IMWA race report
Swim:
One lap around the Busselton Jetty. Beautiful clear, calm water. Unfortunately I still can't swim. Nothing new there. Never seem to get any faster than a 1:15 swim. This time I had 3 calf cramps during the swim so had to stop and stretch and swim the last 1/3rd without kicking at all to avoid getting more. That slowed me down a bit so I ended with a 1:19:06.
T1:
Sun beating down with temps that hit 38C (100F) so I took a bit of time to make sure I was adequately sunscreened. Time: 4:40
Bike:
Target was 191watts (.71IF). I maintained this no problem for my 2 race rehearsals and had great runs afterwards. So I don't know why I had problems in the race. The course was 3 laps of 60km. The wind and heat increased as the day went on. The first 2 laps went well. At the beginning of the 3rd lap I lowered the watts by about 10 as my heart rate was really high. It had been high the whole time but now was increasing even more. Shortly after the watts dropped even more though as I was really starting to struggle and my left quad was tightening up and feeling 'wonky' when pedalling at my goal watts. Ended up dragging my ass around the 3rd lap. Was pretty frustrated at the end.
Total Bike time: 5:29:42
Entire workout (175 watts):
Duration: 5:30:17 (5:30:48)
Work: 3467 kJ
TSS: 245.2 (intensity factor 0.668)
Norm Power: 180
VI: 1.03
Pw:HR: 14.99%
Pa:HR: 7.42%
Distance: 180.694 km
Min Max Avg
Power: 0 414 175 watts
Heart Rate: 127 161 151 bpm
Cadence: 29 163 78 rpm
Speed: 0 42 32.9 kph
Pace 1:26 0:00 1:50 min/km
Hub Torque: 0 38 6.4 N-m
Crank Torque: 0 75.9 21.8 N-m
Lap Breakdowns:
Lap 1: NP: 190
VI: 1.01
AP: 188
AVG HR: 148
AVG SPD: 34.1 km/h
Time: 1:45:37
Lap 2: NP: 188
VI: 1.01
AP: 186
AVG HR: 153
AVG SPD: 33.7 km/h
Time: 1:46:42
Lap 3: NP: 159
VI: 1.03
AP: 154
AVG HR: 150
AVG SPD: 31.1 km/h
Time: 1:56:52
30 watts less and 10 minutes slower on the last lap 
T2: Was really frustrated and not feeling the love at the end of the bike. More sunscreen and a quick port-a-potty stop. Time: 4:44
Run: I had a Vdot of 50 which puts me on an IM run of 3:45-4:00. Again I felt great at that pace on the bricks during my race rehearsals. I knew right from the start of the run that the pacing plan was out the window. I started slow and just got slower. Couldn't believe how slow I was going every time I looked at the GPS pace. The first lap of the run was a real mental low point. Was still frustrated by the last bike lap, felt like crap and knew I wasn't going to have a good run, and wasn't really enjoying suffering in the heat. Finally managed to convince myself to keep going after I started the 2nd lap. Run Time: 4:51:55
Total Time: 11:50:07
I'm still trying to figure out what went wrong. This is the first of my 3 IMs that I felt I was prepared for. The race rehearsals both went well and I felt strong. I hit my goal watts almost exactly in the first 2 laps of the bike course in the race but fell apart on the 3rd lap. My nutrition was the same as the rehearsals. My training suggested I should have finished in 10:30-10:45. Instead I was 11:50.
Maybe I need to start paying more attention to my HR, including on the run. My first IM I didn't have power so trained and raced with only HR. Despite a half-assed training effort and a lot of missed training sessions, my first IM would still be my PR if not for a 15 minute delay due to a tech malfunction on the bike. Not to mention it was my only decent EN style, negative split, run. The last 2 IMs I haven't had HR info at all on the run, and both runs have been awful.
Comments
Good report. IMWA was my first IM back in Dec 2008. I love that race and cannot wait to do it again one day. The only BIG issue was the travel involved. From the time I left my house on the east coast of the USA and arrived at Abbey Beach Resort in Busselton, my total travel time was like 46 hours.
38C! Yikes that hot!! I agree with Lynette--the heat makes it difficult to keep up watts/pace because the body is trying to cool itself by circulating blood to the skin and not to your muscles. Also, along the same theme, with the heat there's a higher risk of dehydration and inability to digest calories.
Nonetheless, you persevered in those conditions and had a good race. Congratulations!
Some race pics:
The Busselton Jetty that we swim around. Too bad it's under major renovations this year and nobody could get out on it to watch.
Carbo party
Pre-race
Swim finish
Approaching the turnaround in downtown Busselton
Wow, that's one hot race. Congrats on gettin' it done. You may not have hit your goal time, but you still did pretty well considering the sauna you raced in. Congrats.
Dave
Ouch! That is way too hot!
My first year at IMCDA was 98 degrees getting off the bike and going into the hottest part of the day. Everything was not what I expected because of the heat. Hard to know how you will react when you can't train in it.
Great race and good effort considering you were baking!
Chris
Way to go Ironman. Wait, I mean "Good on ya!"
First of all, it's thrilling to read about a race in another part of the world and to get to see a few pix. That's a treat for us in the lower 48!
It amazes me how we all discount the temps and humidity. I can say that because I've done it too. The physiologic toll that takes on a body at those temps are real. Very real. But for some reason we tend to put that in the discount column and focus on "what went wrong." EVERYONE is x% slower in heat like that. Everyone. I'd say you busted out an amazing day given that scenario. Congrats on being tougher than tough, and having a completely solid race.
Maybe for you, wearing the HRM in the run will give you that last piece of data to dial it in during the race? If I were you, I think I'd wear it next time. Don't you think?
Congrats again, Chris!
You're definitely right about discounting the heat. My problem was not so much the heat, but not making adjustments for the heat right from the beginning. Had I adjusted from the beginning I probably would've been a bit slower than my goal time, but I would've still been much faster than the time I ended up with. All comes down to that race execution. One of these days I'll have to convince RnP to come to one of my races so I can get the 4 keys talk the day before.
Early adjustment to the heat is critical. I am curious to know how long you held your Gear 1 watts? Since the course was 37 mile loops, the better part of Lap One should have been sub 191....closer to 180W. Maybe upload a screen shot of your race file?
Patrick
Great input by everyone- not much more here to add. 38 degrees? YIKES that's stinkin hot! I think you've pretty much nailed it- it's not just the heat/wind that's the problem, it's that you didn't adjust to it accordingly early enough in the race. Nonetheless, great job gutting it out and still finishing with a great time.
Thanks for sharing the race report and the pics with us! Like Linda said, it's such a treat for us to see a Non-US race!
I'd say that was a successful race. One of my hottest IMs was Wisconsin 2005 - probably 35 C and midwest humidity. I went as slow as I had to on the bike, getting slower as the day got hotter, but passing many people lying by their bikes in the shade in the last 30 + miles. On the run, even though I felt like I was running an even, but slow effort (my VDOT's about the same as yours), I negative split by about 10 minutes. As the sun got lower, and my eyeballs stopped melting, I perked up in the "cool" of the evening. While Coach P has a point about a better pacing profile on the bike, your time should actually represent a victory for you. In 21C weather, that may very well have been a sub 11 hour effort.
You also must have done a good job of forcing the fluids and using emergency cooling measures on that run.
The gear 1 didn't really happen. I just fell right into my goal watts and it seemed a natural pace. I'd revert to it automatically everytime I wasn't looking at the PM so I just stuck with it.