Timberman Report and a cry for help!!!
Fellow EN'ers, I need some desperate help and your collective knowledge:
Summary: DNF after 1st Loop of Run
Swim: 28:31
Bike: 2:25:37
Run: DNF
Background:
New to EN, Started in Late June. Former competitive swimmer and been doing triathlons on and off since age 12, currently 39 (5’11’ & 189.5lbs). PR at IM is 10:03 (55, 5:19, 3:36) at 2011 IMLP, PR at 70.3 is 4:12 (25, 2:18, 1:26) at 2011 both done around 180 lbs. Former training has been mostly volume based with sporadic intervals. Low volume swimming due to being a former swimmer. Started getting severe cramps in 70.3’s (some Olympics) in 2010. Usually starts in swim, manageable during the bike then hits hard within first 5k of run. In addition, nutrition absorption during racing was steadily declining year over year. This issue culminated in 2012. While riding in top 10 AG OA at IMLP I bonked heavily on the climb back into Lake Placid and ended up unconscious in an ambulance just before the descent at the beginning of the second loop. Power was dead on the whole ride (240’s against an LT of 332w and many 5+ hr rides with NP around 250), just wasn’t processing food. Similar issue happened a few weeks later at USAT AG Olympic Nationals but made it into the run then passed out after a sub par run.
Late in 2012/early 2013 I was diagnosed with Crohn’s disease, I’ve been battling getting that under control since then. Raced once in 2013, the HITS race in NY in late September. Fairly unprepared, but finished the hilly, windy course in 4:58. Minor cramps in swim, managed them on the bike, cramped within first 2 miles of run and death marched it in. I spent most of the off season of 2013 to 2014 starting a new job and moving the family from Burlington, VT to Grantham, NH. I kept training mostly on maintenance mode during that time and started training in earnest on June 1 after we closed on the house in NH. I’ve been steadily building my form and started following EN at week 15 of the advanced HIM on 7/7 culminating in Timberman, then my plan says to follow the advance IM to IMFL.
Timberman Race Plan:
Swim: Line up far left in group since I breathe predominately to the right. Start at a steady to strong pace to separate from most of the group then settle into an ez to steady pace for the whole swim. Treat the swim as an ez warm-up.
Bike: Follow the EN plan against a threshold of 315-320. First 30 min sub 240 as best as possible due to early climbs then settle into 250’s to 260’s. Take in 3 bottles of normal strength First Endurance, 2 sleeves of Clif Shot Bloks, and 1 bottle of Perform from on course for ~1100 kcal.
Run: Run somewhere between Z1 and Z2 by pace against a currently threshold of 6:30/mi. Take in perform at each aid station and 1 shot blok every 2 mi starting at the end of mile 1.
Results:
Swim: Nailed the swim as planned. I swam real mellow focusing on solid sighting and high elbows at the beginning of my catch with little kicking. Stayed right on the buoy line and had minimal contact with my wave or previous waves that I swam through. I came out of the water in 28:31 which is fairly slow for me, but given as ez as I swam I was pretty happy. The big positive is I had no leg cramps, my quads did feel a little crampy but nothing bad.
Bike: Felt ok, but not great from the start. Watts were a little high in the beginning due to the climbs. I had my Garmin splitting every 10 miles. There were a couple of solid climbs from miles 5-15 and again from miles 35 to 50, nothing crazy just good honest efforts
Split Time AP NP IF VI
55.03 2:25 246 261 0.841 1.06
0-10 27:59 263 271 0.873 1.03
10-20 26:11 251 269 0.869 1.07
20-30 23:41 251 258 0.833 1.03
30-40 25:34 244 250 0.805 1.02
40-50 29:35 241 263 0.850 1.09
Last 5 12:36 203 230 0.741 1.13
Peak 1min = 355w, Peak 2min = 329w, Peak 5min = 310w, Peak 20min = 278w
Nutritionally I drank all 3 of my First Endurance bottles and was through my second sleeve of shot bloks by about 2:15 into the ride. Didn’t make it to the bottle of perform, but I did take a pretty big drink from it coming into T2. Beyond the numbers I felt strong on the bike through mile 45, then the last few uphill took it out of me. Rode most of the ride yo-yo'ing back and forth with another guy from my AG. He'd gap me on the climbs then I'd pass him back on the downhills and flats.
Run:
Ran out of T2 hopeful, but realistic. Legs felt a little heavy but about right for a half ironman. Garmin had my pace at just under 7 for the first half mile or so when I could feel the inner quad cramps starting to come on. I immediately dialed back the pace and went through the first mile in 7:16. I walked the first aid station then jogged the second mile. I could feel some sloshy-ness in my stomach so I didn’t take a shot blok as prescribed and jogged the second mile with the inner quad cramps not hitting but could feel them in the background knowing they would hit if I tried to run any faster. The second mile was a 7:44. From that point things started to get much worse. I started feeling pretty nauseated and pretty much stopped all nutrition except for sips of water at the aid stations. I was continuing to mostly jog but the walking stops were happening more often and for longer. Miles 3 & 4 were both around 8:30. Just before the end of mile 4 I started feeling lightheaded and that when the Crohn’s like stomach cramps started in. I fought through those for most of mile 6 and pretty much walked it in from that point to the end of the first lap where I handed my chip in not wanting to risk a trip to the ER.
Summary:
Not the day I was hoping for, especially with IMFL coming up. Here are a few possible causes I’ve come up with:
1. My body is not processing nutrition due to the Crohn’s, swim and/or bike intensity, nutrition composition, or a combination of all of these.
2. I’m racing at too high of an intensity. Maybe I’m swimming above what I’ve been training for and my background is letting me swim faster than I should be and shutting my system down.
3. I allowed myself to ride a little too fast in the first hour then I should have, therefore putting my body in a deficit that I could not recover from.
4. I still haven’t fully understood the impact of my Crohn’s. I’ve just found some research that Crohn’s does affect hydration and electrolyte absorption in athletes and can affect muscle strength. I need to download these and study the potential impact.
It could be a combination of any of these. At this point I’m fairly baffled by this. I have ~28 years of experience in competitive endurance sports and ~25 years in triathlon in one type or another and this is making me question everything I thought I knew. Couple of things I know I need to do both to make it through IMFL and to have any shot and getting my former speed back and hopefully making a run at Kona:
1. I need to improve my body comp, 189 is not going to cut it and I really need to get under 180. Being realistic, if I can lose another 5 lbs by IMFL I’d be pretty happy
2. I need to swim more, 5-8k per week is not going to cut it. As a former swimmer I can dig a pretty deep hole if I’m not smart.
3. I need to build as big a bike engine as possible between now and Nov 1, then use it sparingly in Florida. I have an aggressive position and all the toys(P5, Hed wheels, powertap), with the flat course I can probably target an IF of 0.72 or lower and still have a solid time.
All this being said, I would appreciate any additional insight can the EN brain trust provide? What additional info do you need to help in analysis? I have all my training data in Trainingpeaks...
Comments
• In your teens, twenties, and early 30s, you can get away with stuff which you can't anymore once you reach 37 or so;
• The longer the distance, the more important pace and nutrition becomes - it's probably a geometrical, not a linear increase in importance;
• The majority of problems in the run are a result of improper pacing in the first 15-20% of the bike leg; most of the rest are due to improper pacing in the first 3 miles of an HIM run; nutrition ranks a somewhat distant third, with decreasing inportance as the distances get shorter.
So, "if I were you" ...
• 5-8,000 of swimming is probably OK for *you* (capable of a 55 min IM swim) going into an HIM - your swim did not impact your run at all. If you want to gain a minute or two in an IM, then you might have to double your swimming volume. Probably not worth the time/effort ROI.
• The first 10 miles of the bike leg should be the LOWEST, not the highest IF, as it was in your case. A good overall IF would have been 0.85; drop that by 10% (0.78 +/-) to get your starting IF, then build from there, with the highest in the last ten miles.
• Your run pace was probably OK to start given your VDOT, but you never had a chance since you overcooked the early bike.
As you note, improved body composition (our euphemism for getting leaner/lighter) WILL make a difference. And gaining a good understanding of the impact of Chrohn's on athletic performance will of course help.
The good news is, you start from a very good place to become a very successful HIM/IM competitor, with a strong biking engine, with the ability to ride steady, outstanding swimming, and fairly fast as a runner.
Regarding nutrition, given your speed and intensity, I think you're doing way too many calories. Even at 186lb taking in 1100 cal on a half iron bike seems huge.
Hard to say if you overcooked the bike. I get Al's point and the numbers say one thing, but if you're a strong cyclist at the half iron distance then you can pull off a positive-split (power) bike. That said, how you felt coming off the bike would be a good indicator of if you overcooked it.
Your point on overcooking the swim relative to your training is possibly very relevant. There used to be a guy in EN named Aleks. Strong swimmer, actually he did an ironman this year and swam 60'. But in the half iron he always overcooked the swim and screwed himself for the run. In one race he deliberately went super-easy in the swim and set a big PR by having an awesome run.
On the quad cramps, try a sodium loading protocol. I wrote a post about this a while back. Or it was in my Racine 2012 race report.
Look forward to a great race from you in FL...
To both Al & Matt, I looked back over my power file again and I think I did overcook the first 40 mins of the bike by about 20w on Pave, but more specifically I remember seeing 300+ quite a bit on the early climbs. Back in 2010 to 2011 I use to be able to push those kind of watts on the climbs when my 20 min power was around 350, probably not back to that point yet. I'm doing my threshold intervals in the 305-315 range right now and they are pretty taxing. In the end I need to ride based on the fitness I have now not where I was.
I've got about 10 weeks to IMFL, therefore about 8 weeks of work so maybe 10 long rides to work this stuff out.
So here's my altered plan for getting to IMFL, your thoughts would be appreaciated:
1. Extend a couple of my swims each week to the 5-6k range. No increase in frequency, just make the swims I do a little more race specific.
2. Switch my fueling plan to alternating bottles between EFS at half strength, but high sodium with Perform. So bottles 1, 3, & 5 half strength, heavy sodium EFS, bottles 2, 4, & 6 Peform from on course. I will practice this starting this weekend. Still going to shoot for one sleeve of shot bloks per hour to 75 min, may replace one sleeve of shot bloks with a bonk breaker to get a little solid food in me during the race.
3. Switch from my current full aero helmet (LG Rocket with visor) to a Specialized Evade. Given IMFL will be warmer than NH, erroring on the side of staying cooler is probably smart on my first IM back in a few season.
4. Keep loosing weight...
As for the helmet, I suggest full aero.