Ironman Texas 2018 – Gordon Polozola "Redemption" Race Report
Ironman Texas 2018 – Gordon Polozola Race Report
The Background: The 2018 Texas IM represented my redemption race as I had a catastrophic bike malfunction and crash in 2017. Since that crash, I raced a single super-sprint triathlon that was all of 41 minutes. I also had another fall on the bike during the year, after which I trained for a Half Marathon. To say I was “skittish on the bike” was more than an understatement. But, I was determined to complete IMTX.
Training: Training for IMTX consisted of a run focused Intermediate 12 week training plan, and then a switch to the minimalist training plan as my company is being sold (work is a bear). I did all but about 5 rides – the 4 to 6 hour ones -- on the Wahoo Kickr. Last year I had done 100 mile rides on Saturday followed up with 85 mile rides on Sunday. So, my confidence on the bike was lacking - although I had rode two 106 mile rides during race rehearsals and felt okay. My 2018 CTL was 105 as compared to my CTL of 125+ in 2017. On the bright side, I had put in some very intense work and was not going into the race injured either. Race weight was slightly heavier at 171 compared to 164 last year. I was also on a new bike – a Cervelo P5. I was going to have to execute like a ninja, but I trusted that the minimalist program even if I missed some longer rides was going to get me there.
My Approach in light of the above: Based on my training and what was going on at work, and the pressure of another DNF at IMTX, I approached the race as a first-timer (I had completed IMFL in 2015). In other words, I was not going to risk blowing up by “racing” the IM as was my intent in 2017 - another time.
Pre-Race: I drove up to The Woodlands with my wife, Tonya, on Thursday morning rather than on Wednesday. Had planned to meet some team members for lunch but not going to happen. We went straight to register – no line to speak of (in and out). No shopping this time and then to eat. Then checked into the Residence Inn – GREAT STAFF, close enough to walk, but away from the chaos. Pretty tired at this point, but packed my gear bags and got my bike ready – wife took nap, she’ll need it. No time for the bike ride I planned, especially during 5pm rush-hour in the Woodlands. Quick run to the banquet to catch up with some team members and get some mojo. Ate big on Thursday, and all day. Slept great (Advil PM).
Friday I went for a practice swim due to the fact that I had some panic in the murky water (hadn’t had that in years). But, no ability to warm-up is terrible for me. It helped. Big breakfast at 11:00, checked in bike and bags after (again to almost no line). Got out of there. Slept a lot. Friday was a very, very long day mentally. Hydrated, fig newtons, apple sauce, protein shake, powerbar, pretzels throughout the day, with plain pasta and a few slices of turkey for early dinner. Thought about every muscle twitch , visualized different scenarios and how I would react. I really had to turn my attitude around to be more positive. I'm sure my Wife was at her wits-end, but she stayed very positive and tried to help. Bed by 8pm. Slept okay
Race Morning: Did the wake up at 2am plan to eat – banana, protein shake, sports drink, apple sauce – back to bed. Woke up again at 4am and had coffee and more apple sauce. Got ready – music ON – that helped. Felt a different attitude and my wife noticed – that was good. Raceday was here.
Worked from a checklist race morning. Bike set up was uneventful. Back in the car to drive to the swim start, which is not near transition at IMTX. Drank sports drink until about one hour before, ate a honey waffle – dang, forgot special needs bags in car. Wife ran like she was in a 5k to get them. Great to have help. All solved. Wetsuit on and I used my chamois cream for my neck as well as body glide - no chaffing.
Swim: Lined up in the 1:11 to 1:20 group and tried to enjoy the camaraderie and got into the water slowly – goggle check for leaks (good). And on I went, starting off easy so as to not have that heart rate panic again. After 300 meters of getting the hell kicked out of me in the tightly packed crowd – I had to stop and tread water. There was no end to the line of people coming. So, I waded out to the side near the bank (there is a kayak screamed my mind; hell no I was not going to hang on to the damn kayak – my response). But my heart rate data indicates a tremendous spike (went from 145 to 170) and I lost a minute and a half. I decided I had to just put my face in the water and start swimming – I had an hour and 15 minutes left, yes – just keep going. And the rest of the swim was better. I had a good cadence (60 spm), felt good, my pace was back up to my 1:48 goal. But as soon as I tried working on having a smooth and good technique, I got the arm in the back of the head, on my legs, kick in the face (I only lost my goggle seal once). While I overcame the panic, my swim was a bit more contact than I expected and my RPE was not matching my pace. I dropped to about 1:50-1:51 pace, but stayed focused on swimming as straight as possible. Goal pace: 1:47-149.; Avg Pace: 152/100; Moving pace: 1:48 for a 1:21 swim. I was hoping for 1:17-18, but not bad considering. That difference would not make a hill of beans anyway I thought. Let it go.
T1: 7 minutes – well, not the ~5 minutes last year – but it took some time getting the dirt/sand/gravel off my wet feet to put on my shoes (there was not much grass in the transition area). Took a bit extra time to get my arm coolers and sunscreen on – a wise decision as it was very sunny and I saw a lot of people burned on the run. Found and kissed my beautiful wife – gotta enjoy this thing!
Bike: Everyone was freaking Sabastian Kienle at the start of the bike! Heck, there was a collision at the first aid station from stupidity, taking out two riders. My heart rate was good – still a bit of a disconnect compared to my power, but not bad at all. Ate, hydrated, avoided the crazies and worked through the admin part of the bike. Unfortunately, that led to some crazy low power and IF numbers in the first 20 miles – forgot it – thought about Mile 18.
The remainder of the ride was steady. I was on my heart rate and power goals (at least around the lower bracket). Worked my nutrition plan (two bottles of GE every hour, gel every 45 minutes, Base salt every 15 minutes), shook off the disgust at the three “pelotons” and tried to keep steady. Prayers for those I saw that had wrecked and every time I heard and saw another ambulance. Special needs – took Tylenol, reapplied chamois cream, more sunscreen, BodyArmour drink for a change of pace.
The only logistical problem was that IMTX only seemed to have Cliff Mocha gels with 50mg of caffeine. I had gels on the bike with no caffeine, and I try to push caffeine off as much as possible, but was through them with two hours to go. I stopped at one aid station and know I wasted a couple minutes while the staff tried to find me a gel without that much caffeine (spearmint chews, oh well - okay). My "just keep going" mantra was playing in my head again. Then getting close to mile 85 and then mile 100 where I had my bike crash was mentally treacherous -- it was hard to get my mind off of it. I prayed, sung song refrains in my head, kept thinking about drinking, eating, salt per plan. Pee’d three times (unfortunately, I can’t pee on the bike so the port-o-let it was). Admin roads back were a loss of power and speed too, but I tried to be safe. Overall, I had a .70 IF and 305 TSS (planned .68-.69) – I had a ridiculously low IF in the beginning - like .52. So, the extra TSS (was hoping for sub-300) was probably me making it up a bit on the back end. That is pretty close to my plan though and I felt good. Room for improvement - I wasted 8 -10 minutes+ off the bike not moving – how many miles per hour does that represent lost? Got to work on that if I can). Goal: sub-6 hours; Actual: 6:10. I'll take it.
T2: 8 minutes – goal was about 5 min. Socks, shoes, grabbed by bag with nutrition, race belt, hat glasses, Race Saver bag – then bathroom and sunscreen again. At this point, I was on Cloud 9 for just surviving the darn bike. It was almost as if I completed the race. I’m sure I lost focus.
Run: Execute: 135 or below heart rate. That gave me about 10-10:15/ mile pace (a bit slower than the 9:45 I was hoping for – was it the heat? Maybe.) Just execute I told myself. So, about 10:00/mile moving pace for the first loop it was. I felt good so I ate (a couple of chews every two miles or a gel every 45 minutes, although I had a little more in the beginning while I felt good) and drank GE; base salt every other aid station. So, my aid station routine was: Base Salt when getting close; water to pour on me; GE (walked to drink); ice in RaceSaver bag (again, had to walk for that); then back to running. I estimate the aid stations cost me 15 seconds. So, at this point I was averaging 10:15/mile. The second 9 mile loop – more of the same – felt good, but was getting a little tired. The heat was kicking in and I was pushing the heart rate up to 140-145/bpm. It was harder to eat the gels – I switched to chews. Mile 18 came and my heart rate dropped to 140. My goal was to keep it up. Pace was no longer was making sense – it was fluctuating as I kept looking at it. I was obviously losing a bit more time in the aid stations - more pouring water and a few more steps walking. I knew I was not getting the hydration I needed as my mouth was very dry and it was hot. I was pouring water all over me; using sponges, the RaceSaver bag was … well, a race saver. Eating was very difficult. At mile 20 I’m thinking “only one more 10k – you can do that in your sleep.” Other than the longer aid station breaks to cool off, I stayed pretty steady. At mile 22, I made the strategic decision to have a little coke – wow, THAT was amazing! I’d still try to drink a little Gatorade with the Coke, and maybe even sip water if just because my mouth was very dry and I could not seem to drink enough despite drinking at every aid station. But, the Coke helped. At Mile 24, when I tried to push to not slow down, my legs “started to cramp”. I did not let them and ran as fast as I could without having the muscle seize. Still not a bad pace and I refused to walk. But the last 2 miles were NOT FUN - I guess that is as close as I had ever experienced to a "wall". In contrast, I was finishing at 8:30 miles in IMFL (my first IM). Yes, it was at night and it was not nearly as hot. So, I think the heat at IMTX is the difference. I used every “1 thing” I had, fed off the crowd energy, told myself I’d never see that lamp post or tree or whatever again. If you know the IMTX run course, it was not the back of the route on Panther that got me, it was running in the neighborhood after passing by Lake Woodlands and before you got back to the craziness of the Waterfront. But, not even the Waterfront energy helped me at this point – although the anticipation of it kept me going. It was my will to beat this course and my mantra of “Just keep going” that eventually led me to the last mile and the finish line chute. I wished I could have enjoyed the chute a little more, but I was feeling bad. A couple low 5s and then I zipped up for the picture and “BAM” – Reilly telling me "You are an Ironman." The monkey was off my back – my quest for IMTX was redeemed. I felt relieved and sick at the same time. Off to the medical tent for an hour for dizziness, dehydration and nausea. But, even there, the staff was great and the magic chicken broth fixed me right up.
Run goal: 4:20; Actual: 4:35 for a 10:32/mile pace. Still a PR – 45 seconds per mile better than IMFL in some tough conditions.
The Short of it: I certainly felt worse in the last part of the run in this “second” IM, but I also beat my last time by 1 hour 11 minutes. I pushed off the line about as much as I could with the heat. Considering the mental battle I was waging from the DNF that was still in my mind, the “not as complete” training and my work going through a buyout, I’m thinking I was pretty successful – I have to contribute this to experience and the ability to execute.
Bonus – my wife was at the finish line and even got a video. Team EN won 1st Place Div. 1 Tri-Club … nice! I was able to go back to the finish line at midnight and experience the magic, while having a beer and a great Grimaldi pizza. I'm a lucky man.
Comments
Your persistence on the run is something to cherish. As you say, you pulled every rabbit out of your hat, and it paid off. Despite any negative thoughts, your body was just unwilling to quit. And you got rewarded with that massive PR.
@tim cronk - words of wisdom. There were a bunch of “fitter folks” I passed that were walking
@Trish Marshall - still running high and I definitely am and will spoil my wife for a while. It’s Mothers (Day) Week!
Thanks much all!
ahhh @Gordon Polozola loved your report. I can relate so much because I also crashed at IMTX 2017 and it has haunted me. We were probably both at Memorial Herman at the same time. You got the monkey off your back. You took what you had and executed. Congratulations!