Gusty winds and lightning forced organizers of IRONMAN 70.3 Racine to delay the start of the race and shorten the bike to only 30 miles. Once under way, it was Matt Chrabot who put together a consistent race to take the win.
The delayed start forced the athletes to manage their pre-race nutrition differently than they had planned. “The race was delayed by three and a half hours,” recalled Chrabot. “With the modified distance I just had some toast and sipped on my bike nutrition since I knew I wouldn’t need all of it.”
On the bike, Chrabot was patient, using a lesson he recently learned from going out too hard in a local time trial. “With that experience in mind, I knew that taking the bike out too hard in the modified bike/run would cost me the podium,” he said. That strategy worked well and Chrabot come off the bike in second place behind Lionel Sanders.
View Chrabot’s full power file.
- Chrabot’s Peak 20 Minute Power started just 4.6 miles into the race. He averaged 321W, or 4.9W/kg and averaged 25.7mph.
- His pacing for the 30 mile bike was very smooth as indicated by his Variability Index® (VI®) of 1.02.
- Overall, Chrabot was able to average 307W, or 4.70W/kg with an average cadence of 85rpm and 27.5mph.
- His effort gave him the second fastest bike split of the day with a 1:05:55.
Off the bike, Chrabot had the daunting task of running down the fleet-footed Sanders. “I knew I had second place locked up with Lionel three minutes up the road,” said Chrabot. However, Sanders began to struggle with gastrointestinal problems, inspiring Chrabot to push for the win. “Getting news that Lionel looked like he was fading motivated me on experimenting with an effort I don’t normally push until later in the race.”
Chrabot was able to run a 1:12:55 and ended up with a comfortable margin of victory of 1:14 over Sanders.
- Chrabot was able to average a 5:35 per mile pace and cadence of 85rpm for the full 13.1 mile run.
- Overall, Chrabot had a Run Training Stress Score (rTSS) of 123.
- His time of 1:12:55 was the fastest run split of the day.
Through changing conditions, Chrabot made smart decisions. His ability to adapt to the weather, take previous lessons learned, pace himself properly, and of course push his limits lead to him taking the win.
