McCallum -- IMTX Race Report
This was Ironman #2 for me. I did IMFL last November in 11:53. My goal was a sub-11:00 ?nish at IMTX. I fully understood the heat and humidity would probably take its toll but still hoped a 10:59 would be in the cards. Training had gone well and I felt great. I had gone 5:09 on a very windy and warm (but not as warm) day six weeks earlier in Galveston at the Texas 70.3.
Swim
For whatever reason, I was lollygagging around the swim start. I was completely undecided about whether to wear a wetsuit or not. I wasn’t at all concerned about qualifying for Kona but I was concerned the water temperature might be a little too warm for a wetsuit. It was a last minute decision (literally) to wear a wetsuit. I was even wearing my non-wetsuit swim kit. I was about to put my wetsuit in my morning clothes bag and drop it off when I just said screw it and decided to wear it. I got into the water about a minute before 7am. Problem being the 2200 other folks were pretty much already in the water and had laid claim to their spots. While I’m not a front of the pack swimmer, I’m a top 20%-25% swimmer and I had no business being in the back of the pack at the start. That was dumb on my part. I had issues navigating around the slower swimmers for most of the swim because of that.
While swimming through all the slower bodies was certainly a problem, I encountered a bigger problem when both of my calf muscles cramped near the first turn buoy. Someone kicked my goggles a little loose so I had to stop and float for a moment to reaffix the goggles to my face. Both calves seized up when I stopped swimming. This was one of the most painful things I had ever experienced. I hung onto a nearby buoy for a minute or two until the cramps went away. I have never had that happen in an open water swim. I think the reason is that my legs had been muscle conditioned and adapted for non-wetsuit swimming. I pretty much had been doing all my swim training with normal swimming – less pulling, a little more kicking. Suddenly I was doing all pulling and no kicking. Apparently my calves didn't like my feet pointed out for about 30 minutes coupled with a sudden switch in foot position. It wasn't a dehydration or electrolyte issue. I was plenty hydrated and nourished.
Started swimming again and my calves, while no longer seized up, were in a fair amount of pain. Every slap to the back of my legs (which there were a lot) caused me to wince. I wasn’t out of the cramping horror yet… I got another set of seizing cramps in each calf
right before we entered the canal. First the left calf and then the right calf. Not as bad as the ?rst set of cramps but it was still very painful. Kind of like an aftershock of an earthquake. Not as high up on the Richter Scale but still bad. Speaking of the canal… that was one slow and dreadful section of swimming. There was nowhere to navigate around people and the walls of the canal created a side-to-side washing machine effect. It became a slowest common denominator traffic jam swim through the canal. It also didn’t help that they buoy lined the canal, which took up about 20% of the left side of the canal. Where exactly did they think we could go? It’s a 50 foot wide canal with 10 foot walls on each side. I reached the swim exit and had to be helped out because my calves were in a lot of pain.
Swim time was 1:11. I had planned on a 1:10 non-wetsuit swim. I thought I could swim a 1:05 with a wetsuit but the cramps and starting at the back of the pack certainly didn’t help that cause. No issues with the water temperature and the wetsuit. Reported water temp was just shy of 79 degrees. I never once felt warm in the suit. Felt just ?ne. I was 1 minute or 6 minutes over my goal swim time depending on how you look at it.
T1
My plan was 7 minutes in T1. I was putting on the De Soto Cool Wings to protect me from the sun and to keep me a little cooler. I knew it would take a moment to put that crap on so a 5 minute T1 wasn’t in the cards anyway. Unfortunately, I had to spend a
couple of minutes having a medic message my calves. I was really concerned about the run that would come later. My calves were knotted up and hurting. I knew I’d be okay on the bike but not sure what to expect 112 miles from then. T1 Time was 9:50.
Bike
I had recently bought a new bike and had it ?tted just three weeks prior to the race. As badass as my new Trek Speed Concept 9.9 with Di2 is, I had pretty much no experience with the bike. I did one 85 mile ride two weeks prior and a 40 mile ride a week earlier. That was it. My ?t was spot on though so I wasn’t really worried about that issue.
My plan was to average 200 watts for the ride. The skies were cloudy and the threat of rain lingered for about 80% of the bike ride. It got a little misty for a few moments during my ride but nothing really noticeable. The big concern going into the bike was the forecasted 15 to 20 mph S or SE winds. That meant a headwind the entire way back on the 1 loop bike course. I thought I’d make the most out of the little tailwind we had going out. Not that I was going to go out above my watts but I was going to make sure I was hitting my watts. I had never ridden the bike course despite being local. I wasn’t really sure what to expect with the course but I knew to stay within my watts and everything would be ?ne. There were some rollers headed out but nothing too bad. The ride through the Sam Houston National Forest was awesome! Certainly the highlight of the bike ride. There wasn’t a ton of bike traffic on the bike course at that time so there weren't issues getting around massive amounts of people. Picked up my second bottle of In?nit at Bike Special Needs and took a potty break at the aid station a couple of miles from there. The ?rst bike split (at mile 58) was somewhere around this point. 58 miles in 2:34 at a 22.6 mph pace.
The bulk of the rolling hills were in the middle miles of the course. I’d say miles 30 through 75 had a bunch of rollers that kept you honest. I kept seeing other riders blast up those hills, no doubt expending way too much energy. I passed just about all of them on the ?ats and never saw them again.
Things slowed down a bit the second half of the bike. There was some headwind out there but not as bad as expected. Probably around 10mph and thankfully not 20mph. There were still times that things were slow. I passed all that horrible traffic at that one intersection where bikers were stopped later in the race. Glad I was able to get through there before that happened. I backed off on my watts a little bit during the second half to conserve a little energy. The cloud cover broke the last 15-20 miles or so and it became much more sunny and warm. It was the only time I felt a little toasty in my aero helmet. The ride back into The Woodlands was fun though. The second (and last) split was 54 miles in 2:43 at approx. 20 mph pace.
Calf pain was still there and I was still very concerned about being able to run. I coasted every 30 minutes or so and rubbed each calf for 15-20 seconds.
Total bike time was 5:17. Goal was 5:20.
My total numbers were:
Power: NP of 196 watts (204W the ?rst 56 miles and 190W the last 56 miles)
Speed: 21.2 MPH
Cadence: 87 RPM
Heart Rate: 140 BPM
Calories: Approximately 1,500 calories of In?nit
Elevation: My Garmin Edge 500 recorded 2,785 feet of elevation
Temperature: My Garmin Edge 500 recorded starting temp of 79 degrees, which dipped to 75 degrees the first hour or so as we headed north. Max temp was 91 degrees recorded at the end of the bike back in The Woodlands.
T2
My plan was another 7 minutes for T2 but I once again had my calves messaged by one of the medics. While I could still feel a lot of soreness in my calves, they felt okay at this point so I hoped everything would be okay on the run. T2 time was 10:26.
Run
My goal time was 4:10. I run that and I hit my 10:59. That meant running a wee bit slower than a 9:30 minute/mile pace. I ran that pace for the ?rst 5 miles or so. I wasn’t bonking or anything (yet) but my heart rate was about 10 BPM higher than I wanted due to the heat. I thought to myself, "How long will I be able to last at this pace before I blow up?" I decided about 5 miles to mentally scrub the sub-11 hour ?nish from my brain and just decided to run the last 20+ miles at a comfortable pace and just soak in the atmosphere as much as possible. I took my sweet ‘ole time at each aid station. I chatted with other runners and volunteers on occasion (which I normally don’t do).
The run was actually pretty nice as far as the course was concerned. The ?rst half of each loop was tough because there was no hiding from the sun. The only respite from the sun on the ?rst half of each loop was the 1/2 mile section through the woods. Otherwise, the run along Lake Woodlands Dr., E. Panther Creek Dr. and Woodlands Parkway were tough. There was a fair amount of uphill running. It wasn’t hard uphill running and it wasn’t long but it was enough to annoy you in the 90-something degree heat. The run through the neighborhood with the ultra-expensive homes was particularly tough. While it was pretty cool seeing those multi-million dollar homes, there wasn’t a tree in that damn neighborhood and the sun, heat and humidity were the worst there. Some guy had his beautiful red Ferrari parked in his driveway. I asked him how fast he could drive me to the ?nish line. He said he would but he assumed it was against the race rules. Alright, I’ll see you two more times throughout the day, Sir.
The run was much more pleasant back along the canal and through Market Street. It was windy at times but the breeze felt good.
Drank a cup or two of water and a cup of cola at each aid station. I ate some chips and cookies on occasion as well. Stuffed ice into my hat and down my back whenever possible. Ran with ice in my hands as much as possible. Ditched the sponges about halfway through.
I took a Salt Stick capsule at every other aid station for the first 10 miles or so. I apparently had taken in too much sodium because edema set in and my hands (and presumably my feet) became very swollen. I just stopped with the Salt Sticks and the swelling subsided.
The volunteers were fantastic, as were the spectators... especially my wife and son.
Two EN'ers passed me on the run. Tom passed me somewhere during the first lap on his Mission to Kona. Gary passed me on lap 2. Saw Coach P. at his little spot near the start of laps two and three and spoke to him for about 10 minutes after the finish.
I bypassed the run SN the first time through but stopped the second time and grabbed a pair of fresh socks.
The heat and humidity certainly wreaked havoc on the run course. Lots of folks doing lots of walking. I walked the aid stations and for about a 3 minute stretch late in the race. Otherwise, I jogged the rest of it. Run time was 4:47. Not thrilled with that but it was a tough run. I certainly reigned things in a bit once I scrapped my goal pace.
Finish time was 11:37. That was good for 332nd out of the 2,200 that started and 62nd out of nearly 400 or so in the M40-44 AG.
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What would I have done differently:
- Get my ass in the water earlier.
- Not wear a wetsuit unless I had trained to swim like that. The cramps probably cost me 5 or 6 minutes.
- I wouldn't change anything on the bike.
- I wish I could change something on the run but the heat and humidity caused the HR to be higher than I would have liked. I wasn't about to gamble with going at the 9:30 pace until I blew up. I'd rather not get sick or walk for miles and miles and miles.
My only issue with the course was the swim. There's just no way that swim is ever going to be fast. I heard a lot of people complaining about all the contact on the swim but I didn't think it was as rough as the mass start at IMFL last year. IMFL thinned out after the first 1000 meters or so. IMTX never thinned out and actually got worse with the canal portion. So, the contact wasn't as rough per se but there was more of it at IMTX.
Overall feelings on the course difficulty:
The swim will always be "slow" at IMTX.
The bike course is not super technical but it's not super easy either. Riders can still lay down some good times. We were lucky the wind wasn't as bad as forecasted. The wind could definitely be a factor in the future.
The X Factor for this course will always be how hot and humid the day is and its effect on the runners. It was tough enough with the 91 degree temp, high humidity (heat index in the mid-90's) and some clould cover. A week earlier when the temps were in the 70's with very low humidity and it becomes a wicked fast course. A day like today and it would be absolute carnage. Temps reached 99 degrees and the heat index came close to 110. The weather watch adds an interesting twist to the challenge of this course. IMSG is tough because the course is brutal. IMTX could be fast and not so bad on a cool day and absolutely brutal on a very hot day.
I'm officially retiring from the 140.6 distance to focus on the 70.3 distance. Next goal is qualifying for Vegas. I might come back to IM racing a few years from now but I'm not a big fan of all that training. I liked the feeling of finishing the swim, bike and run and thinking I would never, ever swim that far again... bike that far again... and run that far again.
Comments
Thanks for the detail in the race report , this will help many who want to do this race in the future.
Good luck on getting to Vegas. If you get it, I'll bet you might be back for the full Monty. It took me 3 tries to get my slot to Clearwater in 2009...haven't done a 70.3 since although I may do one or two next year.
Paul,
Like I stated, each year could be a gamble. One week earlier and it would have been pitch perfect weather. Two weeks later and someone would've died.
I would say this year was closer to Armageddon than Nirvana but it could have been much, much, much worse. Current temp at 1:30 PM is 98 degrees with a heat index of 110. The temp is supposed to rise another 5 degrees to 103 today with a heat index of 115. Can you imagine doing an Ironman in 115 degree heat and humidity? That's f'n nuts!
That stated, I'm going for a run!