B. Bejin Race Report IMLP 2015
Thursday: Swim 1 lap of LP to determine if I was going to use the long sleeve or sleeveless wetsuit. Long sleeve it is. Drop off and pick-up bike from Race Wheels rental. Ride down to Keene to make sure wheels are good and I will be able to “let it sail” on race day. Athlete check-in, a little shopping and the team dinner. Focus on hydration and electrolyte intake.
Friday: 4 keys talk and lunch w/ team members. Focus on hydration and electrolyte intake. Stage all items being packed with its associated bag using the EN gear check list.
Saturday: Review list and items, pack for race day. Load up and drop bike and bags at transition. Assemble nutrition plan, lunch, pasta and grilled chicken dinner cooked at the cabin. One beer.
Sunday: Wake at 4am. Oatmeal w/ raisins, almonds, chia seeds and flax seed– eat in the car on the way. Hydration and electrolytes.
Swim: Goal: 1:10 Actual: 1:11:27. Was a little more physical then I expected. Get to close to the swim line, get beat up. Tried to stay outside a little more. Happy with the swim. Slow and steady.
Bike: Goal: 7 hours. Ride at .66 - .68 FTP. I always seem to need to be over the goal so I set the goal a little lower than where I wanted to end up. Bike nutrition will be 20 oz of Hammer Perpetuem mixed as 5 scoops (675 total cal.) per bottle. One bottle per loop. ½ Clif bar (125 cal.) each hour. 2 Salt per hour. 20 oz of water in aerobars. Goal is to empty water each hour. Pee every hour. Restock liquid fuel at special needs.
Bike Execution: Actual: 6:50:30 No power, no heart rate coming out of transition. Decided that the “patience and discipline” tattoos were going to have to be how I rode. Got the hydration and fuel plan started on time. Heart rate was found. Rode that and decided I would switch batteries at the special needs. Slow on the hills, let it sail on descents. Both fuel and hydration plan worked great. Because I had no power, I have no idea how that worked out. I knew that the HR should be in the 110 - 115 range. Stayed at 111 and if it climbed, tried to sit back to get it back down.
Run: Goal: 4:10 based on feedback from the more experienced racers on the team. Run nutrition is 1 Powerbar tangerine each ½ hour. One “mouthful” of plain water each mile. Start painfully slow and hold on until the race got real.
Run Execution: Started at 8:45 pace and walked water stops. Fuel plan went out the window. Warm and sunny. Each stop was a sponge, an orange wedge, a cup of ice, coke, water for the cool down and ice down the shirt. Ran that plan through 19. Ran / walked the last 7 miles. Decided to run the down and walk the up. HR was all squeejaw on the run. Ranged all over the board. I have run 20 Marathons so I ran by feel. Really focused on staying SLOW. I know that mistakes cannot be taken back on the run. Ran all by feel.
Goal was to finish in under 13 hours. Actual 12:52:03
I have met so many wonderful people on the team, couldn’t be prouder to call myself a member of Endurance Nation. Great support from all. Thanks to everyone involved.
Comments
Overall this past Sunday was a Hot and difficult day, and you executed a great race. With your strong marathon running experience you did a great job getting it done with patience and feel when technology went out the window. Congratulations.
I know how long and hard you have been working towards getting this done... you should feel AWESOME!
When I saw you on the bike and you told me about your tech issues, I was struck by how calm and you were. Excellent focus on patience and discipline without the luxury of your PM. Did you ever figure out what happened to your electronics?
Bill you knocked it out of the park for your first IM bro! You were/are also a very important member of the IMLP EN team making us stronger the whole time.
Following your patience and discipline routine on the bike with pacing and nutrition was definitely the key to you exceeding your goal of under 13 hours. Damn well done my friend!
Rest / enjoy / repeat!
SS
Great job Bill! Congratulations. Hope to meet you someday.
There were so many of us running "together", it felt like we owned that course. Good seignior out there.