Betsy's 2014 Arizona Ironman RR
Betsy’s 2014 Arizona Ironman Race Report
Background: 3rd AZIM
Goal: improve every year
Pre race:
The good:
Thursday am-at race central by 9:30-through line quickly, quick trip through merchandise store. Spent an hour in the compression boots at the Faster tent-that felt great. Then, home to fix up gear bags, and dinner at Bucca di Beppo with EN gang-great to see all the old faces and meet the new ones. Wonderful chats with The Bogles, Truscotts, and Wares, Rich, Mariah, Vicki, Anita and Mary.
Friday, 4 Keys at the Harkins Theater-great presentation by Coach Rich, group pic.
Hung out a bit at Expo with local friends. Stopped by free ART massage tent. Therapist found some weaknesses in right upper back which I told him was a problem area-upper trapezius/anterior serratus and applied his magic. Felt better than any massage and this had significant effect for me on bike. Then, Tribe party and raffle for local charity-won what I put all my tickets on: dinner for two at a lovely local restaurant, Elements at the Sanctuary on Camelback Mountain, and a pair of Oakleys that actually fit me and lots of nutrition stuff I will probably give away. Home to finalize gear bags.
Saturday- went to ultrasound regional anesthesia course put on by my professional group then off to IM Village to rack bike and place gear bags, lunch with Scott Dinhoffer, Gabe Petersen and Clark Mitchell. Home, early dinner, actually showered and in jammies by 8, and asleep by 9:30 and got a full 6 hour sleep, a FIRST before a race.
The Bad:
10 days before race, became hoarse with congestion. Still a little hoarse race day
Wednesday night before race, 24 hour GI bug. First meal was the team dinner Thursday night. Friday night still feeling low so skipped festivities and stayed home.
Saturday afternoon when leaving IM village, lost ticket to get out of parking lot and ‘lost ticket machine’ out of order, spent an hour stressed with excess catecholamine output dealing with that.
On to Race day:
Up at 0330 feeling rested after a full 6 hour sleep.
Race breakfast, 600 cal, fat adapted regimen, not the Core diet: bullet proof coffee (coconut oil, ghee) and 2 cups full fat organic yogurt
Off to Tempe, arrived at 4:45, minimal line into US Airways parking lot. It was a Beautiful morning, calm, clear, not to cold.
Start executing checklist:
1-special needs bags to location east of Mill Bridge
2-back to transition, body mark
3-to bike, place water bottles, joule, nutrition, warm gear
4-to gear bags-garmin to run (scared it would die if on all day), open warmers in shoes in bike bag.
5- am bag dumped, drink bottle of amino acid berry flavored drink, skipped packet almond butter as not hungry, wetsuit on, stand in line to porta potty (gut empty for rest of day), then through swim start
Mistake #1: planned nutrition for bike never left am bag
Swim:
Goal 1:30, start middle, under Mill St Bridge. Use tempo trainer at planned 1.1, it will feel slow at first. I have worked very hard on form and had made some ah ha! Moment improvements so goal: 10 min PR over last year
I moved along with the crowd out of transition and to the ladders, jumped in about 6:50. Water wasn’t too cold, swam lightly out to east Mill Bridge.
Mistake #2: I inadvertently positioned myself left of center, more crowded than I remembered the “middle” being last year but didn’t correct this. As swim started, it was very crowded. I found myself getting beaten from all sides, hyperventilated, and had to do breast stroke for about 10 strokes, then was able to put face back in the water. I listened for tempo trainer beat but it was hard to hear with ear plugs, swam to beat and relaxed. The wind kicked up, and for the first time I was seeing waves on Tempe town lake. This was significant as I was swallowing more water than usual. The trip to the turn around seemed faster than usual, then the trip back seemed much longer (I now realize that was the wind effect). However, I felt like I settled into my cadence, was able to breath every other as planned so could see both sides of course, siting buoys on left, swimming straight.
Time: 1:36, a 5 min PR from 2013, but under goal of 1:30
T1 – 6:43 Goal: under 8 min.
Sat gently for the wetsuit stripper, but they struggled (felt like I lost easily 30-45s there). Ran straight to gear bag, then into tent for warmth. Found some empty real estate and dumped bag. Wet gear in, headband, sunglasses, helmet on, shoes in hand, run. I was stopped at exit and forced to put on shoes before exiting, rather than run barefoot to bike as planned. When I arrived at bike, (which was easy to find as it was last row in front of bike out), put on disposable tube sox arm warmers/folded plastic garbage up shirt, then realized my nutrition was not there. I did have one seed/nut bar and packet of cashew butter, but no rice cakes. ‘Don’t panic-will have to eat bananas on the course’ (except for sticky rice, I am gluten/grain free-elected not to eat bonk breakers with oats, not sure how they would sit.)
Bike:
Goal: 6 hours
Lots of experience on this course, I know every landmark and corner. Never ridden it with constant 20-25 MPH winds.
First lap up to Shea, ‘bucket o chicken pace, .6 IFish. Felt the wind. Just before the turnaround, saw the EN motorcycle and presumably Coach R standing nearby all suited up, rider on the ground. After turnaround, my mind was on EN ninja execution for the 20 min back to McDowell: highest gear, low tuck in aero, and then Mistake #3:
Look up and see medics wheeling gurney almost in front of me. Coach R heard an “OH Fuck!” And I braked hard with my right hand and locked up my back wheel. No crash but power meter went out and I spent the rest of the trip down to McDowell re ‘pairing’ and wondering how I was going to ride two more loops in this wind without a power meter. Finally, it came back on line at the turn. Needless to say, I slowed down for every ‘downed’ bike after that near death experience.
First loop made goal of 1:59. Next two loops I patiently kept the outbound at .66-.7 IF and executed the downhill as I had practiced many times, foot on the gas pedal the entire way, low in aero. I saw speeds of 35-38 MPH but usually didn’t see Watts at those times over .6-.65 IF. Also, I was never out of aero except aid stations and some of the turns. But the winds were kicking up and lap two 2:06 and 3rd loop 2:18-even though I felt I worked the hardest on that darned last loop! And best of all, never experienced any right upper back discomfort after mile 70 (remember the ART therapy Friday) that I always had in all my long training rides.
Peed at least 3 times on the bike, drank a bottle of AA mix per hour. I ate banana (small pieces, cut in halves or thirds) at every other aid station 1st and 2nd loop. I had my cashew butter packet 2nd loop. And only had a seed/dried fruit bar third loop. Don’t really know my calorie count but felt strong the entire way, no gut issues.
Time: 6:23:58 (10' slower than last year, but can't compare to a day with gentle 6MPH winds)
.67 IF, VI 1:03
T2: 2:28 Goal: under 3 min
I had right foot out of shoe before turning into dismount but couldn’t get left foot out, had a very ‘ungraceful’ wobble before the turn so gave up. Unclipped left shoe, took if off and threw it at bike catcher and yelled, ‘keep it with the bike’. And it was there at the end of the day! Ran to T2 bag, then to chair outside tent. Calf compression, then shoes on, grabbed go bag, through the change tent and out. Had everything on or in pockets by time I passed special needs bags and EN tent. Al’s concept of the ‘go bag’ was brilliant.
Run Goal: 4:33, 10:30 goal pace
I have yet to have what I would call a good IM run. It just always hurts. I found myself alternating on this run between, ‘this hurts so much I never want to do this again (but oh! I’ve already signed up for next year)’ to ‘Race self! Honor training self!!’ I did run between every aid station, only skipping the last one, and did a lot of focusing on form:
Chi running focuses when tired: dangle arms to relax shoulders, level pelvis, shoulders back, shorten stride, visualize feet circling in a wheel. I was very sad to see some pics that clearly had my foot 'braking' a bit in front of my center of gravity.
Miles 1-6: 30-60 seconds over goal pace, with miles 4-6 definitely only 30’ over goal pace. No problem running slow, right foot and left patella tendon hurt off the bike, trying to work this out. Knee never stopped hurting, right foot did. The right foot was a problem last year and it seemed less so this year. I assumed left patellar tendon inflammation had something to do with the bike effort in the wind, never felt this before.
Mile 7-18: I was at goal pace about half the time, 10-15s above the other half. My quads starting hurting after those first 6 miles and it just got worse. Interestingly, my feet/toes usually bother me but not this day-no black toes this race!. I could only think that somehow the effort in the wind on the bike, thought not in any way in excess in terms of wattage, had somehow trashed my quads, along with my patellar tendon.
Mile 19 to finish: I never could race any faster. I was consistently 30 -60s over goal pace.
Time: 4:48:37
Total time: 12:58:09
Nutrition: all liquid on the run. Walked 30s each aid station. Had Coke and water 1st loop then alternating coke and broth 2nd loop in the dark. Mile 12 had a 325 mg salt cap and an energy drink with 100 mg caffeine. Peed several times. Never felt hungry or lacking in energy. Just felt limited by how much my quads hurt.
Lessons learned:
1. I really studied the race execution plan this third time around, felt I had learned it well
I don’t feel like I left anything on the course
2. I used check lists effectively, except for the checkmark about bike nutrition
3. I need to pay better attention to where I start the swim-last year I was more to the middle and started out without any interference
4. Always slow down for downed bikers on the course!
5. Practice more getting out of shoes at end of bike
Goal for next year, beyond continuing my journey to become a swimmer, increase my watts on the bike, is to gain durability for the run.
All in all, its been a great training year with EN in all the forums JOS and the last 12 weeks with the AZIM group! And despite this years time not being a PR (actually 3 minutes slower than last year) it was good enough to move up to my first podium finish-4th in age group!
Comments
Becky,
Congrats on being a great race captain, supporting the team and the 4th place finish!
I enjoyed reading your report. Also glad I got to meet you face to face during the awards ceremony.
A 5 minute PR on the swim is real improvement, and you did this even though you got knocked off of rhythm. Well Done!
The bike seemed to bring unexpected distractions to all of us in ways none of us had planned for. You managed through all of them well and honored your experience and training as a result.
You also got it done on the run enough to place 4th in your age group which is far better than would I could pull off.
Hope you post more on Strava next year so that I can follow!
Until then, have a great holiday/rest period with your family!
SS
Great race...great job as race captain. I think you hit it out of the ballpark. Congrats on the 4th pace finish. I think it shows that the EN style training & racing works great for us older peeps. Also, thanks for putting the windy day we had on the Beeline into perspective.
Good luck next year and hope to see you at other races.
Betsy - 3 minutes slower than last year qualifies as a PR in my book, given the bike we faced. You are still in your ascendency at this - just keep at what you've been doing, as I'm sure you will be surprised by how far it gets you in 1-2 years. At some point you might consider doing two in one year, specifically Texas.
Yes do texas. This would fit well with goals.
Race with you in az 15. Looking forward to achieving my desert potential.
And as for Two IMs in one year-I just can't imagine and not sure if could ever gather enough SAUs for that! Maybe in retirement.