IM CDA Race Report - 12:13:53
WOW! What a crazy idea that you can plan for a race a year in advance, lay out a season plan, go to 300+ of your online teammates for training advice, learn the course from experienced coaches and race vets, and actually achieve your goals. It's no joke - Endurance Nation works!
IMCDA was my 4th IM and 3rd with TeamEN. This was my first tiime at IMCDA. My goal, or "one thing" was to finish under 12 hours, broken down into 1:10 swim, 6:10 bike, and 4:30 run leaving 9:59 for transition. I noted in a previous post that for me to reach my goal I would have to perform at the top of my current fitness levels (FTP 225, vDot 40, weight 164, swim - just consistent week-in and week-out). My B-goal was to push the second half of the marathon and cross the line knowing that I gave it everything I had. Most of all, I've been carrying this weight of trying to replicate the feeling I had in 2008 at IMFL (11:26 PR) where I felt great all day and was able to execute my plan pretty well. I put my full faith in the EN methodology, worked to be much more consistent every week, and it paid huge dividends. The weight has finally lifted. But to be honest, I still want to go faster so I guess I'll be around for a while.
RESULTS
Swim: 1:09:50 (34min approx first loop, 35:50 second loop) - Goal 1:10
T1: 3:52
Bike: 6:15:55 (3:02:23 first loop, 3:12:25 second loop from PT) - Goal 6:10 (was thinking 6:10-6:20 based on IMLP comparison)
T2: 2:50
Run: 4:41:28 (2:19:16 first loop approx, 2:22:12 second loop approx) - Goal 4:30
Total 12:13:53
PRE-RACE
I arrived in Coeur d'Alene on Wednesday with 5 other friends that were racing. My wife Tracie and mother were able to join me on Friday. The TeamEN dinner is always great and hope that everyone will try to make it to the dinner before their race because you get to meet so many great people that you've met in the forum that will support you out on the course. Hats off to Bryan Ogle for selecting the Wine Cellar. I followed pre-race schedule pretty much to a tee and had my feet up watching TV most of the day on Saturday while sipping on a Gatorade. I stuggled with dehydration every year and did not want to start Sunday on the wrong foot. I woke up at 1AM, downed 2 Boosts. Up again at 4AM, drank another Boost, choked down a package of instant oatmeal, and then nibbled on a power bar with a water chaser up to race time. It's a consistent meal for me so no changes from previous years.
SWIM
The water was pretty cold as others have mentioned pre-race so I decided to warm up for about 5 minutes before the gun. I had a full wetsuit, neoprene cap. Thankfully I didn't get the ice-cream headache that I got on Thursday and the warm up felt really effortless. I lined up about 100 feet right of the buoys (best guess) and about 6-7 people back from the water. Heading out to the first turn there was a good crowd to sight off of so I didn't have to raise my head except once for a gut check. The wrangling for position really started at the first turn and I got elbowed hard in the left eye pushing my goggle back on that eye. I couldn't see on that side but there was no leak so I just figured I'd fix it before the second loop. Turns out I got a small black eye the next day. I also started to get a cramp in my right calf, but quit kicking so much and it faded pretty quickly. The second loop was much of the same. Al Truscott mentioned that he didn't want to fall asleep on the swim. It was kind of the same for me in that I tend to get lazy on the second loop and slow down. To make 1:10 I focused on counting strokes like Rich mentioned, kept form and speed and it worked out. I did manage to get an elbow to my right eye on the same turn as before but didn't need to fix the goggle to swim so I just kept going. The swim felt so good coming to the mat that I'm sure I got the extra 10 seconds in the last 200 yards. The only problem that I foresaw on the swim was that I drank a couple of gulps of lake water. I was thinking that might not be too good.
Coach Rich talked about the temporary discomfort in transition if you want to be fast (or that's how I translated it), so I booked it around the others and nearly sprinted into the tent. For me it was helmet and glasses on, rinse my feet with a water bottle, then shoes and run. There was an amazing volunteer that offered to pack my bag so I said thanks and bolted to my bike. It was my fastest T1 by about 2.5 minutes.
BIKE
Rich is up on the dumpster and I hear "GO EN". All I was thinking was that he's going to ridicule me if I don't make a smooth mount. It didn't feel so smooth, but it put me in the right mood - so thanks Rich.
My goal watts for the first 40 miles was 150 but P noted that you can take it easy for the first 25. I noticed that pushing another 10-15 watts had no effect on speed so I went 145W. I was getting passed so often I could have really gotten down on myself but I decided far in advance that this was my plan so I stuck with it. By the time I hit the first hill I'm almost embarrassed by how many people are passing me, but I stuck with it and passed them on the downhills. Seriously, I got passed by about 400 people on the bike if memory serves. I was going so slow on the fist steep climb at mile 25 keeping to my watts that I was laughing with Rich who was standing right there. If I can figure out how to post the picture of my rear disc cover, that one was for you guys RnP.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/51878640@N08/4767872273/
At mile 40 I kicked into second gear which was 160. I was just itching to go at that point and coming back into town on the flat I felt that I was pushing a bit too hard but it turned out I was keeping to the plan and just passing tons of people that I had seen all morning.
I'm going to geek out a little here:
First 25 miles: NP 145, VI 1.02 (0.645), TSS 55.2, 1:19:29
First 40 miles: NP 149, VI 1.04 (0.661), TSS 98.5, 2:15:15
First 56 miles: NP 150, VI 1.04 (0.666), TSS 134.7, 3:02:23
With a 3:02 I really felt like a 6:10 was in reach. The one issue that has plagued me before was hydration. With mid to high-70s on the bike I knew that 1 bottle/hour of infinit (non-concentrated) and water supplement would keep my hydrated. The weather played a huge role here and hydration was good. Still can't pee on the bike, so I calc'd that I lost 3:30 all day with pit stops. Oh well - I can't run dehydrated as I've proven in the past.
Heading out on the second loop, I felt good. I made a slight race day adjustment to riding gear 2 for the full loop and went gear 1 out of town to mile 25 (or 81) to the hills. Again, I was being passed a lot but I did notice that lots of people were falling off who rode hard. Some fit looking guy was on one of the hills sitting down and stretching his legs. I tried not to smile. By about 4:45 on the bike, I started to have a little stomach cramping. I had nibbled on a clif bar coming into town to get solid calories and slow the bladder filling, but it got to a point where I needed to cut nutrition for 30 minutes to see if I could make a recovery. I ended up replacing a 250 infinit bottle with the 250 cal clif bar but I couldn't get the 6th bottle down. It's been drilled into my head so many times now that it is easier to have fewer calories in your gut than too many so I didn't push it and focused on water for the last hour only. I think it was the right adjustment.
Geek mode again:
First 25 miles: NP 145, VI 1.02 (0.645), TSS 55.2, 1:19:29 - Second loop: NP 151, VI 1.03 (0.67), TSS 60.5, 1:21:18
First 40 miles: NP 149, VI 1.04 (0.661), TSS 98.5, 2:15:15 - Second loop: NP 150, VI 1.04 (0.666), TSS 102.1, 2:21:10
First 56 miles: NP 150, VI 1.04 (0.666), TSS 134.7, 3:02:23 - Second loop: NP 146, VI 1.04 (0.649), TSS 132.9, 3:12:25
Total ride: NP 148, VI 1.04 (0.657), TSS 268, 6:13:21 (clock 6:15:55)
So if you look at the power table a TSS 268 puts you in the category of the safe zone for unsure runners or those who feel prepared. That's me. I'm slow and a steay 10 minute miler in training - I. just. don't. run. fast.
T2: 2:50 - PR I'm sure. Again, I was blessed by an incredible volunteer who must have known I was on the cusp of making my goal and came right over to me while I took off my bike shoes. It was helmet off, keep the glasses on. I counted 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 as I put on sock, sock, shoe, shoe, visor. I was going to change my heart rate strap to my garmin strap but I was going to fast I couldn't figure out that I should just lift my tri top to change it. "slow is smooth, smooth is fast" right P? Not so much for me. But at least I didn't waste any time trying to figure it out. I don't even know what my run heart rate should be, just my pace: 10:30 first 6 miles. 10:00/mile to mile 18 and see what I have left after that.
RUN
Took about 3 minutes for the Garmin to fire up and I thought I was going out too hard the first mile so I slowed way down. By the time it found the satellites, I was going about 10:45/mile. It wasn't 10:30, but it felt right so I stuck with it. The first order of business was to grab a cola and get back some lost calories and straighten my stomach out - it worked. I'll geek out on the first 6 miles and then spare the remaining details since I'm feeling quite verbose and it's getting pretty late!
Mile 1-6: 11:42, 9:42, 10:09, 10:33 (average 2 miles), 11:12. Not perfect, but in the ball park. I think there was a pee break in there some where - the first of 3 short stops.
From then on it was run, 30 steps per aid station. Coke, ice. Gatorade, ice. Water, ice. I took in 4 enduralytes over the course of the run. I had wiped my face with the back of my hand early on the run and it felt salty. So I took a mouth full of pretzels or chips about 4 times on the run. I wasn't going to mess with solid foods at all on the run, but the pretzels and chips went down well with water or coke or whatever I was drinking at the time and I never felt like I was bonking or losing pace so I stuck with it. It wasn't in my written plan, but I had it in the back of my head that I would use the pretzels if I couldn't drink the gatorade and that's what happened a couple of times. The IMCDA course has a lot of shade on sunny days but I was still worried about getting too hot so at every aid station I drained 2 sponges over my head, then a cup or 2 of water as well until I was soaked. Suprisingly, my feet got wet but didn't blister - bonus.
Coming to the end here! What I never mentioned was the others on the course. I saw EN athletes often and tried my best to say a word of encouragement or give a nod. I can't tell you how huge of a lift it was for me to see you all out there and especially Rich. I saw Rich 4 times and it just made me think of running steady, walking no more than 30 steps at aid stations, and not slowing down. I tried to count road kill and I did at mile 18 when I still felt pretty good. By mile 20, I was in a good amount of pain - physically and mentally and I just couldn't focus on anything but running. My goal was 4:30 and with 5 miles left I calculated that at my pace I would finish 12-14 minutes past my goal (missed by 13:53) but I didn't want to give any time back by walking. So I jogged up the hill to the turn and slogged my way back into town. At mile 24 my mind won out and I was going to let myself stop and take a pee break even though I didn't have too. So I jogged over to the pit stop, but it was already occupied so I just kept running. I guess it was a sign.
I have never been so happy to cross a finish line in my life or maybe I just forgot how good it felt. One or the other, but again there's Rich waving us home with a word of congratulations. The finish line at IMCDA is like none I've ever experienced. I zipped up for a (hopefully) good finisher pick and was slapping hands all the way down the finisher chute. And there it was, 12:13:53. 13:53 short of my goal. All-in-all, I had such a consistent race with no major blow ups and was on the verge of hitting every split I could have hoped for that I just couldn't be dissapointed. I didn't mention that I nearly even split the run by 2 min, 56 seconds. There were 5 miles over the whole run that I crept into the low 11min/mile range - one was to re-tie my shoe laces, 3 were for pit stops, 1 was at mile 24 running to the stall. If that's not living up to my current ability, then I don't know what is.
Thanks for reading. Also thanks to my wife Tracie and my mom for being there, my kids that make me want to push myself harder and especially to Rich and Patrick for all the advice over the past 3 years. And to all the ENrs I saw out on the course - Michele, Paul, Greg, Selina, Carrie, Tom, Al, Matt, Bryan, Lisa (missed a bunch of you) - I was rooting hard for you guys though I might not have had the energy to show it at times. I'm pretty happy with the result, but I won't race again until I'm a stronger cyclist and runner. I guess I better get started on that - Wisconsin sounds nice 2011.
Dominic
Comments
Dominic - You are a Race Execution Ninja! Your report is insightful. I don't see one thing you could have really done better - swim (if I'd known you were going to swim that pace, I'd have found you and drafted off you the whole way!), transitions, bike pacing, running to your potential - you nailed it all. And on top of that, when I saw you on the course on the bike and the run, you had a VERY positive vibe around you.
These planning and performance skills will help you WHATEVER you are doing in the future.
P.s. I believe I still owe you a CO2 cartridge?!
Awesome job, bummed that it wasn't our third IM together so that holler at each other as we have at IMFL and Placid
But great to see you out there and doing well. Hoping for the same at Wisconsin.
-Dave
great work, great execution! I've got my first IM in November, hopefully I'll remember to reread this for execution tips! Congrats on a great day!!!
Aaron
Tom
D,
Great race and an excellent race report. I will likely join you for WI'11 so plan to come out to the Tri Rally next July as well so you can preview the course. Huge.
Well Done. Maintaining an even pace for the run is awesome. The only part of your plan I take issue with is that you should do LP instead. I hear that is what all the cool kids are racing next year.
Your execution was top of the class. Your low VI on the bike is excellent! Way to stay focused on the run and get it done when it got hard. Thank you for a well written and insightful race report. Great meeting you!!
Well done, Dom! I'm most impressed by those transition times. Holy smokes! Give me some tips.
What a well executed race!
Dave