Savageman Race Report
Date: 9/15/13
Location: Deep Creek Lake, MD
Distance: 1.2 mile swim, 56 mile bike, 13.1 mile run
This is the second time I have done Savageman. Last year, I had a strong swim and bike and crashed and burned in spectacular fashion on the run. I walked it in the last 6 miles on the run and finished solidly mid pack in 6:36. I only had three months experience in running at that point so it wasn’t much of a surprise. After Savageman, I vowed to work on my running for this year. Even as late as June, my running was still a very much work in progress with unspectacular run times of 3:02 at Eagleman and 2:36 at Rev 3 Williamsburg.
The summer was spent hitting the run hard and working on run endurance. I averaged 12-16 hour training weeks from mid July to Savageman with about a 55/40/5 Bike / Run / Swim training split. My girlfriend / track coach Janet Reid put together a running program that had me building towards the Philly Marathon in November . The key to the program was to do my long runs the day after hard bike rides. Twice I did half marathon efforts the day after hammering the Savage Nottingham Death Ride. These workouts did wonders for my confidence which would pay dividends later.
Janet and I arrived at Wisp Resort around midnight on Friday the 13th. I spent the next morning as a volunteer photographer for the Savageman 30.0 race on Saturday. At packet pick up, I took advantage of what has to be the most useful race swag – free skin cancer screening for all participants. We spent the rest of the afternoon watching football and relaxing. We had a yummy dinner at Santa Fe and soon it was time for bed.
Reason number 1234 of why Savageman is the Best.Race.Ever is the start time is 8:30 to let the fog burn off the lake. So, I had a 5:30 wake up call which is normal for me and I had my standard pre race breakfast of a bagel with cream cheese. While killing time before the race, I had a couple of Boosts and a couple of Cliff Bars. 15 minutes before, I took my Cliff Shot, put on my wetsuit, and headed to the start.
The Race Director still hasn’t figured out how to make the swim uphill – he could probably talk to Rev 3 on tips on how to do this. Water temp was a perfect 70 with crystal clear visibility. There were still remnants of fog remaining which hindered sighting to the first turn buoy but it wasn’t a huge issue because the rising sun was directly above the buoy. So, I just headed towards the sun and made it to the first buoy with no major issues. I started to catch stragglers from the first wave midway through the swim. I exited the swim with a time of 32:00. It was three minutes slower than last year but according to my Garmin, the swim was about 200 yards longer than last year. So, overall I was happy and didn’t burn much energy.
I ate another gel while getting ready in T1 and was out quick. The bike course is what makes the race. It is the best bike loop I have ever ridden – it has it all. A 10 mile, 40+mph descent to kick things off, the 31% Westernport Wall which is part of a 7 mile climb, multiple climbs, fast downhills, and a ten mile section at the end where you can hammer in the aero bars. There’s always an endless debate on whether to use a road bike or a tri bike at Savageman – I used my tri bike with a 50-34 compact crank and a 12-27 cassette. Wheels were my Boyd 58mm carbon clinchers.
There’s a short, 16% quarter mile hill a half mile out of transition and my legs felt HEAVY going up it. I made a mental note to up my cadence on the flats to help loosen them up. Soon I was on the 10 mile descent into Westernport. Halfway, down, I was stung by a bee! Soon I was on the flats in Westernport and could hear the crowd on the wall.
The Westernport Wall is a 200 yard section with a 31% grade on very bad, broken up pavement. If you make it up without falling over, you earn a brick with your name engraved on it and it is embedded permanently in the pavement on the Wall. VERY COOL! The key to getting a brick is proper gearing, not burning matches in the 4 blocks prior that average about an 18% grade, and luck.
I made the left turn at the bottom of the hill and the Wall loomed like a Tombstone ahead of me. To conserve energy and to make sure I had enough power to stay upright, I did the paperboy (snaked) up the hill until I got to the base of the wall. I had a clear shot, no one was ahead of me, and I powered up the wall out of the saddle to earn my second brick.
To me, the hardest part of the race is always just AFTER the wall. I have to go anaerobic to make it up the wall only to be greeted with another mile or so of climbing a 12% grade. I couldn’t settle into a rhythm until the road flattens out. I finally settle in and get ready for 25 miles of climbing. Overall, I didn’t have my climbing legs. However, I managed my efforts up the hills, bombed the downhills, and made it through the hills about a minute thirty off my pace from last year.
The last 12 or so miles of the bike were flat / rolling. However, there was about a 10 mile per hour headwind the whole way. Flat. Headwind. Tribike. Those are conditions where I shine. I flew over this section and was passing folks left and right who dropped me on the hills. Looking at my Strava file, I was about 15 seconds faster on this section this year than last year despite the headwind. I came in with a time of 3:14:10, 75 seconds slower than last year. Overall, the bike course was 1-2 minutes slower than last year because of the wind. My average power was 266 watts, about three watts higher than last year.
During the ride, I took a gel and salt cap every hour, every 20 minutes or so I took a sip from my “rocket fuel” bottle. It was 2 cups of bulk Maltodextrin and a packet of fruit punch Crystal Light mixed with water in a 16oz bottle. This was about 800 calories. Overall for the ride, I took in about 1100 calories.
I was feeling great in T2 and headed out for the run. This is where things came together perfectly. My legs were feeling good, I was taking in water / Coke at the aid stations, and took a gel every 4 miles. The run course is a challenging two loop course with three major hills each lap. I walked the aid stations to make sure I got enough water / nutrition, and walked the very steep fire road hill to help save my legs. I felt good the entire run and as the miles ticked by, my confidence grew and I knew by mile 9 I was going to have my best half ironman run split.
I finished the run in 2:12:39, with an overall finishing time of 6:05:50. I finished 13th in my age group, and 52nd overall. I dropped 31 minutes off my time last year, and improved my run split by 34 minutes. My run split was a PR run split by 25 minutes. My goal time was sub 6 hours. Given the long swim course, and the headwind on the bike, I would have been challenged to make this. Overall, I’m thrilled with my performance.
I executed the race perfectly. When I knew I didn’t have the climbing legs, I didn’t push things by trying to stay on wheels (outside the draft zone). I made up time by being super aggressive on the downhills and saved my legs for the headwind section. Experimenting with nutrition in August paid dividends on the run – I had a lot of energy at the end of the bike. This was something I did not have at Eagleman and Rev 3 Williamsburg. Most important, focusing on the run during the summer was the right choice. Janet put together a great program that also allowed me to maintain my bike strength while dramatically improving my run.