IMFL 2012 Race Report - Brian Comiskey (NP of 951 watts!)
Ironman Florida 2012 Race Report by Brian Comiskey
I have been with EN since July of 2010 and this was my 7th Ironman.
Pre-Race:
I woke up at 2am and drank two Ensures and went back to bed until 4am. Breakfast was 12oz unsweetened applesauce with protein powder and another Ensure. Total of about 1,000 cal including pre-breakfast. For coffee had 3 Via’s and 8 oz water. I also had 3 S-Caps in the morning before the race. I did some pre-loading on day before the race with another 7 S-Caps spread throughout the day.
I got to transition at 5:15am and got body marked and set up nutrition on the bike. I powered up the Garmin Edge 500 to find satellites and calibrate Quarq power meter. The Quarq was giving me trouble at Ironman Wisconsin earlier this year and had just came back from Quarq where it was “successfully” re-calibrated. The calibration values were not normal, and was thinking that I would be doing another race without power.
Swim (Goal Time: 1:15 / Race Time: 1:13)
“Jump back, what’s that sound?
Here she comes, full blast and top down”
The swim starts with Panama by Van Halen blasting from the beach speakers. Decent swells coming in with the current going from right to left along the beach. We were allowed to start as far in the water as you wanted if you were ok getting a beat down from the waves breaking. I found a spot about 25% off the front and a bit to the right. The cannon sounds and the churning of swimmers begins. The swells only increase the level of contact and got elbowed a few times with people trying to swim over me. I had some fun doing a little body surfing on the waves back into the beach. I thought about what it meant to be a “waterman”, realized I did not know exactly but liked the sound of it and made a note to search that up later. The meaning is a versatile athlete who can engage in various forms of water sports depending on conditions. Sounds awesome.
Bike (Goal Time: 5:05 / Race Time: 5:12)
I ran up to T1 with wetsuit pulled down to waist. In Florida, you have to lay down on the beach to have your wetsuit stripped. I think the potential for discomfort/chafing from sand makes this a gamble not worth taking. On bike nutrition is two 750 cal bottles of Infinit. The plan is to drink 1 sip every 15’ for an average of 250 cal/hour starting at 30’. The hydration plan is to finish front aero drink of water (32 oz) between aid stations and refill and to drink as much of second water bottle before last chance trash. I reviewed the course map night before the race to double check that the aid stations were evenly spaced so no surprises on race day. Should have been around 80 oz/hour, which has worked for me on warm days (and result of doing sweat test). I was taking 4 S-Caps every hour on the hour.
The race plan was to ride at JRA pace (190-200 watts) up until the right turn off 79 which is about mile 23. At mile 23, I would pick up the effort to (210-216 watts or 70-72%) for remainder of ride. I know RnP are always at the bike mount line and do my best to represent and have a quick and efficient mount and get out of there. I get out on to Front Beach Road after a couple of minutes and start drinking water and get settled in. I have a feeling the power meter is jacked so wait a bit until glancing down. I look at my Garmin and it says 738 watts! It only got crazier as the Garmin would show values ranging from 0 to 4,000 watts. For the entire ride, had a NP of 951 watts with a VI of 2.84 and IF of 3.2!! (Slowtwitch worthy!!).
I saw my friend and EN team member, Brian Pautsch, around mile 22 and told him I was riding 10w/kg and should be able to win the TdF in 2013. I had to laugh it off and was thankful that the Garmin did not say 210 all day long when I was really at 240.
Having raced Florida in ’10 and ’11 was paying attention to winds, humidity, and temps in forecast. It looked like the wind would shift from NW to SW around 1pm resulting in a headwind on 79 in the morning AND afternoon. I wanted to get as much time in on 79 back into town before winding up with a 7mph headwind, which became a 12 mph headwind one hour later. I focused on staying aero and moving through the field. I did not see as much drafting as in prior years and at no time was pinned on the shoulder by car traffic. I only had to make one bathroom stop (compared to 3 last year) which was around mile 70. I had 400 mg of caffeine at mile 75 as 2 Vivarin. I rode a 5:15 bike split in ’10 and ’11 and trusted that anything over a 5:05 should be a low enough TSS to be able to run. Overall, I passed 505 people on the bike.
Run (Goal Time: 4:33 / Race Time: 4:39)
I raced Florida in 2010 at 11:17 and 2011 at 11:05 and had a goal time of 10:45 but really just wanted 10:59 or better. I ran a 4:20 last year and have been about 30 seconds faster this year on almost all of my training runs. So, the math worked out before plugging the weather forecast into the heat pace calculator. The run started at 82 degrees with a dewpoint of 65. Frak!!!! My best possible marathon time goes from a 3:56 to a 4:33. Not looking good for my sub 11. Also, coming off the bike with a TSS of 5,076 may have been a factor.
I started the run at 1:39pm. Ran into the “Girl Zone” of leather clad and whip handling spectators near start and Brass Monkey by the Beastie Boys was playing. At the moment I pass, I hear “We got the bottle, you got the cup, come on everybody let’s get ____”. So, I had to scream “FUCKED” as I am in PCB and that’s just how I get down.
I had an average pace of 10:16 for miles 1-6, 10:32 for miles 6-12, 11:13 for miles 12-18, and 10:34 for miles 18-26.6. Nutrition was water and coke at every aid station and 4 S-Caps every 50’. I also realized that a half filled small cup of water is not enough for me so tried to drink 2-3 half filled cups every aid station. I also ran with ice cubes in my hands to keep cool. Occasionally would put them under my PCB trucker hat as well. Did not want to get too wet due to risk of blisters/chafing. No cramping and no stomach issues whatsoever.
There were 17 of us from Chi South racing in Florida with most being EN team members. I have never been more motivated to run hard and not get chased down. As much as going sub 11 was my goal, my one thing was the competition from my friends. Lot’s of math based on position and time when I saw my guys on the turnarounds to figure out how much time I had on them. Fortunately, I was able to hold everyone off. I wanted to flash the EN gang sign or 7 fingers at the finish line but was too out of it and put up 10 fingers instead before getting it right. I was passed by 89 people on the run and has a finish time of 11:21.
Overall, I am happy with my results and made some minor tweaks from Wisconsin eight weeks ago in terms of hydration at end of the bike and beginning of the run that worked out. I also wanted to see how much I could push my self-governor in terms of comfort at the end of the run and was happy in finding a new place I could go to.
Comments
Congrats to you on a great race!
Most importantly, way to enjoy your day and hold off your Chi-town peeps!
You show great courage finishing in a hat like that ... although you do look a little like a mime who got surprised by a glass wall.
Congrats on the steady race, espdecially so soon after IM Moo.
@Sarah: Great job. I saw you at the finish line talking with RnP. Girls had it better on the bridge climb on 79 though.
@Tim: Thanks.
@John: Thanks. I did a screen shot from intellicast the next day on hourly temps at PCB. Here is the data as time/temp/dew point. 1:00/82/65, 2:00/81/65, 3:00/80/64, 4:00/77/64, 5:00/72/64, 6:00/69/55, 7:00/67/64
@Sukhi: Thanks. Congrats. You crushed it out there.
@Lauren: We can ride next summer. VO2 intervals at 1800W!
@BP: Thanks. Great training/racing with you.
@MIke: Thanks. Welcome to the 11 ish group!
@Dottie: It all started last year after a few beers and a trip to Walmart in PCB. I was blown away by the awesomeness.
@Al: Mime! That is exactly the look. Also a bit of dear in the headlights.