Preparation
My last race was on 16/07 so I had 2 weeks of training plus a taper week before this race. Still in knee rehab, so again a swim/bike for me. Goal for this race was:
swim around 1:35/100m
NP last year was 255, aiming for 270-280W this time
Location
Picked this race as I liked the bike course last year and it's one of the closest Ironman branded races I can do.
Swim start/finish and T1/T2 were located on the Meuse riverside at the Griendpark. Finish line was, unlike last year, at the Stadspark Maastricht. So from a logistics point of view this race is very easy.
Stay
As the race venue was only one hour away, we didn't opt to stay close to the venue and just made the trip on race morning.
Swim 0:30:25 AG-/
- Last year the swim was canceled for this race, so nothing to compare it against for this year.
- On paper it looked like a simple counterclockwise loop, first part against the current, home stretch with the current. But once in the water it didn't feel anything like that, there seemed to be very few buoys out there to sight for, and one that I thought was on a straight line turned out to be quite some way of to the right, I almost passed it on the left without even noticing it, but an athlete in front of me rerouted quite strongly to the right to make the buoy, making me realize I had almost missed it as well. On my way back I almost swam into people still on the out part, so I assume they all missed that buoy, that I almost missed as well, and were quite a bit of course, basically cutting the course a bit short. After the first few hundred meters the swim never felt to crowded, I didn't feel much influence of the current in the river neither.
- The amount of people cheering us on during the swim was pretty cool, looking at the map we started at the Wilhelminabrug, then swam under the Sint Servaasbrug and I think we even passed the Hoge Brug as well. On all of these bridges and on the river side as well people were cheering us on.
- As I DNF the race, the tracker does not show the AG relative positions anymore, so no idea how I did compared to my AG. 1:36/100m is a decent swim for me though, so happy with that.
T1 0:04:08
- Relatively long run from swim exit to the bike for this transition. When trying to pull my wetsuit of I felt my left hamstring cramping up. In my rehab exercises with the physio I noticed it being a little sore and I guess swimming in a wetsuit just triggered it a little. But it went away relatively quick when jogging to my bike and never had an issue with it on the bike.
Bike 2:24:25 AG-/
- Last year it was a one 90k loop, originally this year it would be a similar setup, but in the end they had to switch to a 45k - 2 loop setup, I believe due to a lack of volunteers on the bike course.
- Right out of T1 I noticed that my power numbers were not showing up on my bike computer, so I tried to restart the bike computer a few times, stop/start the ride, but nothing helped so I just rode on feel.
- I got into a good rhythm early on and started to pick people up. After around 10k however a pack passed me, drafting as usual. I passed the pack again but as it goes with pack dynamics they always come rolling by again. Another athlete was in the same boat as I was and we exchanged some thoughts about how ridiculous this was. From last year however I recalled that we were about the get to a decent climb, at around 15k in, so I basically pushed up that climb as hard as I could dropping the pack and putting some distance between myself and them. It took quite some effort but it worked as I never saw the pack again. From there onwards I was able to race my own pace and everything went well up till the second last climb at 65k. At the top I shifted quickly back to the big chain ring to pick up the speed, but I should have given the chain a split second to settle in before putting the power down as it dropped between the frame and the small chain ring. Luckily I noticed it right away and didn't put the power down otherwise I would have been race over with a totally stuck chain. I pulled to the side and tried to get the chain loose, but it was stuck pretty good. Luckily for me there were some people cheering us on at the top of the hill and one guy came over to help me out. With his help we were able to get the chain freed up and I could get moving again. No idea how much time I actually lost there but I would say at least a few minutes. On my Strava file the difference between moving time and elapsed time is actually 05:33, not sure all of that was due to this forced stop, anyway it costed me quite some time. After having some forced rest I tried to push those last 25k to make up for some of the lost time.
- Due to the 2 loop setup of the bike course, the second lap we got into more traffic as on the second loop we had to pass lots of the slower swimmers/late starters.
- Same remark as for the swim, DNF so the tracker does not show me any info around my position in the field.
- Last year there were 488 elevation meters (2:20:17), this year I recorded 709 meters of elevation (2:24:25). Taking into account the increase in elevation of the course and the amount of time I lost due to the chain issue I'm very happy with how I performed on the bike.
T2
- Didn't take any risk hopping of my bike and just walked through transition to rack my bike and mentioned to one of the race officials that I was not allowed to complete the run leg due to injury. They were very accommodating in allowing me to already take my bike and bags out of transition at that time instead of having to wait for the regular bike checkout time.
Run N.A.
Overall
- Happy about how I performed on the swim and bike leg, looking at the times I don't think I could have asked for more.
Some lessons learned
- Hilly race so use the aid stations for water/iso and start as light as possible on the bike.
- When shifting from small to big front chain ring, give the chain a second to settle before putting the power down!
- Spectator support was amazing on the swim and even on the bike course there were tons of people cheering us on, which always makes it more fun for the athletes.
Result
- Swim 0:30:25 AG-/
- T1 0:04:08
- Bike 2:24:25 AG-/
- T2 N.A.
- Run N.A.
- Total N.A.
Tags: IM70.3 Maastricht race report, Ironman 70.3 Maastricht race report, race report IM70.3 Maastricht race report
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