Tawas HIM-race
Sept 6 2014
Tawas HIM - 7:06:57
Swim: 50:21, T1 6:32, Bike: 3:07:38, 17.9 average, T2 6:05,
Run 2:56:24, 13:28 pace
My final race before IM Florida.
Weather was perfect in the morning 58 degrees and ended at
73.
I took a sleeping pill in order to sleep. I woke up at 2 A.M. and ate a hardboiled egg (calories
70), walnuts (calories 100) didn’t have any liquid nutrition to drink then went
back to sleep. Breakfast was hardboiled
egg (calories 70) and half of an avocado (calories 150). Showered and got
dressed. I wanted to try something different, so I put compression calf (no feet)
on and was going to wear them under my wetsuit, hoping to cut time in
transition. Prepared my liquid EFS for the bike, packed
and took everything to transition for set up. I left my swim items in the room.
Set up worked well, I tried to keep it simple. Bike, helmet on the arrow bars, sunglasses, race
belt, bottle of salt tabs in my helmet, gel taped to bike and shoes under bike.
Off to the side I had my run shoes and a plastic bag with my run nutrition in
it. This way all I need to do is change
from bike shoes to running shoes grab the bag and put everything in by back
pocket as I run out then toss the bag. I
even checked my power meter to see if it was picking up heart, cadence and
power.
One hour before the swim: I had 10 MAP pills, 1-power gel (calories
110,200 sodium), and two salt tabs 425 sodium). Walked down to the start and 30
minutes prior to swim I had a bag of power gels chews (calories 200, sodium
200).
Pre-race and swim Nutrition totals:
Calories: 700
Sodium: 825
Swim :I was able to swim before the start, just enough to
get acquainted. The Start was on the beach and you had to walk/skip/hop/ swim
to the first marker and the same on the finish. Water was a little choppy but nothing
to distract from the swim. I had a difficult time with sighting the markers on
the way out, kept confusion the markers that were for the swim back. On the
first half of the swim I felt out of sync and all body malaise. I was not
alone, some guy kept swimming into my side and then apologizing saying “I can’t
site the markers”. I kept asking him if he was ok and he said yes every time,
so I just kept swimming. I know, I know… Coach P , you said no friends but he
kept insistingJ By the last half of the swim I was feeling
good and could focus again.
Later on I realized it was the sleeping pill. (Change # 1 .No more sleeping pills the night
of the race and no chews)
T1: 6:32
I’m not concern about the long transition because of its
location. There was a long run from the beach to T1, about 1000 meters. We had
to run up the beach around the fountain, cross the main street, rail road track
then down to T1. Only place with a carpet
runner was on the rail road tracks.
It was a fast transition because I was using compression
calf without the feet. Little did I know that the water would run off my
compression calf down into my dry socks and bike shoes. My feet were soaked for the first 2 hours of
the ride.
2nd change: I am going to take the time in T1 to
put on full compression socks. Didn’t like riding with my feet soaked.
In 2012 I did the
same course on my road bike 3:45. My
goal was to break 3 hours, considering the changes I made. Training with super heroes
at EN , Coaches, new bike, power meter and wheels. Power tested outside the
week before, had new numbers and I even wrote them on my bike. Go Yvette, I had it made…right! LOL! 
She’s off on the bike, low and behold the darn
power meter and cadence did not work.
I purchased the Edge 510 this year and
every race this year it did not work. So now I’m extremely frustrated at the
start of the ride, second ride on my new wheels. All I could think of was Coach
P saying go easy the first 20’. So I decided to try and get the meter to work
during the first 20’, turn it off then on about 3 times. Nothing was working
till I realized a half-hour had passed and I was supposed to be racing.
Yikes!!! I decided to race according to
how my body was feeling and pay special attention to nutrition. I had one power gel, bottle of EFS, 2 salt
tabs every hour and was perfect! (260 calories, sodium 715 per hour).
Lucky I had the Edge set to lap every 10 miles. To my surprise
here are the laps and I see my mistake.
I wanted to achieve
the bike goal of 3 hours but spent the first half hour trying to fix the Edge
power meter. I lost sight of the big
picture and emptied the tank during my 40 to 56 mile surge. WOW, it was so much
fun going that fast. J
Coach Rich would tell me I didn’t have the base to maintain that pace, and he
is correct although it was sweet!
In hindsight, on the
bike I should have held the speed steady and eaten some solids before the end
of the bike so I could run faster.
T2 : 6:05
Arrived in transition feeling great. Changed my shoes while
talking to my husband, grabbed my run bag and was on my way. The only hold up,
there was not a port-a-john in transition. I had to break out of the run shoot
and run 200 yards to the port a john, peed then had to dodge people to get back
in the shoot so I could run over the timing mat.
Run: 2:56:24, 13:28 pace
My plan was to run zone 1 (12:45) for the first 3 miles then
keep increasing and empty the tank at mile 10.
Every time I would speed up to my race pace (10:00) my body would start
to overheat. So I decided to run easy the entire race and the last mile go
strong. I did walk the aid stations (30 steps), drank coke, salt tabs, ate
power chews, bananas and had a bottle of EFS with me. It was a two loop run. I figured
it was better to run the entire time instead of walking.
Mile markers:
After the race I showered and went to the banquet dinner and
awards. We walked around town for the night. When we were back in our room my
stomach was giving me problems. I think
it was a lot of sugar for the day. 
I can’t
tolerate sugar very well.
I’m concern because my IM Florida is fast approaching and I
need to tweak my nutrition. How will this play out during the IM race.
Any suggestions for changes or less sugar and what type of
solid food to take in?
Learned so much on this race and need your advice please!
Thank you,
Yvette.
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Comments
Here are my 2 cents to reflect on.
1. You are correct on the no sleeping pill the night before a race. If you need one, try the night prior to the day before the race. If you can't sleep the night before a race, no worries. Know that resting and relaxing in bed is doing your body good. Don't stress out about it. Many / most of the other athletes are in the same boat.
2. Not sure about your power meter problems. When my Garmin 500 and Stages power meter aren't communicating well, it usually means that I need a new battery in the power meter. This is usually signaled by difficulty calibrating the power meter. Did you calibrate it in transition prerace??
3. Have you thought about putting your salt tabs and gels in a bento box? More aero and you don't have to mess with something sitting in your helmet when you put it on.
4. Appreciated the tip about the compression socks making your socks / shoes wet. Maybe comparing the time it takes you to put on full compression socks vs just toweling the wet ones down well would be interesting. I think putting compression socks on over damp legs would be a pain.
5. Everyone's stomach is unique but it kind of looks like:
Your prerace nutrition is very heavy in the fat department. They take a long time to digest, delay gastric emptying, and don't do a good job of replenishing your
glycogen stores from the overnight fast. Maybe more easily digested carbs??
For me, 60 kg female, taking in 300 calories within one hour of the swim start would feel like a lead weight. :-)
Bike nutrition looks good, I think. Not sure how much fluid volume you took in per hour and if it compensated for what you were sweating and
putting into your bladder on the swim. Preventing dehydration on the bike will help to prevent overheating on the run.
Not sure how many oz and calories you took in on the run. Did you train with an hourly nutrition scheme for the run?
6. Other than the usual advice to stay hydrated, put ice in your hat, shorts, jog bra, hands and adjust your effort to the temps, I find doing my training runs during the hot part of the day really helps me get used to running "hot" and figuring out strategies to keep my core temp in a safe place.
Have fun experimenting in your race rehearsals and good luck in Florida!! You still have lots of time to dial in a nutrition plan that will work for you.
Wendy
Thanks Wendy,
Found out what was wrong with the power meter. I had the bike shop replace the battery weeks before the race. I found out that water leaked into the battery compartment and had rust and water in it. Coach Rich was right, I should have purchased the power tap much better option. It is fixed now, my friend Cathleen said to take the battery out at night for an IM race and place it back in the morning .
You are correct about the box. I put the salt sticks in my helmet so I do not forget to put them in my pocket. I used a bento box before and forget to take the salt tabs on my run.
I'm going to try and towel dry the compressions as to putting on c/socks over wet legs. will let you know how it goes.
working on purchasing the sun sleeves for the run. Love the ice idea.
thanks for your input!