IMTX 2017 Race Report (First IM) for Tim Sullivan
Summary:
This was my first IM. Thanks everyone for the comments on my race plan. After reading all of the comments, I decided that my number one goal for my first IM was to have a good time, and have enough energy to run the entire way. I always kept thinking back to the race execution guidance that says “1. A successful race = a good run. There is no such thing as a good bike followed by bad run, period. In our world, if you showed up with solid run fitness, had a "good" bike and a poor run, we will ALWAYS assume you messed up your bike pacing unless you are missing a limb or are in the ICU with an intestinal parasite.” I also didn’t want to have to explain why I went out to hard on the bike and had such a bad run J I came into the race feeling very good and well trained. While I know I left quite a bit of time out there, I am very happy with my results. I accomplished both of my goals. I had a GREAT time and I ran the entire way (with a negative split!). I’m looking forward to learning and improving. I am always open to comments and suggestions. Thanks everyone!
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Race Summary |
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Swim |
01:24:52 |
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T1: |
7:01 |
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Bike |
05:31:46 |
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T2: |
9:04 |
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Run |
04:19:06 |
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Overall |
11:31:49 |
Swim – 1:24: For some reason, I was very calm before this race. I usually get nervous before races, but not this time (at least that I could tell). Weeks before the swim, I had decided that I would swim in my lava pants. The water turned out to be 78 degrees, so I think the lava pants (instead of a sleeveless wetsuit) were the correct call. I did not get hot at all, but I still got the float that makes swimming for me much more effortless than without some flotation (I will be working on improving that!).
I watched the pros take off, and then put my lava pants on. I saw a friend at the swim start, so I talked with him a little while, and then it was time for the wetsuits to go. I decided to be near the front of the wetsuits. I ended up being next to Gordon Polozola. At the start of the swim, I told myself to take it easy and just stick to my normal bilateral breathing and just keep feeling my two-beat kick. There was contact but nothing terrible. It did seem like people were trying to take off my timing chip! I swam closer to the shorelines, instead of the buoys, to avoid the contact. You couldn’t see ANYTHING in the water. There were many times I would go to breath and a person would literally be six inches from my face. I thought to myself, where did they come from?
During the swim, I just kept swimming like it was a training swim. Occasionally, I would increase my effort a little to stay near a person passing me for a while, but then I would drop back to my pace. I just kept making my strokes. The longest part of the swim was the first part before the turnaround. I expected this as the beginning of my swims always seem that way. The turn into the canal came much faster than expected. I swam the canal on the right side and didn’t have much contact at all. The finish was crowded so it took some time to get out of the water. I was not tired or breathing heavy as I came out of the water.
T1 – 7:01: As I exited the water, it was crowded and everyone was walking to get their T1 bags. I was surprised to see so many bags still there. After getting my T1 bag, I went to the changing tent, put on my HR strap and EN tri top, then put my socks on, cycling shoes, and helmet. I then jogged to my bike and off I went. Didn’t seem like I spent 7 minutes in this transition, but I guess the beginning was slow due to all the people.
Bike – 5:31 (20mph): For the first part of ride up until the tollway, I just cruised along at 165w and averaged about 21 mph. It was fairly crowded. Felt good and easy, but my HR (145) seemed higher than it normally would be at this effort level. I would guess that would be the adrenaline. For the first out and back on the tollway, I increased my output to average 179 w and averaged 20.3 mph. Again, my HR average of 149 was higher than I expected but I didn’t feel that I was exerting myself. It was somewhat muggy during the first part of this ride.
Near the end of this first out and back, the front came in and it got REALLY windy. As I was coming down a decline, the wind hit and it was strong enough for me to want to get out of my aerobars for a little bit as I was a little scared the wind might get worse and cause me to crash. It was near the end of this loop (into the wind) that Paul Hough first passed me. At the turn around for the second loop, I decided to take advantage of the downwind and try to push a little bit more than I had been. For the downwind portion of this loop, I averaged 185w and 25.5 mph. LOTS of people were on the course by this time, and many of them were going very slow. I passed Paul Hough near the beginning of this downwind portion. I was feeling very good during this section of the ride and my HR average increased slightly to 153. This was the only part of the bike, I felt like I was working much. I like this feeling better than the just go out and pedal effort. Even though I was cautious when passing, I did end up clipping an orange pylon when someone came out of line while I was going by them. I was going fast enough that my momentum deflected the cone off the left of my front wheel and my bike deflected to the right a few feet. As that was happening, I was picturing myself flying over my aerobars while clipped in. I was also thinking, this is NOT good! It’s amazing all of the thoughts you can have during a very short time period. Very luckily, I maintained the trajectory of my bike, made sure I didn’t crash into anyone, and then I kept going. I did look down to do a quick bike check to make sure everything was still OK. After that short 20 second or so event, I just got back to pedaling.
The final portion of the bike was into a strong headwind! Initially, I was going to keep my watts steady and just fight the wind in, but then I realized that the bike course was VERY crowded on the way back and there seemed to be a group of riders on the right of the road and a steady group of riders passing all of them. It was at this point, that I made a decision to conserve some energy on the ride back and follow the line of riders that were passing the group on the right. I once again thought of “There is no such thing as a good bike followed by bad run” Paul Hough once again passed me near the last 5 miles of this loop. He obviously was much steadier than me. For this portion into the strong headwind, I averaged 158w, dropped my HR to about 140 or so (an easy run HR for me), and averaged 16.2 mph. I know I could have gone much faster on this portion, but at the time, I thought it better to conserve energy for the run. Looking back, I still think this was the correct decision for my first IM. For future IMs, I think I left a lot on the table on the bike portion.
Instead of focusing on power during the ride, I looked mainly at my speed. As I was averaging 22 mph up until the headwind, I thought my time would be fairly good. I wasn’t expecting the headwind to be that strong. I did a good job (for me) staying aero (especially during that first 80 miles). Still lots of room to improve on maintaining steady output and power. I tried to always pedal (instead of coasting) but looks like could probably get better on that as well. The trainer really helped me with the continual pedaling!
Bike Nutrition: I attempted to drink about one GE per aid station, but fell short by about 1 bottle overall. It wasn’t hot out, so I knew from my training, and the fact that I peed three or four times on the bike, that I was properly hydrated. Physically I felt good except for the fact that I noticed my IT band was a little tight. This only happened one other time during training, and luckily this time it wasn’t as sore. I did have Tylenol with me, but I couldn’t access it without stopping, so I decided to wait until I was in T2 to take a Tylenol. Next race, I will make the pills more accessible.
T2: 9:04 - After I got off the bike, I took a couple wobbly steps and then walked a few more steps before stopping to take off my bike shoes and take a Tylenol that I grabbed out of a Ziploc bag on my bike. I then did a slow jog to grab my T2 bag and then into the changing tent. Didn’t seem like a lot of bikes were back yet. I placed my bag on a chair and then went to a porta john a few feet away to pee. I then changed socks, put on my calf sleeves, hat, run belt, and shoes and then was on my way for the run. I know I could have done this transition much faster, but I wasn’t rushing.
RUN (4:19) – the run was the part of the IM that I was the most unsure of. My run durability is not great, my VDOT is only about 46, and my longest run was the 18 mile run in the training plan. This was the part of the IM that I really focused on my HR. As I started the run, I told myself to strictly follow the plan and run at least the first six miles at the 140 HR I had the last hour or so of the bike. I started the run with another ENer who lives in the Woodlands (I think her name was Dana). The first six miles my HR was 141 and I averaged about 10:15/mile. During this time, the running was steady but not real easy or real hard. I decided at mile six that I would keep my HR in the range of 140 and keep a consistent effort as I still had a LONG way to go. I took another Tylenol during this portion. For the next twelve miles, I averaged 140 HR and a 9:59 pace. I guess my body had become more comfortable since my pace increased without the effort increasing. The Tylenol probably also helped me. As I was approaching mile 18, I started wondering what my overall time was. I did some quick calculations and thought that if I could just keep a 10 minute pace, I would easily break 12 hours and be somewhere near 11:30. As I was feeling good, I decided to let my HR creep up some and see if I could increase the pace. It did increase, but not a lot. For the last 8 miles of the run, I had a 145 HR and averaged 9:30. I think it was somewhere near this point (near the special needs bags if I recall correctly) that I passed Paul Hough. I hadn’t seen him since he passed me on the bike. I also started passing tons of people who had passed me earlier in the run. I thought as I got closer to the finish line that I would be able to really increase my pace, but I didn’t really feel like it J. Instead, I decided to just enjoy the experience as everyone told me that you only get ONE chance to have a first IM!
For nutrition on the run, I stopped running only to grab a drink and get some ice for my Ziploc bag. The first 18 miles, I stuck with a cup of GE. For the last six miles, I went caffeine crazy! I drank coke until mile 21 and then I drank either Red bull or coke for the last five miles. I also took licks of salt as I was running. Even though it wasn’t hot out (it actually got cooler as the day went on), the ice bag was my friend. I either put the ice bag down my shirt or shorts and then drained the ice water into my hat.
During the run, I engaged with the crowd and gave lots of kids (and adults) fist bumps and high fives. I tried to smile as much as possible during the run as I was enjoying the experience and it makes me feel physically better. I REALLY liked running along the canal where there were tons of people. There were people in bikinis, caveman suits, drums, loud music and lots of yelling! This really helped recharge me for the long stretches with not much happening.
I didn’t really ever feel as bad as I thought I would during my first IM. I was expecting misery during at least a portion of the run. Instead, I just had soreness in my legs and more of that feeling to keep pushing like I did during the runs where you push the last X number of miles. I did have thoughts of how easy it would be to walk but I didn’t give in. My one thing that I kept telling myself was “Don’t cheat yourself, you are plenty trained to keep running!” I know this has been used by lots of people, but it really worked for me. When things got harder, I also just smiled and tried to soak it all in.
As I approached the finish line, I made sure to high five lots of people and really enjoy my time running through the maze. I heard Mike Reilly announce my name, and then it was over. A nice handler gave me one of those space blankets, got me a chocolate protein drink and walked me to the pictures. She held my stuff while I had some pictures taken and then I was off to the athlete village. Instead of eating, I decided to go to the massage tent! I didn’t think it would be that crowded as I knew that most people were still out on the course. I waited about 10 minutes and got my legs massaged, which felt great. I didn’t sit down before I got my massage as I didn’t think I would be able to get back up easily J. After the massage, I went to get a burrito, a coke, and some other food. As my family was staying in Houston, I met up with a friend who had come from Austin and we watched the finishers come in. I stayed near the finish line until near the end. We did go into a pub and get some food and I had a beer!
It was also GREAT to be able to meet a bunch of my EN teammates before, during, and after the race. I hope to see many of you at other races!
Comments
Glad you didn't have to deal with typical TX weather!
All in all, it sounds like you had a great day out there!
@Scott Alexander - yes, very happy it wasnt the day before weather when it was about 90 and humid. We only had the big headwinds on the bike but GREAT run weather!
What IM are you doing next month? Maybe you could do Boulder on June 11th, since Ironman South American Championship in Brazil in May looks to be sold out
Hands down a very strong performance for a 1st time Ironman! I believe my first one was 12:05 at IMLV many years ago.
You will get smarter, stronger, faster (and maybe better looking) with age.............and go sub 11:00 soon should you choose to continue no doubt!
Congratulations IM and welcome to the family!
SS
P.S. Most of us cannot perform at the level of @Paul Hough .....he basically sets the bar for the rest of us!
Sorry I'm just getting to this, but I'm glad I did. I was tracking you and others all day, glad that you had such a great first IM. Huge potential upside from here. Cheers.
MR