Steven Cummings IMCHOO Race Report
IMCHOO Race Report (better late than never!)
Steven Cummings- M:36 FTP:233 VDOT:47 Weight: 142 Watt/kg: 3.61
Background: Third IM with EN and second IM race in 2014 season after IMCDA finish time 11:39. Going into Choo I lost some momentum on training and dropped a couple of runs and swims from training as I got closer to the taper weeks. The strategy seemed to work because I felt like a new man mentally and physically headed into race week. I really underestimated how ready I was for this race and was mentally prepared for a tough day.
Pre Race: I spent Thursday night at home in Atlanta packing all of my gear and I kept thinking wow normally I would already be at the event site going through the motions. I ended up sleeping in some in my own bed Friday morning, then drove up to Chattanooga and went straight into the 4keys session, checked into the race and the hotel. Since I was one of the Sheraton refugees, I ended up staying at the Chattanooga Choo Choo in a train car which was kinda cool.
While waiting for Kristin to arrive I got bored and decided to go for a quick run….which turned into me getting lost for 3 of the 5 miles I covered. I skipped the athlete banquet instead of paying $40 for Kristin to go and ended up going to the brewery instead. Saturday morning we did brunch with my local Atlanta tri club and a stranger picked up our entire tab, Schweeeeet! I went down to the swim Saturday afternoon just to spectate and watch everyone else I knew swim.
Race day: Believe it or not I have not problems sleeping before a race even in a train car! Got up at 4am…executed the applesauce, protein, banana combo (blah I don’t want this again for months). We drove down to the transition and found a space right in front of mellow mushroom. Dropped of bags, checked my bike, got on the bus and in the swim line pretty early. Even though I waited about an hour plus in line it flew.
Swim- I didn’t have a swim skin so I just used my tri top….jumped in and started swimming hard to get away from the dock. It took a few minutes to get my sighting down even though we were swimming in a river I still felt like I wasn’t swimming a straight line. I started noticing that when I passed people I was really flying by them. I also noticed that my sighting points of buoys were zipping by as well. I looked for the Newton sign on the bank across from the exit and as soon as I saw it I started the get over. Got out of the water no problem and ran fast to get my bike bag.
Goal time: 1:06 Actual: 51:12
T1- Goal Time: 5:00 Actual 5:09
Bike- Once on the bike I fumbled around with my Garmin for the first 10 miles trying to get my power meter to sync. I eventually pulled off to the side and popped the battery out of my Quarq and tried to get my watch to recognize it again….nothing…brand new battery and nothing. After a couple of minutes I said screw it and went on about my day without having my power numbers. I went by feel and biked the EN way…watching others hammer the hills and coast down the back. Around my 90 I started noticing a few people passing me and I appeared to be slowing. At mile 93 a guy passing me said I needed to check my rear tire. Crap!! I looked at it as I rode and it was still holding air so I kept going. I started to think about my options a) pull off and fix the flat (my continental tires are a beast to get off and I knew I would get frustrated with them ) or b) roll the dice and ride it as long as possible….so I went with b. It was kind of a risky move on my part but my rear tire seemed to be holding up except for when I hit a bump or train tracks I could feel the rim bottom out. I was able to keep what felt like a good pace at the time but looking back at the last 20 miles I averaged 17.64mph! I probably only lost about 5-6 minutes in the last hour due to this but I can’t help but wonder if my power meter had worked and no tire issues what my time would have been.
Goal Time adjusted for 4 extra miles : 6:15 Actual 5:57 19.49mph
T2- Handed off bike and jogged in my cleats which I should have slipped out of since the transition path to the changing tent was kind of long. Grabbed my bag, sat down, changed shoes, took go bag, and started to run.
Goal time: 2:00 Actual 2:25
Run- Right out of transition I was fumbling with my go bag trying to get everything out which was kinda tough heading down the ramp to the sidewalk. I somehow lost most of my salt pills but found one or two left in my tri top from the bike. I took it easy up the first hill but sill ran a 8:53 mile…I backed off slightly and targeted 9:15 for the flat portion of the run. The first round of hills I took it easy and ran a 9:35 and already started passing a lot of people walking. The beast of a hill on Barton was fun to tackle and I just kept plugging away at my pace focusing on being speedy in the downhill and flat sections.
I saw my support team at the start of the second lap and kept on moving since I was feeling good. It started to rain on me in the flat section and it felt great at the time. A younger guy doing his first IM started chatting with me and running my pace but after a minute I went into the “no friends” mode and he didn’t want to hang with my pace anymore. See ya kid! Once I hit the industrial 4 lane road the rain was coming down steadily… I kept nailing an 8:50 pace for the next 7 miles. By the time I started to make the climb on Barton the rain had stopped and I bumped into some other EN teammates as we charged the hill.
Once I was on the backside of the loop it was time to race hard! I picked it up and before I knew it I was climbing the Barton hill again and this time all I could think about was the hill repeat workouts I did so many months ago and how I practiced sprinting as I got close to the top. Boom! I felt like I was launched over and down that hill and I kept my foot on the gas. I saw what at the time resembled a bunch of zombies or walkers aimlessly headed towards a water stop and I just blew by it with less than 3 miles to go. I remember running across the bridge and really taking in the fact that I was running all out and went through the turn towards the finish line to the end with as strong of a kick as possible. I entered the finish shoot and slowed down a bit just to take in the moment and high five as many people as possible.
I really thought this was a challenging run course and I ran my best marathon to date in an ironman and 2nd best marathon time ever. I’m not sure how many people I actually passed on the run but coming off the bike I was in the 601st place overall and finished 322nd overall, in my age group 107 off the bike and 52nd after the run.
Goal Time: 4:00 Actual 3:56:46
Overall Goal Time 11:30 Actual 10:52:40 52nd in Male 35-39 AG
What’s Next?
I’ve really taken some time off the past month basically to catch up on life outside of triathlon. I’m still running but I haven’t even fixed the flat on my bike yet! I’m planning on jumping into the November Out Season soon to get back on a schedule at least. In 2015 I’m going to just do a couple of 70.3’s unless I get pulled for a Kona lottery slot. Part of me wants to step up my game and keep the ball rolling on IM’s but I think every other year is going to be my goal for now. 2014 was very memorable for me with CDA and CHOO but I’m hungry for more!!
Comments
Fun swim, eh?
no data on the bike? nice job keeping yourself in check. Even if you left some on the table, you know it helped on the run.
Sub 4 on that run is strong steady work. Nice job. I've heard others really whine about the run.
Nov OS? pretty quick turnaround.
Let's get together some this winter when the weather and our lives allow.
Congrats!
Congratulations and thanks for the report. You obviously executed the bike well despite no power data as evidenced by your superb run. I too am interested in all those IMCHOO reports because I will be there in '15. I carry Pit Stop with me for potential quick flat repairs. Never had to use it myself but I wonder if it would have gotten you through those last 20 miles easier.
@ Chris I'll be up for riding sometime....gotta keep building on top of the power I built up this season!