IM LOU Race Report - Kona Slot
IM Louisville 2010 Race Report
From an out of shape couch potato to fulfilling a 25 year dream of a Kona slot in 2.5 years. EN Rocks!
Thank you RnP and Team EN!
Back Story
This is my second year doing triathlons after being away from the sport for almost 25 years. I have been back into fitness now for ~2.5 years (lost 76 lbs link) and with EN for 2 seasons. This is my third Ironman. I did IM LOU last year and then IM CDA 8 weeks ago.
Pre Race
I stared at the ceiling for most of Saturday night. I had my alarm set for 2:00 a.m. for my early breakfast. Still awake at 1:00 I modified the plan and had breakfast then. I drank 2 glasses Odwalla Superfood with some Hammer Perpetuem added to it to get to ~600 calories. I set the clock for 4:00. I was staring at the clock before 4:00. Got maybe 2 hours of sleep. Oh well time for some fun!
Got up, poured some coffee into the system and about 300 calories more of the same liquid breakfast as before. Did the final checks on special needs bags and headed to the course. I made it to transition at 4:45. This was the same time as last year and I was maybe 10th in line, this year I was maybe 150th. I got the bike set, pumped tires added water and my liquid nutrition (Prepetuem) and was off to the swim start. My loving wife had gone on ahead of me to the swim start to get a place in line. Last year I was maybe 70th in line, this year maybe 300th. Boy the world got up even earlier this year. My reasons for trying to get into the front of the line were three fold. First I am an ok swimmer and did not want to have a ton of people to swim over. More importantly I wanted to be off the bike course as soon as possible due to the increasing heat and the building congestion on the second bike loop, many of which have marginal bike handling skills.
Rick J. was in swim line with me so I had someone to pass the 90 min with before the start. It was great to have an EN person to spend the time with! One hour before the race I took 2 Endurolytes (salt tabs) and kept working on downing 20 oz of water. 10 min before the start of the age groupers I took a gel and finished my water. OK all ready for business in speed suit over my shorts, EN jersey and compression calves.
I knew the day was going to be rough due to the heat. My execution objectives for the day were the following: follow the EN 4 keys, stay hydrated and take every advantage to cool the body down.
Swim
Last year 1:14
Target 1:12 actual 1:12:03 (ok close enough for government work 
)
)
Off the age groupers went, I think I was into the water ~ 10 min after the first ones. We were strongly encouraged by the volunteers to trot/run down the dock to keep the flow going. I wonder what the scene was going to be like 2000 people later???
OK finally the day has started. The 84 degree water did not seem that warm. The sun was up enough for good light but not yet a problem for sighting up river. The leg around the island was a bit congested but nowhere near the mass start I had recently experienced in CDA. Contact was minimal overall. I stayed on the left side and took the shortest route around the island. Made the final turn and headed down river. On the down leg section I picked up my pace and focused on solid catch, pull and body roll. About 20 % from the finish the feet and calf’s started to toss in some cramps and to act like a drag anchor. Stay calm – think smooth and they would work out after 20-30 seconds then reappear a few minutes later. Made it out of the swim with NO injuries – a first!! WoooHooo. (Ripped of a toe nail in Lou last year and kick to the head blew out eardrum in CDA)
TI
Last year 8:25
Target 6:00 Actual 8:23
Ran up the transition path – grabbed some water off of the table to start the hydration process on the way to pick up my transition bag. I made it though the transition with some fumbling to get on my arm coolers. These really worked on the bike and the run in this kind of heat and sun, so it was worth the time. I downed one more cup of water and a cup of perform. Hit the sun screen team then into the porta-johns to lose some fluid. On to the bike. Per RnP guidance, I ran ~20 feet past the mount line to get past the chaos occurring there. I got on the bike and headed out.
BIKE
Last year 6:06:26
Target 5:50:00 Actual 5:43:44
I had a target NP watts of 183 for the ride or an IF of 0 .70. For the hot day I wanted to stay at this or slightly below. I was not on the bike more than 5 min when I saw the first ambulance of the day. There was a bike down in the middle of the road. No rider was seen – no clue what happened, hoped all was ok – but this reminded me of how vulnerable we are riding in underwear with a Styrofoam cooler on our heads for protection.
My first hour on the bike was 176 NP watts, a little higher than my planned 173 level for warm up, VI was good at 1.04. The wattage levels for the rest of the race are as follows. As the heat built, I backed off just a bit.
Hr 2 184w, VI 1:07 2 min bio break – ok feeling a bit frisky is the still cool of the morning!
Hr 3 181w, VI 1:08 hit 45 coasting on the down hills
Hr 4 180w, VI 1:07 Special needs stop ~ 2 min
Hr 5 176w, VI 1:05 Bio break ~2 min. Still hydrated – great!
Last 43 min 163 w VI 1:05 Cars often in the way, stayed aero, with reduced watts still averaged 21.7mph.
Total ride NP = 178, VI 1.06, IF .683, TSS 261
I know some people don’t like the hills on this bike course – they can’t get into a rhythm. Personally I like the course. There are enough hills to help the EN execution methods separate us from the rest of the field and not enough to cause a huge level of hurt. As always, the uninformed were out there hammering the hills. I was amazed at the number of people truly “in the ditch, and underneath a tree in the fetal position”. Loop 1, I stopped for a bio break, telling myself these 2 minutes are a good thing, this says I am staying hydrated. Well I dropped my salt tabs in the can – oops! Luckily I had backups in the special needs bag. For the first 2 hours I pushed the nutrition rate a bit (~300 cal per hour vs my target of 250) to get it in before the day got hot. The stomach handled it fine.
On the second loop congestion built on the course and the quality of bike handling skills and road etiquette fell. Every downhill required multiple loud “passing left” as I came flying down in EN style. Multiple times I had to hammer the brakes because they would not move out of the way. Stay in my box I would think. It was now getting hot. I stayed focused on staying steady and kept pushing the fluids. I started to back down a bit on my nutrition level to ~220 cal per hour. During the ride I took 2 Endurolytes every 30 min. At special needs I picked up my other salt tabs and my nutrient for the rest of the ride. I was lucky that I had racked a bottle of water from the prior aid station. They had no water at the special needs stop??? Who planned that? So added water to the Perpetuem powder shook it up and poured into my front aero bottle. I had a single use ice pack in the special needs bag. I activated it and placed it on the back of my lower neck under my jersey, boy that felt great! The cold lasted maybe 20 min and was a nice counter to the heat that was building. My Power Tap Joule registered 90 degrees now.
The last part of the second loop and the ride into town was a nightmare with cars all over the course. Multiple times I got stuck behind cars as they waited to get around slower riders. I saw my NP average for this time segment fall due to this. This was a major frustration! – these drivers would not even give a solid path on the side to ride past. So I focused on what I could controlJ. Once a line of 4 cars slowed significantly due to riders ahead, I paced for a couple of min then blasted around the 4 cars to get back on with the race. Yes I definitely violated the do not exceeded your FTP watts level on that effort. On the last 30 miles no one passed me on the bike and I felt good overall, had some cramping of some minor muscles in the legs but I road through them and they went away. In hindsight I now wonder if the match I burned passing those cars was the trigger for the cramps?? The cars were a huge issue this year, much worse than last year!! It was now officially HOT, my bike computer recorded 94 -96 degrees for the last 30 min of the course. Even with the car issues, I Negative split the bike! First 56 miles 2:54:03, 2nd 56 miles 2:49:41
T2
Last year 00:06:33
Target 00:06:00 Actual 00:07:20
Off the bike at the dismount line, then off with the bike shoes and down toward the transition tent. The bare feet had no issue with the pavement, but when I ran across the grass to pick up my bag I stepped on something – ouch. Into the tent, I turned on my GPS, and added socks and got the shoes on. This race, no cramps in the transition process – a good sign? I activated a onetime cold pack and put it down the back of the jersey - the cold felt great! On the way out of the tent I continued with the mission to stay hydrated, 2 classes of water (3 salt tabs) and one glass Perform. I had a fuel belt on to carry Perpetuem for nutrition and Endurolytes. I was targeting 3 salt tabs per 30 min for this level of heat and about 225 cal per hour on the nutrition. Each aid station I was targeting 10-12 oz of fluid. Ok out onto the run course I go. I’m not sure where the 7+ min went?? Need to work on my transitions.
Run
Last year 04:52:21 (72 degree day 
)
)Target 04:30:00 Actual 04:32:00
For my run pacing I took my pacing from our long run execution table and add 60 seconds due to the heat of the day. I planned to go out with this as my new “stupid slow” pace and then see if I could just hold it for the duration. Over the first 6 miles I managed to slow enough to be close to my target pace of 10:10 per mile. I had one bio break and stopped once to take off my shoe and sock to see what was up with the foot I that was getting more irritated from whatever I stepped on during transition. I saw nothing – no rock in the sock? So just get on with the plan. Early into the run I realized that my watch was giving some odd real time pace readings. These were significantly different than the lap times that I captured at each mile marker. I went with the mile times and to drive my pace. Finally about 8 miles in I realized that the watch (polar) had not synced with the GPS for pace, it was using the foot pod instead. The heat challenged mind did not remember that it was a couple of button pushed away for resolving this issue. I went with what seemed to like the right pace to get me mile targets with the walk breaks at each aid station included. At every aid station I spent time getting 5 ice sponges in place, 2 in front, 2 in back and 1 under the hat. Add a cup of ice down the jersey and 10-12 oz of fluid and I was good until the next aid station – step and repeat. Again my focus was staying hydrated and as cool as possible.
It is now HOT and the sun is unforgiving, its 93-94. My pacing held, the first 13 miles were no issues. I could not say that for much of the many runners on the course. Boy the carnage was building!! Most were walking and many ambulances were shuttling people off the course. A female pro and a motorcycle with a TV camera went slowly past me; given that she started 30 min before I hit the water, what is she doing way back here with us normal mortals? Around mile 16, I started to add some coke to my mix of mainly water and Perpetuem. I say many of the EN team out on the course – seeing a friendly face is always a real boost!! I hit mile 18 feeling solid. Coach P gave the final get R done push yell. I picked the pace up a bit (15 sec per mile) as my legs really did not hurt. Around mile 21-23, my hamstrings informed me they were not fond of this idea and started to tighten. I back it down to by prior pace. The next aid station I downed 2 glasses of chicken broth, boy that stuff is a miracle drink. That seemed to help make the hamstrings happy. By now Heat had destroyed most on the course. You could look down the road and see ~150 people and no one was running!! I heard multiple people say they would never do this again. I just continued on at my solid pace icing down at each aid station for the final miles. The last couple of miles where you can see at a distance the slight downhill grade were all I needed to pick up the pace those last minutes. I negative split the run 2:17 first ½ and 2:15 the second ½. This is a first for me!!!!
I get into town and the crowds build and the energy level rises. You make that last turn and you see the bright lights of the finish and the roar of the crowd! My emotions well up and tears of joy appeared. All pain and tiredness fall away. I crossed the finish line feeling great and so happy with my day!
Total Race Time
Last year 12:26:50
Target 11:40:00 wanted to go under 12hours
Actual 11:43:30 for 8th in my age group (50-54) and I’m the old guy in the group at 54, and 304 overall out of ~2150 finishers. Roughly 2500-2700 started the race.
At the finish with Rick Jansik
I was extremely happy with my day. I executed my plan and was lucky enough to never get into a real dark spot during the whole day! The type A in me said – you could have gone harder!! – Ok next race 
.
.After picking up the bike, and a shower, Sandra and I meet some of the team for dinner and a good beer. The EN team is an awesome group of people! Sandra and I then spent the final 30 min cheering the last Ironmen to the midnight finish. This was the first time we had done this and words cannot describe the magic that one experience in those final minutes. If you have not attended the finish of the race – you need to!
The next morning I packed, checked emails and went online to the EN forums. Al and Nemo were making the point to go to the Kona slot roll down meeting, “You never know what could happen”. I had looked the night before and the 50-54 age group typically gets 2 slots. So I figured with being 8th that there was NO chance of it getting down to me. We go finished packing earlier than expected so I said to Sandra, let’s go experience the process. The room had ~200 + people. They went through the process and boy is was great to see the reaction of people and families as they got a slot. They made it to my age group and they said there were 4 slots (Hun?? – wow must have been a bunch of us old dudes out there this year) and 3 had been taken 1 was up for roll down. They called out a name, no response, a second the same, then they called my name. Sandra, stood up and screamed while I sat there trying to process what I thought was the impossible, tears of happiness beginning to form then it hit me. I yelled and raised by hand, then stood up and the room cheered. They could all tell I was in total shock. It must have been destiny, the announcer pronounce my name correctly, that never happens! The icing on the cake was some of the EN team was there to share my joy! Aimee H, Scott L, and Rick J. were there. Being part of the EN team made this possible and it was an added pleasure to see their true excitement for me.
Pic by Ammie Hendrigan – Thanks!! It’s amazing what can bring tears to grown men 
So my dream of going to Kona that started back in the 80’s is finally going to happen! Now 6 weeks to recover and get ready. So 3 Ironman races within 15 weeks?? You bet I’m ready for the challenge. It won’t be real until I stand on the start line! Thank you Rich and Patrick and team EN for making this possible.
Lessons learned
- Execution truly trumps fitness on race day. Look at what happened to some of the pros that blew up in the heat.
- The EN 4 keys are simple but they are the critical to unlocking a great race day performance!
- If you stay hydrated you can continue to move forward, if you stay cool, you can continue at PACE! Thank you Al Truscott for driving that point home in some of our forum threads.
- Training in heat for acclimation was critical. Those 100-110 heat index days in St Louis had a use!
- Knowing how you body handles hot days, sweat test for swim bike and run helped dial in my hydration and salt plan. Bad plan or no plan = a blow up on a day like this.
- The one time cold pack is a useful tool to have in the kit.
- Smile and support your friends on the run course – the positive energy does wonders for both parties.
- Next year the line for the swim will start even earlier! Get that blow up mattress like some brought to swim line. NOT
- Don’t expect all fellow bike rides to have a clue on bike handling skills or course etiquette.
- I need to get better at estimating my race time segments J way too sloppy!
- Don’t have a beer after the finish and let Patrick interview you!!!!
- Never underestimate what you are capable of. Now raise those expectations yet again with the power of family, friends, a supportive employer and Team EN.
Thank you all
Matt
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Comments
Great race report. Thank you.
It was an absolute thrill to be with you at the roll down and see and feel your joy! The final picture by Aimee is awesome. What fun to see it live. It honestly was the best part of the weekend for me! You and Sandra were so gracious - at the Thursday dinner, at the check ride that Aimee, Yasko, and I did on Friday, at the bar on Sunday night. I am so happy for you and am eager to track your progress at Kona. I am looking forward to Sandra's pics to relive the whole weekend with my EN friends. Here is my email: sliston@cinci.rr.com.
Scott Liston
Off to find that funny interview footage...
P
Happy recovery!
Congrats!
AWE - SOME
Incredible Matt. You looked so strong out there! Very deserving of your slot!
You are an execution machine.
Well done.
Totally AWESOME Race Report, Matt! CONGRATULATIONS to a fellow 50-54 Age Grouper! Your report ROCKED! Negative splits all over the place, staying within your box, and sticking to your race plan! Way to go! We will be cheering you on when you race Kona! CONGRATULATIONS on an EXCELLENT execution! IMPRESSIVE, IMPRESSIVE, IMPRESSIVE!
I have saved and referred to all 3 of your previous Race Report as they are always so thorough and instructive. Thank you for taking the time to write those all up so the rest of us could learn from you. And I second your appreciation of Al T's comments on Heat/H. There was one particular thread in early July when Al took the time to caution Matt Ancona to take hydration seriously after Matt's Racine Race sim and in light of Hawaii. I found that advice very helpful in my race this summer when it was 90+ and appreciate you extending and formalizing it even more in your recent "Run Pacing in Heat" opus. I am glad it worked so well for you.
Other than scrambling for airfare and lodging is there anything special you plan to do to prepare in the short turnaround? You handled it really well between your CdA and Lou Doubleheader, but by the time you recover and taper there are only a few weeks in the middle. Just interested in how a data driven Smart Guy is approaching that.
Good luck in Kona and congratulations again!!
Regards,
Bill
Woo-hoo! Beautful race, Matt! Beautiful race!
Enjoy KONA!
HUGE congrats Matt. As others have said, not a particularly big surprise given your attention to detail, preparation and general attitude. Enjoy the fruits of your labour!
Awesome Matt. Way to execute and congrats on Kona!!!
Absolutely amazing journey and flawless race execution! You couldn't have nailed it any more precisely. Huge congratulations!
Watched all day as you ticked that race off like a machine. Sat with mouth agape thinking, "look at THAT!" Beautiful just beautiful. Congratulations on your inspiring journey, for the inspiring day you gave us all--and for your data help through the years. So happy for you!
Now it's time to celebrate your achievement in Hawaii!
ps
Nice bike. And great tip on the one-time coldpack.
Matt- Great race report and way to work the plan!!! It was such a pleasure to watch your data on the tracker!!
Rest up and enjoy Kona!!
Wow. Just incredible. As I gear up for my first IM (in FL), i am totally inspired by you! Thanks for sharing your report and your journey!
Woo-hoo! Inspirational account of your journey.. Unbelievable execution! And wow, yes, sweet bike!!
So glad to witness the coolest rolldown ever! Can't wait to follow you at Kona!
A seminal work in How It Should Be Done.
PLACE AFTER SWIM 553
PLACE AFTER T1 586
PLACE AFTER BIKE 333
PLACE AFTER T2 336
PLACE AT END 303
# PASSED IN T1 (33)
# PASSED ON BIKE 253
# PASSED IN T2 (3)
# PASSED ON RUN 33
# PASSED SWIM TO END 250
Simply inspiring!
Congrats!!
Thanks, Chris
I hate to bug you with my questions, but now that you are my new hero, I figure you are the go to guy for these questions.
thanks for the great RR
Congratulations!
Kim