Scott Schneider's IMSR Race Report - 2nd DNF
Santa Rosa was my second attempt at a full Ironman, but unfortunately was also my second DNF. This sport continues to be very humbling. That being said, if it were easy, I probably wouldn’t want to do it.
I drove up to Santa Rosa, arriving around noon Thursday with my wife and kids. We stayed at the DoubleTree in Rohnert Park, about 12 minutes away from the square. Was a very nice hotel and convenient location. Got checked in, had lunch, and checked out the IM Village. Hung out by the pool and spent most of the evening packing my race bags and going over my gear.
On Friday I turned in my bike at the lake and checked out the venue. Based on the feedback I had read, and the info provided at the athlete briefing, I told the family to skip the race start as they would have probably been stuck at the lake for several hours. The lake is beautiful and water temp was perfect – mid 60’s.
After dropping off my bike, we went to town and dropped off my run gear. Spent the evening trying to stay off my feet and reviewing my race plan and the EN race execution articles. Went to bed around 10 but got very little sleep as my mind was going crazy. And my daughter was apparently dreaming about a karate tournament in her sleep. At one point, I thought about packing my cassette tool and re-checking that it was tight after removing it for my Aerojacket install. Didn’t end up doing this and regretted it later.
RACE MORNING: Up around 3AM. Powerbar, Naked Juice, and coffee. Headed for the shuttle in town and started sipping Gatorade. Dropped off special needs bags and, heeding the advice of @Tom Box , boarded the first shuttle. After about a one-hour trip up to the lake, loaded my bike up with bottles, put on my wetsuit, and found a place to sit down until time to head to the water.
SWIM - of the three disciplines, I think I suck the least at swimming. I swam a 1:30 when I DNF'd at IMCDA in 2016 and have consistently done 45:00 swims at the 70.3 distance. I was planning for 1:30 but was willing to accept a 1:40. I seeded myself within the 1:30-1:40 group, hit a gel and water on the way down the ramp, and was in the water at 7:02AM.
The first 300 yards were right into the sun, and sighting was really tough. I was wearing mirrored goggles, but still had trouble. The first lap had a little bit of contact – at one point, a paddleboarder actually ran me over. I stopped and saw he was providing aid to someone. No big deal, but it threw me out of my rhythm a little. The first lap, I tried to keep my pace stupid easy. Lap 2, I tried to pick up the pace a little, but still conserve energy. I was expecting to be repeatedly swam over by all the speedsters lapping us, but it was minimal. I was sighting every 8-10 strokes and never felt like I was really off course.
When I exited the swim, my Garmin said I swam 5,074 yards. I have no idea how I swam an extra 600+ yards. According to my Garmin, I held a 2:15 pace, which would have given me a 1:35 swim. So with the extra yardage, I ended up with a 1:54 swim. Ouch. Not off to a good start. I walked up the ridiculous steep boat ramp while I started working my wetsuit off. I told myself to put the swim behind me and focus on a smooth transition.
T1 – Grabbed my bag and went into the changing tent. Sunscreen, arm coolers, socks, shoes, helmet, sunglasses. No issues, out the door.
BIKE- The bike course was beautiful, at least I thought so on the first lap. Wasn’t enjoying it as much on the second…between the three disciplines, cycling is my kryptonite. I knew the bike was going to be the deciding factor in me being able to finish the race. Lap #1 felt pretty good, although at several points the road conditions made me wonder if I lost a filling. If that was an improvement from last year, I can only imagine how bad it was.
Two main things killed me on the bike. First, after about mile 56, everything basically from my shoulders up locked up. It was brutal. I normally do ok with aero up to about 50 miles, but after that it was unbearable. I need to look into getting re-fitted on my bike and working on some mobility. I had to stop several times to stretch out my neck and back. They were quick stops but obviously they added up.
On a positive note, I have struggled in the past with major leg cramps, and I had zero this time. My nutrition is improving, but still not where I want it to be. I had gone with a custom Infinit bike mix with an additional salt stick every hour. The first four bottles were fine, but the second round they were warm and disgusting. The last hour of the bike, it was starting to come back up, so I was just using primarily water and salt and choking down a sip every now and then of Infinit. I was behind one bottle at the end but had peed three times and felt pretty decent.
The second thing that slowed me down was my fault and a hard lesson. At about mile 70, my cassette started rattling and was obviously coming loose. Of course bike techs were MIA, so I had to try to pull off my wheel and try to tighten it by hand. Then, a couple of gears fell off into the tall grass. Found them, got it assembled, and it held thankfully. But that cost me time I didn't have. I should have tested this during my race rehearsals, but I waited until the last minute to put the disc cover on and didn’t test it. Stupid me.
My bike computer died around mile 103, so I didn’t know how close I was to the end. My final time according to Ironman was 8:28. Twenty minutes faster than my time at IMCDA, but not fast enough with the crappy swim.
I pulled into the bike dismount and was stopped by the race director who took my timing chip. My kids were standing on the sidewalk watching. I was crushed. DNF #2. I had missed the final cutoff by three minutes.
LESSONS LEARNED:
Bike. Bike. More bike. I have been focused on improving my run, which has come a long way since I started training with EN last year. But I can’t cut corners on my cycling. I need to get my bike fit dialed in and work on mobility so I can stay in aero. The neck/shoulder cramps slowed me down a ton and made for a miserable second loop. I need to get better at pacing with power. I struggled to maintain my goal numbers with the rolling terrain.
I need to keep tweaking my nutrition but I think I am getting closer with the Infinit mix and additional sodium.
Had I swam a 1:35 swim and not stopped for my cassette, I’m pretty confident I would have finished the run.
I am signed up for IMAZ in six months, so I will have an opportunity to redeem myself. I’m going to take the next two weeks to ease back into things. I am going to refurbish the pain cave, get re-fitted on my bike, and earn back some SAU’s.
I appreciate any feedback or advice.
Comments
I think it takes about two weeks to process a race. It's starts to become more clear on how it all played out.
High level comment - what WSM Tim said.
If you want some detailed comment, how was your preparation?
What plan were you on? How much of the plan did you do?
How many race rehearsal swims did you do?
Do you use power on the bike? If so, post your file noting it would be incomplete?
Did you do the two scheduled bike race rehearsals? How were they?
Do you use TP or wko4? If so, what were your CTL, ATL, and TSB?
etc
As to shoulder issue and bike fit, you may want to think (AFTER you get that professional bike fit) about starting from where you are at. Meaning: during race rehearsals, indeed, any long ride on your TT bike, practice letting yourself ride, say 15 minutes aero, 5 minutes upright. Or think of the time you take your nutrition/fluids as the time you will NOT be aero. Letting yourself be freed of the requirement to absolutely stay locked into the aero bars at all costs may allow your body to work better over the long haul.
Thoughts on bike fitter...don't just go to your Local Bike Shop. You're making a big investment in $$ and time in this Ironman thing. Spending $250-300, and maybe traveling somewhere to find someone who is experienced with TT bike fitting specifically is absolutely worth it. EG, the Slowtwitch FIST program, or a well-respected tri shop.
The good news about the bike...it's the easiest of the three disciplines to make significant improvement in, given proper training structure and discipline. Relies less than the other two on things like stroke mechanics (swimming) and lean morphology (run).
Thanks for writing and sharing this report. It helps all of us in many ways.
The thing about IM is that this is really not about one race.....when you boil it all down, it is about a lifetime process of moving forward, learning from your mistakes, never quitting and making progress each time.
As you train through this next cycle, the IM plan wkos will now take on a new focus/meaning for you. The details of the wkos will become a higher priority given what you have just experienced and learned recently.
One thing you can count on here, sharing daily/weekly in the forums/groupme your successes, challenges, questions with this team pays back a very high ROI. Reading the plan on paper and executing alone from wko to wko, is about 20% of the value. Adding this group to those daily sessions increases the return 5 fold, holds us each more accountable and provides reason/assurance when the questions/doubts come up.
I am very much looking forward to the outcome of 2018 for you. Big things coming!
SS
@Peter Greagg I did a Run Durability, a full Outseason, and was following the 2018 EN Full Run-Focused (L1). My first race rehearsal was replaced with Oceanside 70.3. Up until Oceanside, I had been doing pretty well following the plan, although I had to shuffle workouts around throughout the week to fit into my crazy schedule. No excuses - after Oceanside, life got in the way and my training wasn't where it should have been. I did get in a 3-hour run, and I felt pretty confident in my swimming endurance, although Oceanside was the only open-water swimming I was able to fit in. My bike workouts suffered the most because of the time commitment required. I did use power in the race, but only have Garmin Connect. I have only had a power meter for a couple months, so I am still learning. Do you recommend Training Peaks for more data?
@Al Truscott I was fitted on the bike when I purchased it at one of the better triathlons stores here in San Diego. Its been a couple years, so maybe its time to go back in and get a fresh look. I'm about as flexible as a 2X4 so that isn't helping much either.
@Shaughn Simmons I agree the resources on EN are shortening my learning curve significantly. I am learning a lot.
Thanks for the more detail. I am guessing that your major reason for the DNF is a lack of consistent training.
I use WKO4 to help analyse work outs as well as the consistency (or otherwise) of training over time. Training Peaks does the same or similar.
IMO, you would best just focus on the things you and others have identified to improve.
As @Shaughn Simmons says KMF (keep moving forward)!
http://kropelnicki.com/bikerun-balance-and-discipline-specific-training-blocks/