IMLP Race Report
Going into the IMLP my goal was for an 11 hour race give or take 10 min. As the training progressed I had some major nutritional issues during my race rehearsals. My adjusted goal after my last race rehearsal was to execute my nutrition plan well and let the rest fall into place.
Tuesday- Rolled into Placid late around 11:00. Got some essential items at Price Chopper then off to the Condo and straight to bed.
Wednesday-Headed out around 7:00 for an early morning swim with my sister. Downtown was nice and peaceful, no crowd at all. Had a nice relaxing swim in the lake did 1 loop. Went over to price chopper to do the full load of grocery shopping, felt like i purchased everything in the store. Ran into Coach P and conversed a little before heading back to the condo. Later in the afternoon i went for a nice easy run. Then feet were up and relaxed for the rest of the day.
Thursday- Decided to head over to registration first thing as i thought everyone would roll in a little later. Brilliant idea as i found a line wrapped around the gym as soon as i got there. After about an hour i wrapped up registration and met up with my mother and girlfriend who just got into town. Finished the day with a ride out in the new out and back portion. Rode for a total of about 1.5 hrs on the flat portion of the course. I had already rode the course numerous times and felt no need to potentially add any fatigue by going up the sections of hills. Thursday night dinner with the team was great, got to see people i had previously met at camps and races as well as many new faces.
Friday-Woke up to do easy swim at swim start time. Absolutely madness at mirror lake on this morning. Got my swim in and got out of there as fast as possible. Stuck my fingers in my ears when hearing other athletes discussing race strategy. Attended Coach Ps 4 key talk before going for a short run. Then back to the condo and legs up.
Saturday-Woke up around 8 and got my run out of the way ASAP. Then bag drop off/bike check as well as wait in line for 1 hour to register for 2011. Home early feet up Dinner around 5:00, asleep in bed by 9:00. Woke up at 1:30 for a naked protein drink, then back to bed.
Race Day- Out of bed at 3:45am and into the shower. I need to get a shower in to fully wake up. Eating breakfast by 4:00. Breakfast consisted of white rice and turkey bacon. Packed up and off the the race at 5:00am.
Swim-(1:02:40)
Hung out around the road till about 6:40 before heading down to the swim start. Just wanted to stay away from the other athletes and focus on what R & P had preached. Didnt need anyone elses opinions getting into my head. Got into the water with about 10 min to go and loosened up a bit. I linned up about 15 yds off the dock and was in the second row. I decided that i would just get into the mix and take the lumps. At least from my experience the swim start was no joke. Got my goggle kicked in about 5 min in and swam the 1st loop without being able to see out of my left eye. Water did not get in but the suction that the goggles created totally screwed up my vision. Complete mayhem to the first bouy and till about half way on the return. Second loop was things started to loosen up and i finally was able to establish some sort of rythm. After making the turn for home i was able to get within site of the underwater cable which meant i no longer had to site. Last half of second loop i started to get fatigued in the arms and realized that i may have over worked myself in the mayhem of the start. Followed Richs advice and only swam as fast as i could without losing good for. This meant backing off a little but i knew at this point of the swim the time loss would be seconds to a minute at most. Got out the water feeling pretty good and off to T1
T1-(5:23)
Ran to transition fast but under control making sure to watch out for the astro turf slide. Transition went off without a hitch. Saw Coach P as i was running to the mount line. I will say that its a good idea to get clipped in pretty quick cause after a hairpin turn to the left and a 90 degree turn right you are rocketing downhill at 30 mph.
Bike-(5:52:38)
Got on the bike and followed the plan, really tried hard to take it easy and get the heart rate down before heading up out of town. To those who havent raced an Ironman yet, what happens during the early miles on the bike is exactly what Rich and Patrick describe. The first climb out of town i got passed like i was standing still by too many to count, out of the saddle climbing like they're going for the King of the Mountains Jersey. I was more than content to ride easy and wonder how long it would be till i see them again. Rode easy for first 90 min then steady from then on. Wind picked up early in the bike and didnt stop for the entire ride. Not the strongest winds i've ridden in but enough to be irritating. My main focus on the bike was to nail the nutrition and no surges in intensity. Nutrition consisted of 6 GU, 4 packs sport beans and 2 IM perform. total of about 1200 cal. I had taken in too little water during the RR with disasterous outcomes so i decided to hydrate a lot during the race. Turns out i probably over did it and by the end of the first loop my bladder was about to burst. Actually was able to urinate twice while riding (not as easy as i thought) although i was unable to empty fully so time spent in aero was really uncomfortable due to bladder pressure. Although i rode low zone 2 my legs did feel a little tired coming into T2 and i was definitely looking forward to getting off the bike.
T2-(4:21)
Getting off the bike both my feet were completely numb but that did not slow my sprint to the restroom. After about 2 min of bladder emptying it was off to the tent. Volunteers were awesome in emptying my bag and sorting out my garmin and back up nutrition. Slapped on the shoes and garmin and was off running.
Run-(4:14:25)
Running out of T2 it was very difficult to run LRP + 30 sec with the downhill/spectators cheering/athletes going 10k pace out of T2. Despite trying i was going 8 min/mi initially. Thankfully Coach P and Gleason shouted out some advice as I approached the right turn downhill which mad me take a little more off of my pace. I quickly got my legs under me and felt great running down to the first turn around. Focusing running the tangents helped keep my mind in the race and off of how i was feeling. Turn around was time to increase the pace to LRP but i decided to hold the current pace due to two factors. One this was my first marathon, and two the return trip was all up hill. I figured if i held back on the return trip i could then go a little faster on the second half of the marathon. From miles 1-15 I was fueling with 1/2 cup perform and 1/2 cup water at every aide station. By the time i got back into town, my body was going through some rough times. I remember gleason asking me how i felt and i cant remember what i said but i wasnt feeling so hot at that point. Stuck with the pace and marched on hoping that the rough spot would pass. As I continued i began to get a little lightheaded, probably around mile 14. I found that was constantly forgeting about the tangets and was just following the painted lines on the road. By the time i was at about mile 16 the light headedness had turned to dizziness and i knew i was in trouble. I switched to coke which helped a little but not enough. I was debating wether to continue on with the same nutrition strategy of perform and water or to stop and take in something more substantial. Dont know why but i continued on even though what i was doing obviously wasnt working. Thankfully at about mile 18 i ran into Coach P and told him what was going on. I remember saying something like i got 10k left if think i can hold on till the end. Patrick made the call and told me to stand down at the next aide station, "1 gu and perform, walk the entire aide station". Next aide station i stopped at the first volunteer got a gu and perform, I decided to stop completely and take some time to get the calories in. Took 1 cup perform and 1/2 Gu ( couldnt stomach the rest). Began walking the rest of the aide station then back to race pace. Amazingly a mile went by and the dizzyness decreased to a little lightheadedness, another mile went by and i was back to running the tangents. By the time i reached the motivational mile i felt great and was looking to pick off some competitors. As i continued i went straight Perform, no water. As I made my way back into town i continued to feel great all the way to the finish line.
Total: 11:19:27
Finish Line- Met up with Coach P, Trent, Halligan and discussed the race a little. Glad to be stting in a chair with a cold soda and pizza in my hands.
Final Thoughts- Overall i think swim and bike execution was pretty good. May have taken in a little too much water. I realize now that by watering down the perform i wasnt getting in enough calories leading to my little bonking episode. Shouldve made an adjustment sooner but i think it was my IM inexperience thinking that i could just hold on to the end with 10k of uphill running to go.
Thanks to my sister, mother and girfriend for supporting me and dealing with me all year and week long. Thanks to all the EN peeps from feedback on the forums to all those who were on the course cheering us on. Last thanks to Patrick and Rich you guys are awesome, your knowledge and race experience put me years ahead of where i would be otherwise. You've all contributed to making my first IM experience a great one.
Comments
Derek,
You looked great each time I saw you. I never would have known you were bonking. Glad you sorted it out and got it done. Congrats on your first IM finish, Ironman.
Dave
Same here - I had no idea how you were feeling. You looked great. Well done!
- Cary
Very nice effort out there. You looked good to me all day. The reason I asked you how you were feeling is that I wanted to see if your brain was still functioning. It was, well about as expected anyway. Thing to remember is that IM is really really hard, especially if you want to go fast, like 11:19 for your first attempt at it. Awesome work! How fast you going to go next year?
Great job on your first IM. I could see that IM stare in your face on the last lap but you stuck with it and got it done, nice job and a quality needed for a fast ironman. You are on your way to some great IM's just like this one was for you.
You can thank us all you want, but this was just text book execution save for some small food issues. You did very well and I expect big improvements next time!!!
P
Enjoy your victory!
A+ on that one--in every way! Huge congrats on an outstanding Ironman!
+1 on the racing folks who were oblivious to your discomfort. You always looked to be moving extremely well to me. Excellent execution! Congrats, Ironman!
@Chris- Next year i think sub 11 will definitely be a goal of mine. I'll zero in on a time after next Outseason. Now time to read the IM transition article and recover.
Amazing job for a first IM - NOBODY feels good after mile 15 if they're really racing. Great decisions to stay focused despite mental fog on the run.
Hey Derek. You looked good on the run every time I saw you and even afterward when we talked in the food tent. Nice job out there. As Joe asked, you in for next year? Even though I didn't feel the joy at the time, I'll be there next year.
@joe- yeah i'll be back racing placid next yeay. You racing next year?
@Jeremy- I felt the same as you, didnt really want to race placid next year immediately after race. But now i cant wait to start training again. See you there next year.