texas 2013. robin sarner
Robin Sarner. Ironman Texas May 2013. 10:48. 16th for age group. 47 yo.
So had a good 2012 considering too many Irons. 7 minutes from rolldown at Tremblant. The main goal moving into the future is to make the Show. Gets harder and harder as time moves on, as we know, with fewer slots and stronger competition. The potential may be there for me. Trying to learn and develop as time goes on.
Texas would be my eight start and eight finish, if successful. Mom/sister/niece there to support. Great volunteers for the race. Swim course interesting. Good bike and run courses. Some aspects, I think, fairly poorly done (expo/swim start/transition fairly far apart from each other, parts of bike course – very poor separation from car traffic and some police doing a poor job at intersections (scary), poor area at the finish to sit/get legs up/drink/eat/be in shade – could have saved a lot on IVs if Ironman had provided a recovery area of adequate size with adequate food and drink.)
Lead up:
Generally good 10 weeks of training leading up. Took down days as needed for illnesses, bike weeks recovery, etc. One week before, 48 hour stomach flu syndrome. Vomiting, etc. Thought I was fully recovered for the race but now not so sure, as below. Got to race early. No problems with pre-race stuff. Best sleep so far the night before. Nerves pretty good the morning of.
Swim:
Fine mostly. Too cold because lower end of the no-wetsuit range. Typical scrum crap the beginning. Water slapped into mouth. Short panic. Wasted time swimming wide to get out of the mess. But, unique to this race, I accelerated the last two thirds passing folks. In the three years, wetsuit swims for 59-65 minutes for me. This swim was no wetsuit. So maximum goal of 70 minutes. I did that.
T1: 3:00 Don’t think I could have done it much faster.
Bike:
Five weeks before the race I did a big bike week Kona side. 381 miles all at greater than .7. So I think the ftp of 330 and plan to cycle 230 watts (.7) to start and maybe work up towards 250(.75) was solid. I am 6-6 180-185 pounds. Setup good now with aeroness. I love the freedom of my new Giro Air Attack helmet. I still have the disadvantage of more surface area with the long legs.
Goal time close to five hours. Arizona 2012 5:15. Actual this race 5:25.
Raced a fast 40 miles per plan with perceived effort being low but a weirdly high heart around 150. In retrospect I probably should have paid attention to that more. Came to 56 miles still at about goal watts and speed. Things went south from there. I don’t have my bike computer back yet, but power gradually declined to being able to barely hold 180 watts. I have a well refined and successful nutrition and hydration plan that has worked well the last three races. 40 oz of perform every hour along with 200 cals of bars or gels.
In all previous races I pee like every 15 minutes. A lot. So I thought going for the two pees on the bike would be ok. I barely peed once on the bike this race. Had good pre-race hydration. The one pee on the run looked like Coke. So I am guessing that dehydration was the big problem of the day for me. Maybe my gut was not fully recovered from the week before. And I did not drink enough. In the last half of the bike, I tried to get in more Perform than planned. Hard to do. And some water. For future very hot races, I am guessing I need to up the Perform and decrease the bars/gels because of the extra calories from the Perform. And be more liberal with the free water.
So anyhow, felt quite bad the last quarter of the bike and nursed it in. Back and butt were fine. But just generally very uncomfortable with general weakness.
T2: 4:44 Literally burned feet on walkway were bags were. Really inexcusable from the race folks. Matts needed !!!! Had a very slick transition planned. Put on shoes. Grab ziplock back and go. That is it. But physically feeling much worse than previous races. Just dark. And pretty darn sure was not mental problem. Sat down. Did everything in the tent that I was intending to do on the run (putting stuff on). Grabbed waters in the tent. And moved on.
Run:
Two runs of 3:29 last year. Plan of maybe better than that. Actual 4:04. Knew that I was probably done starting the run. Felt close to physical breakdown, passing out, etc. But keep moving. For the first eight miles spent a lot of time at aid stations. For once ate and drank real food. Fruit. Pretzels. Water. At about 2 miles I came up with the plan to drop out at six miles where I would see my family first. Frankly the motivation to keep running at that point was to not worry the family waiting for me. Kona possibility gone. Other motivation? So, I did not see them at six miles (mom/sister/niece). Saw mom by herself a little bit after that. Asked her to join up with the others I needed to talk to them. By the time I got to all three of them around eight miles, I was feeling better. I stopped and talked to them intending to say that was it. “Sorry to not finish but time to stop and save my legs for another day.” But as I am tearfully talking to them, somehow the feeling and the words to continue came out. Motivation? I felt better. I love to run. Had a fun run course ahead. Let’s do it just for the fun of it! Kissed all three. Off I went after quitting. So the next 8-9 miles I zipped along. My first eight miles were like a 10 minute some pace. The middle 8-9 miles were maybe 7:45 pace. Factored in heart rate to get the most out of me. And slowed down some in the last 6-8 miles but appropriate for the previous stuff and the heat index. Chatted to a bunch of the team on the run which was nice.
Summary:
Ironman, like life, perhaps, gives you what you need, not what you expect. Disappointing to miss the goal yet again. A bit of despair over lost opportunities of this race and past races. And worries of finally making it all happen in one race in the future. How long to continue in this selfish endeavor? Etc.
Hopefully lessons learned about adjusting nutrition (fluid) for severe heat (and will probably do official nutrition consult). If I am not peeing a lot on the bike and run (more than most), something is not right. And don’t get sick a week before a race 
And getting a more refined sense of what my heart rate means for the bike (back off and hydrate) and the run.
Feel free to kick in some advice if I overlooked something or if any of my conclusions seem off.
Comments
Nice to see you again. Great points about some improvements they can make.
" The potential may be there for me?" You absolutely have the goods to unlock the puzzle and have it come together!
"How much longer should I continue this selfish endeavor?" Thats easy.... Untill its not fun anymore.
1 week before the race 48hrs of vomiting etc where you lost 10lbs??? Recovered and feeling better ? Maybe ... Recovered 100%? NO ... What your asking of yourself requires 100% specially on a day like 5/18.... This is the most logical explanation to the issues that you had.
Quitting is hard but the more you do it the easier it becomes... I was very concerned about this when I made my decision to quit in Coz... I think its important not to take this decision lightly... For whatever reason you decided to continue , I am happy that you did and it worked out well for you. Congrats on a brutal day!
Tim,
great to see you on the course. You ran pretty fast for someone in a very dark place!
I'm still pondering the nutrition issues too. Drank a bottle of sports drink every 30 minutes or so on the bike and a gel every 30 minutes. One very small pee on bike course, one better one in T2, nothing on the run. My heart rate was totally fine and within range all day which tended to alleviate my impending dehydration stress. Not quite sure what to make of it yet. I realize the same thing happened to 2500 others, but wonder if there is a nutritional secret sauce to help avoid the heat melt down.
Totally agree on the race dispair at times! I race one per year, came in with great fitness, great supporting data and feeling good. Two miles into the run you come to realize for sure that plans are toast and it's a matter of holding on for dear life, hoping everyone around you is going to drop out.
All the best in the future.
Tom
Getting right down to it, I'm assuming the questions you posed were rhetorical, but I'll pretend they aren't. TX sounded like an extremely challenging day even for a southern-based athlete, I don't know how you guys were able to show up on race day with the fitness in the bank for this early of a race coming from what had to be until very recently, a cold and dark winter up in the northern latitudes.
Fitness aspect aside, the heat was another whole level to contend with. Granted, no one can predict the future, I don't think anyone thought it would be *that* hot, but when it comes to race selection, are you a hot weather guy? I can see the little guys like Tim (he can't get offended because he's faster than me) doing well in the heat, but historically the bigger guys tend to struggle a lot more. But everyone is different.
Personally, I'd have a hard time singing up for a race like IMTX if I was in the hunt because I just don't think it suits my strengths. I sweat buckets, need months of heat acclimation, and can't get my sh-t together early season fitness wise.
So I guess I'd defer back to Tim, despite the challenging conditions, I hope it was still an overall positive experience and that you had fun. Given the amount of racing you do, I have to assume you get more out of this than just the hunt for KQ.
And if that really is the #1 goal, then the seemingly obvious thing to point out is that you might do better doing less racing and focusing more on the selection of races that give you the best shot at success.
Of course, given you've already signed up for Whistler that has double slots this year, much better timing, much better climate and maybe better topography for you, the point about course selection is probably redundant.
Robin...great to meet you and great report!....agree with alot of you observations regarding course/organization etc....but I still loved the course. Congrats on working you way through the difficulties and finishing #8!
Just a comment on your ride....I think...as I had similar considerations regarding HR (and learned the hard way at Louisville last year)...the role and importance of HR....consider that in the first 40 miles where your Power was on target but HR was high...because the wind is driving you along...combined with the heat....you were probably working at a higher rate than you planned...add to that the likeliness that you were dehydrated ( a la not pee'ing as normal)...meant by midway you had expended far more physical currency than you had planned or realized.........
Quitting ... coaches say, on race day, honor your training self. He went through all those trainer rides, all those cold dark runs, don't disrespect him by giving up on race day because you didn't meet this or that target. I learned that pre-EN in about my 5th IM - First CDA, when it was 98F, and I just decided, "I've got finisher medals and T-Shirts already, I don't have to abuse myself by running in the heat, when I just don't like it." I felt so bad afterwards, that has been my one and only voluntary DNF. Good on you for respecting the training Robin.
Dehydration ... uh, ye-yah. Cola colored urine 40 miles into the bike? Whatever led to the under intake, either during the days before the race, or during the race, that showed your race was already cooked by the first hour of the bike. Close analysis of power file, HR, fluid intake in the 24 hours prior all may help you figure out how to fix that.
In the end, temperature is the biggest killer, worse than wind, hills, humidity. Finding out how your body deals with that, and how to manage it was the hardest nut for me to crack, and I'm still not sure I've got it when it comes to 90+, except to JUST SLOW DOWN. As to what course to do ... we've all got our favorites, I still think the fitter and more motivated the athlete, the better he'll do, no matter what the course or conditions. Race where/when it fits your life, not because you think it's the ticket to Hawaii.
Thanks all for the thoughtful thoughts.
Tim. Glad I did not quit. Tough decision to make in the moment. Have a great run the rest of your year.
Tom. Personally, for hot races, I guess I will be pre-hydrating a lot better. So maybe I'll see you in Texas next year.
Trevor. The weather up here not really an issue as I prefer the indoor biking. Yes the race selection was tough. Flat bike races for a big man. On the continent only gives tx, florida, az, coz Judging by the last 2/3 of my tx run in impaired condition, I think I could run well there. i'm big but a stretched out big. Might help with heat dissipation? The Whistler bike course will not suite my size but the slots are there. And the less stress of being able to drive to race. Doing the two races this year. 3 months separation. Which has worked really well for me
John. Yes I was looking for you. We could have finished up with some 6:30 miles
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Matt. Yes. And I have been blessed with eight iron starts and eight finishes.
Joe. Yes maybe I could have saved things in the first part of the bike with easing up and doing pure drinking?
Paul. I do enjoy the Ironman. Unfortunately probably need to stick to our continent for now.
Al. Right. Though would have been a harder decision if closer to medical need to stop. Yes I need a different nutrition regimen for a hot hot race but I seem to have other temps sorted. Yes I think my schedule this year fits me well.
Where there's a will there's a way... Dreams are all about the journey, the more challenging the greater the reward... never give up on your dreams!
Look forward to seeing you in Whistler.
Thanks Jay.
No Seattle to Portland this year. Did a couple years ago. Two day version. Good training.