Jim Hansen's IM 70.3 World Championships Race Report

jhansen21

With such a long time between my A-race in August and Clearwater in November I had thoughts of maintaining and maybe improving my fitness to really “race” this race. However, those thoughts quickly faded as I had a medical issue (description here --> www.endurancenation.us/en_forums/showthread.php?t=9403) that forced me to back off on the training. As the race approached and the docs still unable to explain why the rhabdomyolysis episodes were happening I was given the go-ahead to enjoy myself for 70.3 miles of swimming, biking and running in Clearwater last weekend as long as I went easy, hydrated well and checked the pee throughout the race.

Swim: smiled & had fun!

I was a little disappointed that the swim was moved from the Gulf side of Clearwater Beach to the harbor side due to some pretty rough conditions on Friday. I also made the decision to pack only my sleeveless wetsuit since the water temps had been in the high 70s prior to the race. On race morning they said the water temp was only 69. Due to space constraints, they did a time trial start by wave. I was wave #9 and actually got in the water 10’ before I was originally supposed to start. I jumped in, immediately found some good feet to follow and just cruised along – a very comfortable and enjoyable swim. The only difficulty was sighting to the first turn buoy since we were swimming directly into the sun. I came out of the water a little less than 2’ slower than my 70.3 swim PR and felt like going around for another loop.



T1: smiled & had fun!

Hit the wetsuit strippers, trotted to my bike gear bag and into the changing tent, porto-potty stop, grabbed my bike and took off.



56 mile Bike: smiled & had fun (and rode “clean”)!

Two goals during the bike: ride an easy/steady effort and represent myself and EN well by staying legal - mission accomplished on both. I rode at about IM effort or lower with 2 porto-potty stops and still set a 70.3 bike course PR by almost 10’ – that’s how ridiculously fast this course is!

I won’t say much about the drafting since we’ve all heard and read how prevalent it is in Clearwater. And I certainly don’t want to defend the cheaters, but I think WTC could do a couple things to lessen the likelihood of the “clean” athletes appearing “dirty”: (1) more time separation between the waves; (2) more enforcement/steeper penalties for blocking; and (3) create wider lanes. I think #3 could be accomplished by a course change since much of the bike course is on busy city streets where they cone-off a narrow lane for the athletes so car traffic can still flow. When someone tries and fails to make a pass (blocker) it creates a huge pile-up since there’s no where to go – just sit up and wait for things to clear up ahead. But it still amazes me how blatant some of these guys and girls are with their drafting!

 

One of the highlights on the bike was as I was crossing a long causeway over water at about the 40 mile point. All 3 lanes were shut down to traffic. The closest cyclists to me were about ¼ mile in front and behind. As I’m cruising along with a smile on my face I suddenly see the NBC helicopter hovering off to my right just above bridge-level pointed right at me. We’ll see if the EN kit makes it on the broadcast.

T2: smiled & had fun!

Handed the bike off to a volunteer, trotted to my run gear bag, into the changing tent, porto-potty stop and out.



13.1 mile Run: smiled & had fun!

No goals for the run – just run at a low intensity and enjoy this last leg of the race. Started out very easy for the first few miles, but my calves were very tight and I really wasn’t feeling very smooth at all. I started playing around with my pace thinking that maybe I was pushing too hard so I slowed down – I only felt worse. So I decided to speed it up to about 6:30-6:40 pace…much better. The calf tightness went away and I felt better in general. I think my pace hovered around 6:40-7:00 for the rest of the race. Hit the porto-potty 3 times – everything was looking normal. The crowd coming into the finish was great. I decided to walk the finish chute just to soak it up. A bunch of guys sprinted by me but I didn’t care – that’s not what this day was about for me.

 

Really enjoyed myself during this race. Even better was that I was proud of myself for racing smart (both legally and by being hyper-aware of my body’s signals of stress).

 

I was really impressed by the way the race organizers and volunteers treated the athletes pre- and post-race. Hanging out with Matt & Theresa Ancona throughout the weekend was awesome – great people! The venue at Clearwater Beach and the Hilton was perfect, especially with my 15 month old son in tow – I think he enjoyed this more than I did!



This race capped off an exciting, record-breaking season for me: 5K PR, ½ mary PR, Olympic distance PR, 70.3 PR and 70.3 World Championship qualification. Many thanks to RnP, the entire EN haus and the NIL contingent of EN.

 

On Monday I go in for a muscle biopsy to hopefully get a definitive understanding of what’s causing these random muscle cramping issues so that I can start the OS in January and have another record-setting year in 2010 with IMWI as my sole focus. Being at the IM 70.3 champs has really motivated me to set some lofty goals for 2010, so I’m hoping this medical issue can be resolved completely and quickly.

mancona

Awesome Report, Race and Season Jim!

Theresa and I had a great time hanging out with you guys and it made the whole experience much better for us.

Enjoy some time off and rest while you take care of the medical issues.

Beth_S

Great report! And you have to send the matching tattoo pic on to RnP for forum posting. Totally header worthy.

dhalligan

Jim,

First of all, congrats on getting to Clearwater.  I'm glad you got cleared to do the race.  Good luck with the medical issues.

Dave

mattsull

Congratulations Jim. You had an amazing year!

Larry Gilbert

nice job Jim....and a great cap to your season.

Now go find out what's wrong and get healed....good luck!

Kitboo

Wow! What a great season you've had! Congratulations for all of it. Glad to hear you had good urine output for this race and that you felt well throughout the race. I really hope the muscle biopsy gives you some answers. Rhabdomyolysis be damned!

rpc733

LOVE the pic of the tatoos! Nice job on the race and I too hope you get some answers (and good ones!) to the issues your dealing with.

bmck

Hi Jim,

Great race report, great race, great season! Really like that calf/tattoo picture of you and your son. Glad you enjoyed your trip and congratulations again on qualifying.

Also, if that was not an Aquabike PR at Racine it had to be close! You may have another for your amazing '09 PR list

Hope you are one the mend soon and good luck in 2010

Bill

Paul Hough

Great race Jim.   I hope you figure out your cramping problem.  I cramp in ALL long course triathlons.  I started working with a sports nutritionist in July and my last two 70.3s I only had some light cramping compared to the feeling of muscle-ripping-off-the-bone kind of pain I used to get.  The key was greatly increasing the amount of liquid and sodium I take in during the bike.  I'm supposed to get 48 or more oz per hour and more than 1300 mg of sodium per hour...cause I sweat like there's no tomorrow!   I'm eager to hear the result of your biopsy...might learn something about my own problem.  

IMOO is probably several years down the road for me but it will be a must-do.  I did my first two triathlons in 1980 in Wisconsin then focused on running until I came back to the sport in 2006.  I'm sure you are going to recover and do great there.    r/Paul

HayesSanborn

 Great Season Jim...outstanding and only better things to come!

Gordon Cherwoniak

Jim,

Great race and an outstanding season.  I really like the dual EN calves.  Good luck with the diagnosis.

Gordon