George's 2014 IMMT Race Report
2014 IMMT Race Report – Warning – Be Advised that some of this Material is Graphic and may be Unsuitable for a Younger Audience.
This seems to be the year of Lemony Snicket: A Series of Unfortunate Events which was predicated at least in part by my dumb azz desire last Fall to run a marathon which lead to left foot plantar fasciitis from hell. When I felt better I would go run and the pain just kept coming back. "Needling", ice, and rolling seems to keep me functional enough to complete the long runs for time. For those unfamiliar with “needling” it’s like painful (9/10) acupuncture. The practitioner identifies the appropriate tender point then pokes it with a tiny needle. My bike crash during race rehearsal #2 leaving me with a pretty big road rash made swimming painful. The good news hear was that we were in Grand Cayman so there was plenty of salt water and rum cocktails around to help heal the wounds. I had placed all my checklists in the cloud incase I forgot them, which I did. But neither my iPad nor android would display the EN daily checklists. This would come into play later as I packed my bike and run bags. (Line outs mean these items were planned but did not actually happen)
Overall my nutrition and hydration plan was a significant improvement over both my race rehearsals where I used UCAN, Energy 28 which led to severe abdominal cramping and hyponatremia. I tried UCAN as I had had mild GI discomfort at IMLP and moderate to severe hyponatremia at IMLOU and was looking for improvement. For the race I planned to go back to the eating off the course and used the Core Diet webinar as the nutrition template since I used similar course nutrition for IMLP and IMLOU last year.
We (me, wife and 2 kids) flew into Montreal on Wed. We arrived in Mont Tremblant with enough time to grocery shop at a Wal-Mart on the way. Bike assembly was the first order of business at the hotel.
Thursday I rode Lac Superior, went to registration and the expo in the AM then hung out with family until the Team Dinner.
2 days before the race I had to make a few extra trips to the expo and local bike shops to prepare for a cold rainy race. RaceDay wheels was also on the agenda as they never replied to my emails and the winds of the bike course would prefer 404s or even 808s to my wheelbuilder disc cover. My nutrition plan was:
0700 Scrembled eggs 3 with cherry tomatoes + Banana
0830 3 FF Blueberry Fig Newtons (Fat Free Fig Newtons unavailable)
0900 SBR (Swim) with 1 bottle Perform
1015 Endurox 2 scoops
1030 2% Greek yogurt
1200 BIG Lunch Spinach salad, Chicken, bacon, guacamole on ciabatta bread + French fries
1430 Pretzels (4 oz)
1630 Clif Builder Bar
1900 Large Dinner Lasagna
2100 1/2 Protein Shake
1 day before the race I stayed off my feet and drove the rest of the bike course and part of the run course. I was also able to rent a last minute 404 PT wheel and 404 front wheel from RaceDay Wheels. Later I watched the PreRace Webinar again.
Fuel plan:
0800 BIG Breakfast + 1 bottle Perform
1000 Bagel
1100 Fig Newtons x 4
1200 Pretzels 8 oz (eat all day)
1300 Chicken Pita Wrap
1500 PowerBar
1600 1 bottle Perform
1700 Fig Newtons x 4
1930 Grilled chicken breast Arriabatta chorizo penne pasta
Small pasta bowl
Race morning wake up at 3:15, with breakfast at 3:30 consisting of:
3.5 cups Unsweetened Applesauce
1 banana
1 scoop chocolate peanut butter whey protein
1 bottle Perform drink
Then 1:00 prior to start eat 1 Power Bar. 15 min prior to start eat 1 Power Gel + 8 oz H2O (All I had were Power Gel w/caf so I elected not to preload caffeine, besides I was full from breakfast)
Swim: (1:06:11) This was close to my RR swim of 1:07. Water and air temps (avg 56 deg F), so cold that my toes did not warm up until half way through bike. We started in waves. The 50+ AG (orange caps) were near third from the last wave. Therefore, faster swimmers contended with swimming through several waves leading to more contact during the mid and late stages of the swim. To me this strategy does not make sense. I think waves based upon expected swim time makes would reduce swimmer contact especially when fatigue sets in later in the swim. In fact, as we swam through the blue caps a swimmer grabbed my leg and tried to pull me down. This reminded me of Tim Cronk's race report describing the high degree of contact. I also noticed the water was a little choppier near the middle of the lake which may add to the risk of trouble. My daughter was a volunteer lifeguard and later told me that two participants swam without suits. 2 people also suffered hypothermia and 2 were pulled out for fatigue. Interestingly, the 2 hypothermia swimmers and the nuts swimming without wetsuits were not the same.
T1: (00:10:11) lots of people passed me on the transition run of the about 0.5 mile jog on pavement to the tents. The paved road was smooth but uncarpeted. My left foot PF wondered what happened to the cushioned red carpet that everyone spoke about. The red carpet did not start until we reached the tents. Once in the tent I wasted no time in drying off, donning arm warmers, HRM, socks, helmet, and sunglasses. As I ran to the bikes I noticed that I only had one glove. I asked a volunteer for my bike bag but they took too long so off I went to the bike. This delay probably cost me about 30 secs. As I ran I stowed the glove in a pocket. The bike mount was a little crowded so I took the advice of a volunteer and moved ahead a few paced which avoided the traffic.
Bike: (05:49:00) my main focus on this ride was to follow EN guidance and always be pushing. Patrick had noted on many of my previous IM powertap files that I could make up time by ABP and avoid power drop outs, usually from frequent saddle and crotch adjustment. The first hour was JRA trying to stay around .65 IF. The next 2 hours I kept at about .69 IF. The remainder of the ride was aimed at .7 IF. My final VI was 1.04. IF .757, and TSS: 338.
My Bike nutrition and hydration plan was to add Hourly Salt Sticks to the Core Diet using mainly Power Bar and Power Gels (caf) every 30 min on the bike. Here are the details.
1:15 1/2 Power Bar + 1 salt Stick
1:45 1/2 Power Bar
2:15 Power Bar Gel (Caf) + 1 Salt Stick
2:45 Power Bar Gel (Caf)
3:15 Power Bar Gel (Caf) + 1 Salt Stick
3:45 1/2 Power Bar
4:15 1/2 Power Bar + Salt Stick
4:45 Power Bar Gel (Caf)
5:15 Power Bar Gel (Caf) + Salt Stick (Extra gels were in my special needs bag that I bypassed - then noticed that I did not pack enough extra gels in my pockets and the race course ran out of gels).
5:45 Power Bar Gel (Caf) Power Bar (I had an extra in my Bento Box)
6:15 Power Bar Gel (Caf) + Salt Stick
6:45 Banana + 7 bottles sport drink (total during the ride)
I peed so many times during the first loop of the bike that I knew there was a problem. It seemed as though every time I took a drink of Perform I had to pee. Patrick mentioned in the race briefing that this was not a good sign so I started taking more salt sticks to help retain fluids but that did not seem to help. I'm glad volunteers wear gloves. During the bike my biggest mistake was to skip the bike special needs. All I can recall is I was feeling good and had an obvious lapse in judgment. So, I rode on then thought I could just use the gels at the aid stations. Unfortunately, they ran out of gels.
T2 (00:05:39) first order of business here was to change my socks and i would have changed my shorts had I remembered to put a pair in my bike bag. I strapped on my race belt and fuel belt and set off to the marathon.
RUN: (04:43:54) This was a slow run for me but considering my limited road runs coming into this race I was glad to finish in the daylight. My usual run goal is a 4 hour marathon which would only happen if a miracle occurred at mile 18. My rehearsal goals were to focus on stride and go easy for the first hour then negative split depending on how I felt. PF had not been an issue thus far in the race so I was determined not to push any pace goals until mile 18 and then only if I felt good. I felt encouraged at the beginning of the run and saw that I was under 6 hours for the bike which was little faster than I expected.
I must say that the best part of this event was watching Coach Patrick smoke to run course. I watched him chase the Pro female leaders and had fun thinking of encouraging words for him as he finished the 2 loops before I finish 1.
Back to run nutrition and hydration, my first of many porta potty stops was my first BM of the day. I guess applesauce is not the best thing to clean me out. The nutrition plan called for:
Power Gel (Caf) (1/4 gel during run)
1 Salt Stick every hour
Clif Blocks (made me sick to my stomach)
Clif Blocks (Caf)
Power Gel (Caf)
Power Gel (Caf)
Hydration was Perform at every aid station for the first 2 hours then started to feel nauseous so I tried bananas and coke which settled my tummy until the aid stations ran out coke. My only choices at that point were Perform, pretzels, gummies, ice and ice water, and/or red bull. Perform kept me going to the porta potties to pee and I think feeling a bit nauseas. I have never had red bull in a race but tried a sip. The flavor did not agree with me and did not want to take the chance of making things worse so I alternated aids stations with with pretzels, banana, water, ice and salt pills.
Now I was close to mile 18 and felt reasonably good. My legs were aching a bit but I did not have to slow down and only had to stop for the porta potty. I passed several people walking, especially up hills. Near the finish line I let a younger guy go by so I could get a decent photo at the finish line.
Comments
George...great meeting and racing with you. And thanks for being the EN race captain, well done.
Congrats on finished after your troubles in training. Way to rise to the occasion. Good luck in Maryland. I'll be curious to see how you handle the quick turn around for another IM.
So nice to meet you, your wife and daughters. As a newbie on the team, I am awed by how fast most of you guys are.
I think I may have unlocked the mystery of PF. I had it two years ago during the run up to my first IM in Wisconsin, and it resurfaced in May of this year. I found a chiropractor who specializes in gait analysis. I have medial gluteus asymmetry. I am working on strengthening my right side so my hip will level while I run.
I am still working to unlock the mystery of fueling myself for IM. For the second race I became light headed. In spite of too few bricks and long-ish runs (due to time mismanagement and PF fears), my legs felt great on the run.
Again, congratulations on a great race.
Frank
congrats on getting it done.
great to meet you. and chat.
did you end up ditching the disc wheel? i used my disc because the wind was fine for a disc, to my mind. the front wheel is more the issue there.
did you eat enough in the two days before the race? does not seem to add up to that much calories.
I had similar over peeing and nausea issues. not sure the cause. the top of my list cause is the cold. I needed to dress warmer on the bike. though coach Patrick did fine with mega peeing.
have fun in Maryland. I wish I had the time and schedule to do that.
@Keith, Sorry for not mentioning our "airborne shuffle" together. All we needed was cadence.
@Robin, Yes, I ditched the Wheelbuilder disc for a 404 PT. I'm not good at counting calories but I was definitely stuffed from my Prerace meals.