Jeremy's IMWI Race Report 9:52 - 3rd AG - 18th OA - 1st EN RR Length - KQ!
This is incredibly long...I sat down to write it and the words kept flowing.
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Short Story :
I had a solid performances across all disciplines 1:01:57 SWIM 23AG 128OA, Bike 5:17:34 5AG 28OA, Run 3:26:09 3AG, 18 OA. Importantly I spend only 7:07 in transition, almost a minute less than the next fastest person and I never felt rushed. The combination of these helped me accomplish all my goals: A sub-10 finish, Podium, and KQ despite two poor decisions that led to a bike crash (and lots of road rash) and a less than perfect run execution.
The Long Story (Parental Advisory Warning – Partial Nudity and Adult Situations)
This race was many years in the works. I recall chatting with Patrick four years ago after my very first IM in Arizona. I had no expectations for that race other than to have fun and finish. I ended up finishing with a 10:10 and 16th in my AG. I was nowhere near a KQ, but given it was my first race I knew I had much to learn and improve upon. Patrick also raced IMAZ early on and was in the 10:30ish range and had grown into a dominating AG triathlete which was a good carrot for me to chase. I also had the opportunity to chat with another EN stud Al Truscott. They may not have known it at the time but I was taking mental notes with every work they uttered.
That led me to IMWI in 2013. I picked the race as it suited me well as a relatively strong cyclist with a good w/kg. I knew I could potentially be in contention for a Kona spot then but didn’t ever express this as a stated goal. I had a pretty decent race and finished with a 10:10 and missed the only roll-down by 90 seconds. It was tough being that close, but in retrospect was one of the greatest things that could have happened to me. It reassured me that I am close but also motivated me to work my ass off to bring that dream to life.
A year off from IM distance in 2014 coupled with a job change that coincidently brought me to Wisconsin aligned the planets and I signed up for IMWI 2015 last September. This time I really put myself out there by telling everyone that Kona was my goal. I always trained hard and followed my plan but this additional level of accountability and exposure really helped push the limits.
It started with Dec OS which, in Wisconsin, means lots of trainer and treadmill time. My previous peak FTP was 275 and VDOT was 52. I PRed a Half Mary in December with a 1:25:10 putting my VDOT at 56 so I had a strong running base, but limited cycling had my FTP around 225. I saw very fast recovery in my FTP..jumping back to 260 within a couple months. As I moved into the GF plan and prepped for TOC Camp my FTP kept increasing with higher intensity and duration training, peaking at 295 just before TOC in May. TOC was a great volume and confidence builder for me. I didn’t do any formal FTP testing after this but as my training shifted into the IM plan and focused more on 5 hour power my FTP was effectively in my goal range of 300 watts putting my at 4.1w/kg.
I also was paying more attention to Training Peaks and tracking my PMC which I had a goal of getting to 140CTL which empirically seems to be the level correlated with KQs. I did the IMWI camp with Rich and team in late July and gained further confidence in my biking improvement and time gain potential vs. 2013.
Two weeks out from the race I had my last two long rides which put me at 145CTL and set me up for a good taper. My running had gone well, starting with split long runs until the last month or so until moving to single long runs. My tempo runs dropped from a pace of 6:30s to 6:50s as the fatigue set in but I was able to nail all of my long runs of 16, 18, and 20 miles at a 7:10ish pace with even or negative splits. Heading into taper I was feeling very confident.
The final taper week brought a familiar issue…knee pain. I had to taper pretty seriously because of work constraints so I did less than the plan would suggest. I did nothing the weekend before the race and did a 2800yd swim on Monday morning. On Tuesday I started a 5 mile Z1 run and had sharp pains in my right knee that forced me to walk home after a half mile. I was really nervous as the pain was more acute than I had ever had. I had a couple sessions of ART that seemed to make it feel better, tried a short 2 mile run on Thursday with no pain and had no other activity that week.
I left for Madison on Friday morning, arriving around 9:30 to register and make it to the 4 Keys talk. I dropped my bike off at Race Day wheels where I rented a Super 9 disc and 808 front for them to install while I registered. Went through registration and came up to get my bike around 10:15 when the mechanic told me he had an issue. The Magura hydraulic brakes on my P5 had been bled with the set screw all the way in, so even though it was fully extended it was not wide enough to accept the firecrest rims. I needed to find someone to bleed the brakes which meant baling on 4 Keys. Fortunately the guys at Machinery Row were close and ready for the last minute IM needs. They were great and got me in and out within 45 minutes. Learning here is leave nothing for race weekend…even race wheels. I’ll either buy them or have them shipped to me in advance.
From there I checked into hotel, organized my gear in my transition bags, etc. and focused on relaxing and keeping my legs up until race day. My wife and oldest son arrived mid afternoon on Saturday by which time I had already done bike check in and eaten lunch. They went out and explored the town, had dinner with a friend, etc while I ate Noodles and Co. takeout around 5:30 and watched college football in bed.
I went to bed around 10AM and set my alarm for 2AM at which time I consumed two bottles of Green Machine Naked Juice, or 540 calories. I went back to bed immediately but ultimately didn’t really fall back to sleep at all until my alarm went off at 4:30. I had everything packed, so I grabbed a quick shower to wake up then grabbed my nutrition, Special Needs Bags, and headed to transition. There were a handful of teammates already there as we had a team rack thanks to our Tri Club win. This was nice to have some familiar faces in the morning and also be able to help each other out with pumps, gear etc. I put my nutrition on the bike, pumped up my tires (latex tubes seem to lose 15 lbs or more over night), turned on my bike computer, clipped in my shoes, and was ready to go. At this point it was around 6AM so I headed toward the swim start to find a spot to sit, eat a Powerbar, and relax. The team gathered for a photo at 6:30 after which we dropped off our Morning Clothes bag and headed to the Swim Start. On my way I had a GU and a bit of water.
I entered the water around 6:50 after Rich and I fought the crowd to find the Morning Clothes dropoff. There were a ton of athletes in line and I wondered how they could get everyone in the water for a 7AM start. I wished Rich good luck and we both entered the water to find our spot. I lined up about midway between the ski jump and the left buoy. There weren’t a lot of people around and I was basically in the front row as I waited about 5 minutes for the gun to go off. The conditions were great…smooth water, calm winds, and cool temps.
SWIM
As the gun went off I was part of the chaos that is a mass Ironman start. I expected it and am a pretty confident swimmer so it didn’t bother me too much. As usual the first 2-300 yards were the worst. It was so congested there really was nowhere to go…you couldn’t swim faster without running up on someone, you couldn’t slow down without being run over, and there were bodies on both sides. It opened up a bit after 500 yards or so, but it was nowhere near clear. I would hit or bump someone every minute at the least. Sighting was much easier that 2014 as the sun and smooth water made the buoys highly visible. I was able to maintain good lines to the first turn buoy at which time I entered some expected congestion. After turning left I had a bit more difficulty sighting as the glare was worse. I had mirrored lenses, but they only do so much. The second ‘leg’ is fairly short and only lasted 3-400 yards in my estimation. After turning left again we were dead into the sun, making sighting much more difficult. I was still surrounded by a fairly large group of swimmers so used them to help mitigate my sighting, assuming that large of a group must be moving in a pretty good direction. This is the longest leg of the swim and based on the congestion I had a feeling my swim wasn’t as fast as I hoped. I swam a 1:01:40 in Arizona and was basically solo the second half of the race. I swam a 1:07:XX in Madison 2013 and the congestion was similar to that performance. I didn’t have a watch on, and know that it ultimately didn’t matter. I just needed to keep swimming as fast as I could while maintaining my form. I had a sense of calm as my relatively poor swim in ’13 still got me close to a Kona spot which was a good baseline to have in my mind. The rest of the swim was uneventful. After making the final turn and turning in at a 45 degree angle I could see the Monona Terrace and Swim Exit. As I neared the exit I could feel my legs getting really tight so I have them a few good kicks to get things loosened up. As I went to stand up in the shallow section my adductors locked up temporarily, but a quick kick or two and they were good to go. I looked up as I ran out of the exit but didn’t see the clock. Since I wasn’t wearing a watch either I just kept going. I stopped at the first wetsuit strippers, grabbed my wetsuit, and headed up the helix to transition.
Swim Results: 1:01:57 1:28/100yd pace 23/368 AG 128/2,990 OA. This was only 17 seconds slower than my PR and over five minutes faster than my last IM swim in 2013.
T1
As I headed up the helix I heard a few people with EN gear on scream my name, and ultimately saw my wife and son. I was so focused I only gave them a quick nod and continued up. As I entered the transition room I yelled my number, a volunteer grabbed my bag, tossed it to me, and I ran into the changing room. In the changing room the volunteer with me welcomed be by name. I looked up and saw it was Frederick, a fellow Ironman that I met this winter at my sports club. My T1 bag was very simple…helmet and arm coolers. I grabbed my coolers and put them in my tri suit top, grabbed my helmet and was off. I told Frederick there was a gift card in the bottom for him and thank for helping. As I ran to the bike I put the arm coolers (which were rolled up) on each arm and unrolled them. The arm coolers were meant to serve as warmers in the interim as they were not yet wet and ambient temps were in the low 50s. Our rack was near the end of transition so it was a good jog, and while I had been yelling my number to the volunteers it hadn’t done any good as I had to go to the rack myself and grab the bike. I ran the bike to the mount line and rather than doing a running mount I stopped it and got my feet in the shoes before heading down the helix.
T1 Results 5:15
Bike
I had put in a lot of work on the bike. I knew this was an area I was capable of making some significant gains. Out of T1 I was focused on getting my HR down to my target of 130ish. I had trouble getting on my sunglasses under my Bell Javelin helmet due to the integrated facemask. It took about a mile before it was sorted out. There’s a lot of admin in the early part of the route which I took advantage of to start getting ahead on nutrition. I tried the ‘half Clif bar wrapped in rice paper’ approach and it was great. No hassling with wrappers, and the half bar 120 calories..just pop it all in your mouth and start chewing. There were a few other riders around me and it was the typical back and forth as folks surged up hills and I caught them on the downhills/flats. Around mile 20 things sorted out and there was a group of 4-5 off us at about the same pace. Three were in my age group and despite knowing better I was sizing them up. I also was passed by one or two people in my age group and that started getting to me. I’ve been at this long enough to know I shouldn’t, but with a KQ in my sights it was so hard not to.
At this point my watts were in the low 190s vs. my goal of 210 and despite that my HR was very high....fluctuating from 130-145. My RPE was low so I focused more on watts and nutrition expecting the HR to fall in line. It was fairly cool so I made it a point to drink often (a task made easy by the Speedfil A2 where a straw is always inches from your mouth). Around mile 30 my HR spiked to 170+ so I suspected there was something wrong with my HRM and continued focusing on watts and RPE. By the time I reached Mt. Horeb I was still with the five same guys. It was the usual cat and mouse game but what really gave me confidence is how I flew by them on the flats at very low wattage. It gave me confidence that all the aero doodads and whizbangery was having an effect. Compared to my training rides I had a Super 9 Disk, Zipp 808 front, Bell Javelin aero helmet, Ceramic Speed Optimized Chain (lubricated with unicorn tears), and a clean bottle setup on my P5 (no frame bottles, only BTA and seat mounted). I peed for the first time around mile 35 which was earlier than expected but proved I was hydrating sufficiently. I separated a bit from the group on Garfoot #1, and by the time I got to Garfoot #2 the descent was wide open…I took the sweeping turns full speed, nearly 50MPH and after that point I never saw any of those guys again.
As I climbed Old Sauk for the first time I was reminded of why this is such a great race. The spectators and support were incredible. I was passed by people cranking up the hill and sat up, focusing on keeping my watts around 260-270.
I had a spectator about 1/3 of the way up point and say…look how steady he is…that’s a smart rider, you don’t see many people doing that. At the top of the hill my family was waiting for me and I saw them briefly before headed up Timber Ln where the crowd was spectacular and many EN supporters were out there. Bruce Thompson ran alongside me for a bit and mentioned that Rich was just a few minutes ahead. I told him I felt good and was dialed in. Nothing too eventful for the balance of the first loop. I nailed an aggressive line down Timber Ln, hitting my top speed for the day of 50.4MPH. I attempted to top off my hydration in the Verona aid station but it’s a horribly placed aid station, on a modest downhill where it’s easy to be doing 32+MPH. I went to grab a Gatorade and it hit so hard that it bruised my knuckle. I wasn’t able to hold on but figured the one bottle I had was sufficient to last until the next aid station.
As I entered lap two, I began to pass some of the slower athletes just starting their first loop. It was a good opportunity to take advantage of some legal drafting within the allowable passing time. At this point I was pretty much all along from others at the top of my AG which reinforced my confidence on a strong, consistent bike. By mile 60 I had already peed six times, which I thought was a bit ridiculous, but since I didn’t feel bloated I kept drinking to ensure I took in enough calories. At the bottom of Old Sauk the second time around I passed a guy on a Dimond. As I climbed the hill a few ,minutes later he flew by me…cranking up the hill at a low, powerful cadence. Not Dino Sarti slow…but close. On the downhill following I passed him on only 170 watts, and again on Timber Ln climb be passed me. I saw Bruce here again…same thing…ran by my and told me Rich was a few minutes ahead. I was still feeling good and relayed that on to him.
After the big Timber Ln climb there are some gentle rollers. On an uphill section the guy on the Dimond passed me again, just before the high speed descent with the sharp left at the bottom. As I began the descent I came up on him quickly, passing him on the left and seeing there were two other riders who were seemingly on their first lap that were already on their brakes. It was at this point that I made a poor decision that I should have recognized at the time but in hindsight was just plain dumb. I decided to take an aggressive line on the inside as I passed those slower riders instead of hitting my brakes and slowing down for the technical section at the bottom. As I neared the entry of the turn, I saw the woman in the front look back as she sensed my approach. As she turned left her body moved left taking her bike right into my line. I hit by brakes, and since I was already in the turn my rear wheel slid out from under me and I hit the pavement. It was all in slow motion. I remember feeling my skin being ripped from by body, the sounds of my bike parts grinding the asphalt, and the echo of it all bouncing off my rear disk.
By the time I came to a stop by bike was 10 feet away and it looked like my day may be over. I immediately stood up and assessed what happened. Fortunately no other riders went down. My chain was a mess, but I quickly learned that it was simply off of the chainrings. I quickly pulled it back on and it appeared everything else was functional. By this point the volunteers were right with me and told me that medical was on the way. I told them I was find and that I was going to continue on. The volunteer looked at me like I had three arms when I said that, which I can understand now that I look at what transpired. This fall happened at precisely the same point that I hit my fastest speed of the day on the previous lap (over 50MPH). Upon review of my Garmin file I hit the pavement at approximately 33MPH until I came to a stop. I slid mostly on my left side as my forearm, left thigh, ankle, and butt check were totally mangled, including my brand new EN aero Tri suit L As I slowed down I remember sitting up which in retrospect was not smart as that basically gave me matching road rash on my right butt cheek as well.
Fortunately the bike wasn’t as damaged as it could have been. The bike basically slid on the left brake lever, left pedal, and rear skewer. Those three items were seriously ground down from the pavement however. See pictures below.
Brake lever:
Speedplay pedal ground down (fortunately I was still able to clip in)
Rear Zipp Skewer – ground down to the point it was almost not functional
I wasn’t really feeling any pain at this point due to the adrenaline and endorphins. I could see I was losing some blood, but with 90 miles under my belt I wanted to give it a chance given I was having a solid race up until this point. As I initiated the Midtown climb a few minutes later this is when I started to feel the damange. My left forearm was trashed with blood seeping through the tears on my arm coolers, and as I put it in the aerobars I could really feel the pain. My suit was also mangled, essentially exposing both of my butt cheeks to anyone behind me.
The hardest part of the ride was over at this point, so I settled in to bring it home. As I entered the final 15 miles on the ‘stick’ home I looked at my Garmin to see an average speed of 20.6MPH. With a westerly wind that had picked up I expected to see this increase during the remainder of the trip. By this point my HR had settled in to the 130 range and my watts were in the low end of my expected range so I made sure to hydrate and prepare for the run.
Bike Results 5:17:34 21.2MPH average. 5/368AG 28/2,990. 194 Avg Watts 204 NP 1.05VI .68 IF While it wasn’t a bike PR, it was clearly the best IM bike I’ve had. My PR was at IMAZ which is a much easier course. For comparison this was a 10+ minute course PR which I was very happy with.
https://connect.garmin.com/modern/activity/899060435
T2
Entering the helix I pulled my feet from the shoes and pedaled with them on top as I climbed to the bike dismount. I jumped off, handed my bike to a volunteer, and jogged to the changing room. Again, I yelled out my number, they tossed me my bag, and I ran to the changing room. I had my socks rolled up and inside my Newtons and my Ziplock “go bag” as the only things in the bag. As I put on my socks and shoes the volunteer started pouring out the “go bag” items on the floor. “No!!!” I quipped as he quickly put them all back as I put on my other shoe. I had a gift card for him as well in the back that he was very appreciative of. As I ran out I started taking things out of the “go bag”…my race belt/number, Garmin, hat, quart ziplock for ice, and one more gift card to tuck in my race belt. As I exited T2 I saw the race clock at 6:24 so I knew I was in a good place for my goal of sub 10.
T1 Time was a speedy 1:53…the only sub 2 minute T2 in my AG (and based on my quick review maybe all day??)
Run
As I started the run my HR was 145, about 15 beats higher than it should be so I tried slowing down as I started the run. I only had HR and cadence on my watch as I didn’t want to have pace visible at all. As I approached the 1 mile marker my watch gave the ‘power save’ alarm when I realized I never started my watch since it was already reporting my HR and pace. I hit start at that point and carried on. In retrospect this was my second mistake that could have haunted me but fortunately did not. My HR for the first couple miles was simply too high. I didn’t do enough to bring it down quickly which manifested itself as I slowed later in the race.
As entered the running path which is a slight uphill I passed two guys running together both in my AG. One mentioned my ‘revealing’ shorts and commented that I looked strong for how painful it looked. I pulled away at the turnaround and kept going. At the second aid station I filled my ziplock with ice. The aid station volunteer was surprised/confused but I learned quickly to yell for ice and ask them to just pour them all in my bag. This was absolutely huge throughout the day. It was so great for speed AND temperature control. Sometimes I would zip it under my top, sometimes I would hold in my hand, I could take a few pieces and put them in my mouth, down my shorts, or in my hat…basically wherever I needed cooling. As the ice melted and I approached another aid station I would slide it open a bit and pour the ice cold water on my head. It felt incredible. I took in GE at each aid station and a GU every 25 minutes. As I approached Obervatory Hill I ran up the first half until the very steep section after which I would walk the remainder to keep my HR manageable. I would make up that time on the next section which was a sharp downhill. As I entered State St the crowds really energized me. I was hearing a number of comments about my shorts which provided some good levity as my response to the women was always “so…you are checking out my ass?”
A block from the State St turnaround I saw Rich, which I hoped to pass at some point, but expected it to be much later in the race. I expected him to have about a 15-20 minute advantage on me, but since he looked strong and steady on the run I wasn’t worried about him. I passed him just before the turnaround and we exchanged a few words as I pulled away. The balance of the first loop was pretty steady. My HR had dropped down to a manageable level and I focused on maintaining cadence and keeping my nutrition in line. I also did something I’ve never had to do before which is pee on the run. I peed 2-3 times. Given the 70 degree temperatures my sweat rate was not as great as it normally is which explains this newfound skill!
I saw the Kurth’s as I headed back to the Capitol. They gave a few words of encouragement and wished me well. They are great people and it was tough not seeing Jen racing. I look forward to when she back at it! On the final State St section before the capitol I saw my wife and asked her how I was doing. She said that the tracker was all messed up and she didn’t know. I really had no clue where I was at this point.
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I made it to the turnaround and by this time the course was busier with the athletes starting their first loop. I kept it steady and was passing people left and right, although by this point it was very difficult to keep track of my position given I didn’t know what laps anyone was on. The second lap continued largely as the first. I continued to refill my ice bag at each aid station and by this point was alternating coke and GE and still taking in a gel every 25 minutes. As I made it through State St this time I saw the EN crew and Mariah relayed a message from Coach P “Tell him to stay in his box.” She also mentioned that I was in 3rd place which was great to hear. It meant that I needed to maintain this pace and keep steady. I expected to have 5 Kona spots in my AG but didn’t want to cut it too close. By the time I hit “the line” at mile 18 I really didn’t feel that much worse. Given I knew I was still in third I decided not to do anything differently. This turned out to be a good choice as I really hit the wall around mile 22. This is when the real pain started to set in. My legs hurt from running. The road rash was starting to hurt more from the sweat. But I knew I was still in third place and had 30 minutes of running left. At the next aid station I decided to make this my last fueling. I took some coke, GE, and a GU and topped off my ice bag. I didn’t turn the pace up yet as I really didn’t know how far in front #2 was nor how far behind #3 was. I saw the Kurths and the EN crew again as I made my way to the Capitol. By the 25 mile mark I knew I had things right where I wanted. At this point I turned up the pace for a strong finish. I saw someone in front of me on the north side of the Capitol and that was my carrot for the final push. I passed him with about a quarter mile to go and noticed he was in the AG below me. At this point my left hamstring got very tight. I slowed it up a bit so I could finish smoothly. When I entered the finisher chute I was all alone. I gave some high fives and looked up to see 9:52 on the clock. At this point I felt great that I had achieved what I set out to do.
Run Summary 3:26:09 7:52 Pace 3/369AG 18/2,990 OA 140Avg HR. This is a 2 minute IM PR and faster than 2 of my three standalone marathons.
https://connect.garmin.com/modern/activity/899067340
Overall - 9:52:47 18 minute course PR and 14 minute IM PR.
Post Race
I met my wife and son afterward and grabbed some pizza. At that point I realized how banged up I really was from the bike crash. I decided to walk over to medical to have them clean me up. It was still relatively early so there wasn’t much action. They sprayed me down with some antiseptic and scrubbed my wounds which stung like a #$&#. As they were wrapping my in gauze I was joined by Peter and Matt whose medical issues you have likely read in their RRs.
On Saturday AM we went to the awards ceremony where I officially received my third place plaque and claimed my Kona Spot along with Rich. October 2016 is a long way off but I so look forward to racing with the best in the world.
Closing Thoughts
As I sit here on a Thursday evening, four days after the race, my muscles are starting to feel normal but the road rash is proving to be more painful and slow to heal. The last four years have been an incredible journey. I’ve never really considered myself an elite athlete, but I’ve always been very competitive and disciplined. As I look at those around me to see the others that will be headed to Kona I still have a feeling that I shouldn’t be there. It’s incredibly humbling to have made such strides in a relatively short period of time. I have known I wanted to get to Kona for some time, but I honestly didn’t think it would happen this quickly.
The value I have received from the EN team has been immeasurable. Form the racing and training input from proven studs like Al, Tim, the coaches, and others to the fun and camaraderie at the Blue Ridge and TOC camps it’s really amazing the impact and connection from a ‘virtual’ team. I love following along with everyone’s training and seeing the amazing things the team is doing. I am signed up for IMKY next month as a backup race in case I didn’t qualify. I’ll now be skipping that race and am disappointed in some respects as I was looking forward to meeting others from the team, particularly Danielle who has absolutely been crushing her training and is set up to kick ass and take names in Louisville.
I really put myself out there on this race. I told everyone my goal was to make Kona. It was scary. I’m an achiever so to set a goal and not meet it would have been difficult for me. But it also was the perfect way to drive accountability for me. I was all-in for this race. I’ve never put in so much time or effort for such a sustained period. I even overcame my extreme aversion to long trainer rides. My previous long was 90 minutes and I mustered a 240 minute ride due to weather constraints six weeks ago. That almost maniacal focus did take away a bit from the enjoyment though. I was so focused during the race I didn’t spend as much time as I would like thanking volunteers, engaging with spectators, and enjoying the moment.
One thing I didn’t tell anyone, and haven’t until now, is that my plan was to do at most 1-2 more IM distance races for the foreseeable future. The time commitments were a serious challenge as I tried to balance training, work, and family. Now that I’ve qualified I think that Kona will be my last IM for at least a few years until my kids are older. Until then I’ll focus on HIM and shorter races which are easier to train for and recover from.
I also plan to completely enjoy my race in Kona. It’s a ways off, but I am under no illusions that I will be competitive in Kona. Instead, I want to enjoy each and every stroke, pedal, and step of the race. I will slap every hand I can. I will thank all the friends, family, and volunteers I see. And importantly I will savor the final steps down the finisher’s chute. I’ll train hard of course, I don’t know how to train any other way!
Another thought I have as I look forward to Kona is how can I make a difference. Triathlon in many ways is a selfish sport. While I am certainly setting good examples of goal setting, discipline, hard work, and results for my kids I’m also absent from many of their activities or not fully present when I am with them. And externally it doesn’t leave as much time for charitable work, volunteering, etc. I was seriously moved by what Withrow did for Reserve Aid. The money and attention raised for this very worthy cause were incredible. I feel very fortunate to have the time, health, and resources to enjoy this amazing sport and have always had a soft spot for those who are dealt a challenging hand and face an uphill battle for even the simple things in life. For that reason, I am going to raise money for Unbound which is a highly rated, highly efficient charity that supports the most marginalized and vulnerable families and empower them to become self-sufficient, productive members of society.
Finally, and back to Triathlon…the EN approach just works. It’s that simple. I think it’s catching on..I hear more people talking about it even though most don’t execute it on race day…yet. The “go bag” as I mention above is simple brilliance. It saves so much time. I had blistering transitions but never felt rushed. The next closest transition time to me was 45 seconds slower. And I was three minutes faster than my AG winner. I am pretty sure I had the fastest transition time of anyone all day. 1sr out of nearly 3,00 people. When you get to the pointy edge of the distribution every second is exponentially harder to come by. This is free, easy speed. Train Hard. Race Smart. With EN you’ll get the most out of yourself`
Thanks to everyone for their support and encouragement along the way. This team is special and I’m proud to be part of it.
Comments
Jeremy....great race and report and congratulations! Those bike photos really highlight how lucky you were to only have road-rash (if it's possible to be lucky to have road-rash!). Your report highlights beautifully how race day is about execution. But, I think it's a bit short-sighted to say "not fitness". Fitness + execution = PR/(KQ for some). I enjoy following you on Strava and was not surprised to see your podium finish. Congrats on a great race and I hope you can enjoy Kona as you mentioned. JL
I also applaud you for your desire to "make a difference" not only in how present you are with your family but also in the community. Many EN-ers do this although it isn't typically a topic of conversation around here as in the EN community we tend to focus on supporting each other on the more selfish aspects of the sport. There are many ways to give back. Raising money is certainly one and probably the one we hear about most because it's so connected to our own participation in the sport. One that Bruce Thompson did this year was serving as a guide for disabled athletes during races via Dare2tri. Personally I do Board service for a large network of healthcare facilities for the underserved -- it has nothing to do with triathlon...I find it good to keep balance and avoid having my non-family / non-work life dominated by triathlon.
In any case it was great to train with you this summer both virtually and for real, and I couldn't be happier that you accomplished the BHAGs you set out.
Cheers!
You already have the best attitude about Kona: number one goal is to enjoy the day. You absolutely deserve to be there, never think anything else.
One thought...take the weekend to go to Louisville anyway. Register, get an arm band, then be a super Sherpa with your all-access pass, helping out in transition and greeting people right after the finish. The rest of the team will feed you some super mofo, and you can celebrate your success there without having to worry about training or racing, just enjoying the vibe.
What a race. Goals achieved. The crash just really nails home how teetering on the edge is a risk. The reward is great. But, laying it down in a different spot at a different time due to whatever reason and every result comes out differently. That makes it flat out exciting. Way to race it!
1) where's the 411 on the ziplock transition go bags? I have a small HIM in 3 weeks and I'd love to try this out. I have a couple of years to practice these little tricks you guys are pulling off.
2) love the gift card idea for the volunteers. will be stealing that one.
Congrats, tons of hard work went into this, more than just the previous 9 months. Well deserved podium & KQ. Can't take that away from you...evah!
Jeremy,
You remind me that you just cant' keep a champion down! Great report to show me/all of us that no matter what happens, keep moving forward, and keep pushing through the issues no matter how bad it may get.
Takes an awful lot of mental strength and resolve to do what you did. Well deserved trip to KONA and great year for you! Congratulations!
Keep leading!
SS
I understand your dilemma when it comes to the work, training, family balance. Its very tough, and especially so with people such as yourself that want to compete and be the best. Sad, to know Kona will be your last IM for awhile. Thought for sure our paths would cross eventually...maybe in a few years! Again, congratulations, so very very happy for you!!!!
congrats on the KQ and getting back into your box after the crash, looking forward to hearing about your day of awesomeness next October!
Awesome work! Your write up is a road map of vision, hard work, perseverance, and guts. So happy that you converted your training to this result. You are very deserving and a great ambassador for EN, family and the sport. Congrats! It was great to see you out there and fun to play a 0.00001% contributory role in your race (by screaming in your face several times)!
Again, great job, and enjoy the year long victory lap ending in Kona!
Ian
super big congrats. incredible especially after the bike butt slide.
Regarding the Magura, don’t think you can switch to a tririg
mechanical brake?
Something that struck me was the cool weather for the
bike. most all ENers described high
heart rates. Maybe part of the
problem is you folks did not dress warmly enough?
your attitude as displayed in your report is an inspiration.