IMAZ 2012 RAce Report, 1st IM
Russ McKelvey, Ironman Arizona 2012, 18 NOV 12, First Ironman Distance Race
Swim 1:13:58
T1 9:29
Bike 7:10:38
T2 8:24
Run 4:50:16
OV 13:32:45
Dollars Raised for The Childhood Brain Tumor Foundation: $3200.00
TRAINING:
I started training for this race in AUG 11. WAY TOO LONG to maintain motivation. I hadn’t done any athletic events in several years and was not in good shape. I found out I was deploying again though and wanted this off my bucket list. After working with a local coach through March I wanted more brain food and luckily found EN. As life took me by the horns and I had a new baby, new job, lots of field time and long hours work, the EN focused training methods saved me and made the race possible even on less than 60% of my planned training. Did all but about 4 rides on the indoor trainer. Even a 6 hour session in the garage that was probably worse than the entire race mentally.
Wasn’t super confident because my two races prior in the season were the BOISE 70.3, bike cut short to 15 miles, so I had no idea what the running would feel like in a race situation and the Boulder 70.3 in August in which I made every nutrition mistake known to man and DNFd after experiencing things I should not write here. I had dropped from 210 lbs to 190 but was short of the 185 goal I set for myself. I am only 5’10” so I need to continue to improve on body composition.
I owe unlimited thanks to my wife and all those that supported me and made this happen. I owe you all BIG TIME.
PRE RACE:
Stuck rigidly to the QT2 Race Nutrition Plan during race pre-week. Flew into Pheonix on Thursday evening. In the future will definitely fly in Wednesday. I think more time would have helped me relax prior to race and deal with the issues that came up.
Flatted my tubular front tire on Friday during course recon. Was afraid to glue and race in short time frame so I used a can of Pit Stop. Still had air the next morning so I checked the bike in to transition (MISTAKE).
Taper was weird, I had all kinds of weird aches and pains I am not used to. Claves and lower back felt weird. Stopped for some ART. Felt better next morning.
Got super relaxed and motivated after having a Thanksgiving lunch with the Cuellar family who had come out to see the race and helped me raise 3200.00 for The Childhood Brain Tumor Foundation on behalf of their son, Alex. (Good MOJO)
Have a 6 week old and two year old, so I slept in separate hotel room Saturday night. I owe my wife big for this one, she is awesome.
RACE MORNING:
2 AM: QT2 Apple sauce protocol, back to sleep
4 AM: More applesauce, banana, and sports drink
5 AM: Went to transition Checked front tire had maintained air pressure after Pit Stop Repair, decided to ride it vice swap it.
6 AM: Took pre race pictures with Alex Cuellar (friend of family fighting a brain tumor) and his family, good MOJO seeing them here and Alex looking healthy. Kissed the girls and headed to swim area. Ate powerbar.
6:45 AM: Gel and Water
SWIM: 1:13:58
This being my first Ironman distance race, my mantra for the day was, “Slow Swim, Slow Bike, Run Fresh.” In my cold water half iron experience at the Boise 70.3 I realized that I was often breathing hard and excited and even got a right calf cramp about 1 mile in. This I think I executed well. Water temperature was about 63 degrees so not bad and I jumped in 10 minutes prior to the cannon. I am confident in the water so I chose to line up in the middle and about 20 meters behind the start line 5m behind the main pack. This was my first in water mass start, so that was exciting. Found myself getting angry at some that seemed to kick harder when you were behind them and then reminded myself to calm down and have fun. SLOW SWIM, EFFORTLESS SWIM! After I adopted the mind like water approach I settled into a groove and was happy to come out at 1:13:58 feeling like I hadn’t done anything yet.
T1 9:29
Pretty slow, but walked the transition to stay calm and make sure I did it right. Spent too much time messing with compression socks and nutrition. Could have been faster. SLOW SWIM, SLOW BIKE, RUN FRESH.
Bike 7:10:38
Entire workout (120 watts):
Duration: 6:47:21 (7:10:59)
Work: 2912 kJ
TSS: 254.4 (intensity factor 0.617)
Norm Power: 129
VI: 1.08
Distance: 112.44 mi
Min Max Avg
Power: 0 358 120 watts
Heart Rate: 121 149 137 bpm
Cadence: 31 141 89 rpm
Speed: 0 28.3 16.6 mph
Pace 2:07 0:00 3:37 min/mi
The plan was to base ride off of a very conservative 209 FTP, I lost a lot of fitness by being in the filed with the military 14-28 SEP 12, having a newborn on 8 OCT 12, and starting a new position after promotion. I almost decided not to race, but my wife basically said she would kill me, so again, I owe her. My goal was to ride below the 130 watts prescribed for the entire first lap and to the top of Beeline HWY on lap two and see how I felt.
Lap 1: 2:20: Man, it sure did seem like everyone was passing me, I mean everyone. I kept reminding myself to stay coll and calm. Every time I saw my speed above 15mph and power lower than 130 I kept telling myself MONEY in the BANK, Ride the plan. I did get scared when in the headwind I saw a 13mph, but managed to stay calm. Took three salt stick pills when I felt slight cramp in left tricep. Tail wind when I turned around felt great and brought up speed significantly and I became calm again and not worried it would take all 17 hours. Ate half a power bar at 30 minutes and 1 hour in, then went to powerbar gels every 30 minutes.
Lap 2: 2:21: Slight cramp in calf so took 3 more salt stick tabs and it went away. Had stickers on the top tube for the 14 water bottles I needed to drink on the ride and was executing pretty well. Half a power bar at 4 and 4.5 hours and then started eating power bar gels with caffeine every 30 minutes.
Lap 3: 2:28: Turned around to head back out feeling really good. I picked up 10 minutes on each of the first two laps from what I had planned to do and all below the 130 watt cap I had given myself. Good thing because about 80 miles in POP! And all the Pit Stop go started shooting out on my legs. Stopped and tried another Pit Stop. No dice. Started changing tire and then support crew came by and gave me an aluminum wheel. Darrin, thank you thank you thank you, that tubular would have taken me a while to change. Total time lost about 18 minutes. But because I listened to Rich I had the gas to pick up my effort and ride off about ten of that. I did start to have slight cramp in right calf again on the uphill and all of the dropped salt pills looked glistening white and as large as frisbies so I would be lying if I said I didn’t stop and eat three and my cramp went away.
Might have had too much fluid because stopped to pee 4 times on ride. Started drinking water the last 30 minutes and thinking about the run.
T2 8:24
Again trying to stay calm and easy. Walked transition, changed HR strap and watch, socks, etc. Drank a little water, ate banana and gel and off I went.
Run 4:50:16
1.5 mi 9:50/mi 14.6 mi 11:12/mi
3.1 mi 10:29/mi 15.7 mi 10:27/mi
4.6 mi 10:40/mi 17.3 mi 11:53/mi
5.9 mi 10:28/mi 18.8 mi 10:44/mi
7 mi 9:43/mi 20.4 mi 10:44/mi
8.6 mi 10:09/mi 21.9 mi 11:40/mi
10.1 mi 10:06/mi 23.2 mi 12:47/mi
11.7 mi 10:26/mi 24.3 mi 11:41/mi
13.3 mi 11:13/mi 26.2 mi 14:08/mi
My Suunto T3 kicked the bucket during the last 8 miles so I have no HR or mile splits. Above splits pulled off the tracker. I also had no GPS watch (I was too cheap) so tried to pace by feel. The plan was to run 11 minute miles including the walk and then go to 10:30s after 6 miles. Nutrition plan was to eat a gel every hour and one clif shot block every two miles drinking perform at each aid station.
First mile, a minute to fast so walked a minute instead of 30 steps. Kept trying but really ran b/t 10:30 and 10:40s for next 5 miles. In all, I felt really strong until mile 20 then just slowly fell apart. Watch died so had no visual feedback and started taking water, perform, and broth at aid stations. Not in the plan, not sure why I did it. Then by mile 22 I thought it would be a great idea to drink cola, it tasted good so did it again at 23. That one was NOT de-fizzed and my stomach immediately revolted. At this point, I lost the mental game, body convinced mind that we were way ahead of schedule and we should walk the ills which turned into walking a lot the last two miles. Oh well. Easy to PR when you haven’t done an Ironman before.
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So I made my main goal to finish my first Ironman, I exceeded the 15:30 that I publically committed to by almost two hours, and I really enjoyed the entire vent up to mile 20. I am now hooked on these races and I know I can get under 12 hours by doing 100% of my training versus the 60% I managed to complete with new baby, two year old, new job, and upcoming deployment.
Next up: Run the Boulder Half Marathon April 1st with my wife in 1:45 (9 min PR), and run a Marathon before I deploy next summerin under 4 hours. Ride the hell out of the indoor trainer for the 9 months I am overseas and really work on run speed. When I return in 2014 as a beast, volunteer and support my wife through her first Ironman and the take on Wisconsin.
Comments
Russ - awesome in so many ways, especially the $3200 for the kids. It appears you had a good race, considering you had only 60% of the planned training, and didn't get mentally disrupted at all by the tire problem.
I train with folks @ Ft Lewis (now Joint Base Lewis-McChord) and have seen how much triathlon and an Ironman can be an oasis for them - its great you have a bubble like this when you need it.
Russ - my hat is off to you...anyone who can help protect the nation, manage life with a newborn and a 2 year old, earn a new promotion, keep his wife happy, raise money for a worthy charity, AND train and finish an Ironman is special. Congrats on all you have accomplished in life and sport. Seems like you had a well executed race and learned a few lessons that can help you improve in the future. I look forward to seeing your progress over the next couple of years. Congrats again...You are an Iroman.
A buddy of mine just deployed to Kuwait (Al Jaber) on a 6-monther. He shipped out his Kurt Kinetic and his road bike -- both made it there in about three weeks. Depending on where you are going, I would think about doing the same.
Great work. Good to be out there with you.
When he is done, he is just going to box them up and ship them home.
Joe
PS - he didn't ship either of his good bikes. He sent out an older aluminum road bike. If the gruppo gets trashed b/c of the sand and dust....he doesn't really care. He plans to reward himself with a new bike when he gets back.
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I went to More Than Mail on Russell Pkwy and did regular service for the Bike because it was an odd shaped box. The trainer was Priority. Both were through USPS.
Cost for Bike: $50-60
Cost for Trainer (Due to Priority Shipping): $80
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