Race Report | Monticelloman Half 2018

Race information

• What? Monticelloman
• Where? Palmyra, VA
• When? May 6th, 2018
• How far? 70.3 miles
• Website? Monticelloman

Goals

Goal	Description	Completed?
A	< 5 hours	Yes
B	< 30 min Swim	Yes
C	Top 3 Age Group	Yes

Background: This is my 1st HIM and 8th tri in total. I did my first sprint in 2015 and was horrible (virtually no running experience, new to road bikes, and swam through high school). I actually trained in 2016 and dropped 12 mins or so and got AG podium, and did another sprint as well. Last year I did 3 Oly/1 Sprint with a couple more AG podiums and a 2nd overall in small-medium races. My plan is to go HIM distance in 2018 to potentially set-up a full IM in 2019.

Training: After last tri season, I decided to do my first HM in November and went about 7:28/mi pace, which I was thrilled with. I have been following training plans and have not had a coach. For this race, I started Matt Fitzgerald’s “Level 8” HIM 20-week plan (12 hours/week average) which has 4 swims, 3 runs, 3 bikes, 1 brick per week. I also followed the first 3 phases of this strength program from a TrainingPeaks blog by Shane Neimeyer. Toward the second half of my plan, I was hard-pressed to find time for strength sessions, so I did what I could.

Gear: This was my first race of the season on my Cervelo R2 2017 with Profile Design T1+ aerobars and the Redshift seatpost, and I continued to use my Castelli Free Sanremo trisuit, Hoka One One Clayton 2 shoes, Garmin FR935 watch, and Louis Garneau bike shoes. I also love my Injinji toe socks for blister prevention and Zoot PCH running shorts in training!

Pre-race: Drove ~4 hours to Charlottesville the day before race, picked up race packet at the venue and scoped out the lake and bike course. The venue is awesome – a gated community – with nice facilities. The swag, shirt, and packet were above average (we got T-blocks with our names/numbers on them too). The weather was a bit iffy with impending rain, but temps and wind were both looking pretty ideal. I did a quick 20 minute ride along some of the run course to just loosen the legs and felt great.

With a later race start at 8:30am, was able to get up at 6am, which was nice. Oatmeal, PB, banana and a bit of berry smoothie. Drove to venue, quick run warm-up with no issues from lingering shin soreness. Got transition set-up (put stuff in plastic bags in case of rain), put wetsuit on and got a brief swim in the lovely 68F water.

Swim: 29:18 – Water temp 68 degrees. Lake water with almost no breeze. Beach start with small field of about 60 men, had to run a bit diagonally across beach to our left, so I stayed on land as long as I could until getting into the water and ultimately co-leading a few guys out. I tried to draft (not much experience there), but the other guy was moving around a bit and took a different line out to the first buoy, which was the long point of the triangular course. At the buoy, I rejoined the other leader and got on his feet most of the way home, which definitely helped save some energy. Got out of the water just behind him feeling good despite swimming just 1-2 seconds slower than my threshold pace.

T1: 1:55 Had to pay attention to getting wetsuit off over my watch and the weird chip timer on my ankle that couldn’t go under the wetsuit at all. Worked that out, washed sand off feet in buckets provided en route to the racks, and got onto the bike in pretty quick fashion. Weather still dry, and a bit cool under 60F.

Bike: 2:32:19 (~21.7mph). I am still riding my Cervelo R2 road bike with clip-on aerobars and forward seatpost, so sacrificing some time to the guys with serious tri bikes. I led the race for about 15 miles of the bike, being led by a motorcycle (pretty cool), and got chased by two dogs, one of which was gaining on me at 21mph so I had to accelerate! 3 guys passed me toward end of first lap, but I was happy with my position. The first lap went well in 22.2mph pace, but the rain started on lap 2, more traffic from vehicles and bikers from shorter distance races, and my legs felt much heavier. So I tried to back off a bit and was able to recover for last 15 mins or so, averaging 21.5mph. Since I was soaking wet, and had to pee…well figure out what happened (never done it before, why not while in my first HIM in the top 4?!). For nutrition, I consumed a large bottle (~32oz) of gatorade with nuun tablet, 1.5 regular bottles of water, 2.5 GU stroopwaffles, 1 GU gel.

T2: 2:45 Rain soaked everything but my shoes and socks, but took me a while to loosen my fingers and get my toe socks on (such a pain, but absolutely love how they prevent blisters). Then spent a few seconds stretching as I know my lower legs can tighten up. High-fived my dad on the way out, feeling good despite some doubts on bike.

Run: 1:37:45 (7:28/mi pace). Course is a roller coaster with lots of rollers and some small loops though the neighborhood. First mile I could not help myself despite trying, and went 7:05, but was able to slow myself on mile 2, when I linked up with the leader of the female race, and we quickly joined forces and ran the whole way together at a good clip. Thanks for the motivation, Katie! I was happy to see my heart rate stabilize in the mid 160s where I was pretty confident I could hold it. For nutrition, I took 2.5 GU gels over the course of the run, and took water/HEED at each station until about mile 8 where I alternated. There were no volunteers giving out water, so we had to stop and pour our own at all but 1 or 2 spots. That cost us at least a minute, but might’ve helped limit myself.

Finish time: 04:44:01

I crushed my time goal, and each leg was as good as I could have hoped for. 4th male, 5th overall, 1st in AG.

Post race: Got some pizza, bananas, and lots of water. Was hoping for some gatorade or coke. There were showers available, which was nice before the awards and long drive home.

Overall, the venue and course were great (albeit a bit short on bike and maybe .1 on the run), however there were a few issues with vehicular traffic, and lack of volunteers/people at aid stations. I would do it again if I lived closer.

What’s next: Getting married, a few sprints and olympics, then IM 70.3 Maine in August. Going to be focusing on muscular endurance and improving my bike time.

Thanks for reading!