Ed Croucher's 2018 IMLP Race Report
IMLP #4 is in the books. This was the 4th time I have completed this race. I had good training leading into the race. Although, there are a few areas that I would have liked to have completed more training I arrived healthy and ready to race. I started my race hydration on Saturday with a bottle of Scratch Labs Hyper-Hydration formula. This was recommended to me by Mike Roberts. I feel this was helpful and I will be doing this before every race. Race morning, I repeated the Hyper-hydration.
Race morning began at 3:45 am. I got up and made a pot of coffee. As the coffee was brewing, I made my everyday fruit/protein smoothie. After a cup of coffee & bathroom break I collecting my special needs bags and my wife Elaine and I headed down Mirror Lake drive. I stopped at the port-johns at the run special needs. I then walked to transition where I pumped up my tires and put on my wet suit. I took a quick picture and headed to the team picture hanging my morning clothes bag on the way.
Waiting for the team picture is where I started to feel anxious. We always meet at the Village Hall and have a picture at 6:00 am. Standing there I watched athletes walking to Mirror Lake for the pre-Race swim. I would like to request the Team Picture be moved up in time to 5:45 a.m. With the picture completed I kissed my wife and headed for the lake.
At the lake, many athletes were already swimming. I walked in and found someone to help me zip my wet suit. I started my warm up with some easy steady swimming. Each time that I tried to push my pace I felt out of breath. I worked different paces for about 10 minutes and never felt comfortable. When I heard Mike Riley say start getting out of the water, I moved to the beach. As I stood on the beach, I looked up and saw my wife standing in a window of the beach house. I got her a VIP pass and seeing her was great. However, I was nervous. As I stood still, I could feel my pulse was high. A quick check on my watch showed I was standing quiet at 92 bpm. Then Ed Eovino found me. He had a bottle of water and was calmly talking to me. I am pretty sure Ed could see I was anxious. His helpful words of “just swim 25 easy strokes when you start” really settled me in. The cannon sounded the pros left and soon it was my turn.
I had seeded myself at the back of the 1:05:00 – 1:10:00 group. When It came time for me to enter the water things moved smoothly. There were only a few athletes at a time entering. I didn’t swim super easy but I didn’t swim hard either. I sighted the first buoy and just tried to swim steady. There was almost no contact. When I got to the line I was alone. I just had my head down and at buoy #1 I started to swim my race pace. At some point between buoy #1 and #3 there was a raft/platform tied to the line. I didn’t see that until I swam into it. That interrupted my stroke but not for long. I moved around the right side and just stayed there. I had clean water all the way to the turn. On the first lap, I really didn’t have any contact even at the turns. My only negative was that the left eye cup of my goggle had filled with water. That made sighting the line and the buoys difficult. I was swimming well so I was not going to stop. When I got to the beach at the end of the first lap, I stood and re-set my goggles. As I did this I saw Woody who recognized me and cheered me on. Back into the water and right to the line. My goggle stayed clear for this lap and I remembered the raft. I moved to the right before I got to it. During this lap, I noticed that the kayak volunteers were a lot more aggressive trying to keep swimmers to the left side of the buoys. I ignored them and kept swimming. I was catching swimmers on their first loop. From the first turn I started noticing swimmers hanging onto the buoys. At the second turn, I had moved to the right side of the buoy line. I was swimming along with another athlete and trying my best to stay in the draft zone. I have no idea if I was drafting but seeing that swimmer helped me keep my pace. I still had very clean water until the last two buoys. I sighted a clean patch of water, put my head back down and I am pretty sure I got tackled. Two swimmers came into me, one from the right and one from the left. They were swimming at a ninety degree angle to the course. Then tow more on either side. I was stopped dead in the water and tangled in arms. There was no grabbing but it took a lot of effort to free myself and get back to the swim. I moved left of the scrum and made it in. I had no idea what my swim time was. I heard Mike Riley call my name as I was pulling off the top of my wet suit and heading to the strippers. I ran to the end and pointed at a volunteer. I quickly flopped on my back and she had my suit off quickly. My Goal for the swim was 1:10:00 and I finished in 1:12:33.
My goal for T-1 was 5:00 or less. I grabbed my wet suit and started to run. I wasn’t at 5K pace but I was running as fast as I thought I could go without falling or hurting my feet. I turned down the alley to get my bike bag, but I was one alley too early. I knew my rack was in the middle so I stuck my head through and looked at the numbers. I was one rack too far. I moved back and grabbed my bag. I ran into the tent pulling my helmet out. I turned to the right of the entrance and dropped my bag and wet suit. I snapped my helmet strap put on my shoes and said hey to a volunteer. I asked if he would take care of my bag and of course he said yes. I was standing in front of cups of Red Bull & Gatorade. Two quick drinks and I was running again. As I headed down the oval, all I saw were walking athletes. I ran passed everyone. I called for my bike and it was waiting. I grabbed it, kept jogging and I crossed the mount line at 4:32 second in my age group.
The fast run through T-1 did very little to lower my heart rate. I started the bike knowing this and planned to ride easy watching my watts and my heart rate until I had that under control. I rode out of town drinking every 5 minutes. I crossed the bridge where I checked my heart rate one more time before the climb began. It was right at 140 bpm, a little high still. I sat up and watched all the bikes pass me. At the top of the hills I added power and pedaled down. I passed so many riders who were just coasting. Some were already sitting as they slowly coasted down. This was repeated all day long. The long decent down to Keene helped me get my heart rate to where I wanted it in the 130’s. It stated there for the entire rest of the ride. I planned to drink 8 bottles of fuel. At the end of the first lap I was through 6. When I got to Hazelton road, it was time to get rid of some of that fuel. I found a downhill section where for 2:10 I averaged 52 watts, but I felt great! This pattern continued through the rest of the bike course. My watts and speed on the second lap suffered a little for this. However, when I was on the pedals, I was focused and riding. On lap 1 I felt some wind. I remember some self-talk to stay aero. Lap 2 had the strongest winds I have raced in. Riding the climb from River Road was very tough. There were times I was barely moving forward. I was getting knocked all over the place. The rain really didn’t bother me. My Rudy Project helmet and face shield made it easy to see the entire ride. For much of the day I rode alone. I came to groups at the bottle neck where the course turned from one road to another. I saw one rider get a penalty. He was apparently drafting me. The marshal rode alongside me, writing in a book for a long time. As we came to the aid station before Jay the rider passed me and then went into the penalty box. I was fortunate to see EN members Jeremy Behler, Rory Gumina , Derrek Sanks and my 3 housemates Ed Eovino, Steve Ross and Brent Pilon. I got a charge of energy each time I saw the EN Kit. My heart rate was good all ride and I got off the bike feeling much better than past races. My goal for the Bike was to drink 8 bottles of fuel, pee often and finish at 6:00:00. I drank 10 to 11 bottles and did pee often finishing in 6:12:06.
T-2 I tried to keep fast. I was off the bike and jogging to the racks. I grabbed my bag and into the tent. Wow, was it wet. I had really hoped to have dry feet for the run but, that was not going to happen. I found a chair and struggled to get my sock on. Socks, shoes, race belt and hat were all finally on and I was out after a quick Gatorade at the door. Time here was 3:33 and good for 5th.
Running down Main Street I came right to Coach Patrick. He told me to use the downhills but watch my heartrate everywhere else. He also said drink and eat to mile 6. “Got it.” I felt like I was running well but it hurt right away. I hit a porta john at the airport aid station and then got back to it. I drank Gatorade at every aid station and grabbed ice for my bag. I got back up the hill where I was again met by Patrick. I had followed his advice at every aid station. I was still drinking. The second hill of the course from “Lisa G’s” to the turnaround really hurt. Mirror Lake drive is where I saw the carnage the bike course had caused. Riders were still coming in. A rider with “36” on his calf came passed me. His physical stature was great. Lean and muscled riding a super bike but, he was a broken man. I had developed a blister on my right foot. It hurt a little running up and on the flats but, when I started back downhill it really became a thing. At mile 14 I took a double shot caffeine gel. That was not easy to get down. I felt that I ran solid through mile 16. That’s where I was losing my pace. My heart rate had dropped. I was running but off my pace. I was still passing and very few were passing me. As I was running back up River Road, Steve Ross called my name. I was so zoned out, if he hadn’t called out I would not have seen him. I felt like he was catching me. I wanted to make it a race so I just kept trying to run. From the Airport to the finish I didn’t stop at an aid station again. I approached the “Lisa G” hill with the hope of running. By the time I hit the new pavement I was in trouble. I was breathing very hard. I felt super-hot and nauseous. I had to walk. I couldn’t start running again until just before I saw Brenda Ross. That break gave me enough to push to the finish. My finish time was 4:08:02 and my best ever was 4:03:04. My goal was 3:50:00. I think without the blister I could have gone under 4:00:00.
I came out of the water 28th in my age group and #554 overall. I did my best to follow the EN program and finished 11th in my age group and 226 overall. This was my best placement in an Iroman age group and overall a great race.
Comments
for the last 10 miles , you managed the conditions and executed your way to
a PR ranking , does not get any better than that !
It was great seeing you and Elaine again!
Good luck at IMMD! (ps I mentioned to Janet you were doing another IM this year ... just so she can keep my craziness in perspective!)
What you didn't elaborate on was the fact that your training was seriously interrupted. Life dealt you a lot of crap right in the heart of training, and most of us would have DNS'd. I think your average weekly hours in Weeks 16-18 were less than 10. You can BS a few IM courses out there, especially with your honed fitness and smarts. But probably not this course.
Good swim. You were probably a little disappointed, but you kept yourself in the AG conversation. Your laps were 35:10 and 37:30, so a bit of a fade. Which is extremely common. Fitness and then focus that last 1,000 can get you closer to even splitting.
We can never underestimate the effect of fast transitions, even in a long race. You exited the water 29th AG. By the first early bike check, you were up to 16th.
Bike looked pretty solid. I think your goal was 170NP. Strava suggests 163, which is pretty close considering the conditions. I like comparing loops on the bike at LP, from the turn at Jay (climbing begins) all the way to town. I was happy with my relative consistency last year on these two climbing loops:
1st loop: 178w, 126 avg bpm, 16.5 mph
2nd loop: 171w, 128 avg bpm, 16.5 mph
You had a more defined fade on the second loop, which I attribute to missing out on the big volume in Weeks 16-18 and perhaps changing weather:
1st loop: 165w, 136 avg bpm, 17.5 mph
2nd loop: 149w, 129 avg bpm, 16.2 mph
With the course change, your loops and mine aren't the same (your loops are longer, but have 8-10 miles of flat on Hazelton). Could have been weather, nutrition/hydration, or losing focus (I lose it every race in that ~80 mile area, and the fact that your HR dropped when it should have increased over Lap 1 suggests you might have left a little on the table). I don't think you went too hard that first loop. I think with bigger volume in Wk 16-18 and some caffeine/focus on Lap 2, you would have shaved 10 minutes off the bike.
Entered T2 in 20th place and finished 11th (I think I was 19th last year, and finished 10th, so I like how you race
Your HR over the last hour of the bike averaged 128 (probably should have been mid-130's?). Regardless, you should have had no difficulty keeping your HR above 130 and below 140. And you ran the first half at sub-2 hours, with your HR pretty steady between 135-40. Which sounds about right to me. But the below picture speaks 1,000 words. Steady fade on the second loop, then sprint at the end. This is what most IM charts look like. By Mile 17, you dipped below 130 and didn't come back above 130 until Mile 25 (even Lisa G couldn't spike it!). You still had heartbeats to give, but the training, toll of the day, etc. Keeping the HR up after Mile 15 is extraordinarily difficult, and I don't necessarily recommend it because it invariably involves going to a deep, ugly hole of pain. But . . . if you want 5-10 minutes, there it is.
Let me know when you decide to do IMMD or not. If you would prefer a stupid-hot and -humid race with a run course that has about six Lisa G hills, you can still join me in Choo. Congrats again, Ed.
MR
congrats on the finish, looking forward to where you go with a solid training cylcle in the the next one. Are you in for LP in '19?
This, IMO, is an example of truly completing and extraordinary feat when considering the total load carried, a true example we should all aspire to.
Always leading across all fronts.
SS