Gordon Cherwoniak's 2017 IM Lake Placid Race Report (very long)
IM LP 2017 Race Report
Results 15:42:49 - 26’ 14” PR on my 2004 32(33 IM age) year old self.
My goals for the race which are lower than those on my signature line.
Swim 1:30-35 T1 00:08:00 Bike 7:15- 7:30:00 T2 Sub 5’ Run 5:27-5:43
Actual
Swim 1:36:00 T1 9:36 Bike 7:50:40 T2 5:00 Run 6:01:32
The Journey
First off a big thank you to my wife Patti who encouraged me to continue with the race after we found out we were expecting out first after I signed up. Brody was 3.5 months old on race day.
Coming in to the 2017 OS I again had delusions of grandeur thinking I’d targeted a sub 14 IM time. After taking time on the couch mostly since Lake Placid in 2015 I started hitting the bike in Oct/Nov 2016. I started the 2017 OS running 13’ total for the first week, with mostly walking. I came out of the OS actually swimming from week 11 on, an FTP from 208 to 238 (all time high 260) and got my run up to 94’ for the final week. A big thanks to the OS group and Coach P who help manage my build in the micro thread.
I managed the IM build with quite a few more days on the bike trainer and also taking off 5 Fridays to get in some long training and extra time at home to help out. This worked out well for us as Brody sleeps like a champ. One key brick I recall when Patti was getting a hair cut was a 4 hour bike on the trainer, Brody showed up in his chair sleeping about 2 hours in we finished the ride then a feed and off to our condo gym for a run on the treadmill. Patti show up right at the end and we all walked home.
The beginner IM plan was almost right but I did need some fatigue management in the mid to latter weeks as I just could not get all the workouts in given where I was coming from. Having said that this was the best managed IM build up I’ve had in my years with EN. Unfortunately the wheels fell off as I crashed on the 2nd last long bike, missing my last RR, long run and a couple weeks a swimming with all the road rash. This led to a more rested but less than ideal build to the race this year having no rides over 4.5 hours or 80 miles. I did have my best run training year getting in 14.5 miles in the 3 hour run.
Coming in I had lost around 34 lbs (on my scale which is usually 5-7 lbs lighter than most) for the race but faltered with the crash missing my secondary goal of 217 by 5 lbs. In previous years I’ve come to this race chasing a time goal and blew up once chasing a race time. The last two I’ve hit the bike given my fitness level and this was the first good run I’ve had at IM.
Pre-Race meal on Saturday happened a little late 6:30-7pm, we were eating, manageable so I thought.
Race Morning
I was up at 3:45 breakfast of oatmeal 300kal, two bananas, Gatorade to sip on. I walked to transition for the first time ever. We were staying in an apartment right across from the Prague so I guess I got to do that hill 3 times.
I left the apartment at 4:40 for body marking, transition set up was smooth and I was out in lots of time by 5:40. I sat out in from of town hall while Patti fed Brody. Met my EN teammates at 6am for the team picture. After having trouble on the swim last year due to no open water swims and limited swim time I had thoughts of doing a pre-race swim but decided against it after feeling good on the Friday morning swim. Had a gel 30 minutes prior to the start and got suited up.
Swim 1:36:00 – Lap 1 47’ lap 2 49’
I went in with the 1:31-1:45 group just after the lead pro’s were starting lap two, noting it was 4 minutes to 7am so 11:56 was my limit. Unlike 2015 I kept the first 300M nice and easy, smooth stroke nothing crazy to get the HR up. The first lap had a few moments where things got jammed up but other than one individual doing a bit of weaving back crawl there was nothing too crazy. Could not help checking the watch 47 minute lap one felt good, took a cup of water and continued on to lap two. More of the same although I think I did not keep the turnover as high on the way out, got refocused and had a good swim in.
T1 I was going for 8 minutes or less. Here I need to clean up many things but my biggest problem this year was no towel and I was worried about the sand causing issues so tried to clean off my feet as best I could. No volunteer so I just took care of stuff myself.
Bike. 7:50:40 Totals NP 149
TSS 303 IF .63.
Current FTP 238 target was 158 prior to crash. Really had no goal going in other than to finish the bike.
lap 1 Time 3:47 NP 154 VI 1.15
lap 2 Time 4:03 NP 144 VI 1.16 –
At 228 lbs (on the IM weigh in scale) race day I drank every 10 minutes with ½ a clif bar every 30’ minutes. This typically gets me through 22 oz of Gatorade and 8-10oz (1 gulp) of water per hour. I’ve used less sodium this year and this got off track, see later, but typically 200mg/hour is what I’ve been adding. In the last hour I switch to gels.
As you can see by the numbers I left a lot of power on the table, the VI was very high due to not enough watts/kg (~2.3 on race day) and coasting where I could particularly on the 2nd lap once above 25-28 MPH. This coasting showed with 1:00:19 seconds, yes a whole hour in the 0-5 watts bin of my file. This amazes me that I spent that much time coasting. I was definitely doing more of this on lap two. Looking back at the training files my two longest bikes were 75 and 76 miles with 240 & 245 TSS so definitely undertrained. Honestly I probably could have picked up a few minutes of this coasting but realistically I just did not have the bike fitness to do much better.
Looking further at my power file, given my 50-34, 12-30 gearing and my w/kg here’s how I managed the 1 hour and almost 48 minutes of the race beyond .75 IF. This equates to about 23% of my bike time at or above the IM recommended .75 IF. I typically have targeted .67 or .68 and if I recall hit .64 in 2015; .75-80 IF = 42’07”; .80-.85 IF = 19’ 45”; .86-.92 IF(200-220 watts) = 24’ 28” with about 10’ in the 210-220 watts area. Finally I spent .92-1.0 IF = 8’ 39” (220-240 watts), with the 235-240 zone being 1’:17 second. There were short burst above my FTP but every 5 watt bin was below one minute with ~ 3’ of time above my FTP. Not great but again I knew I had to manage myself going up the hills particularly on final 17 mile from Jay in to Lake Placid.
Saw Coach P and Mariah at the mount line. Made my way through town just riding along (JRA) and unfortunately it’s not the fastest first hour in IM anymore with the new out and back I was at 56 minutes before the Keene descent. Once my heart rate settled in I made an executive decision to JRA until the climb from Jay to Wilmington as I knew I would need power in the .80-.85+ range given my weight and gearing. My stomach which was not feeling settled made for an early pit stop at the 2nd aid station. This was stop one of two stops on the bike and I felt like I was fighting this all day.
Unfortunately in the early section after Keene I dropped the chain on a shift and the derailleur went out or perhaps the chain stretched (according to one guy at an aid station bike fix area). Upon the initial drop I did stop to take a look tried a little adjustment but things were still skipping, even after the bike aid station stop things were not smooth. So I rode most of the course with more than occasional random shifting chain. I need to acquire better wrenching skills in this area.
As I made the turn back to Lake Placid I just reminded myself to push the down hills and get as much of the next hill back that I could. The three bears came sooner than I thought and I felt strong finishing lap one.
Starting lap 2 I just told myself settle in and JRA again until the climbing back in to town. My mental marker was to hit mile 90 feeling decent which was just before the start of the climb.
Lap 2 descent and flat section came and went, with the wind picking up a bit. I concentrated on staying aero and getting what benefit I could on this section. My big mistake of the bike was salt. For whatever reason I forgot to take in some salt early on and at about 4.5 hours got a cramp in my left leg. So from that point on I was taking in some heavier salt intake. I was using BASE salt tubes and did not get the lid closed and lost the some contents on the road, fortunately a bunch a had also spilled in my bike shorts pocket so I was licking that out for the next 2 hours with what remained in the tube. There was one more cramp about an hour later but I got to the end of the bike in a good position.
I don’t remember exactly where the 2nd bathroom stop was on loop two but it happened. Between the bathroom stops and the two technical issues stops I lost 9’ 02”. I won’t even factor in the inconsistent shifting, perhaps on a good day I might have made the 7 hour 30’ goal. In hindsight I did not let any of the factors on the bike bother me I just dealt with them and kept on going with my day.
Other than the salt nutrition error nutrition was on and I switched to gels at the 7 hour mark from Clif Bars. Coming in to town I took my 2nd gel and topped up on Gatorade prior to starting the run.
T2 Time 5’ was targeting sub 4 so just missed this.
I use socks on the run which I changed but again made sure there was no lingering sand to cut up my feet. In retrospect I’m not sure why I changed socks, with the two bike bathroom breaks I was dry and could have run in those socks. Had my go bag and took off.
Run 6:01:32.
Lap one ~ 2:57:00 Lap two ~3:03:46 as I forgot to stop my watch at the end.
Again not sure why I thought I could maintain my training paces through 26 miles given my long run was 14.5 miles and my longest training week was around 23 miles total. Going in to the run I had mentally broken the race in to 4 parts knowing that it was going to start hurting sometime after 16 miles. HR target was 135-140, knowing that I could go to 145 and should not really be going above 150. I don’t recall seeing that number much this year on the run as there was no speed work. I was just trying to get some run distance and whatever durability I could from my limited build without having an overuse injury.
For the run I’ve been using Clif Blocks, 2 in my mouth (6 per hour) and just letting them dissolve as I run. At each aid station I took Gatorade and water with salt.
The unsettled stomach continued and I utilized the bathroom aid station by Lisa G’s. Things were not getting better or worse but this is the 1st time in 5 IM’s I’ve used the bathroom more than once and typically I’ve made it through the race completely without stops.
A look at my race HR data shows my race is broken down in to 4 sections. I ran the first 1 hour 10’ at around 138. At this point I was getting concerned that I may not be able to hold this pace and from 1:05 to 1:25 of the run there was a steady decline in my HR to around 133. I was at 6.5 miles in to the race at this point and on my way back in to town I held this 133 HR until 11 miles where it dropped again to around 129, which coincides with the out and back turn around the pub.
At the start of the out and back I was doing the math I knew 15 hours was out of the picture but decided that 15.5 hours was the new target goal. I also was aware that my legs we starting to feel a little fatigue and perhaps this forced me in to a slower pace. I really did not want another 16 hour IM finish and one of my mantra’s in training was “better than that guy” which is my 2015 self. I even have my 2015 bike race number in my basement on the concrete in front of my trainer which helped push me through several sessions when I wanted to ease off or shut it down early. So while I did not want to blow up I wanted to beat that 2015 guy and my 2004 self which has the 16:09:03 PR on this course.
Off I went trying to limit the beating to the quads on the down hills out of town in lap 2. I also took note of the mile 20 and 22 marker and this is where my push to the finish would begin. In training on the long runs I’ve talked myself in to just 5K left so I had it in my mind just two 5K to finish up at the mile 20 marker. If I’m struggling push that out to 22 or 23 miles for the final 5K. I then had to refocus myself to get my mind back on my 3rd run section which would get me to mile 18.
On this section the Clif Blocks were starting to get pretty sweet, I continued with only 2 an hour while upping the Gatorade a little. It seems I can always stomach this stuff even at the 12-15 hour mark of a race. During this section I did have a couple conversations with myself about stopping or pushing it until mile 20 then I could walk and still beat my 2015 self. I did walk some hills on both laps to keep the HR down but did not have to reduce the 6 mile box I had set up just yet. I continued to walk the aid stations getting my nutrition and breaks there.
Mile 18 comes after the turn around on river road and I’ve completed 3 of the 4 sections of my race. I distinctly remember making the “Mile 18” deep voice from the pod casts in my head when I hit this point. The self assessment was decent at this point feet, knees all good relatively speaking, legs still turning over, stomach not really liking the sweetness but manageable. I did see a couple guys throwing up in the darkness and this did bring a fear it could happen to me. I honestly don’t remember exactly when but I switched over to gels, taking two over the last 8 or so miles of the race in lieu of the Clif Blocks.
At mile 18 I tightened my box with my new goal being mile 20 that’s where I can dig in, not go crazy but start pushing up the HR again. My mind was drifting to the final 5k of the race so I had to bring myself back mile 19-20 was one of the slowest ones time wise and a grind mentally. The Garmin has mile 19 @ 13’:54” and a 14’47” mile 20 so a couple of the slower ones excluding the hills in town.
Did the deep podcast voice again to myself at “mile 20” and mentally reset, only 10K which for me was 2 5K’s. Of course I did the quick math on that and thought, hmm over an hour more like an hour 20 or 30 minutes. Yep that’s doable running, or do I want to run to 22 and run walk? I can still beat 2015 Gordon but if I walk not 2004 Gordon. Nope keep running you dumb a$$, you will be pi$$ed at yourself tomorrow if you walk it in now.
At mile 20 the fourth HR segment from my race file kicked in. I started around 130-131 at mile 20 and proceeded to pick up the HR back up to 137 by the end of the race. At close to the 23 mile marker I had an interesting conversation with myself. I looked down at my watch at it was 14:57:00 on my watch. For some reason I thought about trying to push out a 33 minute 5k. I briefly entertained the thought, remembered all the uphill climbs back through town and decided I did not want to blow up and walk it in. At this point I did turn around my cap and focus in run slightly harder than I was on PE.
My Garmin has around a 13’ minute mile for number 26. The IM tracker says my final two splits were the fastest two paces of the day at 12:03 and 12:06 for short segments less than a mile. For comparison I ran the first 3 miles in 12:24 pace. So maybe I had a little left in the tank but you have to earn the right to push and this was my first time running most of the IM course.
I got to the finish line very happy with the run effort and consistency put forward on this day. I don’t think I could have executed much better. I would define this as a good run off my bike fitness.
Two things in retrospect, mile 19 and 20 (16’ mile average according to the IM tracker) would have made it close to a negative split. This could be balanced a little by my early bathroom break. I also stopped for Patti to get 2 or 3 photo ops and give her and Brody a kiss. This cost me a sub 6 hour marathon something I’m shaking my head at now for not ‘racing’ a little harder. I know I could have found 1’ 33” somewhere.
Finally this was the first time in all my 5 IM’s, 3 finished and two DNF’s that I actually ran most of the marathon. I now know what mile 18 feels like and know that I can dig deep enough to keep running through the finish line. I’m happy that I backed off earlier as I’m not sure my stomach or body would have held at that 138HR for the 26.2 miles. Having said that I do wonder about that 2nd step down to 129-130 at the ½ way point.
No matter what your fitness level, patience, discipline and good execution pay offs that’s the bottom line. I also got away with the salt intake error, something if I was pushing the bike a little more with a higher HR may have come back to bite me.
This was my one and only triathlon race for the year. My goal now is to keeps things rolling hitting a 5k or 10K in September/October. One good thing is that I’ve already been looking to get out and do some swim, bike, run which is a change over previous years where I’ve been very tired and unmotivated to do anything. I’ll be following up this report with a thread on my 2017 and 2018 goals to keep me motivated as I won’t be racing much with the new addition to the family.
Thanks for reading.
Comments
you are a really persistent person ! Have a nice time with your little family, they grow up so fast !
HUGE work this cycle man! Fantastic work on the body comp coming in 34 pounds lighter. That is no easy task!
Very much enjoyed having you in the forums this year and admire how much you support the team. Big sign of strength!
Congratulations Ironman!
SS
What a great report. Congrats! It was so nice to be at the finish line and share your excitement when you finished. You continue to inspire. Keep working. Looking forward to your next accomplishment.
MR