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Steve Culver IMMD race report

steveculversteveculver
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I was not planning to do an IM race this year, but when IMMD came about, I simply had to do it because it is basically in my home town.  I work in Cambridge, live right across the Choptank River from Cambridge, and I am a member of a Cambridge Multisport (the local tri club).

I met a great group of EN members for dinner on Thursday for dinner.  My Friday went like this:  went to work for half of a day, checked in my bike and gear bags at noon, ate 3 slices of pizza, went home and cut the grass, ate pasta and white rice at 5:00 pm, relaxed on the couch, went to bed at 9:30.  Drank Gatorade like crazy all day.

Got up at 2:00 am and drank 32 oz. Naked Juice Mango smoothie.  Woke up for real at 4:00 am.  Drank a cup of coffee, ate 1/2 cup of oatmeal with some blueberries, and started drinking Gatorade.  Went to transition, got everything organized on bike and checked my bags on last time.  Dropped special needs bags and morning clothes bag.  Hung out with family waiting for swim.  Rolling start was very rough.  I felt like there was more contact than I had in the mass start at Lake Placid in 2012.  The entire race, I was constantly in contact with other people.  Got the swim done.

Went to transition and went on to bike.  I got going, made two turns and dropped my PB and honey sandwich in my aerobars.  Went to fish it out, swerved, hit a curb and blew my front tire!  Didn't panic, started changing it.  Put new tube in, put CO2 on, twisted to eject CO2, dropped the tire, the cartridge stayed attached, and blew up my tube/tire before I could catch it!  Had to wait for tech support.  Tech support got there, gave me a new tube and a new tire, got it on, and off I went.  Lost time was a total of 20 minutes.  As I was pedaling, I saw I was going 21 mph.  I told myself that I had two choices:  either try to make up the 20 minutes and blow my whole race or ride at my predetermined 18.0 to 18.5 mph and deal with the 20 minute time lost.  I wisely chose the latter.  I ended up averaging over 18.2 on my bike computer which only calculates while moving.  My overall average speed was 17.2 mph including 20 minutes of sitting still.  While on the bike, I consumed 300-350 calories per hours and took in 1000mg of sodium per hour.  Ate Honey Stinger waffles, GU salted caramel gels, and drank Perform and coconut water.  Drank some pickle juice now and then as well.

T2 went well.  Lubed up the spots that chafe and off I went.  Carried my bottle of pickle juice, some GU salted caramel gels and Saltstick pills.  Ran the first 6 miles close to 11:00 min/mile.  Picked it up some after that, and then went into faster and slower paces depending on the crowd support.  Absolutely loved being downtown!  I knew so many people, and I was having so much fun.  My cousin is a photographer, and she took about 100 pictures of me throughout the run.  I was smiling, interacting with the fans, and having a great time in every picture.  As I got toward the end, I decided to try to catch someone from my local club.  Ran 9:10 next to last split and 7:04 last split.  They beat me by one minute.  I should have picked it up way sooner if I had that much left!  Ate one gel per hour, 1000mg of sodium per hour, drank pickle juice whenever I felt like I might cramp, ate some pretzels along the way, and drank Perform at every aid station during first half.  In the second half of the run I started drinking coke, some water, and less Perform.  Anyway, when done, I celebrated with my family and friends at a party that was right at the finish line.  I had beat my 2012 IMLP time by two hours!  I know the course is a lot different, but I would have crushed my time even in Lake Placid because I was in so much better shape.  What a great day!

Swim 1:17:24, T1 5:32, Bike 6:30:46, T2 5:44, Run 4:43:55, Total Time 12:43:21

 

 

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