Scott Dinhofer IMAZ '14 RR - "embrace the suck"
IMAZ 2014 – 11:26 (5th IM)
3rd IMAZ – Did 2010 (13:53) as my first IM & 2011 (13:41) as my third IM.
15 minute IM PR (IMMT 12 weeks ago 11:41)
2:15 Course PR
Short version – Good swim, Horrific bike execution complete with some dehydration, salvaged a decent run…
The complete story:
After doing IM Mont Tremblant this year. I decided I needed (among other things) to work harder on my swim, which is the event I am least disciplined about. I have a slightly torn rotator cuff from a ski accident so I found the workouts with hard intervals as painful. That said, I designed my own workouts and tried to get to the pool no less than 2x a week, I think that is what I averaged. Typical workout would be 5000 yards. I often started w 1000 swim/ 1000 paddles & pull buoy, 750 each, etc.. My first and only RR swim, 6 weeks ahead of IMAZ showed a 3 minute improvement over the same swim 2 weeks prior to IMMT where I did a 1:26 swim
I arrived in Arizona on Thursday. Flew out with a friend who was also doing the race. Registered, checked out the expo where I found Bruce Thompson at the Normatech booth trying out a set of boots. I then had a late lunch with my travel buddy, retrieved bike from TBT & checked into the hotel. As I got out of the car, I was immediately greeted by Heather Webber and found Tim Cronk at the check in counter and saw the Truscotts who were in the room next door to me. Cleaned up and went to the team dinner which is always a fun highlight to kick of an IM weekend.
Friday, a group of us went for a ride on the Bee line. Unfortunately, at the end we learned of Joe Schmitt’s Crash and trip to the hospital. Al and I volunteered to come back and bring his car back to our hotel. He later came to our hotel with friends and we were glad to see & hear that he was only beaten up and not seriously injured.
Friday night dinner was Indian with Tim & heather, the Truscotts & Robin Sarner.
Let’s fast forward to pre race, Saturday night, I Woke up at 3 AM, had a high carb shake, back to sleep for another hour or so, woke up at 4, had 2 cups of coffee, a banana & headed down to transition, pumped tires, body marked, ran into Jon Needel and changed into wetsuit.
Swim:
Goal Time: 1:25, actual time 1:21, 6 minute PR
Age Group Rank – 183
Overall Rank – 1183
The swim historically is challenging for me. I was a natural swimmer as a child, swam on swim team in Junior High school and never again until Ironman. Unfortunately, due to the aforementioned ski accident I have pushed off a lot of pool time this year. I was to take a celebrex on Saturday and another on race morning, but somehow that got forgotten.
Unlike Tremblant, I really focused on my swim. I got into my sweet spot during much of the swim, that is a good, low cadence, long glide powerful stroke. I found the 2nd half of the swim to be a little choppy as a jet ski or powerboat had gone by and created a wake that just reverberates back and forth across the canal that Tempe town lake looks like. On the swim out, I barely erred to the right as I often do and on the way back, I managed to swim most of the buoy line and was in a thick pack of swimmers. I knew I wasn’t having a bad swim and was very happy when I got out of the water and saw that it was a 5 minute PR.
T1:
Goal Time: under 5:00, actual time 4:02
I went very minimalist with the approach on the bike. I dumped my bag on the ground, put on helmet, sunglasses & bike shoes, handed bag with goggles & cap in it to a volunteer with my wetsuit and asked them to stuff it for me. I trotted off to get my bike with my zoot arm coolers in hand
Bike:
Goal Time: 5:30, actual time 5:39
Age Group Rank – 65
Overall Rank – 439
At bike out I got some great cheers from the EN cheering section headed by JT Thompson & Mariah Bridges. After I mounted and rode off, I put on my arm coolers while on the bike and immediately got to work on the riding smart. Watched my watts and rode per guidelines utilizing a base FTP of 240 and working on a base power for flats of 168 (IF=.70) and for the beeline “hill” of 185-190. I enjoyed the bike, and realized the 1st of 3 loops that I was pacing a 5:15 split. I of course knew the winds were about to get much worse.
For those that know me, I must be blessed with an unusually small bladder, as I have to pee very often when I am well hydrated. On the ride into town from the beeline on the second lap, I really wasn’t feeling well. I was feeling a little delirious, tired and had a cramp working in my left inner quad. I also realized I probably hadn’t peed in about an hour. I recognized that I was dehydrated and that my plan for 1 bottle of perform per lap was good for nutrition, but not enough for hydration and started adding more water into my mix increasing my hydration substantially. By the middle of the 3rd trip up the beeline I was starting to feel better despite the absolutely horrific headwind. As you rode further out on the beeline, the hill is also framed on each side by a mountainous feature which clearly helps funnel the wind right in your face. I rocketed the way back, downhill w wind at my back and felt like I was having a bit of a comeback for the ride back to town.
Separately about 1/3 way into the third lap my Garmin bike computer stopped reading my power meter, which has only happened one other time, during IM Mont Tremblant. My garmin 910 was my back up and I turned the watch to the inside of my wrist where I could see it easier and crisis was aborted! Unfortunately, somewhere during the bike I accidently bumped the lap button and ended up having to restart the program as this advanced the watch to T2 , so my bike data is in 2 parts as per below:
Bike Pt 1 Bike Pt 2
Distance (Miles) 93 21
Time 4:41 0:55
Avg Speed(Mph) 19.2 22.3
Avg HR 136 127
NP 154(.64IF) 131 (.56IF)
Bike splits can be viewed here:
Pt 1 - http://connect.garmin.com/modern/activity/634785565/3
Pt 2 - http://connect.garmin.com/modern/activity/634785565/3
T2
Goal Time: under 3:30, actual time 3:06
Pretty uneventful transition, Came in and left shoes on the bike, and got going on the run.
Run
Goal Time: 3:50, actual time 4:16
Age Group Rank – 61 (13.8 %)
Overall Rank – 396 (12.4%)
The run started out rough from the beginning. I kept reminding myself that it takes a few miles for the legs to feel better. My 910 wasn’t showing the correct screens, so shortly after passing the EN tent, I walked about a minute to reset my watch. This also helped kick down my HR & speed as I was running way too fast.
This being my 3rd time doing IMAZ, I knew the course well and what to expect. I had a lot of internal negative dialogue going on as I was feeling pretty crumby from the opening miles(I think I agreed to quit racing Ironman at some point). I really didn’t know how I was going to get through this race. I just focused on this mile and reminded myself that it would go quickly, that a mile becomes 5 and so on… “Stay in the box”
At mile 6, and after a 3 minute porta potti stop, I soon realized I wasn’t going to keep my just under 9 minute mile pace going and that I would be joining the many walkers I saw from early on if I kept it up. So, at Mile 10, I adjusted pace to something felt easy and decided it was better to run slow than to walk later. I had a voice from a 4 keys talk that Patrick gave in Louisville in ’11 where he said “you can always slow down.” I did see the EN cheering section, Robin Sarner at the aid station at mile 6/19, a friend from home spectating, and some friends from home racing, and that helped carry me through.
As for walking, I completely stuck to only walking aid stations and with few exceptions, I only walked long enough to get fluids down and got going again.
I was passed by Shaun Simmons (KMF Man) and a friend around mile 25, at this point I had already picked up my pace and was relieved to cross the finish line, where I exclaimed to my volunteer handler, “that sucked!” Never have I crossed a finish line and wasn’t elated. While this was a PR, I know the dehydration incident kept me from realizing my true potential and probably the chance of breaking 11 hours.
After exiting the finisher chute I was greeted by my friend Kristen, who just finished ahead of me, and saw a number of friends right there on the other side of the barricade, Tim & Heather, Cheryl Truscott, and was soon joined by ENer Jennifer Datwyler.
http://connect.garmin.com/activity/634785589
|
Split |
Time |
Distance |
Avg Pace |
|
|
4:16:02.7 |
25.89 |
9:53 |
|
1 |
8:50.6 |
1.00 |
8:51 |
|
2 |
8:50.5 |
1.00 |
8:50 |
|
3 |
8:52.2 |
1.00 |
8:52 |
|
4 |
8:46.6 |
1.00 |
8:47 |
|
5 |
8:50.8 |
1.00 |
8:51 |
|
6 |
11:16.7 |
1.00 |
11:17 |
|
7 |
9:04.6 |
1.00 |
9:05 |
|
8 |
9:36.0 |
1.00 |
9:36 |
|
9 |
8:51.5 |
1.00 |
8:51 |
|
10 |
9:48.1 |
1.00 |
9:48 |
|
11 |
9:45.9 |
1.00 |
9:46 |
|
12 |
10:04.7 |
1.00 |
10:05 |
|
13 |
9:59.8 |
1.00 |
10:00 |
|
14 |
9:51.7 |
1.00 |
9:52 |
|
15 |
10:04.5 |
1.00 |
10:05 |
|
16 |
10:38.8 |
1.00 |
10:39 |
|
17 |
10:11.8 |
1.00 |
10:12 |
|
18 |
10:08.3 |
1.00 |
10:08 |
|
19 |
10:27.1 |
1.00 |
10:27 |
|
20 |
11:18.5 |
1.00 |
11:18 |
|
21 |
10:42.5 |
1.00 |
10:42 |
|
22 |
10:13.7 |
1.00 |
10:14 |
|
23 |
10:56.5 |
1.00 |
10:57 |
|
24 |
9:54.6 |
1.00 |
9:55 |
|
25 |
10:28.3 |
1.00 |
10:28 |
|
26 |
8:28.5 |
0.89 |
9:3 |
Epilogue
In hindsight, while this was a two hour and 15 minute course PR and a 15 minute IM PR, I know I left a lot out there on the course. Better swim training is quickly showing up. The proof of what was left out there is that I am simply walking around too easily in terms of lack of muscle soreness for both one and two days after an event like this. While it might seem like I am griping, far from it, I have a clear idea of what is possible and a strong knowledge base of what parts of my game need work. I have a great year planned for 2015 when I will “age up” and celebrate 50 with the best fitness of my life
All of this aside, this is a game that is a metaphor for life and I am once again truly grateful for my ability to go out and play the game. In fact, in the worst moments of this day, I reminded myself how lucky I was to be out here and feeling this pain as opposed to a time when I thought I could never play the game again.
Comments
I especially keyed on "this is a game that is a metaphor for life and I am once again truly grateful for my ability to go out and play the game. In fact, in the worst moments of this day, I reminded myself how lucky I was to be out here and feeling this pain...."
Nicely done!
Scott, I've told you already what I think of your race - a breakthrough, confidence building performance, with smart choices and strong persistence.
Yeah, you can swim better, and, more important, you gotta believe about the "stoopid" slow @ the start of the run. I think 30 seconds slower on the first six miles would have been repaid 2-3 times over the remaining 20 miles. You would have been able to finish stronger, and then your legs would have felt worse afterwards and you would have felt better about the day. That's lesson # 1 IMO.
I have observed you race twice this year....Congrats on another PR... I think you get it and your playing the game well....The run @ IMAZ looked as effortless as IMMT , steady/smooth executing machine.... The swim PR is a PR what can we say??? The bike power file looked like a bad stock going from the upper left to the lower right (I have some that look worse)... Not a good trend.... There maybe many reasons why but that is what needs to be solved going forward.... I think the reason you feel so good a few days later is your level of fitness , not a measure of how hard you went on race day! Enjoy that down time... Reflect on the accomplishment's this year.... Then lets get fired up for IMLP !
Scott, not only did you embrace the suck well, follow through to the end after a tough bike, you gave a lot back to this team leading up to the race and during the training........sign of mental toughness and strong character.....
The 3 times I had to stop on the bike for tire issues, I believe you passed me. Each time, that gave me more incentive to keep fighting and moving forward.......go catch/find Scott........The last time I could not find you due how long it took the mechanic to fix my problem, and so I spent a lot of the run trying to find you, Al, Bruce and the others.....
I really appreciate the energy and attitude you brought to the team and am very glad I got to know you while at IMAZ.
Tim makes some good observations/comments that will only ensure your continued progress towards getting faster for next year.
Anytime you pull a 5:39 bike split and are thinking you want much more, you know you are an IM.
Always, KMF!
PR on a really tough day says it all. Sure, you've got a great opportunity to take 15 minutes off your swim, and we all have room to make execution improvement, but you've got the right attitude, coupled with the B and R speed we've seen you build on Strava, to leave this PR far behind. Looking forward to witnissing the next chapter. Congrats on a great accomplishment.
Mike