Rich's 2015 IM CHOO RR
2015 IMCHOO Race Report
Results: 11:29:18, PR & 15:38 improvement over IMMT 2015, 47th of 340 in Men’s 45-59
Swim: 1:16:00, Fresh Water PR (250/340 in Division),
Bike: 5:31:25, PR & (32/340 in Division) 1:17 improvement over IMMT 2015,
Run: 4:34:09 (47/340 in Division)
T1: 4:11 / T2: 3:33 – not sure how to sort this, but amongst the top in Division
I added CHOO to my 2015 schedule on the drive home from IMMT because I felt good and I was disappointed in the IMMT run performance. Training came together pretty quickly with a few strong weeks, but running continued to be an issue with a lingering hamstring issue. I opted to taper (rest) more than planned leading into CHOO in order to enter the race as healthy as possible. All in all, I felt that My bike fitness had improved during the 6 weeks post IMMT, but my run fitness had deteriorated slightly.
Thursday AM Pat Ward and I did a longer than suggested course recon (one loop from the Dollar General store). We rode it easy, stopping along the way, just riding some of the climb and descent sections at race pace. I recently added a D-Fly to my Di2 and was able to do a quick gearing analysis which showed that the 11-25 cassette I had on the bike was not optimal – I was spending 2.5x as much time in the 34-25 combo than I was in the 50-11, and the 50-11 was averaging way below target watts. I switched the 11-25 for a 12-28, which was a huge benefit on race day.
Swim: Goal was faster than 1:20 – actual 1:16:00, 250th out of the water in AG. If you have read my RRs this year, you will notice a couple trends. 1. I am not a good swimmer. 2. I have had a bad attitude about swimming this year. It persists and the results reflect that.
T1: 4:11 I don’t think I have ever covered as much ground as quickly as I did in this transition. All I had in my bike bag was my helmet. Helmet on, stepped out of swim skin and by the time the volunteer had the swim skin in the bag I was half way to my bike. I ran to the fence, said hi to Mariah, mounted and was gone.
Bike: Goal was 180 NP after 160-165NP admin for 13 miles – actual was NP 180 / Pavg 173 (VI 1.04) for the whole ride. Focusing on the section after the admin in/out of town, NP 182 / Pavg 177 (VI 1.028). I pretty much nailed the wattage. VI suffered a little with spinouts on down hills without the 11t gear but the 28t more than made up for that by controlling power spikes. Apart from these segments, VI average was 1.022. HR monitor never worked on the bike. It worked the two days before – but was dead on race day. IM Gods are fickle.
If I want to bike faster, I need to swim faster, because the first lap traffic was horrible. The course played out just like Rich said it would with people killing the hills one the way to Hog Jowl and coasting back to Chimichanga. I was extra conservative on the way out then just rode. Second loop was pretty wide open. When I hit the admin back to town I tired to keep decent speed without burning any more matches.
Nutrition was right on plan at about 325-350 cal per hour and a bottle and a half per hour. Sodium was right at 1,000 – 1,000 mg per hour. I peed of the bike about 6x. Given the amount of beet juice I loaded heading into the race, I can only imagine…
T2: 3:33 included a porta let stop. Everything in a go bag and made sure Mariah got a photo of me eating the banana for Coach P’s benefit.
Run: Goal was to execute a good run. I have yet to do so. Results: 4:34:09, 47/340 in Division.
I need to get under 4 hours, but on this course (hard) with my diminished run fitness, I was pretty sure that wouldn’t happen. I felt strong off the bike. Without HR, I was going off of feel and pace. I tried to settle into something around 9:30 – 10:00 until the first hill. Heading up the first hill, I just pulled my visor down, looked at the road in front of me feet and churned.
At about mile 2 I came across a pro that was walking – asked if he was OK, needed salt, GatorLyte etc. He said he was fine and would run with me for awhile… he paced me at 9:30ish through mile 7… by then several other walking pros had joined in and I got dropped J It was a pretty nice way to start the run – took my mind off running and just had a decent conversation.
I finally got HR working a little over an hour into the run. It was at 150ish – and I was able to maintain that throughout the rest of the run. That was a little slower than I expected, but I was having a hard time running through the hamstring stiffness. Even today, as I write the RR, my legs are not shattered like they should be. I think this is because the stiffness is limiting my ability to run faster. I played conservative to make sure that I can finish, but the result is also a slower time.
I was having some stomach issues that became pretty bad coming back to start lap 2. By mile 15, I was in a really dark place. 10ish minutes in the portalet and I felt like a new man (ever see how your dog runs around kicking up grass and rolling in the yard after… that is how I felt). My pace picked back up a little and even though I was slower than when I started, I felt reasonable and was able to push through the end of the race.
4:34 is not an aspirational MI Marathon time for me. Having said that – I felt like I executed better. Training for a race 6 weeks following an IM is mentally challenging. I'm about to do it again and, honestly, I am going to need to have to flip a switch mentally to make that happen. This is why I am writing CHOO RR today (race +1 day) - time to close the books on it and move forward.
I feel pretty good about an 11:29 on a +4 mile course 6 weeks after IMMT. I will feel even better if I can PR IMFL six weeks from now... I still feel that I am leaving free time on the course.
I appreciate the team support – this was a really fun race because I had a lot of personal friends, my EN team and my local Fraser Bike team here. The RR’s from last year were a huge help getting ready for this – than you very much!
As always - I really appreciate anyone that reads this far and welcome your feedback!
Comments
@CoachP - That is the $100 question... assuming that this week is mostly rest and that race week is mostly rest, that gives me 4 weeks to prepare. My body feels pretty good.
How about this?
Wk 1. Rest - Long but very easy ride Saturday / Easy recovery run Sunday (RECOVERY)
Wk 2. Normal Bike W (VO2)/Sa (long) /Su (ABP), Ease into running (25-30 miles - form), improve swim attitude, consolidate bike gains
Wk 3. Bike as above, 2/3 running (30-35 miles - form) , swim attitude, further consolidating bike gains
Wk 4. Bike W 2.5h, Long Saturday (race pace), rest Sunday @ 85%, long run week (40 miles), swim attitude,
Wk 5. Bike W 2.5h ABP, Saturday 3 hrs, Sunday rest, run (30-35) with emphasis on strides and footwork/form
Wk 6. race week
Now if I could just be unhappy with a 4:34, I would be happy!
Great race and execution!!
@Tim - read and read and re-read your RR from CHOO last year. Then I loaded your Garmin file into GC & WKO and studied how you road the course... you probably don't appreciate how much you help guys like me. Reading your thoughts and the follow-on team discussion about how to transition to Kona and other posts about how to do multi-races with short rests has been my starting point for thinking through what I can/cannot do.
After IMMT, my desire to get on the bike and go hard was pretty strong. My desire/fitness to run was low. It will be interesting to see how it plays out this time.
At the beginning of the year, I wrote a season plan called "659 Minutes" I didn't call it 10:59, because I was focused on finding every minute on the course that I needed to go from a my former PR 11:52 to a 10:59. I knew I had to look minute-by-minute.
I have 6-weeks to find 29 more. 4-miles shorter course is a good start!
Four miles on the bike = 12 minutes. 17 more to go. Doubt you'll find it in the water or the change tent. So ... 45 seconds per mile on the run? You need to average 9:30 on race day, with a little cushion at the start (meaning a little slower first 3-6 miles). All that running you;ll be doing between now and Panama City? The large majority of it should be at about an 8:30-40 pace, to get yourself ready to roll art that 9:30 you want. "Speed" work? At this point in your year, just strides and some (3-6/week) miles @ HMP are all you need. The rest at that 8:37 LRP.
Did you every figure out what the issue was with your HR monitor? Let important to have HR on the bike if you have power, but HR early in the run is extremely valuable.
Good luck at IMFL!
I have ordered two and will keep a spare in my run bag from now on.
Best bike split has been within a couple minutes of my bike for the last three races. It has me at 5:12 for IMFL at the same NP 180w that I raced CHOO. I think the 4 miles plus the flatter course gets me there.
https://bestbikesplit.com/public-race?r=28077
Not wanting to leave well enough alone, I am also making some so tweaks that I have wanted to try for a few months. I have lowered my position and will spend the next few weeks making certain that I can ride comfortably there. I'm also looking at swapping the disc cover for a disc and will run a gear set that is better for flat courses. Together this should get me a little more than 5:12.
That leaves me with 12 minutes to find.
I agree - not on the swim.
I felt my run at CHOO. Was an improvement. I did spend 8 minutes in the head and about .5 mile walking to the head around mile 15. My system had been wonky all week, and I don't think this was a race related issued. So the 12 minutes I need (sorry...) went down the toilette at CHOO. The HR monitor started working at about mile 7ish. My HR was steady In the low 150s then declined with the stomach problem. After the stop, It climbed back up to150+ and was level for the rest of the run. That is a first for me... I didn't get the typical decline.
I need 4:20 (9:55/mile) to get there. I am planning 4:15 (9:45/mile) as a safer planning margin and training for 9:30/mile. All of my long runs this season have been sub 8:30/mile... So I don't think that I have to increase run speed or fitness as much as I need to get to the run in a position to execute.
The "speed" work that I was talking about isn't really speed work. I have been fighting a hamstring injury all season. As a result, my gait has been ruinous. The impacts have been propagating through all the lower extremities. Leading up to CHOO I started some track running, 100, 200 & 300m intervals, but at a pace that is just a little faster than 5k pace. That's why I put speed in quotes. Not really speed. The same workouts, but a slower pace. More like a variety of strides. I use the trace because it is rubber. I wear flat shoes (brooks cadence) so that I can feel the track and the goals have been just to improve my gait (through feel and a little faster tempo) and the intervals seem to help my HR lower (it was stuck high after IMMT). I think that improving the form is overall less stress while running andouille help me get there mo than volume.
A week into this process, I can tell that I need some adjustments. Yesterday's ride was supposed to be fun and easy... It turned out to be wet, cold, super windy w a dead power meter and a crash. Nothing serious - just feeling beat up.
One other thing I am doing - this is new... I have found a chiropractor that specializes in a kind of dynamically assisted stretching. Based on yoga poses and sports motion, the idea is to rebuild, improve mobility related to sports motion. So far - this has been fantastic!
The goodness is that mentally I am there. I am past CHOO and working the process. 4 weeks, 6 days.
I love this sport!
wrt multi IM races... I think I am just going so slow that I am not beat up too badly. When I figure out how to go faster, it will be a bigger issue I think.