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Help Diagnose my Run
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My last 70.3 run was a lot slower than my low-end expectation, so I am curious about outside input...

My recent open half marathon pace was 7:42/mile. The conditions were ideal at 42° with low humidity. Based on that, I had hoped to run around an 8:00 pace and no slower than an 8:30 pace in the Gulf Coast HIM.

I averaged 9:00 at Gulf Coast and faded in some of the later miles to the 9:20s. I felt great when I got off the bike and started at a sub-8 pace. I had to consciously dial back to 8, and I held that for the first four miles. But then I faded very fast. I never walked (except pauses at most aid stops for water & calories), but I could not muster a fast pace.

I don't think I over-cooked on the bike. I rode at 75% FTP and easy RPE expressly to conserve for the run. My average HR in the run was a few BPM lower than my much faster HR in the open half marathon I referenced.

Gulf Coast was very hot, so maybe it was just that. But, heat alone doesn't seem like it would slow me down that much. And, many others ran fast.
I don't think it was hydration, because I drank four or five bottles on the bike and I did pee during the run.
I thought I had decent nutrition, but maybe not. I took in around 700 liquid calories on the bike and a few small cups of Gatorade on the run.
Is it run volume? Not enough bricks? What else causes a big disparity between HIM run and open HM run paces?
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Re: Help Diagnose my Run [exxxviii] [ In reply to ]
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Without knowing what your training is like (swim, bike, and run), it's tough to diagnose based on what you provided.

However, you ran a stand alone half at 7:42 pace in completely opposite conditions compared to Gulf Coast. I wouldn't expect anywhere close to that in a hot/humid 70.3. Heat affects you more than a think. Especially since you are comparing a 1:45 race to 5+ hour race.

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Re: Help Diagnose my Run [stevej] [ In reply to ]
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This year training has been a little lighter than past years in volume, but stronger in intensity. I probably averaged around 10 hours/week in 2019, with 2 hours week swimming, 5 hours/week biking, and 3 hours/week running. My swimming is 2x 3,000 sessions/week with a mix of short to longer intervals. Bike is fully TrainerRoad led (so hard). And run is a mix of intervals and long runs. I only run 25-30 MPW and try to conserve due to a janky knee that would get injured if I loaded up too much volume.

My overall time in GC was 17 in AG (top 10%), and if I can figure out how to sort out the run, I should be able to nail top 3-5 finishers in AG. My bike was almost recovery RPE, with avg. HR 15 BPM below my run HR. I was seriously holding back to try to have max gas for the run.

I know an HIM run will be slower than an open HM run and that heat will be another slowdown factor. But, 75 seconds/mile seems slower than it should have been. Especially given that only 1 of the finishers ahead of me in my AG ran slower than me. And everyone else (the other 15 faster finishers) beat me beat me by a lot, like by an average of 10 minutes faster than me.

So, I have concluded that compared to other top AG competitors, I am doing something big-time wrong on the run that everyone else (and by everyone else, I literally mean everyone else but one person) is doing right.
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