Home› Races & Places 🏁⛺

IMFL 2010 Race Report - Marc Robards

Marc RobardsMarc Robards
in Races & Places 🏁⛺

Pre-Race:

Woke up around 3:15a, tried to sleep more but didn’t; got up at 4a and showered, drank coffee and ate a clif bar.  Went down to get marked and put my nutrition on my bike, then back up to the hotel room to put on the wetsuit.  Went down around 6:40a and made my way to the start.  I tried to place myself towards the right but there were so many people everywhere in the ankle-deep water I ended up somewhere around the center of the pack and just listened to the national anthem and appreciated the fact I was finally at the start line of my first Ironman.

 

Swim: 1:16:12

The washing machine started right away and I kept thinking everyone would spread out but they never did.  I was constantly running into or being run into by people the entire way to the first turn.  Once I made the turn and started swimming into the sun I relaxed a bit and occasionally found some clear water, but it never lasted long before someone would swim into me from behind or from one side or the other or both.  My new goggles didn’t have a great seal on the right eye, so there always was some salt water in, but it didn’t bother me too much.  What did bother me was the top of my wetsuit zipper chafing the hairline on the back of my neck.  It started towards the end of the first lap and was pretty painful for the second.  The second lap was less crowded, but by the time we made the final turn home I was plenty ready to get out of my wetsuit and onto dry land.  I never saw a clock but I’m happy with the time, it was only a few minutes slower than my best pool swim RR.

 

Lessons learned:  

• More Body Glide on neck!!

• Practice open water swimming more

• Switch to a longjohn wetsuit (I couldn’t get good form in the long sleeve)

 

T1: 19:16

While I was never in a hurry in T1 because I was more concerned about not making mistakes than going for speed, everything seemed to take a while.  The wetsuit stripper had trouble getting my sleeves off, the changing room was so crowded I could barely move, my arm warmers were inside out, I had to put my socks on standing up, it took a while to put my gloves on cold shivering hands, etc.  While I didn’t make any mistakes I definitely have some room to get faster, as I was passed by 357(!) people in T1.  

 

Lessons learned:

• Faster transitions!

• Less moving parts if possible

• Make sure everything is ready before bagging

 

Bike: 6:18:21

I took it easy for the first hour and the coaches were right, everyone else was flying past me!  I even saw someone old enough to be my father pass me but I kept just riding along and I hoped I’d seem them all later (and I did!)  I ate a gel every hour and a salt tab every two, and drank the Gatorade I brought every 30 minutes or so.  The wind was cold and I felt slow most of the time, but I trusted the plan and kept my watts in the low 130s, shooting for a. .7 IF on my 190 FTP.  I kept waiting to warm up but after every hour ticked by I resigned myself that I was going to be cold all day.  But luckily it was only a skin cold not a core cold, so I was actually happy because I knew there was no chance of me overheating, which was a problem when I did Orlando 70.3 in 100+ heat in May.  Throughout the ride I passed people and was passed by people, and I saw less draft packs than I was expecting, but I did see a bunch of people blatantly drafting like it was a training ride.  I stopped at a few aid stations to refill my water (never needed anything else, including my special needs) and stopped to pee once.  The roads were pretty smooth except for the 10 miles at the half-way mark, where it was so bumpy I couldn’t stay in aero position because the bumps would make my gloved hands slip off my non-taped extensions, so I got on my hoods and stayed as low as possible.  The last 20-30 miles were a pleasure with the tailwind and how great I was feeling at the end of a 112-mile ride.  I was flying past people who looked beat down and just smiled and cheered them on.  I probably went a little fast in the last 10 miles, but I was feeling great and excited to be getting off the bike and finally getting to run!

 

My LYC data (no WKO):

Ride Time: 6:10:39

Average Speed: 18.11

Normalized Power: 134

Training Stress Score: 307.1

Intensity Factor:  0.705

 

Lessons learned:

• Work on my increasing my FTP!

• Have tape on extensions on my new tri bike

• Find a better way to discard used gel packets (they got sticky in my jersey pockets)

• Get WKO working on my Macs?

 

T2: 9:27

I rolled into T2 and gave a volunteer my bike, took a jog-step to the right to pick up my bag and my feet slipped right out from under me and I landed hard on my hip on the pavement.  About 10 people rushed over to me and asked me if I was ok, and I was (although a bit embarrassed) and they helped me up and I checked my shorts for holes (didn’t want to be cheeky on the run, and I didn’t have any spare shorts).  Everything was fine except for a few scratches on my right hand (good thing I had gloves on!) so I got my bag and went (slowly!) into the changing room.  I decided late in the bike to keep my jersey and arm warmers on, so all I had to do was change socks and shoes, a quick pee and it was out onto the marathon.

 

Lessons learned:  

• Don’t try to turn quickly in bike cleats!

• Maybe put spare shorts into T2 bag just in case 

 

Run: 3:49:33

Just like my last RR, my sore legs on the bike turned into strong legs on the run, and I felt great the first 6 miles.  My VDOT is 50.7 so my LRP is 8:24, so I was shooting for 9 minute miles for the first 6 miles.  Except for one mile where I stopped to re-tie my shoes, my mile splits were between 8:52 and 8:58.  I followed Coach Rich’s plan of getting water from the last dude at every aid station and then I walked and drank until I got to the last trash can (usually about 20 steps) tossed my cup and started running again.  I hit mile 6 right after seeing RnP at the entrance to the park, and picked up the pace and shot for 8:30 miles.  I was passed by 2 people I think before I hit mile 6 mark, then was never passed again.  I thought about counting people, but I was more focused on maintaining my pace and monitoring my nutritional needs.  I started drinking coke around mile 4, and had coke every other aid station and water every one.  Nothing else at all on the run and I never bonked and my sensitive stomach was happy the whole way.  I was feeling great up to and through mile 18, where I didn’t try to go faster but instead tried to not slow down.  The last 10K was tough, especially miles 22-24, but I just kept turning my feet over and stopped looking at my watch since it was too dark to read anyway.  I slowed down a little, but still managed to keep it under 9 minute miles.  By the time I got to the last mile I started giving whatever I had left and was passing people like they were standing still.  I think I passed 5 people in the finishing chute (should have gotten one more, a dude in my age group finished one second ahead of me!)   I ended up passing 706 people on the run, makes me really want to get stronger on the bike!  I also beat my only other marathon time (New Orleans Marathon 2005) by a minute, pretty good for my first Ironman.

 

Lessons learned:

• Race day is about EXECUTION not fitness!

• Less nutrition is better for my stomach

• Break in my shoes more (BAD blisters but oh well)

• Try to get Garmin to lap transitions so the data is more accurate

 

Total Time: 11:52:47

 

Overall I’m extremely happy with my first Ironman and eternally grateful for the training and execution advice from the coaches and team of Endurance Nation.  I tried to do IMFL before in 2007 under the typical long volume plan and burned myself out before I ever got to the start line, but this time I got there fit and mentally ready, and executed a near-perfect race for my first time.  I’m signed up for IMFL next year, where I will try to do most everything exactly the same (hopefully with a higher FTP!) and tweak a few areas and see if I can keep the PR wagon going.

 

Thanks for reading and congrats to all my fellow IMFL racers!  It was great to see you out on the course and meet you at the Shroom!

 

-Marc

 

 

Comments

Sign In or Register to comment.