Gary Lewis 2019 IMAZ RR
Short version - Good swim, great bike and poor run.
Long version -
With my two previous Ironman races, I felt I now had enough experience in putting together a plan that would allow me to really crush my past races. Although I had a personal best race, it wasn't quite the race I was expecting.
In the beginning of 2019, I decided that I really need to learn how to run correctly. I had spent the first few months of the year focused on running. I had work and family commitments in spring and a backpacking trip in July, so my "real training" didn’t start until August. This amounted to a lot of time away from training that I knew could possibly derail my race plans.
My goal was to knock about an hour off my previous race at IMLP (14:15). LP was a much more difficult course and I had a bad run there with some foot issues. I knew that if I could put up a good bike time 6:00-6:15 and had the same run, I would be 45 minutes ahead. Then I would just have to put in a good run and I would be looking at 13:15. If all went perfect 13:00. Unfortunately, it didn’t shake out that way.
Swim Goal 1:15 Actual 1:26:36 141st AG
T1 – 7:30 Actual 9:58
Bike Goal 6:30 Actual 6:16:37 135th AG
T2 – 5:00 Actual 3:39
Run Goal 5:00:00 Actual 5:58:23 187th AG
Total 13:5512 146th AG
Woke up at 3:00AM, ate my bagel, hard boiled egg and coffee, loaded up my backpack and drove to Tempe. This year instead of waiting to get into the free parking garage, I decided to turn North on Mill Ave to 6th street and park in the paid lot. For $10 all day, this saved me at least 45 minutes in the morning and a whole lot of stress. Calmly walked to my bike in transition, loaded my bike nutrition, pumped my tires, got body marked put a jacket in my gear bag and got out. Met back up with my wife Ronda and used the porta-johns West of transition where the lines were short.
Put on my wetsuit and cheap slippers I bought at Wal-Mart and made my way to the swim start. On the way I dropped off my bike special needs bag. I didn't have any run special needs.
My plan was to line up at the back of the 1:10 swimmers and stay with them. The swim start here had changed since last time I raced here and the line was coming from the other direction. I saw an opening in the gate and jumped in with a few other people. That put me at the back of the 1:00 swimmers. I little fast for me, but I wasn't going to fight a bunch of people to move back.
Swim start was good, five people wide and they have a beeper that goes off about every ten seconds and that group runs down the boat ramp and into the water.
Swim wasn't too bad, not the straightest line, and only a little contact. It seemed to get crowded under the bridges where everyone came together. Got punched in the nose after the turn North, but nothing I couldn’t handle. My legs cramped up a number of times during the swim, but I just kept moving. Out of the water, up the ramp, laid down and the wet suit strippers peeled me no problem. I had forgotten to start my watch, so I had no idea what my time was. Saw Ronda halfway between the swim exit at transition. It’s a .4 mile run. Asked her my time, she told me 1:27 and later she told me I looked extremely disappointed. I knew it wasn't my best swim, but that seemed a little slow. Later everyone said the course was about 400m long.
I ran right to my bag (the colored tape was great), found a chair outside the tent. I put on my jacket, cycling shoes and helmet. I stuffed my wetsuit and the towel I was using in the bag, dropped it in the pile on the way out of the tent. I got my bike off the rack and started jogging with it to the mount area. I ran a little past the line, took my time, mounted my bike and I was off.
I tried to start out easy, as I felt real good at this point and didn’t want to be aggressive. I told myself to be patient until the top of the Beeline. First trip up the Beeline the wind was steady and in my face the whole way. Nearing the turnaround my speed dropped down to 10mph. I decided that I was going to go a little easy on the outbound trips as the wind usually gets stronger as the day goes on. That didn’t seem to be the case it was steady all day. I pushed it much harder on the return trips. At some points in excess of 30 mph, but it felt easy with the wind behind me. This was the strategy I felt made the most sense mentally and effort wise. Ended up riding a NP 132, IF .66, avgP 126, VI 1.05, 2815KJ. I was real happy with this ride. I felt like I executed the best I could and my numbers and time were right where I wanted them. Peed three times while moving on the bike and once while I stopped to take off my jacket. Drank all of my nutrition (3.6l of Infiint) and had one lemon Lara bar. Fully fueled, hydrated and ready to go. Took my feet out of my shoes, turned towards T2 and slowed to a stop to dismount.
I handed off my bike to a volunteer, ran to my bags and put on my socks, shoes, grabbed my go bag, stopped to pee in the Porta-John and was out the other side of the tent.
I was right on target for a perfect race. The weather was great, a little overcast and not too warm. As I left T2 I started my Fenix5 and put on my hat, sunglasses and put some Tylenol and Tums in my pocket in case I needed them later, and started to run. Carefully watching my heart rate, I walked and ran to keep my HR below 145. I knew if it got too high, my running would be walking. Ran for about 7 miles walking the AS and getting Gatorade at each one. Walked as necessary to keep HR in check. Took half a gel at AS 3 with some water sticking to my plan. Pace was a little slower than I would have liked, but I knew that executing the run with patience was the key. Saw Ronda at the EN tent at mile 4, got a kiss and kept running. No racing until mile 20ish if I felt good.
Mile 11 is where it all started to go bad. My chest got tight and I was out of breath. HR was still around 145, so I knew that wasn't the problem, but had never felt like this before. Still sipping GE at each AS. At mile 12, I saw Ronda again. I gave her my HR strap as it felt constricting and I knew if I was still carrying it, my watch wouldn’t read the correct HR. I made the turn to start the second loop. The beginning of the each loop starts with a few small hills. Still out of breath, I needed to walk up the hills. At this point I got some chicken broth, drank that, felt a little better and decided to try and run again. My body had cooled off and my legs muscles were locked up and I couldn’t run. It seemed like I was going to have to walk the rest of the marathon. I was ready to call it quits. It was no longer fun and I couldn’t see walking another 13 miles. That's when I thought about my "one" thing". I was running in honor of a fallen Marine. I decided that there was no way I could quit and not send my medal to his family, just because I didn't want to walk. At around mile 16, I started run/walking again. During the walking from 14-16, I decided that I must be taking in too much sodium. New plan was chicken broth, water or coke at the AS nothing that had salt in it. Sometimes just getting water to rinse my mouth and spit out. My chest no longer felt tight and I wasn't out of breath. This seemed to control the issue and I ran/walked the rest of the way maintaining about a 13:30 pace. At mile 21.5 I heard Al Truscott call my name. He was behind me at the turnaround running and he looked good. I decided to use him as a whip. I wondered how far could I get before he caught me. I ran that whole mile until the hill on Curry Road. Caught another ENer, Jay that was walking. I chatted with him up the hill and said goodbye as I needed to stay ahead of Al. This strategy worked all the way to the finish. Every time I heard someone behind me, I thought ""here comes Al. Al wasn't racing me, he was crushing the people in his age group, but I had no idea of that out on the course. Ran the chute, stopped to kiss Ronda, crossed the finish line and got to hear Mike Reilly announce “You are an Ironman!”
Overall, I still had my PB race, just not the time I really wanted. I'm learning each time I race. IM is a puzzle that takes experience to get the pieces in place to have a great race. I know it will happen, and this race gave me a lot of confidence. I lost about 2 min/mile from my expected pace, and 1min/mile from where I should have been able to easily run. I know this is my biggest weakness and plan to focus 2020 on building a fast and far run.
Thank you to all of team that came to AZ this year. You made it a great team event that I hope to experience again.
Comments
thx for all u did there... especially as u were also racing.
love your 1 thing...
hope to see u soon
@Gary Lewis There is just so much in this paragraph that screams success. Very positive self assessment acknowledging the IM puzzle, your weakness, knowing and confidently learning going forward, yet still resulting in a PB. Doesn't get much better than that. Congratulations and Thanks for the shirts, organizing dinner, and everything else you did for the team.
"Overall, I still had my PB race, just not the time I really wanted. I'm learning each time I race. IM is a puzzle that takes experience to get the pieces in place to have a great race. I know it will happen, and this race gave me a lot of confidence. I lost about 2 min/mile from my expected pace, and 1min/mile from where I should have been able to easily run. I know this is my biggest weakness and plan to focus 2020 on building a fast and far run."
@Gary Lewis A PB is always a good place to start from for your next effort.
I'm glad I provided a little motivation for you to keep moving, but I think you're One Thing was the major driver, along with personal pride.
I reviewed your bike and run files on Strava. I've got some suggestions to consider:
Success on the IM run depends a lot on patience discipline and humility. You can get a lot faster on this course, and any other you try. Spend the winter targeting hard work on the bike and *daily* short (5-8 km) runs.
great to meet you. thanks for all you did for the team.
i'd say the race was a success.
hopefully we'll intersect again the future.
looking forward to you developing your run.
when is the training camp in Goodyear ? :)
@Gary Lewis Congrats on the PB. While not the race you wanted its still a success. Al's got some great advice as always.
@Al Truscott thank you for taking a close look at this. I believe the higher heart rate at the beginning of the bike may have been a holdover from the swim, but I never really looked at it before. So it doesn't appear to have settled in to its normal rate of 135 until after the entire first loop. How much time should I be willing to give up in this scenario to lower my heart rate to its "easy pace"? I find this an interesting question. How much time would I actually be giving up thinking in terms of biking segment alone? Things to think about. Not sure I could calculate it, without a lot of trial/error testing.
On the run, I set a cap to my heart rate in the first 6-8 miles of 145. I walked whenever necessary to bring it down to that number. I am not sure I could go any slower without walking the first few miles. Is it worth a guaranteed walk for the first 4-6 miles to hopefully ensure you don't walk the last 4-6? Seems counter intuitive.
My heart rate takes forever to come down. I am not sure if that is a genetic thing, or if its just because I don't have the mileage and/or years of running to condition my heart to calm down. I could go forever if I could get it down to 135, and a very long time at 145. At 155, I am on a very limited timeline. Any advice here on how to lower it would be appreciated. On the bike my typical long ride max HR is 145 and it slowly climbs over time.
The miles of 13.5-14.5 I couldn't run. My legs were all cramped at that point. Miles 14.5-16-5 I was still in the problem solving stage to figure out why my chest felt so tight. Miles 16.5-20 were probably more mental than physical and not wanting to suffer enough to make myself move when I should have. I had probably already given up on making my internal goals. Definitely need to work more on my mental/suffering game.
My one thing kept me from quitting. Thinking of you behind me motivated me to move faster and for that I am grateful.
Thank you for taking the time to analyze my files. I really appreciate your wisdom and any additional feedback advice you have.
@robin sarner training camp in Goodyear is available any time you want to come.
Congratulations Gary on a great race. It was great reading how you dug deep and found ways to keep moving forward. Yes, IM is a tricky puzzle to piece together, but you're well on your way to getting those pieces in the right places. Al makes great points.
Congratulations @Gary Lewis ! You put a lot of effort into this race. It takes a week or two to process an IM. You had many victories and I hope you see them. Having a 'why' such as a fallen Marine is massively motivating.
Your comment abut tightness in your chest is a bit concerning. Have you thought about just going to your doctor and having a graded exercise test done?
My heart rate takes forever to come down. I am not sure if that is a genetic thing, or if its just because I don't have the mileage and/or years of running to condition my heart to calm down. I could go forever if I could get it down to 135, and a very long time at 145.
Have you ever tried the MAF method of aerobic training. I did it years ago and was amazed at how it really does work. The decoupling of HR and pace became less. It forces you to do the eay runs EASY. I mainly did it so I would have less recovery while building volume. I suppose it mimics the run durability program. It takes about 4 months and going ridiculously slow. https://philmaffetone.com/want-speed-slow-down/ I don't agree with everything Phil Maffetone says but why not give it a go? I may experiment with it as I build up my ankle.
Thanks @DAVID RICHMOND @tim cronk @Al Truscott @robin sarner @Gordon Cherwoniak @Gabe Peterson @Derrek Sanks @Sheila Leard for taking time to read this and comment. As I continue to piece the IM puzzle together I appreciate the input you provide to all of the EN peeps. There is a reason you are all WSMs.
@Sheila Leard I recently had an ultrasound and a graded exercise test at the cardiologist prior to the race and he assured me I was not dying this week. 😅 I do appreciate your concern.
I have briefly investigated the Maffetone running info when past EN member Betsy Kantor was using it. I do think there is something to be said about adding higher volume low HR running to my next plan and will be looking into it. I hope that it can help with training my HR to be lower.
@Gary Lewis Congratulations on the race and getting a PB at this distance! Nothing to add to the expert comments above in terms of training and race execution except follow their advice 😁
I was glad to meet up with you after the race near the food tent and happy to see that you had a huge, infectious smile on your face. You have a lot of positives to take away from the day.
I'd be remiss if I didn't thank you for all your efforts on race week -- setting up the team dinner and team tent, getting team t-shirts, and of course, driving me around the bike and run course and providing commentary on important points to remember on race day!
It was great to meet you and hopefully we'll race together one day
@Gary Lewis - thank you so much! You were a big part of what made this race so much fun and so successful or everyone.
You really had a good race. Getting a PR is always good. Getting a PR when you made adjustments along the way is even better, because it gives you confidence that you can build on going forward. Having difficulty on the back half of the run is something that everyone who has ever done an IM has had to solve. This is the point of the day where all of your good/bad decisions from the whole day are counted.
I think you are on exactly the right path: building your bike will help you run easier. I think that you would have been a little faster for the same energy had you flipped your effort and worked a little harder into the wind then used the downwind leg as the recovery leg vs the opposite. It's a better return on effort and getting off the bike sooner helps the running.
This feels a lot like a race that is going to lead to more PRs next season - Good luck!
@Rich Stanbaugh thanks for the info on flipping the bike efforts. I know we discussed this after the race as I looked at extending too much effort on the headwind climb as burning matches. You and Tim provided a new perspective on the efforts.
"Having difficulty on the back half of the run is something that everyone who has ever done an IM has had to solve. This is the point of the day where all of your good/bad decisions from the whole day are counted." I don't think that can be said any better.
@Gary Lewis A PB is a PB no matter how you get bro! Damn well done.
I agree with you on HR holdover after swim to bike. Unless you've done your RR with the swim up front, race day is the first time you will experience it. Though it can be logistically difficult to pull off, performing RR1 and RR2 with the 3.8K swim upfront prepares your mind and body for less surprises come race day. Also, there is really no harm you can do by taking the first 40 miles of the bike easy unless you are on the pointy end of the stick and looking to KQ. Taking as much time as need to let that HR come down after the swim has benefits that extend well into the run leg for a 140.6.
I think you take this PB, implement some of the @Al Truscott wisdom/advice above and lead into yet another PB in 2020.
Congratulations IM!