IM Coz 2014 Race Report
Im not that organized when it comes to race reports. Hopefully someone will read this in the fall of 2015 or beyond and get something that they can use.
This was to be a race / family vacation. As in, my wife would let me race another IM this year if it meant she got to go to the beach. I think that it is most likely a 1 and done for us though. Travel there and back was tough with little kids.
Our flight plan was to fly directly in to coz. But American changed the departure time 4 times and only told us about the first 3. So when we got to check in 90 min prior to departure, the plane had left an hour ago. They were very sorry. I produced the string of emails sowing time changes. They agreed they had made a mistake. But there was no other flight to put us on till the next day. Not acceptable. They could get us to cancun and we could take a ferry over to coz. So we did that. hour long cab ride to the ferry terminal. Very Very rough seas on the way across to coz. Crazy high winds. Got to the hotel at 8pm instead of 1pm. Note to future travellers - fly direct to Coz if you can afford it. Also consider TBT for this race.
At the team dinner, john w asked if people had race goals. After some coaxing I said out loud what I had been telling myself for a couple of weeks - that my only goal was to negative split the run. This was IM #3 for me. I ran too hard out of the gate in #1 and I biked to hard in #2 and ended up walking too much during the back 1/2 of the runs both times. 7 marathons and 2 IM's and I had never negative split. I just wanted to do it to see if it was as much fun as everyone insisted it was. Spoiler alert - it is. My plan was to make my way to the run start and then run lrp+30 for the first of 3 laps. For me LRP is 10min/mi. So I would take lap 1 at 10:30, lap 2 at 10:20 and lap 3 at 10:10 if I could but just as long as I was better than 10:30 I would make it.
Swim - 1:07:34
I really didnt know what to expect on the swim. New course. Some thought that it would be screaming fast. I had no idea though. I was 1:16 in both of my prior races but I really upped my swim vol this time. My thesis was that moving up from 6k/wk to 10k/wk would both improve my swim but also improve my cardio capacity without the pounding that running creates.
The water was as clear as advertised. You could see the ropes holding the bouys down. Didnt need to sight very often. I kept drifting to my right whoch is out to sea. Not sure if it was me or the current. Anyway, about 1/2 way I drank a bunch of saltwater and then started to feel pretty nauseous. I could feel myself start to sweat in th water and get weak. But, I didnt really worry because all I wanted to do was run right and I wasnt running yet.
T1 - 8:24
In T2 I tried to stay calm and smooth. I rushed through the T's at IMTX and I felt like it set the stage for overbiking. But still, 8:24 is kinda hard to look at.
Bike - 6:03:15
I have never been on a bike that long in my life. My plan was to ride at about 158w NP and use the 5mi autolap. Just stack up boxes full of 158w. about 22 and 1/2 of them. I would watch my heart rate also. @ IMTX my heart rate was inexplicably high as I struggled to stack those same boxes up. I soon found out why.
Coming out of transition I settled in. I usually come out riding too hard and have to use power data to slow myself down. My PM was reading something crazy low like 80w or something. I was getting no herat rate data at all. Nada. Crap. Oh well. The first 5mi came and went in 13min and change so I knew I was moving fine. I felt ok too but the power was a puzzle. On a whim I changed the view from lap np to 3sec avg power and got - 0w!!!!. Every now and then I would see 160w but then more time at 0. All while peadaling steady. For some reason the data from my power tap was not getting to my garmin. I had on a 910 and had a 510 on the bike. Both were the same. Then I got flashbacks to IMTX. It seemed really HARD to get to 158w. Now I knew why.
So, no power, no heart rate. I would be riding by feel. But that was ok. I would just ride moderatly and make it to that run. The wind on this course on this day was legit. I am sure that others will write about it. The wind builds over the course of the day. On the back side of the island we had what felt to me like a headwind that picked up with each lap. Again, no big deal, drink. Manage effort. Dont stress about how long it is taking because it is just as hard for everyone else and the only time to worry about trying to go harder is the back 1/2 of the marathon and I wasnt there yet.
I think that I rode a steady effort but really, I have no data to back that up.
T2 - 6:09
I know what took the time here. My bike shoes for the first time had cut in to the front of my ankles and I wanted the cuts covered before I got out on the run. I got really scraped up at this race. Not sure why.
The Run - 4:30:49
Ok. Showtime. The first critical juncture had arrived. Could I controll my pace? Could I make myself slow to 10:30? My plan was that if I looked down and saw 10min/mi pace on my watch that I would walk till it came back to 10:30. The first mile came past me fast. I looked down and saw that it was walk time but still the mile turned over at 10:09. Oh no. Too fast. I really need to pay more attention. Now I would have to push that much harder on the back 1/2 to make up for this mile. After that I settled in. The rest of the lap was high 10:20's. The walk breaks were working. I hit the turnaround at the end of lap one and self assessed that I felt pretty good. The pace felt really easy. I was enjoying myself. I was walking aid stations and getting an extra walk break or two in also to keep the pace down.
Lap 2 the plan was to just let go of the extra walk breaks. Just walk the aid stations. Dont run faster, just walk less. Lap 2 went as planned although I was a bit nostalgic for my extra walk breaks from lap 1. I braced myself mentally for the lap 2 turn around point. I figured that it would be the low point mentally. I guess it was. I was tired (duh!) but it was now also about mile 18 and the race was finally starting. I was curious to see if the EN pacing would pay off. Would I really see the folks who had passed me earlier? Would I really get to trot past walker after walker? Yup. I decided that I would pass the time counting people as I passed them during that 3rd lap. 100 people +- on the way out. and another 100 on the way back. More or less. I was fuzzy. Mind you it was a 3 loop run so most of them were on lap 1 and just trying to get around the course but really, who cares? I know that I didnt. It really felt great to be moving along at mile 18. In fact, looking at my mile splits, my fastest mile was mile 25. 10:05.
My wife and 5 yr old were right at the turn in to the finish. 1000 people screaming, I can pick thier voices out immediatly. Stopped for a hug and a kiss from both.
I ended up 68th out of 300 or so in M40-44. with an 11:56. Swim PR and Run PR. (And a bike PR for longest time in the saddle ever!) It was my best AG showing ever.
And I got my negative split. By about 1sec/km.
My fitness can improve. My swim technique can improve. My body comp can improve. My engine can get bigger faster stronger.
My execution was a breakthough on this race. My hope is that now that I have done it right once, I will be able to do it again.
Comments
Nutrition was a win. By the time I was 20min into the bike my stomach had settled. I have backed my cal off from 400/hr on bike to 200 per hr on bike. Also added salt sticks and water. Felt mighty fine.
On the run, I drank water, ate salt sticks and had pepsi when I felt like it - which was most of the time. Much less cal and it worked for me. I had blocs and gels on me but I just never felt like going to them.
Jimmy I smiled as a read through your Race report and felt like I was there with you executing through the stages.
So hard to pull off what you managed to do in terms of disciplined execution and so important for a race like COZ where you can burn your legs up on the 2nd and 3rd loops of the bike with that wind on the back side of each loop. I appreciate your accomplishment having raced COZ in 2012 and experienced those winds.
I also appreciate your travel stress with the young kids and flight delays, I did the same with 4 kids and it was a doozy.
Really look forward to the build up to IMFL next year with you!
Sincere congratulations!
SS
Jimmy....Awesome job, especially the execution leading to the beautiful run execution. That's a great time on that course.
Question....did you do the usual long runs prescribed in the EN IM plans? As you know, I see your workouts on Strava. Maybe I just missed them? I did notice you seemed to be swimming more (lots of long swims as I recall). Sounds like you sort of used that as an alternative way of building endurance over long runs? Just curious....given the great run you had, maintaining your Z1 pace without fading.
Did you use the "minimalist" plan or the traditional plan or a hybrid/hack?
Congratulations on a great race. Look forward to the next time we can race the same course.
JL
I ran more prepping for imtx for sure.
I didn't go in to this race feeling exceptionally "fit". And that might have actually been a blessing. It kept me right sized.
"...Swim PR and Run PR. (And a bike PR for longest time in the saddle ever!) It was my best AG showing ever.
And I got my negative split. By about 1sec/km..."
Sounds like a successful race to me, one to build on for the future.