Kinetic Half, 2014

It’s that wonderful time of the year, my first tri of the season.  As with last year, it is the Kinetic half (70.3) in beautiful Lake Anna, VA.  I have really come to enjoy this race, a great lake for the swim, a fast but challenging bike course and a run course from hell.  This run route and I have developed a love, hate relationship but more to come on that.

This offseason has been a bit strange for me. I had to take some time off due to a medical issue, it took me a while to get myself back into the groove of training.  Coming into this race I was worried I had miss too many workouts in the last few months but the week before help put all that to rest.  My training partner Steve Smith and I had a 90 mile ride followed by a 3 mile run.  Both were to be done at Ironman pace and afterwards I felt amazing, like I could have done it all again easily.

A big part of this is a change I have made to my nutrition and hydration plan.  This came from a lesson learned during Ironman Louisville last year.  Where the issues I had on the run could partly be linked to those two items.  Luckily for me the Snapple Triathlon team took on a new sponsor, Osmo Nutrition.  I was lucky enough to be introduced to their co-founder Dr. Stacy Sims, she helped me develop a plan that included a greater fluid intake based on body weight and using solid and semisolid foods for my nutrition over gels.  I am fine tuning the plan but the results so far are awesome.  A big thank you to Snapple Team Pro, Katie Thomas for her help in fine tuning the plan.

Since this race is my season opener it was not scheduled to be an “A” race so there was very little taper leading up to it.  An extra day off and some lighter workouts.

Lodging had a bit of a logistic snag this year and Steve and I didn't have a campsite or a place to stay a few weeks out.  Luckily a friend of Steve’s had a big spot for their 5^th wheel and let us put a tent on a corner of their space.  Thank you so much to Katherine & Bryan Lindler and their family for your hospitality and cheering us on!

This race had a cool twist as a large group of the Hampton Roads triathlon community was in attendance.  It was great to see everyone before, during and after the race.   This group is an amazing bunch of people to race and hang out with, I feel very lucky to be a part of it.

Race morning arrives and like last year the skies were grey and wet from a storm the night before.  Watching the weather report the hope was that any rain would hold off until about 10:30 or 11 AM, just about the time we would be getting off the bike.  Thankfully, the weather gods were good to us.

I started the swim in the second wave at 7:04; Steve was to start at 7:12 as he moved up in age groups this year.  Another training buddy, Steve Keller started in the first wave with all the youngsters (I have reached the age where anyone under 30 is a youngster, ha!). 

My main goal here was to swim well enough that Steve Smith didn’t catch me and maybe if I did really well, catch Keller.  Actually my goal was to swim faster than last year and hopefully be under 30 minutes.

The swim started off and I felt good at first but I could not get my breathing into a rhythm and my arms started to feel heavy.  I was not able to get in a good warm-up swimming, next time I will plan better.  Also, my navigation was off, I kept pulling to the right.  As I closed to first turn buoy I was feeling frustrated but called myself down and started to hear my swim coach Steve Hennessy in the back of my head, “Stay long, follow through on your stroke, control your kick and pick up the pace!”  This helped and the rest of the swim went by pretty fast.  When my hand hit sand and I stood up, of course the first thing I did was look at my watch and saw 31:56. A faster time than last year and Steve S. didn’t catch me (but he did have a better time, great swim brother!).

Official time: 31:56 5^th AG, 52^nd Overall

T1 went well for the most part, I added taking in some nutrition & OSMO but everything else was basically same old.

Official time: 2:21 3^rd AG, 45^th Overall

To start the bike this year I was trying something new. A flying mount, basically having my cycling shoes on the bike and slide your feet in while on the move.  I figured this would be a good plan since I had to deal with taking off the wetsuit.  I had reached out to our tri group and I was warned against this but the warnings I got were more about trying to get your feet in right away and the pile ups at the mount line.  My plan was to ride about a mile or so and then slip my feet into the shoes.  I followed that plan and when I was clear I tried to slip my feet in.   Let’s just say it did not go as well as it did when I practiced it.  I had to finally stop get one foot in and then the other a little while down the road.  Moral of the story, practice a lot more on new things!

The rest of the ride went pretty well, I spend most of the time alone wondering if I was still on course or made a wrong turn.  I did wind up having a mechanical issue just after mile 40 that caused me to stop.  On a decent I slowly pedaled backwards and when I went forward again my crank was locked up.  I realized the chain had come off and was jammed between the frame and the cassette.  Thankfully, it did not take long to break free and I was able to get back underway quickly, very happy for that.

There was the addition this year of wind that did make a bit of an impact on my overall time and speed, but not too bad.  My new nutrition/hydration plan had me feeling awesome throughout the ride.  Overall pretty pleased with the results and a few minor items to work on.

Official time: 2:31:36 4^th AG, 31^st Overall

T2, felt like it took forever. I put socks on with the shoes which went pretty quick then grabbed my fuel belt on but could never get it to feel right.  Also as part of the new plan I was eating some soft pretzel bites as I changed and the plan was to eat the rest during the first mile or so.  I also was carrying a bottle of Osmo Pre-load/Active mix for the start.  Having to deal with the bottle and fix my fuel belt and race number became cumbersome and frustrating.  The pretzels were heated up on Friday since we were camping and they were hard to chew, lesson learned there and working on alternatives.  When it was all said and done, it was a slower than average T2 for me but not a bad one.

Official time: 1:27^th AG, 74^th Overall

The run, as mentioned earlier this course and I have a love/hate relationship.  It’s a three loop course with a short but steep hill at the start of each loop that when you reach the top turns into a steady climb for another maybe ½ mile.  After that there is some flat ground and then another steady climb in the middle that is about just over a mile long (at least per my Garmin), both kicked my butt last year.  The plan was to take the first loop nice and easy, especially on the 2 hills and pick it up from there. 

My goal was to stay between 7:45 and 8:15 min/miles on the first lap and work down from there.  As for the first lap this worked ok, maybe a little too well as my mile was almost 8:30, but I stuck to the plan.  Right after the hill I was passed by a kid (28, so yes a kid), ironically he tried to pass my on the bike and we could not allow that so I guess he felt he need to try that again on the run.  I kept to the plan and by the time we hit the first hill on the second lap I was overtaking him again, this time for good.

The second lap went really well, I was right on pace and best of all I was feeling awesome!  Thank you Osmo! This entire lap I was able to keep an avg. pace of 7:55 which was faster than the first lap but by 6 seconds.  The plan is working.  Right about the 6 mile mark, I hear footsteps behind me and just knew who it was. I joked prior to the race that if I could hold Steve off until mile 6, it was a win.  6.61 was when he caught me.  Steve CRUSHED the run this year.

The third lap, by the time I got to the top of the first hill I was actually feeling pretty good and dropped my pace down under 7:30 for mile 11.  Mile 12 was mostly through that climb in the middle and I hope to keep my pace right around 8 but dragging 195 pounds uphill takes its toll.  The good news was I quickly recovered and held the next 1.1 miles under 7:30.  The overall avg. pace for that lap was exactly where lap 2  was but for me that is a victory.  Also as with my swim time the run was faster than the year before, another victory!

Official time: 1:43:58 6^th AG, 61^st Overall

At first I was disappointed when I saw my official time as I thought I had a PR, and I really hoped I would make the podium. (having the battery die in my truck did not help my mood much either).  After talking with Steve and looking at the data I realize this was a very good race for me.  Improvement in two areas that I have been working on, a great new nutrition and hydration plan that is showing amazing results and a good base to start from as I work towards Ironman Lake Placid in July.

Overall time: 4:51:16 5^th AG, 35^th Overall.

I would like to send a huge thank you to Damon Bowe and Rose Physical Therapy! Rose PT is a new sponsor to the Snapple tri team and Damon came up to me right after the race to introduce himself and let me know his folks had a tent set up and were providing PT services.  This was just what the doctor ordered and the soreness in my legs and hips were gone thank to them.  Damon also took some amazing photos during the event, thanks again!

A huge thank you to Osmo Nutrition, Xterra wetsuits, Clif Bar, Rudy Project, Louis Garneau and of course Snapple.

Lastly, congratulations to Steve Smith on winning his age group and finishing in the top 20, to Snapple teammate Holli Finneren for her age group win and 5th overall female, to Joel Bell on his 3^rd place masters, finishing in 10^th place overall.  As well as to all the Hampton Roads Triathlon athletes that all had a stellar day racing!