Mark Cardinale's IMTX Race Report
Don’t be afraid to work hard enough to find out how
good you can really be!
I first noticed this quote from a Facebook post by Siri
Lindley. The quote stuck with me and I used it as one
of my main mantras throughout the outseason.
I also resonated with a podcast from coach P. where he talked about the
power positive affirmations and shared a story about a person who changed their
life by starting with changing the passcode on their iphone. The idea being unlocking your phone is
something all of us do many times throughout the day and rather than treat it
as a mindless exercise, use it as an opportunity to positively reinforce what
you are working to achieve. I made the
decision right there to use my password as reminder of what I wanted to
accomplish in 2016.
To say I ended 2015 disappointed is an understatement. Coming into IM Boulder 2015 I was at peak
fitness, but my execution mistakes cost me a trip back to Kona and as a result
I decided to go back to the drawing board.
I changed everything starting with my bike. I sold my speed concept which was the source
of much of my frustration and pre-ordered a new Felt IA10 with new TriRig
AlphaX aerobars. I also switched to
shorter cranks and oval chainrings. Prior
to the November outseason I did about 8 weeks of the 2015 outseason plan on my
own with some additional run volume on the weekend. This threshold work allowed me to enter the
November outseason at my 2015 FTP.
However, I was never able to breakthrough my 2015 FTP of 265. I knew I was close to a plateau because
despite some very hard work I just could not hold higher power long enough to
drive up that FTP number. My run
training was coming along well with no major injuries. I followed a modified version of the run
durability plan with the modification of dialing down much of the intensity in
favor of volume & frequency. For my
swim I focused more on swim endurance and holding form when fatigued vs. pure
speed. I was averaging about 4 sessions
per week with 1 session of 2500yds focused on technique or recovery, 2 sessions
3500-4000, and 1 session between 4000-5000.
Training went well during the outseason and I was able to
come to IMTX camp in March in pretty good shape with a couple long rides
already under my belt. Training camp
went well despite a technical issue with my di2 battery on day 2. The main thing I learned was that the course
suited me well and I was capable of riding it well enough to put me in Kona
contention.
I’m going to skip over all the course change drama leading
up to the race. Suffice it to say I
received some very great advice from the team in terms of how to approach the
new course. The other predominate
message coming from Coach P. was to stay focused on training and don’t spend
excess mental energy worrying about something you can’t control.
PRERACE:
I arrived on the Tuesday before the race. Brian Hagan and I drove the bike course on
Thursday and rode a 13 mile section. My
impression was there was speed to be had but it was hard to tell for sure given
all the turns and the fact the course was not being marshaled at the time. Team dinner Thursday night then Friday was
bike and bag drop. Worked off
checklists. No drama.
RACE DAY:
I was up at 3:15AM worked off my morning checklist. Ate 3 cups applesauce, whey protein, stinger
waffle and a banana. Left hotel at 4:20,
found parking space on street near T2.
Walked to swim start. I followed
my transition checklist. The only
problem I noticed was my garmin 510 was not picking up my HR monitor. My 920 was reading it but not my 510 for some
reason. I tried restarting, but no
luck. I did my normal thing of hitting
the porta potty’s a couple times then headed to the swim start and found a roughly 1:10 group. I’d say I was in the water within 3-4 minutes
of the gun going off.
SWIM: (1:17:49)
Based on team advice I swam wide of the dock before making
the right hand turn to actually start the swim.
The first couple minutes were calm, but when the contact started it continued
pretty regularly for the first 10 minutes or so before things started to thin
out. I remember the day prior we talked
about sighting off the radio towers in the distance. I laughed to myself during the swim, because
the only thing I could focus on was sighting from one buoy to the next. I don’t think I was ever able to catch a
glimpse of the radio tower. The 2 left hand turns came and then I started
heading back to the finish. There were
periods of more or less contact. On the
way back I was in a group that wanted to hug the shoreline which was fine with
me because that appeared to be the most direct path. Visibility wasn’t great but I could see maybe
a couple feet underwater. I have swam in
worse. For brief periods I would be able
to catch a draft but it was hard to hold on to feet. As a left side breather it was much easier
for me to find someone swimming on my left and then attach myself to their
hip. I ended up finishing in 1:17, but
all the while I felt like I was having a really good swim. I only really started feeling fatigued the
last 10 minutes or so. Despite my time I
feel like this was my best IM swim and I do feel all the swim volume had a
positive impact. As a point of
comparison, in my swim at IM Boulder 2015 I was 107th in mg AG. In IMTX 2016 is was 71st out of
the water. Again, not fishlike by any
stretch, but an improvement.
T1: (2:49)
I quite simply smoked my transitions. Out of water, swim skin down to waist. I grabbed my bag and had my helmet on before
I even hit the changing tent. I stepped
inside the tent, found space and took off my swim skin, put it in the bag with
goggles and cap and threw it to a volunteer as I ran out of the tent. Shoes were already on the bike. I carefully mounted bike and started the
ride.
BIKE: (3:58:33)
As I started I noticed my garmin wasn’t picking up my power
meter. I knew this was a possibility
since I turned my garmin off and then on again in attempt to find my HR
monitor. I again turned off my garmin
and then turned it back on and luckily it found my power meter, but still no
HR. Once I got my power situation sorted
out, my first priority was to begin drinking.
I think I emptied half my x-labs torpedo within the first 10
minutes. I didn’t feel like the course
was overly crowded. Yes, there were
people, but it wasn’t any better or worse than a typical IM bike course when
you are a 1:15 swimmer. About 30 minutes
in I remember glancing at my average speed and it was over 24mph and I was
surprised at the time, but in retrospect on this course, if you’re not turning
then you’re flying. Speaking of turns,
one thing I noticed early on was that coming out of every turn I would spike
watts, in many times above 300 watts. It
was only for maybe 5 or 10 seconds and it certainly didn’t feel like it, but
the power meter does not lie and I was concerned about the cumulative impact of
those higher watts. Glancing at my
power numbers I saw my normalized power creep up throughout the day from 194 to
200. I originally was targeting 210, but
given the spikiness of my power coming out of the turns I decided to be happy
with sitting around 200 especially considering I was still hovering around the
24mph mark. Looking at my numbers post-race
I ended up riding with a VI of 1.02 despite all the turns and my IF finished at
.755 with a TSS of 225. I ended up with
the 5th fastest bike split in my AG.
T2: (3:06)
Rolling in to T2, I already had my feet out of the
shoes. I dismounted and quickly handed
my bike to a volunteer and then ran to my run bag. Helmet was already off and I made the smart
decision to run on the little strip of grass to the right side of the
sidewalk. It was softer and I was able
to run much faster than on the concrete.
I grabbed my bag and put on my visor before hitting the tent. Once in the tent I grabbed a seat near the
exit, put on socks and shoes grabbed my go-bag and was off. A volunteer had already put my helmet in my
transition bag.
Run: (3:26:25)
I ate my banana coming out of T2 on the run. I kinda liked the casualness of eating a
banana while running. I seemed to get
some looks from spectators and it for sure keeps you from running too
fast. I filled up my go-bag with ice and
water at the first aid station. This was
the first time I have run with the ice bag approach and it worked better than
expected. The only change I would make
is to use a zip lock bag vs. a press and seal as the zip lock would have been
easier to open and close. Regardless I
liked being able to position the bag on either hand, or in my jersey, or in my
armpit, or on my head.
Starting the run people were flying. At this point in my running career it’s
pretty easy for me to let them go. I
know that if they can hold a 7 min/miles pace for 26 miles then I have no
business hanging with them and if they can’t then I will see them at some point
in the next 3 and half hours. So I let a
ton of people pass me in the first 3 miles.
Out on the run was the first time I was able to see my heart rate and I
was hoping for mid 120’s and was a
little surprised when I saw mid 130’s. I
pee’d 3 times on the bike so I knew I was well hydrated and I felt strong so I
made the decision to keep HR steady and evaluate but not attempt to adjust pace
to drive it down. This resulted in a
pace between 7:35 and 7:50. During the
first loop I took occasional nips at my gel flask and stopped at every aid
station for a drink of Gatorade and to refill my ice bag.
Starting the 2nd loop I was still feeling pretty
good and was able to engage with some of the spectators along the canal. The temps were warm but I didn’t feel like it
was as hot as it could have been. My HR
remained roughly in the mid 130’s sometimes creeping into the 140’s on some of
the hotter uphill sections. By the end
of the 2nd lap I could tell my pace was starting to degrade. Miles were now coming in from 7:45-8:05. My feet were soaked by this time and I knew I
was going to finish this race with major blisters. At the end of the 2nd lap on one
of the out and backs I ran into another racer on my Colorado Triathlon Company
Team. He is strong across all 3
disciplines and 2 years ago won his AG at IM Boulder. This year he was racing n my AG so I knew he
was also going to be in the hunt for one of the AG Kona spots. I had not seen him all day until this out and
back at mile 16 and it was exactly the mental lift I needed at that time. I knew if I was close to him I was in the
hunt.
I estimate on that out and back he was probably 2-3 minutes
ahead of me. He seemed to be running
fine and I made the decision to not try to make anything happen, just try to
run 7:45-8:00 minute miles and see what happens. I kept looking for him up ahead as we left
the canal and hit the bike path, but still nothing. Finally, just before the mansions I saw him
and followed behind by about 20 meters.
I watched him go through an aid station and I did the same but closed
that gap to 5 or so meters just after we started running again. I decided here is where I’m going to make my move
and summoned all the energy I had to put some bounce in my step. I came up on him and he asked me how I was
feeling. I said pretty good, but I’ll be
better in about 45 minutes, then we congratulated each other on having a great
race to this point and I took off again, trying to run with as much ease as I
could summon at the time. At the next
aid station I decided not to stop to put some distance between me and him and I
hoped he was able to see that I just kept going and did not stop. That was the one and only aid station I did
not stop at all day. At the following
aid station I wasn’t sure how far or how close he was to me so I went all the
way to the end and by this time I had switched to coke and took what I needed and
walked a couple extra steps to regroup.
By this time we were out on the canal and on one of the out and backs I
could see I had put 2-3 minutes into him with about 2 miles to go. I felt a little light headed and my hands
were tingling a bit so I just focused on holding a do no harm pace of just over
8 minutes per mile and I knew that would be enough for me to hold my lead. Looking back with some perspective, on one
hand I feel a little guilty about how I gamed my teammate but on the other hand
it is a race and the stakes were high.
As it turned out, he turned down his Kona slot so it wouldn’t have
mattered which one of us came out on top.
Probably my favorite thing during the course of an IM day is
that point on the run where you get to take the turn for the finish line vs.
going on to do another lap and this day was no exception. I looked behind after making the turn and
there was nobody in front or behind. I
made my way through the crowds and crossed the finish line. I had no idea where I had finished, but the
finish area seemed very empty and I took that as a good sign. A volunteer pointed me to the food area where
I grabbed a burrito and a beer took cover just as it started to rain. I borrowed a phone from a girl in one of the
expo tents to check my placement and saw that I was in 4th. To say I was excited would have been an
understatement. I will skip the drama of
the weather and subsequent fallout the next day and week as Ironman worked to
get the times updated correctly for all the athletes. I was just very fortunate not to have been
impacted.
OVERALL: (8:48:43,
85th overall, 4th in M45-49)
FINAL THOUGHTS
I am unbelievably grateful to have achieved what I was able
to achieve at IM TX. I wasn’t sure
exactly what to expect and to come out with a 4th place finish and
the KQ exceeded any expectations I had for myself on the day. I’m now recovering before jumping back into
training starting in June. I’m going to
race IM Boulder but not exactly sure how I will approach that race in the
context of newly elongated 2016 season.
Regardless, I am excited to go back to Kona and once again experience
and take part in what is the pinnacle of our sport.
A few final observations or comments:
I really liked the split long run and dialing
back some of the run intensity in favor of volume and frequency.
I experienced no adverse impacts of not
eliminating caffeine on the week leading up to race days as I have done in the
past. It was very nice to enjoy my
normal 2-3 cups of coffee per day on the days leading up to the race.
Tim Cronk’s powerbar in the rice paper trick is
pure money. This was the first time I
tried it and it was very easy to pull pieces out of my bento without the pieces
sticking together.
Starting run with banana and focus on eating
during early miles of run worked well.
HR stayed consistent throughout race.
Focused work and planning on transitions is easy
speed. Invest the time, know what you
are going to do and it’s the easiest 2-3 minutes you’ll recoup all day long.
Pee-wise I have now officially achieved Zen
Master status. For some reason I ended
up peeing 7-8 times on the run and did so each time without stopping. By the end I was even able to pee while
running! Go figure!
Comments
"Starting the run people were flying. At this point in my running career it’s pretty easy for me to let them go. I know that if they can hold a 7 min/miles pace for 26 miles then I have no business hanging with them and if they can’t then I will see them at some point in the next 3 and half hours."
Veteran for sure - I have even chatted with those folks on the run and said you go on ahead your pace is too fast for me , I'll just run you down later ! If I never see them again , I never had a chance... If I see them again , they don't stand a chance...
"Looking back with some perspective, on one hand I feel a little guilty about how I gamed my teammate but on the other hand it is a race and the stakes were high. As it turned out, he turned down his Kona slot so it wouldn’t have mattered which one of us came out on top."
Never ever feel bad... Its a race and the best man on that day will win... I been run down in the chute and have run others down in the chute.... I'm happy either way as long as I can say I put in my best effort.... You came out on top period!
Mark, we can all learn from your thoughtful race prep and steady, yet aggressive, racing. Congrats on a terrific race and KQ.
I've seen you do big swims this winter and I think that probably also helped save energy for that run.
Happy for you that this year went better and you can go back eat ananas on the big island !
A lot to be learned from this man.
I regularly follow and learn from both Cronk and Cardinale both in training and racing events.
Thanks for training, racing, winning, posting and making this haus stronger Mark.
Sincerely happy for what you accomplished at IMTX!
Keep leading!
SS
Congrats Mark on an awesome race and great execution. I appreciate you sharing your pre-race and then race report. Well done and lots of learning in this for me. Enjoy Kona - well deserved.
Interested to hear more about oval chainrings and the benefit you see. Many thanks. DB
Congrats again, Mark. Just a great day all around. As usual, you dug yourself a hold in the swim, and the course change really exaggerated that by not giving you as much time/miles on the bike to make up the deficit. But you did it anyway. Keep working on the technical side of your swim; that's where the hurdle lies. There's no reason you can't be a sub 1:05 guy. If/when that happens, our AG is even more screwed than it currently is.
Your transitions were awesome. I knew Cronk would love that. I did have to go back and see how we compared on this course. You got me by 5 seconds in T1 (although different layouts), but I managed to get you by 16 seconds in T2. So, you still have room to improve.
When you finished the bike, I had three concerns. First, he just blitzed that bike and may have nothing left. But then I recalled you doing the same thing in Boulder, and still ran like the wind. Second, I wondered how a guy who's used to running in 2% humidity is going to fare in 80%. Obviously didn't faze you at all. Third, you needed to pass quite a few guys on the run to capture that KQ, and our AG was stacked. Walter McCormick was a successful pro back in the 90s, has a wicked run, and was a good 10 minutes up the road on you exiting T2. No problem . . . you sailed past him. So, so impressive.
Congrats again on a well-earned Hawaiian vacation. We really need to plan a race together . . . in two years when I age up.
MR
Mark-
Great race report, way to crush that run! You are an inspiration for what's possible in our AG. Congrats on KQ, you earned it for sure.
Exorcise with Exercise. -JG
Congrats MC. I know how much you wanted this and how hard you worked to get it!!
I recently upgraded to garmin 520. No device finding issues.
Kind of wished i had raced this year. After three years, i have love/hate feeling sbout that race. Will see if the woodlands race happens again.
Thank you everyone! I appreciate everyone taking a few minutes to read my race report and provide feedback/comments. If there is anything of value to be learned, even better. Everything, and i mean everything, in my race plan i learned, or to put it more bluntly, i have stolen from the EN vets. When there is such great knowledge, experience and insight to be had, why try to reinvent the wheel!
@Tom G. - Thank! Right back at ya!
@Ed - Thanks, man! Yes, i was given some advice before the race that i didn't quite take, but it was all forgotten now that we have a trip to HI coming up
@Brian - Thanks! See ya in Kona!
@Tim - Thanks, Tim! You nailed it...From disaster at every turn, to everything falling my way...Thanks for all the advice and feedback to help me on my journey!
@Bob - Thank you! Glad you found it helpful.
@Don - Thank you!
@Francis - Thanks and thanks for all the support and motivation on Strava! Looking forward to following your build for IMMT!
@KMF - Thank you! Means a lot coming from someone like you who walks the walk every single day!
@Daniel - Thank you and glad you found it helpful. To be honest, i have not noticed much of difference in terms of feel with Oval rings. I do notice i'm not spinning out where i used to on some of my regular rides and my first few rides my cadence was very low. It has since come up, but is still 1-2 RPM's under where i was last year. However, i changed A LOT so lots of variables in play.
@MIke - Thanks for all the help on transitions! I almost didn't post my race plan, but at the last minute i decided to throw it out there and i'm so glad i did. Your insights on transitions were key and quite honestly, i think your #'s from last year would have got me. The T1 layout was very favorable. T1 bags started maybe 15seconds from the swim exit. For sure i will keep working on my swim. Patrick gave me solid advice at IMTX camp that i just need to work on engraining. Would love to plan a race together some time, just name it!
@Josiah - Thanks!
@Tom - Thank you! Great meeting and getting to know you!
@David - Thanks!
@Chris - Thanks!
@Paul - Thank much, Paul!
@Patrick - Thank you for your input during camp and for your advice leading up to this race! And of course for making it a flasking good time
@Jimmy - Thanks and great meeting you as well! Thanks for coordinating the team dinner!
@Robin - Thanks, Robin! Toying with the idea of the 520. My 510 disconnects intermittently from my phone when i'm riding and this disrupts the live tracker my wife uses to track me while i'm out. I haven't tried to connect my HR monitor since the race but if the problems persist good to know the 520 is a bit more stable. My bet is this race will happen next year, but it will be in April and with a new bike course. Also, the swim changes and split T1/T2 could stick. Feedback from everyone i talked to was very positive. For me, i don't think i'll race it in April. From what i hear from locals, in April much of the heat you feel in May is replaced by wind in April. I like a hot race so i probably won't be back if this race moves to April.
When I saw your bike was 24 mph, I had to pick my jaw up off the floor.
And once again, you prove that the run is where it's at.
Congratulations!
I noticed you switched to oval chain rings. What are your thoughts on them? Is it a worthwhile upgrade?