IMCHOO - The Good, The Bad, The Ugly, and Another Learning Experience
Race Week:
I arrived in Chattanooga early Wednesday morning. Ran the Barton Avenue (north shore) 3-4 mile section of of the run in the morning. Yes there were hills; but felt relatively easy. But that was extremely deceptive since I was on rested and fresh legs. That same afternoon, I drove the bike course and concluded in my mind that the bike course, absent outside weather factors, would be a quicker course than I was envisioning. Lots of rolling hills and false flats, but relatively mild compared to the SoCal hills and mountains that my sweat has dripped on for many years. I am a MOP swimmer (all my IM swims (5) have been around an hour and 20min) and the wetsuit, no wetsuit swim (???? race morning decision) was wearing on my stress level. All my triathlons, long and short distance, have been swam in a wetsuit. Swimming without one would be a new experience for me and I was very anxious and nervous about this possibility. Early Thursday morning I jogged the first 6 miles of the run course along the river pathway. Training-wise leading up to this event, my FTP was clocking in around 260w and my IM run pace around 8:30-8:45/mile pace. I arrived in Chattanooga stronger, more fit, and felt better than during race week on my best IM race 11 months ago in Arizona.
Race Day:
Woke up at 4:00am; ate some food, UCAN sport drink, and two gels prior to the swim start. Arrived at swim start around 6:00am and got in line. Though wetsuits were optional for those not desiring to be in the mix for AG awards, I decided to comply with the rule and not wear a wetsuit. I wanted to prove to myself that I could swim 2.4 miles without a wetsuit.
Swim: I think I entered the water about 10 minutes after the first AGers jumped in. I was feeling confident in the swim line that I could do this swim without a wetsuit. I jumped in and dog paddled a few yards out to get away from folks jumping in behind me, and to catch my breath and relax before I actually began to swim. "Ok" , I told myself and my head went into the water, the first stroke occurred ...... then panic attack and hyperventilating. I could not get my head into the water to swim a normal stroke. I was breathing way too rapidly , my heart rate sky rocking . For what felt like a good 45min, I essentially floated on my back, attempting to perform (poor form) back strokes. Finally around the initial tip of the island in the middle of the river, I finally turned over and began to swim normally and confidently. All the while thinking in my head, "And why could I not be doing this 45min ago when I jumped into the water". I exited the water fully believing my swim time was an hour 45 plus -- my worst swim ever! Surprise, Surprise, Surprise.... Thank you river current, my swim was 1:12 -- my quickest ever, but solely due to the current, not due to anything from my effort. I was simply happy to be out of the water.
Bike:
The bike mount line was crowded and crazy chaos. I felt fortunate to get away without mishap. Coach Rich was yelling out a swim time -- in minutes, I believe --- but I thought his remarks strange since I was under the impression at that time that I had the worst swim time ever. Once pedaling down the road, I felt really good. Legs felt loose, fresh, and zero signs of anything to worry about. Got though the admin town section well, mostly sitting up to swerve my way through the crowds and jump railroad crossings. Once on the highway, I dropped into aero and started a steady effort, mostly by RPE feel of working effort, but a relaxed effort and glancing at watts. [I have power data for the ride but do not have access to it at this juncture pending receipt of my bike back from TBT]. Lots of folks on these narrow roads, but my speed, on average was exceeding the general pack of riders in general, so many times it was a little more effort to work one's way toward the front of the many packs. I arrived at start of loop 2 feeling very well. Legs still strong, no stomach issues, I had been eating and drinking frequently (though in hindsight now, I think I came up short on the hydration/nutrition formula). Loop 2 was definitely less crowded than loop 1 but I was still coming up along packs of 10-15 riders every few miles, along with the continuous effort to make my way through the packs. On the 2nd loop about 10 miles before Chickamauga I saw Coach Rich again, barking instructions to "crush this hill", but I was being blocked by one of those packs and was in process of making my way through the pack of riders as we ascended the hill. On the final ascent out of Chickamauga, I came upon Dino Sarti and tapped him on the back and said "hello". He seemed to be doing well. I moved on, not knowing his position in relation to mine, and once back onto the highway section back into town, I was moving at a good clip and felt really good --- but I did notice a guy very close to my rear wheel. You know one is close when you look down towards your pedals, glance slightly back towards your rear wheel and you can see the front wheel of another rider. I turned my head finally just to take a look --- yes, there was this heavier set guy pacing off me very close to me. There was an ever so slight headwind and I suspect he was attempting to conserve as much energy as possible. I do not attempt to spend energy worrying what others are doing, but finally I came up to a car moving slower than I and I swerved around the car and lost contact with the person hugging my rear wheel. I arrived at T2, shoes still on pedals and ran into tent to change. Transition went well. Bike time 5:26 .
Run:
Out of transition, a slow effort up that first kicker hill at mile 0.5, then tried to settle in for the first 10K at an easy pace -- the EN way. I was alternating taking sips of water and cola at every aid station, plus some salt tabs occasionally and an occasional gel. In hindsight now, I failed to take in enough nutrition during the last 20 miles of the bike and the first 10K of the run. Around miles 15-17, the wheels began to come off; slowly but then exponentially as the time went on. In addition, during this stretch it began to get very wet from the rain showers. After dealing with an issue of having to do "number two" around miles 19-20 and spending some time in a Porto-John, I was crossing the river bridge for the 2nd time for the final 10K to the finish. The wheels were off! I recall passing mile marker 21 on the bridge and staggering up Barton Ave arriving at the crest of the hill. Then I fell to the ground, picked myself up and shuffled over to a lawn of one of the houses on Barton Ave, and laid on their grass in delirium for many minutes. The folks were real nice --- brought me water, snacks, a pillow, and even offered beer. Finally after a many minutes, I stood up. The folks arm-to-arm escorted me back to the street. I knew I was in trouble. My breathing was very intense and very rapid; my mind very foggy. I called my race over at that juncture --- DNF, DQ --- it was over; I was DONE! I staggered back down Barton Ave --- not the correct way on the backside up through the neighborhood, but straight towards the finish, a remaining 1.5 miles to go. I was done and in trouble and just wanted to get back to my wife and fall asleep. My breathing was insanely rapid and my eyes were closing for several seconds at a time, then opening , then closing again as I shuffled my way down Barton Ave, across the bridge to the finish. Near/at the finish, I was caught by folks as I collapsed to the ground. I was carted into the medical tent and given two bags of saline and they did a little blood prick. I was shivering, arms, hands, and legs shaking like I was a naked soul dropped at the North Pole, and not very coherent. A Doc came by with blood results and said my blood markers were very alarming, and that I needed to be transported to the ER. Next thing I know, I am being rolled along into an ambulance, shivering and shaking like crazy. Now in the ER, they give me two more bags of saline and take another blood sample. ER Doc shows up and says my blood markers are not showing improvement after taking in these saline bags --- those bags in the med tent and in the ER ---. He calmly explained to me that he was going to admit me into the hospital. At this juncture, I was feeling more clear headed and began a discussion with him on the necessity to be admitted. He frankly said, "If you were my farther, I would not have one hesitant second about admitting you". I resisted some, and we compromised to have me stay within the ER. After 6 bags of saline my blood markers began improving and after 8 total bags of saline I was released at around 1:30am. I cannot recall the official clinical terms, but in layman's term, I had severe dehydration and severe muscle breakdown, where this muscle breakdown contributed to excess ( and they made a point to say in excess of what they anticipate from an athlete performing an Ironman race) hemoglobin "something" into my bloodstream that was every toxic to my kidneys. Essentially, they feared my kidneys were going to shut down. The severe dehydration thing perplexes me even now since I believe I took in a lot of fluids. But clearly not enough based on my condition.
Summary:
Best swim time ever, but not because of my effort at all..... rather the Tennessee River current. My best bike time ever... and in this part of the day I felt good throughout and felt good in T2, but now think I failed to take in enough nutrition which lead to my excess muscle breakdown. Run was on target to be about normal, approx 4:10 perhaps slightly better before wheels came off. In the end I failed to cover about 1.5 miles of the run. A DQ is deserving and appropriate. I obtained outside assistance --- but god I needed it at that house on Barton Ave, called it day and missed about 1.5 miles of the course [ironic now given course was officially 116 miles rather than 112], and collapsed near/at the finish line. A DNF really, but a DQ because I staggered back to the finish when I should have just stayed put at the Barton house. With my 5 previous IMs, I was an abundance of energy the days following the race. Not this one; here a full week has occurred and the week has been a feeling of general fatigue.
In hindsight --- Should have incurred much greater nutrition and hydration. Should have simply stopped at that Barton house rather than slogged another 1.5 miles back to the finish. I suspect, though only speculating, that while I was almost certain to entertain a visit to the medical tent, I may have avoided the necessity of the ER if I did not incur those last 1.5 miles back to the finish. The forth discipline of triathlon --- nutrition/hydration remains a challenge for me. I nailed it perfectly last year at IM Arizona, having my best race ever finishing 16th in AG. But that success slipped away at Chattanooga. A work in progress for me and one I believe can only improve in the years ahead. Thank you for listening.
Comments
David: "Rhabdomyolysis" - it is indeed a killer, brought up every year at the Ironman Medical Conference here in Kona. Did your urine turn a very dark rust color?
I'm glad you made it back to the living, but that must have been very scary for a while, needing 8000 ml of fluid! I've had both those things (severe dehydration, and rhabdo), but not both in the same race luckily.
You'll need weeks/months to fully recover from this. Make sure you get the rest and recovery you need to let your body recuperate.
Couple of thoughts on your comments reposted below.
[Though wetsuits were optional for those not desiring to be in the mix for AG awards, I decided to comply with the rule and not wear a wetsuit. I wanted to prove to myself that I could swim 2.4 miles without a wetsuit.
"Ok" , I told myself and my head went into the water, the first stroke occurred ...... then panic attack and hyperventilating. I could not get my head into the water to swim a normal stroke. I was breathing way too rapidly , my heart rate sky rocking]
The only ideas I have to prevent the beginning of your swim issues is to 1. swim more without a wetsuit if you are going to race without 2. warm up (that was not an option.... 3. do more OWS no wetsuit swims that do not have warm ups.... I do this alot at home jump in and swim hard with no warm up..
I'm so surprised at the number of people who seemed to cave to "peer pressure" or the idea of swimming without a wetsuit on a wetsuit optional swim is somehow looked down upon and then swim without one. The Rules are for wetsuit optional ! 77 degrees is borderline cold. If I was swimming back home in NH for over 1hr I would wear a sleeveless. My Heather wore her wetsuit in CHOO and it made for a nice relaxing day swimming a ridiculous for her 56:00 FWIW she swam a 1:39 no wetsuit swim on the KONA course yesterday so she was very capable of swimming the CHOO course sans wetsuit but she still complied with the rules.
[I had been eating and drinking frequently (though in hindsight now, I think I came up short on the hydration/nutrition formula).
I was alternating taking sips of water and cola at every aid station, plus some salt tabs occasionally and an occasional gel. In hindsight now, I failed to take in enough nutrition during the last 20 miles of the bike and the first 10K of the run.
In hindsight --- Should have incurred much greater nutrition and hydration.
The forth discipline of triathlon --- nutrition/hydration remains a challenge for me.]
The drinking and eating schedule sounds vague. Did you have a plan? How much to drink? How much to eat? Sodium? You need a schedule and one that you can adjust on the fly due to changing conditions (hot/humid vs cold/dry).... fluids , sugar , salt ! 8 bags of saline is huge ... specially on a relatively cool day for Choo....
Lastly I hope people read your comment they made about your kidneys possibly shutting down and re-think about any possible use of NSAIDS or pain killers.... This one really hit home with me since my DNF in IMCOZ (I'm still thinking it may have something to do with my kidneys)... Either way healthy or not an IM stresses those kidneys....
Again thank you for sharing and recover well!
a DQ/DNF is way better than the alternative!
Rest up, my friend!
WOW, I had no idea! I saw you in the wheelchair but figured it was run of the mill, left it all on the course type stuff. So glad to hear it wasn't more serious!
I suffer from some of the same panic attack stuff you mention in your report. Mine is more related to claustrophobia with my head being in the water but the result is the same panic. I'm a new/slow swimmer with a 1:25 wetsuit swim at IMFL as an example but I did a lot more swimming to prepare for this race so I used a swimskin. For this swim I really tried breathing slow and steady and visualize other things besides the swim and this seems to help me fight off the panic feelings as I move along. Less body contact also helps as I can get into a better rhythm without constant interruptions so I will take a longer line just so I have more clear water. To Tim's point wearing a wetsuit should not be a point of peer pressure. If you feel more comfortable with it then by all means wear it and be safer and more comfortable.
Good luck with your recovery.