Overview
For the first time in my short triathlon career I didn't finish a race. I've done a great deal of soul-searching, questioning and reviewing to determine what caused it. What it comes down to is not preparing for the event with the same focus that I did for Ironman 70.3 Texas a week earlier, and also trying to do two Ironman 70.3 races on back to back weekends and not realizing the impact that this never-before-attempted amount of racing would have on my body.
Preparation
It's a long drive from Dallas to New Orleans. I traveled on Friday - most of the day. This time, my parents were accompanying my wife and I. Friday evening we ventured into the French Quarter after packet pickup and enjoyed a fantastic meal (just water, no wine or beer).
Saturday is where I started to get it all wrong. I ate the usual high carb breakfast of bagels, peanut butter, bananas. Then we went to downtown New Orleans to enjoy the French Quarter Festival. A whole day of entertainment with activities spread all across the French Quarter. The weather was pleasantly warm and dry. I tried to spend as much time as possible sitting.
In retrospect, between lunch and dinner I drank probably only a bottle and a half of water. It was warm, sunny and windy. Plus with the activities being all over the area I probably walked a few miles too. So much for "resting all day". Dinner (pasta) was slightly late after a hike back to the car and a round-trip to the remote bike transition area.
Race Day
Nothing unusual. Arrived in plenty of time. Followed my normal pre-race routine. Felt good and ready to go.
Swim
Probably the easiest open water swim you will ever get at an Ironman 70.3. The swim is inside a marina so we were protected from the elements and had plenty of landmarks/walls on both sides to navigate without much need to sight buoys.
Swim time: 41:46 (2:01 faster than previous PR)
T1
The run from swim exit to transition was not short. Wetsuit strippers were a blessing again although far fewer than at Texas so I made sure they knew I was coming.
T1 time: 4:27 (22sec longer than Texas due to the longer run)
Bike
The aim on the bike was to go 10bpm harder than at Galveston, where I took the bike well within my (perceived) capability. I'd got some water in my goggle right eye on the swim which had caused irritation to my right eye and this continued on the bike, especially with the cross-wind blowing from the right too. At times it was hard to see from that eye.
For the first 28 miles on the bike I had no issues. I was hitting my effort level (mid 150's bpm). Nutrition (Gu every 20 mins, Saltstick every 30 min) all good. My heart rate always jumps on the start of the bike and takes 15 minutes to settle down. I don't eat anything during that period but do sip my drink. In this case I had Skratch Hydration mix in my first two bottles. I drained the two bottles by mile 27 (on schedule) but the expected drink station didn't appear? It was supposed to be at Mile 28 according to the Athlete Guide. I hadn't thought to make a mental note of where it was (or wasn't) on the outleg so had no idea if it was further up or just not there. I only had flat Coke left on the bike and - possibly terminally for my race - decided not to drink it yet and just wait for the aid station.
Further and further it went. Speed was still good and heart rate ok but my right eye irritation was evolving into a painful headache. I wasn't sure why - can't be the irritation causing it? I kept going. I didn't really have a good mental picture of the mileage at the turns so when I passed the aid station (on the other side) it didn't register that it was Aid Station 2 at Mile 37 or 38. I should have stopped and picked something up from them but I didn't and soldiered on.
Mile 36: 1:41:28 (21.3mph) and I knew I only had one more stretch of 6 miles into the wind and the rest was tail or cross wind.
At the Mile 36 turnaround, into the wind, suddenly dehydration really kicked in. I had nothing left. Headache, nausea starting, no energy. I tried sipping the Coke but felt like I'd never keep it down. At mile 38 I finally picked up Perform and water and tried to get it into me but by then it was too late. I was really struggling and felt worse with every mile despite the fluids.
I struggled back to transition with a bike time of 2:58:32 and pulled out of the race at that point with a BP of 100/60 - no argument whether it was dehydration!
Extrapolating my data, without the dehydration I think I'd probably have done a bike split of around 2:39:00. It seems crazy that all that extra effort only gained me about 3 minutes over my Galveston time - which I took at an easy pace. That is until you consider that I wasn't anywhere near recovered from Galveston just 7 days earlier. I need no more evidence than this to prove it.
Lessons
My lack of hydration and rest on Saturday caused my early exit of the race. But insufficient recovery clearly impacted my performance level. It seems unlikely that I'd have had good energy on the run so overall probably would have been on a par or slower than Galveston.
Hydrate, hydrate, hydrate. Rest, rest, rest.
Don't plan big races so close together. Build a plan and stick with it. I changed my plan to accommodate my new team and my parents. If I'm racing, the plan needs to be built around racing, not entertaining. I have all the evidence I need to show myself the impact of not doing this.
I will come back to New Orleans at some point and exorcise this race failure.
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