IMWI Race Report - Mary Larson
Ironman Wisconsin 2013 Race Report – Mary Larson
This race was incredibly fun for me. I wanted to enjoy the experience this time around, because I didn’t in 2011 for reasons I will explain. The day was perfect, cloudy and cooler then the past few days in Madison had been. The volunteers and spectators made the day perfect. I apologize in advance for the lengthy report but this will be my first report and I welcome any and all feedback.
History
2013 IMMOO is my second attempt at the IM distance. 2011 was my first IM and I was still learning. I learned that I cannot tolerate caffeine after my only can of Dt. Coke in the morning. i.e. no Mexican coke on the course (but it tasted so good and cold) and no gels with caffeine. I also learned that you need to put your run nutrition in your T2 bag and not in your morning clothes bag. Needless to say, I walked about ½ the marathon. Here are my times from 2011:
Swim 1:31:42, T1 14:08, Bike 7:23:34, T2 10:38, Run 6:32:15 = 15:52:15
In 2012 I did one 70.3, an Olympic, Ragnar Madison to Chicago, Horrible Hilly Hundreds, Door county fall 50 mile relay, North Face endurance challenge 50K really and a bunch of other fun events. 2012 was a very hot summer for training. My sister Sue Chapman and I volunteered and signed up in 2012 to do IMMOO 2013 again.
In Feb. 2013, I met up with friends and raced the New Orleans half marathon; it was there that I developed tendonitis in my left hip. I worked diligently on my exercised to get my gluts to fire so really did not spent much time with running anything over a 12 minute mile. I learned to up my cadence but am still incredibly slow. I also worked hard to join the 200 watt club but was just shy of the mark. I only swam twice a week and my runs were all at one speed and the longest run was 13 miles. I imagine I probably missed about 20% of my workouts.
During the EN training camp in July, I had an episode of SIPE. On Sunday during the swim, my arms got very heavy and I was unable to get a full breath. I was in denial about what was happening but being a nurse, I knew. I decided I was just tired from riding approximately 250 miles and running 10 miles over the training weekend. I attempted to run the course after the swim but was unable to run more than a few steps. I decided to SAG for the others out on the course. It took several days before I felt better. A few days later I did an OWS and developed the same symptoms. This time I went to the ER and the diagnosis was confirmed. I have had allergic asthma for about 25 years but have had not symptoms and used no meds for the past five years other than occasional albuterol and allergy meds 1-2 x/year, My asthma flared after this episode so that I had symptoms that would not go away, I was put on ventolin, advair, antihistamine’s, and prednisone on a taper dose about 3 weeks prior to IM. I talked to several in the Haus that had also experienced these symptoms and identified ways to manage the condition, so hopefully it would not happen again. I switched to a sleeveless wetsuit (Roka) that has a buoyancy and stability only to a center strip of the suit in the chest, decreasing compression over all in the chest area. I did not hydrate the morning of the race (more on that later), learned to float on my back to decrease hydrostatic pressure and swam at a slow easy pace. Sue was my rock and watched out for me and was patient and swam just about every OWS with me to help with my anxiety. I was able to complete the MOWS 2.4 mile swim at the beginning of August without any issues and a bunch of OWS of varying lengths.
Stats: VDOT ? but can run 11:30-12:00 all day, FTP 189, weight 161, (too much), Bike – Cervelo P2 with new 155 crank arms, 11-28 cassette.
Pre-Race
I was able to host another team member at my home on Tuesday night. Sue and I registered on Thursday and then went to the EN dinner. I was really fun to meet everyone and relax. Friday was spent at the athlete dinner and then State Street for Ice Cream then home to bed by 9:30. Sat. slept in and checked in bike and gear bags. Then went to the farmers market and out to lunch, back to transition to let some air out of our tired due to the heat, then home to relax. It was hot and humid on Sat. and I took care to get extra fluids in during the day but most likely fell short. Salmon and baked potato for dinner and bed by 9:00 am.
Race Morning
I woke up at 4AM and took 2 cups of applesauce and an English muffin with PB&J, about 500 calories. Left home about 4:45 and found parking without any waiting. Dropped off our SN bags and walked to transition. Weather was 64 in the morning with a high of 75 and cloudy all day. Got body marked, pumped my tires, put my nutrition and water on the bike, put on Joule and put salt, tums and extra gels in my bento box, and headed into the convention center to put my head right and chill. I had put Rise and Shine on my IPod and spent some time listing to the motivational speech telling me I needed to listed to “that lone voice of descent telling me I was ready and I was prepared”. After listening to this, I was ready to go, pull on my wetsuit to my waist and headed to the water. We took Rich’s super-secret stairway, gave my daughter a big hug and headed to the boat launch.
Swim
I entered the water around 6:50. I think I heard the water was about 74 degrees and had some chop but not as bad as the chop was swam in on Thursday morning so I felt OK. We positioned ourselves to the left of the ski ramp and slightly back. There was no one behind us probably because there was a motor boat about 25 yards behind us. I floated on my back while waiting. I expected about a 1:30 swim, my plan was to just to an easy swim with no pushing. Sue and I started together but I though she got ahead of me, turns out it was someone else, so I just started to swim. I moved toward the buoy line with the intention of either swimming inside the buoy or just to the right. There was quite a bit of fray that I was unable to get free of until the turn at the first buoy. I settled into a nice comfortable pace. Sighting along the back was difficult so I switched to siting less frequently and just followed the buoys. On the way back in, I was completely clear of everyone until this big dude swim right over me and kicked me in the calf, which immediately cramped. I flexed it out and it went away quickly. I had no idea of time as I decided not to wear a watch during the swim.
SWIM – 1:29:58 Goal was just to get out of the swim with out any pulmonary issues.
T1
15:03
Got my wetsuit stripped, and walked up the helix. Grabbed my bag and had to make a complete change because I decided to wear a swim suit than a more constrictive sports bra. I also took the time to drink a 20 oz bottle of Gatorade and eat ½ a banana because I had not taken in any fluids since I woke up.
Bike: My plan was to ride the first 30’- 45’ @ 123-130 watts with a max on the hills of 140. My Nutrition plan was to start with my concentrated Infinite and sips of water starting at 20 minutes, take a salt tab and 2 tums every hour and a non-caffeinated PB gel every 2 hours. This year I was not bothered by being passed and just stayed in my box. I saw so many people power up the hills just to coast down I felt like I knew a secret and I was not going to share. At each aid station, I took a water bottle for my profile design. I had put pieces of a granola bar in my bento box, thinking I could snack on it for a change of pace but still found that I just don’t like to take solid food while I am riding. Stopped at SN to pick up my frozen bottle of Infinite and to put on more Chamis butter. During the entire ride, I had two 24 oz. bottles of Infinit (700 calories /bottle) and 6 bottles of water. 6 salt stix and 12 tums I was getting concerned because I did not need to pee during the ride and tried to up my water intake.
It was great to see my friends out on the course and to ride with Rachel and Brenda, before they blew by me. Seeing the EN team on the hill was a great motivator. I felt like I was riding well and it felt easy getting up the hills on both loops, must be the new crank arms.
Actual – 6:56:26, 148 NP, average watts 129, FTP 164, IF 0.902, TSS 561.9
T2: Got off the bike and found my bag quickly. All volunteers were busy so I was on my own. I sponged off with a wet towel I brought and changed to running shorts and EN Tri top, shoes and changed socks I decided not to run with my Garmin because my goal was just to run the whole marathon. I was concerned about not peeing on the bike so went down to the end of the hall to use the regular bathroom to see what color my pee was. It was fairly dark but I have seen worse, but I knew that I needed to try to take in more fluids then I normally would.
Actual – 11:14.
Run:
I was feeling pretty good at the run start and was just plodding along having no idea of my pace but pretty sure I was at about 12:30. I worked on keeping good form and a cadence around 85.
My nutrition plan included taking a PB gel about every 5 miles, along with a salt stix and 2 tums and some water.
At each aid station, I took 1 cup some sort of fluid and ice to mix it with and maybe an orange slice. I walked at each station, until I was done with the fluid and then started to run again.
I was passed plenty in the beginning of the run but near the end everyone around me was walking and I was still running and was elated! I know I passed a lot of people. I had no idea of the time but was about 6 miles from the finish and someone said it was 8:45 so as long I kept moving, I knew I would PR. By this time my hips/pelvis were really stiff but equally stiff on both side.
I got a hugh mojo boost from the EN tent on the top of State Street and at Coopers Tavern as I ran to the finish. I really enjoyed waving to the other EN teammates as we passed each other.
My friend Sheri and EN member Al Schlebecker caught me. It was great to have people I know catch me and take care of me.
Actual 6:04:57, Total time 14:57:48, PR of 57 minutes.
Final Thoughts/Takeaways
I had a great race and so much fun this year. 2 years has made big improvement in my biking, but I need to work on body composition and getting faster on the run and remaining injury free.
Relentless forward progression was the motto of the day, keeping in my box and controlling only what I could control.
It took several days to get back to being fully hydrated.
Read my powermeter book so I know what all these numbers really mean.
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