High Cliff - HIM
2398
Member
1276 days
Triguy98 posted 2 years ago.
Sounds like good times. I have yet to race without any true goals, but I think my first HIM is going to be like that. Not watch the time, and just fly by feel. Solid results for a "C" race! Good job!
Life is short. Play hard and get dirty doing it.
978
Member
1148 days
PJT posted 2 years ago.
Hey RV – awesome finish. RV is too modest to tell you all that he blew by me on the run – I was on mile 3 & he was on his second loop – around mile 9. Great job.
My own day went OK. I was doing this race to finish and to try to get my pacing & nutrition under control for ironman. I treated as a B/C with a mini taper this week. I thought a 6 hour finish was not out of the question (my only previous HIM was 6:38, and that was with a short swim). Swim was decent enough – 40 minutes out of the water, though I walked the little hill to T1. My bike was surprisingly slow. I wore a HRM for the first time in a race and tried hard to keep in Zone 3. This had me going around 18 MPH. My computer put the bike course at 57 miles—I don’t know if that’s accurate or not. I finished the bike in 3:10. My nutrition plan was to go for about 300 calories per hour with a mixture of Gu, Gatorade, and a cliff bar and I stuck with it.
On the run, I had some real stomach issues – sloshy sounds and a very bloated feeling starting around mile 5. I ran the first loop with roughly 10:20 splits, but fell off on the second loop to finish the run in 2:24--last 2 miles were just plain bad. Final time was 6:21 and change. I’m wondering if the caffeine in the Gu was contributing to the stomach issues or if it was something else. I have to get this figured out before September 10.
So, as far as goals, I met my goal to finish, did OK on the pacing (maybe slowing down on the run would have helped the stomach?) and need work on the nutrition. 2 out of 3 isn't so bad.
978
Member
1148 days
PJT posted 2 years ago.
For those looking for a quick review of the race itself—here’s my take.
Race location is High Cliff State Park near Appleton, Wisconsin, at the northeast corner of giant Lake Winnebago. The park is a beautiful place to stage a tri. I did the Sprint course last year and this year did the HIM.
The swim this year was correctly measured, which I’m told is an improvement over last year's HIM. The lake was a comfortable temp for wetsuits – I’d guess low 70s. The water was calm and a little murky, and cloudy skies made underwater visibility roughly about 3 feet. Swimmers started in water (standing) in waves of 50.
T-1 was up a short hill to a grassy area. The transition area was fenced off and each spot was individually numbered (I’m a big fan of this).
The bike course starts with a climb up the “High Cliff” for which the park and the race are named. It’s about a ¾ mile ascent. After that, the bike goes out onto some nice country roads following the lake and then rejoins the Sprint course around mile 38 or so. There were 2 other notable ascents on the bike, 1 of which was a long gradual climb into a tough headwind. The course is pretty good – nearly every intersection was staffed (I think I saw 1 towards the end of the bike that was not), there aren’t too many turns, and plenty of arrows/signage made getting lost impossible. There were 3 water/Gatorade exchanges for the HIM distance. The only thing I would change would be to add a couple more porta-potties on the course (there was only 1, and it had a line both times I rode by).
The run course has you again climbing the High Cliff to start. The run then becomes a double loop of about 75% trails through the park. There is a good amount of shade. There was some mud & puddles due to some huge rainstorms the evening before the race, but it was not too bad overall. Campsites lined various parts of the trail and several campers had set up chairs to watch the race and cheer us on. There were about 5 aid stations on the loop, which meant you had 10 total chances for a water/Gatorade stop. You finish the run by going down the High Cliff, so the last ¾ of a mile is pretty fast.
Overall, I thought the race organization was really good this year. The courses were well marked, lots of volunteers, and everything went pretty smoothly that I could see. They even had a post-race pasta feed for the HIM finishers, which was a very nice touch. I will definitely be back.
This was a 'C' race for me, as over the weekend I did a 6.5 hour bike with a transition run and later a short swim - So the previous day totaled a little over 7.5 hours of training - so no taper here. But I enjoy this race and worked it into my training schedule.
Day started with the alarm going off at 2:00 a.m. - It is about a 2.5 hour drive for me to the race venue. The weather was nasty on the way up - lots of rain. But cleared up by the time I checked in.
Had my typical bad start to the swim - still having problems getting my breathing under control. After about 10 minutes and a couple short stints of breast stroke to settle my breathing, I finally got into my groove. Posted a 38:09 which is good for me especially with the shabby start. Bit of an uphill run to T1. Got in and out in 1:33.
I wanted to see how my legs would respond. There is a climb immediately out of transition, and the course is hilly, but nothing big. It was fairly windy on course today. I wanted to ride at a low zone 4 HR for the day. Was able to hold that. Legs responded well. Had a 21.7 ave. and 2:35:54. Only was passed by three guys and caught all of them by mile 50. Happy with that. T2 was fine - 1:05 - slowed to put on socks!:rolleyes: Headed out for the run - and set my Garmin forerunner to monitor HR - was not tracking time at all. Ran in a low zone 2 - well except for some of the bigger hills. It is mostly a trail run. Very pretty run. A few big puddle areas. Finished the run in 1:58:03. On the run, PJT saw my Trifuel shirt and we exchanged greetings. Was nice to see another Trifueler. He looked pretty steady.I wasn't able to see him finish however. Overall, I got a 5:14:47. At the race, my posted time was good for 71'st overall and 8'th in my age group. It was a fun day and much faster day than I anticipated - nice going into a race with no real preconceptions and was nice not knowing the time on the run.
RV
It takes a long time to get good. - Scott Molina
Slow is smooth; smooth is fast. - Rich Strauss