Ian Kurth 2017 IMWI Race Report. You Win, You Win - You Lose, You Learn
Ian Kurth 2017 IMWI race report. You Win You Win, You Lose You Learn.
Background information: This was my ninth IM, and fifth full season racing with EN (joined for Nov ’12 Outseason).
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2000 IMFL | 2012 IMWI | 2013 IMWI | 2014 IMWI | 2014 IMFL* | 2015 IMMT | 2016 IMWI | 2017 IMMT | 2017 IMWI | |
Swim | 1:30:44 | 1:20:02 | 1:24:52 | 1:15:05 | Swim Cancelled | 1:14:45 | 1:16:58 | 1:20:17 | 1:20:06 |
T1 | 0:09:58 | 0:08:47 | 0:07:44 | 0:06:50 | N/A | 0:05:43 | 0:06:53 | 0:05:29 | 0:06:38 |
Bike | 6:14:38 | 6:28:16 | 5:54:48 | 5:42:21 | 5:33:39 | 5:28:54 | 5:32:26 | 5:13:21 | 5:38:25 |
T2 | 0:07:25 | 0:05:22 | 0:02:57 | 0:02:38 | 0:02:53 | 0:01:39 | 0:02:07 | 0:01:45 | 0:02:09 |
Run | 5:45:25 | 4:10:54 | 4:04:02 | 3:41:00 | 3:48:36 | 3:55:20 | 3:42:35 | 3:47:13 | 4:19:12 |
Total | 13:48:10 | 12:13:21 | 11:34:23 | 10:47:54 | 9:25:07* | 10:46:21 | 10:40:59 | 10:28:05 | 11:26:30 |
Training lead up:
This race was framed within a totally unconventional lead up. Racing 2 Ironman’s within 3 weeks is definitely uncharted waters for me. I emphasize the verb “racing” in that I am pretty confident in my fitness that I can “participate” and “complete” the distances. However, when I toe the line in a race, especially one as big as an Ironman, I expect myself to extract my best effort for the day. This means racing without regret. My mindset coming into these two events was to race IMMT as if that was my only race. Then, stumble, bumble, recover, and taper my way to the start of IMWI, forget the folly of time between events, and race as if I just showed up for my only “A” race of the season. Acknowledging that I would arrive at the start with residual fatigue, it was unlikely that I was going to PR, but I still had goals and subgoals I was targeting. Primarily, I came into this race hoping to learn some lessons and a bit about myself. Both of those objectives were accomplished in full force.
I had a pretty good race at IMMT. Here is a link to that race report:
Heading into IMWI I recognized, and in some ways looked forward to, the mental challenge required to race again so soon. There was no way I would be totally recovered enough to enjoy full fitness. My plan was to emphasize race execution skills to the best of my ability, and expect “the suck”/”the line” to arrive much sooner than usual. Mental preparation for the anticipated suffering was as much a part of my preparation as any other component.
In order to prepare for this likelihood, I found myself listening to several iterations of David Goggins’ story (http://davidgoggins.com/) via podcast, and contemplating Jocko’s advice (http://jockopodcast.com):
While I had a great training build leading up to IMMT, my physical preparation in between races was pretty hodgepodge. I took several days off after IMMT, then did some light running towards the end of week 1. During week 2, I was on the Vasa trainer each day for about 20 min, ran for about 3 miles a day, and commuted daily by bike to work (about 10 miles round trip). Week 3, I found myself back in another race week consisting of doing some light Vasa work and running at the beginning of the week, with legs up around race weekend. I didn’t even look at my TrainingPeaks chart, because at this point, what did it matter? My fitness is what it is, my recovery will be what it will be, and I had to just do my best to be in the moment and process oriented.
Race Day:
Got up early, with the usual pre-race preparations. Our hotel (Madison Concourse) was a convenient walk from transition, just on the other side of the capitol building. Knowing the venue well, the process of body marking, setting up T1, and getting down to the swim start is pretty smooth. Coach Rich’s “double top secret staircase” next to the helix is no longer “top secret”, and this stairwell and the helix is jammed with people on race morning. My advice is to go against the grain and walk away from the start line, through the Monona Terrace structure towards the opposite helix, go down the internal building stairs or escalators to the lower level and exit at the bike trail. Super easy, no crowds, and no stress.
Grateful for a terrific support crew
Swim:
This was the first time IMWI has not been a mass start. Instead, there were several waves defined by AG’s that were separated by 5 min. Taking this into account, the prior advice of starting at the swim ramp etc is no longer as relevant. I started on the buoy line, about 2 people back and swam along and just inside buoy line the entire time without any significant contact. Easiest IMWI swim by far. While my swim was easy, I knew that this new staggered start would have some ramifications on the bike.
2017 IMWI: 1:20:09---118 AG, 954 OA 2017 IMMT: 1:20:17---159 AG, 940 OA 2016 IMWI: 1:16:58 --- 87 AG, 942 OA 2015 IMMT: 1:14:45 --- 158 AG, 759 OA 2014* IMFL: N/A --- Swim canceled 2014 IMWI: 1:15:05 --- 153 AG, 851 OA 2013 IMWI: 1:24:52 --- 167 AG, 1231 OA 2012 IMWI: 1:20:02 --- 171 AG, 1233 OA |
T1:
I decided again to skip the wetsuit strippers in favor of removing it while running the long transition from swim exit up the helix into the terrace. I grabbed my bag, had some veteran assistance from by buddy Frederick Guesneau who helped removed my shoes and helmet from my bag and replaced my wetsuit. Once in hand, I put on my helmet while jogging to my bike. Shoes on, and go.
2017 IMWI: 6:38 - 7/254 in AG 2017 IMMT: 5:29 - 19/263 in AG 2016 IMWI: 6:53 2015 IMMT: 5:43 2014* IMFL: NA Swim canceled 2014 IMWI: 6:50 2013 IMWI: 7:44 2012 IMWI: 8:47 |
Bike:
One of my concerns from my IMMT bike was that my power was not correlating with the HR that I was appreciating. I did a few tests with my Quarq powermeter, Zwift, my Garmin, and HR, and validated that I wasn’t dealing with a technical snafu.
My goal was to ride very intelligently on the bike. I know the course, and I know the sections where momentum preservation is important. I know the importance of flattening the hills and riding steady, and I “thought” I knew how long it would take to break free of the crowds on the bike. In past IMWI races, I would find space after about 40 miles. Unfortunately, an underappreciated consequence of the wave start, and my pedestrian swimming resulted in much more traffic than usual for me. This tends to be somewhat frustrating as “lines” for best pavement (roads are pretty rough in some sections), and “best lines” for descending tended to be clogged with slower riders. I didn’t feel like I broke free until about mile 60… During the race, I felt like I was doing a reasonable job managing the bike traffic. In retrospect, I may have been a bit overzealous in breaking free, and the cumulation of several little microbursts may have cost me some reserve later in the race.
Once free, I rode pretty steady, HR was pretty conservative and things were progressing as expected. As a side note, on the first bump on the admin section of the bike, I lost a 600 cal bottle of Infinit. At the time, I just dealt with the issue, and adjusted my calorie and sodium math to take more Gatorade Endurance (GE) and make up the difference. In retrospect, I’m not sure if the extra GE was helpful or not. What I can say is that around mile 80, I began to notice that my gut was a bit full, and the Gatorade that I had been taking wasn’t processing as well as I would have liked. At this point, I had ingested 5 bottles of GE (900 cals, 3000 mg sodium), 2 packages of Cliff Bloks (400 cal, 200 mg sodium), and ½ of Powerbar (125 cal, 100 mg sodium). 4 hours into the race, this is pretty typical caloric and sodium ingestion for me so I thought that this unsettled stomach was unusual and I took notice. I felt reasonably well hydrated as I had peed twice (4x total on bike). I decided to dial back the effort a bit, not eat anything else for a while, and switch to water. While this was going on, I hit some rough road and broke my right aeropad forearm support. Feeling grateful that it was not my seatpost that broke as I had seen a couple of riders deal with, I finished the remaining 35 miles of the ride with my right forearm resting laterally on my bullhorn leaving me with a nice pattern of bruising post race...
Getting some Dragon Power
Over T1 and the bike, I passed about 800 people moving from 954th to 174th place OA. Aside from the nutritional harbinger and the course dependent slow pace, it was a pretty typical bike for me, with a reasonable course VI of 1.06.
2017 IMWI: 5:38:25 (19.86 mph) --- 25 AG, 174 OA - 19th/254 fastest bike in AG 2017 IMMT: 5:13:21 (21.1 mph) --- 21 AG, 130 OA - 12th/263 fastest bike in AG 2016 IMWI: 5:32:26 (20.21 mph) --- 21 AG, 162 OA - 17/238 in AG 2015 IMMT: 5:28:54 (20.43 mph) --- 66 AG, 326 OA 2014* IMFL: 5:33:39 (20.14 mph) --- 71 AG, 362 OA 2014 IMWI: 5:42:21 (19.6 mph) --- 76 AG, 328 OA 2013 IMWI: 5:54:48 (19.0 mph) --- 86 AG, 520 OA 2012 IMWI: 6:28:16 (17.3 mph) --- 166 AG, 1045 OA |
T2:
No major issues. Quick and efficient. Goal: “Best in class”. I accomplished my objective with the 4th fastest T2 in my AG.
2017 IMWI: 2:09 - 4/254 fastest T2 in AG 2017 IMMT: 1:45 - 2/263 fastest T2 in AG 2016 IMWI: 2:07 - 2/238 in AG 2015 IMMT: 1:39 - 2014 IMFL: 2:52 - 2014 IMWI: 2:38 - 2013 IMWI: 2:57 - 2012 IMWI: 5:22 - |
Run:
Living so close to Madison, and having done this race so many times, I enjoy the benefit of seeing many friendly faces. My family was stationed all over the course. I was able to see them at the swim exit, several times during the bike, and they were all over the run course. Despite their tremendous enthusiasm and commitment, it was all I could do on the run to give them an appreciative smile. Enduring a long day of spectating and coordinating logistics across the course geography is very challenging, and they were once again more than up to the task. I really do appreciate seeing so many family and friends taking time out of their lives to come to the race and cheer. In her typical fashion, Jen raised the costume bar and surprised me dressed as Khaleesi (Game of Thrones Mother of Dragons) with her four dragons.
Going into this race, the run was the big question mark. I reached out to some of my veteran friends and asked their opinion on what to expect in this race given the recent IMMT effort. Unequivocally, everyone said that the run was going to hurt. How to pace the run? Answer: take what the day gives you… That said, my plan was to follow the EN run by HR guidance and be very conservative for the first 6 miles through the first State Street turn, and then balance my effort from there based on feel.
Straight out of T2 I didn’t feel right. In my experience, this was not that unusual as I find it takes a bit to not only “find my legs”, but also to settle the gut. Despite the conservatively paced early miles, my gut never settled. I began having waves of nausea that initially were reasonably infrequent. However, this negatively impacted my nutrition plan as the GU’s I had planned to take weren’t palatable. I went with Gatorade during the early miles. This didn’t help. I tried water. No dice. Banana? Nope. Pretzels? No bueno. I reluctantly forced down diluted Gatorade every other mile until about mile 9. I prefer to save Coke until late, but I couldn’t think of any other solution. Even Coke didn’t provide a respite from the near constant nausea I was now experiencing. I sputtered on Coke until mile 11 when I decided to try Coach P’s Gatorlytes and Coke concoction. No dice. At mile 12, I had exhausted all of my known options and I tried a cookie. I have to say, in the moment, it might have been the best cookie of my life. With a brief respite of clarity, I had some hope. However, nausea soon returned with a vengeance.
In case you’ve never seen it, this is what it looks like to run and count... Over and over on repeat...
Up until this time, I had been maintaining pace, but it was becoming increasingly difficult to do so. My attempts at adjustments were not working. I was feeling at mile 13 how I sometimes feel at mile 24. I was facing a long sentence in the hurt locker. I realized that I had basically 3 choices. #1 keep eating, knowing that nothing was processing and I would eventually need to hit the eject button, #2 slow down/walk to enable myself to digest, get some nutrition in and hope for a rally, or #3 stop taking liquids/food, commit to holding my best pace and muscle it in on fumes. I opted for door number 3.
The last 13 miles were what I would describe as a long screaming nightmare. As I descended into worsening dehydration, it was all I could do to maintain pace and keep focus. In an effort to “detach”, I resorted to counting my steps to 100 over and over on repeat for 3 hours. The vibrant crowds that usually energize me made me feel worse. The smells along State street intensified the nausea. Despite the misery, I committed to running it in. This was my crucible, and I was here by choice. I wanted to test my mettle. Everything ends and this too shall pass. I continued grinding on until about mile 22 when I puked. Not much, mostly dry heaves - but enough to initiate muscle cramps in my abs. Unfortunately, this was the final crack for me. I tried to start back running, but could only manage a few minutes before heaving again. I then tried to establish a sustainable pattern of run/walk - run 100 steps, walk 20 steps. This worked for about a mile until I encountered more heaves and running was no longer a viable option. I faced the humbling walk up around the capitol towards the finish. I passed my wife and kids for the last time, tried to fake a smile and said that I’m headed to the med tent. As I entered the finishing chute, I rallied every ounce of pride I had, and jogged across the line.
Faking it in the chute - ready to make a hard left to the med tent...
9th IM finish, first med tent visit...
Ultimately, it was a difficult day managing (or mismanaging) many challenges including mechanical and nutritional issues on the bike, and battling nausea for the entirety of the marathon. This later manifested in not being able to tolerate food or liquids for the last 3 hours, losing 18 lbs, and necessitating a humbling visit to the med tent to receive 3L of IV fluids. On the upside, I did impress the medical staff when I presented… So much so that I got to skip all of the typical triage blah blah for the nearest bed and the quickest IV.
The hurt locker has many forms - most are not elective, and it is usually a combination of several components. Battling nausea and dizziness for a good portion of the day was my crucible, and frankly not the type of suffering that I was expecting. Despite trying all of my known tricks and solutions, I was ultimately unable to crack the code for the day. But upon reflection, I view this as a positive experience, and I am grateful.
2017 IMWI: 4:19:12 --- 29 AG, 219 OA - 49/254 run AG 2017 IMMT: 3:47:13 --- 17 AG, 101 OA- 29/263 run AG 2016 IMWI: 3:42:35 --- 10 AG, 98 OA - 10/238 AG 2015 IMMT: 3:55:20 --- 30 AG, 184 OA 2014* IMFL: 3:48:36 --- 46 AG, 259 OA 2014 IMWI: 3:41:00 --- 33 AG, 164 OA 2013 IMWI: 4:04:02 --- 59 AG, 349 OA 2012 IMWI: 4:10:54 --- 127 AG, 694 OA | 2017: Finish Time: 11:26:30 2017: Finish Time: 10:28:05 2016: Finish Time: 10:40:59 2015: Finish Time: 10:46:21 2014* Finish Time: 9:25:07* 2014: Finish Time: 10:47:54 2013: Finish Time: 11:34:23 2012: Finish Time: 12:13:21 |
Summary:
Life doesn’t always go according to plan, nor does every race play out to expectation. However, there are lessons that surface from facing these various tests. If one keeps an open mind, these trials can provide experience, perspective, and can help to forge resiliency and confidence to adjust to future challenges. I am 95% certain I gave everything I had on the day. Just as one frequently feels they could have squeezed a bit more on an FTP test or given a bit more effort pushing towards the line in a 5k, given the advantage of perspective, in retrospect I have already tried to trick myself into thinking that I probably could have at least jogged the last couple of miles. Maybe next time I will, but on the day, I squeezed what I could, and learned a bit more about what I am capable of enduring, and what I still need to improve upon. With a bit more savvy in pacing, better nutrition management, and continued consistency in training, I feel I have more to give at this distance. I am grateful that I have the health, means, and support to compete in these events, and I hope to continue to refine my skills into the future.
Thank you to my terrific wife Jen and our kids who again brought much enthusiasm and energy dressed as Khaleesi, Mother of Dragons, and her dragons, my parents who have supported unconditionally through all 9 IM's, and my brother Adam, sister-in-law Megan, and their infant son Owen who were all over the course providing much encouragement. Thank you to all of my other family, friends (both racing and supporting), and Endurance Nation teammates who truly make a difference. I am very grateful.
I happened to find a T-shirt that summarized my nutrition plan for the race.
Comments
Its a race, so time/placement matters, but you and many others show us that there are many other goals to crush that have nothing to do with time/placement. Finishing your race was pure grit, and grit matters. Cant be bought, can't be taught, it is just earned. Not quitting matters. Telling your failing body to shut it... cause you are not going quietly... matters. This is another lesson to file away.
Pretty sure I speak for most of us here... at some point I am hoping you write a post detailing your process for SAU accrual. Your family is awesome.
Way to get it done... doesn't sound like you were putting your life in danger (doc!?!) but respecting your family, fans and the work you've done. Wish it was obvious what the tummy troubles were but sometime just best not to question the IM Gods. Mad props, much respect and looking forward to seeing how that toughness translates for #10!
I think that the mental aspect of racing is underappreciated to many. @Dave Tallo has discussed this topic and offered resources many times in various threads. @Coach Rich would also instruct in his bad cop persona to "shut off your head" and get it done. The reason I highlighted it as a focus leading into this particular race was because of my awareness that physically, I wouldn't be at peak. I was anticipating that things would go sideways sooner than usual, and my preparation was to in advance mentally prepare many milligrams of STFU pills to administer to myself. I ultimately ended up being a few grams short...
@Doug Sutherland - You nailed it. On each of my kid's dry erase boards in their bedrooms are motivational phrases that we change periodically. The one that stays (and should be written in permanent marker) is "Grit and Gratitude".
Thanks for the food for thought related to the SAU post. I have to admit though that when we as a couple, and ultimately as a family decided to move AWAY from the "point system" and just do thoughtful things for each other without expectation of reciprocation, our relationships improved dramatically. Easy to say, and hard to do, but worth the effort.
@Jenn Edwards - Thanks! As you definitely know, Ironman offers thousands of ways to gum up one's day. I certainly am guilty of plenty, particularly in this one. While I have many ways to clean up my race, I agree that there are many lessons still remaining to mine from this recent effort. It's all good. I plan on dusting myself off, reloading, recalibrating, and hopefully toeing the line again smarter, and faster.
Great report, as always. You and your family bring so much to the team and every race venue you show up at (I have to race with you one of these days). To say it was bold to toe the line 3 weeks post-MT is an understatement. My guess is that your "nutritional" issues were more pacing/effort issues from the swim and bike. Riding 67% of FTP well-tapered is way different than 67% on trashed legs. The "real" IF was probably more like 78%. I wonder whether the run experience would have been different (read: better) had you given yourself a 10% handicap on the bike and ridden at 175~NP? Again, just guessing out loud. Easy to play Monday-morning QB, but it's fun to try and dissect and learn. Either way, I'm very, very impressed with your effort and determination. HTFU, indeed! Congrats on #9. Three more and . . .
MR
P.S., I've always wondered how fast you could race at 155lbs and, surprisingly, you "ran" pretty slowly at that weight.
P.S., you still beat my Moo PR. By more than an hour.
Having dealt with the nausea beast at IMLP this summer, I applaud the run till you puke mindset. I could not push myself there. I had no milligrams of HTFU prepared for nausea that day. Only had enough for the general suck of running that course. Listening to a podcast discussing the lack of mental fitness in athletes, I think I will bring it back to my fitness routine NOW. Not just in the weeks leading to my IM race next year.
Thank you for sharing as you always do. And hug up Kalisee and the dragons from their MI fan! Your family is the bomb diggity!
GO BLUE!
Overall super congrats and I have to say one amazing year for you. It was great meeting in MT and seeing you pull off a fantastic race there. To think about doing another one so close to that is not for the faint at heart. Knowing yourself and recognizing the fact you would not peak in WI shows a level head (although I would say anyone attempting such a feat is beyond "level"!) ;-)
I think you are spot on regarding the mental attitude...super underrated and I do think it can make or break you on a race...no matter how fit you are. That said, I can see that your head was in the right place and also had the motivation to carry on.
Great performance and look forward to seeing what is next.
Also....love the family outfits....will be a tough one to beat that one! Recover well and enjoy a bit of down time.