robin sarner. ironman texas 2015.
Robin sarner. Ironman
Texas. May 2015.
This may be long winded so feel free not to read. And those of you that have been following may
be experiencing Deja vu. But
hopefully the picture is one of progression.
Baby steps, but progression. I seem to be progressing through ironman
typical to my life; I learn slowly but surely with repetitive lashings.
Brief summary:
good swim without wetsuit with pb for no wetsuit right on goal. Good transitions. Pretty good bike 5 minutes more than goal
but 10 minute flat on top of that.
Melted last half of run for unclear reasons. 19th for age. Rolldown to 11th. I was 20 minutes off this. Tantalizingly within reach, even with the
flat, if I had done an ordinary, for me, run.
History: this was my
third texas in consecutive years.
First year had severe dehydration on the bike with an illness preceding
the race but survived the day. Last
year pb race with 9:55 total and 3:25 run in coolish conditions. 8th for age. Full
iron mont tremblant since this last august.
Note I had not done a race report for that as I really didn’t want to
talk about it. Fairly solid race but
bike time wasn’t improved even though a best ever NP and my run did not come up
to potential.
Pretty good lead up training to Texas 2015 with no big
problems. Broke my wrist a few months
ago but kept some strength up with my Vasa swim ergometer with forearm
attachments. Was able to do more than
previous of 4+ hour Saturday Kickr trainer rides. (note my quarq power about equal to Kickr
output so easy to translate to the road) My Sunday long runs had consistent
best average paces. I did a bit more
than usual swim volumes in the 1.5 months preceding the race as I was
determined to do a good wetsuitless swim.
I did a typical OutSeason but added in longer Saturday rides and longer
Sunday runs in the last weeks. My 10
week iron plan was basically the same schedule as the basic iron plan with long
bikes on Tuesday and Saturday. Long run
on Sunday. Big Week at six weeks
until the race.
Travel to The Woodlands was fine on Tuesday for this
Saturday race. I like to get in nice
and early For bike, decided to go
back to my Zinn travel titanium bike.
Just a lot more comfortable than my Cannondale Slice. The main problem is that the crappy seatpost
on the old Slice is only finitely adjustable, and very hard to adjust, so I
never had a good feeling perineum.
And my fastest time to date was a 5:15 on my Zinn at Arizona in
2012. And was happy to save $$$ as
the bike flys in two undersize suitcases.
The bike and my fit is as per the picture on my EN profile. Though now the front wheel is Flo90, and I
use a Giro Air Attack helmet and keep my head down more.
Nice dinner meetup and Four Keys Coach P talk. Mom, sister, and niece flew in (they were
probably some of your loudest cheerers on the day (they were proximal to the
fountain/stair run course detour)).
Race morning. No
problems. Have to get up early early
due to the 640am rolling swim start.
So that meant 250am. It works
for me to get up that early, eat, relax, and poop. Was happy to hear about the wetsuitless
swim. Sister drove me to transition. Pump bike tires. Calibrate the quarq with the garmin. Checked the bike. Checked the transition bags and turned on
run gps. Sister then drove me to swim
start.
Swim. 66+
minutes. I got just a few rows from
the front, to the far right, in the swim corral. Starting off texas to the far right in open
water is definitely the way to go as this is the shortest distance to the first
red buoy. Race started. Fairly calm walk under the arch into the
water. Bit of a tight squeeze around
the little dock but then on my own for much of the first third of the
swim. More contact than previous swims
on the second third due to crooked swimmers.
Clocked in the cheek once with gps watch. Ouch.
Pretty uneventful into the last third in the canal. Happy to swim to goal four minutes better
than the last wetsuitless texas swim two years ago. And did not kill myself to do this; just
swam strong.
T1. 3:30. I had the best transitions times of
all the top folks in my age. For these
warm bikes easy to have minimal moving parts. Only thing in my transition bag was
helmet and glasses as we were able to mount shoes on the bike for this
race. After running to the bike out
through the poopy mud, handed bike to volunteer, and did a quick feet splash in
one of the kiddy pools.
Bike. 5:25+. (but 5:15 taking out 10 minutes flat). VI 1:06 (I assume due to the flat). Np 228.
Cadence average 77 (this was a purposeful change in training and racing
to go to lower cadence. Really seem to
do better doing this with lower heart rate and feel and does not seem to impact
running (at least in training). (Compact
crank. 11-28 on the back so as not to
have to use small chainring much. 170
mm cranks which allows higher seat.) Mounted
the bike and got into shoes without problem.
Set off at goal of 234 watts. (Determined
from combination of need, five hour bikes, and ftp of 300-333 (6-6. 183 lbs.).
Goal of 242 watts to be saved for the middle tough portions of the
bike. At 15 minutes started into eating
and drinking. Every 15 minutes I
planned to drink half bottle of Gatorade.
Every half hour added 100 calories of gel or whatever. The
winds were at the prevailing direction but higher on race day. So the first 40 miles were the typical
fastish. Had my typical ironman bike
blues around halfway and a bit further.
Through about mile 70 I had about a 227 np. Not bad for adjusting to the draft packs,
etc. At about 70 miles I got a rear
wheel flat. First flat in my 12
irons. Apparent pinch flat as my rear
hit a golf ball sized rock and then started to bleed. Full 10 minutes to fix this. Will do better next time but also could
have been a lot longer. For the
handful of miles previous to the flat, energy was lagging a bit. After the flat, felt revived and
energetic. For the rest of the ride
np was about 234 watts. This race was
probably able to stay the most aero I have but still room for improvement. Why did I go half hour slower than Coach
P on similar power? I assume due to a
bunch of small factors that add up: he is a bit lighter, my bike is heavier, my
bike is a bit less aero (great aero fork and wheels but round tubed frame, I
allow myself to sit up at least every 15 minutes for the drink and feed, better
micro decisions by Patrick such as gearing up and gearing down, etc. During the bike I often grabbed an
extra water bottle to cool down and did this even more towards the end. The nutrition held up fairly well. Always hard to tell if the gi urpiness is
what one normally experiences or if it is due to gi shutdown. In the last third of the bike I interspersed
some water with salt capsules, instead of Gatorade drinks. And then added extra more frequent gel or
fuel100 to make up for the calories lost.
I peed about three times on the
bike and came into transition with a bit of a full bladder. So overall felt pretty good getting off
the bike, accounting for the 88 degrees and 90 % humidity.
T2. 3:32. Pretty good. Ran through the transition tent. Sat down on bench on the sidewalk. Put on prelubed socks (liquid Glide) and
then shoes. Grabbed the ziplock bag and
ran.
Run. 3:58+. Goal was something better than 3:30 depending
on the heat and heart rate. Saw sister
and niece right at the run start. Put
on wrist heart rate gizmo. Put on run
gps which I had already started through the bag. Decided not to put on the DeSoto upper body
cooler thing due to the high humidity.
Decided to hold off on the first gel until mile 1-2 as stomach status
not entirely clear. Nutrition plan
involved gel or fuel 100 first 0-1 mile.
Then every 3-4 miles until not able. And Gatorade in between. Plan
to start off the heart rate up to 140 for the first miles. (typically what I get my heart rate to on
the bike. Did not wear heart rate
monitor on the bike this year as I have enough race and training experience to
know what my ballpark bike heart rate is just by feel.) And then push it to 150 the rest of the
run. Started off feeling fairly
decent. Stomach not great so delayed
the first feedings by a couple miles each, but tried to get in Gatorade every
station when not feeding. Water and
ice and sponges at every station for cooling.
Held about 8 minute miles through
almost mile 13. Never felt good enough
to push the heart rate past 140.
Unclear if this was mental or physical deficiency or both. I am a big guy running in the heat. Did ok with it the year previous but not as
hot then. Things went slowly south
from mile 13. Heart rate tapered
slowly down with lack of will or ability to push the heart rate and pace. Heart
rate from 120s to 130s. Walked a couple times in the last third for
about a total of half mile. Had some
dry heaves after a couple Coke intakes (normally this works well). Had some brief periods of hand and feet
tingling. Had some heart rate spikes
to 160s and 170 that did not seem to be artifactual and not associated with
increased effort or pace. Using Mio Fuse wrist heart rate monitor now;
glad to be rid of the chest strap. So
overall had the ironman run suck worse than my usual. So could I have mentalled through to get the
3:38 needed (8:20 pace)? Or was
I close to the edge with greater effort leading to harm and potential passing
out, etc. ? Or the truth somewhere
between the two? Recovered a bit in
the last mile so maybe not as close to collapse as thought ? finished with no big problems in the
recovery area. Feeling pretty good
currently.
Saw Coach P get his award and chatted. Watched
the rolldown and the emotional fun around that.
So have continued my string. 12 starts and 12 finishes of ironmans. But another disappointing race with the
couldas/wouldas/shouldas and the KQ staying just out of grasp. Feel bad for letting down patients,
fellow athletes, friends, and family that have been following the journey and
have felt that the last couple races should have brought success. And, as for all of us, this does cut into
our life in a large way often making maintaining a reasonable balance hard. I generally am still enjoying the
process. I enjoy the complete immersion
of race week and race day. I enjoy
the interactions I have such as those through Endurance Nation. And, for now, there do not seem to be
large negative consequences to my personal or working lives from the cycle of
training and racing for ironman distance triathlons. And there do seem to be various positive
consequences.
Next up is Arizona in November. Don’t think I have had a summer break in
years. Going to relax for a few
weeks. Plan to hit the road bike this
summer. And with our coaches guidance
get back to a regimen of some sort at some time.
Thanks for following.
Thanks to all of you as you are a large part of this.
Comments
Thank you for being a way cool sportsman and teammate. You inspire this first time finisher. I have said it before but want to be clear; your approach to this sport is admirable. It is humbling to rub elbows with athletes such as yourself, Coach P., and the rest of the EN team who grind it out and push for greatness with each work out. That drive and determination to be your personal best is what makes IM so special. I know I am new to the sport, but I still feel that anyone who chooses to do an IM is hard core and to actually cross the finish line is monumental. From where I am standing it looks like you have a stockpile of badass in the bank.
Great report Robin!
Great to meet you that weekend!!
Swim- Congrats on a break thru swim , very impressive , specially at IMTX !
Bike- The still seems to be your limiter... I know you have worked your ass off and tried many different things .... My only suggestion for you on the bike is to go to the Velodrome... Maybe even twice.... Yes its expensive... Skip a race to pay for it if you must... Go once and get a complete fit with Jim at ERO then do some testing (I'd recommend this first since you dont really even know which bike would be better for you yet).... Then after that visit , put some time on it , and go back to fine tune fit, and components.... This would put some real world numbers to your w/cda and you could work on real improvements ... You have the watts , you cant get any skinnier , it must be drag ....
Run- Wow just hit or miss on that one... I think there are very few people that have the ability to shut off the switch required to actually hurt themselves by running till passing out... So yes I'm sure a lot of it was mental..... Doesnt mean it wasnt real and those conditions sounded horrible but we are always capable of more than we think we are...Heck you BQ'ed with your run last year and NOT many people can ever say that....
Transitions- As I watched the race and looked at T - times I kept thinking why are they all so slow , except yours , then I found out you guys were transitioning in a third world country... I don't feel like I missed out on anything this year :-) Way to crush those transitions.....
Cya @ IMAZ , I promise to be the rabbit for you to unlock that run of yours ! Consider doing some Aero work at the Velodrome !
Robin,
Congrats on another great race, even if it didn't deliver everything you wanted. Part of me wished I could have been there this year racing with you again, but a bigger part of me was glad I skipped that carnage day. Even though you handle heat well for a big guy, the little guys still have an advantage on you. IM is a beast, and very few athletes put together the perfect race. I think that's why we keep going back. Unlike me, the thing you have going for you is you already have all the tools. You can swim at the front end and, with a little focus, can get you sub-60 at AZ. You have the watts to go well under 5 on that super-fast course. But like Tim said, you've got to get your w/cda to be as powerful as you huge w/kg. And there won't be 5 guys in your AG in AZ who can run with you. Perhaps mix things up a bit. Get a new bike that's aero and fits you like a glove. Chat with P or R about altering some wko structure so that you can turn those middle miles in the IM into a strength. Set some secondary goals for AZ, as KQ depends on who shows up (i.e., it's out of your hands) - start the run at 6:15? Go sub-9:45? Most of all, continue to enjoy the journey.
Mike
Good job on jumping off and getting that flat fixed. Sounds like it hit you right at a "good" point (if there is a good point to have a flat), and helped you pull a few things together to finish off the bike strong.
You mention that you don't wear a heart-rate monitor on the bike, but that you go on feel. What do you gain by NOT wearing that HRM? Maybe 15 seconds of fiddling with it in T1? Would it be worth it, maybe in a race rehearsal, and maybe even in the races to go ahead and wear that HRM, and get a good reading of your heart-rate, so that you can really hit that number on the first few miles of the run? I know you've got a ton more experience than I do, but I know for fact that I couldn't trust my "gut" feeling about anything on Saturday, and having something to verify my thinking was huge. Plus, going from doing a bunch of training indoors, to racing in the Houston heat and humidity might throw off your internal feel, just enough to make you suffer that last third of the run.
For the question about your power vs coach P, I think the answer has be be tied to your height. Regardless of how aero you stay, there's going to be a frontal surface area perpendicular to the wind that's more than coach P. And when you account for the fact that power is a cubed relationship to airspeed (ie drag force, ie speed), that perpendicular area becomes big, especially over a longer race. Because of all that, I'm betting a guy like you benefits HUGE from a good bike fit. How did you feel about your bike fit? Is there any chance of improving on your aero position with a better fit?
Like I said before the race, I was excited to watch you race, and execute with precision, and it looks to me like you pulled it off pretty well. IMAZ better watch out, cause you're going into that one with something to prove, and a good lead-up and training schedule.
I dont see how yall put together runs like that in the woodlands in that weather. amazing.
Robin,
Enjoyed reading your report. You are one the EN leaders I follow and admire as well as learn from often.
As others have said, you can probably improve the bike as you move forward. However, I think the run was great though not up to your expectations. Many underestimate the difficulty level of executing an IM run in that kind of humidity and the load placed on your body in those conditions. When it is that humid, the air is saturated with water and your body just cannot effectively cool itself with sweat. As you mention below, the bigger you are the more you are going to suffer under those conditions.
Last year I did IMTX with you then AZ like you are this year. I found AZ's arid climate to be much better to deal with than that TX humidity. Last year AZ had the race's worst winds on record and those winds hammered us on the bike on the way out twice then blew thorns all over the road and gave a lot of us (including myself) flats so heads up on that. Those trained to use a PM on the bike faired better ...............not letting that wind burn up all of their matches for the run leg.
KMF my friend! Well done!
SS
Your performance was inspiring. I hope to tackle Texas on 22 April 2017 when hopefully isn't so hot! I'm hoping you will have already KQ'd by then.
I must also suggest that you may be at a point where you need to focus not on KQ but on things more within your control. Sure you can have a goal to KQ - I'm not going to suggest you abandon that as a goal - but to call this race a failure (which I imply from "should have brought success") seems to indicate you are really just focused on KQ and that's it. Perhaps you would get more fulfillment and, frankly, continued improvement, from stepping back, assessing what things you want to improve then executing a plan to improve them. At the end of the race you should be disappointed with some outcomes and happy with others. Hopefully more happy than disappointed, but always assessing against many factors of performance. One immediate area that comes to mind is staying aero on the bike and your comments about being slower than P on the same power, for example.
Overall, you may be at a point where rather than chasing the outcome, focus on the input and let the race come to you. Easier said than done, I know.
Ed. Thanks. Yes I like Arizona. Have done it once before. I have to have a complete race there but
will do my darndest.
Dana. Thanks. I appreciate your spirit. Let us see your race report. Sorry my shirt didn’t make you bike fall
proof but maybe it cushioned things.
Tish. Thanks. Hope to see you out there again.
Timo. Thanks. Sounds like a plan to get to the Los
Angeles area for the bike track testing – he travels too? – and maybe combine
with some coach R bikes. I didn’t
really seem to get faster on my Slice but most of that may have been due to
comfort issues – the damn seat post is just not adjustable. Will be outfitting a new aero frame
sometime soon to use for at least local races. Yes I forgot to mention my big drag factor
– my body – mainly the long legs.
So I could also just increase my ftp and five hour
power! At least my five hour power
seems to be trending upwards. I may
experiment with getting lighter – current Body Mass Index a bit above 21. May try to get closer to 20. Bmi of 20 is still not particularly
skinny (though BMI not a particularly accurate measure of thinness).
Yes the run. I
work on the mental stuff a fair amount.
My plan for cda is to go out a bit more aggressive. I
need to be able to run my best even without a specific rabbit to run after
(like the Al T. and Coach Rich scenario and knowing the first guy is just
ahead). Though you rabbiting at
Arizona will be welcome.
Mike R.
thanks. Yes I plan to get my wetsuit
swims closer to 60 minutes. Yes see
my previous words regarding a bike though being 6-6 I may never find a
production bike that works. Yes I
plan on reworking the bike AND run middle miles. Yes the process and the secondary goals
(which should be primary) need to be where my head is at.
Chris D.
thanks. Funny about the
volunteer comments – I did not notice them at the time. Yes feeling better after the flat makes me
think I should start doing a Special Needs area stop and stretch and feed and
pee – though my flat happened after special needs in this race. First time I did not wear a HR monitor the
whole race – hate the chest band – but now I have the wrist band but this does
not last the whole race – on the bike, I know when my HR by feel::: 120s versus
130s versus 140s versus 150s – but yes will go back to monitoring the whole
race. Yes nothing I can do about
surface area except shave my long legs.
The fit is as good as it will get – Todd Kenyon, online, TTBike fit – my
chest is pretty horizontal to the ground – not much I can do about my curved
back he states – I do work on my head position with turtling and head down.
Mariah. Thanks. Thanks for being there. Yes I endeavor to get more mental J.
Jimmy A.
thanks. Yes was hoping for a
better run but maybe I reached my heat/humidity max.
Shaughn.
Thanks. Yes for the shortish
term I continue to work on my bike power and staying in the aero position. I am looking forward to getting back to
Arizona. Imua.
Paul. Thanks. Going to hold off on the Legacy route for
now though I could go now as all 12 races are Ironman brand irons.
Albrecht.
Thanks. Yes I can certainly
relax if indicated. Though I am
putting that off for a month for the CDA thing.
Matt A. thanks. yes, yes, and
yes. Yes that is where I am trying
to steer my brain, but it is a process.
Though I already do get strong elements of satisfaction from the
process. And I have taken lots of
positive stuff from the last race.
Sorry if I forgot anyone.
But thanks to all for being teammates.
You’ve been at this for a while, and I want to help you to continue to improve…so here are my thoughts in no order. Before I begin, I can’t say enough kudos to Matt A for his comment on making the process as much fun as possible; an
“outcomes only” focus won’t sustain to the destination you want. Even on race day, you have to want something so badly but you can’t really ever try to grab it…or it’ll be gone. I hope you know what I mean there.
So, here goes:
#1 — Aerobottle System on front (A2). I was faster on same watts for one of two reasons. This is the most important. I only sat up on short hills and at aid stations. All my pics bear this out. If you drank every 15’, for 30”…across a 5:15 day that’s 22 x 30” or 11 minutes of wind time (not to mention restarting) that you didn’t need to sacrifice. If your Zinn is that comfy, let’s get it dialed in. Cost = $30.
#2 — The second reason is solid gearing choices. I ran an 11/28 in the back but I have oversized rings at 54/42…so I had a gear that let me ride 28-32mph pretty consistently..and I used it on all the downhills. No excuses here.
#3 — Your fade on the bike makes me think of adding caffeine into second half of bike nutrition…I start at about Hour 3.5, and I carry caffeine through the rest of the day. This isn’t a fitness thing (assuming taper is okay), it’s a focus thing.
#4 — You need HR for the bike, period. No need to rely on your gut here, and no cost to wearing a strap or anything. HR varies due to temps, terrain, swim effort, fueling, bike pacing…all things you can guess at or just look at a number. In fact, HR was my fallback this year as power was jumpy early on to all the folks on the road. I like to see a high 120s when I start out of T1, but it never went below 130…so I made the call to ride 130-132 as much as possible all day (no rising power as initially planned) to offset the early cost. It also made me ride a very appropriate first 40 miles…and with all the folks around you and I, it’s valuable information.
#5 — Banana out of T2, practice this. Your tingly fingers later and inability to eat in early run miles absolutely cost you. Big guys can’t miss food in an IM. Period. No wiggle room. And on a hot day, can’t miss fluids either. You need some different food in your tummy and some potassium will help with the fingers.
#6 — It’s unclear what salt pills you are using, I suggest Salt Stick or Salt Stick Plus (a bit of caffeine).
#7 — I would suggest Gatorlyte packets every 3-4 miles on the run in gator / coke to ensure sodium is in place to help digestion, etc. They are tiny packets that I carry all day. On a hot day or when tummy issues strike (sloshing, not burping), I throw most of one in a cup and pound it.
#8 — The fade on run — my guess is lack of early run calories and lack of caffeine. I wouldn’t put mental toughness in there…you can only do so much. Instead of focusing on a pace or doing math (both of which I do not practice or recommend), I suggest you focus on keeping that HR solid all day (highs and lows) and early run calories. I had no idea what my pace was until mile 20, when I mistakenly saw my watch split and it said 8:02 (with aid station stop) and my only thought was “Man it’s friggin hot out here.” I am not racing anyone until the last few miles…until then I am building the perfect version of me for that final few miles.
Now to your CDA post....here: http://members.endurancenation.us/Forums/tabid/57/aft/18713/Default.aspx#206011
Also, I graphed your IM results and I gotta say that I like the trend. If I were a betting man, I would have money on you. Your swim has always been there. Your bike and run rankings are improving.
Now I need to go work to make my graph look like yours.