Ashton Mossy's IM Texas 2015 RR
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First IM - overall it was an awesome experience chock full of rookie mistakes!
I followed the IM Full Advanced Plan and hit about 90% of the workouts. It was great prep and got me to the start line feeling very confident about finishing. In fact, I wasn't even concerned about finishing; I had very specific time goals that I wanted to hit and beat. But self imposed time constraints and inexperience are a dangerous combination that made me completely unprepared to handle any kind of race day surprise. Little did I know that the first surprise would hit me right out of the gate. Although I should focus on the positive (finishing, yipee), it's hard to do when you spend the last 6mo training and then make silly mistakes that negate all that hard work and effort!
Overall time: 11:44:00, Div Rank: 66, Gen Rank: 370, Overall Rank: 469
Here's the recap:
Swim: 1:17:56
**Deep breath** That ":17" was painful to type! This was my biggest disappointment of the day. Leading up, all my RR swims had clocked me at 1:07 - 1:09 and I was positive that with the added adrenaline and drafting I could put together a 1:05. Thanks to Mike Robert's posting, the Red Mist workouts, wetronome, high stroke rate, ankle band, etc had me progressing and feeling stronger than ever.
So what went wrong?
I missed my corral time group! I was down at the shore watching the pros take off like some starry eyed school girl and before I knew it the 1:10 group was gone, in the water and off. The 1:20-1:30 group was moving in so I jumped in the pack. Right in the middle. At the time, I didn't think it was a big deal. I would just need to pass a few more people in those first 400 yards, right? Wrong! Wrong! Wrong!
It was a devastating mistake that affected me physically and mentally. I literally battled and fought and scraped my way the ENTIRE swim. Not exaggerating: hands, elbows, feet, shoulders all crashing into strangers - it was mayhem. At no point was I even close to any kind of rhythm. I had to site every other breath, zig zag, stop, breast stroke...repeat again and again. It was the most ridiculous thing I have ever done. Gets me heated up all over again writing this out.
Lesson: Get your head in the game, focus and listen to the guy with the megaphone yelling "get to your estimated finish time group"!
T1: 6:50
Relatively uneventful. Everything went smooth except for two mistakes that a swim skin could have easily solved:
1) I only wore tri-shorts for the swim, so I had to step into my top inside the changing tent. This is a lot easier said than done - the shoulders twisted into tight ropes that took an extra minute to undo.
2) I had placed my HRM inside my bike shoes. BUT since it was super muddy, I chose to wait to put my shoes on last, at the mount line, so that I could step into the baby pool and clean my feet first. There I am at the mount line, in front of everyone, I go to strap my shoes on and I pull out my HRM. Panic. I immediately pull one shoulder off and thread it under my top - not happening. A volunteer sees me struggling and helps hold my bike while I spaz out trying to get both shoulders off and restart the process. Extra two minutes lost, at least.
Lesson: Buy a swim skin!
Bike: 6:06:00
Proud to say I executed my bike plan perfectly (I think). Slow yes, but very happy that it was boring with no surprises and I stayed aero 99% of the time.
I took the first thirty minutes easy and brought my HR down to 122. Guys were blowing past me left and right. My ego would have been hurt if it weren't for all "the box" race prep. I had one 50 year old actually slow down next to me and say "Hey 34 (my age), you should be whizzing past me right now, let's go it's a race!" I told him that I would see him on the run.
Nutrition was spot on...I think. Replacing half bottles made me lose track of how much I was consuming per hour. This was something I did not practice. I managed to down 2.5 bottles and a power bar the first hour, which was great for me. I had to pee by mile 30, but for the life of me could not physically do it while cycling. Maybe its a rubbing your stomach and head at the same time thing. Finally, at mile 70, I ran into a porta-potty.
My suck came at 2.5hrs, which was about an hour early for me. My knee started hurting, my cadence dropped and I felt sick. It lasted the standard 30min and then I was back at it.
The chip seal and headwinds were intense. I tried not to fight them - just hunker down and ride them out.
Things changed at around 5hrs (mile 85) and I really started to enjoy myself. I got this amazing feeling of euphoria and a surge of energy that lasted. It felt awesome, like I had just stepped onto the bike. My Garmin showed my 5mi splits going from 18/19min to 15/16min. It happened on my RR and I was hoping it would happen during the race. Luckily it did, and I passed a ton of people. It really built up my confidence going into the run. My wife even commented on how different I looked compared to the others getting off the bike. She said it was night and day - I was smiling, waving, alert and looked refreshed! I was feeling really good.
Lesson: 6hr bike?! Step up and buy a power meter. Get an aero helmet. Improve!
T2: 7:18
Long run to the bag and tent. The guy ahead of me was asking if it was going to count towards the marathon. Halfway through I stopped and took off my shoes. My feet got muddy and I spent way too much time cleaning them with water, then drying them off.
Lesson: Take shoes off earlier and make a go-bag!
Run: 4:05:56
Having never run a marathon before, I felt great for 95% of the run. I ran the first six miles at a 9:20 pace and walked the end of the aid stations. HR was mid 130's. Right on target. At mile seven, I tried to drop into my 8:40 pace, just like in training, but could only manage to maintain a 9:10/9:20 since my HR blew through the 130's and didn't look like it was stopping in the 140's. Luckily it never went over 150 until the end.
My feet were drenched from the water that I poured on my head and a nasty blister began forming around mile 8. This was a big painful distraction for the remainder of the run. I am not sure what I could have done differently to avoid the swamp foot. If anyone knows, I would love to hear about it because it affected my stride.
At mile 18/19 I hit rough spot and my pace slowed down 10min. Luckily, it only lasted for two miles and I was back. I started doing the math at mile 20 and realized how tough it was going to be to get a sub 4hr marathon. If I wanted that, I had to make a change now. I envisioned crossing the finish line and got my self all choked up, luckily I had sunglasses on!
I had energy and felt ok except for that blister, so I pushed the pace back up to a 9min mile and stopped looking at my HR. I just went by feel. All I focused on was trying to break that 4hr. barrier.
I liked the 3 loops because I knew what to expect and could strategize the course after running that first loop. The crowds were awesome, so I tried to use them to my advantage: I pushed myself hard when they weren't there and let their added adrenaline carry me when they were there.
The last 4miles were make it or break it and I tried to go all out. I was hitting an 8:50pace and feeling strong. Unfortunately, it was just too little too late.
I never stopped and finished with my head held high. Success!
Lesson: Train without socks? Save a caffeine gel for miles 18/19. Dial back crowd interaction - less high fives and responding back!
Like I said, unbelievable experience overall. It was a beast of race. To all my fellow teammates (and all other members on here) that got out in the Texas heat, my hat goes off to you. Juggling family, work and training is a tremendous achievement. It takes relentless focus, discipline and sacrifice. Bravo!
I followed the IM Full Advanced Plan and hit about 90% of the workouts. It was great prep and got me to the start line feeling very confident about finishing. In fact, I wasn't even concerned about finishing; I had very specific time goals that I wanted to hit and beat. But self imposed time constraints and inexperience are a dangerous combination that made me completely unprepared to handle any kind of race day surprise. Little did I know that the first surprise would hit me right out of the gate. Although I should focus on the positive (finishing, yipee), it's hard to do when you spend the last 6mo training and then make silly mistakes that negate all that hard work and effort!
Overall time: 11:44:00, Div Rank: 66, Gen Rank: 370, Overall Rank: 469
Here's the recap:
Swim: 1:17:56
**Deep breath** That ":17" was painful to type! This was my biggest disappointment of the day. Leading up, all my RR swims had clocked me at 1:07 - 1:09 and I was positive that with the added adrenaline and drafting I could put together a 1:05. Thanks to Mike Robert's posting, the Red Mist workouts, wetronome, high stroke rate, ankle band, etc had me progressing and feeling stronger than ever.
So what went wrong?
I missed my corral time group! I was down at the shore watching the pros take off like some starry eyed school girl and before I knew it the 1:10 group was gone, in the water and off. The 1:20-1:30 group was moving in so I jumped in the pack. Right in the middle. At the time, I didn't think it was a big deal. I would just need to pass a few more people in those first 400 yards, right? Wrong! Wrong! Wrong!
It was a devastating mistake that affected me physically and mentally. I literally battled and fought and scraped my way the ENTIRE swim. Not exaggerating: hands, elbows, feet, shoulders all crashing into strangers - it was mayhem. At no point was I even close to any kind of rhythm. I had to site every other breath, zig zag, stop, breast stroke...repeat again and again. It was the most ridiculous thing I have ever done. Gets me heated up all over again writing this out.
Lesson: Get your head in the game, focus and listen to the guy with the megaphone yelling "get to your estimated finish time group"!
T1: 6:50
Relatively uneventful. Everything went smooth except for two mistakes that a swim skin could have easily solved:
1) I only wore tri-shorts for the swim, so I had to step into my top inside the changing tent. This is a lot easier said than done - the shoulders twisted into tight ropes that took an extra minute to undo.
2) I had placed my HRM inside my bike shoes. BUT since it was super muddy, I chose to wait to put my shoes on last, at the mount line, so that I could step into the baby pool and clean my feet first. There I am at the mount line, in front of everyone, I go to strap my shoes on and I pull out my HRM. Panic. I immediately pull one shoulder off and thread it under my top - not happening. A volunteer sees me struggling and helps hold my bike while I spaz out trying to get both shoulders off and restart the process. Extra two minutes lost, at least.
Lesson: Buy a swim skin!
Bike: 6:06:00
Proud to say I executed my bike plan perfectly (I think). Slow yes, but very happy that it was boring with no surprises and I stayed aero 99% of the time.
I took the first thirty minutes easy and brought my HR down to 122. Guys were blowing past me left and right. My ego would have been hurt if it weren't for all "the box" race prep. I had one 50 year old actually slow down next to me and say "Hey 34 (my age), you should be whizzing past me right now, let's go it's a race!" I told him that I would see him on the run.
Nutrition was spot on...I think. Replacing half bottles made me lose track of how much I was consuming per hour. This was something I did not practice. I managed to down 2.5 bottles and a power bar the first hour, which was great for me. I had to pee by mile 30, but for the life of me could not physically do it while cycling. Maybe its a rubbing your stomach and head at the same time thing. Finally, at mile 70, I ran into a porta-potty.
My suck came at 2.5hrs, which was about an hour early for me. My knee started hurting, my cadence dropped and I felt sick. It lasted the standard 30min and then I was back at it.
The chip seal and headwinds were intense. I tried not to fight them - just hunker down and ride them out.
Things changed at around 5hrs (mile 85) and I really started to enjoy myself. I got this amazing feeling of euphoria and a surge of energy that lasted. It felt awesome, like I had just stepped onto the bike. My Garmin showed my 5mi splits going from 18/19min to 15/16min. It happened on my RR and I was hoping it would happen during the race. Luckily it did, and I passed a ton of people. It really built up my confidence going into the run. My wife even commented on how different I looked compared to the others getting off the bike. She said it was night and day - I was smiling, waving, alert and looked refreshed! I was feeling really good.
Lesson: 6hr bike?! Step up and buy a power meter. Get an aero helmet. Improve!
T2: 7:18
Long run to the bag and tent. The guy ahead of me was asking if it was going to count towards the marathon. Halfway through I stopped and took off my shoes. My feet got muddy and I spent way too much time cleaning them with water, then drying them off.
Lesson: Take shoes off earlier and make a go-bag!
Run: 4:05:56
Having never run a marathon before, I felt great for 95% of the run. I ran the first six miles at a 9:20 pace and walked the end of the aid stations. HR was mid 130's. Right on target. At mile seven, I tried to drop into my 8:40 pace, just like in training, but could only manage to maintain a 9:10/9:20 since my HR blew through the 130's and didn't look like it was stopping in the 140's. Luckily it never went over 150 until the end.
My feet were drenched from the water that I poured on my head and a nasty blister began forming around mile 8. This was a big painful distraction for the remainder of the run. I am not sure what I could have done differently to avoid the swamp foot. If anyone knows, I would love to hear about it because it affected my stride.
At mile 18/19 I hit rough spot and my pace slowed down 10min. Luckily, it only lasted for two miles and I was back. I started doing the math at mile 20 and realized how tough it was going to be to get a sub 4hr marathon. If I wanted that, I had to make a change now. I envisioned crossing the finish line and got my self all choked up, luckily I had sunglasses on!
I had energy and felt ok except for that blister, so I pushed the pace back up to a 9min mile and stopped looking at my HR. I just went by feel. All I focused on was trying to break that 4hr. barrier.
I liked the 3 loops because I knew what to expect and could strategize the course after running that first loop. The crowds were awesome, so I tried to use them to my advantage: I pushed myself hard when they weren't there and let their added adrenaline carry me when they were there.
The last 4miles were make it or break it and I tried to go all out. I was hitting an 8:50pace and feeling strong. Unfortunately, it was just too little too late.
I never stopped and finished with my head held high. Success!
Lesson: Train without socks? Save a caffeine gel for miles 18/19. Dial back crowd interaction - less high fives and responding back!
Like I said, unbelievable experience overall. It was a beast of race. To all my fellow teammates (and all other members on here) that got out in the Texas heat, my hat goes off to you. Juggling family, work and training is a tremendous achievement. It takes relentless focus, discipline and sacrifice. Bravo!
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Comments
Congrats.
Texas again? Not sure if i am going back after this third time.
Great report, great race. Welcome to the club. I did my first IM a decade ago and went 11:40 (with a bike of 6:05 and run around 4:15). Sounds kinda like your day, except mine was at "easy" IMFL on a perfect weather day. The fact that you put that result together on your first try, in those conditions, suggests you have a very bright future if/when you take another shot at 140.6. And you've already identified some areas to target.
Peeing on the bike is a very challenging skill for many of us to develop. My goal is go by Mile 30 or so. If I can open the valve then, I can go all day on the bike. If I wait until Mile 70 when everything below the waist is in some form of distress, I have to stop on the side of the road and pretend to fix a loose aero bottle cage.
If you pour water straight over your head, it's going to your shoes, and blisters will happen. If I pour water, I'll hold my head to the side or my arm coolers out wide. The only thing that goes in my top or shorts is ice. But, like you suggest, I also do a handful of 3-6 mile runs several weeks before the race without socks, just to toughen the feet a bit.
Congrats.
I dont have a whole lot to contribute, but as far as the blisters go, I've had luck with duct tape in the past, and went ahead and threw a small roll of duct tape into my T2 bag, and then my run special needs bag. Obviously, this requires a bit of time to sit, peel off your shoe and sock, and apply a bit of duct tape to the area that's rubbing, but it could save your feet, and maybe you can make up that time with a stronger, less distracted run.
Haha, no idea. I got passed by way too many in that age group - they have some power! No joke. It's like that "old man strength" - that brute power that comes with years and years of hardened cycling experience. One day though...
Thanks for the encouragement Mike! I'm a big fan of yours. You really do go above and beyond on all of your feedback. I've been a silent reader for sometime, just absorbing all the tri-knowledge you share with others. In case no one told you, your swim post was epic. Now you know.
I'll try the head to the side and no sock runs. That blister cannot happen again. And I should use the term "blister" with quotes because this was not your everyday toe blister - this was a deep 3in chasm that opened underneath my foot. Pure nasty pain.
As for my future, full distance is out for a while. I'm going to be focusing on improving my cycling. Buy a cheap used road bike, a power meter, the Time Crunched Cyclist (heard it was a good book?). Maintain running and swimming. And enter some short distance races.
How did you improve from your first race?
Thanks again.
Chris - sorry we missed each other out there. I was looking forward to meeting you. Congrats to you too! Haha, the never ending uses for duct tape. Thanks for the suggestion. If you ever find yourself down here, look me up.
Would have liked to meet you at the race... but someone said you had some bike trouble... too bad...
Congrats Ironman!
Thanks old man! Just kidding. Nothing but humble respect behind those comments earlier.
I would have liked to meet you too. Unfortunately, I couldn't make it until Thursday night and missed all the festivities. I did manage to have breakfast with Coach P and Mark Roberts, which was nice, but that was it. Then I read the group texts about people meeting up for a beer after the race and almost choked on my second 800mg dose of Ibuprofen as I laid immobile on my couch.
Thanks again and congrats to you too!
Ashton, thanks for the kind words. Any "wisdom" you may hear from me is just regurgitated nuggets from the likes of Cronk, Edwards, Truscott, etc.
One more thing to do for blisters, if you don't already, is pre-lube your T2 socks. There are sprays, but I just go with Chamois Butt'r.
Getting faster after your first IM? I vote for consistency, especially if you're going to take some time off from IM like I did (no IMs for five years until my kids were in double digits and had finally quit soccer, the quintessential weekend destroyer). I used to take winters off and not swim or bike for 4-5 months. I didn't get faster until training year-round became part of my routine. And address your relative weakness. If you ran 4:05 in those conditions and it felt easy for 95% of the time, you've probably got a 3:45 or better in you in more normal conditions. Which is a strength. The bike is where I would start. Buy a PM, then slowly, consistently build that FTP up. Once at 3.5 w/kg, shoot for 3.75, then 4. Make sure your training and racing fits into your life, doesn't dictate it, and enjoy the ride.