IM CDA Rcae report
Sorry for the delay, have been off the grid for the last week on vacation checking out the beautiful Washington Coast. (Al thanks for the sight seeing tips!)
CDA Race Report
Short Version
CDA was my second IM and this is my second year with Endurance Nation. This is my second year of doing Tri’s after a 20+ year break from the sport. My first IM was IM LOU 09 and finished in 12:26. The offseason training has raised my fitness significantly over my prior year’s level. My target for CDA was 11:24 my actual was 12:12:19. I will take the PR!
I was somewhat disappointed that I was not able to deliver on my fitness and hit my time targets. My day was plagued with leg cramp issues from the start. On the other hand I was pleased with my overall execution and management of some challenges. Overall, I improved my times for all segments of the race and this was a more difficult course. My age group placement improved from 49th to 23rd and in the 55-59 age group that I will be in next year this time would have been a 6th place.
Long Version
Prerace
I stared at the ceiling for most of Saturday night. I got up at 2:00 for 600 calories of fortified fruit smoothie. Back up at 3:45 – coffee and 300 calories of toast, PB and Honey.
Did the final checks on special needs bags and headed to the course. Had the bike set and special needs bags all taken care of by 5:30. Now wait and chill for a while. 6:00 popped 2 Endurolytes into the system with some water. Got the wetsuit on and headed over to the swim start.
Swim 1:11:04 (Goal 1:12)
After the pros started, I did a 10 min swim warm-up – felt good after the initial shock of the cold water. I took a gel and some water about 10 min before the start. I chose to line up about 20 ft right of the left buoy line. There were not that many people in the area?? As suggested, I checked with people around me for their time targets and seeded myself in the 3rd row back from the water.
The race started and the first 400 m was controlled chaos – contact from all sides but not too rough. Stayed in my box – just focus on forward motion – count my strokes. I swam to just inside the buoy line and followed the line down to the end turn buoy. The level of contact just inside the buoy line was much less! The first turn bouy was intense, made it around with the goggles in place. I hit the beach at 34 min and thought that I had made it through the hard part of the swim. – Wrong! Half way out on the second leg, out of nowhere, bam a huge kick to the left side of my head. I saw stars; my head was ringing (busted ear drum) and a goggle full of water. I could feel a wave of panic start to develop, I told myself count to 5 strokes!! By the 3rd stroke the panic had gone and by the 5th I could was back in control. I cleared the goggle and continued.
Rounding the far turn boy this time was rougher than the first lap. Major swells had come from somewhere. Also now was the time that my legs chose to cramp – first the quads. I tried to stay calm and maintain forward motion – get around the buoy. Got it done – focused on relaxing the legs – the cramps stopped. On the final leg to the beach the hamstrings cramped and one calf for good measure. I did not understand what was driving the cramps – I had been doing minimal kicking the whole swim thanks to the flotation of the wet suit. I got the legs back to functioning before exiting the water.
T1 7:27 (Goal 8:00)
I took it easy out of the water and walked over to the wetsuit strippers. Then an easy trot to pick up my bag and through the tent to the far end and yes there were plenty of open seats just like RnP said! Both legs cramped while putting on my bike shoes. It took 3 tries to get the left one on. I peed on the way out of the tent, trotted over to the bike got on the course with no issues.
Bike 5:57:38 (Goal 5:56)
My goal watts were 182 and first gear was 173. Given what was going on with the legs during the swim, I decided to take the first hour of the bike 10 watts easier than gear 1. Got with my nutrition plan of 250 cal per hour of Perpetuem and water, plus 2 endurolytes per hour. Made it through the first hour – the legs seemed to be good again. Picked it up to target watt level.
Paced the hills to the EN protocol and flew down the back sides often over 40 mph and hit a max of 46. Nutrition was on plan and for the second half of the ride upped the Endurolytes to 3 per hour. Used 4 min at special needs for a bio break, lubing the high friction points and getting more nutrition in place.
On the final 25 miles back into town there was a group was strung out in a long mostly legal pace line. My goal watts had me slowly passing them. I heard Patrick in the back of my mind say “ find opportunities to do less work”. So I tucked into the line at a legal distance and saw my speed drop only ~1/2 mph but my watts were 25-30 below my target. I decided a good tradeoff to give the legs their best shot at a solid run.
The combined impact of a real easy first hour, the coasting in aero position down the major hills and the lower power level ride back into town resulted in an overall ride NP of 169 watts for an IF of .65. Avg HR of 119. That was one easy ride!
T2 7:01(Goal 7:00)
Handed the bike off and trotted to pick up my T2 bag and into the tent. Went to the far end and started to change the shoes. I struggled to get my left shoe on for what seemed like forever – leg cramps again. I could not get the heal into the shoe. So took a breath – pulled the shoe off and tried again – got it this time. Took a pee stop (clear) and started out on the run.
Run 4:49:11 (Goal 4:05)
My target pace was 9:13 per mile. Starting the run, the legs were giving more cramping signals so I kept it real slow for the first 2-3 min and the legs settled in. I moved the pace up to my stupid slow pace of 9:42. Walked ~30 steps at the aid stations and took in water and some Gatorade on top of the Perpetuem that I had in my Fuel Belt. I was doing good holding my stupid slow pace. I made it out of the neighborhood and onto the Centennial Trail and was only 100 yards up the slow incline when both thighs cramped hard! Wow this is not in the plan!!! Ok slow, walk it out, 20 steps later back to a shuffle then a trot and then back to pace.
The cramp issue continued to move around the different leg muscles as the run progressed. I keep searching for a pace that would let forward progress continue without the cramping. I completed the first loop in 2:09. This was off my target pace but given the cramps not bad. For the second loop the cramp threshold only allowed a pace of 11 – 12.20 per mile. When I would pick up the pace the legs would cramp within 30 seconds??? My Hr was 112. This was a go to sleep pace. I increase the number of salt tabs and added coke and Gatorade to the nutria mix. Continued to walk 30 steps at the aid stations and whenever I would push into the cramp threshold. I managed to continue this pace cramp balancing act though to finish the run. Seeing all the people 20-30 years younger than me walking the run helped keep me going and not walking. The power of the EN team on the course is a strong motivation when you see that friendly jersey!
That last slight downhill to the finish line is as magical as people describe. The crowds give you a new energy, the pain recedes and all sorts of emotions flow including a few tears of joy.
After the race went to medical to have the ear looked at, the said they did not have the proper gear to check it out. So on to get a shower. Met many of the EN team at the CDA brewery to finish the day.
All in all a great day to have lived!
Matt
P.S. Will be doing IM LOU in 7 weeks and will get this cramp thing under control for that one!!
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Comments
Secondly, this is a great example of racing super smart and problem-solving as you go. It's great you were able to keep adjusting and adjusting to work around the eardrum and the cramps. To keep your wits and presense of mind to to assess the tradeoffs on-the-fly of saving 20-30 watts at a cost of only .5 MPH by going with that group instead of working hard and wasting energy for only a marginal benefit is really impressive. It's obvious you have absorbed the coaches' advice. Thanks for sharing so the rest of us can learn from you.
Congrats on a great race and good luck at doing the "Doubleheader" at IMLOU.
Thanks Guys.
I went to a doc in the box two days later and he said the ear drum was punctured. It will heal on its own over ~ 6 weeks.
Paul, I hoped that sitting next to you at dinner would have some of your excellent running capabilities rub off on me!! You had a great race with an awesome run!!
Bill, The EN Kool-Aid makes total sense to me. I listen to all the long course execution podcasts and the 4 keys every couple of months and in the days before a race. I try to get the right direction for decisions hammered into my head so that when its time to think, I don’t have to think to hard
Matt - what's your training strategy for the short turn-around between IMs? Lat year, I found that within 10 days, I was back at a full training schedule within 2 weeks. I put in three 5-6 hour rides, and a couple of 2.25-2.5 hr runs. My hours/week were Race/10/18/20/12/10/Race. Not saying you should do this, but for me, I basically did weeks 4&5 before the race as my standard IM training for that time, and went less during the others. And I had a great race.
Matt,
Thanks for a great report and on a race well executed. I have had some terrible calf cramps on my 1 IM and my 2 70.3's. They seem to occur when I struggle around bouy turns, no other explanation.
If you figure out why yours are occuring, let us know.
Bob,Relative to the cramps – the only explanation I have come up with comes from over a beer discussion after the race at the CDA brewery. One of our EN team (sorry name is lost in the blur) said they had done significant surfing in the cold waters of our NW coast. His experience was that even with the wetsuit some people if not acclimated to the cold water can have leg cramps.