5430 Long Course - The Rematch

Last year I did my first half-Ironman race at the 5430 Long Course. To sum up the race report, I finished in 7:21:55, well off my goal as a result of a combination of factors, not knowing what to accurately set for a goal, going a little too hard on the bike and then making that worse by getting off my run plan and pushing WAY too hard on the first loop of the run. I was in pretty rough shape after the race.

I vowed that this year would be different.

It certainly was.

Pre-Race:

To start with, I was up at 4:30 am to head to the race. Transition was scheduled to open at 5 and I wanted to get there fairly early. I wasn't worried about sitting in traffic at the Res since I had a VIP pass... Well, ok, I didn't, but I was biking to the race (yeah, I'm Hardcore), which meant that instead of sitting in a line of cars, I cruised right on past all of them into the main gate of the Res and right up to body marking. Take THAT SUV drivers!

I got body marked, got my chip and headed into transition to set up. I managed to get a spot that I knew I could pick out well coming out of the swim without my glasses (an important feature). I hit the port-o-john, walked the transition routes, hit the p-o-j again, triple checked my set-up and headed over to the BTC tent to chill. I hung out with Dieter, Klaus, Richard, Alex, John and a few others, then at about 6:55, headed down to the beach for my wave.

The Swim:

There isn't a whole ton to say about the swim. Last year I did the breaststroke the whole way. This year, I actually knew how to swim freestyle. The swim is something that I feel like you kind of just 'do'. Or at least that's how I approach it. There's no scenery, there isn't a lot of interesting interaction with other athletes aside from the occasional kick or someone trying to swim over you and I don't have the sensitivity of effort that I do on the bike or run.

I did get off course a couple times, which was a little frustrating, but that's just part of the race.

I felt strong at the finish and got out in just under 45 minutes, just a hair faster than last year. more importantly, I got out of the water feeling fresher. The breast stroke involves a lot of kicking and isn't entirely kind to your knees because of the lateral torque involved. Swimming freestyle in my wetsuit, I barely had to kick at all.

T: 46:28 (the timing mat is at the entrance to transition, not the exit from water) / 2007 T: 47:11

Transition 1:

T1 was fast and easy. Strip the wetsuit… Helmet… glasses… bike shoes… go! My time was actually top 10 among my age group (Huzzah!) but really, it was just a transition. Still, small victories.

T: 1:22 / 2007 T:

The Bike:

It felt really good to get out on the bike. There was nice cloud cover for the entire ride, the BTC was manning Aid Station 1/4 and there were women in bikinis at Aid Station 3/6. I had been having trouble with my front dérailleur, basically, it didn't work, for most of the time since I had been in Colorado so I was stuck in the small chainring and did a LOT of high cadence spinning and even just outright coasting on the downhills. I finally got this fixed (really fixed) earlier in the week. After talking with Mark the night before, we agreed that I wouldn't use the larger ring at all unless I simply couldn't keep up in the small ring. I knew straight away that there were places this would happen, and where they were. When 36 turns north there's a big downhill that I had to coast previously, as well as some rollers later on 36, the big St Vrain downhill and one or two rollers heading south on 75.

As far as nutrition, I was sticking with Cliff Blocks on the bike and was taking mostly water from the aid stations. I started out with two bottles of water with NUUN as well.

So I felt good starting the bike. I got passed a lot, but I knew that was going to happen. I was in a fast wave, I'm not particularly fast myself and I intended to take it easy on my first loop and felt confident I would catch some of the people passing me on the next loop or the run. I got to the BTC aid station and sure enough, a swarthy crew of pirates was manning it. I hit the hockey net with my empty water bottle (GOOOOOAAL!) and picked up a new one from Meg and was on my way. The rest of 36 was pretty uneventful, aside from getting passed by pros as if I was standing still. St Vrain is one of my favorite parts of the course, you can just go bombing down the first hill and the momentum carries pretty well the rest of the way. The only catch is there is now a spur with a U-turn on 65th that really slows you down. Fortunately, no one seemed to be trying to take that turn too fast and getting through was uneventful. The rest of the loop was pretty uneventful aside from having to answer a call of nature which I was unsure how to address. Ultimately I decided not to stop and instead be grateful for the holes in the soles of my cycling shoes and my spare bottle of water.

When I passed the Res Road, which marked the end of loop 1, I checked my watch, did some quick math and realized I was on target for a 3:15 bike, which was what I had been hoping for. Per Mark's instructions I picked up the pace slightly for the second loop. Once again the BTCers were a great uplift, though the girls in bikinis at bike aid 3 might have had them beat (sorry mateys!). I was checking my watch every 5 miles and getting splits and comparing them to what I thought I recalled from the first loop and they seemed pretty dead on, if not a little faster, which was what I had been hoping for. Down 75th and the Diagonal I played leapfrog with another guy from my age group, I think we were both intent on beating each other, but we also were trying to stay within our race and not burn ourselves out to do it. I ended up passing him for good on Reservoir Road and dismounted at the line feeling really good, getting a little cheer from Andrew Halperin at the line.

Overall I was really pleased with the ride and felt great coming into transition, almost exactly 4 hours into the race.

T: 3:12:30 Avg Spd: 17.5 mph / 2007 T: 3:28:55 Avg Spd: 16 mph

Transition 2:

Racked the bike, kicked off the bike shoes, pulled on socks and sneakers, then ran out with my hat, bib and gels in my hand. I hesitated a bit before I left thinking "Is that everything?" but it was so off I went. Last year I had made an extended pit stop in the p-o-j during T2, but it wasn't necessary this year.

T: 2:10 / 2007 T: 4:30

The Run:

I started out on the run and thought "Ok, this is it. This is where the race starts. This is where I lost my head last year and blew my race, time to be honest with yourself." I spent the first hundred yards or so just trying to get a genuine assessment of how I felt. I felt great coming off the bike, but I felt great coming off the bike last year so that didn't necessarily mean anything. My legs were good, as they were last year. I wasn't breathing too hard and I didn't feel like my heart was pounding or racing which was a big change. In short, I felt exactly like I would hope to feel at this point in the race.

I got Mr Bleep Bleep up and running and went over my plan in my head. First loop, nice and easy, don't do anything stupid like push too hard on the hills, but don't walk them either, I knew from experience that none of them were really steep. Just get through it and conserve energy for the second loop which should be a little bit faster. Second lop, reassess how I feel. Ideally I'd feel like I could pick it up a little bit.

I had a couple packets of gel and one of sport beans with me. The plan was to alternate taking a gel and water or a cup of Gatorade at each mile marker. I bonked hard last year and didn't want to do that again.

I have to take a minute to give some props to Mark and Mr Bleep Bleep right here. This little gadget drives me bonkers, but it's almost impossible to allow yourself to stop and walk at any point with the little bugger beeping at you incessantly. I wasn't always able to stay on rhythm, but it definitely helped me keep going.

So, the run. I settled into a groove pretty easily and the first few miles really flew by. I got passed by my leapfrog buddy from the bike around mile 3 and ended up not seeing him again. I picked up a sponge from the third or fourth aid station, stuck it under my hat and there it stayed for the whole run. I also returned to my trick from last year of taking the ice from my water or Gatorade and sticking it in the pockets on my back. That felt SO good…

Before I knew it, the first lap was almost done. I passed the BTC tent and while I didn't see anyone at first, I got a cheer from Meg as I was starting to pull away. When I hit the halfway point I checked my watch. I was on pace for a 2:20 run. I took some Gatorade and water at the aid station, shook myself out a bit and gave myself a once over. I still felt really good, the sun had gone in and out a few times, but it was mostly overcast, realistically, I felt as good as I could have hoped just over 5 hours into a half IM. I was tempted to up the pace just a little bit right then, but decided to hold off. I didn't want to blow the race now. Instead I told myself to wait until mile 8, then make a call.

When I got to mile 8, I felt like I was still putting in the same amount of effort, but my mile splits were slowing slightly. Do I push it to

Somewhere around mile 9 my knees started to ache. There was no twinge or pain, just a persistent dull ache, like my knees were trying to say "Hey, remember us? We'd appreciate it if you stopped soon." My muscles were certainly getting tired, but I thought back to a year ago and how I felt at the same point then. I remembered how hot, tired and completely worn down I felt, then thought about how I felt where I was now and was reinvigorated. I was going to crush my '07 run. Crush.

When I hit mile 10 I thought "Just 5k to go. It's a stroke n Stride!" I picked up the pace a little bit more.

When I reached the turnaround point for the SnS run I grinned to myself and turned off Mr Bleep Bleep and picked up the pace again, knowing I had just over a mile and a half to go.

As I got closer, the finish line area in sight, I saw I had 2 minutes until I hit 2:20 for the run. "Damn the torpedoes, full speed ahead!" I took off. I started passing other racers and spectators cheered, "Way to finish strong!" I pounded toward the chute, feeling nothing, thinking nothing.

With the chute near, I took one last peak at my watch, wondering how much time I had… Fifteen seconds to get across the line! I didn't consider picking up the pace, I didn't think about it for half a second, it simply happened and I took off like a shot… gotta get there… gotta get there… I flew around the last corner (or at least I felt like it) heard "Here comes Brendan Dillon of Cincinnati with a strong finish!" and dashed up the hill and across the line, almost knocking over the little kids handing out water and finisher's medals.

I looked down at my watch, 2:20:09! I was so close! I wanted those 9 seconds dammit! After 6 hours 22 minutes and 55 seconds and 70.3 miles, I wanted those 9 seconds!

As it turns out, it wasn't really 9 seconds. My official run time was 2:20:27. I had forgotten that I had started my watch a while after I crossed the starting mat. Oops. First loop was done in 1:10:20 so second loop was 1:10:07... just barely a negative split.

T: 2:20:27 10:44 pace / 2007 T: 2:59:07 13:40 pace

Post Race:

My final time was 6:22:55, which means I take just a hair under an hour off my time of 7:21:50 from the previous year. And to say I felt better at the finish would be a vast understatement. I always feel a little bit lost at the finish to long races, even this year at the Flying Pig half-marathon and I felt the same after the 5430 this year "What should I do now?" I got my 'medal' a pretty cool keychain/bottle opener that combined with the pint glass from last year has convinced me Barry is trying to turn us all into drunks. Then I wandered around for a couple minutes, drinking water and Gatorade and trying to decide what to do next. I ended up heading to the rest room for a pit stop then ducked my head under the shower to get the salt off my face.

Kat was working the massage tent so I swung by and said 'Hello', grabbed some food and headed over to the BTC tent for some shade and a comfy chair. Dieter and a few others were in residence and congratulated me on taking almost an hour off of last year's time. While there were one or two moments as I ate when I wondered if my food might come back up, for the most part I felt really good considering what I had just done.

After relaxing a bit, I headed to the massage tent for a massage from Kat which felt REALLY good. Once that was finished, I was pretty much ready to go. I headed over to the transition area, packed up my stuff and cruised home on my bike (yup, I'm Hardcore).

Home involved an ice bath, chocolate milk (the ultimate recovery drink), a little unpacking, some more water, Gatorade and food then passing out on the couch cuddled up with a bag of chocolate chip cookies (I only had 3, I swear!)

Recovery:
Things are going well. The achiness in my knees ended with the race and there was never anything I'd describe as 'pain'. Monday my legs were sore and tired and walking around, while not difficult, was definitely something I thought twice about. Tuesday was a lot better, the soreness was gone but they were still tired and today, I feel great. Mark has had me doing short recovery swims and spin sessions on the bike, and I feel today like I could tackle a short run.

Final Assessment:

So how do I think I did? I think given the training I did and having the big interruption I did with grad school, I couldn't have raced much better than I did on Sunday. Could I have raced 27 seconds or a minute five faster? Maybe, but I think I executed the plan and the race about as well as I could have. I still have a lot of things to work on, but looking back, I know I've come a very, very long way since last year.
I look forward to taking off another hour next year ;-)