Double Throwdown: Here's What 2 Back-to-Back IM Looks Like
2013 IMLou Race Report
I'll keep this simple. Ironman execution for me usually comes down to nutrition. This is my 5th Iron distance race and most of my troubles have come down to GI (nausea or frequent bowel movements or throwing up) somewhere on the run. There are usually several other minor glitches along the way that are no biggie. But, nutrition can lead to a disaster. So, here's what I did and how it panned out.
First off I just did a PR at IMLP 4 weeks ago. Rich told me “that’s one method” which I take to mean that I am nuts. But, I also went into IMLP with more preparation than ever and have done a similar combo in 2010 with good result. In the interim I did not run for 10 days, did not bike for 2 weeks, and did not swim for 10 days. What I did do is planks, straight let leg raises and other core work from PT. So when it I felt it was time to run I felt strong. I resumed the intermediate taper plan 2 weeks out and used IMLP as my last race rehearsal. Oh, the other thing I did was if my body told me to back off I listened. I think there were a couple of days when my right Achilles said “you better not run today” I replaced the workout with a swim, bike, or core work – usually core work.
At IMLP I noticed we had no race captain at IMLou so I asked Brenda was the captain duties entailed which was only to organize and make sure the Team Race Dinner was paid for. This did not sound like much but I procrastinated anyway. Brenda later emailed me asking for help to I volunteered. Luckily I have a wonderful wife who pinch hitted for me and hit a homerun. She found us a private room where we could hear each other talk and had excellent food. It was a bit pricey but the owner offered to create a tailored menu should be come back next year. So if there is any body listening out there going to IMLou next year the offer is the Lilly’s A Kentucky Bistro. You just need to give the owner a 2 month notice so you can’t procrastinate like me.
3 Days Before The Race: I arrived in Louisville on Thursday evening and arrived at the EN team dinner a few minutes (60&rsquo
late. It was great to meet EN peeps face to face and learn about their backgrounds and significant others.
2 Days Before The Race: Friday was my first opportunity to seen the EN bike course. I had a rented minivan and drove to the out and back and then did 1 loop. The idea to ride loop 1 came from Rich's Race Preview Webinar. It was good experience but took a bit longer than I expected (1:15) so I ran out of time to drive the run course before dinner time.
Day Before The Race: I ate a late brunch because it was hard to find a quick in downtown Louisville breakfast that was ready to serve quickly and that appealed to me. Rich was right about the logistical cost of the practice swim but I had to go down to transition to arrange bike transport with TriBike Transport anyway.
Race Day: I had 2 cups of applesauce, banana, Power Bar, hummus, chia seeds, golden berries and 1 bottle of Power Bar Perform at 0330. The applesauce, banana, Power Bar and sports drink combo is from The Core Diet,. Hummus is my usual prerace preference. Then I packed and went to the race site. I dropped of me Morning Close Bag on arrival and later realized that I had an hour wait before the start. I was chilled and missed the fleece top in my bag. So I wrapped my TYR Torque around my neck like a scarf which helped a little. I also stretched my legs to warm-up. The suit helped even more with warmth once I put it on, something that I should be done earlier. I then realized I could have kept my morning bag until seconds before the start of the swim as volunteers were taking bags as we entered the late stages before the swim. I recall the mandatory race briefing mentioning something about the drop off but I was too busy texting. One day I’ll learn to pay attention in class. For nutrition I had a package of sport beans 15 minutes before the swim start. Taped both feet for plantar fasciitis.
Swim (00:59:30) Just the usual contact around buoys and passing through clusters of swimmers. This was my first race with the TYR Torque suite. During the long wait before the swim I noticed a Columbian (?) athlete with a personal trainer. He glanced at me putting the suite on then reached in his bag and pulled one out. That made me feel the investment was worth it. I could feel the foot tape coming of in the latter half of the swim. This did not alter my stroke and i continued to focus on glide, rotation, pulling from core. No leg cramps at the swim exit today. Pulling the TYR Torque off was a breeze and I did not have to struggle with putting a dry singlet on over a wet body.
|
Split Name |
Distance |
Split Time |
Pace |
Div Rank |
Overall Rank |
Gender Rank |
|
Total |
2.4 mi |
59:30 |
59:30 1:32/100m |
6 |
153 |
121 |
T1 (00:06:39
My plantar fasciitis did not raise it’s ugly head today but my water logged foot tape had come halfway off during the swim. I did not have any foot. Perhaps the daily coke bottle foot massage PT showed me and the abundance of grass in the transition area helped.
Bike (5:49:50) My nutrition and hydration plan was 2 bottles of PBP in the 1st hour then 1 bottle/ hour after that. Plus 1 pack of Cliff Shot per hour. My voiding frequency started like a Chicago fire hydrate but gradually fell to 0 in the last 2 hour s in spite of my which aggressive fluid intake. I knew I was behind on fluids. I started the race with 3 bottles, 1 on the down tube, 1 in the aero bars, and 1 behind the saddle. Early in the bike the bolt on my aero bar cage loosened and made drinking cumbersome. So I lashed the cage down with a rubber band which helped it from falling off but still had difficulty drinking from it. I continued to drink as best I could. After about 4 hours it occurred to me that I could to replace my down tube water bottle with a through away bottle from the next aide station but unfortunately I ran out of aide stations.
My bike performance was also marred with my first and hopefully last draft penalty. I was notified my the official on a crowded section of the course so I was surprised. I felt the penalty was bogus given the NY rush hour crowd of bikes but my legs were starting to ache so I welcomed the opportunity to rest and made some jokes with the penalty box volunteers who were very nice and empathetic. I had planned to further address my aching legs with a caffeine boost from 5 hour energy in my special needs bag. So at 66 miles I took about 3/4 bottle of the stuff. The leg aching went away in about 2 min but came back after an hour with another 20 miles to go. Caffeine could not correct my fluid deficit for long. I then took the remaining 5 hour energy. The last couple of drops of 5 hour energy did not seem to help much. I could barley maintain Z2 watts at this point but could tell I was doing better than most and passed a lot of people who looked spent on the return in the last 20 miles.
|
Split Name |
Distance |
Split Time |
Race Time |
Pace |
Div Rank |
Overall Rank |
Gender Rank |
|
22.5 mi |
22.5 mi |
1:10:41 |
2:16:50 |
19.10 mi/h |
|
|
|
|
38.5 mi |
16 mi |
56:47 |
3:13:37 |
16.91 mi/h |
|
|
|
|
56 mi |
17.5 mi |
57:27 |
4:11:04 |
18.28 mi/h |
|
|
|
|
69.5 mi |
13.5 mi |
39:49 |
4:50:53 |
20.34 mi/h |
|
|
|
|
87 mi |
17.5 mi |
56:50 |
5:47:43 |
18.48 mi/h |
|
|
|
|
112 mi |
25 mi |
1:08:16 |
6:55:59 |
21.97 mi/h |
|
|
|
|
Total |
112.0 mi |
5:49:50 |
6:55:59 |
19.21 mi/h |
17 |
377 |
335 |
T2 (00:09:16) I am prone to saddle sores so the best part of the bike for me is always getting off. And then I get to see of my plantar fasciitis feet will cooperate. Learning a lesson from IMLP I used bilateral foot retaping for which takes a few extra minutes but it feels worth it not to have foot pain like IMLP. Precut tape saved me a minute. I also changed shorts for a relief from the aroma of soaked bike shorts. I forgot to take my take my shoes off first which cost me an extra minute. One day I will actually practice all the steps in an IM transition instead of relying on mental rehearsal.
Run (04:31:32) This was going to be the toughest marathon I have ever run and I knew it as soon as I got off the bike. I was nauseous at the start and ran to the first aid station looking for rehydration with PBP, chicken broth and pretzels. My stomach settled as soon as I sipped chicken broth so I stuck with that for the rest of the race. My original nutrition plan was the same as IMLP - eat real food with salt and potassium, drink PBP for electrolytes, coke and water to wash down the pretzels. So the chicken broth was not too much of a variation from the plan. On other difference in the plan between IMLP and IMLou was to keep the core cool with ice at IMLou.
After getting my stomach to settle down the next 18 or so mile felt comfortable. I was trying to keep an 8:30 to 9:00 pace between aid stations. The usual 30 steps per aid station went out the window from the start because of my GI issues. I did not intend to let a few extra steps keep me from getting more salt and fluids.
It was great to see a few other EN peeps during the run, Crag DiAngelo, Drew Robinson, David Brannon, and J.T. Thompson. J.T.’s brother was also spectating and cheering us on wearing EN colors. I don’t know about anyone else but it feels like I get a couple of hundred joules of energy from high fiving and talking to friends and friends of friends along the race so I usually make a point of speaking to everyone as long as I am able J.
Mile 18 felt like it hit at mile 20 at which point I was moving on fumes and just coasted in to the finish line. My legs were starting to feel like the last of 3 mile interval runs, so there was aching but it was a familiar ache and manageable. This is where my usual mantra of let’s get this #%*# over with and not have to go to the medical tent. The precise internal conversation is much more graphic the details of which are not appropriate for the public. I hope you get the picture. I was able to keep running and passed several people and nobody passed me.
|
Split Name |
Distance |
Split Time |
Race Time |
Pace |
|
|
|
|
2.5 mi |
2.5 mi |
24:28 |
7:29:43 |
9:47/mi |
|
|
|
|
5.5 mi |
3 mi |
32:14 |
8:01:57 |
10:44/mi |
|
|
|
|
7.1 mi |
1.6 mi |
17:39 |
8:19:36 |
11:10/mi |
|
|
|
|
8.8 mi |
1.7 mi |
16:21 |
8:35:57 |
9:37/mi |
|
|
|
|
10 mi |
1.2 mi |
11:10 |
8:47:07 |
9:09/mi |
|
|
|
|
12 mi |
2 mi |
21:55 |
9:09:02 |
10:57/mi |
|
|
|
|
15.1 mi |
3.1 mi |
28:37 |
9:37:39 |
9:21/mi |
|
|
|
|
18 mi |
2.9 mi |
30:15 |
10:07:54 |
10:17/mi |
|
|
|
|
19.6 mi |
1.6 mi |
18:24 |
10:26:18 |
11:25/m |
|
|
|
|
i21.3 mi |
1.6 mi |
19:04 |
10:45:22 |
11:37/m |
|
|
|
|
i22.5 mi |
1.3 mi |
11:47 |
10:57:09 |
9:12/mi |
|
|
|
|
24.6 m |
i2.1 mi |
23:23 |
11:20:32 |
11:17/mi |
|
|
|
|
26.2 mi |
1.6 mi |
16:15 |
11:36:47 |
10:09/mi |
|
|
|
|
Total26.2 mi |
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Comments
now time to heal up and get those feet ready for next season..
great job.