Jenn’s IMCDA Race Report - It’s a Cooker
Jenn’s IMCDA Race Report - It’s a Cooker
Pre-Race
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Ahhhhhh, Northern Idaho in June on a lake. Sounds refreshing, right? The year leading up to the race had gone pretty well, all things considered. Spoiled with a new bike, weighing in a few pounds lighter, running faster and with the biggest training load I've done under my belt - we were hopeful! Throughout the year Mark stepped up his game even further supporting almost every long run on his mountain bike and tricking out his trailer as a support vehicle. Healthwise I’d kept an Achilles niggle at bay, avoided any major illnesses or injury and felt ready to race!
Run Support Sherpa Tip: Plan Routes Past the Bakery!
Training Load 2013 to Present: For the Non Data Geeks: It Was A Lot…
About ten days out the weather forecasts started coming in. First 98 degrees, then 102, then 108. Yikes. I looked outside. It was 60 degrees and raining. Sigh. I stepped up my attendance at Bikram yoga which is done in a very hot room and studied electrolyte needs to adjust my nutrition plan. It sure is hard to avoid anything new on race day when you don’t get to train in the kind of weather we were anticipating! So yeah, it was gonna be hot. Robin WIlliams as Adrian Cronauer in “Good Morning Vietnam” would call it “crotch pot cooking” hot. 
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DpktBGInl60
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DpktBGInl60We made our way to Liberty Lake, about a twenty-minute drive from Coeur d’Alene, to stay with our friends Patrick and Diana. These two are truly the hostests with the mostest! They are ever gracious, accommodating, supportive, and amazing cooks. We are lucky to have them in our lives and it is incredibly fortuitous they live close to the race venue! After the usual check-in and administrative tasks… ready or not, race day was upon us!
Swim
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Shortly before the pro start Mark helped me into my wetsuit, wished me luck and cut me loose! In complete contrast to last year where I was worried about cold water temperatures in the high 50s, this year temp was over 72 - downright balmy! I warmed up as the pros went off, then made my way to where I wanted to be in the self-seeding coral with about 5 minutes to go. The cannon went off and I was into the water in less than a minute. “Strong, smooth and long” were my mantras for the first loop and I made my way around the buoys with little contact. When I exited to make the second lap I saw I was on track for a decent swim - nice! “Cadence, follow through and on-the-rivet” were my mantras for the second loop and before I knew it i was touching the sand at the finish and outta that nice refreshing lake with no drama mama!
Taking a Left for the Second Loop
And a Now Take a Right ‘Cause We’re DONE!
Bike
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Thanks to some tremendous volunteers, transition went smoothly and I was outta there lickity split. The first mile I tried to settle down and took in my first nutrition of the day to get on track with the planned 20’ feeding schedule. A quick check of my power showed… nothing. Gah! I rode another minute. Still nothing. Shit, shit, shit. My power meter has wigged out in training before and sometimes if I futz with it just right it comes back on. So… I took a chance and stopped less than a mile into my ride to see if I could get it to work. I popped the caps off, then on (the ancient Chinese Garmin Vector pedal reset secret), saddled back up and hoped for the best. Nothing yet. I got my RPMs back up over 90 where they usually wake up. YES! We have POWER! Whew.
My target wattage for the day was to build from 150w to 165w for an average of about 160w. It was warm and I was missing over a mile of power data so I wasn’t too concerned when I finished the first loop in about 2:48 with an average power of 150w. It was time to step up the intensity but alas, Mother Nature was already stepping up the heat. All the way up to 109 on my gadget and as much as 113 on others with pavement reportedly reading in the 120s. Raise power to 160w? Um no. How about hold at 155w? Nope. I spun up a long hill with the sun beating down at what felt like 2 MPH. Okay, geeze, can we even just keep that 150w from the first lap? Nein!
Bike Data - Worked Less and Got More for it in the Heat
Even on fast descents the air felt like putting your face in a stagnant furnace. Endurance Nation teammate Rachel dubbed it like biking on the “surface of the sun” and though I can't say for sure, I’m betting she was right! The more I concentrated, the less power I put out. My nutrition was all going down well (yay!) and my HR stayed strong indicating I was still working hard, but the power just dropped and dropped and dropped. Sigh. Turns out I was less than 2’ slower but my power dropped dramatically to 138w for the second loop. I took a minute to mourn the woulda-coulda-shoulda bike split that may have been had I been able to hold 160w. Time to turn my attention to this little marathon thing.
Early in the Day - Before the Spectators Retreated to Air Conditioned Restaurants
Very Tempting to Hop in That Lake
Run
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Pro Jeff Symonds spoke at our Whistler camp and his mantra is to “Run Ugly”. Well, this is what that looked like for me. Coming out of transition I was effing hot. Yes, crotch pot cooking hot. It was slightly uphill to the first aid station and I hadn’t noticed any ice to take in transition. There was no shade, few spectators and 26.2 miles loomed before me. I honestly didn’t think it was possible. Somehow I made my way to that first aid station where Heidi and Mark (surprise volunteer of the day!) were ready with lots of ice, water and encouragement. Heidi asked how I was doing. “Fucking hot!”, I almost cried. “Just stay within yourself!” she said. I wanted more ice - I was shoving it everywhere as I shuffled through the station. Mark ran ahead to the end last table and got me two more cups. I felt better. Righty ho, let’s do this.
Run Ugly? Yep.
From thereon out I felt kinda-sorta okay. I quickly established a routine at the aid stations based on what was available. Typically that was three cups of ice right away. The first one went down the bra top. This was the most important one because I could access it later to suck on or simply hold in my hand. The second cup went right down the front of the shorts (I smiled a little at Robin Williams every time) and the third one went under my Raise the Bar the cap. In the middle of the aid station I went for one or two cups of Gatorade and a cup of water. At the end of the aid station if they had it I’d grab two more cups of ice. One more down went down the top and the last one went down the back.
The community really stepped up for this race. Instead of retreating to their homes, many had hoses running and offered to douse us if we’d like. As someone who doesn’t typically struggle with major blisters and was close to overheating, I made the calculated decision to just get as wet as I could as often as I could. “Hose me in the head!” I’d shout as I came by. They happily obliged. My shoes squished for about a minute after each dousing but then resumed to simply being wet. It seemed to be working. And so it went.
On the second loop everyone around me was slowing down, resting in any bits of shade available or simply walking. I passed a gal in my age group at mile 24 with some pleasantries and humor. I’d come off the bike in 6th and knew I been passed by at least one gal in my age group so far. I presumed since I typically lose positions in the run I was passing her for 9th or 10th. Regardless, I was still chugging along and doin’ my best.
I made the final turn on to Sherman and it felt like I was running in a (very hot) ghost town. There was nobody in front of me, nobody behind me and the sidewalks were empty. I could hear Mike Reilly in the distance a few blocks down. He drew me closer. The spectators started to increase, now one or two deep for the last block. Mark, Heidi, Patrick and Diana were there. Whew - I was finished in 11:15!
Finished! Very Few Spectators Braved the Heat Before the Sun Went Down
Reflections
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I was pleased with the PR and super pumped I was able to keep running in the heat. Although my marathon time was well off what I hoped I’d be able to run, I knew I’d given it my all. As it turns out I’d passed that gal for 5th place and was lucky enough to hit the podium the next day. There were three Kona spots and none rolled down.
Podium!
Mens winner Andy Potts assured us this race was, indeed a cooker! Nobody can say for sure what the effect of the heat was on the day but clearly it impacted the pointy-end people less than those in the back of the pack.
Our resident RTB Cyber-Stalker had this Analysis to Offer Inferring About a 40’ Heat Penalty
Andy had some poignant words to offer us on the day about the balance of hope and doubt in his short speech. 
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3jGzxuwOK2o Congratulations to all participants on their efforts on the day especially my Endurance Nation and Raise the Bar teammates! Cheers to the volunteers and residents of Coeur d’Alene who came through in a pinch. And unending gratitude and thanks to Mark who makes this whole silly thing possible and fun!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3jGzxuwOK2o Congratulations to all participants on their efforts on the day especially my Endurance Nation and Raise the Bar teammates! Cheers to the volunteers and residents of Coeur d’Alene who came through in a pinch. And unending gratitude and thanks to Mark who makes this whole silly thing possible and fun! 
Grateful and Pumped!
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Comments
Jenn, congrats on yet another stellar race. It's fun to watch you unleash all that training on race day. Hopefully IMC gives you some conditions that allow you to really showcase your fitness. And although we can't control who else shows up on race day, you drew a really $hitty hand. I think the only girl who beat you who didn't run sub-3:50 was someone who used to spend a lot of time on the IM pro podium. Trying to match that run speed, in those conditions, is just silly. On another day, with different competition, you easily could have been battling for 1st or 2nd. But there are no "what ifs" and do-overs in IM. Rest hard, re-focus and get ready for Canada.
HUGE race performance in unbelievable conditions but not surprising on the outstanding performance.
I watched the week over week work volume which showed up in your performance - no better example of Work Works IMO.
All that work built great durability which held through some extreme conditions!
Super congratulations Jen! Keep Leading!
SS
Super impressed and a lesson to everyone that even with less watts on the bike, still a PR.
Great Job and good luck at IMC.
I love reading your race reports here and description of training on Strava (what does HH mean, by the way? Helpful Husband?). Your writing and descriptions are simply are fun to read, and this is no exception!
Best of luck at IMC, and I look forward to reading about you getting a Kona slot in the near future because, with all your effort and heart, it is going to happen.
Amazing. That race was the ultimate head-banger, eh? (Feels so good when you stop.)
Again...congrats!!
Unbelievable. How you put up that time on that day is amazing and hard to fathom. Congratulations! See you at Whistler.
Unbelievable race in those conditions! To finish on the podium any time is a major achievement but to do it on that day is something special. It will be fun to watch you carry your fitness into IM Canada where conditions should be much friendlier. Congrats again, Jenn!
Thanks for the kind words guys! @ John yes, HH stands for Husband Hero - you were close! And I do think there are gains still to be made on the run Coach P. After Whistler I'll reassess but I think I need a form focus year. Not too much more volume I can throw at it!
Cheers!