Following my first Kona finish last fall, I had an extended off season. A toddler with a broken leg, then a job change, then a home change have further complicated my season. By June I was well behind fitness-wise compared to previous years. I put together a big block of training and local races to help turn things around.
The last race in this block was the Cutting Edge Half Classic in Effingham, Illinois. The race was only about 2.5 hours away which was the big selling point for me. The race venue is right next to a campground so we were able to take my son on his first camping trip. We had heavy rains the night before the race that only added to the already rain-saturated ground. Race morning dawned without a cloud in the sky and humidity that was off the scale.
This is a rather small half so I didn't have a good sense of what the competition might be like. My primary goal was to have a solid race to cap off my training block. The water was warm, so no wetsuits; which I definitely prefer. A decent 31 minute swim put me around 5th in the race. We exited the water into some air that was thick with humidity, but reasonable temps.
The bike course is an out-and-back with a loop section in the middle. The course has lots of central Illinois rolling hills, but no real climbs. A few miles into the ride and I had moved up into third place. Up ahead, I watched first and second duke it out with each other on all the climbs. I was very reliant on my PowerTap to keep me in check and cap my efforts on the short, leg-sapping climbs. As you can see from my power file, I was able to keep most of the hills under 275 watts.
As the ride progressed the temps really started to climb. At this point 15+ years of race experience kicked in and I started to moderate my effort in anticipation of a long, hot run. From the out-and-back sections I knew I was sitting at 3+ minutes in back of the lead. I was totally banking on my conservative ride to pay off during the run. I ended up averaging 218 watts for the bike leg which was good for 22.4 mph. Nothing too impressive, but given the conditions I think it is a good example of tactical riding.
The run was shaping up to be a scorcher. The course was a double out-and-back in the middle of those iconic Illinois cornfields. Out of 13.1 miles there was probably one-half mile of shade. The rest was a brutal battle against heat and humidity. Actual temps were in the high 80's, low 90's but with the humidity the heat index was in the triple digits.
My conservative bike strategy started paying off right away. One mile in I moved into second and by mile four I overtook first place. From there on out it was more conservative running that involved walking every single aid station and taking in what seemed like gallons of fluids. By the end of the run I had more than ten minutes over second place. On paper my 1:37 is one of my worst 1/2 marathon splits ever. Looking back though, the run conditions were much worse than Kona last fall (and that was no cakewalk).
Making this victory extra special was the fact that it was Father's Day and my son was there to watch. I was able to carry him across the empty finish line (all the spectators were cheering from the shade!) A full race report is available on my blog.