Clark Mitchell's 2015 IMAZ Race Report
Link to race plan http://members.endurancenation.us/Forums/tabid/57/aft/20026/Default.aspx
In summary, I had a great day, shaving 30 minutes off of my time from last year. I was a little slower on the swim, much faster on the bike and a little faster in transition and on the run. There has been lots of talk about the tough conditions, but that does not resonate with me or my body. I much prefer cold to heat and I would take the rain over the wind from last year any day of the week and twice on Sunday! In all I found the conditions to be very much to my liking, except for the mud on the run.
My overall goal this year was to race Ironman as opposed to just finishing Ironman. I think I was reasonably successful, with lots of nit-picky little details that I care about but that should not take away from the satisfaction of the day. Tim Cronk and I talked about being prepared to be uncomfortable throughout the day and I think I was ready for that. Where I'm still struggling is simply maintaining focus. If I was present in the moment, I did pretty well keeping the intensity up, but if I started to drift or zone out at all, my intensity would drop as measured by power output and/or HR. Lot's left to learn, something I really like about IM.
Swim: Goal 1:15 - 1:18 Actual 1:22 (177 AG)
I had a decent swim and I'm not really clear why or where I lost time vs. last year. I found the rolling start (my first) to be a cluster f&#k. There was way more contact in the first half of this swim than in any of my previous IM swims. I did not have trouble or delay getting into the water and that was the only positive in my opinion. I did swim a little slower than where I positioned myself, yet I swam up on bunches of people. I got kicked, elbowed and slapped most of the way to turn one and had to stop and fix my goggles more than once. Things were less crowded on the return but by then I guess the damage was done. One other interesting swim note was the combination of 1) the cloud cover, 2) the slightly early start time and 3) my dark tinted swim goggles, I was basically blind until the sun came out, which was around the time that I hit the first turn.
T1: Goal 3:00 - 4:00 Actual 5:15 (26 AG)
The goal here was "best in class" and I was a little slower than that. I left my shoes on the bike for the first time in an IM and that went very well. No mistakes here, just a tad slower than I would have liked.
An interesting side note on T1, I came out of the water in 177 place in my AG, but I left T1 in 135 place in my AG. Thus I passed 42 people in T1. By that metric, T1 was my second most successful "event" of the day.
Bike: Goal 5:40 - 5:50 Actual 5:36:29 (74 AG)
My HR is always (really) high coming out of the water so the first half of the first lap was about trying to bring my HR down. I had some success with this, but it really took until deep into the second lap before it was anywhere near normal.
I was successful at increasing my power lap over lap. I was also successful at staying aero over the duration of the ride, which was a huge improvement over last year.
On most all levels, my ride was highly successful.
I peed 5 or 6 times on the bike, so clearly I was not having hydration issues. I did finally slow down my fluid intake late on the second lap and into the third because I did not want to have to pee so frequently on the run.
I had some nausea late on the bike but in hindsight I think it was minor.
Bike improvement was a key focus this season so I'll call this a success. I do wonder how much of my improvement over last year was a result of the day vs. my work. As an example of this, my second lap time was slower than my first lap even with the additional watts. For me at least, the second lap was the most wind influenced. Lap one was really calm, the winds picked up some for lap 2 but then the rain came and that seemed to kill the wind for lap three.
I came off of the bike feeling pretty spent, as if I had ridden hard, yet I had not ridden as hard as I did during either of my RR rides. I'm not sure what's up with that and it's another of the follow-up items on my list.
T2: Goal 2:00 Actual 2:01 (2 AG)
I left my shoes on the bike and jogged to my bag. I found a "dry" spot in transition and started to change but was asked to move further away from the bags. Then I stopped in another spot where I was "invited" to come into the tent to warm up. I politely refused and started to put on my left shoe, only to have my left leg cramp solid! I managed to straighten back up without falling over, which was good but the volunteer who had invited me into the tent looked pretty shocked. He was nice enough to help me into my right shoe, so no second round of cramping. I left my stuff with him and started through the tent only to realize that I had not removed my bike shirt. I unzipped the shirt and worked with a different volunteer to get the shirt off and I asked him to find my bag, which he did. All that and I was out of T2 in 2:01. I totally would have been under 2:00 were it not for the shirt problem.
Run: Goal 3:40 - 3:50 Actual 3:56:18 (27 AG)
The run did not start well. I felt like I was running on dead legs. We talk a lot about the internal and external disconnects that come into play early on the run and I was having none of that. I felt like I was running slowly and, guess what, I was running slowly. No disconnect here.
I stayed positive and convinced myself that things would get better.
And for awhile things did get better. I was able to work my way down to my planned pace while maintaining my planned HR. I held pace pretty well until around mile 6 where I stopped to pee.
I continued to mostly maintained pace until the start of the second lap when things started to slow down. Miles 14 through, well, really the end were all slower than I would have liked. No walking other than the aid stations, but not the pace I was hoping.
Overall: Goal Sub 11:00:00 Actual 11:02:18 (50 AG)Nutrition
BIKE ~330/hour
2 bonk breakers ~500 cal
6 gels - 600 cal
9 scoops Skratch Labs Drink Mix - 720 cal
Salt
RUN
2 gels - 200 cal
1-2 cups GE at most aid stations - ?? cal
Salt
Nit-picky little questions / details / things to follow up on...
Given the numbers, I should not have felt so tired coming off of the bike, which leads me to wonder if the numbers are misleading. We talk a lot about declining FTP over the course of the final build. Based on my last month of rides, Strava was showing me an FTP that was ~30 points lower than my last test. I did not use that adjusted FTP to plan my race and I'm wondering if I should have. With my FTP from September I rode a .68 and 265 TSS. With the Strave predicted FTP from November, I rode closer to .73 and 293 TSS. FWIW, my ride felt more like the 295 than the 265. By the numbers, this ride was not as hard as either of my two race rehearsal rides and I felt better after each of those rides. Of course, I did not swim immediately prior to either of the RR rides.
Five-hour power - I dove into this thread way too late to really digest it, but I think it probably aligns with my thoughts on a declining FTP. This will be a point of further study in the off season.Heart Rate Issues - I don't really like the fact that my HR was 166 coming out of the water / T1. I don't believe my swimming pace was anaerobic. I also don't like the fact that my HR spiked to 170+ for a minute on the run. I've seen this before and attributed it to wind and/or a bad reading, but I'm beginning to wonder if I might have some sort of underlying heart rhythm issue. Probably time to visit the doctor.
Great execution at a macro level but maybe not at a micro level - This goes back to focus as I discussed above. I can't complain about my execution over the course of the day. However, there were many times where I lost focus and didn't keep up the intensity that I was entirely capable of maintaining.---
Huge thanks to the EN Team for all of the help and the information sharing over the course of this season. It's been really great training and racing with all of you. I'm really looking forward to next season.
Comments
Congrats!
Great notes on your transitions (fast too) nothing to complain about there...Nice to see a focus on transitions and recap... We can win or lose a race in transitions , but they are important to all of us... Doesn't matter if FOP,MOP, BOP we do way too much hard work for that day to leave a bunch of free time in transitions.... I like to think of every 2 minutes saved in transitions equates to 4.6 seconds per mile on the marathon , so 4 minutes total left in transitions is almost 10 seconds per mile on the marathon and we all know how hard that would be to get?
The bike- IMO FTP is irrelevant on IM race day... In most cases FTP is an "estimate" of your 1 hour power based off of a 20 or 42 minute test... Then trying to estimate the percentage of that number for a 5.5 hour race? Sure there will always be good correlations as to what your percentage is of FTP for your IM bike split... But that will be different for all , needs to be confirmed on RR's, and actually may not go down during race prep even though your true FTP probably is... Example- 2 guys have the exact same FTP of 200w , #1 is capable of IF.80 for 5.5hrs or 160w and #2 is capable of IF.70 for 5.5hrs or 140w.... The difference could be individual's different strength's or just preparation , but that too is immaterial as long as each of those guys knows what they are capable of for the 5.5hr power... Lots of good discussion in those 5 hr power threads... And yes a 1:22 swim will take a little wind out of your sails as well so now you know to do 1-2 RR's with swim for the next one.
Temperatures- Glad you "enjoyed" racing in the cold and rain :-).... But don't underestimate the effect of those temps on your bike/run etc... 1:22 in that cold water before biking 112 may have had an effect on your RPE... We all like to run in cooler temps because we know we are faster, but at some point it does become too cold and we start to run slower again... So I have a theory that we all have optimal windows of temps... Even though I think you were well within your window for the entire day its something to keep in mind.. I feel the cold I carried with me from the swim into the bike effected my 1st lap but felt fine after that...
Focus and Execution- Executions was awesome... Not happy with your focus? Do you use caffeine? I like to use very small amounts of caffeine for the 1st half of the bike just to stay focussed and alert (safer this way) towards the second half of the bike , pick up the caffeine a little more, and then increase a little more thru the first half of the marathon... A slow build thru the day ...
Clark I watched you carry a heavy load leading the team, the forums and consistently nailing the work day after day, week after week in a tough Ironman training plan! Just damn motivating and inspirational to see that unfold as the cumulative fatigue load built up.
Doing the above is one thing. Making it actually work in an Ironman is a whole other accomplishment and you pulled it off putting your money where your mouth is. There's a lot to be learned and said about that! Could some things be improved, well, yes that always a given, but knocking down an 11:02 Ironman is just fantastic especially when is comes with a 30' PR and a super solid executed run!
What Tim comments regarding 5 hour power vs. FTP is so very true. I can knock out a 2X20'(2') 300 - 305 NP FTP most days but I, so far, have not been able to really execute on that for IM distance in terms of a .70+ IF............ Tim is one of the few that can pull that off but most can't.
Thank you for making EN a stronger team this year. Super race results! Sincere congratulations on a well deserved PR!
SS
@Tim, It was great getting to see you again. I enjoyed our conversation on nutrition and I'll be cranking up the rim-to-rim-to-rim thread shortly after the first of the year. I intend to spend time reviewing the 5-hour power thread during the off season. It seems like there is a lot of good stuff in there. FWIW, I did swim before one of my RR rides, but the logistics of pool to ride are bad for me and I can't get a quick transition, which I think probably negates much of the benefit of doing the rehearsal back to back to back like race day. Another thing to think about for next season.
I'm sure that you are correct that the cold is a factor that can't be ignored. More blood to one's core for warmth and digestion means less blood in the extremities for biking/running. I just know that my preferred temperature range is cold to warm, I'll run outside all winter in 0-10 degree weather and never skip a beat.
I did use caffeine but not until later on the ride and then into the run. I'll keep that in mind moving forward. I think, more than focus, I need to somehow train myself to work harder when I'm not paying 100% attention. I've noticed this on the trainer too - I'll get engaged in what's on the TV and my power will drop off. If I can alter that dynamic somewhat then that should help.
@KMF - I'm just trying to follow your lead, doing the work day after day. You and Doug and Tim set the bar so high I'm just glad that I get to hang around and that I can hang on. So right back at you regarding the motivation. Hopefully our paths will cross again on a future race day.
Oh, and one other detail I left out of my race report was the guy on the P5 who crashed right in front of me after the aid station located after special needs. It was raining and the roads were wet but the road condition did not seem that bad at the time. I did not take anything from the aid station so I stayed left but still paid attention. I saw him get something and work back up to speed so I looked down to stretch my neck and then next thing I hear is carbon fiber and skin hitting the pavement. I looked up just in time to swerve my way around him. It was a clear and flat stretch of road so I'm not sure what happened. Ugly.
Hey Clark,
Really nice race. Congrats. You've progressed over the last year+ and are getting really fast. Transitions were stellar, bike looked steady, and run was great, with no big HR sag in the dreaded 16-20 miles. Running a 3:56 on a 49 vDOT in any conditions = job very well done.
I've never put any credence into the Strava estimated FTP. It's always been all over the place. And I don't think you could have run that fast had you burned 293 TSS points. Like others have noted, FTP is critical for me in training, right up to the last 6-8 weeks. Then, it's honing in on that 5-hour power. Experience (and Cronk's advice) has helped me in that area over the past couple of years. Having done a bunch of these things, I now know that I tend to race around 68-70% of FTP, so that gives me a ballpark estimate going in. As I move into the IM phase, I build up the endurance engine through a series of 3- and 4-hour rides at 76-80% of FTP, knowing that I'll be able to race effectively at about 10% lower than whatever numbers I can consistently hold over 4-5 hours. I then test that race-goal number a couple of times in a RR and make small adjustments if necessary. Finally, I subtract about 5 watts to account for a hard swim. Yes, it's fuzzy math, but it's my fuzzy math, and it's my fuzzy math that has worked several times. This year, that meant a 260 FTP that led to a series of 200-05 long rides, then two RRs targeting and confirming 180, and a race target of 175. The best part of ^^ for me? I went into the race with 100% confidence that 175 would: (1) allow me to run well (most important), and (2) produce a competitive ride (I've entered T2 in the top-20 twice going 165, so 175 has to be better, right?). Now I take the data and lessons-learned from this race, add it to the historical stuff, and map out my plan for next year's IM: hopefully something like 270 FTP, long rides @210-15, and race at 185.
You may follow a completely different path, but you now know without any doubt that 177 watts and 68% will allow you to run well. And that's very valuable info.
Congrats again.
MR
Thanks also for pointing out something obvious, that I totally missed, which is the fact that I now know I can run well after 5.5 hours of 177 watts when my early build FTP was 260.
Your input this season has been really valuable, thanks for sharing and hopefully our paths will cross again soon.
@Dan and David - It was great racing with you guys. Hopefully I'll see you next year.
@Doug - That's what's so great about this team, so many people doing the work, day after day after day, it's contagious.