Dinhofer IMMoo Race Report
In Lake Placid I was the hammer, in WI I was clearly the nail...
The lead up
After a breakthrough race in LP, I did a solid two week recovery with some good swims and headed to CO for the epic week culminating with the Leadville 100MTB race. I had thought that LV could be an epic day in the saddle to jumpstart a good three weeks of training before tapering for IMMoo... This was, in hindsight a bit too ambitious. The time between Leadville and Moo ended up being an exercise in recovery training. Trying to get solid work in on what were hurting legs. In 4 weeks between Leadville & WI I only managed to run 6x. I did get in two long runs of 16 & 18, but they were not quality runs. My legs were clearly carrying a tremendous amount of fatigue. On the Biking front, I did manage to get in 2-4 rides per week including some good quality rides and strong RR 2 weeks prior to the race.
Lastly, body comp went to shizz.. The week in CO came at a high cost of enjoying myself too much and while I didn't go off the reservation there or back home, the drop in Wko volume, particularly running, had a negative effect of about 6-8lbs between LP & WI.
Race weekend
Travelled with Heidi Marcus to Madison arriving just in time for the team dinner on Thursday. Always great to see the EN family and make new friends along the way. Friday did a swim recon with the team and was able to borrow a ROKA wetsuit (thanks for arrangiing Mariah!) as my wetsuit was in my wheel bag that I could not get from TBT until 9. Retrieved bike & wheel bag, brought back to hotel & went to 4 keys. Rich clearly up the game with his 4keys talk and I can honestly say that I always learn something new during these. After 4 keys, I drove the course on with Heidi, Mark Stahlkopf & Dana Burns, stopping at a great brewpub in Mt Horeb (The Angry Troll) for lunch.
In the afternoon, I got the disc wheel I borrowed from Withrow on the bike, borrowed a pump from Rich Stanbaugh who was staying in the same hotel and went for a ridiculously short ride. On my way back to the hotel, I blew the latex tube that i had installed in the wheel after my RR. I used this wheel for the RR and had a failure there as well. I decided the safer course of action was to go with my own 808 and figure out this problem after returning home.
Race day
woke up at 2am on my own and had a high calorie shake, back to sleep until alarm woke me at 4;15. Breakfast (banana, coffee, gatorade), went to transition, pumped tires, loaded 2 bottles of gatorade, set up Garmin, put shoes in T1 bag (was pre-race confusion as to allowance on bike or not) went to team picture.
Time predictions Actual
Swim 1:10- 1:12 1:15:09
Bike 5:40 5:51
Run 3:50 4:46
Swim -
Lined up immediately to the left of the ski jump. Saw Rich Stanbaugh there, gun off, lots of contact, never felt comfortable. Near the first turn, i poked my head up to sight & saw the distinctive wetsuit that Rich wears and saw a model of relaxed swimming, focused on getting into that zone..
on both the long return leg & the short second short leg between turns 2 & 3, i veered off course a bit. I don't think either of those cost me 6 minutes in relation to LP, but clearly not being comfortable cost me something.
Bike
I planned on riding harder to see what I could do off the bike. In hindsight (isn't that a beautiful thing) I should have been more conservative from the start. I Laid out the right amount of TSS (292) and rode the right IF (.71) but it was clearly loaded to the front 2/3 of the ride with NPs for 15 minute laps coming in the 180s to slightly over 200 in the first 2/3 and 150s to 170s in the back 2/3 it was clear that i did a lot of damage. From a pure execution point of view, the right call would have been to go at target wattage of 180 all the way through. From a conditions standpoint, temps were great, wind sucked when you were into it, Barlow was a very doable hill. Steep by IM standards, but I've had good practice on steep hills, riding out of the saddle without spiking watts.. Of course you had characters in your face on the side of the road trying to egg you on, it took real discipline not to yell back, spit, etc.. Just stayed in my box and ground it out. I also had a slight GI issue going on, nothing horrible, but had to stop for what was about 4:30 in Verona at the half way point for a trip to the porta pottie..
Run
I felt like I could not even run in T2. I did manage to get a jog going and focused on HR, this quickly fell apart by mile 3. I knew that for me, my legs were trashed and that this was going to be an exercise in resetting expectations and goals. I managed to run most of the first 9 miles with the exception of the observatory hill. In the second lap, i had to do a walk run, walking often between aid stations, my goal became a matter of trying to maintain X pace per mile which was a moving target with the last 6 miles focusing on going 12:30 or less. The two things that were notable were that around mile 14-19 I felt like I just could not wait to get back to my Hotel room and go to sleep. It was here that i realize that while I was maintaining nutrition all the way through the race, I was probably dehydrated. I switched from my gatorade plan to pure water and pounded 3 cups of water at the next two aid stations and that got things going.
The other item was that a friend who does ultras & is attempting a 200 mile run of laps in Central Park next weekend told me I'd be fine joining him a week after an IM as he starts at a walk/run of 12 min/mile.. I was doing almost as good as that!
Now that I was feeling a bit better, I was able to start pushing harder. If I had a clear mind during that state of delirium, I'd probably have realized how close I was to the 12 hour mark and pushed harder to beat that.
final time 12:03 25
This was my median finish time of my 7 IMs. I know I didn't have the race I could have had if I didn't do leadville, I think I should have executed differently on the bike in reflection of that and that would have had an incredibly better run. The one thing I had a good schooling on during this IM was how important the run is and more so, how important it is to protect that run with the "should" bike that our coaches continually espouse on us. It was clear to me at every level of the playing the playing field, from the elites right on down that there many people executing great runs regardless of their overall time. Having strength in the back of an IM marathon is incredibly important on race day execution. I am looking forward to taking these lessons forward to the 2017 season...
Usually I speak of the various teammates I have met on this journey, in ImMoo, there are just simply too many. Some I've seen all season from the Al T camp, to LP, Leadville week & Now Moo. And some sporadically online & in person, but all of you really help me become the IM & person i want to be...
As many of you know I've lost a few seasons to Med issues, some real, some created by errant docs. I lost 2015 to a herniated disc three weeks before LP. 2016 was my revenge year. What I didn't see coming was reaching a level at LP that I never thought attainable and that now sets a new focus on 2017, more on that in an upcoming recap of the Epic 2016 Season where I've now raced 4 truly epic iron caliber events. And to that note, without any injury!
Comments
Scott...great race after the grueling Leadville race. Don't know how you did...you have super recovery powers. Still, your races reminds us how important it is to pace the bike well to set up a good run. Thanks for sharing that with the Team. It ain't a bike race. Good luck next year, as I expect more good things to happen for you.
PS - It was great to see you in Boulder and thanks for the help with JT at IMBO.
Great report. Congratulations on a huge summer-season of milestone races.
Scott, I am very impressed with the race you were able to put down. Where I was lacking on long training, you really pushed it. I think if you had another race schedule this year (further than 8 weeks) you would lay down a record race. Seeing you on the course really helped me to keep going. You asked for a battle and I didn't want to disappoint you. You did not disappoint me. This was my first mass start Ironman. I don't know if it was for you, but it was disorienting. That long leg of the swim also added to that disorientation. Staying on course after turn three was hard and after four was very hard. The bike course was no joke. The wind was brutal. The hills, although manageable clearly increased the difficulty of this course. Each time I saw you on the course, I was impressed with how solid you looked. You were locked onto your machine. There were no stray movements, just a steady tempo beating out. The run was a blood bath. When I saw you leaving Badger Stadium, you were again rock solid. Your words from the team dinner rang in my head. Once the pass happened, I was Inspector Kemp from Young Frankenstein. I kept running hearing your Fooot Shteps!
Every time we crossed paths on that run you looked great. You really gave away none of the suffering you were going through. I was sure you were going to catch me at the finish. It was a great race! You were a great help to me and I am sure many of the other EN racers on Sunday. I can't wait until we can race again.
Congratulations Scott- you were carrying a lot of fatigue but executed to the best of your abilities and had a great season- Very Impressive!
Many congrats and look forward to seeing what is next on the agenda for 2017!
Congratulations!
Go get some rest, dude, then show up in Feb for some steep 'n deep, and then in June for the "Al T 'Tude" camp to get your Bad Ass on.
You are an Ironman, and clearly ready for more. I can't wait to watch the next part of the ride.
Scott, I am totally impressed and envious of your 2016 accomplishments. You are a serious ironman machine. You inspire me to research Leadville and get my a$$ kicked. It was super nice meeting you and sorry we didn't have more chance to exchange.