Chesapeakeman Race Report- John Kitchen
Week leading up to race felt pretty good and strong, had a slight cold but nothing to worry about. Showed up at the race on Friday morning, checked in and took bike to transition. Rested the remainder of day. Family joined me later that evening. Went to bed between 8:30 and 9:00. Hydrated and ate as per plan. Slept horribly. Woke up at 11:20 and laid awake until about 12:40 or so. Ended up having to take a melatonin pill to fall back to sleep. woke up at 3:15. Breakfast was the core diet plan 3 cups of AS, whey protein, banana and perform, plus two cups of coffee. Grabbed bags and off to the race. Arrived at race site with plenty of time to take care of everything. Felt really good and ready. Felt better than I did for Texas
Swim: During the build for this race swam minimal amounts 1-2 times per week. Goal time sub 60. Actual: 58:xx. Water temp was 69 degrees so opted to go full suit. This was the first time using a full suit. Started off up front and took off. Had a really strong start and settled into rhythm. Could feel the resistance of the wetsuit on my shoulders so adjusted technique and decreased arm cadence. Settled into swim and found some swimmers to draft off. Cool thing about having a swim only race going on at same time is can use those guys to draft. Over all pleased with swim. Think I was second out of the water.
T1: uneventful
Bike: Goal sub 5:30 actual 5:13: xx. Goal for the race was to keep power between 196 and 200. Actual: 192 watts had to do the math myself. Forgot to turn off Garmin so recorded two hours of additional time. Don't have an exact VI but was never above 1.02 on my laps. Most were between 1 and 1.01. Beginning of the race felt good. Data each lap is 5 miles
Lap1: Power 199 (1.01), HR 154, RPM 94, speed 22 Lap2: Power 195 (1), HR 152, RPM 96, Speed 23.7
Lap3: Power 202 (1.01), HR 151, 99, 21.8 Lap4: Power 202 (1.01). HR 150, 97, 20.6
Lap5: 197 (1.01), 145, 97, 21.4 Lap6: 192 (1.01), 146, 92, 22.1
Lap7: 197 (1), 146, 96, 20.9 Lap8: 199 (1.01), 146, 92, 20
Lap9: 198 (1), 145, 90, 20.2 Lap10: 193 (1.01), 145, 88, 20.4
Lap11: 189 (1.01), 147, 93, 22.3 Lap12: 185 (1.02), 146, 92, 23.4
Lap13: 187 (1), 148, 96, 25.3 Lap14: 197 (?), 149, 93, 20.4
Lap15: 185(1.02), 146, 90, 21 Lap16: 185(1.01), 146, 90, ?
Lap17: 181 (1.02), 143, 85, 18.1 Lap18: 178 (1.01), 140, 90, 18.9
Lap19: 175(1.02), 140, 95, 19.5 Lap20: 170(1.02), 140, 22.7
After Lap 20 PM died.
Notes from Bike: About Lap 15 is were things start to go south. Power dropped, VI increased and Heart rate was dropping. All signs that my body needed to slow down. In addition, I had a very difficult time staying comfortable on the bike. My Gluteal muscles were on fire by about mile 60-70. Had to constantly stand up especially from about mile 80 on. Wasn't a seat issue but more of a muscle issue. I have muscular trigger points in my gluteal muscles that need addressing. Nutrition: upon reflection was about 3-4 bottles short. After a while my body did not want to drink anymore Gatorade. Stomach was acting up and was getting a heaviness in throat.
T2: uneventful
Run: Wheels on the bus started to fall off. Started the run feeling better than expected as usual had to slow down and stay within desired pace. Walked 30 steps every aid station. By about mile 2-3 stomach started acting up and had to take a b line for the porta potty. Same thing happened again between mile 7-8. Pace was beginning to slow drastically followed by nausea and dizziness. tried walking and hydrating but couldn't tolerate gatorade so my choice was water. Dizziness and nausea increased even with walking so decided to call it a day before a bad situation became much worse.
Lap 1: 8:18, 145 bpm, Lap2: 8:28, 144. Lap3: 8:57, 141, Lap4: 8:40, 144. Lap5: 8:30, 144. Lap6: 8:44, 144. Lap7: 8:55, 143.
Lap8: 8:45, 142. Lap9: 8:44, 141. Lap10: 9:18, 142. Lap11: 12:10, 130, Lap12: 20:52, 98.
Notes:
From now on I will only do Ironman branded races or much bigger events Support much greater at these events. Three times on the bike started to go the wrong way because people directing traffic were not helping. Had to stop and turn around On the run between mile 2-4 there was one aid station with food and I had to ask for it and wait while she dug it out of the box. none of the other appeared to have any. Second lap same aid station had much more but by then it was to late. race over and done.
Comments
Sorry the race went south on you. It does look like nutrition was an issue on the bike, and that loosened the bolts for the wheels coming off on the run. Did you do gels and or caffeine on the bike? I see that HR drop and I think calories and caffeine, but that's monday morning quarterbacking on my part. Sooooo many things can go wrong at these ultra distances, and they can start quietly and sneak up on you, before you realize it.
You've had an awe inspiring year of progress, its been motivating to the rest of us! So keep that in perspective, and take a well deserved break.
Sorry to hear how it all went down, but Happy for you that you made the right decision to pull the plug after trying to fix the situation and it was not working out.
Do you think that If you were 3-4 bottles below scheduled, about how many calories & sodium do you think that put you behind? Do you think the cooler temps on race day impacted how much you drank vs. what was planned?
Rest up, I know you will be back at it before to long and will be out there killing it.
1. Don't miss RR. This is your opportunity to practice hydration/ nutrition while going race distance at race pace. Even if you have a plan it needs to be practiced. I missed both RR.
2. Place food in special needs bags, you never know when it may come in handy.
I haven't written my report yet, but the more I think about it, the more i'm convinced the wind played a factor in my hydration and I suspect it impacted you as well. I felt like I was getting dehydrated by the wind if that makes sense. by mile 80 I was feeling behind and really had to focus on playing catch up even though I was drinking 40oz an hour leading up to that point. As soon as I started running I started taking extra salt, but that was only to survive and not to run to my ability. the damage was already done, I was only running 10s when I wanted much more.
Rest up and get ready for the OS.
So should have just forced yourself to eat and drink more on the bike? Or something off with body causing true intolerance? Or time to look at non perform options? I seem to remember similar issues with your practice in the texas leadup. Just need to get in 60 oz per hour of perform for hot race practice, and all your long rides? Just need to push the perform in to the point of urping as i believe coach P discusses somewhere regarding his personal experience?
Note the question marks. Just things to conssider.
Despite DNF, I'm still pleased with the progress I have made. I think there is definitely more room for both physical and mental growth.
hell of an effort. your swim is ridonkulous.
i was there, too, doing the aquabike and i fear i would have had a similar outcome as you if i did the ultra. i rode at .695 IF but if i had to run afterwards i could not have done it. looking back, i think my issue was poor swim prep (not your problem!) and nutrition. like you i had 2 powerbars in my jersey and i ate 1 1/3. i had 5 gels and i ate 4. i think i took between 5.5 and 6.5 bottles of drink and i probably should have had 8-10. thing is, i couldn't stand another drop of that crap!
anyway, i feel your pain and really respect your effort and your attitude in looking at the race objectively in hindsight. cheers to a great offseason.
greg
John ... I've had two races in which I gave up the ghost on the run @ about mile six, and pulled the plug @ mile 10 or 13. Each time I made the classic EN proscribed error of biking too hard during the first 1.5 hours. Details and reasons for this were different in each race, but the actual excess work did not seem like too much. E.G, in one race, I went @ HIM pace for about 15-20 minutes @ about mile 25-30. The other race (Lake Tahoe last week), I did an initial 300' hill for 6 minutes @ HIM pace, followed by playing in a drafting pack for 12 minutes @ HIM pace. Overall, the first 1.5 hours were done @ 0.71 IF - doesn't seem like a lot over my goal of 0.65, but the results were devastating.
Looking at your first four laps on the bike, you seem to have made the same error. It doesn't seem like much at the time, it feels great to be cruising along like that , and you'd think you'd have enough matches left for the run. But, we're both a testatment to the value of holding back during the first 20-30 miles of an IM bike, holding back much more than it seems like you should.
Some courses are more forgiving of this sort of behavior than others. For your, The wind, need to keep a constant aero position, along with the monochromatic nature of your calories on the bike (all Gartorade), as well as the dearth of fellow competitors, probably all were additional factors leading to the breakdown.