John Schneider - IMHoe Race Report
IMHoe 2015, First EN IM, 5th IM in total – I live in Denver – 5280 feet
Not what I rehearsed for the run, I need help figuring out what happened and why, let me know what I need to post to assist with this analysis.
PRE-RACE
8/27
RR#2 I felt great even though the temperature was in the 90’s I ran 60 min’s instead of 54 and ran at 9:02 pace and last 6’ at 8:32, mainly because I would’ve had a really long walk in the heat if I hadn’t ran the extra 6’, out of Gatorade and very hot.
180 min run, best run in training – ever, 18 miles, 2:36, hit the numbers as best as I could I was pretty happy and stoked looking forward to the marathon in the race!
During the last 2 weeks of taper I felt a little out of breath, almost like I was out of shape, I thought it was due to Denver atmospheric conditions, we get high ozone some days and also we were getting smoke from the CA wildfires, so I ignored it, I have an appt with a doctor on 9/28.
Friday
I swam at Kings Beach on Friday am, very close to swim start time 6:50’ish am just like the race start.
Later in afternoon I went and road the Brockway hill starting from northstar drive, took me 22 minutes to get to the top and met my wife at the Safeway to make sure I got a good feel for the downhill.
50-34, with 11-28, NP 220 on climb, FTP 263
Saturday
Admin stuff, pasta’ed up and sat on my arse, foam rolled at night before bed
RACE DAY
Cool at start low 50’s warmed up to mid 70’s during the day.
SWIM – 56:24 M45-49
My first swim with a full sleeve wetsuit roka maverick was pretty smooth. I got a little winded running through the knee deep water before starting to get deep enough to swim, probably should’ve dolphin dived some of it. Drafted the whole first lap and most of the 2nd, then lost my drafters, I think I was the leader of the draft pack until about 500 yards to shore, it got tough to site once the sun broke over the mountains but by then I was almost done.
Forgot to put on my heart rate strap – me being stoopid, don’t have heart rate data to compare to RR I didn’t realize there was a battery in the Garmin units, now I know.
T1
Uneventful, sunglasses fogged up as soon as I put them on making it difficult to grab my stuff, actually grabbed the wrong salt container Hammer Endurolytes instead of Salt Sticks, I’ve used Endo’s in the past with no issues, but it was all good, didn’t wear my running shoes out of T1, should have my clean feet got unclean.
BIKE – 5:48:10
Froze on the 89 bike section up to truckee, arm warmers and Rich’s USPS envelope really helped, discarded these at mile 60’ish at aid station.
20 min’s JRA NP 171 – felt like I had no chain on the bike – I bought a ufo chain.
During the jra I dropped salt pills, should have taken them in T1, had to stop back up a bit and pick them up
Then tried for 197-200 range 74%-75% of FTP
Typical yo-yo’ing with riders during the ride, took it easy up Brockway #1, if I’m reading Garmin info right NP 200
About mile 35-45, felt my quads tighten up, was taking salt and drinking just like RR rides, albeit with Hammer Endurolytes instead of Salt Stick capsules. I eased up on the power a bit and tried to increase my cadence a bit, sometimes I have a tendency to grind.
Brockway #2 NP 160, took it easy.
Pee’ed a few times on the bike so I was definitely hydrated, although I take caffeine salt sticks as well.
Last 7 miles was slow uphill, slight crosswind and I was passing people without even working hard.
T2
Just a bit of trouble getting the race belt on the right way before leaving the shute.
RUN – 4:17:33
Very hot start had my visor on.
Started off perfect – just like RR roughly 9:02’s, the first mile was 9:18 but it was uphill so all was good.
Mile 6 + - I tried to pick up my pace to 8:32, no energy, felt like I took my foot off of the accelerator
Mile 7 – 24 struggled with my run, the only consolation was I kept telling myself that everyone else was suffering and I was still passing more people than were passing me.
I pee’ed twice while running and had one pitstop around mile 15, my heart rate felt high while sitting in the porta potty.
I felt a bit hungry at around mile 8-9 so I started drinking more Gatorade from my race belt, I usually drink on the alarm every 5 min’s but starting drinking whenever I felt like it instead. Filled my bottle up with ice and Gatorade when low at aid station. Around mile 14 ate ½ banana as I was hungry. At mile 18 had another ½ banana and walked up the steep hill while eating it. I think this helped me out a bit at mile 23 I had some coke, I think this helped too. I was able to recover a bit to finish a bit stronger but disappointed after my finish.
POST-RACE
I felt fine, thirsty as usual.
CLOSING THOUGHTS
I have to figure out what’s causing me to not be able to execute my run at practice/training levels. In May I did a HIM and the same thing happened, I thought my problem during the HIM was a lack of nutrition as it was sooo damn cold I didn’t drink much at the start, this wasn’t the case at IMHoe I drank just like training ride. Last year September HIM my run didn’t work at training levels, I was a bit full in the stomach when I started September HIM, so I thought maybe that was the problem.
FYI, My standard bike bottle 24 oz bottle is 2 scoops carbo pro – 200 calories and ¾ scoop soy protein about 75 calories with 2 salt stick tablets and 2 crushed thermotabs and just a touch of crushed niacin and I’m not sure how long those bottles last 1 hour? 1.5 hr, cause I concentrate the formula and then add water at the aid stations.
Comments
"...Then tried for 197-200 range 74%-75% of FTP..." There may be a clue in this. Ideal IF for a 5:50 bike split = 0.70. Maybe 0.71 for a seasoned strong runner. Data needed to fully assess: power file, run splits, (post publicly to Garmin Connect?), & VDOT. FTP is 263, right?
Thanks for your help.
VDOT - 50
FTP - 263
Yes swam in RR before run and bike.
If I did this correctly (my first time attempting this) here are the links for Garmin IMHoe and RR
IM Hoe
Swim
https://connect.garmin.com/modern/activity/907922882
Bike
https://connect.garmin.com/modern/activity/905301094
Run
https://connect.garmin.com/modern/activity/907922900
RR – 8/15
Swim
https://connect.garmin.com/modern/activity/868114253
Bike
https://connect.garmin.com/modern/activity/866652702
Run – HR and elevation missing due to 910xt issues
https://connect.garmin.com/modern/activity/868114264
John S.
I think you were potentially behind on nutrition, especially because you actually felt hungry on the run. It looks like on the bike you were taking in ~275 calories per hour? On the run it was Gatorade and 1 banana?
For reference I just raced at 132 pounds, and had 340 calories per hour on the bike, and on the run I had 4oz of gatorade per mile and 5 gels. How much do you weigh? I think you need to eat more.
In both my own personal experience, and observations of others' races, the number one reason for poor performance on the run is riding too aggressively in the early part of the bike, specifically from about miles 10 thru 40. I looked at your splits on the bike, and found that from time 35:21 thru 1:52:34, your IF was 0.74. Then you hit Brockway climb, and rode @ 0.75 for another 30 minutes - probably OK if you had taken it easier for the 1.5 hours before that, but given what you'd just done, it added to the problem. It's very easy to get carried away on the section out of town downhill along the river, especially on the first loop when you might find yourself among an aggressive pack of riders. The second time around the circuit, your NP was more like what it probably *should* have been during that first go around - in the range of 0.685-0.715. (180-188 watts).
As I said before, someone riding in the range of 5:50 for an IM bike split *should* be riding @ 0.7-0.71 IF. While you did average that, you spent too much energy getting there. In the final section after the Brockway descent (the third time along the lake), your power dropped way down. Much better to have evened that out - easier the first two hours, harder the last hour.
A 3% difference might not seem like much, but even 2-3 watts - 1% of your FTP - for 1-2 hours can make a big difference in how tired your legs are going into the run. I'm willing to bet that if you had biked the first loop at the same power you did the second, your would have had the staying power to keep the watts up at the end, and your run would have been an even split, and maybe even a few seconds faster per mile.
As to nutrition and hydration, the fact that you were able to keep running as well as you did in the second half given your over cooking the first half of the bike tells me you had enough fluid and fuel for this race. The trick is to have more patience and humility on the bike. Your overall time might not have been *that* much better, but you would've been (a) more satisfied with your run performance and (b) maybe a tick faster on the run. Given your VDOT, your best effort could could be just under 4 hours. Plug a 5:50 hour bike in front of that, and you're what, 10+ minutes faster overall?