PBN Team Member (Jordan Rapp) had a fantastic race at the 2009 Avia Wildflower Triathlon. He was kind enough to share his race report & power files as well as his nutritional strategy (which we've done a detailed analysis below)…..

Avia Wildflower Triathlon – May 2, 2009 (1/2 Iron Distance)
Race Totals:   4:04:15
Swim:  24:24
Bike: 2:17:51 (24.37 mph)
Run: 1:18:57 (6:02 per mile)
4^th place professional male  

Complete race results posted here.


BREAKFAST:

• Bowl of Koala Krisp (organic brown rice version of cocoa crispies) with Almond Breeze
• Ultragen Shake
• Banana
• 1/4 bar of Scharfenberger 85% cacao dark chocolate MultiV & Optygen Combo
• 2 x SaltStick capsules

PRE-SWIM: Half-bottle (one scoop) of EFS grape with one scoop of PreRace 30min before the race 2x SaltStick capsules

This was my first year at Wildflower, so I relied on the advice of several Wildflower veterans in figuring out a strategy for attacking the bike course. A large part of race strategy is always dictated by the swim, and I knew if I swam as well as I could, I would come out roughly one minute back of the leaders. If I had a poor swim, I would come out two minutes back. Fortunately, all of my swim training is starting to pay off, and I came out right where I needed to be in the second pack of swimmers.

Swim Totals:  24:24 (28^th o'all)

BIKE:
I used the rolling terrain right out of transition to get settled and put myself in a good position going into Beach Hill.



Onto the Beach Hill climb, I went hard, but I stayed seated and used my wattage and cadence as a guide to make sure I wasn't going to deep into the well early on. From there, I settled into a strong, but relatively relaxed, rhythm out on the course, chasing Chris Lieto for the first 15 miles or so, before he put in a bigger surge than I was prepared to match and slipped away on a downhill. From there, I had a very good back and forth with Torbjorn Sindballe through about 30 miles. I made sure to be aware of my cadence and power as guides, but I was most focused on staying in the race and not letting my power keep from racing. Fortunately, it was one of those good days where your power numbers are encouraging, rather than discouraging.

Jordan measures his power with a Zipp 900 Clincher Disc with integrated PowerTap. He uses the CycleOps PowerTap 2.4 CPU, measuring his speed and cadence within the hub; no additional sensors….


About 35 miles in, I put a surge in to try and work my way up closer to the front group that I could see up the road when there was a clean line of sight. At this point, Sindballe fell back, and I was alone bridging the gap up to the front. Coming over the suspension bridge at Mile 40, I picked my power up. From this point through transition was the spot I had been waiting and pacing for. On the climb up Nasty Grade my goal was to close down the remaining gap and put myself into the mix at the front of the race. Then following the descent from the top of the course at Heart Rate Hill, I wanted to push the pace even harder to either drop guys that had ridden over their limits to get over the climb or to make sure those guys that stayed in were not able to relax and recover. Coming up from the base of that climb, I slowly began to pick my way to the front.

Over the last five miles of the course through the park, I tried to stay on the pace as hard as my legs would let me, trusting that smart pacing early on would allow me to take risks in the closing stretch. I was able to work myself into second place, trailing only race leader Bjorn Andersson who was about a minute ahead. I tried to keep my hands off the brakes on the big descent into transition, but as a first time racer, I will admit to touching the brakes in a couple spots where I probably could have let it ride.

Bike Nutrition:

• 1x PBN bottle of one scoop EFS grape and two scoops ClifShot
• 3x SaltStick capsules inside (scoops are the scoops that come with each product, so total amount is about identical) taken in the first 50min of the ride
• 1.5x on-course bottle of Gatorade Endurance
• 1x EFS Liquid Shot Flask taken intermittently, finishing it about 105minutes in.
• 3 x SaltStick capsules (~every 20minutes starting at 90minutes - so at ~90 // 110 // 130 minutes in)

Bike Nutrition Totals:

• Calories: 802* (349 per hour)
• CHO: 206g (90 per hour)
• Sugar:  136g (59 per hour)
• Sodium:  3000mg (1304 per hour)
• Potassium:  1254mg (545 per hour)
• Magnesium:  348mg (151 per hour)
• Caffeine:  66mg (29 per hour)

*For reference, Jordan raced at ~156LBS (Hourly Caloric Intake (Bike): 2.2 calories /LB)

BIKE TOTALS:  2:17:51 - 24.37 mph (fastest bike split)
CLICK ON IMAGE TO ENLARGE


RUN:
I was passed in transition by the quick transition skills of Andy Potts and Terenzo Bozzone, but came out close on their heels in fourth place. Running the initial tarmac section of the course, I was passed by Eneko Llanos, but I did my best to stay close, letting him set the pace and just focusing on turnover. As we began the long dirt section of the course, we passed Bjorn Andersson and I moved back into fourth place. I managed to stay close to Llanos until Reinaldo Colucci passed both of us, and Llanos hooked on with Colucci and snapped the elastic in a winding section of trail. On the U-turn about mile four, I could see Luke Bell and Joe Gambles close behind me. Luke passed me on a flat section, but then I was able to repass him on a climb, and I tried to focus on chasing Llanos, who I could again see up the road.

The gaps stayed pretty consistent, with close gaps all the way around. I resolved to not look back, so I had to rely on the cheers of spectators and volunteers to judge the gaps I had. Coming through the out-and-back turnaround about 10.5 miles in, I got to see just how close everyone was. Not long after that, Joe Gambles passed me on the climb up from the turnaround. I stayed right on his heels and was able to then pull away on the slight descent after the crest of that hill to yet again recapture fourth place. From there, I knew it was strictly about foot speed, with the long, long descent into the finish. I picked up the pace leading into that descent - doing my "tempo like Simon [Whitfield]" mantra - and then tried to keep as fast a turnover as I could down the big hill to the lake. Coming into the finish chute, I never looked back and never slowed down, since after all that hard work, the last thing I wanted was to get clipped at the line.

Run Nutrition:

• 1-2oz (quick squeeze) from an EFS Liquid Shot Flask in transition. So somewhere between 100-200cals most likely.
• 1x cup of Gatorade Endurance taken at every aid station until the last one (somewhere around 10-12 cups)
• 10x SaltStick capsules taken approximately every mile on the run  

Run Nutrition Totals (including T2):

• Calories: 435* (335 per hour)
• CHO: 117g (90 per hour)
• Sugar:  97g (75 per hour)
• Sodium:  3410mg (2623 per hour)
• Potassium:  1241mg (955 per hour)
• Magnesium:  174mg (134 per hour)
• Caffeine:  n/a

*For reference, Jordan raced at ~156LBS (Hourly Caloric Intake (Run): 2.1 calories /LB)
**The run was assuming ~4oz of Gatorade Endurance per cup consumed or ~44oz total

RUN TOTALS:  1:18:57 - 6:02 per mile (5^th place split)

Crossing the line, I was elated. I felt it was one of my most complete races as a triathlete. I was able to swim well enough to put myself into the race right out of transition. From there, all the cycling I've done since Oceanside to bring my cycling back up to form paid off as I was able to execute my race strategy better than I could have even hoped. And then out on the run, I was glad to see my early season run training finally pay off with a solid cycling base supporting it. I could not have asked for a better race or a better result. As always, my PowerTap was invaluable, serving as a ceiling when I needed to keep myself in check and as a floor when I needed to make myself suffer.

-Jordan