Ironman Muncie is always a fun race and a race that will remain on my calendar for the foreseeable future. It's close to home, cheap to travel to, and you can have a lot of team support at the race. I got to race with nearly 75 friends from Kentucky and Indiana. My team, Tri-Loco Indiana was there in a big way, and I cannot say enough positive things about my team. I have made some great friends on this team.
Tri-Loco Ironman 70.3 Division IV Champs
For anyone who has raced IRONMAN Muncie, you know the swim has some crazy dynamics that make it interesting to say the least- wave starts, one loop, odd currents, and morning sun in your eyes swimming to the finish. I was in the 8th wave to go at 7:43am- race was delayed 15 minutes due to traffic. I lined myself at the front right of my group- 200 or so dudes in the 35-39 AG. My goal was to swim just to the right of the buoys and then outside of the turn buoys. The gun went off and it was on! I love race starts! I get fired up inside but try to keep calm outside. We started just after the womens 40-44 group. Within 2 minutes, we were swimming over them! Oops! Sorry! I even passed good friend Jesse Halladay within inches about 3 minutes in. She looked calm and in a rythm which was good to see. I really felt like I was flying. I made the first turn and really had no trouble. Second turn and then it was sighting into the sun! This is very hard so I just followed feet, but I also slowed down here to make sure I was going straight. For the most part, I was swimming buoy to buoy. 700 meters to go and I nailed someone in the head during the catch phase of my stroke, they were either treading or trying to backstroke. I know that must have hurt! Luckily, it was a part of my hand where it didn't really hurt me. I began thinking about the bike and getting into transition. When I exited the water, I was a little surprised to see 36 minutes and 45 seconds. It felt like a 32 minute swim, but I got what I earned- If I swam straight, that would help. 1.3 miles will add an extra couple minutes. However, I was 3 minutes faster than 2014 Muncie, so I took that away as a positive!
Ironman Muncie Swim
Swim 36:45
T1 3:33
The bike at Ironman Muncie is flat and fast. The major factor can be heat, other riders, and wind. My goal was to ride at 146 heart rate and see what happens. Sometimes things happen you cant predict- such as losing a bottle of INFINIT in the first mile of the bike. I made the split decision to keep going as I still had one bottle with 400 calories plus 8 Honey Stinger gels to keep me fueled. I also had my base salt with me to make sure I was staying on top of salt evaporation. Since I was tested at FitnessRX for metabolic efficiency, I knew that I could be okay for 5 plus hours. If it was a full IRONMAN, I would have stopped and picked up my bottle. I will also change my aero bottle setup so this doesn't happen again!
I felt really good on the bike and pushed when my heart rate was low, and conserved when it got above 160. There were several pack riders and drafting was happening all over, but with that many people riding on a 12 mile loop, its hard not to be in someone's slip stream sometimes. I stayed away from the packs but I'm sure I could have drafted and saved an additional 2-4 minutes. I just raced my own race and stuck to our plan.
I focused on taking in mutrition, monitoring heart rate, and staying safe. This was my first race with power too, so I was excited to see my data from the race. I failed to zero-offset my Quarq power meter so I think my results could be inaccurate based off my time, weight, etc.
On the bike
Bike: 2:32:34 22.1 mph
AVG PWR 155W
NP 164W
work 1381kj
HR 149 avg
flying out of T2 (photo credit Rachel Longley)
T2 1:45
When I looked at my Garmin leaving T2, my total time was 3:15. I had sub 5 in my sights. Although I lost a bottle of INFINIT, I felt great. No cramping. Legs felt loose. I got excited. The Muncie run course is deceptive. Always rolling. Not much recovery time before the next roller. Heart rate spikes. Heat. Very little shade. The key on this course is to manage nutrition, heart rate, and keep cool with sponges, ice, and taking advantage of what shade there is. I knew I had to run 1:45 to go sub 5. The first 6.6 miles I was running 7:57 pace. Consistent. Stayed as cool as possible. Taking ice. Sipping on INFINIT Napalm. My heart rate was high the whole time however. I couldn't keep it down. However, I felt really good so I was running as hard as I could without blowing up. The heat definitely added 5-6 beats per minute to my average compared to Chattanooga where I averaged 158.
Through mile 8, I was on pace for a 4:58. I could taste it. But....by mile 9.5, the course took its toll and I could not push past a 8:30 mile for the last 3.5 miles.
Nearing the finish
A half mile to the finish line, the 5 hour time clicked over on my watch. I was disappointed. However, when I crossed the finish line, I still had set a distance PR and beat my time on this course from last year by 26 minutes. So, I am still proud of myself for overcoming some inconsistent training, losing nutrition on the bike, and a slower than normal swim. Sub 5 is so close I can taste it.
Run 1:48:43
8:17/mile
Heart Rate 166 avg
1685 calories
Total 5:03:20
33rd of 192 35-39 Age group
222 of 1989 overall.
All in all a great race for me, not quite what I was hoping for but some great data to take into my 12 week block to Ironman Louisville in October. Now is time for recovery, and then focus on the training my coach has in store for me.
It pays to go to rolldown!
After taking the slot to Austria and thinking about my goals for this season and work commitments, it made sense to let it roll to the next guy- as much as I want to go to Austria and compete, my goal is Kona one day. Still, its pretty cool that I had the opportunity to go and that is possible because of my coach Kim who is continually molding me into an athlete who can compete for world championship slots.
Thanks to my great partners who making racing fun and possible!!
