2016 IM CDA - John Schneider
Frustrated on my time/finish, I should've PR'ed and been higher in the standings in my age group and overall.
First Mistake, got into the 1 hr - 1 hr 15 min group for the swim. I should've been in the 1 hr swim group as I swam 58 min's pinballing off of many so called 1 hr swimmers, also probably could've drafted off of someone as well. This would have helped my bike as well details below.
Bike rehearsal was at 200 NP, my NP for the ride ended up at 191. I think this was mostly because I got stuck behind so many bicyclists, that without putting in a very hard effort I couldn't pass all of the riders for fear of destroying my legs, had to wait them out til they started dropping. I pee'd once on the bike, felt like I had to pee on the second lap but it wouldn't come out.
Run, since my bike was so under my normal I should've had a good run, well, not so much. I started out pretty good, kept my heart rate under control for the first 6 miles then picked it up. 135-140's for first 6 miles then picked up to low 140's. I got dizzy a bit when running, so I backed off a bit but then I never got myself going aga
in back up to 140's. The Monday before the race I found out I have a bad gall bladder that will need to be removed. When I was running my pee was really dark, for some reason I couldn't pee while running. I hit the porta potty probably 5 times total to pee, I noticed at the end that my pee looked like blood this freaked me out a bit and I just ran easy thinking there was some gall bladder issue/etc. Went to medical tent after they said if it doesn't clear up in a day or two go see doctor. Had a doctor appt when I got back about gall bladder - said it was unrelated.
At IM Tahoe last year my run faded after 6 miles, I think I was hungry(not enough calories) this year I corrected my fuel mix, using carbo pro instead of just Gatorade, so I wasn't hungry, I wasn't really thirsty either.
I ran through aid stations for first 6 miles, grabbing water to dump on head and ice to dump in shirt/shorts - had a visor on as well, after I got dizzy I walked through aid stations drank Gatorade, dumped water and ice, yes it was quite warm on the first 2 laps, third lap the smoke from a wild fire blocked the sun a bit so it was cooler.
I guess my biggest disappointment/question is how do I train to get to the same place - where I'm suffering on the run at mile 7 + so I can overcome my wimping out on the run. Every training run I've had off the bike has been fine for the 60 minutes. Do I have to bike 7 hours then run 60 minutes or should I add into the plan a 90-100 minute run off the bike at some time to get myself to that point and make sure I recover extra to make up for it? Please any and all comments are welcome. I have to get this figured out before my next IM.
Comments
John,
First on congrats on the finish even though it was not what you wanted it was still a pretty good day.
There maybe several things going on here contributing to this effort.
1) Get the medical things checked out, blood in urine.
2) Dizzy on the run - If this is not related to number 1 then we need to see some nutrition information. The more information the better meals leading up, morning of breakfast, the hour before the swim, nutrition on the bike cals/hour, run nutrition. Also was the day significantly different temperature wise than your training and in particular the race rehearsals (RR)you completed.
3) You give the bike RR FTP but no information on the run RR heart rate. Are you pushing up the heart rate too quickly or too much early on in the run?
Overall some more information on the RR and data on 5 hour power could help with further analysis. Also the macro data from your ride of 191 looks okay but providing further information or a graph of you ride would also help (VI to see about spikes in power, or amount of time above 200 in 5 or 10 watt bins). Same with the run data from the race more detail on the first 6 miles and in particular when you dropped off.
Finally if you are suffering at mile 7 on the run that's a little early so maybe this is about better execution and getting that out to mile 18. If it's mental then that requires attention to different set of skills.
Dammit John, I'm an engineer not a doctor. (Maybe you get the butchered reference.) But if I'm correct your gall bladder can affect your digestive system, so that might have played a role as well.
Good luck with the surgery.
There's simply no way to train for what happens to your body and mind own the latter part of the IM marathon ...without doing an IM in training. That;s part of what makes this game so devilishly difficult to get 100% right.
Beyond meticulously following the EN protocol for race execution, a good place to continue improvements is to micro analyze the bike and run files, paying particular attention to the first 30 miles of the bike and the first 6 miles of the run. The majority of problems on the run are generated by riding too aggressively in the first 30 miles, with too high of a VI, and/or too high on the watts during that time. Most of the rest of our problems are created during the first hour of the run, same sorts of issues. Looking at literally minute by minute analysis of things like watts, HR, pace, etc can sometimes provide insights a more broad-brush review misses.