Eric's Ironman WI Race Report
Race report for my 20 min PR at Ironman Wisconsin and comparisons across my 4 Ironman Finishes.
Hands down my best race, well executed and planned. Understood where the holes were and can always do more.
PR is always a beautiful thing.
Race Name: 2015 Ironman Wisconsin
Date: Sept 13, 2015
Location: Madison Wisconsin
Type/Distance: Full Iron
Weather: 50 in the morning, 60ish at start, mid 60s most of the day maxing out at 70-72. Mostly overcast.
Describe course: (ex: rolling, flat?)
Swim: Monona is always a little green.
Bike: Hilly and technical, not a lot of places to open up speed.
Run: A few hills, fairly flat.
Race Goal: 12:30
Race Strategy: Swim in control and slow to bilateral breathing, NP of 180-190 with first hour at 160 (bucket of chicken riding). Run 10 min miles at marathon.
Pre Race Logistics
Stayed at Concourse Hotel, and worked to keep it simple. Arrived Friday first thing, checked in for IM then. Took about 45 minutes.
Easy logistics. Saturday drop everything is together at Monona Terrace, bags inside bike out. Lunch at Great Dane.
Race day, walked from hotel at 5:15 am. Dropped bags and then went to transition. Ended with 20-25 min of down time sitting in the terrace trying to find calm.
Walked down to get in the water at 6:40 and did a light swim warm up, treading water at 6:50
Pre-race meal (foods and quantities):
5am: Eng muffin with peanut butter and honey
Yogurt with fruit and granola
Coffee
6 am: Power bar and water
6:40: Gel and water
Warm up description:
In the water at 6:40 and swim a bit to get the excitement out and goggles ready to go.
Start-line arousal level (circle one): low moderate high very high
Used the mantra the day before and that morning “I am trained, I am strong, and I can do this all day long”
Results: (place, time, splits, etc) 133 out of 296. Top 1/3 Makes me smile.
Identify at least 2 things I did well: (be descriptive here)
1. Swim and Bike Planed executed perfectly for effort.
2. Raced in my box, and pulled back even when I wanted to push to not blow it out.
3. Mantra, I am trained, I am strong, I can do this all day long.
What are 2 things I need to improve?
1. Nutrition on the bike was not 100%. Not all the aid stations had chomps I had planned for, and Gatorade proved difficult to take at aid stations and load my bike. Better plan would have helped. Back side of bike was seeing my NP falling.
2. Cramping on run is a common theme across my IM/racing. I need to work on hydration and research on cramping to figure out another way.
Aches/pains/problems afterwards:
Aches for 2 days full body, by Wednesday I was ready to race again. I was thinking I could throw down another IM yet this year as this was just a long training day, I did not race any of it.
Comments on or description of how race developed:
Long training day. Swim was in great control. Bike I wanted to pick up a few times as I felt others passing or crushing up a hill. I held back and flattened the hills spinning up easy.
I found that zen box across the day. Which landed me in running 10 min miles during the marathon and smiling the whole way. It was a great day to race across the board.
Swim executed perfectly. Planned 1:15 to come out ready to go, huge smile and 1:11.
Bike was to be in good control 6:30, came in 6:29. Pulled back several times, when I could feel myself trying to go faster. Worked to setup the best run ever. A bit light nutrition wise. Probably should have used more base salt and water during bike as I cramped on the run (dehydration). NP180, IF .75, VI 1.19. (could be better with pedal efficiency)
Run executed well early. First 15 miles paced to plan (13.1 at 2:15), planned to pick up pace at mile 18. Cramped at 15 causing run walk. Overall PR on run split too.
PR the day, and it was a great day.
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