Dawn Cass's IMWI RR - A surprise sub 12hr & 45 min PR!
Background: 2nd IM (both at MOO). Had a tough 1.5 years to get to the starting line. Finished 2013 super strong with some of the best stats I have ever seen in my life! On the flip side however, as a result of these efforts, I also developed a hamstring tear which basically took the last 1.5 years to recover…and today still not 100%.
Started training in May 2015 after having done a lot of swimming…a bit of cycling, and no running for a year. Daunting to say the least…T minus 4 months to race day.
I was very worried about my running progress just before camp. I called Coach Patrick for some advice how I could get my run on track and to my horror, he said…it’s to late. (Thanks Coach for the encouragement!) He also said…focus on the bike fitness and it will carry you through. I was freaking at the time…but in the end, thanks Patrick, you were of course right. Training camp in August with Coach Rich was fantastic who helped to reinforce the same message. Camp helped to improve the “strategic” side of the course as well. Meeting other EN’ers was a gem…it’s an amazing group of athletes!
Going into Madison I was extremely nervous that I couldn’t even complete the race. My running was the concern…I was 2 min/mile slower than what I was training at 2 years ago…no speed work…no OS…and long runs were fewer then I wanted. I felt it was going to be an embarrassment and a huge waste of all the time I put into it. I would of course give it a go…hell, I was there and in my wetsuit on game day so no turning back!
Short story and to jump to the chase...crossed the line in 11.52…a 45 minute PR, racking up PR’s in all three events, 11th in AG / 58 Gender Rank / 438 OA.
Swim: Hoping for 1:10; Actual 1:07; 7min PR; 14th AG
Fought my way through the crowds and got to the left of the ski ramp with 15 minutes to spare. Found other EN members around the same area so nice to see familiar faces. Everyone around me looking for 1.10 so felt ok where I was seeded. In hindsight, I should have probably got to a slightly faster group as I was fighting A LOT to begin with. Once the gun goes off I normally COMPLETELY FREAK OUT…cannot breath, going to die sort of feeling. This time around told myself…this is all just a game. I am here for the fun and I know how to swim..you are NOT going to die. Heart rate was fine, I was calm, and started reciprocal breathing from the first stroke…wow.
I did have a lot of fighting at the beginning but expect that is normal. I was able to find my stroke at some point and just tried to focus on form. I think with all of the swimming I have been doing, I can actually feel when things are going well…I felt good on this swim. I didn’t do much sighting…which is similar to when I did it before. I think I stayed a fairly good line however don’t really know.
I had the start of two charley horses during the swim. This started in the pool a few months back however put it down to pushing off the side. I was amazed it started in the OWS. I got very nervous as these can take you out of the water. I made sure I didn’t kick..and it disappeared on both occasions. I need to figure out what is causing that.
Got out of the water…hit the Garmin for lap and BAM, it showed me 57 minutes. I was elated at first…but then questioned in my head how that could be possible…that is super human-not me speed. I decided to believe it as it helped the motivation. (In the end, it appears that I got hit about 10 minutes into the swim by someone who actually “lapped” the garmin into transition. I only found this out when I started the run…pressed the button and it said “congrats” triathlon done. Damn…not really.)
T1: 8:54 Nothing important to report here…I can easily shave some time off…not sure what takes me so long.
Bike: Hoping for 6ish; Actual 6:05; 16 min PR; 11th AG
Stats = AP 145W; NP 154; VI 1.062; IF .768; FTP 220
Tried to keep to JRA pace for the first 20 or so miles to ride the EN way. In looking at my files, the first 20 doesn’t actually look all that much different to the rest of the day so perhaps that’s not what I was doing? Considering the lower temperatures I was very careful to stick to the nutrition plan. Plan was ½ Powerbar at 2 hours; GU gel every 30 minutes, salt every hour, and GE throughout the ride. First three hours or so was uneventful and fun..just enjoying the day and the surroundings. At around three hours in, I started to have the worst stomach cramps. It really threw me for a loop as I was keeping to the nutrition plan. It took me a while to figure it out however I “think” I realize what went wrong. In training, I use GE…however pretty diluted with water. Race day…of course it’s full strength from the bottle which I was taking in as quickly as I would on training days. In the end, my stomach just couldn’t take it and I paid for it big time! At this point, about 5 hours into the ride, I started to take water instead of GE to dilute what was inside my system…didn’t actually work. I pushed to get it back into the gates for T2.
Performance and power wise…goal was to stick to ~150W, and average came in at 142. I tried to ride more intelligently and think I did that. Two years ago VI was 1.14 vs this year of 1.06. I am still a bit nervous on the downhill turns so could probably work on that to pick up a bit more speed in the future. Overall based on when I was looking at the Garmin, I thought I was averaging more than 150W. I don’t set interval timers so perhaps that’s something I should think about to give me a better gauge on what I am really doing.
Non-performance related…peeing on the bike….I am now a fully vetted expert at it. Never done it before but successfully did so 4-5 times this year. Felt it pretty disgusting to be honest however it did allow me to continue to drink without having to worry about stopping. Will certainly continue that practice.
T2: 8:39…Embarrassing! I did a full clothes change. I am overly worried about bra chafing so feel the need for massive lube and new clothes. Ladies…could use some suggestions here on how you manage the day. I have had bad chafing on the rib cage before and at 26 miles of distance, feels like someone is sawing you in half! Should be able to take 5 minutes off here if I figure it out. I also did a stop in the toilets in hopes of getting rid of the bad stomach. I sat there for what felt forever…but nothing happened. Stomach still in pain.
Run: Hoping to “just finish”; Actual 4:21; 20 Min PR; 11th in AG; Avg HR 136
Completely amazed myself….that’s the whole story.
The bad stomach pains unfortunately did not go away…and stayed with me for the entire 4.21 hours! Only good news is that by worrying about my stomach…it kept my mind off the fact I was still nursing a hamstring injury.
Plan was to start at a comfortable pace around 10.30-11.00ish and however started at 10.00 and kept pretty steady. Mile 7 started to get leg pain…oh my…cannot be happening. Ignore it..think about something else.
Just before the half way point, I found a fellow EN member and got to talking. We were both trying to keep it around 9:45-10.00 so decided to run together. Through chatting, and just running side by side the time FLEW by. We actually found some of our paces were pushing 9’s and faster and needed to do a sanity check between us….too fast…but feels good! Keep going. I know the work that I put into the training helped to get me to this point however I have to do a personal shout out to Joe Crispino on the team. Running together was so much fun that I think I forgot what we were actually doing! No wall….no dark place….no pain….just a hell of a lot of fun. He made my day….if you happen to be reading this…thanks Joe!!!
Training heart rate on long runs was 140-150 BPM and on the day, average was 136 and pretty much stayed that way (apart from Observatory). I got to ~mile 20 and thought, really….this has gone so fast, am I really within a 10k finish?! I started to speed it up and was pacing ~9 min mile at the end, heart rate up a bit however still feeling fantastic.
In hindsight, I could have probably pushed it a bit harder considering my heart rate…something to learn for next time. Could I get closer to a 4hr marathon?!?! I saw my husband for the last time on the square. He and my two little girls cheering me on and could hear him say “just keep running!”” He knew sub-12 was in sight.
Crossed the line in amazement that a) I was actually going to finish after all the doubt and b) come in under 12 hours which I never expected was a possibility.
I have been building to this for two years, and cannot believe what a fantastic day it was. I thank my family first and foremost. As everyone knows, this takes a lot away from them during training. They are always supportive and serve as my constant cheerleading team. Seeing their 3 smiling faces makes things worthwhile. Second, this year I got to know more of the EN members and seeing everyone on race day was a huge boost. Finally, the coaches….I have learned so much and enjoyed the training, it’s clearly paid dividends.
Next year’s goal…stay out of injury jail…and take another 45 minutes off my time?! Who knows but will be fun. Any feedback / thoughts more than welcome!!
Comments
Wow, congrat's Dawn, 11th in AG with 4 mo's training! Think what next year could bring, with a full season of training! Impressive!
Really enjoyed meeting you at the camp and racing with you a few weeks ago.
Your race is a perfect example of how preparation and execution are so critical. You had been thrown some big curve balls and you rolled with the punches to optimize your training given those circumstances. You had the fitness, no doubt there, just not as balanced across all three disciplines. That fitness and focus during the race is ultimately what let to such a spectacular result. It may be surprising to you, but not at all to those of you that followed your training form the outside.
Well done!
Hey Dawn,
Congratulations on a fantastic race. I know it's been a tough couple of years, so I was really rooting for you. And you really killed it. You're strong at all three disciplines, which means that 45 minutes is obtainable - especially if you pick a course a little less daunting than Moo. As for the stomach issues, you said that you were consuming GE consistently on the bike, but you didn't mention how much. Even if it was only 1 bottle per hour, you probably just consumed a few too many calories. Unfortunately, one of the tales of IM lore that won't seem to die is the notion that we have to treat the bike like a rolling buffet, to stuff ourselves full of calories to utilize later on the run. The reality is, it's very difficult to process more than 80 or so grams of carbs in an hour, especially while diverting blood and energy away from the digestive system. Jessie @Core Diet uses body weight x 0.6 to estimate the number of carb grams per hour. If you were 130# on race day, that's 75g/hour. Those two Gu's per hour gave you 44g. Even one bottle of GE (42) put you at 86. But . . . if you were aggressive and got down 2 bottles/hr, that's 128 grams in a single hour. Which is way too much and totally impossible to process. Then, you add a Powerbar stomach bomb at 2 hours, and it was probably a perfect recipe for GI distress. When you're running, you would definitely feel the sloshing and know that you need to reduce the calories, but the bike can mask the overfill because there's no sloshing. Everyone's unique and practice is crucial, but my top nutritional goals on the bike are ensuring sufficient hydration and salt, calories being a distant third. If I'm plowing through GE and it gets me my 85-90g/hr, I don' t need to supplement with food or salt. Of course, if/when I feel hungry (I always get hungry the first couple of hours), I'll take a gel or (more likely) a few chews. By Hour 4, hunger is gone, as is my desire for GE. So, I reduce caloric intake a bit, move to water + salt + 3x-caf gel, last calories at 30 min from T2, sip some water at 15 min out, and try to come into T2 hydrated and with a pretty empty stomach. If I'm starving (it's never happened), I've got 25 catering teams waiting for me on the run. I've drastically simplified my race plans over the years, in part to eliminate potential failures (i.e., trying to find SN bags, launching special food), but also to free up my energy to focus on just racing and having fun. That said, the one area where I'm still really retentive is bike nutrition, because it's one of the two ways (bike pacing being the other) that can either position you for a strong run or turn your day into a shuffle between portos. But ^^ is just what works for me after many years of trial and failure. The fact that you were able to deal with and overcome the GI issues just shows how tough you really are, and toughness is a great weapon to have in IM.
Congrats again. Can't wait to see what you can do in '16.
MR
it was nice to meet you at the race. Awesome results! I agree with Mike that 45' is doable, especially with a different course, but I would focus on improving your Age Group placing rather than worrying about time goals. You are now in the hunt for Kona!
@Jeremy - Thanks for the note. It was fantastic meeting you as well and hope our paths cross again! Will certainly be following you on your journey to Kona next year. ;-)
@Scott - Thanks...and also fantastic to meet you as well. Would love to keep in touch and see what is next up for you. Every 2 or 5 miles on the bike is a great idea...will put that into the training plan next year to get used to things. Appreciate the tip!
@Mike - Appreciate the post...and the continued support you are giving to me, and others on the team. I do give you credit for the improvement in my swim time! ;-) Great stuff about nutrition. To be honest I have never been that scientific about it which is why I have probably paid for it on the day (got cramps in 2013 as well end of bike...same issue perhaps). This is a definite focus area for me next year!
@Chris - Thanks...and yes, cramps in my calves...they can get very painful. Will give more hydration a try and see how it goes...good idea.
@Peter - Thanks for the note and it was fantastic to meet you as well. I hope our paths cross again. I only dream of Kona however if I could push my place up a couple ticks, perhaps roll down might come my way! Looking forward to following you on your ultra-run adventures next year.
Emily - Thanks for the post...and appreciate your notes when I reached out on cycling as well. I hope to get down your way next year so will give you a shout. Look forward to following your progress as well.
Keep yourself healthy, work on those transitions, and fine tune your bike nutrition ... you've got still more room to improve and surprise yourself.
Dawn,
So great to see you have such a good after all of the hurdles you've had to overcome! And great meeting you at the camp and your family at the race!
Thanks for "mention" Dawn. you had a great race for sure. your run was strong! Sure didn't look like you were overcoming an injury to me. And by the way, you helped me just as much if not more on the run....I wish i could pace off you at all my races. You're right, the time did fly by!!! enjoy your down time kiddo,
Joe
Now about that chafing issue...I now use a product called 2Toms. Its a roll on (slick, not waxy) that I LOVE!!! I use it under my bra strap where I put the hr monitor (used to chafe there a lot) on my neck where my wetsuit bites me, and boney parts of my collar bone that can get rubbed by my tri top zipper. Long runs with short skirts (I'm tall...) get thigh treatment. Never get chaffed. Ever. Its super awesome. I'd get some and try it. Makes the long day of training shower so much more enjoyable not anticipating that moment of water hitting your chafe spots!