Brian Terwilliger's IRONMAN Maryland Race Report
Unlike a lot of you, I'm not really a fan of race reports. Neither reading nor writing them. But its an exercise we really should do, so here is my no good, very bad, poorly written report with a pre-race prelude. Is that the right word? Who knows.
2019 IRONMAN Maryland Race Report
Prelude: I will normally race a Half Iron and maybe a sprint or olympic prior to starting my IM training. With the cancelation of Ironman Raleigh 70.3, there wasn’t any others available within a reasonable distance that meshed up with my life schedule. So IMMD would be my only triathlon of the year. Last year ended with the White Lake Half Iron, where I PR’d with a 4:54 and 1st in AG (2nd time winning White Lake). The next day a 1st in AG Sprint Tri. Took the North Carolina Triathlon Series Championship with a previous Sprint win, Sprint 2nd, and Olympic 3rd. I took the next week off entirely and did nothing. Starting the training cycle for IMMD on Sept 17th 2018. The next race was the Kiawah Island Marathon on 12/8. I set a goal of running every single day until IMMD. Marathon training went exceptionally well and I switched from pace to power by getting a Stryd power meter for running. Set a Marathon PR of 3:13 and BQ’d by 12 minutes that turned into 7 minutes with the newly lowered standards. I then moved into run durability to keep running volume up, but not near marathon training levels. Went from 50+ weekly miles to mid 30s with the occasional 40. Feb 1st started the Out Season program to end in mid may with the Diva Half Marathon in Myrtle Beach as the test run. It would likely be in the 90s for both temp and humidity, so PR for the distance was not the goal. Struggled on the bike all through the OS, but the run was just getting stronger and stronger and stronger. Stryd was working like magic. Had about a 7 minute PR for the Diva race in worse conditions than the previous year. Brought down the run volume a little and upped the bike and started swimming. But had the Run The Quay 15K challenge on June 1st. Thats a 10K at 7 AM and a 5K at 8:30. Did near exactly what I thought I would on the 10K but greatly exceeded my expectations on the 5K. Once I stop running, my body is usually done. But it was able to get back in high gear and have a great 5K. Thank you Stryd! Then a few weeks later had the Raleigh Run Down. A down hill mile. PR. Then shortly after set a mile PR on a semi flat route by 20 seconds during the 9 minute portion of the Stryd power test. No telling how fast I could have gone had I not needed to pace myself knowing I’d be running over a mile and half.
Thanks to Stryd and the durability aspect of running every single day, even if just a mile, I was seeing the best running of my life. And wanting to break 10 for an IM, I knew my IM marathon needed to improve by at least 30 minutes and get close to 3:40 or under. Living in the south, all my run training was going to be in brutal heat, humidity, and sun. Perfect for race day as thats what it would be. Compared to years prior, my pace on my long runs was 30+ seconds a mile faster and my HR was generally about 10 bps lower! Needless to say, I was killing it on the run. The bike was another story. I was struggling where previous I’d be killing the bike, getting huge FTP gains and endurance through the roof. Wasn’t getting any of it. Likely a side effect of the big run gains. Swimming was what it was. I don’t worry about the swim or really work all to hard at it. I’m lucky to be a natural born swimmer and a previous competitive swimmer from when I was a kid through most of college.
This all came crashing down the first week of August when in the middle of an easy pace run my right hamstring decided to cramp / lock up / or something else. The intense pain brought me to an immediate halt and it was a struggle to walk back to the car. This was on day 329 of the run streak. This resulted in not being able to run for the next 5 weeks and barely running after that with the help of dry needling and massage therapy repeatedly. When we got within two weeks of race day I was still considering filing the insurance to get my entry fee back and just going and volunteering. Thankfully the injury had little impact on the swim and bike so I was able to at least continue to do that. I decided that I was going to go race and just run until the hamstring wouldn’t allow me to run anymore and walk it in, get my medal and work on recovery for a while post race. So on to the race…
I won’t bore you with the pre-race stuff leading up to the swim start. Its all basic stuff we do. Get in town, check in, check in our bike and bags, bla bla bla. I don’t do anything special or different than others.
Race Day.
Alarm 3:30. Get up, drink coffee, eat breakfast. Transition opens at 5 AM. My AirBNB is .4 miles from transition. I walk down with my bike pump, bike special needs (don’t use the run one), and nutrition for the bike. I get my bike set up. I put my stryd on my sneakers in my run bag. And then head back to the house. I eat some more, hydrate, get my sherpa, wet suit, goggles and cap and off we go. Race start is 6:40 AM.
There has been a tremendous amount of jellyfish in the Choptank River. I am normally right in the front of the swim start for a rolling start. First to 5th in the water as we run to the water after the cannon goes off. I decide I am going to step back a few rows thinking that a group of swimmers would somewhat disperse the jellies. I have no reason to believe this, but it sounds good in my head. This was a big mistake. It didn’t work as I was repeatedly stung on the arms, hands, face, throat, and neck. But really, the stings were more of an annoyance than anything. Not painful and didn’t cause any issues. Didn’t even notice them after I left the water. But that wasn’t what the mistake was. The mistake was not being first into the water and getting myself some of my own water. The pack never broke up. It was a 4,000 meter wrestling match. Was by far the most physical contact I’ve ever had in any Tri swim. Non stop punching, kicking, grabbing, pulling, etc…. Had to repeatedly stop to regain my composure and get my stroke going. Lots of doggy paddle and breast stroke while I tried to find at least a sliver of open water. And it only got worse on the 2nd lap when we caught up to the later starters and slower swimmers. IMMD has a timing “mat” in the water at 1.3 miles as you come around for the 2nd loop. Loop 1 time was 28:50 even with all the wrestling. Total swim time was 1:00:15.
T1. 4 minutes and a couple seconds. To lazy to go look. IMMD transitions are really long. Long run from water to bags to tent, then a really long run from the tent to your bike and to the bike start. For my only transition of the year so far, very happy.
Bike: Bike was suffering in training, had set a goal of 4:45 to 4:50 even with MDs well known high winds. But with the hamstring injury I decided I really needed to scale back the bike a little, not so much to save energy for the run, but to save the hammy to run as many miles as I could before I was forced to walk. So I set a power goal of 185-190 and figured this would have me just over 5 hours If the wind wasn’t to evil. The bike was entirely uneventful other than launching a bottle twice and having to go retrieve it. There were long stretches into the wind where I could see my avg speed drop and drop and drop. Then start to rise when we changed directions. Just steady cadence and steady power, stay in aero and be safe. Toward the end I started to do some minute standing intervals to start stretching the hammy a little as it was tight and very sore the entire ride.
Final bike numbers, 5:01:32. 22.39 MPH. 187 avg watts, 191 NP for a VI of 1.02, and an IF of .69. Avg HR of 125. I’d have broke 5 if not for the bottle launches. Cost me several minutes easily.
T2, like T1 3:38 and lots of long distances. And no bike catchers like at other races. Had to rack my own bike. Got in tent, put helmet in bag, put on socks and shoes, grabbed go bag and off I was.
The Run: Now we are entering unknown territory. Can I run? Am I going to walk for 7 hours? Who knows! I had set a goal of running 255 watts for the first 10K. While I was able to do this for 4 miles and probably could have continued for a good bit, at least several more, the hammy was not happy. And I decided to just throw watts out the window but check on them with some regularity. Was going to run at an effort that didn’t anger the hammy to the point that I would be forced to walk. So a speedy jog it was. Walk every aid station to get liquid and back to running. I was able to do this until half way through the 2nd lap. Then I was forced a few times to walk between aid stations to settle the hammy. But never allowed myself to walk for more than 30 seconds. Would bend down and touch my toes for a few seconds as this would stretch the hammy and really seemed to help. Only had to do it a few times. When I hit the mid lap turn around on the 3rd loop I had @5K to go and while my long shot goal of breaking 4 (which was really a pie in the sky goal as I did no long running and very little running the final 2 months of training), I wasn’t all that far behind considering how much walking at aid stations I was doing. Was in pain the entire time, probably had horrible form, but was able to actually run the vast majority of it. So I was pretty pleased considering where I was just 2 weeks prior. I forgot to hit stop after I crossed the finish line for 40 minutes! So the Garmin and stryd kept recording, totally skewing the power as a majority of that was zero or low double digits so I have no idea what my actual power ended up being. Not that it really matters or I care as I threw power out after 4 to 5 miles and just wanted to keep the hammy happy enough that I didn't have to walk.
Final run time, 4:12:50. Only a little over 7 minutes off my IM marathon PR
Finish time 10:22:56.
A 48 minute PR for IMMD (and previous IMMD had a shortened swim where I went 42 minutes) and a 19 minute PR for the distance! Not bad!
11th in AG, 74th male, 81st over all. All 3 are best ever finish positions. Previous best AG finish was 15th at Choo in 2017.
And shockingly, I came off the bike 7th in AG and only lost 4 spots with a 4:12 marathon.
While disappointed that IMMD 2019 was no where near the race I wanted, or the race I was capable of 8 weeks prior, with a near total shut down of running in August and Sept, and a mental collapse because of the injury, I really couldn’t be happier with the results I was able to get. Especially considering I was on the verge of throwing in the towel and not racing just 2 weeks prior.
No full distance racing next year. Will be back at White Lake Half in the fall to go for the Hat Trick of AG wins. And hoping I can get this hammy straightened out so I can start run durability and then training for Boston.
Will do the post IM plan for the next month, then get up with Patrick to road map 2020.
Comments
Congratulations! I'm so glad that you were able to participate and get a PR, no less!
@Brian Terwilliger Impressive what you pulled off on that run! Your mindset was tough. You found a lot of victories. Congratulations.
Congratulations! That was an excellent race report. Glued to my seat for the run result! Thanks for sharing because I love reading race reports!
So glad you wrote a race report. I really enjoyed your narrative. What impressive results from the run durability program. Hope the hammy gets happy again soon.
@Brian Terwilliger Big congrats Brian and great seeing you during the race! Really smart how you handled the run and it paid off! I've had a hamstring injury off and on (on now) for 4 years. They can become chronic so really be careful about healing up and rehab. Well done!
nice work.
great swim despite the issues. i too am a fastish swimmer. my fastest swims have been swimming on my own in clear water. swimming wide if needed to get away from the pack. would that have been possible ? fmi, i assume this race is always wetsuit fully legal ? I know in South Jersey the water sometimes can be too warm.
weird about the lack of bike catchers. that doesn't seem acceptable.
get that lower extremity rehabbed.
I am thinking of doing Maryland in 1-2 years as I have family nearby.
@Brian Terwilliger Great race report and impressive performance, solid throughout the whole day! Can I ask what your nutrition plan was for the bike and run?
@Brian Terwilliger this may not have been the race you wanted/expected, but as I read it, I just kept thinking what a great race you actually had. Great racing and managing the difficulties of the day. Also, know that when you sort out the hamstring issue, you will be even faster.
@robin sarner
To the best of my knowledge, its been wetsuit legal every year. But its always close. Never a sure thing.
This was my 2nd time at IMMD, first was 2015 and there were supposed to be bike catchers. But with the race being cancelled for a hurricane and rescheduled 2 weeks later, the number of volunteers available obviously plunged. So catchers were eliminated to put people in more important spots. And it has just never been brought back.
If I swim wide I have a lot of trouble swimming a reasonably straight line and end up zig-zagging all over the place. So I try to swim as tight a line as possible on the buoys. Some what to keep distance down, but really more so I am not all over the place and swimming into kayaks and stuff. And Maryland has a timing mat in the water so swim safety really squeezes everyone into a narrow path the later part of the loop to get people through the timing trap that's about 30 feet wide.
I highly recommend IMMD. I'll be back for a 3rd crack at it in a few years.
@Jeff Phillips
For bike nutrition I keep it really simple. Infinit Go Far with Base Salt added to get near 1,000 mg per bottle. I start with the aero bottle filled up and two 24 ounce bottles in the saddle cages. I have 3 of the same waiting for me at special needs. However, in those I add a product called Amino Energy that has caffeine in it as well. About 180mg per serving. I add half a serving to each bottle. It also has a strong, but to me pleasant orange flavor. So its nice to have something a bit stronger flavored on the 2nd half of the bike. I also carry a couple Honey Stinger packs and Shot Blocks in the bento. I like to have 1 Honey Stinger in the first half and then 2 servings of shot blocks on the 2nd.
This year at IMMD they went with Plan B bike course as portions of the standard course are subject to tidal flooding. And flooding it was. This pushed special needs to around mile 64. So at the last aid station before special needs I grabbed a gatorade bottle to carry me through to special needs. Ditched it and loaded up my Go Far when I got there.
For the run it was Gatorade and coke at every aid station. After about 10K I had a Honey Stinger. Then a couple miles later I start to eat a single shot block every few miles and just continually do that. I was disappointed there was no Red Bull on the course though. I like that stuff.
@Gary Lewis Thanks. I surprised myself with how well the run went. I really was expecting to come to a point where walking it in was going to be required. Deciding early to throw out power and just let how my leg felt control the effort is likely what was key to being able to continue on 'running'. Had I been hard headed and made myself try to keep going at target power I'd of probably had a far different outcome. Like I wrote, I could have continued at my target power, but for how long? I could tell that even though I was able to hold the power without an tremendous amount of discomfort, the leg was telling me that eventually, it wouldn't allow it any more. So just backed off and stayed as smooth and steady as I could.
I knew the swim and bike would go well and as long as I didn't have a mechanical or crash because I did something stupid that I'd have decent times even at the reduced effort. With 10 miles left on the bike I could tell that if I stepped up the power I could get under 5 hours. Its one of those stupid barriers that people want to break. But convinced myself that doing so could lead to a lot of walking so I stayed steady and then even backed off with about 5 to go. Smart decisions compensated for lack of training and produced good results. And I am usually far better at training than being smart. Its tough to not do the "could" and properly do the "should" for me.
Having been on the journey with you, I agree this is really the best possible outcome. I had no idea that even in that state that you would still PR like that. I am not sure where you mental toughness really kicked in, the discipline to rest and not cause further damage or getting it done on race day. Crazy to think what you can do once you are healthy.
Headed to your micro...
@Brian Terwilliger Great execution to get the most out of your body on the day. I've done the could as well a couple times and paid for it. Even when you don't get the full training good execution and smart decision will get you to the finish line running most of the time. Congrats on the finish and the PR.
Congratulations Brian on all the PRs! Way to race smart in order to still have a great run. That's the definition of patience and discipline. I hope the hamstring gets better soon.