2016 Ironman Lake Placid (...Aquabike, actually) Race Report
Hey Team,
Greetings from the gate in Albany, flying back to LAX today. I wanted to park this here and will try to write my report on the plane or over the next couple days, but wanted to put this up to quickly answer some questions I've gotten:
- Yes, I had planned all along to do the swim and bike only, stopping my day at the T2 bike mount line. I'm bringing my run back from a leg injury, in route to Kona, and there was zero value in me running any of the run course. So this was a fun(?) opportunity to do the swim and then lay it all out there for a 112 mile time trial on an Ironman course.
- Yes, it was a fun and very stress-free day and race week. Very, very different and interesting mental perspective vs racing the full monty.
- Yes...it fookin' hurt. After I finished the bike I "maybe" could have run a half marathon but no. friggin. way. could I have run a marathon. However, that's interesting considering that the way I rode the bike (completely anti-EN and generally like a jackass) is exactly how probably 60-70% of the field rides.
- Was REALLY wishing for my IMWI w/kg and fitness, as I think I may have been able to go almost sub 5:00 and likely have the fastest bike split. As is, I'm about 12-13lb heavier than IMWI and FTP is about 20-25w lower. I put up 219w Pnorm, while last year during several race rehearsals for IMWI I was about 223-225w Pnorm at my race weight.
Anyway, more details later after I have a chance to check out the files and give you more detail.
0
Comments
Have been reading around a good bit, watching a lot of elite ENers, including most recently Robin Sarner essentially becoming an aqua-bike specialist on his way to KQ at IMC this weekend (something that surprised him since his run was slower than he had hoped). I am coming to the conclusion that competence on the bike is most critical to this sport. Have to be good at all four disciplines to do podium level work, no doubt, but it seems being great on the bike can make up for less than greatness on the swim and run, but not vice versa. Also starting to suspect that time spent on biking (and swim) can translate into aerobic ability on the run without the punishment of the run. I have heard you sort of say as much "I have not seen people over do it on the bike" I think you said.
Have you and Coach P experimented with training built around 1-2 hard/long "could" rides per week with mandatory medium length brick runs (7-13 miles) en route to an IM, before you moved to run durability of 5-7 days a week of running? I so, I would be most curious how that went.
Thanks,
DS
Bike strength is definitely a huge plus for IM racing. I would define IM bike strength as a combination of:
Anyway, you simply can't ride your bike hard, long, often, or up hills too much.
As for my personal swim, bike, run combination, the 54-56' swim I have in the closet buys me ~10' on the run, letting me run a 3:45 vs the 3:35 that my ~1:05 competition is swimming. However, what's becoming clear in the older AGs, as Kona slots decrease, is that it's not enough to get "on the podium." You need to be solidly on the podium, top 3 at a minimum, and that means a 3:35-40 run regardless of swim. That's gonna be a tall order for me in '18.