Tim Cronk 2016 Eagleman "aka" The Comeback Race
Its titled the comeback race because my last triathlon was a big fat DNF at IMAZ (the mental comeback)... Shortly after that I crashed in the Tour of Tucson last November and suffered separated shoulder, fractured hip, and torn labrum (the physical comeback).
My first Eagleman and I gotta say really like the race venue... Its a PIA to get to probably from anywhwere , but we came down from NH and it took us 9 hrs driving on a Friday. Coming home on Monday was much better at around 8.5hrs. We stayed in Easton about 15 miles north of the race venue, parked at the school they recommend, took the shuttle to race, everything was smooth and well run. Never felt crowded. Its a notoriously hot/windy race and did not let us down.... The big winds held off for the swim and most of the bike but we did get the heat on the run...Fast course and great conditions...
Quick Stats and Results - Racing in the M50-54 at the top of the AG 54yrs young , FTP 222 , Weight 127, w/kg 3.85 , no known vdot but its low.... Total time 4:53 , 4th AG , 100th OA
HR Notes: Included in run/bike files is never before seen HIM HR data, I wore HR for 1 IM a long time ago but nothing since and never a HIM.... I collected the data but I never ,not even once glanced at it during the race, going by watts/RPE.... Bike HR was 164 , Run HR was 166, and I consider my LTHR to be around 172-174....
The Swim - 29:54 for my first sub 30min HIM swim and 5th AG out of the water .... The water temp was up and down thru the wetsuit legal numbers but on race morning it was wetsuit legal. Got lucky with an early wave #4 and was off at 7:04. M50-54 was one wave all by itself with I believe 127 swimmers. Loved the swim set up, walking down the boat ramp, swim 50 yards , then stand up in knee/hip deep water to wait for the go (no treading water). Lined up front, swam hard but never felt redlined, was pretty uneventful until the return and was running into quite a few people in earlier waves... Very happy with the swim , although I still have a lot of work to go on my form , I had Mike and Davids comments (from the Critique my Swim thread) in my head as I was racing... Most of the pro's swam 27-29 and I heard one of them say they thought the current changed ( my initial thought was yeah right you guys had bad current and 10 minutes later we had good current) but considering that few AG'ers did go 23-25 maybe there was a favorable shift for us AG'ers?
T1- 1:55 pretty sure fastest in AG - The transition is set up really well to go fast and smooth....No wetsuit strippers... suit off, helmet, glasses on, and go.... shoes were on bike....
The Bike - 2:26:32 , 3rd in AG , AP187 , NP189 , HR164 , IF .85, VI 1.01, CAD81, w/kg 3.3 .... The transition flows nicely into the bike , I past my Heather in transition and yelled to her, as I was mounting my bike I saw a buddy of mine Jim M65-69 AG in the prior wave that traveled down with us and passed him by the first corner, reminded him to ride his power (first race with power) and to eat (he had forgotten his nutrition in the room but had plan 
BTW he did both very well and won his AG.... Settled into my target watts of 190-195, roads are smooth, not many turns, very fast, low traffic, and easy to ride, little wind but not bad at all, my early swim wave set me up for a really clean un congested bike, one of the cleanest rides I have ever had...I only had one guy kinda block me late in the race as I past him he sped up , I was in his draft but dropped back to save the match, saw my only marshall at mile 53, pretty uneventful except for the occasional turtle in the road , faded my last few splits due to fatigue and heat but a good bike none the less coming in about 5 watts light on my goal... Eased up even more on the last few miles to recoup/regroup get ready to run. Not my highest watts or fastest HIM ride but quite possibly my fastest mph per watt HIM ride... Drank 3 bottles gatorade and 3 PB gels... Took my feet out of shoes about 1/2 mile from dismount and was off the bike in 1st place .... I love the fact that Triathlon is cumulative and you can come off the bike in first place without having the fast swim or the fastest bike, it all adds up and shows the importance of transitions...Couple other bike notes: I rode with the new Kiwami speed suit, Rudy wingspan57 , Flo Disc rear with 25mm Vittoria Corsa G , Flo 60 front with 23mm Vittoria Corsa G speed, latex tubes.
https://www.strava.com/activities/607233773
T2- 1:39 I think 3rd in AG a couple guys beat me by 1-2 seconds .... Just like T1 its a great set up to go fast... Was very smooth, parked bike, helmet/glasses off, shoes on , race belt/watch/visor in hands and go.... had belt and visor on before leaving T2 and hit start on watch button crossing the matt while putting it on..
The Run - 1:53:28 , 8:39 pace , HR 166 , 9th in AG.... OK it was hot... I really didnt know what to expect on the run and was playing it by feel... Having just rebuilt my run from the hip fracture / torn labrum , after 2 months off last winter I literally started at ZERO and my first couple runs were 30 seconds then a minute , by 2/21 I was up to 5 x 2' of shuffling, but the progression went well and I have done several 30 mile weeks , 4 long runs between 10-13 miles and 4 speed work session, but I still needed to go by feel with the main goal of do no harm , settled into a couple 8 min miles and it was hot, those felt too fast , slowed it down a bit to 8:30's, then started some heat maintenance as I could feel my temp really going up, I dont normally need too much heat maintenance for a HIM and I never walk run aid stations for a HIM but I did at the Eagleman, Found my sweet spot and just kept moving forward.... Saw 3 guys in my AG pass me early (there was one more but I missed him) I was only able to regain one of those slots at mile 12 I passed one of them on the side of the road puking his guts out.... I saw my Heather for a kiss my mile 9-10 and her 3-4, she was out there battling her own foot injury but still smiling :-) ...Not my best, but it is the best run I brought on that day and I am pleased... Drank anything and everything every mile, 2 gels...Lots of work to be done but the body held up well and gave me the confidence I need to push on it a bit more....
https://www.strava.com/activities/607231375
Going Forward- Confirmed that the run is my limiter again... Confirmed injuries are under control and I can handle some volume and intensity.... The plan to improve my run for IMMD my "A" Race .... 1. Body Comp - gain 14 seconds per mile by losing 7lbs and reaching 120 race weight.... 2. Training - gain another 10-15 seconds per mile by training volume and intensity over the next 3.5 months.... 3. Effort - gain 10-15 seconds per mile with good old fashioned race effort , while I wasnt dogging my Eagleman effort and I have no prior HR data to compare I can honestly say that I did not have that redlined feeling I normally have on a HIM run so there is defintely some there... 4. gain another 10-15 seconds per mile with the October weather heck even if its 10 degrees cooler than Eagleman.... So if the plan comes together my goal will be to run IMMD at a faster pace than I did Eagleman!
Best Part- Hanging with Turby and Carol, Meeting Dawn Cass, Chatting with Skip and Cathy Crawford after the race.... Saw a few other EN'ers out on the course but didnt recognize them. Sorry!
Misc Notes: This was the first HIM ever that I did not pee on bike or run....Never felt dehydrated and drank more than I normally do... Did I mention it was hot?
Questions, comments, criticism's, suggestions are always welcome by all.
Edit and Comment.... Steve Swanlund's brother Mark went 4:38 to win the M50-54AG, swim 28, bike 2:29. run 1:35....He is a beast , specially on the run..... Lucky for Steve and I he will be in KONA when we are racing IMMD...
Comments
Well done Tim!! As always great seeing and spending time with you and Heather! Glad you liked the race, you are going to smoke IMMD. By then you'll have your run back to 100% and will kill it!
Rest and hope the best for IMMD!
Awesome race, TC. I was watching you all morning, smiling as the come-back was unfolding. Going sub-5 with a 1:53 runs means you aced the swim and bike and took care of transitions. Like a pro.
Al rode 1,000 miles in a month, TC is back on top of his AG in LC racing, Coach P went outside and exercised . . . order is starting to be restored in the tri universe.
You are a machine Tim!!
Big smile reading this RR!
Hope many are paying attention, observing the linked files, and absorbing what a well executed HIM race looks like! Loads of free, golden data here from a seasoned veteran!
Glad you're making progress off of some tough injuries cuz we need you in the haus to keep teaching and pulling us master Yoda!
Sincere congratulations Tim!
SS
1h52 run on a hot day, coming back from injury...well...you are a legend
Sounds very confidence building - add that into your anticipated run improvement. Nothing like knowing you can do it to enable taking the next step up.
My only advice is a reminder to not do "too much, too soon" after this race. You laid it all out there, even if it may not have felt like a redline effort. Take a week to absorb the effort, especially on the run. No hard or long stuff this week, OK?
Congrats on your awesome race and comeback! That's one heck of a comeback :-) Well executed race.
I still can't get over your 164 and 166 bike/run HR. I mean that's 95%/zone 4 effort (based on your LTHR)!
Do your wear a HR monitor for RR workouts and if so, is 164 HR a typical range for you?
I've read how many people/Pros don't race with a HRM because it could become a limiter...if you monitored your HR, do you think it would be a limiter?
Well done!
@MR- yes balance is being restored across the EN injured list for sure
@Al - I hear you loud and clear, holding back as much as I can , been this patient for this long its not really an issue.... Just following my normal plan would get me to 100% by Oct 1st so no rush... I have the S2S race in a week which will be a challenge but more from strength than pure redline racing, after that a couple more weeks before I start a very structured 12 week plan enroute to IMMD.... Lets just say I'm hungry :-)
@Derek- This is JMHO, but yes, a big fat screaming YES, that I think the HRM is a limiter..... I just recently (6months ago) started to wear mine again, just for data collection , but I will not be looking at or using it in races , I dont even look at it when training with the exception of a trainerroad ride because its on the screen.... Yes those are normal numbers for me... My last couple HIM RR type rides I did in prep for Eagleman were 100 minutes of 25 min type intervals @ 200-205watts (just above my planned HIM pace) and the HR avg for each interval usually started in the high 150's and ended averaging high 160's by the last one.... My last recent FTP test ( 2 x 20') was 166 for first 20' and 176 for second 20'.... Recent Crank the Kanc TT race was 76minutes with an average HR of 173.... One of the last training type books I read "Triathlon 2.0 Data-Driven Performance Training" by Jim Vance speaks of HR in a way that I agree with....Its a good book to read even if you disagree with my HR thoughts....
Anyway...due to your post guess what I tried today? I did a sprint tri and during the 5K run I did not once look at my gps watch...a first in a long time. I ended up with the second fastest run split in my AG (20:35)! My running data showed my HR hit 168 -171 levels a few times before mile 2 and I know if I saw that I would have eased up a little. On the bike I couldn't help but see HR because it's on my main screen but I consciously ignored it and used RPE. I'm going to explore this more (not monitoring HR) over the next few months leading up to IMCHOO. Thanks.