MARVIN KARLOW'S REALLY LONG IM 70.3 HAWAII RACE REPORT
Hi All:
This is my first race as an EN Member and my first EN Race Report. This was my second IM 70.3 (My first was IM 70.3 Austin last October).
Vital Stats
I'm 46, 5'10", 143#, 2:05/100yd, 156 FTP, 36 vDot. The last three are +/-5% since I'm still pretty new to all this, including performance testing.
Prologue
Prior to 18 months ago, I had no athletic experience to speak of, and certainly no endurance experience. The closest I really had to either was being conscripted onto the Cross Country team for one year in High School because they needed a 5th person to participate and I was the only person left (I went to a small school). I distinguished myself by finishing dead last more than one.
I lived a very healthy lifestyle so I always 'looked fit'. As a result, I was often drafted for the 'Corporate 5k/10k Team'. I would try to 'train' but always ended up with some injury, usually knees, and would have to drop out.
I read Born to Run in 2013. I don't know if it was midlife crisis or what, but something in me just changed, and I became determined to learn to run. I knew I needed help, though. There happened to be a triathlon store, TriShop, about 2 miles from my house and one day I just walked in and asked if they offered run coaching. The introduced me to one of their 'coaches' - Raul - who turned out to be the co-owner of the store and who was a week away from leaving for Leadville (which he completed).
My first meeting with Raul included a review of the athlete questionaire he'd given me. I told him that the Most Important Thing was to not get injured ... he assured me that he was in agreement. The last question was "Top 3 Running Goals", which I'd left blank. He was having none of that but I had no idea what my goals were beyond 'learn to run' and 'not get injured'. We finally agreed that he would accept one goal - Finish a 5k! I thought we were done but Raul announced we were "going for a run". I thought he meant on a treadmill ... he meant outside. So we 'ran' 2 miles together which included 2 stops, was probably 13+ minute/mile pace, and i'm sure had my heart rate maxed out. I suspect Raul was wishing he'd stayed home that day.
But I was started. Raul helped me significantly adjust my gait, stride, cadence, and form. He forced me to take it very slowly. But about 6 weeks in, I realized I'd done a 5k training run. So we bumped my goal to "Finish a 10k". Then I did a 10k training run, so we bumped my goal to "Finish a Sprint Triathlon". I'd caught the bug.
So, fast forward 18 months to IM 70.3 Hawaii "Honu"
The Prep
I joined EN November 1, 2014 ... the day after completing IM 70.3 Austin.
I did the November OS. To be candid, I was pretty burned out after Austin, but the momentum carried through to a Turkey Trot on Thanksgiving where I turned in a 52:30 10k (although my garmin said it was about 0.2 miles short). From then through mid-January, my training was fairly pathetic. I had a good 5 weeks till late Feb when a family illness took me out for another 4 weeks. March 1 I started the last 12 weeks of the EN HIM plan.
I agreed with Coach R that I had 10 hours max per week to train. We agreed to the following schedule:
- Mon - 60 min - Swim
- Tue - 60 min - Run
- Wed - 120 min - Bike
- Thu - 60 min - Bike
- Fri - 60 min - Swim
- Sat - 2-3 hour - Bike
- Sun - 1-2 hour - Run
I hit that pretty consistently and did the best I could to follow the workouts as perscribed ...I'm still learning how to train.
The Pre-Race
My daughter (she's 7) wanted to go to Hawaii this year for summer vacation and I wanted to do 2 HIM's. The timing for Honu was perfect so I signed up - actually waited too late so I ended up doing a charity slot, but I got in.
We arrived on Thursday at about 10pm (the Race is Saturday, not Sunday). That was about 10 hours later than we planned to arrive because the airline canceled our earlier flight. I bought a Ruster Hen House bike bag using the Team EN discount. It worked excellent ... no airline issues ... no excess luggage fees ... and my bike and wheels (Zipp 808s) arrived in perfect condition.
My daughter woke up at 4:00am Friday morning which was fine ... had time to assemble my bike (the Ruster does require more disassembly than a normal bike box - wheels, aero bars, fork, saddle, and pedals) and sort out my gear. She helped me with my bike on the balcony while my wife got some much needed rest. Check in opened at 9:00 and I got there about 9:45. Lines were very short and everything was efficient ... the Honu team is many of the same people as the Kona team so they know their stuff. I attended the 11:00 Mandatory Athlete Briefing where I met up with EN teammate Bob Hillar.
Honu is a split transition race - T2 is at the host hotel, but T1 is about 7 miles north along the coast. I found the gear drop off a bit strange - Run Gear had to be dropped off by 2:30 at the host hotel but Bike Gear could not be checked in until 1:00 at T1. Also, there is no parking at the host hotel for non-guests (we stayed at a different hotel) so you had to park about 1.5 miles away and take a shuttle.
The way it ended up working out was this:
- Park at Event Parking at 9:30 an take shuttle to Hotel
- Check In and attend briefing at 11:00
- Sort gear and drop off Run Gear bag before leaving hotel
- Take shuttle back to Event Parking where your bike is waiting in your car
- We were instructed at the briefing to RIDE from event parking to T1. I WOULD NOT do this again. The argument was 'no parking at T1' but there was plenty of parking and even if you had to park far away, it would be no more than a mile versus 7 miles from event parking.
- I DID ride from Event Parking to T1. It turned out to be more like 10-12 miles due to a wrong turn. At least I was riding with a friend from Dallas who was also doing the race. And we did get a feel for the roads and the wind. But 12 miles was not on the pre-race plan.
- The racking at T1 was not numbered. You racked in the order you arrived and the sections were named for former IM champions. I was in the Mark Allen section which was at the entrance to T1. Doing it over, I would rack near the exit of T1 (there was no rule that you had to rack in a specific location) ... getting the bike through all the people transitioning on race day was harder than just running though with no bike would have been ... lesson learned.
- I knew I would have access to my bike race so I left everything in my gear bag hooked over the aero bars.
- I did a practice swim after dropping my bike. The buoys were out already so I swam the first 250 yards out and back. The surf was 2-3 feet and I did OK which really helped my confidence for race morning. This was to be my first OWS in the ocean and my first non-wet-suit race.
- I waited 20 minutes for the shuttle back to event parking. A guy came up to the group waiting and said "I have three seats and I'm headed back to the hotel". I jumped on that. Triathlon people are just so friendly. He turned out to be from Vancouver and had done Honu 10 times ... lots of good tips and encouragement for a first-timer.
- The whole process, including mistakes took 5.5 hours ... I was back in my hotel at 3:00.
Race Day
I fell asleep at 8:00 with no issues. Really didn't have any nerves at all. I felt confident in my training and the EN preparation.
I woke up without my alarm at 4:15. I prayed and reviewed my race plan till 4:30. Then I got up. Had coffee, apple sauce, a banana, and a Bonk Breaker Protein bar. Had a successful bathroom session (twice). Was out the door at 5:20.
I had agreed to give some friends a ride. They showed up in the lobby 5 minutes late (I almost left them) but we were off to Event Parking by 5:35. Racers were given priority on the shuttles so we got right on and headed out to the Swim start / T1. There was a very long line of cars on the two lane road down to the beach and it was already 6:05. We got out and jogged down to T1 ... probably 3/4 of a mile. Turned out to be the perfect warm up.
Found my bike and got my gear setup. Helmet on aero bars with sunglasses and sun screen. Shoes, socks, and bike jersey in bag hung in front of helmet on aero bars. Put air in the tires ... I'd let quite a bit out since we'd left our bikes baking in the sun the day before. Then ran up to bike out to drop my Race Day bag with the volunteers. Forgot to take off my shoes so they ended up back in my bike bag ... made T1 a bit more chaotic ... another lesson learned.
Quick porta potty stop ... again successful ... and I felt ready to go.
Swim - Time: 49.07, 2.32/100, 153 AG
The water was calm compared to the day before, but still some surf and chop. I was in the second wave - M40-49 - going off at 6:48. I am a 2:05/100 swimmer so I'm going to get mauled no matter what I do ... it is just a given ... so I line up on the buoy line, toward the back, and I just deal with it. This was a deep water start so we treaded water for several minutes. There were a bunch of guys beyond the start line so they had to be moved back.
The course starts parallel to the shore for 0.5 miles, 90 degree left turn to short run away from the shore, 70 degree left to 0.5 mile back stretch angled away from the shore, 110 degree turn back to shore.
The swim went fine. I found a hip to follow, kept an eye out for butterfly kicks (what is up with that anyway), and focused on form. It seemed like there was a current against us on the back leg because it took a lot longer getting back than it took getting down. My pace was at least 30s slower than my normal swim pace. Others had similar experience which seems to correlate with there being a current on the back leg. I felt good getting out. I had also remembered to pee on the way into shore which was a first. I walked/ran up the steep hill to T1. Quick stop to wash off sand and found my bike.
T1 - Time: 11:25
I took some time in T1. Mostly to reapply sunscreen (as it turns out, I should have taken a bit more time as I still got a pretty good burn in some spots I missed).
Bike - Time 3:37, 15.5mph, 162 AG
Very steep right off the mount line. Two people went down right in front of me, even with a push. I had taken the advice to rack in the lowest gear and I was fine getting off without a push. The climb from T1 to the highway is about a mile. I just spun up watching my watts. Got passed by people already standing up and hammering.
Once out on the road, the course heads back toward the host hotel to a turn around. I settled in, locked into aero, and started hydrating. My heart rate stabilized around 143 which is about right for me given the swim and the heat. My target was 120 watts or 77% FTP. The hills started immediately but since I already had a feel for them from the day before I was able to hold within +/- 10 watts going up and down. This was my first race trying to ride "EN Rules" ... I discovered you really have to focus to keep the watts up doing down but if you do, you pass a lot of people who passed you going up. Gets to be a bit of a game of leap frog and I think people wonder what is wrong with you, but just ride your race.
My plan was to drink 2 bottles of G Endurance (what they had on the course) and eat 1 Bonk Breaker every hour. I ate my first Bonk Breaker at the turn around at 1:20 into the race. I hit the first aid station just as my Speedfil A4 bottle on my aero bars ran dry. The hand up from the volunteer was perfect (except the cap was closed) and I had my aero bottle full just in time to discard without littering.
I repeated 5 more times for G Endurance and 2 more times for Bonk Breakers.
The second turn around is in Hawi. The 5 miles before the turn around is a steady up hill with about 600 feet of net gain. My wattage was locked on 120 and my heart rate was locked on 145 all the way up. Grabbed a bottle at the aid station (lots of people were stopping) and headed down.
The down was very fast and I took the opportunity to pee again ... I really needed to go by that point ... but I took that as a sign that my hydration plan was working.
The only bits of excitement on the way back were a 1.8 mile Cat 1 clime at mile 47 and a dropped Bonk Breaker (which I stopped to pick up ... figured the time lost was not worth the nutrition lost). The last 3 miles of the course are off the highway down to the Hotel / T2 with the last mile or so 'no pass'. I planned to pee the last time when I turned off the highway ... I had no trouble remembering as I really needed to go again.
T2 - Time: 4:57
Getting off the bike in T2 my heart rate was 135. I'd had 6 bottles of G Endurance and 750 calories of Bonk Breakers on the bike. My bladder was empty and I felt good except for the inevitable 'bike legs'. Racked my bike, found my run bag.
My last three races I've developed a blister on the ball of my right foot. My theory was wet socks from peeing on the bike. So, I changed to dry socks (more on this later), run shoes, hat and race belt.
Run - Time: 2:47, 12:47/mi, 150 AG
The first half mile of the run felt fine. It was on the golf course and it was hot, but I found my "+30s" pace and settled in. I normally don't have trouble with solid food on runs so I'd planed to eat one last Bonk Breaker at the beginning of the run. This may have been a mistake as my stomach didn't react well and I threw it away after a couple bites.
By the first aid station, I was really feeling the heat and nothing was sitting well in my stomach. I poured water in my head which felt great but it immediately ran into my shoes (bending over helps ... another lesson learned). My pace climbed during the second mile and I thought I might be blowing up.
At the second aid station I did - water on the head (bending over), gatorade, coke, and ice in the hat. The ice in the hat causes the worst sort of brain freeze for me, but made a huge difference to my ability to run. I learned in previous races that coke works well for me on the run combined with gatorade. The ice in the hat was new but a welcome lesson.
The rest of the run went like that. Run the best possible pace to the aid station. Walk through. Water on head and shoulders. 1 cup gatorade. 1 cup coke. Ice in the hat. Run.
At mile 6, I peed again. At least I knew I wasn't dehydrated.
Mile 9-12 is an asphalt road through a lava field. It is 1.5 miles down and 1.5 miles back up. There is a combined aid station at the top and another combined aid station at 1 mile down. I knew this was going to be the place to pick up positions in my AG. You could see all the people walking back up. So, I took a few extra seconds in the aid station at the top because I had decided I was running to the finish from mile 9 no matter what.
Down was not too bad but it was really hot. The breeze was behind us so the air felt nearly still going down. I moved quickly through the mile 10 aid station. Got to the turn around feeling OK and started back up. People who had been ahead of me going down almost immediately started walking and I knew this was the time to make it happen. Just like RnP say ... the race begins at mile 9 in a HIM.
So I ran. And I started passing people. I hit the mile 11 aid station. I was hurting but I got through as quick as I could and kept running. People were really starting to fall out at this point and I just kept moving past them. I probably passed 50 people in that 1.5 mile stretch.
And then it was the top of the hill and mile 12. You can do anything for one mile. I didn't even stop at the last aid station. I'm not saying I picked up the pace much, but I didn't stop. And I passed a few more people I'd been chasing the whole run.
The finish was beautiful. They never seem to announce my name when I cross the line ... don't understand that. But I was done and I knew I'd left it all on the course. All I really wanted to do was find my wife and daughter, and sit down. Bob Hillar found me first ... we chatted a few minutes ... I think I was pretty out of it ... and then my family arrived and we sat down in the shade.
Recap
I spoke to an IM official who goes to all the races who told me that Honu is the most difficult 70.3 in North America and top 3 in the world. He also reminded me that Craig Alexander's highest 70.3 time in his career was at Honu. His parting comment was "you do this one for bragging rights, not for time". Interesting perspective.
With a 7:30 overall, I won't be doing any bragging, that's for sure, but I am happy with my performance.
The EN coaching and race preparation guidance was excellent. I had a plan based on EN guidelines, I executed that plan, and it worked. Besides executing my plan well, the thing I'm happiest about is that I picked up 12 spots in my AG on the run. For someone who struggled to run 2 miles 18 months ago, that feels pretty good. And, I believe, that is the core of the EN system ... execute so you don't slow down at mile 9 (or 18) ... if you do that, you had the best race you could have.
My advice to anyone considering this race is - DO IT - it is a spectacular course and a worthy challenge. Make your goals about execution and not time, and you will be well rewarded for your effort.
Comments
That run sounds brutal. I'm from the midwest like Bob...I'm not great in the heat, but the idea of racing it for execution is great!!!
Congrats again and enjoy the rest of your season!
Man, reading your stats and history makes me feel like I'm reading about myself.
I am also someone who started triathlon a few years ago and had zero endurance experience prior.
Congrats on the race - it's a bucket list race for me.