The Crazy Day That Was Ironman Texas 2016.- Tom Glynn Race Report
Results:
Swim 1:24:09 32/130
Bike 4:05:35 2/130*
Run 3:44:03 2/130**
T1/T2 4:13/3:35
Total 9:21:35**
*95 miles
**includes 7-10 minutes of rain delay
Summary 2nd AG. Kona Qualifier for the second time.
This was my 15th IM experience and 6th time in Texas. I like Texas! I finished 5th in 2011 for my 1st KQ, 7th missing Kona by a few minutes, 7th missing Kona by a long shot and a couple just outside the top 10 area.
Coming into this race, starting in January I decided to make a bunch of changes to my training, trying to see if there were any improvements in me or whether settling for a top 10 finish was the best of my abilities. I like the triathlon lifestyle and I’m always happy to do the best that I can, regardless of the fitness levels of those around me and particularly those that show up to compete against me on race day.
1. I stopped obsessing about nutrition and race weight. I typically weigh in the mid 160s and spend a lot of effort in the last month or so getting into the mid 150s. This year my race weight was close to 165. I don’t consider myself a bad eater, but typically try and clean up some of the junk in my diet as I get closer to the race. I typically give up alcohol for a month or two. This go around I stuck to my usual food routine and about a glass of wine or a beer a day right up to the day before race day. Just didn’t seem to bother me.
2. I updated my race day nutrition, practicing every long bike and long run day for several months. This year I went 100% liquid and carried everything with me. My bike had 4 bottles. Two contained water and 1 scoop of PB Perform. The other two contained 1K liquid calories each. In the 4-hour bike ride I consumed about 2200 calories. On the run I had a bottle of PB perform in T2 and when I finished that I stopped at an aid station and filled it with Coke. I went through a bottle every 45 minutes or so. The benefits were everywhere. My T1 was the fastest ever. Helmet, socks, shoes. All the food was already on the bike. I’m typically stuffing things in pockets, dropping them and wasting time. No stopping at special needs, bike or run. The aid stations were all at high speed, grabbing water to replace the empty PB Peform. Same thing on the run. Only stopped moving at a couple of aid stations to completely fill the Coke. Otherwise full speed run grabbing water and ice.
3. Stronger race tires. I opted for the Continental 4000s as a sturdier choice. I was glad I did. I hit a couple of cracks and potholes and immediately thought I cracked my forks I hit them so hard and then thought a spoke must have ruptured the tubes. No issues at all.
4. More aero equipment. Better helmet and aero top (LG). Same P5 with aero disk jacket. I swam, biked and ran with the LG top. The advantage of a no pocket top is no messing around trying to stuff things into them. They hold ice very well. I also wore my same swim skin as in previous years.
5. I trained slower and my recovery effort was much easier. Little to no days off in the last 12 weeks. Many of my long rides and runs were close to IM pace. A typical long run would be 30 minutes at IM pace, flip it and then 30 minutes back at the same pace. Refuel then repeat the 30-minute blocks but run slightly faster. No track work in the last 12 weeks. For the bike, I spent a lot more time outdoors. In previous years I spent a ton of time on the trainer. This year, runs after almost every long bike; previous years, not so much.
6. More focus on swim technique, paying attention to Swim Smooth videos and the excellent advice in the forms. Getting better, but loads of room for improvement. I have just joined an excellent local master’s program that I’m thrilled with.
7. I practiced bike cornering a lot when I heard the course change announcement. I have terrible bike handling skills, but the practice paid off. Nobody passed me in the corners.
Pre Race week.
I arrived on Wednesday early afternoon, registered and picked up my bike from TB Transport. Great to get that out of the way so quickly.
I stayed at the new Westin Hotel next door to the Marriot and very close to the race finish. Very nice place and I would stay there again. Kids loved the pool.
Wednesday short easy run. Thursday short easy bike. Friday short easy run and bike. I decided against the optional swim on Friday after they announced the swim course change due to heavy pollution in the canal.
Race Day.
Up at 4 for a shower and typical breakfast of bagel & almond butter, yogurt, banana, coffee and a bottle of PB Perform to sip on.
I walked from the hotel to the swim start. No stopping at T2 and I didn’t have any special needs bags.
Swim was a rolling start, which I love. The old mass starts were washing machines, and to a poor swimmer, it was nerve wracking. I lined up with those expecting a 1:15-1:20:xx swim. Previous best swims for me were around 1:30. It took about 8 minutes to get in the water and I just swam close to the shore and in a straight line as possible to the end of the lake. I never touched anyone and had the best “social” experience of any IM. I hit the turn buoys, swung wide and then headed back, sticking to the outside again. No contact with anyone the whole way back. The Garmin showed 4400 yards, so not too bad swimming in a straight line. I was hoping for a 1:15 or so, but the Lake was very sludgy from the rain runoff and I think it affected a lot of people’s time, mine included. It stained by white top badly. I typically finish in the bottom 1/3 of my AG, but for the first time ever, I was in the top third. Happy enough with the results.
T1 was my fastest ever. Bike helmet, shoes, socks and out the door.
The bike. I had a great day on the bike. The road surfaces were mostly good. The corners didn’t slow me down nearly as much as expected. I started off strong and just held on. I held 200 watts NP for the first 85 miles and then eased off, ending up at 195 NP and 2nd fastest bike of my AG. I was in aero bars almost the whole time. No special needs, and I grabbed water at aid stations without much slowing at all. VI of 1.04, so smooth pedaling on a flat course, IF of 0.70, so strong for me, but not stupid. I just felt really aero and fast all day.
The run.
Running Scared. I know a lot of great triathletes, both fast and slow. I am always humbled by the super elites, like Tim Cronk and Al Truscott here in EN that are always winning, but still have time to teach, answer questions and make us better athletes. Of course, nothing ever good comes of it when they sign up for the same race as you and are in your age group. This year one of my very good friends, Steve Chavez (he and Carrie are long time EN members that don’t post much lately) decided to enter Texas for the first time. 26 Ironmans, 12 Kona slots, and a super-fast runner that can easily run down 10 people in his AG in a given triathlon. In my AG. You can’t imagine my shock when I blew by him on the bike at about mile 55, knowing I started about 5 minutes after him on the swim. I put in as much time on him as I could on the bike. As soon as I started running, the math forecasting started. How much time did I have on Steve? If I could hold an 8:00 minute mile, I may be able to hold him off, otherwise he would surely catch me on lap 3. I motored on, holding just over an 8:00 min/mile for the first half. At about mile 15 some guy comes up to me on a bike commenting on my run speed. We chat and when he finds out I’m on lap 2 he states that I’m in contention and wants to know if I would like more data. He stops his bike, pulls out his phone and rides back to me in a few minutes announcing I’m 2nd in my AG. My heart jumps and I pick up the pace. I go another mile and see my huge family support crew, including Steve’s wife Carrie screaming at me that I’m in 2nd place. 10 miles to go is a long way in any event, more so in an IM, but there was no way I was going to slow down now. With about 2 miles to go the rain started up and I was grateful, hoping to cool down a bit as I was getting tired. The rain quickly turned to a massive downpour and then driving hail and very high-speed winds. Within 10 minutes the weather had gone completely out of control and I was thankful to be turning off the final loop and heading to the finish. Out of nowhere a policeman starts yelling at everyone to stop, the race was on hold, telling us to get to the nearby garage for shelter. Mass pandemonium breaks out as close to 100 people are now in the group, with most heading out for another loop. No one dares go forward as the policeman was very forceful and in control. No one was to move. All of a sudden, about 10 minutes later he announces the race is back on and I bolt for the finish 2 minutes away looking for ages on everyone’s calves around me. I didn’t see any once else and was confident my 2nd place would stick.
I finished up and headed to the hotel to shower and get details. I found out not everyone around the course had stopped, some groups were held up for 10 minutes, some close to an hour.
Morning came. Ironman had to make a lot of decisions that night, and in the end, I believe, did the best they could do under the circumstances. I agree they should have halted the race; safety is paramount and it was dangerous outside. The decision to decide AG and Kona slots based upon times on the most relevant timing mat just before the storm seemed the fairest outcome. My 2nd place held up. Unfortunately for my friend Steve, he ran a bunch of people down, but because they stopped early, he could only run himself into 4th place, missing Kona by one person.
Super crazy event this year with the shortened bike course, the washed away roads, the swim course change, and the weather. Certainly one for the books and it puts the inaugural St. George IM to shame!
Time for a little recovery, a family vacation when school gets out, then on to Kona training.
Tom
Comments
Great report Tom! I think we were were in the same garage, but I was on my second lap
. I googled PB Perform just to check it out, but nothing showed. Was this your first IM using it?
Great work on the swim, transitions and the race as a whole!
Good luck in Kona and congratulations!
Good memory & great question Tim!!!
And great work on race day!
Tom, congrats on a simply fantastic race. Riding at 23+mph and then following it up with a low 3:30's run is the stuff that gets one to the podium. Very well deserved vaca to the Big Island this fall. Man, if I could ride and run like that, I'd quit swimming altogether.
It sure was a crazy day in TX
I've used this in the past and continue to use it for running (along with Coke). I would prefer race course stuff but I really can't stand the sweetness of Gatorade. It bloats me up and I just gave up trying to make it work.
In the past few years, I've tested and tried the low-calorie stuff like Scratch and Osmo. You need to eat a lot of solid food for these drinks to get in the calories. I was really successful with this in fairly cool temperatures but then had a rather awful experience when the temperatures were hot - I just couldn't get the solid food down and so I went back to higher calorie drinks.
The 1K calorie bottle is filled with 10 HydroGels. Like gels, but watered down. Kind of like cough syrup
@Tim. I used the standard issue swim cap! After my DNF at last year's IM AZ I truly believed it was the polluted water that gave me the huge facial swelling reaction. I never did go have it checked out and I still have the swim cap but I still find it hard to believe I wouldn't have had that reaction before with their caps if I was allergic. I have to tell you though I was a little freaked out when the closed the IM TX canal for pollution issues!
@Patrick. Lots of thoughts but still thinking through the why of some of this stuff. As to the no days off policy, I think that helped a lot with the consistency. More runs and swims especially. I didn't need to go hard, I just needed to go and get the blood flowing. A 10 mile ride with my son pushing 50 watts for 90 minutes once counted as a workout
As to the slowing it down thing, especially on the run, I'm thinking I was spending too much time in the grey zones. I listened to a great podcast that interviewed Frank Shorter. His weekly training was 2X super hard, 1 long at race pace and the rest at a super slow recovery pace. I did the math and my recovery pace equivalent to him would be about an 11:00 min/mile. Of course, he ran 100+ miles per week for 10 years. I typically have run IMs somewhere between 8 and 9:00 min miles, typically starting fast and fading. My long runs in training would be in the 15-18 mile range. 12 weeks out I may have run it at an 8:00 min mile and then every week pick up the speed until just before the race I would be running the 18 miles at just over 7:00 min/miles. So in training, very little time at race pace. My thoughts were always "If I can run 1 6:00-minute mile, I could most likely run 2 eight minute miles". This go around I ran a whole lot more 8 minute miles and my other runs were often much slower than race pace. Still nowhere near a 10:00-minute mile, but much slower than in the past. I just think my legs were able to get in more miles with less stress on them. I'm not really sure if I "earned the right" to slow down by doing all the fast running in the past - I'm still thinking this one through.
@Mike, on my first KQ 5 years ago, I swam a 1:45 (and passed a ton of people on the bike!). It was funny because one other KQ (I think he was in the 50-55 AG) actually swam slower than me. Quit swimming and work on the bike / run
I can't imaging stopping that close to the finish line. Especially when you were already in 2nd place and not knowing what else might be happening on the course. Exciting read and great race. Enjoy Kona!
Tom,
Congrats on the KQ. It definitely sounded like an interesting end to the race.
Happy to share any data points you may want to see.
Swim data: http://tpks.ws/DiTXY HR avg 116
Bike data: http://tpks.ws/YihDo HR avg.127
Run data: http://tpks.ws/xKk5f HR avg 135 (It's only the first 20 miles - forgot to completely charge up my Garmin and it died - rookie mistake!)
For long run bike and runs my heart rate usually sits between 120-125 beats per minute, so the bike was a little high and run was very high (for me). The run was heat, humidity, and fatigue related for sure. My HR typically stays within a very narrow range so I don't find it that useful in training. The biggest thing I probably watch with regards to running heart rate is when it drops below 120. That is a huge signal that I'm not paying attention / zoning out and I will pick up the pace to get it back in line again. A bike FT test will get my HR into the 145 range.
my unscientific polling (basically asking those same questions of everyone I know) is yielding that whatever your normal hr dat was in rehearsal, you can expect a few extra beats on race day. But most of the blowups seem to be occurring when the gap between training hr and racing hr gets too wide. totally unrelated to your post i know. Good luck with the rest of your season!
Completely off topic, but I just noticed you are from Boerne Texas. We just bought some property in Cordillera Ranch and will be retiring there when kids are out of school, so probably 7 or 8 years. Is there a big tri community there?
http://irondistancestats.blogspot.com/2016/05/and-now-there-are-27.html?m=1
I'm curious on your thoughts for IMTX 2017 should it stay in The Woodlands. Based on an article I read yesterday, it sounds like WTC has given them an unofficial ultimatum to give strong assurances for a new bike course NLT mid June. Lots of people working it including a US Congressman. Apparently, the Grand Parkway or related toll road is the most likely road. How do you think that kind of road, AND the date change to Apr 22 will impact the race and the kind of athlete that will do well there?
@Paul. I really like the Woodlands and hope they can pull it together. I was talking to a few locals and it sounds like the area politics are downright ugly. The Woodlands is the small rich bubble that nobody likes because they treat the nearby counties badly. It's hard to promote a bike race where all the money flows to the Woodlands and all the grief, closed roads and angry citizens are in the county areas outside the Woodlands. I like the swim and run course being so spectator friendly. My family likes to watch these two parts and they can see me 6 times on the run. There is enough to do while waiting. They are never going to have a spectator friendly bike course without completely closing down the Woodlands and that is never going to happen. I would love to hold the course on one of the toll roads. They are fast, flat and the road condition looks pretty good from what I can tell. Probably a couple loops.
Moving it earlier in the season makes it even more difficult for east and west coast participants due our inability to adjust to the heat and humidity that early in the year. I was also told the weather is really erratic that time of year where they can easily have super hot days or nights that drop into the low 30's. Races at the end of May seem to have a pretty good probability of being 90 degrees and 90 percent humidity.
If the Woodlands lose the race it would probably cost them $15M in lost revenue. I wonder if Ironman would look for another Texas location.
This course just suits my family life - spring IMs work really well for me. I like the flat courses as I seem to be able to generate a ton of speed without a ton of watts. I don't mind the heat or humidity, at least in the 90/90 range. Not sure what race I would pick in its place.
I just reached out to a local Texan that has also done the race 6 times. His doctor is the medical director for the race. Apparently there was a meeting on Monday where the WTC gave the Woodlands 24 days to finalize a bike course or they were going to pull the race. We shall see!
Regardless, I don't think most finishers this year had any idea how close the race came to cancellation. The inside scoop is that WTC was scoping alternative locations for 2017 a month before this year's race even happened. Doing two loops of Galveston is a rumored contender although folks on ST have offered up a lot of other venues. Mid June will be here in a blink so The Woodlands has a political challenge. WTC will not go through that fiasco again.
BTW - the closed roads, angry citizens, highway construction etc., was cover for the real reason Riley nixed the permit. The Woodlands commissioner nixed a road off a municipal highway bond that Riley's constituents wanted badly. Payback is a bitch.