IM Race Report
IM Texas and First IM
Swim: 1:00. Most people, like the pros, seemed to be lining up next to the right yellow start marker. This was probably the shortest distance between the start and the red turn around marker. I decided to start close to the left yellow marker to avoid most of the swim mosh pit. I was able to avoid the craziness at the start but still found myself running into and having to go around people throughout the entire race. due to poor visibility you didn't know you were about to run into someone until you hit them. Try to go around and you would run into someone else. About 1/2 way through the return portion, I found myself zoning out. Thought the canal would never come.
T1: 3:38, uneventful. Had to have one of the volunteers unzip my speed suit.
Bike: 5:39. I only have lap average watts, speed and time as my Garmin 500 disc is in my TBT bag. So unfortunately, i am unable to download data. figured it would use the same software as my Garmin 310xt. Each lap is 5 miles auto stop is off. Wanted real time data.
Lap 1: Watts: 190 Speed: 22.4 Time: 13:23
Lap 2: Watts: 185 Speed: 22.5 Time: 13:20
Lap 3: Watts: 187 Speed: 23.0 Time: 13:00
Lap 4: Watts: 185 Speed: 22.0 time: 13:37
Lap 5: Watts: 176: Speed: 21.4 time: 14:0
Lap 6: Watts: 171: Speed: 23 Time: 13:04
Lap7: Watts: 185: Speed: 21.3 Time: 14:07
Lap 8: Watts: 170 Speed: 21.4 Time: 14:00
Lap 9: Watts: 160 Speed: 20.8 Time: 14:26
Lap 10: Watts: 176 Speed: 19.2 Time: 15:39
Lap 11: Watts: 175 Speed: 20.3 Time: 14:46
Lap 12: Watts: 174 Speed: 17.8 Time: 16:52
Lap 13: Watts: 159 Speed: 22 Time: 13:36
Lap 14: Watts 132 Speed: 13.1 Time: 22:50 *had to get on and off bike twice to attempt to diagnose and fix mechanical problem. At first thought brakes were rubbing, so adjusted them. Spun wheels and every thing seemed okay. Got back on bike and could still hear something rubbing. Unable to tell by holding bike and spinning wheel, I was forced to turn bike over. Rear tire was rubbing the frame. Not sure how that happened or for how long it was going on.
Lap 15: Watts: 170 Speed: 18.4 Time: 16:16
Lap 16 Watts: 160 Speed: 18.4 Time: 16:22
Lap 17: Watts: 156 Speed: 19.7 Time: 15:14
Lap 18: Watts: 162 Speed: 18.3 Time: 16:21
Lap 19: Watts: 136 Speed: 19.8 Time: 15:10
Lap 20: Watts: 139 Speed: 18.4 Time: 16:17
Lap 21: Watts: 135 Speed: 19.1 Time: 15:42
Lap 22: Watts: 134 Speed: 18.5 Time: 16:12
Over the course of the bike could feel my left knee tightening up. By about the 16 lap, pain began to surface on the down stroke and by Lap 19 it was done. In stead of bailing, I decided to keep the power low and not push it. I was beginning to wonder and worry how it was going to hold up during the run.
got off the bike two additional times to pee and to get a water bottle. Evidently the person in front of me was unable to grab them as I watched the bottles fall to the ground. Consequently, I had to stop and grab or go without. Figured hydration was more important so I stopped.
T2: 6:01. Uneventful. Just took longer because i had to massage out the side of knee.
Run: 4:14 Garmin 310 xt doesn't seem to have any of my data. Will investigate that later. Any ways. Started out on the run kind of conservative until I could test the knee. fortunately the knee felt a little tight but no pain. Given that I had 24-25 miles ahead of me, I decided not to push it to hard. I didn't want the knee to act up, it was fricking hot, and I really wanted to finish. Didn't want to have to wait another year before I could call myself an Ironman.
Walked every aid station. Yes, sometimes longer then 30 steps and yes even took the time on one occassion to stretch the hammies and hip flexors.
Had to stop and pee twice. Really wasn't in the mood to pee myself. Stopped to try to go poop once. turned out to be a false alarm but really annoying because the port a johns are hot and it really sucks trying to get a one piece tri suit on and off when your hot and sweaty Had to walk about 1/2 mile due to side stitch.
All in all a really hard but fun day because in the end I got to cross that finish line and hear those famous words.
Comments
Great race for your first-time.
Joanna
Technical question: What was your FTP in w/kg going into the race? Just trying to get a sense for power/weight/speed relationships.
Congrats
John
John...congrats on your IM maiden voyage!...it was great to meet you and can tell you have faster times ahead! Cheers...c'ya in TX 2014
Was wondering whether you planned to take it easy for the first 90 mins of the bike (IF=0.65)?
Now we need to see if we can get some of us NOVA folks together for a little small ring social ride one of the next weekends. I think a few of us are in 'transition' mode between big builds right now.
John - glad you got to hear those magic words. Now it's time to get serious about meeting your potential. You can go faster - a LOT faster - given the right approach to pacing and a more forgiving day, temp wise. Here is what I hope you'll take as some food for thought.
Swim - you are an elite AG swimmer, meaning with a wet suit and the right approach, you can go 53-55 minutes. You should be lining up on the buoy line in the front row, and prepared to swim fairly hard for the first 2-300 meters, then find a good (small) group of like-minded swimmers whom you can draft off of. You should NOT be over on the opposite end, trying to fight your way through all the folks you did this time.
Bike - you've got it right when you say you need to learn to race with power. Peter gently asked about your plans for the first 60-90 minutes on the bike. It's really quite simple - pace those first 20-30 miles on the bike properly, and the rest of the day will fall into line. What was your final Race Rehearsal like in terms of your ability to hold 190 for the final 4 hours?
Run - without lap data, it's tough to analyze, but first priority is getting your bike pacing ironed out. That makes the running so much easier. The fact that you ran 4:14 in 90+ temps after a bike which may not have been ideal indicates on with a course where the temp is 70F the potential for your run way way sub 4:00.
Figuring out how to maximize your potential in an IM is a very complicated 3-D chess match with yourself. You've got the goods, if you want to solve that puzzle, to see a lot of success.
I don't know if you saw this post about using APB rides to practice riding steady?
http://members.endurancenation.us/Forums/tabid/57/afv/post/aff/34/aft/11730/afq/144624/Default.aspx
Al, thank you very much for advice and motivational thoughts. My last race rehearsal was 5:05:xx@ 199 watts with a VI of 1.09
Peter, thanks for that information on riding steady during ABP rides. I hadn't seen that in forums
Al is spot on...1 hour non wetsuit swim is very fast...You get to start up front with the big boys and girls for sure...