Carole Harbison IM Canada 2018 RR
reposting in the correct place...
IMCA 2018 race report: the good (swim and transitions), the bad (bike), and the wtf even was that ugly (“run”)
2018 has been a great training season. Injury free, best FTP ever due to some solid JOS work motivated by the purchase of a smart trainer and zwift, and a dedicated fall/winter run durability and speed program that has me running faster than ever too. I did placid in 2016 in 12:37 and despite the huge bike course elevation at IMCA, I was looking forward to seeing what I could put out this year with a higher level of fitness. Alas, that was not to be on this day, and this race was more about perseverance and sheer survival. One of my “whys” for these endeavors is to push boundaries and find limits, and racing in 95-100 degree temps on a bike course with 8200 feet of elevation gain definitely found one. Nutrition/hydration was my downfall here, and I’m hoping to learn something from this race. That said, I trained with what I raced with and had backup plans on me, so maybe one lesson is “don’t race in a pizza oven”?
Leadup—Whistler is a great venue and beautiful setting. We were happy to have an Airbnb right around the corner from T2/finish line/registration which decreased the admin cost substantially vs IMMT70.3 where we stayed 5 miles away and it was a huge pain. Arrived Thursday, did a short/flat hike on Friday to earn some SAUs, and felt ready to race by go time. Registration/gear dropoff was relatively painless, though there is some shuffling with T1 and T2 in separate places and separate days for check in and bike dropoff. For those looking to do the race, I definitely recommend riding the bike path ~3 miles downhill from town to drop off your bike before the official start of bike check in, then catching the first shuttle back. When I got back to town, there was a line of about 100 people baking in the hot sun waiting to catch a shuttle out and apparently it was chaos at T1 by thtat time. Just ride, so much faster and less stressful and you can beat the crazy rush!
Race plan:
Main factor to consider this year=Weather: Forecast SURFACE OF THE SUN HOT with no breeze, no clouds. Temps of 95-100 and only intermittent shade on the course, less so as the day went on.
Swim plan: Try to stay close to the buoy line as long as the contact was bearable, find “friendly feet” to draft as much as possible, swim smooth and steady, nothing fancy.
Bike plan: Gearing: 52/36 and 11/36 on the back. This was clutch and would HIGHLY recommend as many granny gears as you can throw on your bike for this course; several grades up to 10-11% in spots and not a flat section to it. Pre-planned target watts: 140W (70% FTP, held in long hilly training rides giving paces of 17-17.5 mph and supported by holding 160W at IMMT70.3) staying under 160W on the hills. Heat adjustment: Wear arm coolers and adjust goal watts 10W down (130W/150W hills). Stick with nutrition that had worked on training rides: lara bars and smart bars early, switch to shot blocks near the end, mix of Gatorade and water to drink throughout, other tested options as backups ready to go in the bento box (gummy bears, nature’s valley granola bar, gu vanilla packet, nuun tabs).
Run plan: standard EN plan, aiming for tested long run paces of 9:20 after the initial 4-6 miles easy. Especially easy on the first 2 miles that are uphill to Lost Lake. ICE BAG. Tested nutrition plan: shot blocks (1/2 every mile), salt tabs q45 as needed, water (carrying 2x 11 oz on my sweet new run vest). Pretzels and pepsi later on by feel. Backups- additional electrolyte tabs, pretzels, gu packet in the vest.
Race execution (aka adios race plan)
Race morning: had my usual race day breakfast of oatmeal with protein, chia seeds, and berries along with a cup of coffee and headed to catch the shuttle to T1 from town. Hydrated all along the way to start 100% topped off. Everything was very orderly and it was beautiful to see the lightening sky over the mountains.
Swim: Went as planned, and the solid drafting allowed me to have a time that beat my expectations. Orderly rolling start with a chute that allowed one person through at a time. Overall I was on the buoy line for most of the swim and only experienced light contact. When people did get close, one or both of us would adjust to give the other more room rather than punching through. (Is that a Canadian thing?) Actual swim distance was 4400 vs placid where I swam almost 5000 to avoid getting violently punched/kicked/swam over. Swim time 1:13 vs 1:20 at IMLP despite swimming only 2/3 the yardage over the course of the season.
The course itself was easy to follow and the sun came up at an angle that it was never an issue for sighting. Perfect water temps of ~72 despite the hot days preceeding—apparently they opened some dam that let in a bunch of glacial water and cooled it off the Thursday before the race. Thank god, ‘cause it was getting close to wetsuit-illegal.
T1: Went surprisingly fast (5m) with help from a volunteer. The hardest part was getting my arm coolers on my wet arms despite toweling off quickly, maybe I’ll swim with them next time there’s a hot race?? FYI Bike shoes can not be clipped on the bike at this race, not an issue for me and it was a soft grass/astroturf path from the change tent to the bikes. Weird long run out with a train track crossing, but not a problem.
Bike: This is where things started to go south. I took one bite of my lara bar after getting settled and immediately had searing intestinal cramps down my right side that never abated. I could not take anything I had without pain, a totally out of the blue situation (despite doing several hot hilly training rides this season). I just dealt with it as best I could by getting in as much as possible without actually vomiting and trying to stick to a regular, frequent schedule of small amounts. The first lap wasn’t even that hot yet, but already I found that I was having a hard time pushing watts on the “flats”/slight downhills. The legs were fine, but the rest of my system was not cooperating. After the first lap at my target paces, during the second lap I was careening towards dehydration despite constant drinking, still cramping, getting really hot/slightly delirious, and even putting as much water as I could manage on my arm coolers wasn’t helping. Any bottles of Gatorade or water I got from the aid stations were immediately 100 degrees—not appetizing and not helpful for cooling. Watts on the second lap fell to “just keep pushing the pedals” without putting too much stress on your body, and it was disheartening to feel that way that early in the day. The third lap was pretty much torture on the system, but strangely the legs still felt fine on the hills! interestingly my paces on the laps didn’t drop off that much- 2:05, 2:15, 2:16. NP 118 with a terrible VI of 1.2 due to all the coasting on the downhills that were mandatory for resting/digesting. Ugh. Final time 7:02.
Course notes: New bike course this year with three out and back loops was just ok. Big downhill out of town, small climb up Callahan, big climb back into town, big hill up to the alta lake turn around, then a curvy downhill on kind of sketchy pavement back to start 3 1/3 times to end at T2. There are some nice views at the top of Alta Lake and pretty solid highway grades on the main stretch on 99, but lots of rumble strips and lane dividers made it a bit dicey. The course was shared with the 70.3 folks, but that (and the repeated U turns) weren’t as bad as I was worried about.
T2: Also surprisingly fast (5m) and the volunteer with me said “wow, you have way more energy than anyone else I’ve seen in a while, I’ve had to do everything for people”. That’s a bad sign for the rest of the field, ‘cause I felt (and I’m sure looked) like a total mess.
Run (lurch/walk/gag/ice bag, repeat): So dehydrated, so hot, so dizzy, so sick, and think I had pulmonary edema making it difficult to breathe. Tried to get salt and water in, use the ice bag copiously on pressure points, and keep running, but had to walk over and over. Ran some 11 minute miles at first and hoped to cool down to be able to speed up to something resembling my target pace, but the system was just too far gone. Paces fell to walking more and more—took long walk breaks and drank pepsi slowly hoping that might revive me, but nothing doing. Just. Kept. Moving. To the finish. Not much else to say on this one.
Course notes: gorgeous run course with lots of hills on the first bit up to lost lake, then comparatively imperceptible hills out around green lake. Beautiful views of the lake and mountains and nice surfaces on trails and the bike path. Really wish I could have enjoyed it more!
Overall- I suppose I’m proud to have finished, but actually wonder if stopping after the bike would have been the smarter thing to do for long-term physiologic health. The day before the race I was daydreaming about IMAZ or something for 2020 and now am not sure if I’ll ever do another full IM. I suppose I’ll give it a while to let the dust settle and then we’ll see. Maybe I’ll try training with tailwind or one of the other more “engineered” nutrition sources? I like being easy-breezy and working with the on-course nutrition, but this may be an area to experiment. Otherwise I’ve taken away some great lessons on how to train effectively, and despite a finishing time that didn’t measure up to my hopes, I still feel in the best shape of my life and ready to spend the end of summer and fall doing some epic hiking and non-competitive bike rides. Maybe a fall full or half marathon to be able to express the running fitness I worked so hard for?
Onwards and upwards.
Comments
Carole,
Congrats on your finish regardless of the time on a very tough day. You should be proud of yourself for getting thru those stomach issues which came up during the race and not experienced in training. You put in what sounds like some quality work in advance and I would not be so quick to rule out doing another IM as you continue to train and get faster. Thanks for the report and tips
Nice work! This was a tough day on a tough course. Let it sink in and keep going! Seems like you already have the most important thing...iron will. Recover well.
Enjoy your fitness and the rest of the summer!
A couple notes - If you don't wear the arm warmers under the wetsuit roll them up in the T1 bag, pop the donuts on and roll down on the way to your bike. Second you mention water on the arm warmers I like to get some on my head on the bike as well.
Don't worry about IM in 2020 if it calls you back great if not there are lots of other shorter races or epic adventures that you can partake in.
Plans shaping up for the rest of the season: Cranberry olympic in a month for "fun" with my local team, Cadillac Century challenge bike ride and White mountains half marathon in oct, and hiking a bunch of 4000 footers in the White mountains, NH in the meantime. Good luck to all with 2018 races still on the books!