(Late) IM Cozumel Race Report
IM Coz Race Report / Review
Short version: My third IM - I did IM Coz last year - Time: 13:22:16 737 / 1928 Overall, 140 / 329 AG (40-44 Male) - no EN mojo last year - just winged it!
IM Coz 2010: Goal: break 11 hours - Actual Time: 11:51:49 518 / 1729 Overall (lots of people DNF'd cause of heat/humidy - race was sold out at 2400), 51 / 199 AG - (45-49 Male)
PR by 91 minutes!
Scroll down to bottom for my questions if you don't wanna be bothered with the lengthy report.
(Very) Long version: This is a race report / summary with a lot of questions that I need help with. My main goal going in to this IM was - Run the marathon! - I'd be over the moon with a sub 4 hour marathon....so -
Arrived in Coz. on Thursday mid-day. There was considerably more buzz this year than last year - the people of Cozumel are awesome and seem to really appreciate the fact that we are there for the race. After flying in to Cancun, we (my girl and I) took the puddle jumper from Cancun to Coz. Word of caution for anyone doing this next year - the shuttle can only handle 3 bikes at a time so it's kind of dicey getting to Coz. I recommend the bus to Playa del Carmen then take the ferry over. As we were waiting to board the flight, there was a bit of commotion at the counter - upon further investigation it was Andy Potts and family checking in - seems everyone was very excited that he was racing here - more on Potts later.
Anyhoo, I arrived in Coz. took the taxi to the condo (which is right on the water and directly across from the finish line!) - settled in and then took a quick run (about 30 mins) to loosen up the legs and fight some jitters. As I was running I noticed 2 things: 1. it's freaking HOT!!!! (about 90F) and 2. I feel AWESOME!!!! Now, there's nothing I can do about No. 1, but No. 2 was making me nervous - will this feeling last? Now that I feel great, should my expectations be higher (and therefore increase the likleyhood of me choking my guts out)? Oh well, I guess we'll see. Showered then went to dinner at Guido's for a nice Thanksgiving feast of seafood and pasta.
Friday: Got the bike settled (problems with shifters but no biggie) then took a quick hour ride out to the west coast of the island (into a headwind all the way) then back (tailwind!!!)....again I noticed 2 things: 1. it's freaking HOT and 2. I feel AWESOME! You know the drill (see above)...after some relaxing at the pool, took a quick 20 minute swim in the clearest water I've ever seen - I found myself missing my breaths 'cause I was looking at some fish or something while swimming....Swimming's my stronger suit so I was just loosening up and trying a new swim top (DeSoto's 78 swim top 'cause IMCoz is non-wetsuit and my TYR sayanora swim skin is outlawed)...all's well so far - some friends arrived Fri. afternoon - spent the rest of the day lounging with feet up, watching my friends enjoy margaritas and beers - they had no respect for us "athletes" - I guess they think it's a vacation of some sort? Another mellow evening and back to bed.
Sat: Got bags together and loaded the girl on a scooter (her first time driving a scooter) and me on my bike to spin down to transition (about a 5 mile ride)....upon leaving the condo, the girl was following me cause she wasn't too confident on the scooter yet...as I was riding down, I kept looking back at her to see if she's ok - and I notice a rider following her (quite closely too)...so this continues for a few more miles 'till we pull off the main drag and take the back road to T1...just then said rider passes my girl and rides up to me - it's Andy Potts - and he's jokingly giving me crap for not drafting off of the scooter like he was the whole way down! So we roll into T1 and I settle my gear - this is where Andy is literally getting mobbed for photos - I wished him luck and I'm on my way back to the condo for feet up and relaxing - and again my friends are enjoying margaritas and beer (those bastards!)....went to an early dinner (at Guido's again) then to bed by 8...
Sun A.M. - really slept well - up at 5, finished packing SN bags, roused the girl up and onto the scooter for the ride down to T1....really nothing spectacular happened before making my way to the pier for the swim start...they have a dolphin show for the spectators before the race - quite cool.....now it's getting close to go time!
After the pro's go off, it's our time - I remembered reading about swimming close to shore on the way towards the top buoy (which is into the current but apparently less so closer to shore)...so I jumped in as close to the shore as they'd let me and just kinda hung out waiting for the start. I'm guessing there were people all along the length of the pier, but because of the current, I had to hang on to the fencing under the pier so I wouldn't drift off - big mistake - just then about 5 rows of people get in front of me just before the gun - oh well...I'll get around 'em....so, the gun goes off and I gotta fight off all these knuckleheads who just got in front of me - wasn't really that rough but I'd guess I lost a minute or two before I got past some of 'em and into clear water....after that, I took the swim was super easy and mellow - no real roughhousing or contact...I tried to get on a couple people's feet but I don't have too much experience in drafting in the swim so I just kinda hung to the outside a bit and just swam my swim....really never pushed it or felt I was maxing out....finished up feeling good. Goal: 1 hour-ish (sub 1 hour is sexy) Actual Time: 1:05:06.... (2009 Time: 1:00:16, T1: 7:01)
Rush into T1, grab my bag, take off the swim top, pull on some socks and run off to the bike. Time: 4:19
Reach my bike, put on helment, glasses, and run off to mount line - jump aboard, put feet in shoes, pull on arm coolers from the aerobar extensions, and get ready to settle in for a nice long bike ride. Now here's were EN protocol takes over....I spend the next hour Just Riding Along....sure, a couple ricky racer's blew past me, but I just stayed with my game plan....after about an hour, I start to put a little coal on the fire. Last year the winds on the west side of the island were really gusty (crosswind)...this year they weren't nearly as bad so I could stay aero the entire time (except for fuel). I was right on my nutrition (2 bottles of 800 Cal. each of EFS, Clif Shot Blocks, water and G-Rade from the aid stations). During my "build" for this race I really tried to get myself super hydrated and it seemed to work as I peed 4 times on the bike (no stopping - ew) and never was thirsty nor hungry. In fact, towards the end of the last loop (3 loops total) and remember thinking to myself - Wow, I'm executing like an f-fing NINJA! After making the left to start heading into town, I dropped the gearing to 1 larger cog to spin the legs out and get ready for the run....riding through the town is a great part of this race as all the locals come out to cheer, bang on pots and pans and buckets, and have a good 'ol time cheering us on. Finally off the bike, hand it off to a volunteer and run into T2. Goal: 5:30 Actual Time: 5:47:04 (course is 2 miles longer than 112) - (2009 Time: 6:27:48, T2: 8:10)
After reviewing my PT data (my first real race with power) I see that I left a lot on the course during the bike: IF=.657 TSS=244 - really came up short on the bike leg - shoulda/coulda gone harder but was really only concerned with the coming marathon.
T2: 3:58
Off to the run - plan was start out first 8+ mile loop at 10:00/miles - was feeling really good just running along - wasn't feeling too hot (though it was hot out) - felt hydrated and didn't have any GI issues (unlike last year where I spent the marathon running from port-o-pot to port-o-pot). As I was finishing my first loop, ran into my GF and buddies (again, they were enjoying margaritas and beers at a sidewalk bar close to the finish line) - mentioned how awesome I feel and was getting ready to settle in to do some work on the next 16+ miles. Trouble was, I couldn't find another gear...for the life of me I couldn't get going faster than 10:00/mile and in fact, slowed down to about 10:30's....now at this point, I'm feeling a huge blister develop on my left foot - fight through it and get to SN and throw on a new pair of socks and some vaseline - sadly, the damage was done and the foot would bother me the remainder of the run - I guess my feet just weren't ready for all the water that was pouring in to my shoes. So I finish the second loop, think to myself that now it's really gonna hurt as I try to go as fast as I could for the final 8+ miles. Again, I just couldn't get moving any faster! By the time I reached the final turnaround (with about 4.5 miles to go) I was having a bit of a struggle and really slowed to about 11:30 pace....spent some time walking (no more than a minute at a time), just grinded it out and moved my way to the finish....so, finally reach town, put head down and try my best to run it in with a respectable pace. Made the turn to the finish and crossed the line - Done! Goal: 3:59:59 Actual Time: 4:51:22 
(2009 Time: 5:39:01)
Total: 11:51:49
After thinking about the marathon, I definitely made some mistakes - didn't fuel properly - only had a few sips of coke, a lot of water (mostly on the head) and that was about it. Way under fueled! I also feel like I should gone out a little harder and then brought the pace back down as I never did get the turn-over going.
All in all, I'm rather pleased with the race though there's no doubt room for improvement...I feel I executed fairly well thanks to the EN style! I know in my heart that I didn't train as hard as I could have (in actuality only at about 70% of what I should have been doing and really only began training in early Sept. - the summer was more of a maintenance/training to train period) - THAT will be remedied this year! Another key I found is trying to stay at race weight during the season - I was about 10-15 pounds overweight at the start of my 12 week IM training plan and managed to lose all of that during the course of the 12 weeks - that probably didn't help (I'm kind of light to begin with - started at 163 and finished at 148 at 5'7" on race morning) so that's a big priority.
The race though, is awesome! I love Cozumel and the people are some of the friendliest I've ever met. So, of course I'm signed up for 2011.
Clearly my limiter is running. So, here are some questions that I hope the smart folks in the haus can help me with:
I know I'll never be "fast" - but I feel it's in my ability to run a 3:45 marathon (my best open half is 1:40ish)....but how do I get there? Eddy Merckyx used to say "ride lots" when asked how to become a better cyclist - is that the answer to my running? Should I run 50 straight days? Should I run 2-a-days? HELP!
Should I just train like a marathon runner for the first half of this season? I have IM Texas in May then IM Coz again in November. After IM Texas I was planning on doing a bunch of local sprints and such leading up to a half in early Sept. then full bore again for IMCoz in late November - should I skip the tri's and find as many running races as possible?
I just jumped into the OS (week 8) after a couple weeks of rest.
Let me know where else in the haus I should post these queries so I can get the help I really need! Thanks.
Comments
Hi Doug, I have not written a report as yet due to work overload but I had exactly the same experience as you so my report would be almost identical. I could have gone a lot harder on my bike but held back as I was not sure about the hot conditions. Started my run feeling GREAT then around 25km started to slow. I also know I can do better in the run . I have this year decided to focus on my run . I am going to do a 70.3 in Jan just for fun then just focus on running. I plan to train and run for a marathon and have entered for a hectic trail run which involves a river crossing. I would also like to pose the question of how to improve on the run ?
As for Cozumel it is a wonderful Island , with the most fantastic people, I will definitely do the race again as I enjoyed every minute of my time there. I do believe a race in colder conditions gives you a better time but it is maybe a good idea to mix them up , keep things in perspective. Well done on your race .