Ed Lang Ironman Boulder Race Report
My first Ironman is in the books and it’s been a great learning experience from the start of training through the completion of the race itself. Doing an Ironman is a process and certainly requires putting in the training work but also requires the support of your family, coaches, friends, co-workers and the thousands of race day volunteers. Before I give my race report I’d like to give special thanks to my wife and two sons (Eddie and Andrew) who supported me throughout and encouraged me to continue pushing on despite some training obstacles. I couldn’t have asked for a better race support crew. I also want to thank Ben Hales, fellow ENer, who encouraged me to join Endurance Nation and also provided a lot of good training and racing advice. Finally, I want to thank coach Patrick and coach Rich for sharing their experiences and developing the training programs that they’ve put together.
We arrived in Boulder late Tuesday evening to a good steady rain that lasted throughout the day on Wednesday but was forecasted to clear up by Thursday. The plan was to just take it easy on Wednesday and then start preparing for the race on Thursday. The only thing I really did on Wednesday was a short 3 mile run in the rain. It was finally nice to run in cool temperatures after months of endless heat and humidity in New Orleans. The one portion of the race I was most apprehensive about was the swim. It wasn’t the swim itself but the effect that altitude might have on me during the swim. My plan was to get at least one swim in before the race either at a local pool or at the Boulder Reservoir before the race to see how my body would react. Fortunately, I found out that the Boulder Masters group had an open water swim at the reservoir every Thursday so I went out there Thursday morning. It was one of the best organized open water swims I’ve been to. I started my swim as if I were starting off the race with a nice easy pace to get my breathing in check. Within the first 400 yards I was pleasantly surprised to find that the altitude did not affect my swim as much as I thought it would. I completed the 1000 meter course and found that my time was around 1:36/100yd which was a lot faster than I anticipated. On Friday I did a bike recon of the first 15 miles of the course and again learned some valuable information about the course. First was that the flats are very deceiving. No matter how flat a road looks in Boulder it seems to be either going uphill or downhill. I was either going 16/17 mph or 25/27 mph in zone 1/2. In New Orleans I can pretty much ride a constant 21-23mph in zone 2 on our flat roads (excluding the effects of strong winds). The recon ride along with the bike course overview that JT and coach Rich gave on our webinar helped enforce that I needed to stay within my power zones (especially on the uphill portions). I further decided that since this was my first Ironman and I was at altitude, that I would back off my watts a little more and stay closer to 65% of FTP. On Saturday we drove the last 25 miles of the course which turned out to be very helpful because there were several areas of the route that you needed to pay close attention to. One particular portion had a long down hill with a hard left in the middle of the hill and then you immediately went into a steep uphill. I had done a run recon on a previous trip to Boulder so I was already familiar with the run course.
Race day started at 3:30am with my normal breakfast of oatmeal, banana, English muffin and water. It was a beautiful morning with temps in the low 60’s and expected to get into the mid 80’s. My only concern about the weather was that it was going to get warm on the run. I can handle hot on the bike but I struggle running in warm weather. I figured that it can’t be any worse than the conditions I’m use to in New Orleans. I arrived at swim start around 5:15 and had plenty of time to finish the bike setup and get ready for the swim. I estimated my swim time at 1:15 so I lined up in the middle of the 1:00-1:15 group. I also stayed on the outside portion (away from the buoys) to try and avoid some of the crowd. As I got going on the swim I started much like I did on the practice swim and within the first 400 yards got into a nice smooth stroke. I focused on my technique throughout the swim and just kept a nice easy pace. I was able to avoid getting stuck in the crowd and while I may have swam a few extra yards I felt very comfortable. When I got out of the water I was pleasantly surprised to see my watch at 1:12. Even better, my breathing was very much under control. Good start to the day.
My transition was long but my goal going into the race was to take my time in transition to make sure that I had what I needed for the next leg and not push it. I knew it was going to be a long day and I didn’t want to screw something up to gain a few extra minutes.
I got on the bike and immediately had a GU and started hydrating. My goal was to take in a GU every half-hour and drink at minimum 24 ounces of fluid per hour. I pretty much stayed on my nutrition goal throughout the bike portion. Once I got through the crowds after the first couple of miles I settled into my aero position and kept a nice zone one pace. Much of the first 10 miles was a slow gradual uphill. A lot of people blew past me during this time but I stayed within my box and stayed on plan. After about mile 20 we started to head away from the mountains so the pace started to pick up and I really started to get into a good groove. I decided that when I hit the special needs area at mile 56 that I would take a quick pee break and reload on GUs, eat a Cliff Bar and refill the water bottles. I probably stopped for about 5 minutes and then quickly got on my way. At this point in the race I began to see that my pacing plan and bike training began to pay off. I began to start passing the people that passed me early in the race and could tell that the people I was passing were struggling as they were getting out of the aero position and laboring up hills. I was able to stay in my aero position throughout the duration and never felt uncomfortable throughout any portion of the bike. I finished the bike in 5:42 which was on target with my goal and more importantly I felt very good going into the run.
Again, another slow transition but I wanted to make sure I was ready to go. In hindsight I didn’t need to take as much time in T2 because I found the aid stations to be well stocked with pretty much everything you needed on the run.
As I headed out on the run I thought, so far so good. The body was feeling good, the swim and bike went as well as expected and I would soon see my family on the run course. The first three miles were just slightly over zone 1+30 seconds but I was ok with this because I knew things would be a little tougher at 5000 feet altitude. The next 3-4 miles were a bit slower but still I was doing ok. Once I hit the hour mark into the run things began to unravel a bit. The heat started to get to me and the effort to maintain my pace started to get a lot harder. Over the next 3-4 miles the pace really started to slow but I kept pushing on. Seeing my family around mile 9 and again at 12 gave me a little extra boost, however, once I got past them I really started dragging. I think around mile 13 I started to walk which really bothered me because, except for my very first marathon, I had never had to walk in a marathon except maybe through some aid stations. At this point in the race I really felt spent and my breathing was very labored. After walking for about a quarter to half a mile I decided that in order to finish this thing right I needed to run, even if it was going to be slow going. I decided that I would run to each aid station and then walk through the aid station taking in fuel at each one. This strategy worked and I began to knock off the miles. I’d run a mile, albeit slowly, walk through the aid station, and then start running again (I even forced myself to run up the hills). Mile after mile I made progress. Finally, I got to mile 23 and saw my family for a third time so this gave me my final boost to get through the last 3 miles. Mile 24 and 25 was mostly an agonizing slow uphill but once I made the turn around and headed down hill the last mile went by very quickly. I ran into the finishing shoot taking in the moment of completing my first Ironman. My run time was 5:07, well off my goal, but overall I felt good about my overall time of 12:19.
My key learnings from this race were:
1. Following a training process is key to developing your underlying conditioning. Work works!
2. Prepare for the things you can control (nutrition, course familiarity, pacing, race day setup and pre-race rest).
3. Stay within your box and execute YOUR plan.
Comments
Ed - strong work getting back on the horse during the second half of the marathon. Your swim and bike seemed well paced. I wonder about a couple of things:
Continuing to run even when you clearly felt you were ready to cal it a day shows strong training and stronger will. Congrats on getting your first one done.
Congratulations, Ed. Too bad i didn't get a chance to meet you in Boulder. That was a nice swim especially coming from sea level. For me altitude gets me on the swim and less so on the bike and the run. Just curious, you said you planned to ride at 65% of FTP, what IF did you end up biking? Al's right about hydration. Drink, and when you think you drank enough, drink some more, especially on the bike before you even get to the run. Again, many congrats on your finish!