JFH IM Choo Race Report - 1st IM!
Bottom line:
Finish time: 13:14 (goal - under 15!)
Swim: 1:07 (goal - 1:25)
T1: 6:00 (goal - ~5:00)
Bike: 6:02 (goal - 6:10-6:15)
T2: 3:47 (goal - ~5:00)
Run: 5:54 (goal - 5:00-5:15)
Pre-race:
I drove from the DC area to Chattanooga on Wednesday and met up with some of the Michigan crew for dinner Wednesday night. Thursday morning I went to the Y for a short swim, then went and registered and walked the expo. I wanted to get in a short ride, but it did not happen. Thursday night was the team dinner and I enjoyed meeting teammates I had not met previously, and catching up with others whom I had met. Friday the rain began. I tried to meet Mike Crosby and Emily Brinkley for about an hour ride, but we decided it was not really work risking riding the roads in the pouring rain, so we bagged it and went to the awesome biscuit place for breakfast. My family flew in Friday afternoon, so I picked them up, spent some time getting bags ready, and then went to dinner with some friends from Arizona. Early to bed Friday, then Saturday I woke for a very short bike ride around the block to make sure everything was working right, brought my kids to the IronKids race, had breakfast with Emily Brinkley and Mike Crosby and their families, then dropped off bikes and bags and rest of the day was spent relaxing, eating and drinking orange Gatorade. Yumm!
Race day:
I woke up at 3 Sunday and ate 4 packs of applesauce with 2 scoops of protein powder, ate a banana and drank a bottle of GE. Met some friends at 4:10 and headed out the door to transition. Spent a little time loading my bottles and computer on the bike, then headed for the swim start. I spent way too much time visiting the porta-potties, but I did what I had to do! We got to the swim start pretty early and had a spot pretty far up in line. I saw a few teammates on my several walks to the porta-potties, and it was good to get the best wishes from all.
Swim - 1:07:
Since it was not wetsuit legal, I opted to take advantage of my early arrival at the swim start, and swam in my brand new (never tried) Xterra Valor swim skin (the Xterra people and our team discount are awesome!). My Garmin shows that I started the swim at 7:35, so only about 5 minutes after the starting gun. As soon as I hit the water, my left eye filled with water, but that was easily cured and I was off swimming. The swim was fairly uneventful. I just kept swimming, and it was amazing how much faster I felt like I was going when I truly concentrated on my form. (On a side note, I do not understand why people stop swimming and check their watch, do they really intend on making mid-swim adjustments to their pace? No, just swim the dam course!). There was very limited contact with the start. Just over mid-way, I felt like the current picked up, and that helped my mind simply focus on form and try to swim better. I am not a fast swimmer so, based on my race rehearsals, I expected to be in the 1:20-1:25 range. I was thrilled to get out of the water and see the clock on 1:07.
T1 - 6:00:
What can I say? It was a transition. I could have been faster maybe, but I took the time from the swim exit to the bike bags to catch my breath and get my head on straight.
Bike - 6:02:
Based on the EN power calculator and Best Bike Splits, I was targeting a power number of about 176 and expected a finishing time of about 6:11. My problem on the bike is that I weigh 235, so it is very difficult to ride hills without power spikes and to keep a low VI. That said, I did my best to ride the EN way, and it worked to my advantage. Here are my final bike numbers:
AP - 176
NP - 190
VI - 1:08
IF - .73
TSS - 310
Coach Rich was in my head the first 20 miles, and all I could think about was “don’t be stupid in the stupid zone.” There were a lot of people passing me, and I took pride in the fact that I was trying to ride under control and hit the right numbers. In all, I think I overcooked the first loop a little, so I tried to take it a little easier on the second loop to make up for it. Twice during the bike people I was playing yo-yo with on the hills commented how much they like the hills compared to me, and how much I liked the downhills and flats. They eventually fell by the wayside and I kept pedaling on.
Although I hit my target power number on the nose, my NP and VI were higher than they should have been. I need to keep working on body comp. (I was 260+ at the beginning of the outseason). My nutrition on the bike was spot on and I peed twice. The only problem on the bike was that my BTA bottle mount vibrated one of the screws out. Luckily I grabbed it and the clamp before they fell off, but trying to make sure the other side did not also fall off was a little bit of a distraction.
T2 - 3:47:
I came into T2 feeling really good. I grabbed my run bag and found a chair in a relatively empty changing tent. Getting my socks and shoes on was a chore given that I went to put my foot in my right show and the insert bunched up. I got that situated, grabbed my go bag and was out the door. I am happy with my T2, but it would have been a little quicker had the shoes gone on quicker. Oh well.
Run - 5:54:
I started the run targeting a HR of under 135 for the first 6 miles, and expected around 11:00 miles. I managed to keep it under control. A couple times I looked at my watch and say I was starting to run faster (10:15 pace) and again heard Coach Rich in my head - “don’t think that this is your day! Slow it down to the lesser of the HR or pace.” That helped and I managed to keep it under control. EB passed me at about mile 4 and it was a motivator to chat with her for a couple of seconds. Right before she passed me, someone else ran by and told me that an EN athlete had been hit by a car at about mile 11 on the bike and looked pretty bad. That had my mind racing and hoping that whomever it was would be ok and that nothing was too bad. All I can say about that is I am happy to hear that Steve is not as bad as he otherwise could have been and that, like everyone else, I hope he heals quickly and comes back stronger than before!
The only way to describe the North side of the river is to say that hills hurt. Gravity is not my friend on uphills! That said, although my pace slowed on the hills, I managed mostly to keep my feet moving in at least a shuffle rather than walking. Around mile 14 or 15 I started to worry about the line and the suck. I then began to walk .1 and run .4 until I hit the hilly side of the river, where I walked the uphills and tried to “run” the downhills.” Overall, I think I played defense against the suck and dark place too much. It simply never came! Sure, the run hurt, but I kept moving forward. A couple of high points during the slower sections of my run were: (1) some guy who was walking then running way too fast said, “John, you don’t quit do you?” My response was, “why would I quit? I put in the training time and my family is waiting at the finish line!” and (2) a woman towards the end of the run asked if I ever stopped running. I kind of laughed at this since I felt like I was walking way too much, but it brought me some inspiration.
Like the bike, my nutrition was spot on for the run and, if anything, I was drinking too much; I must have peed 8 times on the run. But, it was clear, so I knew I was in a good spot. At one point both of my hands started to tingle. I recalled Coach P saying to eat bananas if you get tingly hands, so I started stuffing down bananas and the tingles eventually subsided.
Overall thoughts:
IT WAS AN AWESOME DAY! This was my first IM, and I finished in 13:14. I am very, very happy with the results. Sure, I could have finished the run probably at least 30 minutes quicker, but that will come as I work on losing more lbs and running faster overall.
To see the EN colors on the course, get the high fives from teammates running the other way, get the mojo from EN families along the course, and see my family several times over the course of the day was amazing. While I may not have hit every point, I tried to follow the EN plan (both in training and in race execution) and could not have done it without the Coaches and the fantastic EN teammates. Simply, the day was fun.
With my first IM in the rear view mirror, it is now time to look ahead and figure out my race calendar for next year.
Comments
And peeing 8x on the run... So proud!
John, it's all in the attitude... and you've got great attitude by the bucket-load. I didn't know this was your first IM. Extra-special congrats for that!!! It's been a treat getting to know you over training camp and during race week. I hope our paths will cross again soon, maybe at Blue Ridge camp or, preferably, over a chicken and bacon biscuit smothered in white sausage gravy. Have a great Out Season!
You have worked your butt off to get this done - make sure to soak up all the accolades. Then start wearing your medal around and get some more!
Congrats John on a race well executed. I think you hit all the highlights....so now the question is, "Are you One-and-Done, or we will see JFH out on the IM course again?"
Joe - I am definitely not "One-and-Done." On the way home, my wife was texting with a friend and wrote, "I haven't asked him that questions yet." When I asked "what questions," she said she didn't want to ask questions for which she really doesn't want to know the answer. I responded, "good strategy!"
My brain housing group is currently scheming on the next one, so I will absolutely be out on the course again (hopefully next year). Besides, I was close enough to 12 hours that I now have a carrot. See you in Boone in a few months.