Carole Harbison 2016 IMLP Race report
IMLP was my first ironman, and while I just “wanted to finish” I also had super secret time goals to come in at 13 hours. Over the course of the season, I managed peroneal tendonitis in my foot that kept me from running for 1.5 months and limited overall run volume, radial neuritis that flared periodically while swimming, nutrition issues during both my RRs, and just couldn’t seem to get my FTP up (started at 190W and stayed there all season), so wasn’t sure how race day was going to play out. But I figured I’d go in and do my best with all the support of my friends and family spectating, stay positive, and try to remember that it’s all for fun. 
Swim: I’d banked 184,000 yards over the season, which was waaay more than I have ever done before. My longest workout before this year was maybe 2500 yards, and I had been stuck at 1:50/100 yard pace since re-learning how to swim in 2009. But a few key coached swim sessions and technique tips that stuck (think about pushing the water behind you as though pressing yourself up and over a wall, focusing on high elbow catch) improved that quite a bit this year. I also know I get unhappy being in the crush of things, and had a bit of a “moment” at Quassy where I couldn’t catch my breath after being punched and had to pull over for 2-3 mins to get it together. So going into the swim I wanted to remain calm and maintain focus on my form. I was able to drop right into an easy steady rhythm, and though I ended up swimming really wide for most of both laps to avoid getting pummeled (total yardage was 5050 according to the watch, only glimpsed the cable a couple of times), it was totally worth it. The couple times I moved closer to the cable, things started getting tight immediately so I just backed off and found open water and “friendly feet” again as soon as possible. I kept up an easy pace for both loops and held steady, ~37 mins first loop, 37:30 mins second loop. I couldn’t have imagined my pace would have been that fast (1:29/100 for a 1h 14m clock time vs goal time 1h 20m), so it goes to show the benefit of self seeded swims that allow for easy drafting!
T1: Nice easy jogging throughout watching for slippery bits, the transition was really well laid out with volunteers directing you where to go. I’m also glad I got a tour of transition the day before so could feel even more confident about where to go. My wetsuit strippers (made sure to get wetsuit down to hips) and T1 volunteer were awesome, and I was glad for the suggestion to put a starbucks gift card in my bag for her as she seemed to appreciate it.
Bike: After breaking my arm in 2015 I lost a lot of bike fitness, and was pretty frustrated that I didn’t feel like I was getting it back during training (though was adding endurance during the season, certainly). My pre-break FTP was 220+ and I was racing at 19-20 mph in 2014 vs this year FTP stayed at 190 and I raced at 17 mph (ok it was at Quassy so hilly). Nonetheless, I’d put in the mileage on the bike (2000 miles on the road+ many more hours on the trainer that didn’t “count” towards that mileage) including 3 centuries and many weekends of 70-90 milers. My plan was just to try to stay solid, not go out too hard on the climb out of town or spike watts on the hills, and watch the nutrition to be able to come out ok on the run. I had started having problems with the Gatorade endurance and clif bars near the end of the season, so decided to mix it up a little bit with things that I have used before—skratch and a Luna bar that seemed like it would be a bit lighter, then switch back to GE and Gu shots/clif blocks on the second loop. I also brought salt tabs and gu electrolyte tabs in case I needed to go off the GE, and fig newtons for a solid food treat at mile 56. I’m glad I had all those nutrition backup plans, cause I used everything.
Going easy out of town I had the luna bar and the scratch and immediately my stomach started to feel a bit off. I got a rest on the descent (not as bad as I thought—having the extra lane open made all the difference in the world and there weren’t too many yayhoos riding erratically or going 60mph past me) and then got into a more steady routine on the flats with alternating water and GE to dilute it a bit and taking salt/gels/blocks when I had straight water available from the bottle. I only have my aero bottle and one bottle cage, though a third cage would have been useful so I could have kept both a bottle of GE and one of water on the bike at all times. Or maybe a bike jersey with a middle pocket where I could stash water instead of the tri top? Anyway, I got out to the ausable forks turn around and noted that my wattage had kept creeping up 20ish watts above my target and that my pace was faster than I had been doing in training. Patrick’s words came into my head “if you are going faster than in training, you have not, in fact, been hit by the taper stick and you had better check yo’self”, so check mo’self I did and eased back—totally key for the remainder of the day. Easy up the hills getting passed by fast Timmys then re-passing them on the flats-- made it back up into town after the first climbs feeling only mildly nauseous. My friends came out to the whiteface climb to surprise me, and several ENers were out there with the flag flying high, both of which gave much needed boosts. Stopped to pee and stretch a couple miles before town and eat a fig newton since I had decided not to stop at special needs—the only thing in there was a tube/CO2, skratch (which I already decided wasn’t working that day) and a gel, the rest of my snacks/refills being packed into my bento box. Second lap I was glad for the watts I had in reserve from the first lap and held steady power numbers. Then temperature climbed and I had a hard time staying cool in the last 40 miles—note to self, pack the arm coolers in special needs or in the T1 bag next time. The water I poured on myself evaporated right off and my stomach was limiting the amount of fluids I could take in—though I still stayed on plan of 1-1.5 bottles per hour I think so didn’t feel like I was getting dehydrated, just HOT. The last 25 miles with the climb back into town in full sun were not great, I was getting dizzy and feeling pretty wiped, becoming more and more unsure about how in the heck I was going to run a marathon after making it back into town. Just tried to maintain focus and keep to my power numbers, watching the road for potholes, keeping on top of fluids (electrolyte tabs alternating with water being the only thing I could consider drinking), and trying not to think about what was coming next. This for sure was the darkest part of the day, at a time when I wasn’t expecting it. I think I probably could have used my “one thing” a bit more but almost felt like I needed to “save it” for if/when it got really bad on the run, which in retrospect sounds kind of silly. Got totally choked up riding back into town with the crowd support, feeling exhausted and still nervous for running, but mostly glad to be up that last hill and happy that my stomach had settled down near the end of the bike (probably because I was eating less, so glad to have pushed the calories slightly too far early)! Overall bike time 6:44:48, goal time 6:45-7:00. NP 128, pace 16.7mph, VI 1.09 (WAY better than either of my RRs).
T2: Never happier to give up my bike, I was pretty disoriented in T2. I lost a sock (it was in my hand), and it took a minute for me to stop my volunteer from completely empying out my “go bag”. The go bag thing worked well, I just learned that the race belt can’t go in it as it has to be on you before leaving the tent. Thank god my arm coolers and hat were in there, as I put them on while running out of the tent and hit the aid station immediately upon leaving to drench myself in sponges and ice.
The run: Let’s be honest, I’m not a great runner. Slow and steady maybe, but generally mildly injured (tendonitis, IT bands) and runs always feel harder than I think they should. Nonetheless, I was able to get up to 30 miles/week in training, and was holding comfortably at 9:45min/mile on long runs, so I knew I could embrace the suck as long as my stomach would cooperate.
Once I got cooled down a little and had my head about me again, the goals were to keep cooling off with ice/water at every opportunity, and to keep my box the size of one aid station by deciding what mix of water vs GE, block vs gel, and +/- salt tab were going to keep me together over the next mile. I liked mixing in pretzels during training but they were too dry in the heat so after one or two attempts, those were out for the day. I also tried to follow the sage advice to go slow the first 6 miles out of town but found my speed creeping up in the first couple of miles. Quickly reined it back in to goal pace+15 seconds (10 min miles), and once again I’m sure that saved the end of my day. On miles 7-8 I picked up the pace to 9:45s but felt like it wouldn’t hold so slowed down a touch—that with walking through every aid station to eat/drink/cool down kept me right around 10 minute miles for the whole thing. I was surprised to feel completely at ease throughout the run without even a blip at mile 18, holding my pace steady and running up the hills passing many walkers and even a few vomiting people, trying to give encouragement because I know on a different day that could easily have been me. My family and friend support was killer on the whole run, with a friend running up most of the giant hill into town and “handing me off” to my boyfriend near the top, and other friends and family spaced at intervals throughout town to cheer me along. Between the crowd support, adrenaline, solid training, heeding the pacing advice, and no small measure of magic and luck, somehow I was able to run the entire marathon and come in in under my goal time for the amazing feeling of finishing in the Olympic oval and hearing MR say those magin words. Run time 4:27 (goal time best possible scenario 4:30)
Overall time 12:37:23, 23 minutes faster than even my super secret goal time, and almost a full hour under my estimates I gave to my support crew. I couldn’t be happier with my execution and really have everyone in EN to thank for it. Over the next few days I wasn’t even particularly sore, just a bit of tightness in the quads, though it took me a few days to be able to get back to a regular sleeping schedule and 10 days out I’m barely feeling like I can train agin.
Main items to work on:
· It’s all about the bike. Maybe computrainer classes early in the winter to boost FTP?
· Run durability during the off season, speed work where possible while the mileage is low—going into the get faster plan this Feb the mileage was higher than I had been doing and speed+increased volume= injury for sure.
· Consider a masters swim group to push myself on the swim even more next spring
- Off season weight training and yoga for injury prevention.
- Get a new power meter (the 4iiii reads pretty low compared to how the same watts feel on the quarq on my other bike)?
- Keep tweaking race nutrition, consider infinit or maybe Ucan. Keep tweaking daily nutrition, get the sweet tooth under control!
Comments
WOW Carol...you raced like a veteran! I can't believe this was your first race. You executed and stayed within yourself to finish really strong..they better watch out for you!! Congratulations on a great race!!
Probably sounding like a broken record here, but ...WOW, what an impressive performance first time out of the chute. Running a 4:27, under your goal time, in an initial IM is a remarkable achievement; be proud of it. Excellent race day execution to really honor your training self. AND, you've also nailed the "to-do" list for improvement!
Sorry to chime in so late, but kudos on a fantastic race. And welcome to the club! I know you worked very hard, did your homework, and then executed like a vet. With that time on that course, you were probably, what, top 25% or 33% OA? Pretty bada$$. As for the future, if you just plan next year's race season, submit a TSR, join the OS and continue doing what you did this year . . . a lot of those tweaks and improvements you seek will naturally fall into place with this new fitness as a foundation. Cheers.
MR
@Marc, good luck on your first IM. Looking forward to seeing your race report!!
@Brenda- two 1/2IMs for me next year and still deciding which ones--St Croix and Musselman maybe (have to build back up the SAUs for 2018...IMMT I'm comin' for ya)