Bobby Patrick's IMLOU 2019 Race Report
IMLOU 2019 Race Report
Overall a good race. I went conservative on the bike and stayed conservative on the run (after walking much of Lake Placid this year). In retrospect I was probably too conservative on the run.
The swim was cancelled due to algae problems in the Ohio River.
TOTAL TIME: 10:16 (No swim)
BIKE: 5:39
The bike was a staged start beginning with lower numbers. I was 562 so started by about 9:00 AM. It was cold…. Upper 30’s I believe. I used a “space blanket” under my jersey… this worked great except it blocked the signal from my heart monitor to my bike computer. I had to pull it back a bit to expose the heart rate monitor to get the signal. I wore gloves, arm warmers, knee warmers, and socks. I was pretty cold for the first couple of hours but it was tolerable. After 2-3 hours I pulled the space blanket out and discarded it. I also removed my gloves. By mid ride I was feeling pretty comfortable in terms of temperature.
I rode an 11-30 cassette (53-39t) on my BMC Timemachine 01. I also road a zipp disk on the back and a zipp 858 NSW on the front. This felt about right for IMLOU. I considered 12-28 cassette… that would have been the wrong choice for me. I focused on riding at about 210 watts but did drop below that for several portions. My final normalized power was 199 watts. I intentionally rode conservatively. I found I had to pee LOTS! I’m finding that I do this when I’m cold for some reason. The same thing happened last year. I probably peed 2 x per hour (maybe even 3 a couple of times for the first 3 hours)… then it seemed to tail off. I drank 1 bottle of Gatorade endurance per aid station… this put me at roughly 1 bottle every 30-40 minutes (guesstimate). I alternated gels and half clif bars every 30 minutes. When I was peeing a lot I opted to use gels without caffeine to keep from making things worse.
I never really felt tired on the bike (I usually feel rough around 80-90 miles). I finished strong with a solid push back into Louisville with the net downhill return. I felt good off the bike… probably better than any other race. This was my best bike split.
RUN: 4:26
I ran IMLOU very conservatively. I did this because I ended up walking a significant portion of Lake Placid this year… I was a little worried about the same thing happening. I ran mainly heart rate (high 130’s). For the first couple of miles I was going a bit fast (unintentionally). I settled into a comfortable pace and never really sped up or slowed down much. I felt pretty good through the whole run except I did start having back pain and ankle pain around mile 13 (did not have this problem in training). I just focused on keeping moving and never really stopped except for short periods of walking though aid stations. I felt pretty good when I finished (other than back pain). I feel I could have pushed harder on the run and would have been ok. For the first 13 miles (approximately) I had Gatorade at each aid station. I had gels about every 3 miles through about the first 12-15 miles. After 13 miles I started taking in coke… that seemed to give me an energy boost. I stayed with coke from 13-finish. I washed my mouth with water after some of the cokes to get the sticky after taste out. I didn’t eat much (gels) after about mile 15.
Conclusion: I was pretty calm and comfortable going into this race. I think it was because it was my 2nd ironman this year. I did much better in IMLOU than IMLP… I think my fitness improved and my strategy was more sound and conservative. I feel I could have done better by running more aggressively. With that said I did have a good race. I had my best bike split ever (even riding conservatively). My run was comfortable, but I think it could have been better. Overall, I think it was a success. I trained less using the minimalist plan and actually had improved results.
Next year I want to focus on building bike strength (to improve my run), improving my run, and enhancing durability. I feel like adding more run mileage improved my ability to keep running at IMLOU (I added extra mileage during the minimalist plan). My bike fitness enabled me to bike conservatively and still have a solid bike split… AND feel very good coming off the bike. I would really like to figure out how to avoid having to pee so much on the bike when its cold…. Need to troubleshoot that. That actually slowed me up a lot. I also need to really focus on body composition this year. Year after year I come in to IMLOU around 190 lbs. I’m somewhat muscular and that is a relatively lean weight for me… but there is definitely room for improvement. I’d like to come in around 180 lbs next year.
Comments
Congratulations on a great race. Great to meet you again and chat a little in transition. Glad you had a better day than Lake Placid and Lou 2018! I had lots of issues with peeing too much, as well - add it to the never-ending list of things to figure out. Good luck with your future goals - hope to see you at future races.
@Bobby Patrick It sounds like you are on an upward trajectory, figuring out what all the pieces are in IM, and putting them together well. Bike PR and a satisfying run says it all.
No question, temperature has an impact on fluid needs during the bike. Sometimes we're so concerned about the potential for heat, we neglect to consider the impact of cold on race day strategy.
Congratulations @Bobby Patrick - sounds like you had a good race in spite of the unusual circumstances - that is a sign of good things to come! It was nice to meet you before the race. Best of luck next season!
Here's your updated Season Plan, as promised. This is where you'll return to post all your "coach" questions as responses; I'll see them and reply. This first post is my best outline of how to proceed with your races, but you can ask any / all questions you want. So post away, know that I reply here usually Monday & Friday each week.
Power User Tip: Click the Star icon by the Title of this thread to subscribe, and you'll get email updates when I do reply.
Coach Notes
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These are your recommended training plans, including the date you should start each one (sometimes you won’t complete a full plan but transition to another one). You can change your plans on within Final Surge by clicking on the Training Plans > View My Plans. If you need help manipulating your plans in Final Surge, be sure to check out our Help Site. Remember, you can learn more about each plan and find related plan resources on the Plan Descriptions and Resources page.
Your Notes
Did Ironman Lake Placid and Ironman Louisville this year. Currently doing run durability 2... fitness is decent. Haven't sat on the couch eating potato chips :-)
Let's get to work!
~ Coach P
@Coach Patrick its been a while and I thought I would check in on my training plan and modifications due to the Covid 19 situation. I guess its hard to tell if Lake Placid will happen or not. Are you hearing anything? For now I'm assuming I should pretty much train as if its going to happen. I could not do swim camp because of Covid 19 closures in Ohio. I've extended the outseason but repeating the last week of outseason with a bit of progression. This upcoming week I'm supposed to load the Bike Focused Full Ironman plan to start prepping for Lake Placid. It looks like it will still be a little while before I'll get to swim. I'm thinking about modifications I can make to my plan to add work in place of the swims.
I'd like to get my FTP up a bit more on the bike... any thought to adding more bike work in lieu of the swims I can't do?
Also, should I go ahead and load the 12 week plan as if Lake Placid is going to happen?
Lastly, should I have a 2020 coach thread? I'm not sure I have one. Thanks!