Josh's IMCHOO Race Report
Race Day
Got up at 345 straight in the kitchen and ate my pre race meal. Made my drinks for the bike and gatorade endurance (G.E) for sipping pre race. Checked morning clothes bag and special needs had what they were supposed to. Suited up with bodyglide and chamois butt'r everywhere.Out the door 440-445. Arrived at transition 500-5:05. Re-familiarized myself where bike was and T1/T2 bags, pumped up tires, put a little water in bta bottle just to get me to first aid station. Put banana in T2 bag (didn't end up eating it). Gave Amber bike pump and told her bye.
On bus to swim start I focused on mentally going through transitions and how to be smooth and precise. The swim start line was much larger than i thought it would be. I was near the back/middle of the swim line, got in the water around 745.
Swim: 59:53
Swim like bath water, which was ok since I was chilly while waiting in line. Was uneventful for the first bit, as I started around the island it got alittle crowded and I started passing quite a few people until swim exit. Did good at sighting: not too much, just enough.
T1 3:46
Nice and smooth. Jogged up the ramp, it was crowded but I slipped past others walking. Cap and goggles off and swim skin to waist. Grabbed bag, went to last chair helmet out of bag with glasses inside. No volunteers near me to utilize at the moment. Swim stuff in bag ran out putting on helmet and sunglasses. Bike mount fast and smooth.
Bike 5:50:xx
T2 2:39
Bike dismount was clean and fast, feet out of bike shoes last .5 mile. Ran straight to bag and into tent. Helmet was unclipped and off before I sat down. Dumped my shoes and go bag out, volunteer put helmet in bag. Socks and shoes on, bib on and ran out with go bag.
Run 4:33:22
First thing was ice water over head at start of run, kept shoes dry. Bike avg hr was 138 so I just did my best to stay on that for the first 6 miles. Had a few spikes at 145 but nothing sustained. At the one hour mark I let my HR drift up slowly throughout the remainder of the run. Miles 7-16 were mostly uneventful, playing defense and fueling/walking at aid stations. Ice in hat and in ice bag probably helped fend off the heat more than anything. It got a little tough at mile 16-18 with some stomach cramping and knee pain. Backed off on the Gatorade and took ice water and a salt pill. Cramps stopped. Knee continued to be annoying the entire run but only in spurts did it get my attention. Held back what little I had for the hills at 21-24. Slight effort running up front side of Barton, then relaxed and got my HR as low as I could, per coach rich as I ran by, running down the backside. Started my last effort climbing the back side of Barton where coach rich and Mariah were. It felt awesome passing so many people walking up the hill. I really liked Coach Rich's advice, "head down and fall up the hill." That helped a ton. Kept as good an effort as I could down the hill and to the finish. I think I executed the run as best as I could, I did think about running the last 3 aid stations instead of walking them but i decided to just shorten my walking time instead. I am happy with my race overall. But more importantly, this race is just another step in understanding what it feels like to push myself a little more on the run and get more experience with race day decision making.
Got up at 345 straight in the kitchen and ate my pre race meal. Made my drinks for the bike and gatorade endurance (G.E) for sipping pre race. Checked morning clothes bag and special needs had what they were supposed to. Suited up with bodyglide and chamois butt'r everywhere.Out the door 440-445. Arrived at transition 500-5:05. Re-familiarized myself where bike was and T1/T2 bags, pumped up tires, put a little water in bta bottle just to get me to first aid station. Put banana in T2 bag (didn't end up eating it). Gave Amber bike pump and told her bye.
On bus to swim start I focused on mentally going through transitions and how to be smooth and precise. The swim start line was much larger than i thought it would be. I was near the back/middle of the swim line, got in the water around 745.
Swim: 59:53
Swim like bath water, which was ok since I was chilly while waiting in line. Was uneventful for the first bit, as I started around the island it got alittle crowded and I started passing quite a few people until swim exit. Did good at sighting: not too much, just enough.
T1 3:46
Nice and smooth. Jogged up the ramp, it was crowded but I slipped past others walking. Cap and goggles off and swim skin to waist. Grabbed bag, went to last chair helmet out of bag with glasses inside. No volunteers near me to utilize at the moment. Swim stuff in bag ran out putting on helmet and sunglasses. Bike mount fast and smooth.
Bike 5:50:xx
HR 170 after transition, started Riding at JRA. Deep breaths and relaxed pedaling. Got my HR down to 135-140 within 5 mins. Started drinking normal strength Infinit at 10mins into bike leg. First glitch of the day, I lost one 2 hour Infinit bottle on railroad tracks. I just left it because I was switching to G.E. after finishing Infinit anyways. Used my remaining 3hrs worth of Infinit and switched to G.E. I would sip a little water since I was getting lots of sodium from 1.5 bottles of G.E. Per hour. That worked great during the remainder of the bike. Also peed atleast 4 times on the bike. Always soaked myself with cold water at aid stations and in between also. I noticed it really started to get warm roughly around mile 70. Got soaking wet at last aid station and downed a good bit of G.E. right before dismount.
I passed more people during the first 20min of the bike than I expected. Thought I might be going to hard but my RPE and HR were all good so I just kept cruising. And though I was passing some, of course others were standing up and hammering right past me also. I took that as a sign that I was doing okay. I continued to ninja down from hog jowl and passed people here and there, and finally after bike special needs the course cleared up a bit. At the start of the second loop, it was nice a spread out until I got to the turn around at hog jowl. I than began passing more people who were relaxing on the downhills and sitting up on the hoods. That continued to be the case all the way back to transition.T2 2:39
Bike dismount was clean and fast, feet out of bike shoes last .5 mile. Ran straight to bag and into tent. Helmet was unclipped and off before I sat down. Dumped my shoes and go bag out, volunteer put helmet in bag. Socks and shoes on, bib on and ran out with go bag.
Run 4:33:22
First thing was ice water over head at start of run, kept shoes dry. Bike avg hr was 138 so I just did my best to stay on that for the first 6 miles. Had a few spikes at 145 but nothing sustained. At the one hour mark I let my HR drift up slowly throughout the remainder of the run. Miles 7-16 were mostly uneventful, playing defense and fueling/walking at aid stations. Ice in hat and in ice bag probably helped fend off the heat more than anything. It got a little tough at mile 16-18 with some stomach cramping and knee pain. Backed off on the Gatorade and took ice water and a salt pill. Cramps stopped. Knee continued to be annoying the entire run but only in spurts did it get my attention. Held back what little I had for the hills at 21-24. Slight effort running up front side of Barton, then relaxed and got my HR as low as I could, per coach rich as I ran by, running down the backside. Started my last effort climbing the back side of Barton where coach rich and Mariah were. It felt awesome passing so many people walking up the hill. I really liked Coach Rich's advice, "head down and fall up the hill." That helped a ton. Kept as good an effort as I could down the hill and to the finish. I think I executed the run as best as I could, I did think about running the last 3 aid stations instead of walking them but i decided to just shorten my walking time instead. I am happy with my race overall. But more importantly, this race is just another step in understanding what it feels like to push myself a little more on the run and get more experience with race day decision making.
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Comments
Josh...great to meet you and Amber. Congrats on a superb race. You executed like a veteran. It sounds like you were in complete control the entire race, in brutal conditions. Awesome staying focused and in the moment. I really don't have any advice or comments to give you since you raced so well,
Good luck with your training and future races, I hope our paths cross again. Stay healthy.
Great race...well executed, especially given the weather conditions. You left a major stat out of your RR, you finished #6 in your AG!! Way to crush it. It was great meeting you and I hope to race with you again.