IMLP Race Report - Eric Voboril
Race Report
This IM was the race I’d been hoping to have in my previous 2 tries. At both IMUK and IMAZ, it seems that I had massive nutritional and hydration breakdowns that left me nearly crawling through the run. This time, I got it dialed in and I was running all the way to the finish. I have Coach Patrick and Rich to thank, but also the great advice from fellow ENers after my last IM and the staff at Infinit Nutrition.
Swim: 1:13:29
T1: 7:51
Bike: 6:46:16
T2: 3:48
Run: 4:16:27
The Breakdown:
Thursday-Friday: I won’t bore with details about a pretty straightforward lead up to the race. I would say that one of the disadvantages of such a great triathlon town like Lake Placid is almost too many opportunities to rethink last second equipment and supply choices with all the bike shops, etc. right there. Glad I was confident in my race plan so that I didn’t purchase more than some extra body glide and sunblock.
Saturday: Unlike previous races, I was much more careful about food choices the last day. Got a burrito for lunch (a staple for me at home) and then took Coach Rich’s advice and got another burrito to go: sweet potato and rice with a white flour tortilla. Got to bed early, but still didn’t fall asleep until late. Great things are accomplished on a night of little sleep…….?
Sunday morning: Hit the mango smoothie when I got up to pee at 2:30. Woke up again at 4:00 and had some saltines and peanut butter. I had brought my folding mountain bike with me, which I rode into town because our hotel was on the race course a mile from the start. I got things set in transition so fast I had more than an hour to kill before start time. However, I didn’t realize how far I would have to walk to the special needs drop-off (everybody said it was “near the swim start”) I ended up walking all the way up the road in my bare feet. If I had it to do again, I’d bring a pair of grocery store flip-flops that I wouldn’t cry about tossing if I couldn’t find my family before the gun went off.
Swim: I don’t think there’s much new to say about the swim. I pushed myself to settle down as much as possible early, because I could feel my heart rate go through the roof in the opening half of the first loop. I had never counted strokes before during a race, but I tried it this time and found that it really did help me settle down and stay focused on my technique. Another thing I think that’s important to think about for the LP swim is wading back into the water. It stays shallow pretty far into the lake and I felt ridiculous flopping into the mud close to shore. It’s a pretty good idea to just calmly wade in and get started where the water is deep enough, if your brain isn’t muddled by the rush of blood to your head. Anyway, when I finished I could barely believe I had PRed the swim by about 7 minutes! Great start, and I felt like I had gas to burn.
Transition: Based on experience from IM Arizona, I stayed out of the tent. However, next time I will sit down immediately instead of hopping on one foot to get shoes on. Slow is smooth……….
Bike: Settled in early and let myself watch people fly by on the first climb. I couldn’t believe it started raining almost precisely on the first decent, but maybe it was just a good opportunity to keep things in perspective and settle down. Throughout the bike, experienced the usual situation of people flying by on the climbs and then passing them on the downhills. In this case, being disciplined was that much tougher with so many people close together on the course. Should you bother even thinking about the rules in the kind of situation where it’s almost physically impossible to remain enough bike lengths back? On my bike ride, one problem I had was a lot of neck pain, a totally avoidable situation. I waited until the beginning of my last 12 weeks to work with TTbikefit to get a new position on my bike. My upper body was not fully adapted yet, and I needed to sit-up several times towards the end of the race. I also got behind on nutrition and didn’t finish an entire bottle of Infinit I originally planned on drinking. Still, I got in about 1100 calories and didn’t bonk later in the race, so I’d agree with the theory that getting a large number of calories is overrated. However, I think I was still a little under-hydrated going into the run, as I experienced a little nausea although not nearly as much as previous races. Alternating sips of unconcentrated Infinit and water on 5 minute intervals seems to be the right nutrition process for me.
Transition 2: Pretty smooth, but as I ran out of the tent I realized……I forgot my &@^#(@ Garmin! Fotunately I had only gone a few feet and was able to go back in the tent and found the volunteer who had my bag. For the future, I think it would help to rehearse a specific order of stuff to do in transition. I took Coach P’s advice, and had stuck a light long underwear top in my run bag. Though the sun was coming out, I tied this around my waist. I had to retie it a couple times through the course of the run, but when hour 3 of the run came and it became cool and breezy I was very, very glad to have this extra layer.
Run: I’ve been amazed how tired my legs can feel coming off the bike and yet still give me trouble keeping the pace down as the run starts. I stuck pretty well to plan up to mile 13 or so, when I did start having some light nausea, but not enough to keep me from running. Closer to mile 18 I had some stomach cramps. Over that last 8 miles I took 2 S-caps. While I’ve read a lot recently about how salt pills aren’t effective, for me my experience has been that in a pinch with tough stomach cramps, only a salt pill helps. And in every long course triathlon, I’ve gotten a wicked stomach cramp. Until something else works better in practice, I’m sticking to those little guys. I lost a lot of speed in the last 8-10 miles of my run, but I had nothing like the debilitating nausea I’ve had in previous races. Seeing so many EN peeps out on the course also made an enormous difference. The run course at Lake Placid is a series of gorgeous postcards, and I’m so glad I saw them in the daylight. The roar of the last mile into the speed skating oval is out of this world, and I felt just incredible to see my parents and to finish 1 hour and 14 minutes faster than my last Ironman.
Comments
Eric,
Great job and congrats on a huge PR. It was nice to meet you in person. Enjoy some much earned R&R.
Dave
Great race report Eric. It was great to see you again in LP. I'm glad you had such a good race. Enjoy your down time. I will be on the lookout for the Elvis looking figure out on the run course at a future IM!
You and your family are so cool...if we could only bottle just how laid back and fun you are, all of Team EN would be super chill! I am so psyched that you had the race you wanted (and deserved); don't lose that feeling and enjoy your rest!
P
First off great meeting you at Lake Placid.
Nicely done race, especially on the run. It was to to see you out there on the run and taking notice each other immediately even when we both had the long sleeves covering our kits.
I heard on the podcast that you missed Elvis at the finish huh? He was great to see, here's the best I can do for you: Elvis's ASI race photos, enjoy.
Awesome execution Eric. Great race report. Congrats on the PR.
Enjoy you rest and recovery!
Can't say enough about all the team EN mojo from the sidelines and on the course. It really made this time around a lot of fun.
Anyway, congrats on a great race Eric!
It all made sense when i saw him at the next turn.
Great to see you again. COngratulations on a great race. Everytime i saw you on the course you looked great, and smiling the whole time.
Congrats!!! Great job... hopefully I'll meet you sooner rather than later since we're all in the same area - perhaps for a group ride when you and Suzanne (with Tracy and Kate) have recovered.
A 4:16 run and 75 minute PR?! TOTAL success, man.
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