Tallo IM Muskoka 2015 Race Report
The rest
of the race went well, and helped me get over a disappointing experience at IM
Whistler earlier in the season. Everything went to plan (see this link, and just
change the verb tenses in your mind to adjust from “plan” to “report.” ).
The
highlights reel:
-1:05
whatever swim. I used a Desoto t1 for
the first time in a race setting, and this put me below the 1:06 that I’ve been
plateauing at for a while.
Uneventful. Just like a swim
should be. Unfortunately the extra swim
time I invested this year didn’t result in much of a change in my results over
past performances.
-5:20:00 whatever
bike. I expected 5:30+ given the
elevation profile. The numbers were NP =
190 (incl. Zeros), IF = .7, TSS = 262, all on 270
watts/150 pounds. This is consistent with Kona and Canada bike numbers
last year. I have a lot of thanks to give
to the team for the free speed – or the tips to lead to finding free speed –
coming from an earlier thread on the Muskoka profile. A bad
crash on the second loop put me down for a minute (which I learned later had included
10 to 15 seconds of being out cold, laying sprawled on the hwy). At
the time, I didn’t realize I had been knocked unconscious, so I just assumed it
was a bad fall ,and did a quick mental scan to make sure I had all my marbles,
and then kept going. Post race in the Medic tent, we saw lotsa
cuts, road rash and bruises, and went through the full concussions workup …
when I looked at my helmet after finishing, it pretty much told the story, but I’m
reminding myself that it could have been much, much worse. Unfortunately, about $700 worth of kit
destroyed. Why can’t I fall when I riding in my pos
Canari shorts from 1997 and freebie road helmet?
-changing my pedaling technique to emphasize “scraping
the mud” seemed to somehow forestall the quad soreness that this course should have
dealt up, and the technique obviated lower back pain that arose on similar hilly
courses in the past.
-I’m going to
adopt the writing of a cue sheet (see below) as race SOP going forward. It’s one thing to drive and/or ride the
course making mental observations, and another thing altogether to actually
write down a script for employing certain tactics in certain areas of the ride. This was probably worth 5 minutes of found
speed.
-3:37 run. I was
really worried that Whistler (3:50) was the new normal, so having this time
makes me happy … it’s the same neighborhood as most every other race I’ve done,
and while it doesn’t show improvement, it reflects running to capabilities on a
very very hard run course. I was able
to launch at mile 18 with a fast final 8 miles, and as much as I have found
that this is traditionally where the money is for me finding overall gains against
pother racers, I am also going to explore starting the launch at mile 17 or 16
in the future, and push the envelope in those last miles instead of trying to push
10-15s faster in earlier miles. This is
the most promising revelation for future gains I have had in a long time. Seems silly that it’s so simple.
-After finishing, I honestly thought “ok, I definitely
won the AG.” I’m not an arrogant guy,
but I just thought the course was so tough, and the field so (relatively)
small, that it would just shake out that way.
I was 5th, which I can take as a good lesson in humility and a
reminder that there are a lot of fast guys out there in (a) large numbers, and
(b) large fastness out there. I was kind of relieved to see a 4-5 minute difference
between the 4th place and me, and another 3-4 minute difference
between the 6th place guy. I
hate seeing things like 5-10 seconds, and this was a staggered start, so I
really had no gauge of who in my AG was around me at what point.
-Good enough for Kona 2016. I’m still really sad to not race there with
the team this year – I had been following a plan to try to get me to 10 hours in
Hawaii 2015, and the clock is ticking on the feasibility of accomplishing that
as I age. On the other hand, it’s a
nice feeling to have a long planning period, and then sufficient preparation
for a Cronk-esque ‘fop 2016’ experiment this year. I’ll post that once I’ve dreamt it up.
Comments
Take some REAL (meaning: do nothing) time off to let your brain heal. Lucky for you they didn't send you to the ER for a CT scan - probably would have found intracranial bleeding and put you in the neuro ICU for 1-2 days. Even so, use that great Canadian socialized med to get some proper follow up to make sure there is no hidden damage. Having conked out twice in crashes in the past five years, I learned the effects can be sneaky.
I didn't realise when the Kona clock ticked over; I thought it was the first of Sept, but this gives you first dibs on everything next year - lodging, training plan, mental prep, the works. Take advantage.
Congratulations Dave. Amazing recovery from a crash like that. It was great to meet you at Whistler. JL
I was trying to figure out what BAMF stood for and in doing some research the only thing I could find was the below race report!!
Glad your safe and got the win!!
SS
@ Matt: I didn't' do a Whistler RR because I just couldn't write it without it being a bellyaching post instead of something constructive. Short version, though, was I froze on the bike, went slower on far fewer watts, and had nothing left for the run.
@ Al: Went to my GP on your urging and as an abundance of caution. Thanks for the nudge.
Thanks, all! I'm now fighting every urge to jump into "what next?" mode, and plan to enjoy the Labour Day weekend, training free ... gotta put away the white shoes and seersucker for another year!
Thanks for sharing your prep, process and experiences. I learn so much!!! Congrats on the KQ, the not being road kill, and enjoy packing up the seersucker this weekend.