FTF IMAZ RR1 debrief
IMAZ is my first ironman.
Background: Mental game was my biggest issue which surely affected my focus. Sick with a cold that would not go away for three week prior which didn’t help with my confidence.
Nutrition: I felt like my nutrition plan worked very well for the HIM I did in July. Did the EN sweat test and used the nutrition calculator. Base plan of 1 bottle of perform plus 2 salt sticks plus ½ powerbar per hour. I have gone up to 1.5 or even 2 bottles if it is really hot and cut back on the powerbar. Maintain salt stick every 30 min. So, this was my plan for RR1. Cooler with jug of water and several water bottles. Minicooler with powerbars cut into 1/8 bar pieces. Perform, salt sticks and emergency gels on hand.
Bike Course: Picked a course where I could stay aero the entire ride with no stopping. Fairly flat but wind usually picks up in the afternoon. Four mile loops around an island on a bay where in theory bikes have the right of way so no need to stop. Even though it sounds mind-numbing, it’s really not so bad – usually lots of bikes out and surrounded by water. Set-up aid-station out of the back of my minivan which was parked across from a porta-potty so good to go there.
Got started around 8AM (much later than I wanted) but time constraint at the beginning (getting my 4 year old daughter to school) and end (getting home in time to take her to a special Halloween movie night at the school).
I purchased a powermeter about 2 months ago. Tested indoors twice so I had a general idea of my outdoor power. Not really a lot of time to test the numbers in the real world since I was not at 100% for the second test and all of my rides leading up to RR1. I had a general observation that my numbers were a bit higher outside. For my watts/Kg predicted finish time on the IMAZ course is ~7hrs20min – so my plan is to lock in around 0.67-0.7 for the entire race.
Issue 1: I was so obsessed with my power numbers and how my legs were going to feel when I finished that I didn’t do things like eat and drink. It was not very hot with the wind so I didn’t drink enough or keep up with my salt pills, but I was surely sweating alot. Seems I need to write a very detailed schedule for the race including aid stations etc to have benchmarks that I’m eating enough.
Issues 2: To be blunt – crotch pain from mile 8 on, forearm and shoulder pain later. I had my bike professionally fit (road bike with clip on bars) for Tri and went from thicker pad to thinner pad for my shorts. I’ve been making tweaks in seat angle and bar position and did it some during the RR. This is my biggest concern for the race. Relative to my swim and run, I’m very slow on the bike so I don’t want to stop just to rest my bottom. I’ve read some of the forums and internet and decided to try the Adamo saddle. I had a road bike seat that I can ride comfortably in the hoods but does not seem to work for aero. I’ve ridden once on the Adamo and it seems to help. Also lowered my handlebars which seemed to help with the arm pain. Seat seems very hard compared to my road bike seat so I’m going to go back to the thicker shorts for my next ride. Probably need to tweak a bit more. Have been following guidance on the Adamo site. Thoughts?
Issue 3: Mother nature – always wind, but today it really picked up pretty quickly. Crosswind/headwind for ~3.5 miles and amazing tailwind for the other 0.5. It was hard to keep my power up for the tailwind at > 20MPH, and hard to stay upright in the unshielded crosswind. Seemed to do better sitting up than being aero because the wind could pass through more easily. By the time the windsurfers started unpacking their stuff, there were whitecaps on the bay and I was down to < 10-12MPH for most of the course. Virtually no bikes out but me. I was at mile 50 so a figured another 4-5 hrs to go 50 more miles. I had hours of practice riding in strong wind. I decided to move to a bike path – much hillier with stop lights but at least the headwind would not be as strong. I was able to do one loop for a total of 72 miles before I ran out of time. Was able to run 3 miles before I had to leave.
Bike Summary: Started out nervous but finished the day feeling strong. Huge confidence boost. My legs felt like they had gas left in them and the run felt better than the start of my HIM. Still not so sure about the power numbers, I did a pretty good job of staying in my zone, even in the crazy wind and then climbing hills. It felt very easy. I'm going to do the retest outside to get a "final" number.
Powermeter question: I have a powertap g3. My power numbers read very low (like around 10). I changed the battery and checked the firmware update. Figured out if I calibrated with the Joule that came with it, the numbers seemed more reasonable. I’m wondering if my calibration is off. I cannot get into forums through the EN forums webpage for some reason (zen desk working on it). Links seem to work so if there is a thread about this, can someone please post it? I’m not using the Joule for the race. I have a Garmin Edge 500 for the race but I don’t know if the calibration through this is the same. I’m wondering if I need to keep the Joule around to calibrate.
RR run after bike felt fine. Sensation that I was going slow but garmin said I was going way too fast. Just have to be mindful of that. Long RR run also good. Pretty conservative so really holding back on pace, so I was able to finish strong at HIM pace.
OW RR swim went great. I can actually swim straight enough now to think about my form!
Comments
Hi Vicki,
First, my hat is off to you and how much you have embraced, progressed and grown in such a short time period. Just very motivating and very well done!
I also run a G3 PowerTap and have trained with one for years. I use the Joule and a 910XT. Your Joule and Garmin Edge should read the same numbers as they are receiving the data from the same device/hub. So, You should be ok with just using the Edge.
Get some Chamois butt cream and make sure your shorts are not worn down and have sufficient padding. Other than that, time in the saddle and experience will make things better over time.
112 miles on the bike is not going feel comfortable no matter what you do. Its just a long time on the bike. Practice and discipline will make you a better biker along the way.
SS
I've done long bike rides and RR that didn't really allow for me to follow my exact nutrition plan because it was too cold, but you need to be careful with this on race day. If you forget to take in that 1st hour of nutrition its really hard to make up for that later in the day. Things have a way of getting increasingly worse as the day goes on. If you get a hot RR2 day, it can also ruin your day. A comment on your nutrition plan. I'm always a bit nervous when i see someone who is only planning on taking 1 bottle of perform an hour. remember you also should have a goal to pee twice on the bike. you can always consume a bit more hydration early on and the back off if you are peeing too much.
Bike fit: yes, after a few hours on the bike it starts to become increasingly more uncomfortable. Its part of the deal. But not after a few miles (8). your setup should allow for comfortable easy paced riding for a long time without a struggle. Recommend that you make small adjustments on your own until you find that happy place. Turning a road bike into a tri bike is always a bit of a challenge. And as was already recommended you need a quality set of shorts and lots of lube.
I use a joule which auto calibrates so I'm not sure what's going on with your Power numbers. Are you looking at a 3 second average type of number. So you might just be seing it jump up and down a bit if you haven't learned to ride steady. Good thing is you have time to figure that Technical challenge out. Recommend a seperate post in "power and pace" forum to ask the question.
good job at getting it done. Is RR2 gong to be in the same "wind tunnel" or thoughts on moving to a different spot. FWIW I typcially do a 10-12 mile out and back for most of my long outdoor rides. Easy admin and its safe.