robin sarner. st. george. 2011.

robin sarner

 

Robin Sarner.   St. George. May 2011.

 

Overall satisfied with my race day.    Way off time goals but happy, in the end, to recoup during the run and finished without stopping on the run. Great venue scenery.   Enjoyed the week there.   Nice to meet the EN crew and see them on the course.

 

Had a cold about two weeks from the race and thought I had mostly recovered from this.   Had very poor appetite the few days before the race so wasn’t able to eat as much as I should. There were many factors that may have impacted my bike issues.

 

Swim was fine. 62 minutes.   Three minutes off personal best. Cold was not an issue for me.

 

Got started ok on the bike.   Conservative ftp 340.   70% of this gives my goal of 240.   Plan was 230 for the first hour. The big issue for the day, for me and all, was the heat.   My bike thermometer registered a 100 degree max. I was peeing fine for the first couple hours.   My energy started to lag after about 1/3 into the bike. My Perpeteum usually gives me no problems, but had some worsening nausea that wasn’t improving.   From the first 1/3 to about ¾ into the bike, seriously considered calling it a day. Poor general energy and not feeling good overall.   Noted that my peeing tapered off radically. Didn’t have pee urge for about the last half of the bike and what there was was painful. (side note: this race learned to pee while biking AND running so have this skill for future races). Gave up on the nutrition plan and started pounding the water and Perform drink. This seemed to bring things back around.   I gather my bike issues were a combination of heat intolerance, dehydration, residual illness, inability to calorie load the few days before the race, and nutrition intolerance during the bike.   Being 6 foot 6 inches and 185 pounds, with no heat training, the heat was rough.   Wearing the aero-helmet didn’t help the heat issues.   Of the controllable factors, I suppose the big issue was dehydration.   In the future, in hot conditions, will need to super-mega hydrate.   My norm power for the bike ended up being 215.    Bike leg was 6:23. Has been hoping for under six hours.  

 

The bike course is beautiful.   Winding uphill along a river canyon. Couple climbs up walls.   Long downhill at the end of each loop though the wind of the day did not allow fast speeds down this.

 

By the time the bike has finished, had recouped and felt ok at the start of the run. Of course the big starting off hill is daunting.     I found the course manageable by thinking of first ¼ up, second ¼ down, third ¼ up, fourth ¼ down.    For the up quarters just kept running but very slow pace. For the down quarters did what I could.   Hydrated and drank calories copiously.   Used all the cooling items: ice, rags, sponges, several cups of water on heat and body.    Was able to feel pretty cool during the run. I assume the lack of humidity, despite the heat, allowed evaporative cooling to be effective.   Finished in 4:09.     Was hoping for 3:45 based on previous performances but was happy to finish and never stop running on the run (of course I walked the aide stations).     The run really was a mental victory.   In my previous two ironman runs, I got 3:50 that included walking.    So at St. George, I was able to keep it together and just keep running, sometimes very slowly, on the run.  

 

Last year, 11 hours would have kona qualified so that was a goal for me.   This year, I would have needed 10:30 on this tough course!   So again, disappointed but also satisfied with the race overall.    Not sure what happened on the bike but I assume the issues are as listed above. 

 

I would recommend St. George for a race.   1600 folks started the day so a manageable race crowd situation.     Much mellower race check-in, etc.     Accommodations are very cheap compared to other races and very friendly (Chalet Motel).        The race was very well run.        The Pasta Factory in downtown St. George is THE place to eat.   In an old building in a shady courtyard and very mellow.     The swim is lovely.   They now understand how to get the water warmer (no water release right before the race) and the bike is incredible.     The run is obviously a killer but is fine if you break it into bits and keep the heart rate down going up hill. 

wareagledusty

Congrats on getting it done! Nice work!

Paul Hough

Hey Robin...great job on hanging in there! I wonder if you were feeling some residual effects of your cold during the bike and finally worked through that? Look forward to meeting you at Regensburg.

mgraffeo

Well done, Robin. It says a lot to race well with what you have on a given day. Lots of folks would have thrown in the towel, but you stuck it out and ran well. Way to go!

Coach Patrick

Robin, I am impressed with how you were able to hold it together on the bike and the run. I think the pre-race calorie situation hurt for sure, but hydration on the day could kill you. Maybe you can look at your feed cycle (what & how much & when) and adapt it for the hotter days? You have to rest now for sure!

Nate Parady

Great Job...

CynthiaTriGirl

Great race recap Robin. I kind of had the same bike experience you had...it just kind of zapped you.

I enjoyed meeting you (and Jackie). Have a great race in Germany! People are great, food is wonderful...and I hope you like beer :-).

J.T. Thompson

Robin - thanks for the report. Had been thinking that this race was way down the list, but based upon your assessment, might have to rethink that. Appreciate your time putting the report together....

robin sarner

Thanks all.

Good to meet you Cynthia.  Have fun in Hawaii.     Have some poi for  me.

Now off to Germany and will meet our EN crew there.

Al Truscott

Robin ... Good to see your report. I'd consider your race a success. There's no question that on a hot day, especially with low humidity, starting the hydration early on the bike is a key. You recovered well from that early set back. Your run time is actually what we'd expect, given what we are learning about the impact of heat on run performance in a IM. At those temps, there can be as much as a 60-80 seconds per mile impact. So your run performance was stellar. Hopefully, we will be coming out with a little excel program to project expected run pace for a given temperature, with 60-65 F being the baseline.

Anyway, you've got a great start on the way to Germany, where the course should be more to your strengths. Not time to slack off yet!

robin sarner

Thanks Al.  Recovering from this mental blow with this personal worst, but positive aspects to bring out of this as you say.   Yes, looking forward to the Regensburg course and hitting it there.    Enjoying my relative rest for these 2-3 weeks.