/93 Age Group; 222/654 Males)

Bike - AJ had a target heart rate range he wanted me to get to, which I was way above coming out of the water. I knew this would be the case given my previous two races but the start of the B2B bike certainly helped me bring it down a bit. There are quite a few twists and turns at the start and I just took my time with them. There were some guys zigging and zagging through people at this point but it didn't seem worth it. I'd rather stay upright than cut 3 seconds off my time. I navigated the metal grate on the bridge just fine, although the guy in front of me was dropping pieces of his water bottle left and right had me a little concerned. I just kept it straight ahead and it was over in no time. The next 56 miles were for the most part uneventful, I saw some people drafting for sure, but didn’t really let it bother me. The bike is my weakest link so I just wanted to race my own race. There were a few things different this year about the bike than previous years. First I got passed a lot early on which I think was part of being in the first wave. In the past I may have let it bother me or pushed harder but I just stuck with my HR number and kept chugging along. Second, for the first time ever someone tried to draft off me. I’m not sure if that means I’ve improved my bike and somebody wants to hang with me or I just had some idiot who happened to be riding at a similar pace but I was a bit surprised. Being unfamiliar with how to handle the situation I just sat up and took a drink and slowed down for a second. He slowed down for a bit too, but eventually got frustrated and went around me. Back in aero and back into my race I passed him a few minutes later and never looked back. It wasn’t long before my HR was where I wanted it to be and I just focused on a consistent effort, drinking regularly and taking gels on schedule. When we hit the halfway mark, AJ wanted my HR to increase it by 2 bpm. I wasn’t sure how difficult that would be because sometimes during training I’ve had issues raising my HR on the bike. I’m not sure if it was the adrenalin from the race or what but I was easily able to increase it and push harder. I was expecting a big tailwind heading back into Wilmington based on previous experiences but didn’t feel like there was a lot there this year. Somewhere along the ride my left quad started cramping up a bit so I took 2 salt stick pills and it seemed to go away. Unfortunately during the second half I ran out of gatorade (maybe a good sign that I was drinking regularly) and had to move on to heed on the course. To say I was not a big fan of that stuff would be an understatement but I choked down as much as I could and kept plugging away. The ride into Wilmington was quiet, I felt like the traffic issues were lighter this year which was good for everyone. Fittingly, the ride ends like it starts with some twists and turns and of course some guys were really trying to gun it into T2. Just like the start I tried to play it safe and get in there safely. 2:49:57 (35/93 Age Group; 249/654 Males)

T2 – Off my bike and running around the convention center, I find T2 much easier to navigate. I threw on my running shoe, race belt, visor and some sunscreen (another lesson learned from previous years) and was ready to go. At the last minute I saw the restroom staring me in the face and took 30 seconds to hop in there, which in hindsight I think was well worth it. I was out the door quickly and on to my favorite part. 4:32 (42/93 Age Group; 312/654 Males)

Run – Again with a specific HR to target, I found myself staring at my watch a bit at the start of the run. I felt fantastic and was flying (for me at least) along but my HR was way higher than it was supposed to be. I slowed it down a bit and tried to get it to settle in. During training, I’ve been pretty good at hitting my HR goals on the run so I didn’t think it would be an issue. Early on during the run I had two funny things happen, first as I was approaching the first aid station, there was a lady on the right with a tray full of drinks. As I approached her, I asked her for some heed. She handed me the cup and I took another step and kicked an entire tray full of drinks she had at her feet. Coke, heed and water went everywhere. She tells me not to worry about it, ummm yeah thanks, I wasn’t too concerned with it and then tells the other volunteers it probably isn’t a good idea to keep the drinks on the ground. I was a little annoyed that my right shoe was soaking wet but figured if that was the worst thing that happened, then the day wouldn’t be all that bad. Failed to mention previously but on the bike and then on the run, I was starting to chafe badly below the waist. It wasn’t very pleasant but I was lucky to spot the medical tent (the biggest and nicest medical tent I’ve ever seen) early on during the run. There were 10 people standing out front and I ran up and frantically asked “Do you have any Vaseline?” They all looked at me with blank stares but I saw a table with supplies at the back of the tent. I ran to the back and was about to dive head first into a big jar of Vaseline when one of the volunteers offered to help. He scooped a big pile of Vaseline on a wooden stick and handed it over. I proceeded to jam as much Vaseline down the front and back of my shorts as possible right in the middle of the tent, at which point one of the other volunteers shouted “Get after it son!” At that point in time, I wasn’t concerned about how I looked; I just wanted to get comfortable. I took off out of the tent and was running again and much much more comfortable. I sprinted out of there trying to make up the few seconds I lost in the medical tent. That drove my HR back up so I had to settle down back to my target. For the rest of the run AJ’s plan was simple, raise my HR 1 bpm every mile. That wasn’t an issue and I just cruised along. I felt great and was starting to calculate my finish time but concerned at any time I may hit the wall. Previous years my calves cramped up late in the race so I wanted to prevent that from happening. I was sure to hit the heed at every water stop and popped a few salt pills when I felt a cramp coming. Early on during the run I noticed some speakers along the road, I never listen to music while running but I enjoyed it during the race. The run through Greenfield Park was good and I like that the turnaround point is further than the halfway point, after that it seems like you’re almost there. As you approached the finish the music return, which was an additional motivator. With about a mile to go, I figured out that if I hustled my run time could be under 1:50 and my overall time under 5:20. I was pretty psyched and this pushed me to floor it to the finish line. I ran as fast as I could and once the finish line was in site, I knew I had crushed my previous PR. I crossed the line and somebody asked me how I felt and I said “FANTASTIC!” 1:49:02 (16/93 Age Group; 99/654 Males)

Total: 5:18:34 (21/93 Age Group; 142/654 Males)

Post-Race – My friends and family were looking for me in the massage tent, since that’s usually where I wind up but I felt great and didn’t need to go. I grabbed a few bottles of water, a few slices of pizza and headed to the beer garden. Eventually my family and friends found me and we hung out there and drank some beers, listened to music and just enjoyed the great day. I thought the finish line area was great and the weather was perfect so we didn’t move for a few hours. We were shocked when Jeremey (race director) announced that there was a death during the race, our thoughts definitely went out to Mr. Ackerman’s family. After the awards we headed back to the hotel to shower before heading off to dinner before celebrating late into the night. All in all, it was a great day, it’s the first time after a race I’ve been happy in a long time. I always say that having a bad race motivates me to get out there and do it again, but every once and a while you need a good race to make you feel good as well. I'm glad this was that race.

Looking Back - I realize there are a lot of people that will go faster and some may not be all that impressed with a MOP finish but this is something I never thought I was capable of and it was very satisfying to hit a goal. I have to thank my fiancée for her support; there is no way I could have done it without her there. She is extremely flexible with my schedule and supports me 100%.

As usual I was extremely impressed with the race that Set Up ran and look forward to coming back for years into the future. They make small improvements every year and the race gets better and better.

If you’re looking to improve I definitely suggest a coach. I found it immensely helpful. I remember when I was shopping for a bike, AJ said you’re much better off spending money on a coach than saving that money and buying a nicer bike. I thought at the time it might have been a sales pitch but after 6 months I definitely agree. He worked me harder and got me in better shape than I would have on my own, regardless of how nice my bike was. He’s still taking athletes for 2015, so if you’re considering a coach check him out at www.ajbcoaching.com

Now I will relax a bit before turning my focus to completing 140.6 in Lake Placid next summer…oh and getting married in the spring!

Cliff Notes – Previously completed B2B 3 times, 5:50 PR, hired a coach, bought a new bike and focused on training and crossed this line under 5:19 this year.
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Re: B2B Race Report - PR or Bust! (Long, Very Long) [biglazybum] [ In reply to ]
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Great Job crushing your PR and a (very) detailed race report. It sounds like you need to change your username!
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Re: B2B Race Report - PR or Bust! (Long, Very Long) [mlawless] [ In reply to ]
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Congrats, man. I did my first HIM at B2B this year and had a very similar experience. Heck, I actually live in Raleigh, too. I came in a 5:18:06, so we were passing each other back and forth- I was in the black swim cap wave (yeah, I'm old. worse, next year I age up). Roughly, my splits were 28/2:38/2:04. I would have come by you either in transition or on the bike at some point. I'll be back next year, and am thinking I'll likely do the full. I compete locally here with the FS series, if you ever do one of those races, hit me up and we'll connect. I also train locally with a fair group of folks and we're always interested in company.
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Re: B2B Race Report - PR or Bust! (Long, Very Long) [1shogun] [ In reply to ]
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Thanks. I'll definitely look for you next spring. I could definitely use somebody like you to push me harder on the bike.
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Re: B2B Race Report - PR or Bust! (Long, Very Long) [biglazybum] [ In reply to ]
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Awesome recap!! Way to stick with it, and crush your previous times. I had thought about adding this race to the calendar in the next year or two since it's in my area. If you've done it four times, I'm guessing you would definitely recommend it!


http://trismashley.blogspot.com
Anything that gets your blood racing is probably worth doing. -Hunter S. Thompson
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Re: B2B Race Report - PR or Bust! (Long, Very Long) [biglazybum] [ In reply to ]
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Thanks for the RR. Keep pushing amigo! Glad there wasn't sand in the Vaseline . . . .

_____________________________________
What are you people, on dope?

—Mr. Hand
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